Jan 23 2025 26 mins
Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky.
Links to assorted local theater & book venues
Susanna Clarke: “Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.”
Susanna Clarke, author of the classic fantasy novel, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, interviewed September 12, 2005 in the KPFA studios.
Back in the fall of 2004, a new fantasy novel, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by a newcomer, Susannah Clarke, became an instant classic, finding its way to best-seller lists in the U.K. and United.States, and winning the Hugo Award for 2004’s best novel at the 2005 World Science Fiction Convention.
This interview with Susannah Clarke was recorded while on tour for the paperback edition of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, and has not aired in two decades.
Both Christopher Hampton and Julian Fellowes took stabs at writing a film adaptation of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, but both were unable to translate the very long novel into a screenplay, and then New Line cancelled the project. It was eventually developed into a seven -part miniseries for the BBC, and aired in both the United States and Britain in 2015. It is now streaming on Amazon Prime.
After the publication of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, and the awards, Susannah Clarke continued to work on the sequel, set in the same universe a few years later, but became bogged down, almost sentence by sentence, as chronic fatigue syndrome took its toll. By 2015, after visiting the set of the BBC production, she decided to go another route, and went back to another manuscript that likely pre-dated her best-seller. That novel, Piranesi, was published to mostly favorable reviews in 2020. She is now working on a third novel. Complete Interview.
Dawn Porter
Dawn Porter, documentary filmmaker, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky, recorded September 11, 2023.
Dawn Porter’s work has appeared on ESPN, HBO, Netflix, PBS and other streamers. Her film Trapped, focusing on abortion clinics in the South, won a special prize at Sundance in 2016 along with a Peabody Award. Her 2013 documentary, Gideon’s Army, her first film, focusing on public defender attorneys in the South, is now part of the US Deparment of State’s American Film Showcase.
She is also the director of John Lewis: Good Trouble, which focuses on the late Congressman and activist. Her recent projects are The Lady Bird Diaries, which was shown at SXSW Film Festival and the four part documentary series, Deadlocked: How America Shaped the Supreme Court, both of which can be found streaming on various platforms. Other recent projects include the short film Bree Wayy, about the life of Brionna Taylor, Luther: Never Too Much, about the late singer/songwriter Luther Vandross, and The Sing Sing Chronicles, about men wrongly incarcerated in Sing Sing prison. Special thanks to A.J. Fox and Berkeley Art Museum Pacific Film Archives. Complete Interview.
Review of Hershey Felder’s “Rachmaninoff and the Tsar” at TheatreWorks Mountain Viow Center for the Performing Arts through February 9, 2025.
Book Interview/Events and Theatre Links
Note: Shows may unexpectedly close early or be postponed due to actors’ positive COVID tests. Check the venue for closures, ticket refunds, and vaccination and mask requirements before arrival. Dates are in-theater performances unless otherwise noted. Some venues operate Tuesday – Sunday; others Wednesday or Thursday through Sunday. All times Pacific Time. Closing dates are sometimes extended.
Book Stores
Bay Area Book Festival See website for highlights from the 10th Annual Bay Area Book Festival, June 1-2, 2024.
Book Passage. Monthly Calendar. Mix of on-line and in-store events.
Books Inc. Mix of on-line and in-store events.
The Booksmith. Monthly Event Calendar.
BookShop West Portal. Monthly Event Calendar.
Center for Literary Arts, San Jose. See website for Book Club guests in upcoming months.
Green Apple Books. Events calendar.
Kepler’s Books On-line Refresh the Page program listings.
Live Theater Companies
Actors Ensemble of Berkeley. See website for specific days and times, and for staged readings at LaVal’s Subterranean Theater.
Actor’s Reading Collective (ARC). See website for upcoming productions.
African American Art & Culture Complex. See website for calendar.
Alter Theatre. See website for upcoming productions.
American Conservatory Theatre Nobody Loves You, a musical, Feb. 28 – March 30, Toni Rembe Theatre.
Aurora Theatre The Heart-Sellers by Lloyd Suh, February 9 – March 9, 2025.
Awesome Theatre Company. See website for information.
Berkeley Rep. The Thing About Jellyfish, based on the novel by Ali Benjamin, adapted by Keith Bunin, January 31 – March 9, World Premiere, Roda Theatre. Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov, adapted by Conor McPherson, February 14 – March 23, Peets Theatre.
Berkeley Shakespeare Company. See website for upcoming shows. Supergalza: A Shakespeare Cabaret, spring 2025.
