Episode 15 of the PAD podcast is a special one featuring our first in-person podcast interview with recent PAD alum and director of the #WashU production of ‘The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee’ Brenna Jones! Literally on the Spelling Bee set, Rob talks with Brenna about all things Spelling Bee comprised of an all-student cast, designers, and crew but also discusses her many outside projects that she managed even while a busy WashU student! In 2018, Brenna was approached by the Showboat Theatre Board in her hometown of Hermann, MO and asked to start a program for the local students to experience theatre. Along with her business partner, Brenna created the Half Act TheatreCompany, which has grown to a troupe of over 100 students ages 4-18 that continues to bring summer camp theatre to Hermann and change young lives in the process. She has also helped to kickstart the Riverside Theatre Project, which is a cross-community collaboration between St. Louis and Hermann designed to open up dialogue between rural and urban artists. Don’t miss this inspiring episode interview with one of Missouri's rising theatre stars: Brenna Jones!

Episode 14 of the PAD podcast is live and features producer, writer, marketing director and author Eric Schnall! Eric has worked on and off Broadway for more than twenty-five years which included winning a Tony Award for the Broadway revival of Hedwig and the Angry Inch and a Lucille Lortel Award for Fleabag. He has also written about techno and electronic music for Billboard and Revolution, profiling DJs and musicians from around the world. Eric lives in New York City with his partner and his dog. His first novel I Make Envy On Your Disco was the winner of the Barbara DiBernard Prize in Fiction and has been promoted on programs like Watch What Happens Live. Eric speaks about his journey before, during and after his time at WashU and imparts some beautiful wisdom for all the listeners. Don’t miss this one!

Episode 13 of the PAD podcast features director, writer, educator Pirronne Yousefzadeh who joins the podcast from Minneapolis, Minnesota in her current role as Associate Artistic Director at the Playwrights' Center. Pirronne has directed and developed work all over the country at places like The Public, New York Theatre Workshop, The Kennedy Center, Williamstown Theatre Festival, American Conservatory Theater, Actors Theatre of Louisville, La Jolla Playhouse, Cleveland Play House, and Geva Theatre Center to just name a few. She is also a founding member of Maia Directors, a consulting group for artists and organizations engaging with stories from the Middle East and beyond. Pirronne received her MFA in Directing from Columbia University under the mentorship of Anne Bogart, Robert Woodruff, and Brian Kulick and graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in Theatre and English Literature from WashU. Do not miss this inspiring and thought-provoking episodewith the delightful and talented Pirronne Yousefzadeh.

Episode Twelve of the PAD pod features actor, director, producer, writer, and teacher Sanjit De Silva. Sanjit shares his incredible story about arriving in the U.S. as an immigrant from Sri Lanka and finding his way to WashU where he double majored in Biology and Drama with a minor in Film Studies. While still at WashU, his film study started with an internship at Spike Lee's company 40 Acres and a Mule where Sanjit was a PA on films Summer of Sam and Man on the Moon. He went on to receive an MFA from NYU’s prestigious Graduate Acting Program and followed that with roles both on Broadway in War Horse and Off-Broadway with some of the most acclaimed directors in the world of theatre. He wrote, starred and co-directed the short film Time After and directed and produced the short film Tea Time. His film and television credits are extensive and include roles in The Girl is in Trouble (with Spike Lee), The Company Men, and American Desi (film) and Evil, Blindspot, Madam Secretary, Blue Bloods, The Good Wife, Law & Order, and New Amsterdam (television). He’s also written four plays with wife Deepa Purohit and is the founder of SilvaDollar Films which exists "to create and produce stories about the American experience that aren’t seen in the mainstream". Do not miss this insightful interview with the amazing Sanjit De Silva!

On this episode, Rob welcomes alum Jack Isaac Pryor (they/them). Jack is a writer, theater artist, and performance studies scholar specializing in experimental forms; queer, trans, and feminist theories and methods; and the politics of time. As an Associate Professor of Theater at Penn State-Abington, Dr. Pryor specializes in experimental performance and queer, trans, and feminist theories and methods and teaches courses that combine studio-based practice with the rigorous study of social history and critical theory. Their first book, Time Slips: Queer Temporalities, Contemporary Performance, and the Hole of History (Northwestern University Press), examines the capacity of performance to revise histories of racialized and gendered violence, as well as to reveal queer and transgender futures not determined by past harm. The book also experiments with form, moving between academic prose and creative nonfiction. Dr. Pryor received their BA in Performing Arts from Washington University in St. Louis and MA and PhD in Theater from the University of Texas at Austin (designated emphasis in Performance as Public Practice), earning Doctoral Portfolio Certificates in both Cultural Studies and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.

Episode number TEN of the #PADPod is already upon us and features talented multidisciplinary actor, musician, illustrator, and animator Manik Choksi. The son of immigrants, Manik grew up in St. Louis and started a career onstage completely by accident via a scheduling error by a high school registrar. Manik went on to study Drama at #WashU and Julliard and credits many of his former PAD professors and his involvement in student groups like All-Student Theatre and Mama’s Pot Roast (improv) with inspiring him to pursue a career in the arts. Manik now boasts a robust career that includes television guest and recurring roles for shows like New Amsterdam and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt on NBC, CBS, HBO, and Netflix as well as NYC theatre work both on and off Broadway including being a member of the original cast in the role of Dolokhov in Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812. Manik is also a talented musician, songwriter, animator, and illustrator! He can do it all. He is also currently a commissioned artist at Ars Nova and creating on an epic concert-based adaptation of The Ramayan. Rob samples a song he wrote called ‘The Vow’ from The Ramayan at the end of the podcast so do not miss this episode!

“You have to believe that you are worth your own time.” – Sasha Diamond

For PAD podcast episode #9, Rob sits down with talented stage, television & film actor, photographer, and proud PAD alum Sasha Diamond! The discussion begins with some wonderful wisdom from Sasha’s Mom and only grows in sage advice and lessons learned from the industry from that point forward. Among other things, Sasha describes her circuitous journey after graduating from #WashU with a BA in Comparative Arts including her time as a bus tour guide for Sex In The City tours, acting and improv classes, and using her talents in play and improv to advance her career as a photographer as well. We talk about Keala Settle’s rehearsal of ‘This Is Me’ from Greatest Showman and how that attitude towards art and life can encourage us all to ‘lean in’ and pursue our creative dreams. Don’t miss this episode full of heart and inspiration from Sasha Diamond!

A new #PADpodcast episode is live and features multidisciplinary actor and voiceover artist Corey Jones. Corey talks about his upbringing in Chicago and how a teacher prodded him to take on some challenging roles. From there, he attended WashU initially as an Architecture major and shifted to History and Drama followed by an internship with the Black Repertory Theatre. He did his graduate work in acting at the University of Texas at Austin (Hook ‘Em) and has enjoyed a career touring all over the world with Book of Mormon, playing roles at some of the nation’s top regional theatre companies, and is both a voiceover and motion-capture actor for film (Spider-Man (2018), Trigger (2012) and Spider-Man 2 (2023)) and video games voicing the character of Tombstone. He credits his range and fascination with history fostered by the interdisciplinary education he received at #WashU for his success. Do NOT miss this inspiring episode interview of Corey Jones!