one, two, 34.

Get my shoes on at the door.

I'm Lapchick.

seven They feel great.

I'm gonna shine after I do it, I'm gonna do it.

But do they get a look at this guy with the beautiful color about the weather?

Just for me to not share it with another?

I got to show to give that out.

Singing show, I'll take a look at a beautiful for That's Earth, your beautiful.

To make beautiful light.

And if you want to see that come along with me, that's right.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to experience Michiana we are so glad that you can join us today.

We're at the South Bend Civic Theater and we're going to find out more about a Thanksgiving drama.

And when I say drama, I mean drama, but you have to tune in next week for that.

But we have a great show today.

We are going to find out about outdoor elements, new webisodes and it's something they've never done before.

It's brand new, so you'll want to know more about that.

And then we're also going to head over to Laporte County Symphony Orchestra and finally meet their new conductor.

But right now, let's head over to Elkhart Civic Theater and catch up with Courtney.

Well, it's time for another great show with Elkhart Civic Theater.

They're back at the Bristol Opera House in Bristol, Indiana, and this time it's a musical.

That's a big deal.

Yeah, I have with us some of the cast, as well as an artistic director to talk to us a little bit more about it.

And you were telling us that this is the first time back in the Bristol Opera House that you guys are putting on a big musical like that.

Yeah.

So this is our first large cast musical in the Opera House since COVID during COVID.

We kept the cast to about five or less, and then we did our big summer musical Cinderella at the Goshen Theater.

It was amazing.

We check that.

Yeah, awesome.

And so, yeah, we're we're back at the Opera House and putting on a show that I think audiences really are going to appreciate right now.

It's a really heartwarming, beautiful story.

And now it's the show is called Great Start.

What is the storyline about?

Well, it's I don't know, Krista, you want to.

I like to think of it as like, it's two different stories kind of that combine into one.

OK.

So part of this story follows my character, Billy, a young man returning home from war and his journey on becoming a writer.

So that's one of the stories.

And then I really want to tell the other story.

You kind of feel that there is a scene.

There is a story that is taking place in the in the twenties of a young woman who is aspiring to be a writer.

And so she in the Forties is a literary edito at the journal that Billy is aspiring to write for.

So it's kind of two parallel to timelines, and we go in and out of the timelines.

Beautiful Music by Steve Martin.

I'm an atypical lot of banjo influence bluegrass, so so it's just this ₩1 a number of Tony Awards before to right?

Yeah, it was nominated for, I think, like five Tony Awards.

Best Musical, Best Score, Best Book Carmen Cusack, who played Alice on Broadway?

Amazing.

I've got a reason to kind of see that.

Yes, it's this cast is amazing.

This is really just a wonderful cast of the experience.

Been like as a cast member.

It's been just so great.

After COVID and everything, I personally have a in big production since everything kind of went down.

So just being together with friends from high school that I went to and from shows that I did when I was a little kid and I've never worked with broccoli before and I've been so excited.

And it's just a great environment and it's just so fun.

Every night, I'm sure the show itself is so heartwarming and like you feel so into it.

Everyone on the show is like, We're going to cry on feelings here.

We have to sing.

So it's a great one.

I think the audience is going to have such a fun time seeing it, which when you are doing the production and the first music rehearsal, all of those harmonies just hit perfectly.

It's just a great feeling.

So it's been really exciting from the beginning.

We've known it's going to be a really special project, so it's cool just to see it so soon.

I know, and it's coming up.

The show actually opens next weekend.

Yeah.

How can people get tickets so they can get tickets by going to Elkhart Civic Theater dot org?

That's theater with the RV spelling.

And there's actually also a link for tickets that you can get directly to the ticket to the Elkhart Civic Theater dot org slash backslash.

Bright star.

OK. And I know you were talking about how the cast is all working together.

I thought one of the unique things that you mentioned was how the cast actually also work kind of as text to when moving it around.

How is that Ben?

Was that like?

It's it's it's awesome.

It's also it's it's really scary because I like to think of it kind of as like a puzzle.

And if there's one missing piece, then it just doesn't work.

