Interview with the Artist – Details, episodes & analysis

Broadway icon Chita Rivera is a two-time Tony Award winner, has recieved a total of 10 Tony nominations and is the first Hispanic woman and the first Latino American ever to receive the Kennedy Center honors. Her first major role on Broadway was Anita in the original Broadway cast of West Side Story. She's also well known for starring as Rosie in the original Broadway cast of Bye Bye Birdie with Dick van Dyke, and as Velma Kelly in the original Broadway cast of Chicago opposite Gwen Verdon. Chita won her first Tony in 1983 for her performance in The Rink opposite Liza Minnelli. Ten years later, she won her second Tony for her starring role in Kiss of the Spider Woman on Broadway. Chita was also cast in the film version of Sweet Charity, in which she played Nicky opposite Shirley MacLaine. Chita's critically-acclaimed concert dates continued to play to ovations from packed houses around the world.

Seth Sikes is a performer and director. His directing credits include BUNKED! (Outstanding Musical at the New York Fringe Festival) and The 7th Annual Broadway Beauty Pageant.  He was the Assistant Director of The Nance (Broadway), Tribes (Off-Broadway), Pageant (Off-Broadway), and Sondheim: The Birthday Concert (at Lincoln Center).  As a performer he appeared in Fame on 42ND Street (Off-Broadway). He made his Feinstein’s/54 Below debut with his acclaimed show Seth Sikes Sings Judy Garland enjoyed a sold-out run and was named  Broadway World’s Best Tribute Show. His new show: Seth Sikes Sings Liza Minnelli will continue at Feinstein’s/54 Below on May 2 at 9:30 and June 8th at 7:00PM. For tickets, visit 54below.com

Van Hansis is a three-time Emmy Award nominated actor, best known for playing Luke Snyder on As the World Turns and Thom in the dark comedy web series Eastsiders. Currently Van is crowd funding on Kickstarter for his latest project: Ms. Guidance, a dark irreverent comedy which he is producing, directing and starring in. Ms. Guidance tells the story of Jenny Bump, a talented but self-absorbed actress who, after having a mental breakdown on the New York stage, decides to give up her dream of stardom and return to her alma mater, Loch Hill School for the Arts where she becomes a guidance counselor. But listening to her students' dreams only makes her long to act even more, and soon she is scheming for fame and ruining lives, including her own. It's a show about theater kids and the life that waits for them in the real world. It's a show about unrealized dreams, the disconnect between what we hope we will become and the reality that we end up with. It's a show about trying to let go of a dream that won't let go of you. In this conversation Van and Walker reminisce about their days at Walnut Hill School for the Arts, the inspiration (and location) for Ms. Guidance. They talk about who they were then and who they are now. They talk about how unique a place Walnut Hill is, and how the school changed their lives. Also- Van remembers his time on As the World Turns and sheds light on how to stay sane as an actor: never compare yourself with others, define success for yourself and create your own work whenever you can. Plus, tune in to hear Van explain how the character of Walker Pate in Ms. Guidance is different from Walker Pate Vreeland. And there is a difference. :-)

Jeff Leblanc is a singer/songwriter who has twice broken into the Top 10 of the iTunes Top 200 Singer/Songwriter Chart.  Born and raised in Center Moriches, New York, he  began his career as a street busker in Westhampton Beach.  Jeff tours regularly and has opened for headliners such as Gavin DeGraw, Colbie Caillat, Lifehouse, Chris Isaak, Andy Grammer, Third Eye Blind and Goo Goo Dolls among many others. His music had been featured on Teen Mom, The Real World, The Challenge Rivals, Keeping Up With The Kardashians, FriendZone and Jersey Shore.

In 2011, Jeff was nominated by SiriusXM's Coffee House Channel as Singer/Songwriter Discovery of the Year. In this conversation Jeff talks about his new album Vision, why he worries and what he worries about, how facing his fears helped him grow and evolve as a songwriter, and why he finds it hard to write when everything is going great. Plus- several acoustic studio performances!

Sally Struthers is an Emmy Award winning actress, best known for playing Gloria Stivic on All in the Family, and Babette on Gilmore Girls. In 1970 she appeared on the big screen in  Five Easy Pieces opposite Jack Nicholson. She is currently starring in Nice Work If You Can Get It at Gateway Playhouse in Bellport, NY, for which she has received rave reviews and countless standing ovations. In this conversation, Sally and her co-star Jamie Beaman talk about what they love about Gateway, live theater and performing with each other; why comedy is difficult and dangerous and mysterious and the best high there is; and finding the balance between vulnerability and self-protection as an artist. Plus- Sally reveals why she doesn't get residual checks for All in the Family, how her daughter Samantha changed her life for the better, and why it's important for her to keep working.

