Artists Talk With LVA: July 21 2022

It's time again for the Louisville Fringe Festival and Nick Hulstine, Cris Eli Black, & Hannah DeWitt talk about what's in store for 2022. Tune in to WXOX 97.1 FM/Artxfm.com each Thursday at 10 am to hear Artists Talk with LVA.

Nicholas Hulstine (he/him) is a Louisville, Kentucky- based theatre artist. On stage he’s appeared in Tuesday Night Poker (Theatre Row, NYC), Foreign Gothic (FringeNYC), The Dazzle (John Cullum Theater, NYC), The Flick (The Alley Theater), Nobody Bunny and the Golden Age of Animation (Theatre 502), Tales of the 4th Grade Nothing (StageOne). He’s directed productions of Abramovic (Richmond Shepard Theater, NYC) and The Principles of Dramatic Writing (Slant Culture Theatre Festival). As a playwright, his plays have been produced in Chicago and NYC.

Cris Eli Blak is an award-winning and internationally produced writer for the page, stage, and screen. His work has garnered him a Bronze Remi from the Worldfest Houston International Film and Video Festival, the Christopher Hewitt Award in Fiction, a Pushcart Prize nomination, and honors from Vectis Radio, Negro Ensemble Company, Clocktower Players and A is For. His work has been produced, performed, and/or published worldwide, from Off-Broadway, California, London, Australia, and Ireland. He continues to strive to create work that reflects the world that we live in, with all of its different and diverse colors, creeds, and cultures, through his artistic endeavors and work with organizations such as TedxBroadway, Fine Arts Forward, and the Black Theatre Caucus.

Hannah DeWitt is a young artist working on her MFA at the Hite Art Institute in Louisville, Kentucky, and has a BFA from Spalding University. She is a multimedia artist with an emphasis on conceptual performative works, both live and digital. Her works are often participatory, deeply personal, and ethically fraught as she fumbles in the dark in search of anyone to witness. Blurring the line between public and private space, her work balances radical vulnerability and exhibitionism.

Artists Talk With LVA: June 23, 2022

After 30 years of leading Bunbury Theatre, Juergen Tossmann will be passing the torch to Skylar Vest and Hannah Brooks. All 3 talked with us about the importance of transition in the arts. Tune in to WXOX 97.1 FM/Artxfm.com each Thursday to hear Artists Talk with LVA.

Juergen Tossmann has been Bunbury's Producing Artistic Director since 1991. Thirty years ago, he guided a struggling fledgling company to health and artistic prominence.

Under Juergen's leadership, Bunbury developed two venues most recently in 2007 the company turned an old gymnasium in The Henry Clay building into a 140-seat state-of-the-art theatre. The theatre currently serves two companies; Bunbury, Pandora Productions, and until very recently,  The Liminal Playhouse.

Before Bunbury, Juergen worked as an artist-in-residence, teacher, actor, freelance director, assistant director, production stage manager, stage manager, prop master, acting coach, and co-founded an improvisational theatre company. The myriad positions at theatres all over the country prepared him for a job that would last over 30 years. At Bunbury Juergen has produced over 200 shows.

In 2020 he received the Kathi EB Ellis Lifetime Achievement Award from Louisville Visual Art. ​

Skylar Vest attended Georgetown College where he earned a BA in Theatre and Directing. Since 2017 he has been working with Bunbury Theatre, most recently as an Artistic Associate.

Hannah Brooks is a local prop and costume designer who has been active in the Louisville theatre community for the last five years. They have worked primarily with Bunbury Theatre on shows including The Green Book, Grace and Glorie, Boatwright, and Visiting Edna. Recently Hannah has been a dresser for the Kentucky Opera and worked for Commonwealth Theatre Company. 

Artists Talk With LVA: May 5, 2022

[In]Fertility is a new play with music premiering May 12, 13, & 14 at The Mex Theatre in Kentucky Performing Arts.

Margaret Miller is a writer from Texas. She received her BFA in Theatre from Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and her MFA in Playwriting from Trinity College Dublin. Her radio play “Nothing and No One Go To The Moon” was featured on RTE Radio Drama. She co-wrote the documentary “Dress A Cow” which premiered at South By Southwest 2022. Her short film “Animal” is in post-production in Los Angeles. She lives in Louisville with her husband, Stephen, and her dog, Rosie.

Heather Summers is a singer, songwriter, and folk musician from Louisville, Kentucky. She grew up with her grandpa on a houseboat at Dale Hollow Lake and with her adopted family in Columbia, Kentucky. Her songs often feature lyrical content from these inspiring times in her life. Storytelling through her song, she takes her listener by the hand, where they may find themselves walking down a wooded path by a winding stream and blooming bluebells.

Martin French is from Ireland and has worked in theatre for many years, covering a wide variety of positions. By trade a designer, and by preference a director, Martin has worked professionally in theatre for over 20 years in Dublin, London, and Louisville, where he is the Co-founder & Co-Artistic Director of The Chamber Theatre. He has been an artistic director with Ourclann and Dublin Shakespeare in Ireland, and in Louisville has previously been on the board of The Alley Theatre.

Some highlights of his directing work include The Bloomsday Breakfast Show, Elektra, Busu, Electile Dysfunction, Metamorphosis, and Chek-Mate.

The Trestle At Pope Lick Creek by Naomi Wallace runs May 12-15 at Carbon Copy Gallery at  1212 S 4th St.,

Artebella On The Radio: August 27

From top left; Keith McGill, Keith Waits, Clara Harris, Kate Folkins from Stage One observing, Dr. Janna Segal, & Jada Dixon

StageOne Family Theatre has commissioned a team of highly experienced artist-educators to create a series of touring shows for students. Dramaturg Dr. Janna Segal (bottom right) joins us to talk about the project with the three writers, Keith McGill, Clara Harris, and Jada Dixon. Tune in to WXOX 97.1 FM, or stream on Artxfm.com, this Thursday @ 10am, to hear Keith Waits talk with Louisville area artists on LVA's Artebella On The Radio.

Dr. Janna Segal (Dramaturg) is an Assistant Professor of Theatre Arts at UofL, where she teaches classes in theatre history, dramatic literature, dramaturgy, and Shakespeare.

Jada Dixon (Writer) is an actor, director, playwright, teaching artist, and facilitator based in Colorado. She is a two-time True West Award Winner and was also accepted into the 2019 Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab.

Clara Harris (Writer) has worked and collaborated on projects for stage, film, and audio as an actor, writer, and producer. She is also the founder of Swamp Witch Studio, which produces Night Owl Theatre, an audio drama podcast.

Keith McGill (Writer) is an actor and director, most recently having directed GHOST for StageOne Children’s Theatre, as well as a playwright. He is also a freelance teaching artist for Commonwealth Theatre Center (CTC), Actors Theatre, and ArtsReach.