We've had rehearsals where we've had to kind of stop and go, but everyone is just working really well together, and it's I think it's going to be really interesting for the audience to see, you know, the set moving by the cast members in costume while the scene is going on.

It's almost kind of, I think Hamilton is similar and that concept is you're actively moving things around, right, right?

And stuff like that.

That's awesome.

And this is exciting.

This is not your director toreador debut.

You've done this before, but you're the new artistic director here, the new artistic director of the.

So exciting to have you here.

I am so excited this has been my dream job for as long as I can even remember, I started doing shows here when I was eleven.

I was a munchkin in The Wizard of Oz.

And I've just been mentored by all of the great people here and brought up in this organization that I love so much, and it's just an honor.

So what do you get to do as the artistic director?

So I work with the actors.

I work with the directors for individual productions.

I kind of oversee anything that you see on the stage.

If there's a certain set that the cast or the director would like.

I work with them to facilitate that with the tag team costumes Basically, if you see it on stage, I'm working with the director.

You've gone through your team with the actors to kind of get it, get it to where we want it to b for opening.

And I always love to see how the sets come together and how quickly they can change from one show to the next.

Tell us a little bit about what that process is like as a team.

Well, you know, this show has been really interesting.

We've got our former technical director John Sharp and artisti director John Sharp, who was and is an enormous mentor to me He's designed the set.

He's also in the show.

I've got a dream production team and Ray Brown is the music director and Jackie Joe Burns is my choreographer and assistant director.

It's just been so great working with him on this show.

This is honestly one of my top five shows.

And so to be able to do it on this stage and with this cas and this production team, it's just really special.

Awesome.

And how do you feel like your character develops or what do you pull from your own personal life into your character?

I remember watching Bright Star for the first time and seeing the role of Billy and just thinking, Wow, I really, really want to play that.

I just really know, you know, I relate to him so much.

I have the honor of kind of getting to sing the title song in the show.

Brightstar, OK?

And that whole song is about him going on this journey to fulfill his dreams and what he's always been wanting to do.

And I've been doing theater for years.

It's something that I hold really close to my heart what I want to do professionally.

And so I just I really relate to Billy on that level of him, you know, pursuing his dreams.

And that's what's represented throughout the whole show.

A heartwarming show, for sure.

So you guys can check it out this weekend and next weekend at the Bristol Opera House.

Make sure you go to the website so you can grab your tickets, and I'd love to see a little bit of the show.

Can you?

Would you guys be willing to get?

So, Sydney, to gather on your way to.

To.

This year is.

Always, always, always, always, always.

But.

Well, they always, always.

She.

I.

There's always, always will always.

It's banks.

Oh.

Always, always, always.

Well, I have a confession to make.

But I wanted to ask you about this tomorrow.

Oh.

What was it like just the chicken?

Yes.

What has it been since?

Twelve years, the maximum friend scrambling around, put it on saving now was that day.

To me.

Because, you know, from the South.

Always have, always, always, always.

Always.

It is a beautiful fall day, and here in St Patrick's County Park in South Bend.

And I'm here with Avi Kirkwood, who is the host of Unity's outdoor elements.

How are you doing?

I'm great.

Thanks for being out on the beautiful morning.

It is.

This is the fall day I live for, you know, sunshine and in the fifties, and it is so beautiful.

So what are you doing here?

Well, actually, today we are recording one of the segments for the new Outdoor Elements season, which is pretty cool because it's all going to be web based this year and today .

Actually, there's a team here that is installing a brand new camera in the bald eagles nest here.

So this is your 19th season, is that right?

I guess I'm not going to keeping track on that stuff, but I think that's right.

I'm not trying to age you with this.

Do you also love that?

What is it, your last name?

You do a show that's called outdoor elements that was meant to be everything You know, so many people, of course, watch it live on it, but then watch it after the fact online as well.

So I mean, for so many people, this is not going to be any different to what they normally do.

So what are some of the things that you're excited about this season?

Well, I think because it's Web-Based, it gives us a little more flexibility.

Some of our segments, we actually talk to experts as we are today, tree climbers and camera installers, but also I'm actually out there shooting many of the segments myself.

