Culture Gabfest - Theater Camp Breaks a Leg
Slate Culture Feed
Slate Podcasts
4.2 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 2 August 2023
⏱️ 54 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week, the panel begins by diving into Theater Camp, a mockumentary-style comedy about gloriously talented misfits. Then, they pay tribute to Sinéad O’Connor, the dearly missed Irish singer, songwriter, and activist whose 1992 performance on Saturday Night Live rocked the world. Then, the trio is joined by screenwriter (and co-host of the Scriptnotes podcast) John August to discuss the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, what’s going on in Hollywood, and how this “double strike” feels different than others past.
In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, the panel chews over our relationships to our digits, inspired by the delightfully small yet cerebral piece by Charlie Warzel for The Atlantic, “In Praise of Phone Numbers.”
Email us at culturefest@slate.com.
Endorsements:
Dana: While not released on one of her albums, Sinéad O’Connor’s performance of “The Foggy Dew” with The Chieftains at the 1995 IRMA awards in Dublin perfectly captures the singer’s gift for singing live.
Julia: A big fan of lighting candles at dinner, Julia recommends Mole Hollow, a Massachusetts-based company that produces stunning handmade candles in bright, vibrant colors.
John: Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone’s novel, This is How You Lose the Time War, is a beautiful and intimate story with science fiction influences, told through the exchanging of letters, epistolary-style. Shout out to Twitter user @maskofbun for the viral recommendation.
Stephen: He doesn’t normally join the bandwagon of clear winners, but Patrick Radden Keefe’s profile of art dealer Larry Gagosian for The New Yorker is so impressive, it left Stephen speechless.
Outro music: “Forbidden Love” by OTE
Podcast production by Cameron Drews. Production assistance by Kat Hong.
This episode is sponsored by the podcast About the Journey. Learn more here: https://traveler.marriott.com/about-the-journey/
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm Stephen Meckath and this is the Slate Culture Gap Fest, theater camp breaks the leg |
| 0:14.6 | edition. |
| 0:15.6 | It's Wednesday, August 2nd, 2023. |
| 0:18.7 | On today's show, theater camp, it's a documentary style comedy about just what the title says. |
| 0:22.8 | A summer camp for gloriously talented misfits. |
| 0:26.1 | It stars Molly Gordon, Ben Platt and Jimmy Tattro, Rhymes with Bro, and then the Irish singer-songwriter |
| 0:32.8 | Shenato Conner has died, bringing forth an outpouring of love and grief whose intensity |
| 0:39.0 | I think has surprised even those of us who feel it most, we will discuss. |
| 0:43.9 | And finally, the screenwriter and podcast host, John August, joins us to discuss Hollywood |
| 0:49.6 | on Strike. |
| 0:50.6 | First, of course, I'm joined by Julia Turner of the LA Times. |
| 0:54.2 | Hey, Julia. |
| 0:55.2 | Hello. |
| 0:56.2 | And of course, Dennis, even the film critic of Slate, hey, Dan. |
| 0:58.9 | Hey, Steve. |
| 0:59.9 | Okay. |
| 1:00.9 | Theater camp. |
| 1:01.9 | It's a feature film. |
| 1:02.9 | In the Christopher Guest-ish style mockumentary genre, it's about a theater camp whose revered |
| 1:09.7 | matriarch has fallen into a coma and whose leadership role then falls oh so inappropriately |
| 1:15.5 | to her adults on Troy. |
| 1:17.5 | I mean, talk about what's the opposite of the theater kid that's that's Troy under his |
... |
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