Joe Donahue

Bard SummerScape is an annual multi-arts summer festival offering programs in dance, theater, opera, music, and more. Highlights include the Bard Music Festival, SummerScape Opera, major premieres through Fisher Center LAB, and the Spiegeltent.

The Dog’s Gaze: A Visual History' is a unique visual history that examines the social bond between two species, shedding new light on the human condition through the eyes of our canine companions. Art and Cultural Historian Thomas Laqueur will tell us more about his book.

The Roundtable Panel: a daily open discussion of issues in the news and beyond. Today's panelists are an author, lawyer, consultant, public speaker, and entrepreneur; her most recent book is:'Race Rules: What Your Black Friend Won't Tell You'Fatimah Gilliam, Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute Robert Pondiscio, Political Consultant & Lobbyist Libby Post, and Former Times Union Associate Editor Mike Spain.

Ancram Center for the Arts announced its 2026 season with five ambitious works that explore the themes of our times: polarization but yearning for de-escalation, finding love in an age of anxiety, art’s capacity to hold grief and remembrance, the human ethics of scientific advancement, and the psychic damage of war, even when soldiers return without a scratch. Co-Director Paul Ricciardi says “The times we are in call for questioning conventions and creative courage.” He adds, “We also lean in on the unique shared experience that theater offers to take stock and reflect on what keeps us open and humane while living in uncertain times.” To tell us more about this work, we welcome Paul Ricciardi - a Professor of Theatre Arts at the City University of New York - Kingsborough Community College - to the RT to tell us more.

Brad Gooch has spent much of his career telling the stories of larger-than-life figures. The poet, novelist, and acclaimed biographer is known for celebrated books on Keith Haring, Frank O’Hara, Flannery O’Connor, and the 13th-century mystic Rumi.

For decades, Cory Doctorow has been one of the sharpest critics of the digital world—a bestselling science-fiction writer, journalist, co-editor of Boing Boing, and longtime advocate for digital rights and an open internet. His latest nonfiction book,'The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI,'takes aim at the hype, fear, and confusion surrounding artificial intelligence.

Few families have inspired as much fascination as the Kennedys and Britain's royal family. Journalist Caroline Hallemann has spent years covering both as Digital Director of 'Town & Country,'and in her first book,'The Kennedys and the Windsors: The Story of Two Dynasties, One Born, One Made,' she brings their histories together in a fresh and revealing way.

Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho forever changed movie history with one shocking scene, but novelist Leah Rowan asks a tantalizing question: what if Marion Crane had survived? In her debut thriller, 'Marion,'Rowan reimagines one of cinema's most famous victims as a woman who fights back, setting off a suspenseful story of survival, revenge, and reinvention.

Hudson Valley Shakespeare’s summer season is underway in its first permanent home, the Samuel H. Scripps Theater Center. Designed to immerse audiences and actors in the rich landscape of the Hudson Valley, its unique indoor-outdoor setting for the company’s open-air productions offers an unparalleled theater experience.

For more than half a century, Gail Godwin has earned acclaim for novels that blend emotional depth with intellectual curiosity, receiving three National Book Award nominations along the way. In'The Art of Becoming a Citizen: A Memoir,' she shifts from fiction to reflection, tracing the experiences that shaped her understanding of democracy, belonging, and public life.