Arts & Culture

This week on Thinking Outside the Book, Susan Larson looks back on some 2019 highlights.

This week on Inside the Arts, RAP Unzel, a children's play presented by the Radical Buffoons continues its run at Southern Rep. It's a feel good, empowering story of identity. This modern twist on an old fairy tale is set in New Orleans and features hip hop, music and dance. Artistic director Jon Greene and playwright Jeremy Rashad Brown will join us in our studio.

This week on The Reading Life: Susan talks with archivist Florence Jumonville, author of “Spreading the Gospel of Books: Essae M. Culver and the Genesis of Louisiana Parish Libraries,” and poet Anne Babson reads from her new collection, “Messiah.”

New Orleans Public Radio's "All Things Considered" Host Karl Lengel offers some thoughts about the arts just in time for the holiday season.

Alistair Bane reluctantly attends church as his friend's grandmother's "special guest"... Jon Levin is penniless with a con man in Las Vegas. Noriko Rosted must find a pet sitter for her beloved cat before her trip to Italy.  Taylor Tower wonders if her dad is the "right" kind of parent. 

Each December 24th, along the Mississippi River above New Orleans, families gather around massive bonfires–some shaped as log cabins or animals–to light the way for Santa Claus or Papa Noel. It’s a holiday tradition that goes back to colonial times along what is now called the Côte des Allemands, the German Coast. I caught up with CJ and his young son CJ Jr. who were tending to a big bonfire on the levee in Lutcher, LA.

Monte Montepare finds himself at an emotional crossroads in rural Alaska.

Christina Igaraividez connects to her grandmother through the violin.

Drummer Patty Schemel finds herself on tour with millennials. 

This week on Inside the Arts, A Christmas Story, The Musical opens!  It is the first Hancock Whitney Broadway in New Orleans show to play the Saenger Theatre since its reopening.  We talk with cast member Chris Swan, who plays The Old Man, in this holiday classic based on the 1983 film.