Storybeat with Steve Cuden

The actor, singer, and podcaster, Patrick Oliver Jones has been in the performing arts, both onstage and onscreen, for more than 30 years. Originally from Birmingham Alabama, he brought his Southern charm to New York City in 2008 with dreams of Broadway.  And he’s gotten close with roles in off-Broadway world premieres, touring nationally with The Addams Family and Evita, and the pre-Broadway cast...

Doug Pray is a documentary filmmaker of great range and substance. His portraits of subcultures and creative visionaries have led him to numerous Sundance premieres, critical raves, and awards. His feature documentaries include: “Love, Lizzo,” “Surfwise,” and the Emmy Award-winning “Art & Copy.” His first two films, “Hype!,” the story of the Seattle music scene, and “Scratch,” about DJs and th...

Jimi Fritz is a filmmaker, musician, writer, entrepreneur, raconteur and roustabout. He’s written two feature-length screenplays, numerous articles, and a non-fiction book about rave culture. He’s also made numerous films and music videos. His latest book, entitled, The End of Everything, An Ironic Black Comedy, is about an older man simply named Fritz, who spends his days in a psychiatric institu...

Dr. William J. Carl is a Greek scholar, screenwriter, playwright, and lyricist. He’s also a former professor, seminary president, and pastor, who’s been a U.S. Senate Guest Chaplain. He’s been a speaker at Oxford, Cambridge, Princeton, Cornell, Boston University, Carnegie Mellon, as well as in Russia, South Africa, India, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Rwanda, and Canada.  Further, he’s also the form...

David Stenn was hired by the TV series Hill Street Blues immediately after graduating from Yale, becoming the show’s youngest writer ever. David then wrote She Was Marked For Murder, an NBC movie that earned an Edgar nomination from the Mystery Writers Guild of America. David returned to television as Producer of 21 Jump Street, then Supervising Producer of Beverly Hills, 90210.  David's firs...

The phenomenal screenwriter and novelist, Joey Hartstone, had his first two feature films directed by no less than Rob Reiner. The first film, LBJ, which was named to Hollywood’s highly respected Black List in 2014, starred Woody Harrelson as LBJ.  Joey’s second feature, “Shock and Awe,” featured Woody Harrelson, James Marsden, Tommy Lee Jones, Jessica Biel, and Milla Jovovich.  He was a member of...

The author, ghostwriter, copywriter, and freelance editor, Megan Woodward recently published her beautifully written and illustrated debut picture book, This Book is Definitely Not Cursed, which is published by Simon and Schuster. She’s also the author of the forthcoming book, Jake Maddox Dance, Gymnastics, and Cheerleading Jokes.  Megan specializes in all things humorous and finds no greater joy...

Madolyn Smith Osborne had the kind of fairy tale show business beginning that most can only fantasize about. While still in school at The University of Southern California, she won her first paycheck with a serendipitous audition before famed choreographer, Gower Champion, when a lead dancer and understudy had to be replaced in the Broadway-bound production of Pal Joey starring Lena Horne.  Madoly...

The great director, Rob Marshall, has made numerous films that have been honored with a total of 30 Academy Award nominations — winning 9 in all, including Best Picture for “Chicago,” which alone won a total of 6 of those Oscars. Also, for “Chicago,” Rob received the Directors Guild Award, and nominations for Best Director for the Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA awards. Additionally, he won Best Dir...

Stephen Cole is back on StoryBeat for the second time. An award-winning writer of musical theatre, non-fiction books, short stories, and novels, Stephen’s work has been recorded, published, and produced worldwide, from New York City to London to the Middle East and Australia.  With Matthew Ward he wrote the musicals After The Fair, Merlin’s Apprentice, Rock Odyssey, and Casper (which originally st...

Maria Baltazzi is a Happiness Explorer. And an extraordinarily fascinating one at that. Her experiences as an Emmy-winning producer of hit TV shows, a wellbeing teacher, world traveler, and luxury travel designer specializing in transformative adventures, has given her a unique lens into conscious living.  Maria was one of the original supervising producers of the mega TV hit, Survivor. She’s a me...

Author Scott M. Hoffman was a witness to historical events concerning major mob families. His book, Inside , tells the eye-opening tale of the son of a mobster growing up learning the harrowing life within a ruthless crime family. Scott absorbed the inner workings of the mob from his dad, who loyally served The Chicago Outfit for over 55 years –never spending a day in prison. Now 74, Scott is a gr...

