S1: It's time for KPBS Midday Edition. On today's show , the arts and culture shaping San Diego. I'm Jade Hindman with conversations that keep you informed , inspired , and make you think. We'll tell you how the Loud Fridge Theater puts their productions on for free. Then a conversation about how to self-publish your own book. Plus your weekend preview. That's ahead on Midday Edition. So Shakespeare is one of the most studied playwrights of all time. But what do we know about his theatre troupe , specifically the boys and men who played his heroines? Well , later this week? Loud Fridge Theatre will debut the play Boy , My Greatness. It follows the boy players who played women characters in Shakespeare's plays. I'm joined now by Lee Edelman and the director of Boy My Greatness and Liliana Talwalkar. She is the associate director of operations at Loud Fridge and a producer on the play. Lee and Liliana , welcome to midday. Hi.
S2: Thank you so much for having us. Thanks for having us.
S1: So glad to have you both here. Liliana , remind us how loud fridge got started and its overall mission.
S2: Yeah , loud fridge started a five and a half years ago now. There was a little Covid hiccup in there , but we are in our fourth full season now. It was started by four San Diego theater makers , and our tagline is we are all about making noise in the San Diego theater community , nurturing inclusive collaboration both on and off stage , hiring local artists , and embracing interdisciplinary creativity to tell bold , honest stories. Part of our mission statement is also making sure that the theater that we create is accessible to anyone who wants to come see it , and making sure it is welcoming. As part of that , we have what we call our open fridge policy , which means all of our tickets are completely 100% free. There is no pay what you can. There is no sliding scale. Our tickets are available for free for every production that we do , because we want to make sure that everyone who wants to be able to see live theater in San Diego is able to. Wow.
S1: Wow. Well. Tell us more about that policy , that open fridge policy , which I think is pretty cool , and why it was important to make the place free of charge. I mean , it's all about accessibility , right?
S2: Yeah , absolutely. I think we see I remember as a kid , I got to see a lot of theater Growing up. And my parents would play a game of , okay , what's the average age in the room and how much are my small children bringing it down? And it is it is true that , you know , we want to get young people into the theater. And I think this show especially is going to be so meaningful to a lot of young people. And theater prices can be very inaccessible to a lot of young people. And so this was something that we started two years ago , in 2024 was the first time that we offered free tickets. And at the beginning of 2025 was when we said all of our tickets will be 100% free. And it does mean that we've seen our audiences shift to have a wider range of people from different backgrounds be able to come see our shows. And , you know , most theaters run on donations anyway. And so we just decided that we wanted to take that a step further. And , you know , we couldn't do what we do without our donors. Absolutely. We couldn't. And without grants as well. But we want to make sure that anyone can still be a part of our community , regardless of that.
S1: Yeah , and I know a lot of grants for the in a lot of funding for the arts of dried up in the last year or so. Has that impacted what you do at all?
S2: Um , we've been very fortunate so far in that we've had a lot of really fantastic , uh , donors in the San Diego community. Step up , our production sponsor for this , uh , production , Beth Goodman. Uh , we could not be doing it without her. Uh , we've been very lucky to receive support from the private foundation as well. Uh , but it has definitely impacted us behind the scenes with how we go about. Um , I would say hiring and and funding our plays , but we have been fortunate in that we've been able to find other sources , and that is thanks to the generosity of San Diego theater communities. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. That's great. Lee , you actually brought the play boy , my greatness to Loud Fridge. What drew you to the play and why did you want to bring it to Loud Fridge?
S3: Yeah , I did , so I found it when it was , I believe , in workshops , the original production in New York , and I saw a very short TikTok video about this show , and I immediately tracked the script down and read it about five times in a row. Um , got deeply obsessed with it. I the first time I read it , I thought to myself , I'm I might actually die if I don't get to direct this show. The that it just brought together so many aspects of theater that I love. The , uh , I'm primarily a Shakespeare artist , so getting to work on Shakespearean text , but in the context of the actors that are living in this backstage world , this place that usually the audience doesn't get to see , that we try really hard , generally as theater makers , to hide the rehearsal room from you , the audience , that it was such a special thing to me to get to put that on stage and to get to show the audience this is what the lives of artists look like when you know the pretty lights aren't on and the costumes aren't finished yet , and everyone's just kind of sitting around having a good time. The so the combination of those things really meant everything to me.
