76West: A Podcast from the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan

Tony Award winner J. Harrison Ghee talks to The Lambert Center’s Jason Blitman about their experience as the first nonbinary performer to win Best Actor in a Musical, living life as your most authentic self, and performing in a hit musical on Broadway. J. Harrison Ghee Broadway/International Tour: Some Like it Hot, Kinky Boots, Mrs. Doubtfire. Regional: The Color Purple, The Sting. Television: “Hi...

Caldecott winner Brian Selznick (The Invention of Hugo Cabret) talks to the Lambert Center’s Jason Blitman about how his latest book, Big Tree, started as a Steven Spielberg film, and about the legacy of gay and Jewish children’s book authors. Brian Selznick is the author and illustrator of many books for children, including The Invention of Hugo Cabret, winner of the Caldecott medal and the basis...

First-time author Camille Kellogg talks to The Lambert Center’s Jason Blitman about her novel, Just As You Are, a queer rom-com inspired by Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.  Camille Kellogg is a queer writer based in New York City, where she works as an editor for children’s and young adult books. She studied English and creative writing at Middlebury College and attended the Bread Loaf Writers’...

Bestselling author of The Guncle Steven Rowley talks to The Lambert Center’s Jason Blitman about all sorts of things, including working as a gay author and, of course, his newest book, this month’s TODAY Show #ReadWithJenna pick, The Celebrants. Steven Rowley is the bestselling author of Lily and the Octopus, a Washington Post Notable Book of 2016; The Editor, named by NPR as one of the Best Books...

Bestselling author of Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel, talks to The Lambert Center’s Jason Blitman as her final event for the paperback release of her latest novel, Sea of Tranquility. They also talk about why we’re drawn to post-apocalyptic fiction, what it’s like imagining the future of our world, and what she’s working on next. Emily St. John Mandel’s five previous novels include The Glas...

From the clothes we wear to the sheets we sleep in, textiles are part of daily life, but have you ever really thought about how they’re made? In this episode, The Lambert Center’s Jason Blitman talks to Preeti Gopinath, the head of the textiles program at Parsons School of Design at The New School. Jason and Preeti talk about what textiles are, how they’re made, and the impact they have on the wor...

Climate change has impacted the world since the beginning of time, which Peter Frankopan (The Silk Roads) details in his newest book, The Earth Transformed: An Untold History. A professor of global history at Oxford University, Peter shares his unique perspective on climate change with The Lambert Center’s Jason Blitman, including how our society suffers from a soundbite version of history and how...

Ahead of a Community Recycling Day at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan on April 23, The Lambert Center’s Jason Blitman talks to Christine Datz-Romero, co-founder and executive director of the Lower East Side Ecology Center. Christine talks about the history of the center, how e-waste works, and what it takes to compost at home.

Jenny Jackson, executive editor at Knopf, talks The Lambert Center’s Jason Blitman through the book publishing process, from acquiring a title to hitting the shelf. Jenny also talks about her experience on the other side as an author—her upcoming debut novel, Pineapple Street, will be released in March. Jenny Jackson is a vice president and executive editor at Alfred A. Knopf. A graduate of Willia...

Prolific author, illustrator, and graphic novelist Dan Santat chats with The Lambert Center’s Jason Blitman about his process of writing and illustrating picture books, how writing graphic novels is his way of creating his own movies, and the catharsis of writing his memoir, A First Time for Everything. Dan Santat is the Caldecott Medal-winning and New York Times-bestselling author and illustrator...

Audiobook narrator Michael Crouch talks to The Lambert Center’s Jason Blitman about his shift from musical theatre to voiceover acting, the process of preparing to record an audiobook, and some unique techniques and insights on working in audio. Michael Crouch is a New York City-based actor specializing in voiceover. His audiobook narration has earned numerous industry accolades, including Audie A...

To kick off our season of 76West in celebration of our Books That Changed My Life Festival, The Lambert Center’s Jason Blitman talks to designer Elizabeth Yaffe about the process of creating that thing you judge most about a book—its cover. Elizabeth Yaffe is a book cover designer and animator. She currently works in the Viking/Penguin Art Department at Penguin Random House. She has designed cover...

Chef Einat Admony, founder of the beloved falafel chain Taïm, as well as the acclaimed Israeli restaurant Balaboosta, talks to The Lambert Center’s Jason Blitman about where her love of cooking comes from, tricks to feed picky eaters, and her newfound passion for performing stand-up. Einat Admony is author of the cookbooks Balaboosta and Shuk and chef/owner of New York City’s popular Balaboosta an...

