Author and activist Maya Contreras joins me to discuss the aftermath of New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s victory, and what that means for a Democratic Party that might have a restrictive definition of “big tent.”

Maya lives and works in New York City. She’s just finished a new book, The Language of Theft: How The Wealthy Fund Narratives That Rob America of Our Common Sense, in which she offers a blueprint of strategies Democrats can use to counter destructive, donor-funded right-wing narratives.

Guest Info:

Maya Contreras is a political strategist, a narrative interpreter, and an advocate for anti-racist policy. As a lifelong advocate, Contreras’s focus has been on Voting Rights because all paths to policy begin with access to the ballot box. On the road to equity, dominant political narratives that stem from domestic policy inhibit civic participation.

Contreras has given Voting Rights lectures at the Brennan Center for Justice, Clark University, and NYU. She was invited to testify in support of the New York State Voting Rights Act at the New York Senate on March 3, 2020. Maya has held anti-racist narrative and messaging clinics for leading members of the media, and U.S. Democratic Senators’ social media teams.

Maya’s own civic participation is a critical component of her work. Contreras was appointed by City Councilwoman Carlina Rivera to the Neighborhood Advisory Board, Community 3 Manhattan of which she now serves as Chairman.

Contreras co-founded All Women’s Progress Policy Center to create an intersectional policy institute dedicated to improving the lives of womxn and marginalized groups through research and education.

Maya has a MA in Arts & Public Policy from NYU and a BA in Comparative Religion from FSU.

Links:

Maya’s Website: https://www.mayacontreras.com/

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Joining me on the podcast is my friend Lynne Streeter Childress — playwright, actor, teaching artist, singer, director, and (whew!) the founder and artistic director of Building Better People Productions, an organization based in Annapolis, Maryland, that produces theatre-based shows, workshops, and classes based in themes of empathy, kindness, and respect—Traits that don’t seem particularly prominent in our current era.

Lynne has 31 years experience in professional theater, and she’s spent most of her career serving young audiences. This includes performing at the Kennedy Center, Arena Stage, and Adventure Theatre and teaching for such institutions as the Folger Shakespeare Library, Everyman Theatre, and Baltimore School for the Arts.

Lynne also co-hosts the podcast Fine Beats and Cheeses with her twin sister (and friend of this newsletter), Leslie Gray Streeter. Last year, Lynne and Liz invited me on to discuss all things Law & Order.

You’ll hear:

• How Lynne got started in theatre
• Expressing the Black experience while being told (falsely and offensively) that you or your experiences aren’t “black enough” and how important representation is on stage and screen to expand the view on a “typical” experience
• The importance of showing and teaching empathy on stage and starting these teachings early
• And more!

Links:

Lynne’s Website: https://lynnestreeterchildress.com/

Building Better People Productions: https://bbpproductions.com/

Fine Beats and Cheeses Podcast: https://finebeatsandcheeses.com/

Connect with Stephen:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SER1897
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@ThePlayTyperGuy
Email: ser1840@gmail.com

Join the Player Typer Guy Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/stephenrobinson

My friend Jane Jones is founder of Seattle’s Book-It Repertory Theatre, and along with co-founding Artistic Director Myra Platt, she built a company that brought world premiere adaptations of great literature to the stage for 30 years.

The pandemic silenced Book-It for a while, just like many other theatre organizations, but Book-It is back in a new form that I was happy to discuss with Jane. You can watch or listen to the podcast interview here or at my YouTube channel. While you’re over there, please subscribe!

(Jane was also in the first episode of Twin Peaks, and she shares with me some advice she received from David Lynch.)

You will hear:

• How March 2020 changed everything at Book-It Repertory Theatre
• How Jane’s discovery of her own dyslexia in adulthood lead to Book-It’s unique style of adapting literature to live theatre
• How being told she wasn’t the best dancer was actually a tremendous gift
• The future of Book-It productions
• And more!

