New Trier Performing Arts Stories

In this final episode of Season 2 (delayed again due to my recent surgery ... apologies, and THANK YOU for all of your encouragement and support!), you'll meet my special, "mystery guest", an actor whose professional career in TV and film didn't START until after he "retired". He's also, in more ways than one, THE reason that this podcast EXISTS. Enjoy! And stay tuned until the end for details on...

In this "better late than never" edition of New Trier Performing Arts Stories, TV and film actress Rusty Schwimmer and I talk about why she eventually returned to Chicago while still maintaining a successful Hollywood career. We also talk about her involvement in the Guardians of the Galaxy Christmas special, and then go back to New Trier for her favorite performing arts memory. Finally, we finish...

In this episode, Rusty talks about her rocky start in the industry (including a near death experience at a Superbowl celebration), how a chance lunch serving The Fonz changed her career, our mutual obsession with The Carol Burnett Show, and how New Trier prepared her for her career as an actress.

Laura Deutsch's life was transformed by, and then later dedicated to the dance division at New Trier. In this episode, she talks about how dance changed her life, and how she eventually ended up back at New Trier, where she then taught dance for more than 30 years. We also talk about how the program has changed, and how it hasn't over the last 40 years. Enjoy!

Welcome to the first Bonus feature from Season 2 of New Trier Performing Arts Stories! OK, technically it’s not the first bonus feature, because I have several others from earlier interviews that I need to edit and post for you, but this is the first one I’m posting and it’s a lot of fun. As many of you know, after the official interview is over, my guests and I often stick around and talk for a w...

In part 2 of my interview with stage, film and TV star Jim True-Frost, Jim and I continue our conversation about the challenges of being a working actor. We also talk about some of his favorite experiences in film and television, but then we return to New Trier and talk about the only time that we got to work on stage together. Enjoy!

In part 1 of my interview with stage, film and TV star Jim True-Frost, we talk about how his experiences in music, dance and theater helped prepare him for his career as a professional actor, and then we talk about films like The Accidental Tourist, Fat Man and Little Boy, and Singles, before moving on to the BIG role of his career (5 seasons on HBO's The Wire). It's another great and candid inter...

In part 2 of my interview with Suzanne, we talk more about casting and play selection, but we do that while talking about one of my very favorite parts of the Performing Arts Department, The Forensics Team. Enjoy!

When the legendary Suzanne Adams would hand out scene assignments, her students called those days "Christmas", so it's only fitting that, once again, she is our guest at this special time of year. In this episode, Suzanne talks about how she designed the curriculum for the Performing Arts Department at New Trier, and how her aim produced not just better performers, but better people. Enjoy!

In part 2 of my very special interview with Oscar nominee Virginia Madsen, which is again being presented without commercial interruption, Virginia and I discuss the various stages of her career in TV and film. From Electric Dreams to the Astronaut Farmer, from Frasier to Star Trek Voyager, we go forwards and backwards through her career, and finally, of course, we also go … Sideways. And it is on...

In Part 1 of my very special interview with Oscar Nominee Virginia Madsen, Virginia talks openly and candidly about her time at New Trier. We also talk about some of her favorite performing arts memories, and the gratitude she now feels for the experience she had. We also talk about the transition from New Trier to her Hollywood film career, the challenges she faced, and the strength she found fro...

In part 2 of my interview with John Siuntres, we talk about the creation of the Word Balloon podcast (which has become essential listening in the comic book fan world). We also return to WNTH and talk about John's experience interviewing some Hollywood legends, Enjoy!

John Siuntres is one is one of the most universally liked WNTH alum of our time, and when you talk with him, it's immediately obvious why that's true. In Part 1 of our interview, John talks about how WNTH gave him the skills necessary to rapidly rise through the ranks in broadcast radio, eventually spending decades in the field, including 9 years at WXRT and "The Score".

In Part 3 of my interview with Rainn Wilson, Rainn and I will talk about his new book Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution. We’ll also talk about his humanitarian work with Lide Haiti, and then, as we always do, we’ll return to New Trier and talk about WNTH, and our one time together on stage.

In this episode, Rainn and I finish our conversation about his film career, then move on to TV to talk about The Office (and a little bit about Star Trek). Finally, we start our conversation about his other career as a best selling author. Enjoy!

Welcome to Season 2 of New Trier Performing Arts Stories! We have some SPECTACULAR guests for you this Season, and we're leading off with a BIG star. In this episode (part 1 of 3), we welcome actor Rainn Wilson to the podcast! Rainn talks about how his time at New Trier launched his career as an actor. We also talk about the transition from stage to screen acting (and the challenges and difference...

Well folks, this is it, the end of Season 1, and we're going to "bookend" the season by bringing back our very first guest, John Gion. In this show, John talks about his personal experiences with New Trier and how he became one of the most well known and liked "behind the scenes" people in the incredible and huge underworld below Gaffney Auditorium. We also talk about his frankly amazing abilities...

In my post interview conversation with Dave Marran, we talked first about our mutual WNTH friends John Siuntres (host of the Word Balloon podcast) and Gary Price. Then Dave asks me about Season 2 of this show, and finally, we talk about my impending return to The Rugby Report podcast, and my most recent sports obsession, New Zealand cricket. Enjoy!

Welcome to our second WNTH themed show of the season! Our guest today is Dave Marran, a former WNTH Station Manager who went on from New Trier to spend 29 years working with the Chicago White Sox, and two decades as the sports editor for the Kenosha News. In this show, Dave talks extensively about New Trier in general, and WNTH in particular helped to prepare him for a career in broadcasting and m...

Welcome to another special bonus feature from New Trier Performing Arts Stories! In my brief post interview conversation with Beth Lane we talk about some of the truly extraordinary people in the unusually talented class of 1981, and then Beth tells me about yet another way that New Trier impacted her life, when the marriage of two of her New Trier classmates led directly to her meeting her husban...

This week we have a very special show. Actress, writer, producer, and now director Beth Lane joins me to talk about her current project (and her first film as a director), Would You Hide Me, a documentary about two German farmers who hid Beth's mother and six siblings from the Nazis during World War 2. We also talk about Beth's role in the film "Hollywood Musical", and of course, how her time at N...

This week I welcome singer and Opera Executive Diana Hossack to the show! Diana and I talk about how her memories and experiences at New Trier translated into the skills needed to market, manage, fundraise, and eventually run large non-profit performing arts operations. She also tells us a really funny New Trier Performing Arts Story. Enjoy!

One of the reasons I really wanted to interview Mary Ryan was because so many of her peers spoke so highly of her. I wanted to learn WHY so many of our friends remember her so fondly. And I did. She’s warm. friendly, smart, funny, talented, inclusive, and engaging … in fact, I can now say from experience that if you spend any time with her at all you realize pretty quickly that there really is … s...

New Trier has obviously produced a LOT of talented people, but whether they go on to careers in Performing Arts or not, the skills they learned at New Trier's PAD are useful in both Performing Arts and business. This week, we visit with Mary Ryan, who talks with me about how she has used what she learned at New Trier on camera, on stage, AND in business.

In my post interview conversation with Tim and Laura, Tim gets to tell his favorite Laura story, and then the conversation somehow drifts into MY dating life, before Laura talks about her year away from New Trier, and the difficulty in returning. We also touch on the Rocky Horror Picture Show (of course) and then we return to New Trier, and why it was and remains so special.