"Director's Cut" Host Charles Monroe-Kane and Producer Mary Pokorney-Donelan

Forward Forum for June 7, 2009:

Please join us this week for a fun and wide-ranging discussion with WI Public TV's "Director's Cut" host Charles Monroe-Kane and producer Mary Pokorney-Donelan.

Click to Hear Archived Version of Show

We'll also be joined briefly at the top of the hour by NARAL WI director Lisa Subeck, describing a vigil/rally Sunday night at 8pm at Peace Park on State Street, solemnly marking the murder last week of Wichita abortion provider George Tiller, while celebrating the courage of all who have advocated for the rights of women faced with this difficult life decision. Click to Hear Lisa's interview

About "Director's Cut"

High-quality, locally-produced broadcast programming is a scarce and very precious resource. Wisconsin Public TV's "Director's Cut" epitomizes the value of such shows both through its own distinctive and highly-engaging perspectives, and through its role in illuminating the contributions of cutting-edge creative people throughout our community who are producing highly original, compelling and entertaining independent film. Recent studies confirm that communities that embrace and encourage the arts are the same communities likely to have a high quality of life, and this show's presence in Madison is an important means of living out that promise.

Director's Cut is a new studio-based television series from Wisconsin Public Television, hosted by Charles Monroe-Kane, and produced by Mary Pokorney-Donelan. This series features Wisconsin filmmakers and provides a venue to discuss and screen independent film. Each 30-minute episode provides an opportunity for guest artists to discuss the creative process and screen clips from their completed projects or works-in-progress. The show airs Saturdays at 6:30pm. For an archive of recent shows, go to http://www.wpt.org/directorscut/ .

Some of their guests who have also recently visited Forward Forum include Robert Lughai and Tashai Livington (Madcity Chickens), Ben Wydeven and Doug Gordon (The Zombeatles: All You Need is Brains), and Meg Hamel from the Wisconsin Film Festival.

Future guests this summer will include:

6/13 – Guests Frank Anderson and Barry Poltermann
“The Life of Reilly”

6/20 – Guests Melody Gilbert and Mitchell Lundin
“Disconnected”

6/27 – Guest Eric J. Nelson
“Fishin’ For Tradition: A Lutefisk Saga”

7/11 – Guests Tashai Lovington and Robert Lughai
“Mad City Chickens”

7/18 – Guests Civia Tamarkin and Steve Levin
“Jerabek”

7/25 – Guest Cathy C. Cook
“Immortal Cupboard: In Search of Lorine Niedecker”


Both Charles and Mary also have long histories of involvement in multiple creative realms, and in addition to a look at Director's Cut, we hope you'll join us for a wider-ranging discussion about the changing landscape nationally and locally for broadcasting and the creative arts. Please join in our conversation by calling us at 321-1670 (locally), *123 for US Cellular users, or 1-877-867-1670 toll-free nationwide.

About Charles Monroe-Kane



Charles Monroe-Kane spent almost a decade in Europe before starting his broadcasting career. While in Europe he worked on a variety of projects ranging from starting an Internet Café in Prague and running a record label in Amsterdam to anti-nuke activism in Belgium and running a circus.

Charles's radio background started in Chicago where he was producer and eventually executive producer of a daily, drive-time political call-in program on WCFJ AM dedicated to the issues of the LGBT community.

Charles is currently the marketing director and producer for To the Best of Our Knowledge, a program at Wisconsin Public Radio and distributed nationally by Public Radio International. He is also executive producer of WPR's Zorba Paster On Your Health and executive producer of Calling All Pets, distributed nationally by WPR.

Charles has appeared as a guest on This American Life and has done reporter pieces and essays for National Public Radio’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered.

About Mary Pokorney-Donelan



Mary Pokorney-Donelan's hometown is Yankton, SD. She received a BA in Broadcast Journalism at South Dakota State University, and Masters in Communication at UW-Superior.

After SDSU, she moved to Portland, OR for two years doing odd jobs, before deciding to return to the Midwest to get her Masters. While enrolled in UW-Superior, she landed a job as a videographer and editor at a local station, moving over the next couple of years into producing.

She and her husband Brett decided that they were tired of the cold of Duluth/Superior and had always enjoyed Madison. Thirteen years ago, she got a job producing the 6 o’clock news at WKOW, which lasted for about a year.

Then, 12 years ago, she obtained a position in the Wisconsin Public Television news and public affairs unit. She's worked at WPT for over 12 years in several different departments. Most of her current work centers around client-based productions, but she was also given the chance to produce Director’s Cut.

Mary and her husband Brett have two daughters – Quinn, age 9, and Shae, age 4.

(Longtime listeners of Forward Forum also know that Mary's sister--Quinn and Shae's loving live-in aunt--is our frequent guest and sometime guest host, community activist Jacque Pokorney.)

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Your feedback and suggestions for future shows are always welcome: please email us at ForwardForum@aol.com or call John at 608-213-8409.

On next week's show: Editor Raphael Kadushin from the University of Wisconsin Press, who will also update us on his ongoing adventures as a world-ranging food and travel correspondent.