Creativity in Captivity

The author of Crazy Screenwriting Secrets: How to Capture a Global Audience and an accomplished international storyteller who wrote and produced the Chinese-language romance film 100 Days. Weiko is an associate professor at Emerson College, a Fulbright Senior Specialist, a Samuel Goldwyn Writing Award recipient, and an AMPAS Nicholl Fellowship finalist. He has written projects for The Walt Disney Company, The Mark Gordon Company, Turner Broadcasting’s Super Deluxe, Ivanhoe Pictures (SK Global Entertainment), Don Mischer Productions, and Wanda Pictures. Weiko Lin shares the importance of comfort food in Eastern Culture, how much fear impacts the stories he tells, and why he has an affection for the movie Rain Man as he chats with Pat from Taipei. 

An accomplished actor who is the computer voice of the Starship La Sirena in the CBS All Access series Star Trek: Picard, the voice of Bellroc in tandem with Piotr Michael in Wizards; the third installment of Guillermo Del Toro’s epic trilogy Tales of Arcadia and the voice of Ana in Lara Croft: Rise of the Tomb Raider. Kay has choice voice roles in renowned gaming franchises such as The Last of Us II, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Mass Effect: Andromeda, Agents of MAYHEM, Skylanders: SuperChargers, State of Decay 2, Crackdown 3, Final Fantasy XV, and Fallout 76.  She also voices roles in noted animation series such as The Loud House, Spirit Riding Free, and Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts.  Kay is the host of The B-Hive Podcast: Women in VoiceOver.  On today’s episode of Creativity in Captivity she reminds us that the audition really is the job, that there is no expiration date on your career and she reads Pat Hazell’s poem Kid’s Table as a Thanksgiving treat. 

A stand-up comedian, actor, and visual artist who is a nine-year veteran of Saturday Night Live is known for his characters Mr. Subliminal, Tarzan, and Franz (of Hans and Franz), and as an anchor on Weekend Update. Kevin was a series regular on Weeds, Man with a Plan, and Glenn Martin, DDS. A frequent guest on The Tonight Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Conan. Kevin has made numerous guest appearances on shows such as Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Larry Sanders Show. His feature films include All I want for Christmas, Happy Gilmore, The Wedding Singer, Anger Management, Little Nicky, and Daddy Daycare. He hosts Hiking with Kevin on YouTube. In this episode, he shares with us the secret to sketching a good caricature, his admiration of Leonardo da Vinci and advice he received from Joan Rivers about surviving life on the road.

A New York Times best-selling author of five books: Steal Like an Artist, Show Your Work!, Keep Going, The Steal Like an Artist Journal, and Newspaper Blackout.  Austin has spoken as a guest presenter at Pixar, Google, Adobe, and TEDx, and at conferences such as The Economist’s Human Potential Summit and SXSW. His work focuses on creativity in today’s world. In this episode, we learn why he thinks it is important to keep unread books around, why he considers play to be serious business and why the greatest gift you can give an artist is space to do their work. Austin is a man who makes art with words and books with pictures. 

A journalist, documentary filmmaker and the founder & CEO of Emblematic Group widely credited with helping create the genre of immersive journalism.  Nonny combines Unity graphics with real witness audio to recreate powerful events the user can experience using virtual reality headsets. She was selected by Wired Magazine as a “Make Tech Human Agent of Change” and Fast Company listed her as one of the “13 People Who Made the World More Creative.” Nonny is also the program director of ASU’s Center for Emerging Media and Narrative. She is a 2018 New America Fellow, a member of the BAFTA VR Advisory Group, a Ted Talk speaker, and the 2016 recipient of the Knight Innovation Award. De la Peña is a former correspondent of Newsweek, a writer for The New York Times and other major news organizations. In this episode, she shares her views on empathy in storytelling, the importance of connection, and how the immersive experience can give a person the feeling of a duality of presence.  

An actor, author, musician and magician who is the former frontman for the post punk-pop group Possum Dixon, and wrote the captivating memoir Strange Cures. Rob Zabrecky is a regular performer at the Magic Castle in Hollywood who frequently hosts séances for private events. As an actor, Rob landed a supporting role in the supernatural drama, A Ghost Story. His other film credits include a supporting role in Ryan Gosling’s directorial debut Lost River, and a starring role in the psychological thriller, Decay, portraying a troubled theme park groundskeeper who falls in love with a corpse. As a television actor he has been on GLOW, Strange Angel, Criminal Minds, CSI: NY, Comedy Bang! Bang! and Angie Tribeca. In 2019, he and his wife Tommi Zabrecky created the supernatural comedy series, Other Side with Zabrecky. In each episode, Zabrecky invites guests into his home to participate in a séance to contact a departed spirit of their choice. Guests have included Jack Black, Jason Sudeikis, Kate Flannery, Will Forte, and David Arquette. On this episode of the podcast Rob shares that he is never afraid to fail, he explains what art tears are, and he encourages us all to be “punk” in spirit. Pat and Rob are both very intrigued by the concept of a zombie paintball hayrack ride as Halloween approaches. 

