23 stories by "Michel Martin"
The decorated British actress discusses her new film Midwinter Break, her role in Oedipus on Broadway and how she balances stage and screen.
Alicia Graf Mack says her new role as artistic director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is like coming full circle after a stint as principal dancer for the beloved group.
Chess Jakobs' new play "The American Five" tells the story of how Martin Luther King Jr. and his closest allies planned the March on Washington. NPR speaks with Jakobs and Ro Boddie, who pla…
"Purpose" by playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, now on Broadway under the direction of longtime actress Phylicia Rashad, explores the generational conflicts in the civil rights movement.
NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Alicia Graf Mack about how she's reshaping Juilliard's prestigious Dance Division to make it more relevant than ever.
When Virginia Johnson joined the Dance Theatre of Harlem, it was often confused with the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team. This week Johnson retires as artistic director of the pioneerin…
The pandemic placed competitive flamenco dancing on pause in Madrid. Now the passion and the intimacy of the artform are back on stage.
Tina playwright Katori Hall and star Adrienne Warren have plenty to say about working with the star, depicting domestic violence and learning to sing in a new voice.
It starts with a perfect black family in a model household, like a '70s sitcom. Then it gets weird. Playwright Jackie Sibblies Drury says she was inspired by an experience with police survei…
Like many teenage dramas. Tarell Alvin McCraney's play is set in a prep school. But this one, populated by African-American boys and infused with spirituals and step routines, is a specific …
The hour-long piece was created by choreographer Rennie Harris, who formed the first and longest running hip-hop dance touring company. Harris tells NPR's Michel Martin all about the new wor…
Jackie Hoffman grew up speaking what her mother called "kitchen Yiddish" " a few words here and there. Now, she's dusting off the mameloshn (mother tongue) for a production of the 1964 music…
NBC's latest one-night musical event revives the 1970s rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar, starring John Legend in its daunting lead role.
Linda Celeste Sims and Glenn Allen Sims met at work " at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Over 15 years of marriage later, they have some advice for balancing it all and sustaining a …
Director Julie Taymor took an unconventional tack in adapting the animated film for the big stage. Even 20 years on, she finds the musical's social themes evolve and resonate with audiences …
A Tribe Called Quest frontman is the first artistic director for hip-hop culture at the Kennedy Center. He discusses the cultural levity of his appointment and the current political climate.
In his new one-man show, On the Media host Bob Garfield grapples with questions of identity and belonging. "I've been running from the religious part of my religion for my entire adult life,…
Alexandra Silber's father died when she was just 18 " the same age as Fiddler's Hodel when she leaves her dad at a train station. Silber's new novel, After Anatevka, tells the rest of Hodel'…
Smart People is a thought provoking play that examines the difficulties of talking about race. Playwright Lydia R. Diamond discusses the genesis of the play.
NPR's Michel Martin asks a panel of award-winning playwrights how diverse artists are challenging Broadway's landscape, and whether it matters.
NPR's Michel Martin will sit down with a panel of award-winning playwrights to ask about diversity in theater. Follow here or join us on Twitter on Friday at 7 p.m. ET, using #NPRMichel.
"I grew up in a very small town in Massachusetts, and it goes without saying that there weren't many Nigerian families in that town, and a lot of people couldn't say Uzoamaka," she explains.…
Audra McDonald has been dazzling audiences for more than a decade with her stunning soprano voice. She has won Grammy and Tony awards, and has starred in stage classics and the TV drama, 'Pr…