S1: So tell me about the premise of this play and the themes that it explores.
S3: Yeah for sure. So it follows six boy players. So six boys that are playing Shakespeare's women , eight. And they range from age 12 to age 22 , the ones that are still acting. And we also have a character who's a former boy player that we see them in various stages of their lives. We see them just coming into the theater. We see one of them in his absolute last role , and we see two of them that are kind of somewhere in between. But the outside world is starting to intrude into this theater bubble that they've been living in. And it's all of them dealing with the intrusion of the outside world , with the intrusion of religious conservatism , with the plague , with all of these outside factors that are keeping them from being able to live the lives that they would prefer to be living.
S1: And Lee , you I mean , you mentioned you're a Shakespeare artist. What do you think this play might reveal about Shakespeare's work and our understanding of it?
S3: Ooh , that's such a good question. I think that so much of Shakespeare's work was impacted by the actors , that he had to work with , the actors that he was able to put on stage. I mean , and this is just a personal thought , but I think that a lot of the plays that we love so much plays like 12th Night , plays like Two Gentlemen , Gentlemen of Verona , the plays where we have Characters that are boys playing. Women playing. Boys. I think that a lot of these transformational pieces were heavily affected by who Shakespeare had to put on stage , that I think we get to see a little bit closer into the world that he was working with. Mhm.
S1: Mhm. Yeah. And break that down for me a bit. Right. For , for people who are listening and who are and who don't know like what is a boy player. Why did boy players exist. What was the situation around theatre. Um , in medieval times , I mean , we're taking the way back there. So.
S4: So. Yeah. Yeah.
S3: Yeah. So , um , Jacobean theatre , it was super interesting in that. And this wasn't a legal standard. This was a social and a cultural thing is , there wasn't women playing women on stage. It was all boys ages 12 to 22 , who were dressed as women , who were playing women on stage , and then after that they would age into male roles. And this was this was a social thing that rather than being legally barred from the stage , that there there was female actors , but it was seen as something that was inappropriate. It was seen as something that women shouldn't be on the stage. They. So instead they used boy players. Interesting.
S1: Interesting. And. Well , Liliana , you're a producer on the play. Why did you want to throw your support behind boy? My greatness.
S2: So we , uh , towards the end of last year , the second half of last year , uh , Lee told me about this show multiple times. They've been very enthusiastic about the show , very enthusiastic. And I was like , okay , let's let's throw together a living room read. And I remember in that read , it made me laugh and it broke my heart like it did all of these things in this cold read. And I think what hit me was , we are blessed in 2026 to have a wealth of queer language like we have such specific language for all of these identities and and sexualities. And this show is set in a time before we had that language. And yet we have six characters , uh , six men as they are presented , who I think all have a specific sexuality and identity. I don't think any character has an identical , you know , match in that front. And I know that the actors have have thought about that a great deal. And for me , there was something so magical about watching these specific identities and specific sexualities be played out in a world where the language that we're lucky to have now didn't exist , and there was something so powerful about saying this language might be new , the language might be fairly recent , but these identities have always been here. We as queer people have always been here. And I , I figured , I thought that the best way I would be able to support getting this story told um , would be to to throw loud fridges way behind it to convince the rest of loud fridge that we should throw our weight behind it. And , uh , and I think it's going to be a very meaningful play for a lot of the people who come to see it. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Well , Lee , you've described the play as both a love and hate letter to theatre.
S4: Oh , yes. Explain that please. What do you mean by that? Yeah. I mean.
