Theater

John O'Neal cofounded the Free Southern Theater, a company closely aligned with the black civil rights movement. Louise Anderson is a prominent African American storyteller. They are both featured in the National Festival of Black Storytellers at Philadelphia's Afro-American Historical and Cultural Museum.

British actor Jonathan Miller gave up a medical career to pursue acting. His career led him to become a television critic, director, and producer. He eventually returned to medicine, and is a practicing neurologist and medical writer.

Marchand talks about the differences between acting onstage and in television, the challenges of raising children while working, and the intersection of her celebrity and personal life.

Dean of the Yale School of Drama theater director Lloyd Richards helms the production of August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. He believes great plays are rare, and that the effort to discover them is worth the effort.

Wilson's latest work, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, is now in production at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia. He discusses how writing dialog-heavy short fiction led him to playwriting.

Actor Joel Grey talks about the legacy of his father, comedic actor and clarinetist Mickey Katz. Grey's Jewish heritage helped him add complexity to his performance in the Broadway and film versions of Cabaret, in which he played the Master of Ceremonies.

Music director and conductor Maurice Peress has spent the last several years resurrecting the composer's early works, including restoring and completing arrangements and organizing performances.

Little tells Fresh Air about his experiences as an African American actor on- and off-Broadway. He considers how black actors have risen to greater prominence on stage and screen.

Jack Eric Williams played one of the villains in Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, and found success during a run of Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera. He has written a musical of his own called Mrs. Farmer's Daughter, about the life of actress Frances Farmer, which is now in production in Philadelphia.

Scholar Frank McCourt and his brother, actor Malachi McCourt, grew up poor in Ireland before finding success in the United States. Both brothers were voracious readers and were able to find success without a high school education. They wrote and perform together in a new, autobiographical play.

Philadelphia Vincent Persichetti a noted composer, especially for concert band. A new work of Persechetti, "Flower Songs," will be premiered at the Academy of Music by the Philadelphia Singers. The work includes poems by e. e. cummings. Persichetti joins the show to talk about how he knew he would be a musician by the age of three and the composer's "inner ear."

Actor, director, and choreographer Maurice Hines comes from the famous tap-dancing family. He is the founder of the company Ballet Tap U. S. A. Hines appears in the film "Cotton Club." Hines joins the show to discuss working as a child with his father and brother, Gregory, touring Europe, learning ballet at the age of 30, the difference between "up-in-the-air," and "close-to-the-floor" tap dance, break-dancing, and the great dancers of film.

Composer and pianist Anthony Davis has composed jazz and "new music" work with his ten-piece ensemble Episteme, directed plays, composed orchestral suites, and taught at Yale, where he also received his B. A. in music. His latest album with his band is called "Hemispheres." Davis has written an opera, "X," based on the life of Malcolm X. The libretto was written by his cousin and Village Voice writer Thulani Davis-Jarman, and the story was written by his brother CHRISTOPHER DAVIS.

Noted playwright Edward Albee is the author of "The Zoo Story" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?," which was lated adapted into an Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton film. Albee has won many awards including two Pulitzer Prizes, one in 1967 for "Delicate Balance," and one in 1975 for "Seascape."

Esther Rolle played a maid in the television show Maude, a role which she hoped would subvert the racist tradition of mammy characters typically given to African American actresses. Rolle now works mostly in theater, and is featured in a production of Carson McCullers' The Member of the Wedding.

William Schimmel is the accordionist for the Tango Project, and disagrees with those who malign the instrument and the dance/music. Schimmel has written a tango mass for accordion, conducted and performed in the Joseph Papp production of the "Three-Penny Opera," and composed the musical "Kill." Schimmel lives in New York and commutes to Philadelphia where he is the dean of the New Power School of Music.

George Joseph Kresge, also known as "The Amazing Kreskin," is a popular mentalist. Kresge will perform at the Fantasy Film Expo this weekend.

Coloratura soprano Roberta Peters made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1950, and has sung there every seasons since. Peters has performed in China and the U.S.S.R. Peters joins the show to discuss her life, career, and the current state of opera.

Composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb are one the most popular songwriting teams in the country. They wrote the music for Broadway shows such as "Cabaret," "Chicago," and "Woman of the Year." They've also composed the music for movies such as "Funny Lady" and "New York, New York." Their song of the same name from the latter film became a hit when sung by Frank Sinatra. Their new musical, "Zorba," stars Anthony Quinn.

Jazz singer Phyllis Hyman was in the original Broadway cast of "Sophisticated Ladies," a musical revue of Duke Ellington's work, along with Gregory Hines and Judith Jamison. Hyman is featured on McCoy Tyner's new album is "Looking Out" and is in town to perform. Hyman discusses the show, her career, and writing jingles for television commercials.