Carolyn talks to Rob all about her start at WashU in playwriting and continuing into a stellar career of work both on-screen and onstage. She also speaks about her work finding community with other WashU creatives based in the LA area via HollyWU LA. Very excited that Carolyn said 'yes' to being featured in our first PAD pod. Check it out. And check out this Howlround article about one of Carolyn's pieces we mention on the pod called Acting Against Sexual Assault.
On this episode of the PAD podcast, Rob interviews Emily Wells - an award-winning WashU alum with experience in stage managing, directing, and creative producing. Emily is the Artistic Director of the Human Race Theatre Company in Dayton, Ohio after spending a number of years producing at Houston Grand Opera and Portland Center Stage. Emily talks about what the PAD taught her about advocating for her art and multidisciplinary collaboration. Don't miss this inspiring episode!
On this episode of the PAD podcast, Rob has a riveting discussion with PAD and WashU alum Emily Brandwin who joined the pod all the way from her new home in Bangkok, Thailand. After graduation from WashU, Emily's parents told her to get out of the house and get a "real job." So, Emily got the realest job possible: protecting the country in its most secretive organization: the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Following her time in service to her country, Emily has led a vast and very multidisciplinary career across numerous fields including as a podcast host, spokesperson, media commentator/personality, consultant, actor, speaker, and author. She has authored pieces for Time, Marie Claire, The Guardian, Marie Claire Australia, Medium, and has been featured in the Washington Post, Cosmopolitan, Yahoo, Newsweek, and St. Louis Magazine.
On this episode of the PAD podcast, Rob chats with actor/director/writer/producer Tijuana Ricks about her fantastic and varied career post-graduation from growing up in Gramercy, Louisiana to attending WashU to graduating from the Yale School of Drama to sharing the stage with the likes of Viola Davis, Dustin Hoffman, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman to being a 2023 Women in Film Fellow to co-founding Some Folks Productions that strives to "tell stories that advance the narratives of the unheard." This is a good one folks!
On this new episode of the PAD podcast, Rob chats with accomplished writer, director, screenwriter, and film producer Max Rissman! Max’s first feature film, UPON WAKING, won the Alternative Spirit award at the 2023 Rhode Island Film Festival. His digital series ROOT FOR THE VILLAIN was an official selection of the 2018 Austin Film Festival and Bentonville Film Festival, and his screenplay HIT ME HARDER was featured on the 2020 GLAAD List, an award presented at the Sundance Film Festival by The Black List and GLAAD. Don’t miss this great episode with this talented WashU alum!
A new PAD podcast episode is LIVE and is the debut of our first dancer on the #PADpod with an in-depth interview of acclaimed dancer and choreographer David Dorfman! For nearly 40 years, David has been the artistic director of David Dorfman Dance (DDD) which espouses to create innovative, inclusive, and 'radically humanistic' dance'. David is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships including a Barrymore Award for best choreography for the musical Green Violin, a Lucille Lortel for choreographing INDECENT’s off-Broadway run, a Guggenheim Fellowship, four fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, three New York Foundation for the Arts fellowships, an American Choreographer's Award, and the first Paul Taylor Fellowship from The Yardand. David is a Professor of Dance at Connecticut College where DDD is based. Don't miss this 'radically humanistic', delightful, and thought-provoking episode!
We kick off the 2024-25 academic year of PAD podcasts with an interview of award-winning writer, playwright, lyricist, screenwriter, and poet Steven Sater in a candid interview about his time at WashU, his creative process, and his career. Do NOT miss this opportunity to hear from the two-time Tony, Grammy, and Olivier award-winning author of the 2006 Broadway musical Spring Awakening and glean some wonderful wisdom on life, lessons, and literature.
A new #PADpodcast episode is live and features multidisciplinary actor and voiceover artist Corey Jones. Corey talks about his upbringing in Chicago and how a teacher prodded him to take on some challenging roles. From there, he attended WashU initially as an Architecture major and shifted to History and Drama followed by an internship with the Black Repertory Theatre. He did his graduate work in acting at the University of Texas at Austin (Hook ‘Em) and has enjoyed a career touring all over the world with Book of Mormon, playing roles at some of the nation’s top regional theatre companies, and is both a voiceover and motion-capture actor for film (Spider-Man (2018), Trigger (2012) and Spider-Man 2 (2023)) and video games voicing the character of Tombstone. He credits his range and fascination with history fostered by the interdisciplinary education he received at #WashU for his success. Do NOT miss this inspiring episode interview of Corey Jones!