S3: As actors and as theatre makers , we deal with some very interesting experiences. I mean , when you spend so much of your life trying to transform yourself into something else , to be seen on stage , a lot of who you are as a person becomes affected by the roles that you're doing , becomes affected by the people that you're surrounding yourself with. And this play really dives into is it okay to love the theatre even when it's hurting you , even when you are being hurt by the things that you're having to portray on stage , even when there's things that are happening behind the scenes that are causing an absolute tempest in your personal life. And it's also is it okay to hate the theater when it's taking care of you , when it's putting food on the table , when it's putting a roof over your head? And also it's causing these interpersonal issues that it's it's such a beautiful piece. The playwright Zoe did an absolutely amazing job with diving into what it is to be a theater maker , both the love and the joy of creation and the camaraderie with the people around you. I mean , they really become your family in a lot of ways. And also you're dealing with the outside world as well. You're dealing with the difficulty of trying to put art on stage in a world that isn't necessarily open to that art. Hmm.
S1: Hmm. Underneath systems maybe that aren't necessarily open to it. Yeah.
S4: Yeah.
S1: Well , I mean , given all that , what's your relationship to theatre making and acting? What's been your own journey in the arts? Liliana.
S2: I have been working as an actor since I moved to San Diego in , uh , in well , I moved in 2020. Started working as an actor in 2021 for , I think , obvious reasons. But I've been involved in theater and in love with theater for my whole life. Essentially , I was very lucky to be able to go to shows a lot growing up. Um , and it was something I always wanted to do. It was what I went to college for. And I've worked in San Diego as an actor and as an assistant director and as a director before. Um , and what I have always found is that it is a place where you are asked to sit and engage in empathy. You are going to look at characters on stage and you might not agree with them , you might not like them , but that is okay because you are going to sit with their stories and at the end of the hour and a half , two hours , however long it is , you're going to understand where they're coming from. And I think that that is something that we lack in a lot of other areas of our life. And I think that both the storytelling itself and being in a room surrounded by other people who are also watching this and you are all going through this experience together is so , so special. And that is why , you know , I Covid was the perfect opportunity for so many of us to walk away from this. And and I couldn't do it. I could not do it. And um , yeah , I , I think that it is a very special place that can encourage empathy in a way that few other things can. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Lee , how about you? Yeah.
S3: Yeah. So I've been an actor for about ten years now. I grew up in a really sports heavy family. I grew up playing competitive sports , and I also grew up with a grandma who made sure that , um , her Shakespeare obsessed grandkid was at every single Shakespeare show that rolled through town. We saw hundreds of plays together. I think she took me to my first Shakespeare when I was around six. I want to say so. I like to say that I speak it as a second language , the. But when I stopped doing competitive sports about ten years ago or so , I thought to myself , well , I got to have something else to fill. All of these , all of these hours. The so I dove into theater and it's been it's been the love of my life. Wow.
S4: Wow.
S1: Well , what do you , you know , ultimately want people to take away from my greatness?
S3: I want them to take away the recognition that queer and trans people have always been a part of theatrical history , and I want them to take away a deeper understanding of what it is to be an artist , what it is to be a queer person. I want them to take away , as well , a connection with the people that were living hundreds of years ago. Because in so many ways , boy , my greatness is very specifically placed. It's very specifically placed in 1606 , but also many of the problems that they are dealing with in this play and so many of the joys and the triumphs that they're dealing with , it could absolutely be taking place in a rehearsal room in 2026 as well , that I think that it's so important for us as people to be able to draw direct parallels to the people that came before us , to realize that we have always been this way , that the human experience that I want them to be able to connect with the global history that we all belong to. Mhm.
S4: Mhm. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Well , what about you , Liliana? I mean , what do you want people to take away and where can people see it. I.
S4: I.
S2: I want people to walk away knowing that much the same. You know , these identities have always existed and always been here. And hopefully a lot of people will see themselves on that stage and and feel seen and feel heard. If you would like to come see it , we are running from this weekend. We open this Sunday , July 5th , and we are running until July 19th at the Moxie venue in the college area. Uh , if you would like to reserve a ticket , even though our tickets are free , we do ask that you reserve them because we do book out , uh , so you can reserve tickets by going to Loud Fridge. Com , and there'll be a link right on the home page for you to buy tickets. And , uh , yeah , we really hope to see you there. We have a couple talk backs lined up. We have a pride night next Friday. So if you want to come to that , that would be fantastic. We'd love to see you there.