I have this little gadget here and my phone and I go out just when I'm hiking and actually talk about the plants that I see or an animal that I run across.

So that's kind of fun.

Yeah.

And one other thing that I think is really going to be fun is we'll get to answer viewer questions or if they share photos or a little short videos we can share about those on the segments as well.

So it's really exciting.

And that is the great thing about when you do stuff like webisodes online is that you're not restricted by time.

You know, you can put up as much as you want and you can really explore things and really get into the into deep, into the top.

That's a great point, Dave.

Some of the segments are super short just under a minute, and some of them run, you know, ten minutes or so and really flexible.

Plus, because it's online, we don't have to peep out of all the words that you say as well here.

No, just kidding.

So is there anything that people can watch it wherever, right?

They can take it, wherever they are, watch it wherever they are, and that's going to be fun, too So besides being here at St Patrick's County Park to see the webcam being put in at the Nest Cam, what else can people look forward to this series?

You know, we've done segments on plants, fruits that are out in the woods, black berries black raspberries, fungus that's growing.

Also, how to sample leaves and why they fall.

We're talking to people who've done the Indiana birding trail and are traveling all over the state, trying to find the all the different sites and the birding trail.

So it's a really good variety, some local and some not so local.

So that's great.

And can people watching also interact with you and get in touch and give you suggestions for things that you should go and explore?

That's a great idea.

Let's do that to please credit me as your producer on the show from now on.

But no, that would be a good thing, right?

Because you're just one person.

But when people are out and about and everybody who watches this show, it's so popular that when they're out and about, maybe they could give you some suggestions of things to go see.

I love exploring new places and I love talking to new faces So for somebody like me who is originally from Ireland, who has only been here for like five or six years, I'm not fully like it.

I get so excited.

I feel like I live in a Disney movie.

Like, I get excited when they're squirrels out my back.

When there's rabbits, I still get very excited by that, which my wife laughs at me.

But for someone like me who's not from this area over your time, your 18 season so far that you've done .

Like, what are some of the things that have surprised you about this area from an outdoor perspective?

Well, you know, it's very rich and very diverse.

And I think what I appreciate and hopefully share with everybody is there is so much to explore, even little tiny things that we take for granted.

Yeah.

You know, the Saint Joseph River that travels through many of the counties in southern Michigan and northern Indiana.

We take so much for granted.

But when you really stop and look and you talk to people who are enthusiastic, you can learn a lot and enjoy so much.

And I think that's what I appreciate about the program.

All right.

So make sure that you watch the 19th season of outdoor elements on WNYC.

It's going to be a webisode this year.

Abby, thank you so much.

I'm I'm really excited to see what you're going to get OK, thanks so much for being here, Dave.

Wait, let me get that shot.

All right.

Perfect.

The Laporte County Symphony Orchestra has been on a journey to find a new music director, and today we're going to talk about ending that journey.

And joining me today is Tim King, who is the executive director.

Tim, how are you doing?

I'm fine, thanks.

Thank you, Charles, and glad to be here.

So you guys went through a long process, unfortunately, because of COVID longer than.

And we had hoped for those who don't remember kind of give us an idea of what this process looked like.

Well, originally it was supposed to be a two year search for the 18, 19 and 1920 season.

And as we got to the end of the 1920 season, obviously we had to cancel a couple of concerts in the spring and we still had two more candidates left.

So we chose to take our search on a year longer there to be able to get the candidates in for the 1920 season.

We had six candidates at that point and then at the end of that process, we were able to ask Dr. Carolyn Watson if she would join our team because she clearly came out the winner with both, with both the audience and the musicians.

I would say because I don't want people to know that this was a very open process with our with our audiences as well.

And fortunately for us, yes, so she we're really, really tickled that she has come on board with us and she's already done one concert with us, our children's concert just last week and then her first subscription concert will be November the 13th.

It's titled A Jazzy American Salute, and we're just thrilled to have Caroline with us.

Thank you, Carol.

Thank you so much, Tim, for that wonderful introduction And Kelsey, great to be here.

