WORK IN PROGRESS: Conversations with Creators

B.C. Smith is the creator of “Phasmagorica,” an immersive séance experience in Santa Fe. He is also a stage magician and an acclaimed film composer, who has created original scores for Chris Eyre’s “Smoke Signals” and horror master Tobe Hooper’s final film, “Djinn,” among other projects. Logan, who recently experienced “Phasmagorica,” talks to B.C. about that experience, which was less theatrical...

Matt West directed and choreographed the new version of Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” the musical, having choreographed the original version in 1994. On today’s show, he talks about what it was like to reimagine the musical three decades later, making it lighter, brighter and even more spectacular. “Beauty and the Beast” opens at Albuquerque’s Popejoy Hall on Wednesday, Oct. 14, and runs throug...

Santa Fe-based designer Jontay Kahm (Plains Cree) is a rising star in the world of high fashion. A 2023 Vogue Magazine feature compared him favorably to Alexander McQueen, and in 2024 he was named Best Emerging Fashion Designer of the Year at Toronto’s Creative Arts and Fashion Awards. Jontay spoke with Logan from The Julie Museum at Auburn University, which is hosting the first solo museum exhibi...

Renowned architect, scholar and artist Jorge Otero-Pailos has revolutionized the field of cultural heritage preservation through thought-provoking experimental projects. On today’s show, he talks about casting the soot and dust of the British Parliament in monumental sheets of latex as part of his ongoing series, “The Ethics of Dust,” as well as the unforeseen meanings that work acquired when it w...

Roswell-born Michael Glen has been flying in hot air balloons since before he could speak. His father took him on his first balloon ride when he was only two weeks old. But an auto accident in 1996 changed his life forever. He was thrown from his vehicle and became paralyzed from the waist down. On today’s episode, Michael talks about his journey to becoming the world’s first paraplegic balloon pi...

Musician Craig O'Keefe is the co-founder, producer and creative director of "The Sixties Show," an off-Broadway extravaganza that features note-for-note re-creations of the greatest musical hits of the 1960s. On this week's episode, Craig talks about his musical inspirations, as well as the technical challenges of creating perfect emulations of well-known songs across an array of...

Southwest-based fashion designer Madison Van Der Lingen is the creator of MadVan Design and executive producer of Albuquerque Fashion Week. On today’s show, she discusses her upcoming AFW fashion event, Nocturnal Flame, coming to Wheels Museum on Oct. 16. She also helps to demystify the world of fashion, encouraging even the most fashion-challenged individuals to develop their own personal style....

Award-winning singer-songwriter and producer Ron Crowder joins “Work in Progress” this week to discuss his new album, “Moving at the Speed of Life,” and to play a few songs from it. Crowder, who is one of New Mexico’s most respected and versatile musicians, talks about his musical journey and the virtues of being self-taught. There will be an album release concert in Albuquerque on Friday, Aug. 28...

Albuquerque-based poet and educator Manuel González was named poet laureate of New Mexico in 2025 and will serve through 2028. “The laureateship is how I try to bring poetry into schools, libraries, Pueblos, tribal communities, rural towns, cultural spaces and public institutions,” he said. González previously served as Albuquerque’s poet laureate from 2016 through 2018. Most recently, he joined o...

Sophia Heymans is a contemporary artist known for magical landscape paintings where hills, trees and rocks come alive with mysterious human presences. On this week’s show, Sophia talks about growing up in a rural part of Minnesota and how those formative experiences in nature continue to inform her work. Heymans’ latest exhibition “Land of Rest” opened at The Valley in Santa Fe on July 3 and runs...

Street artist Shepard Fairey emerged from the 1980s skateboarding and punk scenes. Best known for his breakout 1989 street art campaign, “Andre the Giant Has a Posse,” and the iconic 2008 “Hope” poster he designed for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, Fairey is one of the most influential street artists of all time. On today’s show, he talks about two important new murals he’s painting in New...

Albuquerque-based Gigi Bella is an award-winning performance poet, actor, artist and activist. She was ranked 10th in the world at the 2017 Women of the World Poetry Slam and is a two-time Bronx poetry champion with the slam team Project X. Her latest poetry collection, "Without the Frills," was inspired by her experiences in the film and television industry. On this week's episode, Gigi talks to...

