Episode 479
with Mark Duplass & Natalie Morales, James Whiteside, and Dar Williams
Host Luke Burbank and announcer Elena Passarello share some special skills that listeners dream of having; filmmakers Mark Duplass & Natalie Morales open up about forming a friendship while making the film Language Lessons, which they shot entirely on webcams; ballet dancer James Whiteside chats about his new memoir Center Center and the need for more queerness in classical ballet; and singer-songwriter and environmental activist Dar Williams explains why she's not sweating the headlines, before serenading us with "Time, Be My Friend" from her new album I'll Meet You Here.
Mark Duplass & Natalie Morales
Filmmakers
With a successfully storied background as actors, writers, and directors, dynamic duo Natalie Morales and Mark Duplass team up together to explore platonic love in our pandemic-induced virtual reality. In their new feature film, Language Lessons, which is Natalie Morales’s feature film directorial debut, these Hollywood powerhouses combine their writerly instincts to uncover the connections we attempt to uphold with technology. Website • Twitter
James Whiteside
Writer
James Whiteside is a choreographer, drag queen, pop artist by the name of JbDubs, and Principal Dancer with American Ballet Theatre in New York City. Amidst dazzling audiences with classic performances, touring in Boston and New York City with a posse of drag stars known as the Dairy Queens, and writing/producing original music and choreography, Whiteside wrote Center Center, a candid account of balancing a career as a professional ballet dancer with his queer identity and vibrant creative pursuits. Website • Twitter
Dar Williams
Singer-Songwriter
With her 25+ years of musical success, folk-pop singer-songwriter Dar Williams is at it again with her newest album, I’ll Meet You Here. Despite being described by The New Yorker as “one of America's very best singer-songwriters,” she has not let it get to her head. Her lyrics are full of optimism and grit that reject the diminishing idea to “admire that yonder star.” Instead, Dar Williams has built a legacy on becoming that very star while embracing a future that is still wonderfully unexpected. Listen • Twitter