The Culture Show Podcast

What does it mean to be a restless soul  in-between two worlds? That is the definition of a dybbuk.  With an ongoing  immigration crisis and refugees displaced by war– a new adaptation of the play “The Dybbuk,”  has deep resonance. And who better to wrestle with these themes than the Arlekin Players Theatre, which has a reputation for examining such existential plights.   Their  artistic director–...

Embrace Boston is gearing up for its third annual gathering to celebrate Juneteenth with the Boston community,  and it promises to be more than an event but a conversation about reimaging Boston ahead of its 400th Birthday. Plus,  no festival would be complete without a block party, DJ’s and dancing. Imari Paris Jeffries, CEO and President of Embrace Boston, joins The Culture Show for a preview. ...

The three-time U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky joins us to talk about his  new book of  poetry, “Proverbs of Limbo.”  His book launch is June 11th at the Cambridge Public Library at an event presented by Harvard Book Store. Robert Pinsky  is the author of “At The Foundling Hospital”, “The Figured Wheel” and “The Want Bone.”  He is also a professor in the graduate creative writing program at Bosto...

First up, Richard Dreyfuss didn’t just make waves, he sent shockwaves through Beverly’s Cabot Theater ahead of a special screening of  “Jaws.” Offending audiences by spewing transphobic, misanthropic rhetoric. And it turns out this wasn’t the first time. From there it’s time to meet Josh Gibson, Major League Baseball’s new GREATEST OF ALL TIME PLAYER. With the MLB  integrating statistics from the...

New York Times best-selling writer Ann Leary’s  latest book is a collection of Essays titled “I’ve Tried Being Nice.”   In total they are a reflection on her life…on the liberties that come with being older, on moments of mayhem and on scenes from a marriage that has had its ups and downs–on the tennis court, on the red carpet and behind closed doors.  The essays are funny and frank. They are pers...

On this episode of The Culture Show MassArt President Mary Grant joins us for her monthly appearance. Today she talks about the cost of college, if the expense is worth it and what higher-ed institutions need to do to meet incoming students where they are. From there we head to Colby College Museum of Art. Their head curator Beth Finch joins The Culture Show to give an overview of their current ex...

Writer Percival Everett’s satire verges on prophecy.  He is prolific–he has written westerns, mysteries, thrillers, and collections of poetry.   You likely recognize his name because of his book “Erasure,” the sardonic take on the  publishing industry on which the film “American Fiction” was based. Everett’s latest  book, titled “James,”  is a retelling of Mark Twain’s  “Adventures of Huckleberry...

Today on The Culture Show it’s the pharaoh of the opera.   Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo has made a  name for himself starring in the MET’s production of Akhenaten –  earning a Grammy award along the way. He’s also figuratively found his voice and the freedom to have fun by collaborating with cabaret performer Justin Vivian Bond in their hit performance and accompanying album, “Only and Octav...

Today on the Culture Show, Callie Crossley, James Bennett II and Edgar B Herwick III  go over the latest headlines on our arts and culture week-in-review.  The topics they discuss include, Scarlett Johansson’s feud with Open AI, Elvis Presley’s  Graceland having a brush with foreclosure fraudsters, and Apple’s 100 best album list. They also look at  a taco stand in Mexico City that has just receiv...

When it comes to opera performances, Boston Lyric Opera is literally putting the wheels in motion. On June first the BLO is rolling out its “Street Stage Series” and by  rolling out, we mean driving a semi-trailer that converts into a stage, which will travel  to different neighborhoods throughout the summer, offering opera and popular music performances. The BLO’s Brad Vernatter,  the Stanford Ca...

Aaron Lansky is credited with saving a world of Yiddish literature, language and culture. It started in the late 1970’s when he was studying Yiddish literature at Mcgill University and was having a hard time finding the books he needed to pursue his scholarship. So he organized a nationwide network of volunteer book collectors  and launched a campaign, now known as The Yiddish Book Center ,  to sa...

Imari Paris Jeffries, president and CEO of Embrace Boston,  joins The Culture Show every month. With Memorial Day approaching, we’re going to get his take on the role black military members have played in U.S. history, from emancipation to protecting our democracy, and how recent developments in local government are supporting Embrace Boston’s call for reparations.  From there, we’re fashion forwa...

