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Performing Arts

Monday

'Pippin' Star Patina Miller Soars On Broadway

Patina Miller portrays Leading Player in the Broadway revival of Pippin. Joan Marcus hide caption

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Joan Marcus

Theater

'Pippin' Star Patina Miller Soars On Broadway

Actress Patina Miller made a splash on the theater scene in 2009 as the star of Sister Act. This year, she won a Tony Award for the Broadway revival of Pippin. She portrays Leading Player, the circus artist who guides a young prince in finding meaning and magic in his life. Miller speaks with host Michel Martin about the intense physical training and personal sacrifices that went into recreating Pippin.

'Pippin' Star Patina Miller Soars On Broadway

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Saturday

Bread And Puppet Marks 50 Years Of Paper Mache And Protest

Bread and Puppet Theater performs during a protest in New York in June 1982. AP hide caption

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AP

Theater

Bread And Puppet Marks 50 Years Of Paper Mache And Protest

Bread and Puppet Theater has been a familiar presence at political demonstrations since the anti-war protests of the 1960s. Its giant puppets and raucous brass band also marched against wars in Central America, Afghanistan and Iraq. The troupe marks its 50th anniversary this year.

Bread And Puppet Marks 50 Years Of Paper Mache And Protest

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Friday

Culture

Broadway Star 'Comfortable' With Album Of Intensely Personal Songs

Tituss Burgess gained fame as the outrageous character D'Fwan on 30 Rock. But he's also a Broadway singer who's recorded two albums. Guest host Celeste Headlee speaks with Burgess about his latest album Comfortable.

Broadway Star 'Comfortable' With Album Of Intensely Personal Songs

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Friday

Experimenting on Consciousness, Through Art

Performance artist Marina Abramovic's piece Measuring the Magic of Mutual Gaze is both art installation and science experiment, in which volunteers sit facing one another while having their brain waves measured. Abramovic discusses these arts and science experiments with neuroscientist Christof Koch, an expert in consciousness.

Experimenting on Consciousness, Through Art

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Tuesday

Fear Of Clowns: Yes, It's Real

Tim Curry as Pennywise in a 1990 TV adaptation of Stephen King's It. Come on, tell us you aren't just a little creeped out. The Kobal Collection hide caption

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The Kobal Collection

Pop Culture

Fear Of Clowns: Yes, It's Real

Clowns are terrifying — that's pretty much a given. Even children, to whom they're supposed to appeal, are said to dislike them instinctively. Writer Linda McRobbie says darkness has always been a part of clowning.

Fear Of Clowns: Yes, It's Real

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Monday

John Gallagher Jr. On 'Newsroom' Dialogue And Staging Green Day

In Season 2 of The Newsroom, Jim Harper (John Gallagher Jr.) goes on the 2012 campaign trail. Melissa Moseley/HBO hide caption

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Melissa Moseley/HBO

Television

John Gallagher Jr. On 'Newsroom' Dialogue And Staging Green Day

Fresh Air

In addition to playing a cable news producer on Aaron Sorkin's HBO drama, Gallagher is a Tony Award-winning Broadway performer. He tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross about starring in a punk rock musical and rehearsing Sorkin's Newsroom scripts.

John Gallagher Jr. On 'Newsroom' Dialogue And Staging Green Day

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Sunday

Wallace Shawn: From 'Toy Story' Dino To Highbrow Playwright

Wallace Shawn (from left), Larry Pine and Deborah Eisenberg make up the cast of The Designated Mourner. Written by Shawn and directed by Andre Gregory, the Public Theater show is a product of one of the longest collaborations in the history of the American theater. Joan Marcus/Courtesy The Public Theater hide caption

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Joan Marcus/Courtesy The Public Theater

Theater

Wallace Shawn: From 'Toy Story' Dino To Highbrow Playwright

Shawn has made a living playing comic, downtrodden characters like Rex, the green dinosaur in Toy Story. But in his free time, he has written a handful of intellectually demanding plays. New York's Public Theater is showcasing two of his works this year.

Wallace Shawn: From 'Toy Story' Dino To Highbrow Playwright

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Saturday

Preserving Balanchine's Ballet Legacy, 30 Years Later

Dancers perform George Balanchine's Serenade in a 2007 production staged by Francia Russell and Suzanne Schorer at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. Maxim Marmur/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Maxim Marmur/AFP/Getty Images

Dance

Preserving Balanchine's Ballet Legacy, 30 Years Later

KUOW

Legendary choreographer George Balanchine's work came to define ballet for much of the 20th century. He died in 1983, but his work survived thanks to his disciples who have taken his dances to ballet companies around the world.