This five-time Tony Award-winning stage & film Director/Choreographer brought to life The Producers, Young Frankenstein, Crazy For You, Contact, The Scottsboro Boys, Bullets Over Broadway, Steel Pier, Big Fish, The Music Man and Prince of Broadway. For 10 years she choreographed Madison Square Garden’s annual spectacular A Christmas Carol. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut directing and choreographing The Merry Widow. For the New York City Ballet, she created Double Feature and For the Love of Duke. She has collaborated with the Kennedy Center, The Boston Pops, Martha Graham Company, and Pacific Northwest Ballet. Her choreography received an Emmy nomination for the HBO presentation of Liza Minnelli – Live from Radio City Music Hall, starring Liza Minnelli. She directed and choreographed the Broadway-bound Ahrens + Flaherty musical Little Dancer for The Kennedy Center and Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre. In collaboration with the Williamstown Theatre Festival, she directed the play Photograph 51 for Audible. In this episode, Stro tells us what it is like to cast a show virtually, the difference between directing The Producers musical on stage and for film, and she reminisces about choreographing dancing beer cans for a Miller High Life industrial. 

An award-winning character actor recognized for his salute to the lunacy and legacy of Groucho Marx and his portrayal of the outrageous Latin Lover Caesar in Teatro ZinZanni. Frank is a theatrical barnstormer and has performed lead roles at the Arena Stage, Goodspeed Opera House, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Milwaukee Rep, Bucks County Playhouse, Pasadena Playhouse, Boston's Huntington Theatre, Paper Mill Playhouse and Alliance Theatre.  Ferrante is the in-house director at the Walnut Street Theatre for the critically-acclaimed revivals of Neil Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, Broadway Bound, Laughter on the 23rd Floor, The Sunshine Boys and Lost in Yonkers. The film version of his stage show Frank Ferrante's An Evening with Groucho premieres on public television in Spring, 2022. On this episode he shares insights on the importance of preparation when creating and channeling characters and the value of focusing on “quality of performance” in every show.

This poetic polymath was born in Cape Town, South Africa. The daughter of jazz musicians Sathima Bea Benjamin and Abdullah Ibrahim, she was raised in New York City and studied vocal performance at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School. Jean was destined to be an entertainer from her earliest days dancing with the Alvin Ailey Dance Company. She is a versatile writer, musician, director, producer, actor, and lightning rod lyricist who enjoys expression in all mediums. Jean put rap music behind her in 2018, but has since self-released her music through her website and Bandcamp. Her latest album, Everything’s Fine, was a collaboration with partner Quelle Chris, with cameos from Hannibal Buress, Nick Offerman, Michael Che, and John Hodgman.  Jean developed an online sitcom, wrote an audiobook, and created the non-denominational ministry called the Church of the Infinite You as a way of connecting and motivating people who don’t do church. In this episode, she reminds young artists of the importance of getting yourself a good lawyer, and we discuss the power of the “F” word. If you haven’t figured it out, Jean is a creative force; if she can dream it, she can deliver it. (Photo Credit: Mindy Tucker) 

This iconic Hollywood talent manager that represented Jerry Seinfeld, Andy Kauffman & Carl Reiner began in the mailroom at the William Morris Agency in New York. He soon became an agent and accompanied Elvis to an early appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. He served as a packaging agent for a series of hit shows: The Steve Allen Show, That Girl, Gomer Pyle and specials for Dick Van Dyke, Mary Tyler Moore and Carol Channing. He broke away from the agency life to form the personal management company Shapiro / West Productions with his partner Howard West and they executive produced NBC’s Seinfeld, Andy Kaufman at Carnegie Hall and the film Man on the Moon starring Jim Carrey. The David Lynch Foundation presented Shapiro with the Lifetime Bliss Award in 2012 at a starred-studded comedy fundraiser in Beverly Hills. George and Aimee Hyatt produced the documentaries The Bronx Boys, If You’re Not In the Obits, Eat Breakfast and The Bronx Boys Still Playing at 80. On this episode George shares stories of Andy Kaufman’s first appearance on SNL, he reveals the life highlights of being hugged by Paul McCartney and holding hands with Liz Taylor. He also tells young managers and agents that they need to fall in love with a comedian to represent them well.