Writer Flannery O’Connory  was  a devout Catholic. She grew up in Georgia and  eventually lived on a farm among peacocks. She negotiated life under the threat of looming death because she had lupus.  But her imagination took her elsewhere.  Mostly to peculiar places, often violent ones , where prophets, sinners and outsiders sought truth and redemption. Now her biography, her characters  and her l...

Coming up on the Culture Show, live from our GBH studio at the Boston Public Library, it’s our arts and  culture week-in-review. First up, The Red Scare.  The new portrait of King Charles III is saturated in reds and sparking controversy. Is it a monarchy masterpiece? Or a monstrosity?   Then we remember culinary legend Jasper White who elevated New England’s food scene by taking us out of the era...

F. Scott Fitzgerald famously said “There are no second acts in American lives.”  but there are certainly second acts when it comes to Fitzgerald’s own classic “The Great Gatsby.”  Fitting for a story about reinvention, The Great Gatsby has been adapted to  the screen and stage countless times. Now the American Repertory Theater is bringing it to life in a world premiere musical “Gatsby: an America...

Miranda July, a triple threat in the art world as an innovative visual artist, filmmaker, and writer has just released a new novel titled “All Fours.”  It’s a coming-of- middle -age story about a married woman who is either experiencing a turning point or is turning her world upside down when she derails a solo road trip by abruptly checking into and staying at a highway motel. She joins The Cultu...

Climbing a mountain is a metaphor frequently used to describe something that seems insurmountable. For the Chelsea-based Apollinaire Theatre Company, they are both figuratively and literally climbing a mountain in their latest production “Touching the Void.” The play involves a climbable mountain, a Scottish pub, a base camp, and the ever-present void. Two of the actors starring in this production...

The landmark Supreme Court case that struck down racial segregation in public schools helped to dismantle  the legal apparatus of white supremacy. It also prompted a civil rights movement.  With This Friday marking the 70th anniversary of this ruling,   Kerri Greenidge, associate professor in history and in the department of race, colonialism, and diaspora at Tufts University,  joins us to talk ab...

Today Culture Show co hosts Callie Crossley, Edgar B. Herwick III and Jared Bowen go over the latest headlines on our  arts and  culture week-in-review, which includes Eurovision. in 2019 Tel Aviv hosted the song contest. Now, amid Israel’s war on Gaza,  the Olympics of pop music is politically charged as pro-Palestinian protesters denounce Israel’s participation.  And we remember the inventive  a...

The new film “I Saw the TV Glow”  is a complex exploration of childhood nostalgia and how it can haunt us into adulthood. It also explores  the irresistible pull of pop culture.  Writer and director Jane Schoenbrun joins The Culture Show ahead of their Saturday appearance at the Coolidge  to receive their Breakthrough Artist Award, which spotlights the next generation of filmmaking talent.  From t...

Is it the human condition to take life for granted? Do we need to be confronted with death as a way to acknowledge life, appreciate life  and to find meaning in life?  These are both metaphysical and matter-of-fact questions that are central to Dael Orlandersmith’s solo play “Spiritus/Virgil’s Dance.” It is described as being in conversation with Dante’s Divine Comedy, where Virgil guides Dante’s...

From guns to reproductive rights, the  majority of  Supreme Court justices  think we should follow the original intentions of the Constitution as closely as possible. So what does that mean in modern-day America?  Writer A.J. Jacobs went to find out. In his latest book, “The Year of Living Constitutionally: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Constitution’s Original Meaning.”  Jacobs documents  l...

 When Reginald Dwayne Betts was 16 years old, he was an honors student. He was also arrested for carjacking. Prosecuted as an adult, he spent eight years in a Virginia prison, existing among grown up men. What got him through those years behind bars? Books.  Betts left prison a poet; he then became an Ivy League-educated Lawyer and now he’s on a mission to bring libraries into prisons with a first...

Today on The Culture Show co hosts  Jared Bowen, Callie Crossley and Edgar B. Herwick III go over the latest arts and culture headlines on our week-in-review.  First up, Boston will host its first ever public art triennial. A year from now the city will be populated by public art from international superstars to locally renowned artists.  From there, disappointed museum goers are putting the moan...

When the Taliban ruled Afghanistan  from 1996 to 2001, creating art was dangerous. The Taliban disapproved of music and banned all artistic representations of the human form. They saw art as an expression of protest and resistance. After their reign, when Afghanistan functioned as an open society, art flourished. But since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, after the final US  troops left Afgh...