In this wide-ranging conversation, we explore the stories, artistry, and leadership behind two of Central Indiana’s most influential performing arts forces: Central Indiana Dance Ensemble (CIDE) and the Indiana Repertory Theatre (IRT).

The episode opens with the origins of CIDE and its companion school, the Central Indiana Academy of Dance, founded over 25 years ago by former Sacramento Ballet dancer Suzanne DeLay. What began as a response to a major cultural gap—no youth concert ballet company and no local Nutcracker—quickly grew from fewer than 50 dancers into a thriving nonprofit organization. Today, CIDE supports more than 70 company dancers, over 135 Nutcracker performers, and a professional faculty made up entirely of former ballet dancers, emphasizing serious classical training, ensemble excellence, and artistic integrity.

Suzanne and her daughter Ashley Jacobs, now co-leading the organization, reflect on ballet as both art and athletic discipline—one that demands musicality, strength, precision, and emotional truth. They discuss evolving ballet culture, increased diversity and inclusion, breaking gender stereotypes, and how strong foundational training allows dancers to adapt across styles, companies, and careers. The conversation also touches on modern stagecraft, including video projection and choreography in productions like Frozen and contemporary Nutcracker stagings.

The episode then shifts to theater, tracing Richard’s remarkable journey at the Indiana Repertory Theatre—from arriving in Indianapolis in 1981 and landing a stage management role on A Christmas Carol, to a decades-lon g career as IRT’s resident dramaturg. Richard shares insights into dramaturgy, directing, arts journalism, and mentorship, reflecting on how encouragement, curiosity, and collaboration shaped his path. He discusses preserving tradition while embracing change, inclusive casting, workplace culture, and why theater remains a vital space for empathy, storytelling, and community connection.

Together, these stories reveal a shared truth across dance and theater: great arts organizations are built on vision, discipline, mentorship, and collaboration. Whether nurturing young dancers, preserving theatrical legacy, or adapting art for modern audiences, this episode celebrates the people who keep live performance meaningful—and alive.

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In this in-depth conversation, podcast host Tom Alvarez sits down with Los Angeles–based composer, conductor, and orchestrator Dan Redfeld to explore his wide-ranging career and his newest major project: Jo, a cinematic new musical based on Little Women. Redfeld shares how his lifelong passion for music began at an early age, shaped by classical training, film scores, and musical theater, and how those influences converge in Jo, a richly orchestrated, story-driven score with a strong feminist lens.

The discussion traces the musical’s long journey—from early workshops in the 1990s, through a COVID-era reinvention, to a full London cast recording and an upcoming one-night-only West End concert at Theatre Royal Drury Lane on January 25. Redfeld also reflects on his work in Broadway, opera, film music, and education, his creative process as a composer, and the enduring power of collaboration with musicians. The episode offers a rare behind-the-scenes look at how a large-scale musical is built—and reborn—over decades, with eyes firmly set on a future full West End and Broadway production.

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In this wide-ranging podcast conversation, host Tom Alvarez sits down with Nancy Heck, Communications Director of the Carmel Symphony Orchestra, and Davis Brooks, Concertmaster and Butler University professor, to explore the orchestra’s rich history, evolving role in the community, and its home at the Palladium.

They discuss the power of live music, the unique responsibilities of a concertmaster, the importance of arts-driven placemaking in Carmel’s transformation, and the symphony’s efforts to build sustainability, grow audiences, and secure an artistic director.

The conversation highlights how live symphonic music creates shared, human experiences that can’t be replicated digitally—and why the Carmel Symphony Orchestra is poised for an exciting future.

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