Lori Cuisinier is a painter and photographer whose work has been shown in the United States and Europe. The central theme in her recent paintings and drawings is self-portraiture. Specifically, this theme has led her through interpretation and reinterpretation of "self," as well as the inner world of her dreams. Her photographic images are featured in Academy Award-nominated director Mira Nair's 2006 film, The Namesake, in Adam Brooks’ 2008 film, Definitely, Maybe, staring Rachel Weisz and Mark Mann's 2013 film, generation Um..., starring Keanu Reeves. Lori maintains a studio in Southampton.

In this conversation, Lori talks about her many lives: as an athlete, a lawyer, a waitress, a jeweler, a coat check girl, and how one fall down a flight of stairs and a Leonard Cohen song prompted her to reinvent herself once again to become the artist she was always meant to be. Also- what inspired her new photography exhibition Desire, how she began to see her old journal entries as art, the vulnerability that runs through all of her work, and how everything she creates leads back to France.

Bob Balaban is an actor, director and producer. As an actor, he's was featured in 1969's Midnight Cowboy, and in Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Perhaps best known for his work in Christopher Guest's films and for his cameos on Seinfeld, Bob Balaban has also been seen in Woody Allen's Deconstructing Harry, Absence of Malice, Lady in the Water and in Robert Altman's Gosford Park, which he also produced and for which he received an Academy Award nomination. He is currently directly the play The New Sincerity which is making its world premiere at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor and runs through June 14th, 2015. In this conversation, Bob talks about The New Sincerity, living in Bridgehampton, falling in love with the magic of movie making, how being an actor informs his directing, what he's learned from all the great directors he's worked with, and the benefits of being a character actor as opposed to a star.

Paula Poundstone is one of the great humorists of our time. A beloved panelist on NPR’s popular weekly news quiz show, Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me, she alsotours regularly, performing standup comedy across the country. Known for her spontaneity and ability to engage with an audience, Poundstone has said:  “No two shows I do are the same. It’s not that I don’t repeat material. I do. My shows, when they’re good, and I like to think they often are, are like a cocktail party." Paula's book, There is Nothing In This Book That I Meant To Say was published in 2006, and her new CD, I HEART JOKES: Paula Tells Them in Boston follows her first CD, I HEART JOKES: Paula Tells Them in Maine. In this radio interview, Paula talks about why she hates doing radio interviews, preparing for Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, what Robin Williams did to help her when she started out in comedy, how she discovered her talent for interacting with audiences and why technology makes parenting harder.

Kate Pierson is one of the lead singers and founding members of the world's greatest party band: the B-52's. Formed in 1976 in Athens, Georgia, the B-52s (originally Fred Schneider, Kate Pierson, Keith Strickland, Cindy Wilson & Ricky Wilson) have sold over 20 million albums and are known for such classic songs as: Rock Lobster, Private Idaho, 52 Girls and chart topping hits Love Shack, Roam and Deadbeat Club. Impossible to categorize, the B-52s emerged during the post-punk underground music scene in the late 70s, and went on to become worldwide superstars in the 80s, thanks to MTV and the success of their album Cosmic Thing which soared to the top of the Billboard Album Chart. In this conversation, Kate talks about the night the B-52's was formed, how Rock Lobster was written, losing Ricky Wilson, and where the real 'Love Shack' is.

Ballroom dancer Val Chmerkovskiy is a 2-time World Latin Dance Champion and a 14-time U.S. national Latin Dance champion. The younger brother of Maksim Chmerkovskiy, he's best known for his work on ABC's Dancing with the Stars. Val shares a DWTS record, originally set by his longtime rival Mark Ballas, of having the most celebrity partners to never individually score less than 8 from any judge. He is also the only professional dancer to go three consecutive seasons (16, 17, 18) without ever scoring less that an eight.

In this conversation, Val talks about the biggest misconceptions about ballroom dance, the importance of chemistry and storytelling, the mentality required for competition dancing, whether he and Kelly Monaco were together during season 15 of Dancing with the Stars, and why being a male ballroom dancer is one of the most masculine things you can be.