Cara Lieurance

The Homefront: Musical Memories of World War II is the next program by the 90-piece Kalamazoo Concert Band, conducted by Dr. Tom Evans.  It's a free concert at for 7:30 pm on Saturday, Feb 22 at Chenery Auditorium. 

The featured guest is Megan Dooley, a well-known, versatile singer from Kalamazoo who will perform classics like "All of Me," Stormy Weather," Minnie the Moocher" among others. Evans and Dooley joined Cara Lieurance in a live interview to share their appreciation for this music, and for the collaboration that brings them together. Expect to hear a selection of favorite marches, along with classic songs and dance-band swing tunes on the concert.

After tragically losing her brother, a young woman named Yolanda is sent to live with her grandmother, Mother Shaw. Mother Shaw takes the reluctant Yolanda in, and soon Mother Shaw's circle of friends becomes interested in Yolanda's welfare. These ladies take pride in dressing up for church and wearing spectacular hats to Sunday services-- hats that have stayed in families for years, each one a uniquely personal possession.  That's the premise of Regina Taylor's play CROWNS, which will run from Feb 27 - Mar 1 at the Judy K. Joliffe Theatre in downtown Kalamazoo.

In this radio interview, Cara Lieurance spoke with Face Off Theatre Company's founder/artistic director Marissa Harrington, actress Brenda Earvin (Mother Shaw), and actress Jeannine Jones (Wanda) about the hats, gospel music, and themes of hope and healing community that CROWNS has to offer.

Dr.Steve Feffer is a professor of English at Western Michigan University, and is a founding organizer of Theatre Kalamazoo's New PlayFest. He and playwright Bethany Gibson, whose Dreamgirl will be performed twice during the two-day festival, join Cara Lieurance to expand on the events of the festival and the importance of showcasing Kalamazoo's playwrights.    ​

The free festival, now in its 10th year, is Saturday and Sunday, Feb 15 and 16 at the Judy K. Jolliffe Theatre in downtown Kalamazoo. Eight new 10-minute plays will be performed, under the direction of eight theatre organizations.

For a full schedule and more information, visit the New Playfest site.

Dr. Scott Boerma and Dr. Trey Harris joined Cara Lieurance to preview a 3 pm concert on Sunday Feb 16 shared by the WMU Concert Band and WMU Wind Symphony, and 7:30 pm concert on Monday, Feb 17 featuring the WMU Symphonic Band. Both will be held in Miller Auditorium, and both share the same guest artist: soprano Lindsay Kesselman.

Conductor Bruce Uchimura will lead the WMU Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4 and Arturo Marquez' Congal del Fuego Nuevo at 3 pm on Sunday, Feb 9 in a free concert in Miller Auditorium. The Moxie Strings, an innovative electro-acoustic duo featuring violinist Diana Ladio and WMU alumna cellist Alison Lynn, will join the orchestra to play their original music, which includes Celtic, rock, and contemporary influences. 

Lynn and Uchimura talk to Cara Lieurance about the concert, and Lynn talks about how she and her partner turned Moxie Strings into a music career that takes them around the country and beyond.