Richard Skipper is an entertainer, singer and host known for his award-winning tribute to Carol Channing, which was endorsed by Carol herself. He can be seen in the film, Carol Channing: Larger Than Life .  Richard’s appeared in legendary venues from Atlantic City’s Taj Mahal and Hilton to Carnegie Hall. And he’s shared stages with some of the biggest names in show business including Carol Channin...

Dr. ‘Niyi Coker, Jr., is a Professor and the Director of the School of Theatre, Television, and Film (TTF) at San Diego State University in California, which is ranked by the Hollywood Reporter as a top 10 Film production program.   ‘Niyi has served as Visiting Artistic Director to several theatre companies including: K3 at Malmo Hogskola in Sweden, the National Theatre of Nigeria and The Black Bo...

What a wonderful fun and funny interview with a fellow who’s toiled at the highest peak of Hollywood as a screenwriter. TV and film writer, Steven Kunes, has worked on numerous sitcoms and movies.  At the age of 26, legendary TV producer, Norman Lear, hired Steven to write and develop half-hour comedies for his company, Embassy Television. This led to assignments in one-hour TV shows and eventuall...

Danielle Sunberg, a multi-award winning author and TEDx speaker, coaches high performers and advises social-impact organizations on authentic leadership. Specializing in conscious self-development, she guides individuals and groups to cultivate personal mastery as the key to experiencing our full potential. A former commercial litigator at a Washington D.C. law firm, Danielle's journey took a...

Noted author and teacher Andrew Erish’s first book, Col. William N. Selig, the Man Who Invented Hollywood , was hailed by the L.A. Public Library as “One of the best books of 2012.” And The Huffington Post declared, “…it may well be the film book of the year.”  Andrew’s most recent book, Vitagraph, America’s First Great Motion Picture Studio, received the Peter C. Rollins Award for the best book o...

Rosanna Staffa is an Italian-born playwright and author.  Her debut novel, The War Ends At Four, is a beautifully rendered tale about an Italian acupuncturist in Minneapolis who returns home to Milan and rediscovers all that she left behind, who she is, and what her life is really about. I’ve read The War Ends at Four and found it to be a moving and poignant personal story about a woman trying to...

This is Charles Rosenay’s second time on StoryBeat. He’s been in the entertainment business for over four decades as an actor, promoter, music aficionado, entertainer, MC, DJ, humorist, and author. Recently, he released his latest book, The Book of Top 10 Beatles Lists, which contains dozens of top ten lists from pop-culture notables, like Pete Best, Dick Cavett, Tommy Chong, Melanie, and even Dav...

         Terry Press recently joined Amblin Partners in the newly created role of President of Strategy and Communications. Terry oversees the execution of all elements of marketing, publicity, consumer products, and communication for the film and television divisions of Amblin Partners and Steven Spielberg, who said of Terry, “Since the earliest days of DreamWorks, Terry has been a vital part of...

Jimmy Roberts is the composer of the second longest-running Off-Broadway musical in New York theater history, I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, which ran for over 5000 performances. It’s been produced around the world in languages as diverse as French, Spanish, German, Finnish, Mandarin and Cantonese.   Jimmy's second Off-Broadway show The Thing About Men , won the New York Outer C...

Branden Cobb is a 15-year Marketing executive at the forefront of industry evolution. In a time of heightened concern regarding Artificial Intelligence, content generation, and responsible Marketing, Branden stands out for merging innovation with market insights, by insisting that successful Marketing is a dynamic fusion of both art and science. As a pioneer in crafting courageous strategies, Bran...

Actor-director Michelle Danner is also an acting coach at the Los Angeles Acting School who specializes in the Meisner , Strasberg , Adler , Hagen , Chekhov and Stanislavsky techniques. Alongside Larry Moss, she’s also the founding and Artistic Director of the Edgemar Center for the Arts . In 2006, Michelle made her feature film directing debut with, How to Go Out on a Date in Queens, winning the...

What a great deal of fun it is to chat with the dynamic John Vorhaus, who is making his second StoryBeat appearance because you never know which direction he's going to take in any answer.   John is best known for his classic comedy writing textbook, The Comic Toolbox: How to be Funny Even if You’re Not. Now available in five languages, John’s “bible of comedy writing” continues to be a defin...

I had a blast chatting with the great Australian-born actor and world-class raconteur, Thaao Penghlis, about his career and creative process.  If you’re a fan of NBC’s long-running soap opera, Days of Our Lives, then you’re also likely to be a fan of Thaao's. He's had a remarkable four-decade, 1500+ episode run on the show playing both the seductively villainous Count Tony DiMera and the...