Guest Info:

Jane Jones is the founder and founding co-artistic director of Book-It Repertory Theatre, with Myra Platt. In her 30 years of staging literature, she has performed, adapted, and directed works by such literary giants as Charles Dickens, Eudora Welty, Edith Wharton, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Pam Houston, Raymond Carver, Frank O’Connor, Jim Lynch, Ernest Hemingway, Colette, Amy Bloom, John Irving, John Steinbeck, Daphne du Maurier, and Jane Austen. A veteran actress of 35 years, she has played leading roles in many of America’s most prominent regional theatres. She co-directed with Tom Hulce at Seattle Repertory Theatre, Peter Parnell’s adaptation of John Irving’s The Cider House Rules, Parts I and II, which enjoyed successful runs in Seattle, at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles (Ovation Award, best director) and in New York (Drama Desk Nomination, best director)...

Links:

Book-It Website: book-it.org

Connect with Stephen:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SER1897
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@ThePlayTyperGuy
Email: ser1840@gmail.com

Join the Player Typer Guy Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/stephenrobinson

There’s so much I love about Thanksgiving — the food, the official kick-off of Mariah Carey Music Season, and of course, the Mystery Science Theater 3000 Turkey Day marathons, which I’ve enjoyed since 1993. This magical combination of gluttony and cheesy movies are an annual treat.

Joining me on the podcast for a special tribute to MST3K is Erik Barnes, a writer, comedian, and aspiring swashbuckler. Erik is currently a script writer for the comedy news video essay show Some More News, which you should check out on YouTube.

The first Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode aired on November 24, 1988, which was Thanksgiving Day. It wasn’t intentional, but a holiday tradition began, especially once there were enough episodes to run as a marathon. It was perfect counter programming to sports and parades.

You will hear:

• How we got into MST3K back in the day
• How the show gained a following and became a Thanksgiving tradition
• MST3K helped aspiring comedians learn comedic timing and became a sort of improv practice
• Even though the movies are terrible, it is important to remember how hard it is to get a movie made at all and that all movies have inherent value
• And more!

Connect with Stephen:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SER1897
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@ThePlayTyperGuy
Email: ser1840@gmail.com

Join the Player Typer Guy Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/stephenrobinson

Writer Noah Berlatsky from Public Notice and Everything Is Horrible joins me as we defy the authoritarian state and frankly discuss Charlie Kirk and his posthumous deification.

You will hear:

• How the discussion around Charlie Kirk’s murder is overriding other shootings and why his supposed “good faith attempts” to cross the aisle is not what was happening at all
• Kirk was often spoken of as someone who helped the left by debating (poorly) and allowing for (better) discussions to arise, all while ignoring the fact that he helped organized an insurrection, including transporting a rioter who violently hit law enforcement in the face with a fire extinguisher
• The mainstream (right) media talks about how we should just get past corrosive politics without acknowledging that Charlie Kirk was a major contributor to those corrosive politics through blatant racism, smear campaigns, ad hominim attacks, etc.
• When people like Ezra Klein talk about “coming together” in a bipartisan way, they mean white people need to come together and subjugate everyone else around them to their way of doing things and understanding that non-white, non-cis/het people are not going to advance
• The consequences of elections and how politicians, especially Democrats, need to focus on doing the job they were elected to do and actually making a difference rather than looking to win the next election
• And so much more!

Guest Info:

Noah Berlatsky has worked as a writer for twenty years, focusing on a wide array of topics for audiences including academics, popular audiences, high school students, and children.

Noah’s book, Wonder Woman: Bondage and Feminism in the Marston/Peter Comics, 1941-1948 was published in early 2015 by Rutgers University Press.

His reviews and essays have appeared on NPR's All Things Considered, NBC Think Online, Pacific Standard, the Atlantic, the Washington Post, the LA Times, the Guardian, Media Matters, Salon, the Awl, Slate, the Chicago Reader, The Escapist, Esquire, Reason, the Dissolve, the Baffler, and many other publications.

