12:00: Inside theater's 'best antidote for depression'
1:00: 'Mountain Stage' — the OG public radio live music showcase — comes to Rochester
Finding beauty in the little things can be a cliché idea... or it can be the seed of what The Guardian calls "a global phenomenon" and an "uplifting play about depression." The play is called "Every Brilliant Thing," and it tells the story of a young boy responding to his mother's suicide attempt. He makes a list of all the things that make his own life worth living: water fights; ice cream; "things with stripes," as he puts it. In its ten years, the play has been produced in 63 countries. It comes to Rochester's Blackfriars Theatre beginning next week. We discuss the themes with our guests:
- Patricia Lewis Brown, director of "Every Brilliant Thing" at Blackfriars Theatre
- Daniel Majek, actor in "Every Brilliant Thing" at Blackfriars Theatre
- Haley Amering, director of youth and community engagement at NAMI Rochester
- Tony Pisani, Ph.D., psychologist, family therapist, suicide prevention researcher, and professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the University of Rochester Center for the Study and Prevention of Suicide, and founder of SafeSide Prevention
Then in our second hour, if live music is dying, no one told "Mountain Stage." If artificial intelligence is going to kill songwriting, no one informed the artists who bring their originals to public radio's beloved home for the craft. For forty years, "Mountain Stage" has featured legends and up-and-comers: Tori Amos and Indigo Girls and The Weepies and Stephen Kellogg and Jeff Daniels and Dawes and... the list is long. This month, the stage comes to Rochester. But first, we talk about the value of the human experience of songwriting with our guests:
- Kathy Mattea, Grammy-winning artist and host of "Mountain Stage"
- Adam Harris, executive producer of "Mountain Stage"
- Hannah Maier, singer-songwriter, and music director and afternoon host for The Route
- Michael Black, radio program manager for WXXI
*Note: "Connections" is livestreamed each day on the WXXI News YouTube channel. Watch here.