So Caroline, can you give us an idea a little bit about what it was like for you in this process because we know you're not in the court right now, and so you can enjoy these musicians to work with them and put on a concert in hopes of being their music director.

So give us a little sense of what that process was like for you.

Yes, sure.

So I had the opportunity to visit La Porte for the first time in November 2019, when, as Tim just mentioned, I was one of the candidates for the music director position and I came and spent a week there.

I got to know some of the local members of the community, some of the orchestra donors and sponsors.

I really enjoyed my visits to local area, high schools, getting to know the students there and of course, the wonderful people that are the Laporte County Symphony Orchestra.

So got to work with them.

And over the course of the week that I was here, we put together a program and presented a performance.

It's actually the corresponding performance, which I'm going to be presentin on November 13.

Actually, it's that that same concept associated with Veterans Day just two, two years later.

And the other difference is, of course, I am now the the music director, whereas before I was a candidate, yeah.

So as we get to know you and we're so glad for you for this opportunity.

But as we get to know, you give us a sense of what your musical background was like.

What has your journey been like to get to where you are now?

Yeah, sure.

So I started playing violin at the age of five, so really quite young, and I was trained as a Suzuki violinist and I have a younger brother.

And he also began as a Suzuki violinist, and he's actually still a violinist now with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in the UK.

Whereas my, you know, journey, my path has been a little more varied in many ways.

So I started out originally as a violinist and I work professionally as a violinist and I.

My other great love is music education and to my undergraduate degree, was a double major in performance in music education.

And I after that, I spent some time studying in Hungary and then worked and studied a little bit more in Germany before going back to Australia and getting a teaching job.

And of course, at the same time, I was quite busy as a performer and I just found myself more and more in front of young groups of students in that that kind of leadership role and figured I should probably learn a little bit more about this conducting thing that I seem to be doing a little bit more often.

And I really had no intentions of doing anything other than just learning a little bit more and making myself up a bit a conductor and no desire to to pursue the profession seriously or professionally.

And yet you could maybe see how that's going.

So obviously along the way, things change, and one of those things that was very pivotal for me was a summit here in the US at the American Academy of Aspen and of conducting at Aspen under David Zinman, which is a very recognized conducting and music festival in school.

And that was really, I would say, the turning points I kind of recognize that, oh my gosh, I think I should give the attention and effort to this area that that that it warrants.

And let's let's see how I go at it.

Yeah, it's so.

So that's a long journey, and we're thankful that it has brought you here so that you're now the music director at the Laporte County Symphony Orchestra.

So we understand, having talked to a number of our local orchestras, is tha this isn't likely your only gig because there's only so many concerts throughout a year.

So what else do you do in in your time throughout the year?

So I guess I tend to keep quite busy.

So I'm just back from Texas on Monday morning where I work with the Austin Symphony and I have a nice relationship with them.

I was doing their children's Halloween concert, so I was doing that.

I'm currently based in Kansas City and I have a nice relationship with actually all the major performing arts organizations here, the lyric opera of Kansas City, the Kansas City Ballet and the Chamber Orchestra of Kansas City.

So I work quite a bit with the chamber orchestra.

And yeah, I do guest conduct around around the country, according to various projects.

So a couple of months or actually only a month or so ago now I was in Texas over in Amarillo doing Hansel and Gretel for the opera there.

During the summer, I was in Des Moines, Iowa, at the at the opera, doing a production there.

Also in the summer, I was a little bit north of where you all are up northern Michigan.

Yes.

So you are keeping quite busy.

That is great.

And that experience feeds from 11 project to the next.

So So we're thankful for that.

So Tim had mentioned that your first concert, the children's concert that you did.

But now the first big concert or full concert is coming up November 13.

Tell people what they can expect if they didn't go to the one before.

What can people expect that that concert they can expect?

I would say something like perhaps they've never experienced before in the best possible way.

They can expect a high octane kind of concert with a lot of energy, with a lot of variety.

It opens quite literally with a bang, with a two and a half minute fanfare by a wonderfully talented young composer called Kevin Day The name of the piece is Lightspeed, so that gives you an insight into, you know, the kind of piece that it is.

