Episode 162: The Cutting Edge with Paul Gagliardi and Dart Adams

Toe pick! If you don't love The Cutting Edge, something is seriously wrong with you. This week Dart Adams and Paul Gagliardi drop in to talk about the history behind the 1992 cult classic and why we love it so damn much. 

About our guests:

Dart Adams is a historian, journalist and a lecturer from Boston, MA. His work has appeared in various online & print publications including Complex, NPR, Mass Appeal, Okayplayer, DJ Booth, Hip Hop Wired, The Urban Daily, The Vinyl Factory, uDiscover Music, Urban Legends, LEVEL, Ebony, Rock The Bells, Andscape (ESPN), Bay State Banner, Boston Globe Magazine, and Boston Magazine. He's also the owner/operator of independent imprint label Producers I Know/Fat Beats and host of Dart Against Humanity and the Boston Legends Podcast.

Dr. Paul Gagliardi is an associate teaching professor at Marquette University. His primary fields of research are twentieth-century American cultural studies, drama and performance studies, labor studies, and film studies.  And his research focuses on the intersection between economic calamity, theories of work and labor, and the performative art people produce during eras like the Great Depression.  In his courses, he emphasizes understanding the historical, social, and cultural context of texts, but also now our contemporary readings problematize literature.  He also fosters interdisciplinary dialogue between all fields in his courses, and supports students with both their academic and professional goals.

His book, All Play and No Work:  American Work Ideals and the Comic Plays of the Federal Theatre Project (Temple University Press, 2023), examines how select comedies produced by the federal government during the Great Depression portrayed complicated norms of working and labor.  I argue that many plays actually subverted norms of traditional labor or promoted alternative forms of working to audiences during the 1930s.  My writing on the Federal Theatre Project and other subjects, such as confidence artists and literature or other theater studies, has appeared in such outlets as Journal of American Drama and Threatre, Middle West Review, and Howlround, and I have a forthcoming chapter on portrayals of unions in pro wrestling.  My current research project examines the cultural history of ice-skating shows in the United States and Canada in the 20th Century, focusing on how shows like the Ice Follies and Ice Capades intersected with sports and theater, as well as how they promoted and challenged gender norms.