EngAGE Stories

Tune in to Experience Talks, our “Radio Magazine for the Experienced Listener.” Saturdays 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time on KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles, 98.7 FM Santa Barbara, 99.5 China Lake, 93.7 N. San Diego, streaming live online and now syndicated on up to 100 Pacifica Network stations! You can also enjoy hearing all of our previous shows on the Listen Page of our Experience Talks website.

Saturday, 2/2: Host Tim Carpenter talks with author Amy Friedman, then with playwright Kathryn Graf and actress Diane Cary

AMY FRIEDMAN:  Amy is a writer and teacher. Her books include Kick the Dog and Shoot the Cat, and Nothing Sacred: A Conversation with Feminism.  She teaches memoir writing at UCLA, Skirball Cultural Arts Center, Idyllwild School of the Arts and PEN USA. She writes the internationally syndicated column “Tell Me A Story.” Tim Carpenter talks to Amy Friedman about her new memoir, Desperado’s Wife. Click here to learn more at Amy’s website.

KATHRYN GRAF and DIANE CARY:  Kathryn Graf (left) is a playwright whose plays include Hermetically Sealed, Surviving David, Poor Pretty Birds, and The Stiff. She is also the author of the children’s book Always My Dad. Diane Cary (right) is the actress who discovered Kathryn’s newest play and stars opposite Jane Kaczmarek and Gregory Harrison in it. Tim Carpenter talks to Kathryn Graf and Diane Cary about the play, The Snake Can, playing now at the Odyssey Theatre in LA. Click here for Kathryn Graf’s website and click here for more information about Diane Cary. Details about scheduled performances of the play are available here at the Odyssey Theater website.

Join us for Experience Talks Online, exclusive podcast interviews posted on our website. Carrying on the same tradition as our KPFK-FM/Pacifica Network syndicated radio show, the podcasts feature talented, creative people with experience worth talking about. Find our podcasts on the Listen Page of our website. They’ll post on an intermittent basis, so read this blog for updates about new podcasts as well as new Experience Talks radio shows. You can also like Experience Talks on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to get the latest news. ET Online is produced and hosted by John Semper Jr. and Cynthia Friedlob.

Wednesday, 1/30: Host Cynthia Friedlob talks with musician/artist/Bali Shadow Play (Wayang Kulit) performer MaRia Bodmann

Now posted: Listen here!

See below for information about free performances and classes for all ages — and open to the public! — at our new NoHo Senior Arts Colony. Starts this Saturday, February 2nd.

MaRia Bodmann: An artist, musician, performer and business manager, MaRia Bodmann earned her BFA and MFA in Multidisciplinary Art and Music from California Institute of the Arts. She studied music at the Hochschule der Kunste in Berlin, Germany, and was a Fulbright Scholar in Gamelan at the Indonesian Academy of Performing Arts (ASTI), and shadow theater in the village of Sukawati, Bali. The Dept. of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles, has awarded numerous grants, including the prestigious COLA grant, to MaRia to produce and present traditional Wayang Kulit and creative performances and residencies. Other awards include support from the Brody Arts Fund, California Community Foundation, California Council for the Humanitites, the Durfee Foundation and Puppeteers of America. MaRia’s shadows are featured in Disney’s “Camp Nowhere” and MGM’s “Wild Bill,” as well as theme parks in Singapore and Jakarta.

MaRia is a faculty member of the California State Summer School for the Arts, and past president of the Los Angeles Guild of Puppetry. With her company, Bali & Beyond, her featured credits include the Getty Museum, LACMA, the Huntington, Eastman School of Music, Cincinnati Conservatory, Oberlin, University of Calgary, Swarthmore, USC, UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, New West Symphony, Ventura Chamber Music Festival, National Geographic, Paramount’s “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” the Hollywood Bowl, and many more.

MaRia’s specialty is shadow theater. As a shadow artist she tells stories, sings, plays gamelan music, makes shadow figures of all kinds and choreographs traditional, contemporary and experimental shadow performances.

Free Performances & Classes

Bali & Beyond, directed by MaRia Bodmann and Cliff DeArment, is a performing arts company inspired by the cultures of Indonesia. Based in Los Angeles the ensemble performs and teaches locally and tours nationally and internationally, featuring traditional and creative gamelan music, shadow theater and educational presentations.

EngAGE, in conjunction with the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, is delighted to have MaRia Bodmann in residence for 10 weeks at NoHo Senior Arts Colony to present classes in and public performances of Bali shadow theater. The kick-off performance will be Saturday, February 2nd, at 2:00 p.m. Classes begin on Saturday, February 9th, from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. The community is invited to enjoy and participate! All ages are welcome (children under 13 must be accompanied by an adult.) Call (818) 837-9485 or click here to get more information.