Terrence McNally podcast

"I believe we can do better and I want to find out how."

Interview: Emily Levine, Author, Performer and Jester

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July 29, 2008 01:40 PM PDT

Aired 07/29/08

Emily asks big questions, questions big answers, and makes us laugh.

Emily Levine's website calls her a “speaker, comedian, epiphany provider.” She was formerly a successful television writer. During a stint at Disney, she became more and more interested in Chaos Theory and the Dynamics of Change but found no studio executives willing and/or able to discuss these issues.

As is true for so many sitcom writers, Levine was invited to speak at a couple of think tanks: for USC's Institute for the Study of Women and Men, she spoke on "Beyond Either/Or". Reading up on physics theory for a physicists' think tank in La Jolla, Levine discovered the quantum logic of And-And.

Levine realized she didn't have to make an Either/Or choice - she could be smart and funny. Entertaining and enlightening. She could be a comedian and a philosopher.

I first met Emily Levine in the early 80s. We both worked out regularly as part of an anarchic and frighteningly creative improv group. We included some of the mad pioneers of the form and performed in public maybe three times in five years.

It was there I learned the first rule of successful improvisation - “yes/and.” You stop the creative flow when you say no to what's thrown at you. You keep it moving when you say “yes” “and” run with it. This rule holds true for most improvs in life.

From “yes/and” to “and/and” and beyond…

http://www.emilylevinesuniverse.com

Podcast Summary

Features conversations with people who offer pieces of the puzzle of “a world that just might work” -- provocative approaches to business, environment, health, science, politics, media and culture. Guests have included Ken Burns, Deborah Tannen, Andrew Weil, Jeremy Rifkin, Arianna Huffington, Roger Ebert, Bill Joy, Alvin Toffler, Paul Krugman, Bill Maher, and Norman Lear.

About Terrence

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TERRENCE McNALLY, journalist and radio host, is also a consultant, speaker, writer, and coach to public agencies, foundations, non-profits, and responsible corporations. Terrenceâ€™s radio show Free Forum (KPFK 90.7fm, Los Angeles, streaming and podcasting at kpfk.org, in print at AlterNet.org) features conversations with people who offer pieces of the puzzle of â€œa world that just might workâ€ -- provocative approaches to business, environment, health, science, politics, media and culture. Guests have included Ken Burns, Deborah Tannen, Andrew Weil, Jeremy Rifkin, Arianna Huffington, Roger Ebert, Bill Joy, Alvin Toffler, Paul Krugman, Bill Maher, and Norman Lear. McNally speaks on strategic communications and the power of storytelling, as well as on issues of social responsibility and sustainable development. Speaking and training clients include American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, CERES, Friends Of The Earth, Glaxo Smith Kline (Patient Advocates), Greenpeace USA, Intel, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Herman Miller, NASA, NASD Investor Education Foundation, Nemours Foundation, US Climate Action Network, US Department of Agriculture, and Volunteers Of America. His organizational work encourages and focuses communication, creativity, and cooperation; resolves conflicts; clarifies and aligns vision, mission and objectives; and develops plans for effective action. Consulting clients include the Environmental Protection Agency, Union of Concerned Scientists, Natural Resources Defense Council, Redefining Progress, Business for Social Responsibility, Global Green USA, Rhino Records, and Interface Flooring. A graduate of Harvard, where he won its highest academic award, he has also worked as a writer, producer, and director of documentaries ("Buckminster Fuller - World Man, World Game", BBCâ€™s 1992 Earth Summit special "Greenbucksâ€.) He co-wrote and produced Julie Brown's "Goddess In Progress", voted #4 mini-album of 1985 in the Village Voice National Music Critics Poll. Having acted in over a hundred films and television shows, McNally co-wrote and co-produced the musical comedy feature "Earth Girls Are Easy". Called by Time Magazine "the freshest thing to come out of the space program since Tangâ€, it is now being developed as a Broadway musical. Co-author with Hyla Cass MD of Kava: Nature's Answer to Stress, Anxiety, and Insomnia, Terrence is an annual participant at the Conference on World Affairs, a member of the Television Academy of Arts & Sciences, and has served on the boards of Earth Communications Office, Show Coalition, and Education 1st.

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