Adventures In Artslandia With Susannah Mars

Holed up at home, our host Susannah Mars has taken to watching the best movies. A family favorite, What's Up Doc?, stars the brilliant Austin Pendleton who was most recently seen on Broadway in The Minutes by Tracy Letts, a play that will hopefully re-open in the not-too-distant future. Listen as Austin Pendleton talks all things acting, directing, family, and politics.

Our host Susannah Mars talks to Karen Kitchen and Mel Kubik of The Prairie Blossoms and breathes in their music. These brilliant artists perform contemporary and traditional Native American music in many different languages, including Cree, Creek-Seminole, Cherokee, Paiute, Dakota, English, French, Lakota, Osage, Pima, Polish, Spanish, and more.

Our fearless host Susannah Mars chats with the brilliant Krista Vernoff, showrunner of ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy and Station 19. Krista made the call to shut down Grey's Anatomy, the first series to do so amid COVID-19. Krista and her team are using this extended hiatus as a way to incorporate events into Grey's previously announced 17th season. Get the skinny here as Krista dishes on all things Grey, including Portland!

The incomparable Mel Brooks — need we say more? Host Susannah Mars’ father was in his movies The Producers and Young Frankenstein. Mel shares stories with Susannah, and is simply his wonderful self. It’s an Adventure In Artslandia you’ll never forget! 

Artslandia Happy Hours and Adventures in Artslandia podcasts provide indisputable proof that artistry retains the power to unite, inspire, and comfort despite the distance we must keep. Let’s have a round of applause for the human spirit! Support Artslandia here. Up next on Adventures in Artslandia, our fearless host Susannah Mars and friends chat with novelist Omar El Akkad about the writing of his short story Government Slots before the gang (Duffy Epstein, Barbie Wu, Kisha Jarrett, Merideth Kaye Clark, and Susannah) reads the story. You can read along here. El Akkad’s work has appeared in The Guardian and Le Monde among many other esteemed publications. His upcoming novel will hit the shelves in spring 2021.    

Up next on Adventures in Artslandia, with too much time on her hands and in need of a lift, our fearless host Susannah Mars drops two interviews this week! She chats with Will Eno and Larissa FastHorse — two wonder playwrights, one East Coast and one West, both of whom have produced in Portland. Then, author Kate Ristau and 2009 Librarian of the Year Erin Fitzpatrick Bjorn gather virtually to celebrate the release of Ristau’s new book, “Shadow Queen.” It’s a socially distanced yet audibly intimate party.

Up next on Adventures in Artslandia, our fearless host Susannah Mars chats with Gary Cole, co-founder of Portland theater company CoHo Productions and author of the novel Black Box. The story is not-so-loosely based on his experiences in theater and business. Amid the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, Cole will donate all proceeds from the sale of the book to CoHo to honor their 25th anniversary season scheduled to open this September.

Up next on Adventures in Artslandia, our fearless host Susannah Mars chats with composer and violist Kenji Bunch of Fear No Music who was a recent guest on Artslandia’s Happy Hour. The two explore how Fear No Music and art flex with the time and reflect on how music is responding to our present-day challenges.

Up next on Adventures in Artslandia, our fearless host Susannah Mars chats with wondrous jazz master Rebecca Kilgore who shares of her life at home in Portland with music and stories.

Up next on Adventures in Artslandia, our fabulous host Susannah Mars chats with Misty Tompoles, Artslandia’s founder and publisher. Though she typically eschews the spotlight, her loyalty, innovation, and passion for our work have so inspired our team that we’ve convinced her to share her signature brand of optimism and perseverance. She is known for her trademark formula of equal parts work and play, and comic timing that can bring levity into the tensest of moments. We are in such a moment.

Actors Ashley Mellinger and Duffy Epstein join Susannah to read $2,500 OBO, one of E.M. Lewis' famed 10-minute plays, while Lewis herself reads stage directions. Then, artists whom Susannah met during her U.S. State Department trip to Cairo share their video chat, including their perspectives on this new age of COVID-19.

Regina Carter, a MacArthur "Genius Grant" and Doris Duke Arts Award recipient, chats with Susannah about her work as a hospice volunteer, teaching, grief, and the perks of her prestigious awards. Regina Carter joins Metropolitan Youth Symphony in the West Coast Premiere of David Schiff’s 4 Sisters jazz violin concerto on March 8, 2020. Tickets here!

In the wake of organization-wide changes at the Arts and Culture Council, Executive Director Madison Cario discusses the new vision and priorities, including a deeper focus on reaching underserved communities. The changes, while dramatic, are in the hope of better service for all in our community, including artists and arts administrators. The conversation includes an open invitation to all Portlanders to meet with Cario any time, by emailing ED@racc.org.

Susannah steps aside to welcome Ruby Joy White as the host of this week's podcast. White, Director of the Multicultural Resource Center at Reed College, chats with actors Morgan Walker and Sara Williams of School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play. The first-time co-production between Artists Rep and Portland Center Stage features a POC cast and creative team. Please join moderator Ruby Joy White for a post-show discussion for School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play Sunday, February 2, 2020 3:10 p.m. – 4:10 p.m.

You may remember brilliant choreographer, dancer, and writer Andrea Parson from Artslandia's Ladies Leading series. Listen to her riveting conversation with Susannah and then catch her onstage in SHE’S HERE: A ONE WOMAN SHOW, which she she wrote and performs with direction from Susan Banyas, January 16–18 at Coho Theatre.

Shall we question authority in 2020? What is the case for The Earl of Oxford to have written about the works of Shakespeare? Dive in with Dr. Earl Showerman in 2020's first Adventure in Artslandia!

JOHN MAVROUDIS is an artist who has created heart-stoppingly brilliant award-winning covers for TIME magazine, The New Yorker, and more. Also, Susannah went to high school with him! If you went to Granada Hills High School or love art, this is a must-listen!

Cult filmmaker, writer, actor, and fine artist John Waters follows up his interview earlier this year by NPR's Terry Gross with a candid chat with Artslandia's Susannah Mars. See A John Waters Christmas – Filthier & Merrier “It’ll Stuff Your Turkey” December 6 at Aladdin Theater!  

Susannah chats with director David Sikking about Lakewood Theatre Company's Shakespeare in Love, a romantic comedy, based on the award-winning screenplay by Tom Stoppard and Marc Norman. It plays at Lakewood Theatre Company through December 8, 2019. Don't miss it! Photo credit Triumph Photography. Pictured are Kelsey Glasser and Murri Laseroff-Babin.

There is so much adventuring this week! First I talk to Amanda Bullock from The Portland Book Festival. Their big day is on November 9th,  and you will not want to miss it, there is fun for everyone. Then I chat with Chip Miller who directs the world premiere of Redwood by Brittany K. Allen at Portland Center Stage at The Armory; a play about ancestry.com gone wrong, with dancing, DNA and dark truths.