Performing Arts

Performing Arts

episodes

Interviews with performing artists and scholars of the performing arts about their new books.

Michelle Bigenho and Henry Stobart, "Heritage Fever: Law and Cultural Politics in a Decolonizing State" (Oxford UP, 2025)

July 26, 2026

Heritage Fever

Michelle Bigenho and Henry Stobart
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

The early twenty-first century ushered in a period of change in Bolivia. The country welcomed its first Indigenous president, a new constitution, …

Ashton Lazarus, "Performing Transgression: Crowds and Bodies in Heian Japan" (Harvard UP, 2026)

July 24, 2026

Performing Transgression

Ashton Lazarus
Hosted by Jingyi Li

What happens when performance defies social and political boundaries? Performing Transgression: Crowds and Bodies in Heian Japan (Harvard University P…

Anja Foerschner, "Female Art and Agency in Yugoslavia, 1971–2001" (Bloomsbury, 2024)

July 19, 2026

Female Art and Agency in Yugoslavia, 1971–2001

Anja Foerschner
Hosted by Iva Glisic

In Female Art and Agency in Yugoslavia, 1971–2001 (Bloomsbury, 2024), Anja Foerschner offers a compelling exploration of the women artists, curators, …

Yiddish Tangos and Klezmer Mambos

July 10, 2026

Yiddish Tangos and Klezmer Mambos

Ronald Robboy, Sonia Gollance, Josh Kun
Hosted by YIVO Institute

This panel discussion will explore the remarkable influence of Latin American music and dance on the culture of Yiddish speaking communities in the Un…

Krzysztof Rowiński, "Failure Narratives Beyond Redemption: Twentieth Century Literature and Film" (Routledge, 2026)

July 6, 2026

Failure Narratives Beyond Redemption

Krzysztof Rowiński
Hosted by Jane Degenhardt

Today’s guest, Krzysztof Rowiński, is the author of Failure Narratives Beyond Redemption: Twentieth Century Literature and Film (Routledge, 2026). Thi…

John Kapusta, "Self-Realization Nation: How Artists of the Creative Counterculture Made a New America" (U California Press, 2026)

June 27, 2026

Self-Realization Nation

John Kapusta
Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan

John Kapusta's Self-Realization Nation: How Artists of the Creative Counterculture Made a New America (U California Press, 2026) is the story of an un…

James O'Leary, "The Middlebrow Musical: Between Broadway and Opera in 1940s America" (Oxford UP, 2025)

June 19, 2026

The Middlebrow Musical

James O'Leary
Hosted by Kristen Turner

The premiere of Oklahoma! in 1943 is commonly called a “turning point” in the history of the Broadway musical. Often characterized as the first integr…

Cheryl Thompson, "Staging Blackface in Canada: Public Amusements, Variety Shows, and Racial Acts in an Age of Imitation, 1898-1919" (Wilfrid Laurier UP, 2026)

June 16, 2026

Staging Blackface in Canada

Cheryl Thompson
Hosted by Sullivan Summer

In the early twentieth century, as variety shows flooded Canadian stages, new forms of blackface, inspired by modern forms of amusements, changed the …

Kristen Abbott Bennett, "Teaching Shakespeare's Theatre of the World" (Cambridge UP, 2025)

June 12, 2026

Teaching Shakespeare's Theatre of the World

Kristen Abbott Bennett
Hosted by John Yargo

Teaching Shakespeare's Theatre of the World (Cambridge University Press, 2025) engages with one of Shakespeare's greatest thought-experiments: How doe…

Ginger Dellenbaugh, "Maria Callas's Lyric and Coloratura Arias" (Bloomsbury, 2021)

June 6, 2026

Maria Callas's Lyric and Coloratura Arias

Ginger Dellenbaugh
Hosted by Bradley Morgan

More than 40 years after her death, the legend of Maria Callas, "La Divina Assoluta," remains unsurpassed. Much has been written about her sensational…

Allyson Nadia Field, "Acts of Love: Black Performance and the Kiss That Changed Film History" (U California Press, 2026)

June 6, 2026

Acts of Love

Allyson Nadia Field
Hosted by Pete Kunze

In 1898, vaudeville actors Saint Suttle and Gertie Brown joyously embraced in a short silent film titled Something Good—Negro Kiss. The first known …

S5E9 A Divine Comedy: On Hollywood, Creativity, and Religion with Rob Long

June 3, 2026

S5E9 A Divine Comedy

Rob Long
Hosted by Ryan Shinkel

Here in Episode 9 of Season 5, I interview Mr. Rob Long. A longtime Hollywood professional, he was a writer and producer for the classic sitcom Cheers…

Joanna Dee Das, "Faith, Family, and Flag: Branson Entertainment and the Idea of America" (U Chicago Press, 2025)

May 31, 2026

Faith, Family, and Flag

Joanna Dee Das

Faith, Family, and Flag: Branson Entertainment and the Idea of America (University of Chicago Press, 2025) examines the history of Branson, Missouri…

Chloe Chapin, "Suitable: The Sartorial Revolution and the Fashioning of Modern Men" (Oxford UP, 2026)

May 31, 2026

Suitable

Chloe Chapin
Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

How did black suits become so ubiquitous? Why has men's business clothing been so plain for the last 250 years? How did a style adopted by the Foundin…

Janani Balasubramanian and Natalie Gosnell, "Art-Science Undisciplined: A Playbook for Transformative Collaboration" (U California Press, 2026)

May 30, 2026

Art-Science Undisciplined

Janani Balasubramanian and Natalie Gosnell
Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

Art-Science Undisciplined invites us into a collaborative journey grounded in mutual exploration and transformation. Moving beyond transactional excha…

Robin R. Means Coleman and Novotny Lawrence eds., "The Oxford Handbook of Black Horror Film" (Oxford UP, 2024)

May 29, 2026

The Oxford Handbook of Black Horror Film

Robin R. Means Coleman and Novotny Lawrence eds.
Hosted by Pete Kunze

Since the release of Jordan Peele's Academy Award-winning horror hit Get Out (2017), interest in Black horror films has erupted. This renewed intrigue…

Yiddish Ethnography and An-ski

May 29, 2026

Yiddish Ethnography and An-ski

Hosted by YIVO Institute

Sh. An-ski (Shloyme-Zanvl Rappoport, 1863-1920) was a writer in Russian and Yiddish, a revolutionary, a wartime relief worker, and an ethnographer who…

Andrea Zarafshon Moore, "Audible Loss: New Music and the Crisis of Memory" (Fordham UP, 2025)

May 26, 2026

Audible Loss

Andrea Zarafshon Moore
Hosted by Kristen Turner

It is a compulsion of the human race to find a way to memorialize those we have lost and why we have lost them, from a gravestone of a loved one to wa…

Shane Breaux, "Reverberations of Culture: Racialized Performance in Early Twentieth-Century Musical Variety by Just a Buncha Clowns" (Routledge, 2026)

May 24, 2026

Reverberations of Culture

Shane Breaux
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Reverberations of Culture: Racialized Performance in Early Twentieth-Century Musical Variety by Just a Buncha Clowns (Routledge, 2026) by Dr. Shane Br…

Tony Lee Moral, "A Century of Hitchcock: The Man, the Myths, the Legacy" (UP of Kentucky, 2026)

May 22, 2026

A Century of Hitchcock

Tony Lee Moral

For over a century, Alfred Hitchcock has remained one of cinema's most influential directors. Known as the Master of Suspense, this visionary filmmake…