Prinze Lyons, Dancer, Choreographer, and Filmmaker, stopped by to speak with Nancy about his career and his latest project, a dance centered film. ------
Prince Lyons is a professional freelance performing artist and creative from St. Louis, MO. Prince began his dance journey at Best Dance and Talent Center under the direction of Judy Best-Person and received his BFA from Webster University— Cum Laude with an emphasis on ballet. ------
Prince has danced for Visceral Dance Chicago, The Cambrians, Owen/ Cox Dance Group, and Rambert II. Throughout his performance career, Prince has performed works by Diane McIntyre, Kevin O’Day, Robyn Mineko-Williams, Benoit Swan-Pouffer, Jermaine Spivey, Ohad Naharin, Sidi Larbi, Damien Jalet and worked with recording artists like Jessie Ware. ------
Prince has choreographed on Visceral Dance Chicago, Big Muddy Dance Company, is the 2018-2019 winner of Western Michigan University’s Department of Dance National Choreography Competition, and is the Co-Founded and premiered The K/P Project St. Louis in June of 2021. Additionally, Prince is Jaquel Knight Foundation Grant Recipient and a published model working with Nike, Kohls, JD Sports/Finishline, and Dicks Sporting Goods. His more artistic portraits have premiered in art galleries worldwide from Montreal, Canada, to Melbourne, Australia. ------
Mario Farwell, play-writer, librettist, and screenwriter stopped by to speak with Nancy about his life and career. ------
Mario Farwell is a native of St. Louis Missouri. He attended the University of MO at Kansas City and received a B.A in Theater. While in Kansas City, he founded The Black and Avant-Garde Theatre. After graduating college, he moved to New York City and lived there for eighteen years. His plays and musicals have been produced off-off Broadway in NYC, San Diego, CA, Minneapolis, MN, and St. Louis, MO. Mario Farwell is the founder and current director of St. Louis Writers’ Group in St. Louis, MO. The group’s mission is the development of local scriptwriters’ works. ———
Mario has been writing plays, musicals, and screenplays for over thirty years. His insight into the complexity of the human psyche began at an early age. As a young boy, he would spend hours at his mother’s beauty shop. There he carefully observed the many eccentric characters that patronized the shop. He soaked in all the wonderful gossip and stories that the neighborhood women would spin. His play The Seamstress of St. Francis Street was strongly influenced by this experience. The Seamstress of St. Francis Street was fully staged by First Run Theatre in August 2007. The play also won the Inaugural E. Desmond Lee Playwriting Competition, and the award-winning play was turned into a feature film entitled Pennies for the Boatman. The film has won several awards which includes Best Film and Screenplay at the Madrid International Film Festival. ———
The Seamstress of St. Francis Street was produced in 2010 in Ghana, Africa by the University of Ghana at Legon. ———
His plays have won The Emerging Playwright Awards at Urban Stages in NYC, been included in the Summer Play Festival at Jungle Theatre in Minneapolis, MN, won Best Play at Scripteaser in San Diego, CA, and nine of his plays have been selected for production at First Run Theatre in St. Louis, MO. ———
Mario’s full-length plays include Last Days of Café Café, Life Among the Trees, The Healing of Joey Padowaski, The Seamstress of St. Francis Street, You Know I Can’t Eat Buffalo Meat When There’s a Terrorist on the Loose, Apollo's Way, and Icarus Wings. He has written numerous one-acts: I AM GOAT, Service With a Smile, Beans, Naughty Boy, Naughty Girl, The Body Exchange and Don’t Hate Me ‘Cause I’m Beautiful are a few of his short plays. ———
He has also written a screenplay entitled, The Eyes of Forever. He is currently working on completing two musicals, the first Joan of Arc a musical drama based on the life of Joan of Arc and the second musical entitled Starfest is a sci-fi adventure infused with Afro-American culture and music. Recently, Mr. Farwell has produced and directed a showcase production of his musical Joan of Arc.
Rick Recht, musician and Executive Director of Jewish Rock Radio, stopped by to talk about his career and his involvement at the internet radio station. -------
About Jewish Rock Radio: -------
Mission: Jewish Rock Radio is the flagship initiative of Judaism Alive, a non-profit 501c3. The mission of Jewish Rock Radio (JRR) is to strengthen Jewish identity and engagement for youth and young adults through the power of music. -------
BACKGROUND: Jewish Rock Radio, the first high-caliber, 24-7, Jewish rock internet radio station was founded in 2009 by Jewish music pioneer, Rick Recht. JRR serves as a powerful network, promoting and elevating the international Jewish artist community while sharing a wealth of engagement opportunities available in the Jewish world for teens and young adults. -------
JRR has launched a variety of impactful initiatives including JRR Live Across America, The JRR Gift of Music, and the Jewish Star North American Talent Search to identify, attract, and support new talent in the Jewish world. -------