Preserving Balanchine's Ballet Legacy, 30 Years Later

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Friday

Philippe Petit: Why Is The High Wire Impossible To Resist?
Ryan Lash/TED

TED Radio Hour

Philippe Petit: Why Is The High Wire Impossible To Resist?

High-wire artist Philippe Petit tells the amazing story of his tightrope walk between the Twin Towers in 1974.

Philippe Petit: Why Is The High Wire Impossible To Resist?

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Tuesday

'Love's Labours,' Tuned Up And Playing In The Park

Daniel Breaker, a Juilliard-trained actor who's earned praise for roles as varied as Donkey in Shrek the Musical and the protagonist Youth in Passing Strange, gets to play a king in a new musical adaptation of Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost. Tammy Shell/The Public Theater hide caption

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Tammy Shell/The Public Theater

Theater

'Love's Labours,' Tuned Up And Playing In The Park

For the first time since the Tony Award-winning adaptation of Two Gentlemen of Verona in 1972, New York's Public Theater is presenting a brand-new musical as part of the Shakespeare in the Park series. The team behind the hit Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson have adapted Love's Labour's Lost.

'Love's Labours,' Tuned Up And Playing In The Park

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Saturday

A Veteran's Piercing True Story Leaps From Page To Stage

The Long Walk, Brian Castner's memoir of PTSD and a difficult homecoming, will soon be an opera. YouTube hide caption

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YouTube

Deceptive Cadence

A Veteran's Piercing True Story Leaps From Page To Stage

Iraq vet Brian Castner wrote a memoir of post-traumatic stress disorder and a difficult homecoming. His book, The Long Walk, got good reviews. But Castner never expected that it would get turned into an opera in New York City.

A Veteran's Piercing True Story Leaps From Page To Stage

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Wednesday

Scalia V. Ginsburg: Supreme Court Sparring, Put To Music
iStockphoto.com

Law

Scalia V. Ginsburg: Supreme Court Sparring, Put To Music

Justices Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg have been friends for decades, but they're known for their differences when it comes to constitutional interpretation. In those dramatic clashes, recent law school graduate Derrick Wang heard an opera.

Scalia V. Ginsburg: Supreme Court Sparring, Put To Music

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Sunday

Broadway's 'First Date': A Greek Chorus Of Emotional Baggage

Krysta Rodriguez played Ana Vargas in the recently canceled backstage-on-Broadway TV series Smash, and Zachary Levi earned a fervent following in the title role of NBC's Chuck. Both performers have backgrounds in the theater, and they'll be together on Broadway this summer in the premiere of the musical comedy First Date. Matthew Murphy hide caption

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Matthew Murphy

Opinion

Theater

Broadway's 'First Date': A Greek Chorus Of Emotional Baggage

Turns out the nerd-turned-spy from the TV show Chuck can sing. Zachary Levi is rehearsing for his first role on Broadway — a new musical comedy called First Date, which also features Krysta Rodriguez, the star of another NBC program, Smash.

Broadway's 'First Date': A Greek Chorus Of Emotional Baggage

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Sunday

For Hannibal & Co., A Horrifying New Stage

Exorcistic, a rock parody inspired by a certain 1971 novel and the William Friedkin film made from it, showcases Merlin as a rapping priest inspired by Max von Sydow's Father Merrin. Above, the show poster for the musical's Los Angeles fringe production. David Haverty/Hollywood Fringe hide caption

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David Haverty/Hollywood Fringe

Theater

For Hannibal & Co., A Horrifying New Stage

One Los Angeles performer has played Dr. Hill in Re-Animator, Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs, and now Father Merrin in The Exorcist. Did we mention he sings opera, too?

For Hannibal & Co., A Horrifying New Stage

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Saturday

Lillian Leitzel, The High-Flying 'Queen' Of The Circus

Aerialist Lillian Leitzel came from a family of performers. In 1905, she toured Europe as part of the Leamy Ladies circus attraction, which included Leitzel (far left), her aunts Tina and Toni Pelikan, her mother Nellie Pelikan, and Lily Simpson. Dean Jensen's collection/Courtesy Crown Publishing Group hide caption

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Dean Jensen's collection/Courtesy Crown Publishing Group

Author Interviews

Lillian Leitzel, The High-Flying 'Queen' Of The Circus

In the golden age of the circus, aerialist Lillian Leitzel captivated crowds around the world with her effortless, high-flying stunts under the big top. Dean Jensen's new book, Queen of the Air, chronicles Leitzel's difficult but glamorous life, and the lives of her performing family.

Lillian Leitzel, The High-Flying 'Queen' Of The Circus

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