David Krauss, principal trumpet of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, talks to The Lambert Center’s Jason Blitman about what the title “principal trumpet” means, childhood as an “indoor kid,” and the little things he learns about music icons while talking to them on his podcast, Speaking Soundly. David Krauss is the prodigious host of Speaking Soundly, co-founder of Artful Narratives Media, and pri...

Will Actor David Krumholtz Commit to Hair Acting? David Krumholtz, most known for his roles in Num3ers, 10 Things I Hate About You, The Santa Clause, and dozens of other films and TV shows, is currently starring on Broadway in Leopoldstadt. David talks with The Lambert Center’s Jason Blitman about impostor syndrome, bar mitzvahs, reconnecting to Judaism, and working with Tom Stoppard on this criti...

Yair Qedar, whose film The Last Chapter of A.B. Yehoshua is featured in the JCC’s 2022 Other Israel Film Festival, talks to The Lambert Center’s Jason Blitman about the creation of this rare and striking look into the life of one of Israel’s most beloved writers. Qedar also shares his journey to becoming a filmmaker and influences on his work. Yair Qedar is a filmmaker and a LGBTQIA+ activist. His...

Author Elissa Sussman and The Lambert Center's Jason Blitman talk about Sussman's new book, Funny You Should Ask, the importance of Jewish representation in fiction, rules of romance novels, and more. Elissa Sussman is the bestselling author of Funny You Should Ask and three young adult novels. She received her BA from Sarah Lawrence College and her MFA from Pacific University. She lives in her ho...

Erika L. Sánchez (I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter) talks to The Lambert Center’s Jason Blitman about her new memoir in essays, Crying in the Bathroom, which Kirkus Reviews calls “a rewarding debut memoir in which a sensitive soul finds salvation in poetry and a life in literature.” Erika L. Sánchez is a Mexican-American poet, novelist, and essayist. Her debut poetry collection, Lessons on E...

Gabrielle Zevin (The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry) joins The Lambert Center’s Jason Blitman to talk about her latest book, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, which Publishers Weekly calls “a one-of-a-kind achievement.” Gabrielle and Jason talk about their shared experience of growing up in heavily Jewish populated areas, how we all play video games whether we know it or not, and how failure can b...

Sloane Crosley (I Was Told There'd Be Cake, How Did You Get This Number, The Clasp) talks to The Lambert Center's Jason Blitman about her latest novel, Cult Classic. Sloane and Jason chat about the book's themes, beautiful cover art, the word "supposably," and whether or not mezuzahs are found on interior doors of synagogues. Sloane Crosley is the author of the novel The Clasp and three essay coll...

It wasn’t just a perceived need. It was a moral imperative. In looking at the JCC’s burgeoning population of older adults, it became apparent that cards, trips, and discussion groups weren’t just fun, enriching ways to spend time. They were a way station, a way of conquering one of the most insidious epidemics of our time: loneliness. Under the direction of Susan Lechter and thanks to the care and...

It took a professionally upsetting and embarrassing incident for Rabbi Joy Levitt to realize how far the JCC, and indeed all Jewish communal agencies, had to go when it came to treating those in its neurodiverse community. But evolve the JCC did, thanks to the largesse and personal knowledge of people like Jack and Shirley Silver, whose Center for Special Needs at the JCC became the home of numero...

Ma’yan: The Jewish Women’s Project was founded by the JCC in 1993 to serve as a catalyst and a resource for women working for change within the Jewish community. During its existence, Ma’yan promoted Jewish ritual from a new perspective through programs such as its feminist Passover Seder and innovative women’s Haggadah, while continuing to focus on advancing the status of womenstatus within the J...

One of the JCC’s original volunteer initiatives, the literacy and math tutoring program has only grown in size, scope, and value in the years since its founding. Under Program Director Judy Gross, it has expanded into more schools, added facets such as having students practice their skills by reading to therapy dogs, and even survived a pandemic. On today’s episode of 76West, Gross and Rabbi Joy L...

Few families have had as profound an impact on the life of the JCC as the Meyerson-Hooper family. From their earliest days as board members to participants in a full range of family programs and activities to their 2018 decision to name the organization after Marti’s mother Marlene, the Meyerson family bestowed an incredible personal and financial gift that will inspire donors and lay leaders for...