Boxcar Theatre. Magic Man, Jan 3 – June 2, Palace Theatre.
Brava Theatre Center: See calendar for current and upcoming productions.
BroadwaySF: Some Like It Hot, January 7-26, Orpheum. Annie, Feb. 6-9, Orpheum, Back to the Future: The Musical, Feb 12 – March 9. Orpheum. See website for complete listings for the Orpheum, Golden Gate and Curran Theaters.
Broadway San Jose: The Cher Show. March 18 – 23.
Center Rep: Froggy, Feb. 9 – March 7. Lesher Center.
Central Stage. See website for upcoming productions, 5221 Central Avenue, Richmond
Central Works Push/Pull by Harry Davis, March 1 – 30, 2025.
Cinnabar Theatre. Gutenberg! The Musical, January 17 – 26, 2025, Warren Theatre, Sonoma State University.
Club Fugazi. SF Sketchfest, Jan. 16 – Feb. 2. Dear San Francisco resumes Feb. 7.. Check website for Music Mondays listings.
Contra Costa Civic Theatre Fairview by Jackie Sibblies Drury. February 1 – 16, 2025.
42nd Street Moon. See website for upcoming productions.
Golden Thread AZAD (The Rabbit and the Wolf) by Sona Tatoyan in collaboration with Jared Mezzocchi, April 11 – May 3. See website for other events.
Hillbarn Theatre: Daisy by Sean Devine, January 23 – February 9.
Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. See website for upcoming productions.
Los Altos Stage Company. The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams. Jan. 23 – Feb. 16.
Lower Bottom Playaz See website for upcoming productions.
Magic Theatre. the boiling by Sunui Chang April 3 -20, 2025. See website for additional events.
Marin Shakespeare Company: See website for calendar.
Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts Upcoming Events Page.
New Conservatory Theatre Center (NCTC) Francis Grey and the Case of His Dead Boyfriend by Nathan Tylutkis, February 6-16. Wild with Happy by Colman Domingo, March 7 – April 6.
New Performance Traditions. Both Eyes Open, a chamber opera on the Japanese American WWII incarceration, February 15-16, Zellerbach Hall.
Oakland Theater Project. See website for upcoming schedule.
Odd Salon: Upcoming events in San Francisco & New York, and streaming.
Palace of Fine Arts Theater. See website for event listings.
Pear Theater. The Gods of Comedy by Ken Ludwig, Feb. 21 – March 16. See website for staged readings and other events.
Playful People Productions. See website for upcoming productions and events.
Presidio Theatre. See website for complete schedule of events and performances.
Ray of Light: See website for Spotlight Cabaret Series at Feinstein’s at the Nikko and upcoming productions..
San Francisco Playhouse. Exotic Deadly, or the MSG Play by Keiko Green, January 30 – March 8.
SFBATCO. See website for upcoming streaming and in- theater shows.
San Jose Stage Company: An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen, Feb. 5 – March 2..
Shotgun Players. Heart Wrench, Feb 14 – 15. Art by Yazmina Reza, starts March 8.
South Bay Musical Theatre: Urinetown, January 15 – February 15, 2025. Saratoga Civic Theater.
Stagebridge: See website for events and productions. Storytime every 4th Saturday.
The Breath Project. Streaming archive.
The Marsh: Calendar listings for Berkeley, San Francisco and Marshstream.
Theatre Lunatico See website for upcoming productions.
Theatre Rhino Doodler, conceived and directed by John Fisher, February 8- March 2. Streaming: Essential Services Project, conceived and performed by John Fisher, all weekly performances now available on demand.
TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. Rachmaninoff and the Tsar with Hershey Felder and Jonathan Silvestri, Jan. 8 – Feb. 9, Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts.
Word for Word. See website for upcoming productions.
Misc. Listings:
BAM/PFA: On View calendar for BAM/PFA.
Berkeley Symphony: See website for listings.
Chamber Music San Francisco: Calendar, 2025 Season.
Dance Mission Theatre. On stage events calendar.
Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Calendar listings and upcoming shows.
San Francisco Opera. Calendar listings.
San Francisco Symphony. Calendar listings.
Filmed Live Musicals: Searchable database of all filmed live musicals, podcast, blog.
If you’d like to add your bookstore or theater venue to this list, please write [email protected]
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The post January 23, 2025: Susanna Clarke – Dawn Porter appeared first on KPFA.