Ayanna Thompson

author of “Blackface,” director of the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at Arizona State University

Ayanna Thompson on KCRW

When Shakespeare scholar Ayanna Thompson’s son was in third grade, his class worked on a year-long project about an influential historical figure, and they dressed up as those figures…

Why white actors have historically worn Blackface — not the other way around

When Shakespeare scholar Ayanna Thompson’s son was in third grade, his class worked on a year-long project about an influential historical figure, and they dressed up as those figures…

from Press Play with Madeleine Brand

More from KCRW

Part one of two in which Yaa Gyasi discusses the myriad complexities of her novels “Transcendent Kingdom” and “Homegoing.”

from Bookworm

Joshua Cohen speaks about “The Netanyahus: An Account of a Minor And Ultimately Even Negligible Episode in the History of a Very Famous Family,” his new book that’s funny and tragic at…

from Bookworm

A staggering 81% of metropolitan regions across the nation have become more racially segregated since the 1990s, according to findings from UC Berkeley’s Othering and Belonging…

from KCRW Features

The 400-year-old play is being reimagined by the Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles as a virtual live-action graphic novel. You can stream it on-demand until July 30.

from KCRW Features

The Directors Guild of America says awards eligibility for 2022 requires a film to once again have an exclusive theatrical release. Those rules were relaxed during the pandemic.

from Hollywood Breakdown

Writer-Director Quentin Tarantino on loneliness in his films.

from The Treatment

Nearly 25 years ago, “Rent” took Broadway by storm. The show focuses on struggling artists in the East Village during the late 1990s, dealing with the AIDS crisis.

from Press Play with Madeleine Brand

The American federal government is probing its history of Native children who were taken from families and forced into boarding schools.

from KCRW Features

Amy Gerstler's new book of poetry, “Index of Women,” is the product of a heart the world broke.

from Bookworm