Shows
Tell Me What HappenedJim Kleinmann, Artistic Director and co-founder of the playwright incubator PlayGround, recalls driving the Staten Island Ferry as a ten year old.JIM KLEINMANN, he/him, co-founded PlayGround in 1994, along with playwright Brighde Mullins and director Denise Shama, and has served as Artistic Director since 1996. For PlayGround, he has provided artistic and administrative leadership for the past twenty-four seasons, developing PlayGround’s unique array of new playwright and new play incubator programs, including Monday Night PlayGround, the PlayGround Festival of New Works, the full-length play Commissioning Initiative, the New Play Production Fund, Potrero Stage: PlayGround Center for New Plays, and most recently the Innovator Incubator. For PlayGround, he has directed more than one hundred short and full-length plays, including works by Ga...2024-12-1010 min
Tell Me What HappenedGaby Iori, publicist at Quirk Books, recalls how receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation in front of her second grade classmates started years of OCD. Gaby is a born and bred North Carolinian currently living in Baltimore with her partner and two cats. She is a publicist at Quirk Books and the digital projects coordinator for Witch Please Productions, where she is the video editor and associate producer for Making Worlds. She is a writer, home cook, and storyteller, and she wants to make you laugh.Tell Me What Happened features the music of Susan Salidor.More information about Susan Salidor can be found at her websiteGet Susan Salidor’s One Little Act of Kindness Ch...2024-11-2515 min
Tell Me What HappenedKatie Todd, award winning elementary music educator & children’s music artist, recalls being inspired by the creative leadership of Mr. White, her second grade teacher.Music is the medium, and helping students feel seen and valued is the goal. This is the fuel behind Maize Elementary School teacher Katie Todd’s music instruction to kindergarten through fourth grade students.Katie earned her Bachelors of Music Education in 2012 from Kansas State University. She continued her education by pursuing a Masters of Music Education degree at her alma mater, graduating in 2017. Todd is in her twelfth year of teaching and currently teaches in Maize USD 266, where she is admired by colleagues, parents, and students alike.Katie finds much of the inspiration for le...2024-11-1214 min
Tell Me What HappenedMartin Ross, a nonprofit leader, recalls the advantages/disadvantages of growing up with an identical twin brother.Martin Ross a nonprofiit leader who specializes in forming Trifectas for community transformation and continues to add to his “10,000” hours in areas of workforce development, partnerships, external affairs and community engagement. In Spanish, he likes to call himself a “puente” or bridge/bridge builder. As an appointed person in Sacramento County, he serves as a chairman, commissioner, or committee member, and is a candidate for school board for the San Juan Unified School District Area 4. For more on the good that he is doing in the neighborhood in practical, compassionate, and innovative ways please follow him on social media and/or g...2024-10-2915 min
Tell Me What HappenedAlex Kingsley, writer and game designer, recalls being in third grade, feeling isolated, and how their participation in a "Destination Imagination" program changed their perspective.Alex Kingsley (they/them) is a writer, comedian, game designer, and playwright. They are a co-founder of the new media company Strong Branch Productions, where they write and direct sci-fi comedy podcast The Stench of Adventure and other shows. Their debut novel Empress of Dust will be published by Space Wizard Science Fantasy in Fall 2024. Their short fiction has appeared in Translunar Travelers Lounge, Radon Journal, The Storage Papers, and more. In 2023 they published their short story collection, The Strange Garden and Other Weird Tales. Alex’s sci-fi plays have been produced in LA, Philadelphia, and Chicago. Alex’s SFF...2024-10-1518 min