Links:

Everything is Horrible: https://www.everythingishorrible.net/

Connect with Stephen:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SER1897
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@ThePlayTyperGuy
Email: ser1840@gmail.com

Join the Player Typer Guy Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/stephenrobinson

Author and playwright Laramie Dean (Black Forest) joins me for The Play Typer Guy‘s Third Annual Halloween Special! Last year, we celebrated witchy women in media, including the weird sisters from Agatha All Along. This year, we’re discussing Laramie’s new novel, Haunt Me, Then, which he describes as “big gay Wuthering Heights.” It’s out now, and makes a swell holiday gift.

You will hear:

• Pillars of the Gothic genre
• The trouble with werewolves
• Fear, vulnerability, and losing your head in the shower
• And more!

Guest Info:

Laramie Dean was born and raised on a ranch in northeastern Montana. He is the author of Black Forest, a novel from Inkshares, as well as several plays from Theatrefolk, including Frankenstein Among the Dead, Dracula, The Gorgon Sisters, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and Finding Jo March. Currently, Laramie enjoys his dream job as the Theatre Director at Hellgate High School in Missoula, Montana.

Links:

Laramie Dean’s website: https://www.bylaramiedean.com/

Connect with Stephen:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SER1897
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@ThePlayTyperGuy
Email: ser1840@gmail.com

Join the Player Typer Guy Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/stephenrobinson

Joining me today is my friend NC Barton, author of The Now In Forever, a romance set along the picturesque Oregon Coast. We discuss her process, inspirations, and how a working mom finds time to write.

You will hear:

• Nicole’s writing process and inspirations
• Some of Nicole’s favorite books and movies
• Who she would cast in a movie of her book
• Her next book, The Art of the Meet Cute released October 10, 2025 - Make sure you grab your copy!
• And more!

Guest Info:

In 2004 NC Barton received a BFA in mixed media studio art. With a degree in the arts and no solid plan, she’s had the opportunity to hold many different jobs; video store manager, barista, photographer’s assistant, toy store clerk, and yoga instructor at a retreat in Puerto Rico, all of which have served her well as hands-on research and inspiration for her novels.

Links:

Nicole’s Website: https://ncbartonwrites.com/

Nicole’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ncbartonwrites/

Connect with Stephen:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SER1897
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@ThePlayTyperGuy
Email: ser1840@gmail.com

Join the Player Typer Guy Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/stephenrobinson

This week’s episode is the unofficial “sequel” to my interview with Thomas Beckett Kane, author of The Reckoning. Filmmaker Jessica Ellis has lived with long Covid for several years now and offers a very different perspective from Kane on the government’s management of the pandemic.

We discuss some key choices the Biden administration made back in 2021 regarding the covid vaccine, as well as the nation’s seeming desire to forget Covid ever happened and how that impacts public health. Ellis has some interesting observations about the know-nothing conspiracy theories that helped put chief know-nothing Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in charge of the Department of Health and Human Services.

You will hear:

• Jessica’s experience with long Covid and how people’s dismissal of the virus, vaccine, and effectiveness of protocols affects her personally and others who have to deal with the effects of long Covid
• How the Biden administration’s “assurance” that once you took the vaccine everything would go back to normal killed a lot of people’s faith in anything they had to say
• The problem with both sides of the aisle trying to politicize the message around Covid rather than following the actual science led people to trust nothing, especially the science
• The danger surrounding RFK’s know-nothing approach to the nation’s health and dangerous anti-vax rhetoric
• And more!

Guest Info:

Jessica Ellis is a commercial and narrative production designer, art director and multi-disciplinary artist.

Jessica’s background as a painter motivates how she approaches set design and world building. Every set is an extension of painting composition, color, construction, movement, and balance. Her narrative and commercial work has been featured on popular network television, most major streaming platforms, and theaters. Her clients include brands like Adidas, Budweiser, Bosh, Doordash, Google, Madison Square Garden, Nike, The New York Rangers and The New York Knicks.

Links:

Jessica’s Website: https://www.jessicaellisstudio.com/

Jessica’s BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/baddestmamajama.bsky.social

Connect with Stephen:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SER1897
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@ThePlayTyperGuy
Email: ser1840@gmail.com

Join the Player Typer Guy Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/stephenrobinson