And Kevin is fortunately going to be able to be with us in Laporte for the the premiere of that piece, which is great.

You're also going to hear wonderfully, wonderfully crazy fun concerto, the Artie Shaw Clarinet Concerto with the fidgets soloist called Peter Miller.

Also on the program is Bernstein's through Den's episodes from On the Waterfront.

So you're kind of getting the sense of where all the jazz in the the term or the title, you know jazzy American salute is coming from.

And the feature work on the program is the Symphony Number one, the Afro-American by William Grant, still himself a wonderful composer known as the dean of African-American composers.

And if you listen to that, you will hear jazz.

That's just basically what it is.

And of course, we've also added the the word salad to the title with respect to our veterans.

We would like to recognize thank them for their service and of course, honor them.

So also on the program will be some, some favorites America, the beautiful, the armed forces salute, et cetera, et cetera.

But it sounds like a great show.

We are so looking forward to again.

Congratulations and thank you so much for sharing some of your background with us so we can get to know you a little bit better.

It's my pleasure.

Thank you so much for having me.

Now, Tim, I want to get back to you real quick because that concert Tell us about it.

Where is it?

Is it in person online?

We've had some of these back and forth.

Right, right.

I'm actually Laporte County is in yellow now, so we're we're doing very, very well.

As far as the COVID situation is concerned, they will be in person.

The concert starts at 7:00 p.m. and we're on central time and want people to understand that because she's not just one county over your Easter.

So 7:00 p.m. Central time doors open at six.

It's a civic auditorium in support of Saturday, Novembe the 13th.

You can get tickets by going to our website, which is LC s o dot net.

We'll have tickets available at the door, but we only have so many because we can't show the house The floor is practically full now with the tables, which is nice, and then we have some balcony seats that are available.

It's $22 for adults, $20 for seniors, 60 and over.

And we have a policy where students with an ID get in free and that's rare among orchestras.

A lot of orchestras will have a policy where they charge $5 or $10 or something.

But ours is free and so we want we want more students to take advantage of these concerts as well.

So, Tim, I understand, in addition to the veterans being saluted in the concert, there's also something special for them to get to the concert, right?

We're very fortunate to have a generous donor who has offered to pay the admission price for any veteran and a guest of theirs to come to the concert.

So for it, for them to do that, we would love for them to contact us at our phone number, which is 219362 9:20.

Or they can just simply go to our website to the contact us section on the website and send me an email and we'll be happy to accommodate them and they can pick their tickets up at the concert when they arrive that evening.

Well, that is so wonderful.

Again, that concert is coming up November 13.

You remember, the times are a central time.

Its doors open at six starts at seven, so be sure to check out their website for more information and ticket information as well.

Tim and Caroline, thank you so much for your time and thank you for joining us.

Thank you, Kelsey.

Well, that's it for this week.

We hope that you enjoyed this week's show.

And speaking of enjoy it is Courtney Jorgensen.

Since one year anniversary with Experience Me, Shana and Courtney, I just want to talk to you.

Can I just talk to you since the girl is the girl here I just want to say I have thoroughly enjoyed doing this show.

If you you have been one of the missing pieces that we needed.

I love your sparkle.

I love your energy.

I love your smile.

You just bring so much to this show.

So I just personally want to thank you that I have a sister on the show.

Yes, I'm Kelly.

You're going to make me cry.

Oh my God, you have brought me so much joy.

Oh, you were such a wonderful mentor.

Kelly is showing me the ropes this past year.

I really just such a positive influence on my life and I know everyone else too.

So thank you for everything that you do, too, and this has just been so much fun.

I love seeing all the amazing things we can do here in the Michigan community.

It's been wonderful sharing those with everyone across the community, so thank you for doing that.

I know there's plenty more things to see and do.

I'm excited for those two in the years ahead.

Don't forget to check us out next week.

We have plenty more in store for you because we are creeping up on the holidays.

Have a great one experience.

Michiana is made possible in part by the Community Foundation of Saint Joseph County and the Indiana Arts Commission, which received support from the State of Indiana and the National Endowment for the Arts.

This WNIT local production has been made possible in part by viewers like you.

Thank you.