Tell Me What HappenedKen Tang, the first Vietnamese refugee elected to the Alhambra Unified School District Board of Education, recalls being a child, fleeing Vietnam on a fishing boat that was attacked by pirates.Ken Trung Tang, the first Vietnamese refugee elected to the Alhambra Unified School District Board of Education in California uses his 27 years teaching experience to guide his new roles as a public servant.Ken Tang has devoted his life to public education and social justice, advocating for students, families, and teachers as a public school teacher, community volunteer, and labor leader. His special areas of focus are building educational equity, inclusion, and linguistic diversity; developing mental health supports for students and staff; and expanding community relationships.The first in his family to graduate from high...2024-10-0117 min
Tell Me What HappenedVictoria Oltarsh, author of "The Boy and the Secret of the Stars," recalls being 8 years old and walking in the Easter Parade on 5th Avenue, much to the chagrin of her Jewish mother.Victoria Oltarsh is a native New Yorker who grew up playing in Central Park while visiting her grandparents living across the street. Now a mother and grandmother herself, she feels most comfortable in the delightful company of children. Victoria has spent her thirty-five-year career directing original and classical plays, teaching rapid-fire-Improv, and story theater, She is a published lyricist on the song, “Lucky Charm,” produced by Grover Washington Jr. on Atlantic Records. Victoria also received an individual artist grant from The Arts Council of Rockland. Her adaptations of classical fairy tales have been performed for students by an adult tour...2024-09-1616 min
Tell Me What HappenedLisa Lindsley, former investment banker turned shareholder activist, recalls being 8 years old and having her cousin returned to an orphanage by her aunt and uncle.Lisa’s 38-year career in finance has gone from investment banking to microfinance to shareholder activism and corporate accountability. Most recently Lisa was the Director of Investor Engagement at Majority Action, where she led a team supporting institutional investors in addressing racial inequity and climate change in their portfolio companies and service providers. She has lived in Brazil, Argentina and Mexico and holds an MBA from NYU and an undergraduate degree from Georgetown.Tell Me What Happened features the music of Susan Salidor. More information about Susan Salidor can be found at her we...2024-09-0316 min
Tell Me What HappenedJill Hopkins, Director of Civic Events and New Media for Metro Chicago and Gman Tavern, recalls a 5th grade fight with a friend over New Kids on the Block, and how she learned the power of words.Jill Hopkins is the Director of Civic Events and New Media for Metro Chicago and Gman Tavern in Chicago. She's served as the host of several podcasts, including Making Beyonce for WBEZ and The Opus for the Consequence Podcast Network, and was a radio personality for CHIRP and Vocalo Radio for over ten years.`Tell Me What Happened features the music of Susan Salidor.More information about Susan Salidor can be found at her websiteGet Susan Salidor’s One Little Act of Kindness Children’s BookGet Susan Sali...2024-05-0727 min
Tell Me What HappenedEric Horvath, VP for Community-engaged Investing at Earlystone Management, recalls a traumatic simulation of the Ellis Island experience while in 5th grade.Eric is driven by a single, fundamental question: how do we transform how power and resources are shared in our economy, while centering those who have been systematically excluded?Eric mobilizes resources for underserved communities as both an investor and an educator. He is Vice President for Community-engaged Investing at Earlystone Management, a family office. He also leads an initiative at Harvard Law School focused on supporting labor pension fund trustees advocate for more responsible investing at their Funds.Previously, Eric served as the Director of Impact Investments at Common Future...2024-04-0918 min
Tell Me What HappenedBob Bossie, a 56 year member of the Priests of the Sacred Heart, recalls the moment he suddenly understood his calling, after partying morning, noon, and night in California.Robert (Bob) Bossie, SCJ is a 56 year member of the Priests of the Sacred Heart, a religious congregation located in over 40 countries. He worked at Chicago's 8th Day Center for Justice for over 32 years. The Center (which closed in 2018) was a faith-based collective of 30+ religious congregations committed to created a world of justice, peace and integrity of creation.Bob focused his efforts on nonviolent resistance to nuclear weapons, war, as well as economic and environmental oppression. Though retired now, "he doesn't know how he found time to work before he was retired."Bob was born...2024-03-2518 min