“You have to believe that you are worth your own time.” – Sasha Diamond
For PAD Podcast episode #9, Rob sits down with talented stage, television, and film actor, photographer, and proud PAD alum Sasha Diamond! The discussion begins with some wonderful wisdom from Sasha’s Mom and only grows in sage advice and lessons learned from the industry from that point forward. Among other things, Sasha describes her circuitous journey after graduating from #WashU with a BA in Comparative Arts including her time as a bus tour guide for Sex In The City tours, acting and improv classes, and using her talents in play and improv to advance her career as a photographer as well. We talk about Keala Settle’s rehearsal of ‘This Is Me’ from The Greatest Showman and how that attitude towards art and life can encourage us all to ‘lean in’ and pursue our creative dreams. Don’t miss this episode full of heart and inspiration from Sasha Diamond!
Episode number TEN of the #PADPod is already upon us and features talented multidisciplinary actor, musician, illustrator, and animator Manik Choksi. The son of immigrants, Manik, grew up in St. Louis and started a career onstage completely by accident due to a scheduling error by a high school registrar. Manik went on to study Drama at #WashU and Julliard and credits many of his former PAD professors and his involvement in student groups like All-Student Theatre and Mama’s Pot Roast (improv) with inspiring him to pursue a career in the arts. Manik now boasts a robust career that includes television guest and recurring roles for shows like New Amsterdam and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt on NBC, CBS, HBO, and Netflix, as well as NYC theatre work both on and off Broadway, including being a member of the original cast in the role of Dolokhov in Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812. Manik is also a talented musician, songwriter, animator, and illustrator! He can do it all. He is also currently a commissioned artist at Ars Nova and creating an epic concert-based adaptation of The Ramayana. Rob samples a song he wrote called ‘The Vow’ from The Ramayana at the end of the podcast so do not miss this episode!
On this episode, Rob welcomes alum Jack Isaac Pryor (they/them). Jack is a writer, theater artist, and performance studies scholar specializing in experimental forms; queer, trans, and feminist theories and methods; and the politics of time. As an Associate Professor of Theater at Penn State-Abington, Dr. Pryor specializes in experimental performance and queer, trans, and feminist theories and methods and teaches courses that combine studio-based practice with the rigorous study of social history and critical theory. Their first book, Time Slips: Queer Temporalities, Contemporary Performance, and the Hole of History (Northwestern University Press), examines the capacity of performance to revise histories of racialized and gendered violence, as well as to reveal queer and transgender futures not determined by past harm. The book also experiments with form, moving between academic prose and creative nonfiction. Dr. Pryor received their BA in Performing Arts from Washington University in St. Louis and MA and PhD in Theater from the University of Texas at Austin (designated emphasis in Performance as Public Practice), earning Doctoral Portfolio Certificates in both Cultural Studies and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.
Episode 12 of the PAD pod is live and features actor, director, producer, writer, and teacher Sanjit De Silva. Sanjit shares his incredible story about arriving in the U.S. as an immigrant from Sri Lanka and finding his way to WashU where he double majored in biology and drama with a minor in film studies. While still at WashU, his film study started with an internship at Spike Lee's company 40 Acres and a Mule where Sanjit was a PA on films Summer of Sam and Man on the Moon. He went on to receive an MFA from NYU’s prestigious Graduate Acting Program and followed that with roles both on Broadway in War Horse and Off-Broadway with some of the most acclaimed directors in the world of theatre. He wrote, starred and co-directed the short film Time After and directed and produced the short film Tea Time. His film and television credits are extensive and include roles in The Girl is in Trouble (with Spike Lee), The Company Men, and American Desi (film) and Evil, Blindspot, Madam Secretary, Blue Bloods, The Good Wife, Law & Order, and New Amsterdam (television). He’s also written four plays with wife Deepa Purohit and is the founder of SilvaDollar Films which exists to create and produce stories about the American experience that aren’t seen in the mainstream. Do not miss this insightful interview with the amazing Sanjit De Silva!
