Arts

Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis and Kathryn Hahn play suburban moms Kiki, Amy and Carla in Bad Moms.

Arts

Kristen Bell On 'Bad Moms': 'It Was The Funniest Script I Had Ever Read'

8:44am July 30, 2016

by NPR Staff

Bell's new film is about three suburban moms who find themselves ground down by the endless chores of motherhood. She says its creators (two men) wrote it as a love letter to their overworked wives.

Books
Arts

'Meat Cake Bible' Is Packed With Frills, Chills And ... Pez?

7:00am July 30, 2016

by Etelka Lehoczky

Graphic artist, fortuneteller, musician and mischief maker Dame Darcy published the comic Meat Cake from 1993 to 2008. This new compilation is packed full of all the things that obsessed her.

Lots of colleges have these reading programs; some are just for freshmen, and for others, the entire campus or local community joins in. The idea is that books will stir discussion — and unite a class or campus around a topic.

What College Freshmen Are Reading

6:31am July 30, 2016

by Elissa Nadworny

Book programs for freshmen — or a whole campus or community — are meant to spark discussion and unity. This year's picks at nine U.S. schools range from memoirs to political advice from 64 B.C.

Hadestown — a retelling of the Greek myth of Orpheus -- is one of two off-Broadway shows director Rachel Chavkin has running right now. Above, from left, Shaina Taub, Lulu Fall, Damon Daunno, Nabiyah Be, Amber Gray, Chris Sullivan and Jessie Shelton.

Arts

Rachel Chavkin Loves Chaos, And With 3 Shows In The Works, It Shows

4:53pm July 29, 2016

by Jeff Lunden

The avant garde director has two shows running off-Broadway and a musical opening in October. Though she's working on several different projects, she says there's always "a conversation" between them.

Books
Arts

Indie Bookseller Recommends 3 Vacation Reads

4:53pm July 29, 2016

Nina Barrett, owner of Bookends and Beginnings in Evanston, Ill., recommends The Royal We by Heather Cox and Jessica Morgan, Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld and The Violet Hour by Katie Roiphe.

Arts

New 'Merchant Of Venice' Recasts Shylock As A Sympathetic Everyman

4:53pm July 29, 2016

by NPR Staff

Actor Jonathan Pryce is playing the Jewish moneylender in a new touring production of The Merchant of Venice that reimagines Shakespeare's supposedly-comic villain as a tragic and universal figure.

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Arts

For A Female Banker At The Top Of Her Game, What Does It Take To Stay There?

4:53pm July 29, 2016

In the film Equity, investment banker Naomi Bishop navigates the male-dominated world of Wall Street. Screenwriter Amy Fox discusses the film and her research, which included many interviews with women who worked on Wall Street.

Comparing Both Conventions As TV: Did Either One Get An Edge?

4:53pm July 29, 2016

Now that the national conventions have concluded, NPR TV critic Eric Deggans looks back on both, judging them purely as television programs. Policy aside, did either convention make for compelling TV?

Author Walter Mosley with his father, Leroy Mosley.

'Easy' Writer: Walter Mosley's Passion For Bringing Black LA Stories To Life

4:50pm July 29, 2016

by Karen Grigsby Bates

In Charcoal Joe, Mosley brings his iconic private eye Easy Rawlins into the haze of the late '60s, extending a literary odyssey through the transformation of black Los Angeles.

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Books
Arts

Not A Feminist? Caitlin Moran Asks, Why Not?

1:51pm July 29, 2016

Moran says that most women who don't want to be called feminists don't understand the term. She writes about high heels, housework and abortion in How to Be a Woman. Originally broadcast Aug. 1, 2012.

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