Devon Hawkes Ludlow, who lives in Santa Fe, is an Emmy-winning puppeteer, as well as an award-winning director, filmmaker, writer, editor and composer. He is the designer, lead puppeteer and a voice actor for the upcoming horror-comedy film, ‘Buddy’, starring Keegan Michael-Key, Cristin Milioti and Patton Oswalt. As it happens, Logan and Devon went to undergrad together at Bard College, and Logan...

Maxine Thévenot is an award-winning Canadian American musician, composer and conductor, who serves as the organist and director of cathedral music at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John in Albuquerque. She is also the founding director of the vocal ensemble Polyphony. On June 28, she will conduct Maurice Duruflé's Requiem with the New England Symphonic Ensemble and a 200-member choir at Carneg...

Maria Kelson is a poet and novelist. Her debut thriller, “Not the Killing Kind,” won the Eleanor Taylor Bland Award for Crime Fiction Writers of Color, the Women Writing the West WILLA Literary Award for a Mystery/Thriller and the 2025 International Latino Book Awards Gold Medal in Mystery. On this week’s episode, Maria talks about how her personal experiences working with undocumented mothers ins...

Anthonee Smith is an emerging, underground, Albuquerque-based filmmaker whose genre-defying experimental films, "Plants" and "The Museum," recently screened at Albuquerque's Guild Cinema. On this week's episode, Anthonee discusses his idiosyncratic approach to filmmaking, his preference for raw, handmade films over AI and CGI slickness, and how his work fits into larger trends, including the "ston...

Irish-born author Colm Tóibín wrote the critically-acclaimed novels "Brooklyn," "Nora Webster," "The Blackwater Lightship," "The Master" and "Long Island," among other titles. Two of his novels have been shortlisted for the Booker Prize. On today's episode, Tóibín discusses his latest short story collection, "The News from Dublin," wh...

National Book Award finalist and 2022 Guggenheim fellow Brandon Hobson (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma) is known primarily for his literary fiction novels "The Removed" and "Where the Dead Sit Talking." On today's episode, he discusses his latest novel, "The Devil Is a Southpaw," which is told from the perspective of an unreliable narrator. Hobson, who teaches creative writing at New Mexico State Uni...

Priyanka Kumar is the award-winning author of the creative nonfiction books "Conversations with Birds" and "The Light between Apple Trees." On this episode, she discusses how her love of nature informs her writing and how she blends research-based writing with personal narrative. At this year's Santa Fe International Literary Festival, Kumar will give a talk about literature and ecology at the San...

Tamar Lando’s debut documentary feature, “Land with No Rider,” follows the everyday lives of aging cowboys in the Mimbres Valley of southwestern New Mexico. RogerEbert.com called the film “a stirring ode to the last few acres of the West.” On today’s episode, Tamar talks about the long, slow process of making the film – a decade-long labor of love – and how that slow process contributed to the fil...

Award-winning filmmaker Annemarie Jacir has written, directed and produced over sixteen films. Her most recent, “Palestine 36,” was the only feature film to shoot in Palestine since the start of the Gaza War two years ago. On today’s episode, Annemarie discusses the many challenges of shooting an epic historical drama amid an ongoing war. She also talks about some of the films that inspired her ap...

Craig Allen Smith is a Broadway actor and singer currently starring as the title role in the North American tour of “Mrs. Doubtfire.” He has previously performed in “The Full Monty,” “Guys and Dolls,” “Annie,” “Anything Goes” and “Oklahoma!” among other well-loved musicals. On today’s episode, Craig talks with Logan about the challenges “Mrs. Doubtfire” presents, from the show’s non-stop costume c...

With over one million YouTube subscribers, Jaime French’s unique brand of irreverent comedy and cultural commentary has earned her a devoted following, which she’s parlayed into sold-out stand-up comedy shows across the country. In addition to comedy, French is a talented singer-songwriter, whose debut single, “The Hunter,” is a mental health anthem about battling anxiety and insomnia. The full al...

Paula Poundstone is an iconic American comedian. She started doing stand-up in Boston in 1979, performed a series of acclaimed HBO comedy specials in the 1980s and '90s and has continued touring and performing stand-up to this day. She also hosts the podcast "Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone" and is a frequent panelist on NPR's weekly quiz show, "Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me." On today's episode,...

Beedallo is an Albuquerque-based emerging artist whose semi-figurative, semi-abstract paintings often reflect a darkly comic vision. On today's episode, Beedallo talks about how growing up in Valencia County, NM, informed their worldview, as well as the impact of Soviet-era animation on their own aesthetic language. A riveting conversation with a fascinating young artist -- enjoy! If you enjoy...