S1: All right. I've been speaking with Liliana Tarwater , associate director of operations at Loud Fridge and a producer on Boy My Greatness , and Lynn Goldman , director of Boy , My Greatness. Boy , My Greatness officially opens to the public on Sunday , July 5th. And of course , we will include a link in more information in our show notes at KPBS edition. Leigh , Liliana , thank you so much for joining me.
S4: Thank you.
S3: Thanks for having us.
S1: Up next , how to San Diego creatives publish their own children's book when KPBS Midday Edition returns. Welcome back to KPBS midday edition , I'm Jade Hindman. Today we are going to visit Wiggly Wrigley Farm to meet Lenny the little sheep. Lenny appears in the new children's book. Your Fluff is Enough , the first in a series of wiggly Wrigley Farm stories written by Rashmi Gandhi and illustrated by Darren Choi , but neither one of them ever thought they would be creating a children's book. KPBS Arts reporter Beth Accomando sat down with the creators to find out how Linney and his farmyard friends came to be. Beth started by asking Rashmi What inspired her to write a children's book?
S5: I think the first thing is I wanted to have a book I wish I had when I was growing up about really recognizing that you are enough. And secondly , I have nieces and great nieces and I really wanted to leave them something that said , you guys are perfect as you are and may you always stay the same. You don't have to compare yourself to anything else or be anyone else. Your fluff is enough.
S6: Originally , though , this did not start as a children's book. So what was the original idea for this?
S5: I spent a lot of time in corporate America and having managed teams who are difficult. I had a wonderful manager and I said to him , we should write a book because it looks like we've handled a team of animals at times , and wouldn't it be great if we wrote a communication and teamwork book about how a farm works , but analogize people to to animals? So that was the original idea. And in fact , I ran the characters that I wrote through a risk assessment just to see how they would turn out. But maybe that's further down the line.
S6: Now because it became a children's book. A key element to children's books is illustration. So , Darren , how did you get involved in this?
S7: Five years ago , when the world shut down for Covid and stuff of that and things are opening back up , I was selling these character Christmas cards. So I would just draw these cute little animals and I would sell them as these blank Christmas cards people could buy and send to other people. So Rashmi got upset and she really loved the illustration style. So I stopped doing that for a while just because life got busy. And then Rashmi approached me and she said hey , I remember those character cards that you did and I loved how cute those animals are. I'm working on this exciting book series that's about farm animals. Would you be interested in hearing more about what this is about and being a part of it? And so she gave me this amazing presentation and pitch about this whole world that she had built with her writing , and she showed me kind of like , okay , this is what I have an idea for. These are the animals I'm thinking. The animals that you drew feel like such a great starting point style that could match. And so then it was a matter of , yeah , this sounds super fun. I've never done anything like it. And let me come up with a design that's inspired by , but can still have its own brand identity , so that we can turn this into something really , really new and exciting. Yeah , it took a few redesigns to kind of find the right one , but it felt like a very easy process of being excited to join and be a part of this. And then also that we just had a lot of easy chemistry. I felt like while we were working , started off with just drawing these little Christmas cards just to try to make a living when the world was kind of shutting down and reopening. And then now it's exciting to turn into something else.
S6: And describe what the creative process is like. Did you have the book completely written and then presented to them , like just talk about how you put this together? Yeah.
S5: Yeah. So I actually wrote four of the books straight off. I started with Lenny. It was while I was traveling. I retired last year and I always wanted to write , but I was never good at finishing things. So I would start things and write some essays and start like four chapters of a novel and have very lofty ideas. But it was when I was traveling , this whole thing came together. So I wrote all four characters and then basically presented to Darren this vision of the world. So I'd written one , and then I wrote the second one , which is Penny. And then I figured , well , where do they live? And then created the world and then went back to writing the next two books.
S6: You mentioned Lenny , explain who Lenny is.
S5: Lenny is a little sheep who perceives that he doesn't have as much fluff or as much fur or wool as all the other sheep , and he doesn't feel adequate. And his story is that he realizes that actually he is adequate. Again , each of the characters has a perceived flaw , a self perceived flaw that becomes their superpower. And again , I wanted to relate that to children just to say that it doesn't matter who you are , that truly your fluff can be enough. You just have to kind of reprogram the way you see yourself now.
