The latest episode of Celia Keenan-Bolger’s podcast Sunday Pancakes, “A Disrupter and a Weaver: Finding Your Place in a Social Change Ecosystem with Karen Olivo,” drops May 9. Influenced by conversations before and after Karen's decision to leave Moulin Rouge! following the public allegations of abuse by producer Scott Rudin, this episode intentionally seeks to sit in discomfort and ask nuanced questions more than provide concrete answers. Click here to listen.
In the installment, the Tony winners examine the action necessary to manifest a theatre industry built on transparency, equity, and accountability from their equally meaningful but different roles in a social justice ecosystem.
In addition to the one-on-one discussion, Keenan-Bolger continues her weekly round-up of what she’s reading, watching, and listening to as well as any specific works that help enhance and contextualize the listening experience.
This week, the star suggests listening to this podcast episode of The Ezra Klein Show with Tressie McMillan Cottom and then reading Tressie’s book Thick. Then, listen to her Hear To Slay podcast, co-hosted with Roxanne Gay. She also recommends reviewing Deepa Iyer’s guide and framework, “Mapping Our Roles in Social Change Ecosystems”, originally introduced to Keenan-Bolger through the Broadway Advocacy Coalition, and reading Tavi Gevinson’s New York Magazine article, “Art Doesn’t Need Tyrants.”
New episodes of Sunday Pancakes are released Sundays at 9 AM ET. You can listen and subscribe at Playbill.com/SundayPancakes and everywhere podcasts are available. The podcast is produced by Plate Spinner Productions, edited and mixed by Apples and Oranges Arts, and distributed by Playbill.
Olivo most recently played Satine in the original Broadway cast of Moulin Rouge!, for which they are currently Tony nominated, and won a Tony Award for her performance as Anita in the 2009 revival of West Side Story. The star’s Broadway theatre credits also include In the Heights, Brooklyn The Musical, and Rent. In the spring of 2020, Olivo co-founded the non-for-profit organization, AFECT, Artists for Economic Transparency, in the efforts to educate the industry and promote discussion regarding entertainment industry structures and how they can be altered to better serve marginalized communities.
