Arts

As technology gets more complex, TV producers aim to take advantage of it, such as relying on phoned-in votes from viewers. The interactive talent show, it turns out, predates TV itself.

After graduation, a group of college students landed a nutty job — quite literally. For the next year, they will don the monocle of Mr. Peanut and drive the Planters Peanut Nutmobile.

Wesleyan University President Michael Roth, author of the new book Beyond the University: Why Liberal Education Matters, says that the debate over the value of a college education is hardly new.

Today on the show we'll explore the art of the magazine, celebrate LGBT movie-making, explore the spiritual side of music-making, and wrap up with a better understanding of what it truly means to share. Best-selling author, educator, and O. Henry Magazine editor Jim Dodson is here with the August issue preview and more great local essays than you can shake a stick at. Then film scholar Mary Dalton takes us Behind the Scenes at Out at the Movies Series, Winston-Salem and the Triad's LGBT Film Series. Their celebrating their tenth anniversary and Mary's saved you an aisle seat. Four-time Grammy Award-winner India Arie gives us a glimpse into the spiritual side of her songwriting and performance practice, and artist, filmmaker, and Wake Forest University educator Joel Tauber just wrapped up an entire sabbatical tackling the sometimes thorny issue of sharing, and he can't wait to share what he's discovered along the way with you. 

As an acoustic engineer, Trevor Cox has spent most of his career getting rid of bizarre, unwanted sounds. But in The Sound Book, Cox turns up the volume on those sonic oddities. The book explores weird echoes and unexpected noises from around the globe — including "whisper galleries" and a chirping pyramid.

The eight-part drama that begins Thursday stars Maggie Gyllenhaal as a British baroness with an Israeli passport. She's a fearless actor in a show full of kidnappings, seductions and betrayals.

In London, a matinee ticket for Matilda costs about $60; in New York, it's $137. What's going on? The West End has weaker unions and subsidized theater, while Broadway has amenities.