The Spark File with Susan Blackwell and Laura Camien
Susan Blackwell and Laura Camien
Your one stop shop for creative ideas and inspiration. Sign up for our newsletter HERE. Each week on The Spark File podcast, Susan Blackwell and Laura Camien reach into their spark files and share stories, ideas and fascinations to ignite your imagination. Obsessed with creativity, Blackwell and Camien also talk with artists and makers, movers and shakers who have taken the spark of inspiration and fanned it into a flame. Hear from inspiring creatives like Lin-Manuel Miranda, Sara Bareilles, Eric Stonestreet, Jonathan Groff, Julianne Moore and Bart Freundlich, Zachary Quinto, Leslie Odom Jr, Bobby Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Billy Eichner, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Karen Olivo, Sutton Foster, Michael R. Jackson and many more about their passions and their failures, their inspirations and their aspirations. Refill your creative fish pond with new ideas and fresh perspectives. Listen, then take it and make it! Learn more at thesparkfile.com.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Oct 21, 2019 • 1h 4min
Creativity Sparks: What It Feels Like on the Inside + Lumber Jills
In this week's episode of creativity sparks, Susan and Laura discuss their personal quests for authenticity and the dissonance felt when What it Feels Like on the Inside doesn't match What it Looks Like on the Outside. Fresh examples of this dynamic include Game of Thrones's Emilia Clarke, Anne Hathaway's Oscar acceptance, and Marlene Dietrich's cabaret performances. They also find sparks in family history when the discovery of the Women's Timber Corp in the UK during WWII, a.k.s the Lumber Jills leads to a search for a personal connection to the Civilian Conservation Corp in the US. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Oct 17, 2019 • 48min
Makers: Julianne Moore and Bart Freudlich Part 2: Because 60/40 was already taken
Part Two of Susan and Laura's conversation with Oscar-winning actress Julianne Moore and filmmaker Bart Freundlich. These two award winning creatives discuss their union of creative endeavors, dealing with perceived failure, their shared production company and things they need to do before they're done. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Oct 14, 2019 • 1h 21min
Creativity Sparks: John Kenley + The Unthought Known
This week on The Spark File, Susan and Laura dish up two lively and thought-provoking sparks -- the legacy of the summer stock pioneer, legendary theatrical producer John Kenley and The Unthought Known -- things we know to be true, but can not allow ourselves to think about, a concept illustrated by Dani Shapiro in her book, Inheritance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Oct 10, 2019 • 38min
Makers: Julianne Moore and Bart Freudlich Part 1: Cooking Branzino and Diving In Head First
Susan and Laura sit down with Oscar-winning actress Julianne Moore (Still Alice, The Hunger Games, Far From Heaven, The Kids are All Right, After the Wedding) and writer/director/filmmaker Bart Freundlich (The Myth of Fingerprints, Wolves, After the Wedding). Award winning creatives in their own right, they also merge creative endeavors with marriage and parenthood. In Part One of our conversation, we learn what creative risks Julianne and Bart have been taking recently, how they mix their personal and creative energies and what makes for a creatively satisfying experience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Oct 7, 2019 • 1h 11min
Creativity Sparks: The Full Sanpaku + @cheapoldhouses
Susan and Laura serve up a load of creativity sparks this week examining Theranos, Elizabeth Holmes and the legacy of the full Sanpaku along with the seemingly universal dream of acreage, Fixer Uppers and @cheapoldhouses. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Oct 3, 2019 • 32min
Makers: Rodney Evans: Vision Portraits, Liminal Space and Truth-telling
In this week's maker-sode, Susan and Laura talk with award-winning filmmaker Rodney Evans about his very personal documentary, Vision Portraits. Rodney shares the details of his loss of vision and and what it means to be a blind or visually impaired creative artist. Rodney shares the power of channeling his fear into his creativity, illuminates the difference between sight and vision, and shares his belief that going blind just might create new ways of seeing. According to The New York Times, Vision Portraits “has the power, however briefly, to alter your perception." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sep 30, 2019 • 1h 11min
Creativity Sparks: Golden Palace + Poet Mary Oliver
In this Creativity Sparks episode, co-hosts Susan Blackwell and Laura Camien discuss the original spark that inspired Susan to write the piece 'Golden Palace" for the Off-Broadway show NOW.HERE.THIS at the Vineyard Theatre, as well as the overflowing gift of sparks poet Mary Oliver left for the world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sep 26, 2019 • 37min
Makers: Zachary Quinto Pt 2: Inspired Collaboration, Theater and Creative Aspirations
Part Two of a conversation between co-hosts Susan Blackwell and Laura Camien and actor, producer, creator Zachary Quinto. Get to know the thoughtful, original mind of this prolific maker as he shares experiences from a creative life full of blockbuster films (Star Trek), television hits (Heroes, American Horror Story), Broadway theater (Boys in the Band, Glass Menagerie), and his personal off the beaten path Netflix options. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sep 23, 2019 • 1h 13min
Creativity Sparks: Survivors of Larry Nassar + Reservoir Noir
In this episode of The Spark File, Susan Blackwell and Laura Camien discuss a dark spark -- the legacy of Larry Nassar and the powerful, inspiring army of survivors and champions who told their stories, including Katelyn Ohashi, Lindsey Smith, Valorie Kondos Field, Rachael Denhollander and Kate Wells. They also look beneath the surface of Reservoir Noir and the spark-filled stories of towns that drowned. From Andrew Carnegie's South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club and the South Fork Dam causing the tragic flooding of Johnstown, Pennsylvania to the American Corp of Engineers intentionally flooding towns such as Willow Grove, Tennessee in order to form Dale Hollow Lake.PLEASE NOTE: This episode of The Spark File podcasts contains mature themes (physical abuse, sexual abuse, suicide, body issues). Please use your discretion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sep 19, 2019 • 41min
Makers: Zachary Quinto Pt 1: Uncertainty, Inspiration and Authenticity
Part One of a conversation between co-hosts Susan Blackwell and Laura Camien and prolific actor, producer, creator Zachary Quinto. Zach gives us the 411 on his backstory, key moments in his creative career, and how "uncertainty" can be the most enticing guide. Zach takes us from Broadway to television to blockbuster films, Glass Menagerie to American Horror Story to Star Trek and well beyond. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