S6: When you decided to tackle this , you didn't just write a children's book , you decided to also do it in rhyme and blank verse. So what inspired that?
S5: I've always loved words and rhyming. I love gangsta rap , um , which people find unusual. Um , but I've always loved. I've just always loved rhyme and poem and the ability to tell something in a way that is like a song and rhyme is so fun. Children love rhyme , I love rhyme , and it's that ability , I think. Darren , you said it. It's that feeling of being able to predict the next word that's going to come up. That's super fun and how it just sticks with you. So I've always loved rhyme and I decided to do it in Roman. sometimes I'm regretful of that , but most of the time it's fun.
S6: And Darren. Talk about your creative process in the sense of you're creating these animals. What are you focusing on in terms of the design and the look of these animals?
S7: So my drawing style , I would say , before working on this book , was really inspired by a lot of anime and manga. There's a lot of like with those styles. There's a lot of like sharp edges , exciting things going on , a lot of almost like kind of sleekness. And I wanted to do the opposite of that , knowing that with children's books , I didn't want anything that would come off as looking aggressive in any kind of way. So specifically with the shapes of the characters , I was thinking a lot of roundness , a lot of soft curves , a lot of colors that are a little bit more easier on the eyes rather than bold colors. I wanted the bold colors to be more reflected in the eyes rather than the actual body of the character , and so a lot of it was thinking what would be something that is akin to a stuffed animal? Something that would have like the fullness of being stuffed with polyfill. That would be cuddly cute. I was thinking like big head , small body. That always feels kind of like a fun animated quirk that kind of sets cartoons apart from kind of drawing something more realistic. And I can tell you the very first design of lightning looked a little too editorial. We're like part of his fleece was almost shaped like a bow tie , and then his face was all along and he had slender limbs. And then we said , okay , this is nice for something else , like redesigned to make him a little bit more cuddly and sweet. So ultimately it came down to like , how do we create a character that has that stuffed animal look? And once we answered that question of , can this character be turned into a stuffed animal that kids would want to bring home with them? Once we answered yes to that question , that's where it felt like , okay , this is the design we can land on and now develop further. Original.
S5: Original. Lenny looked like he was buff at the gym , like he worked out at least four days a week and ate a diet of protein and. Wave.
S7: Wave. Peptides.
S5: Peptides. Yeah , but I think the other piece , Darren , you said , which was really important during the process , was the characters should be ones that all children can draw. Mhm.
S4: Mhm.
S5: And that I think was really key in the way that you came up with the design.
S7: So yeah. Because like to me when I was growing up I watched a lot of Disney films like the Disney Renaissance era , um , in the 90s , the 2000. And so like a lot of those characters felt like they were simple in quotations , simple to draw for a kid that was just trying to replicate the simple shapes like there's a head , there's some arms. A lot of that costuming even were like just color blocked sections. And so as a kid learning how to draw easily , being able to copy these Disney characters that were like such a simple , accessible reference to me at that point , I then thought , well , these characters should also have that kind of easy to replicate. The colors aren't super crazy. There's maybe the color palette of each character is five colors at the most , and I tried to limit that to make sure that there wasn't any over complex things that people have to think about when trying to replicate drawing these characters.
S6: And I've heard you talk about drawing eyes before. So talk about making the eyes of these characters.
S7: So they always say the eyes are the window to the soul. Right. And I wanted the souls of each of these characters to be very , very , very easy to see and understand and to emote with. And so with all these characters , their eyes take up , at least I would say , a third of their face , if not more. So I didn't want there to be any question about what they were thinking and what they were feeling , because one of the things that people tend to feel safe about is knowing the intentions of another person or a character. Once it starts to go into like , I don't know what they're thinking , I don't know , then it gets not as safe. And so then I wanted somebody reading these books , looking at these pictures to automatically have that safety of , oh yeah , I can trust this character. I can trust their intentions. And also I understand who they are and what their thinking about. So all of the eyes are very , very expressive because of how large they are. Again , there's a lot of roundness to the shape. So that helps contribute to also the shape of their face as well and the way that it's laid out. And then all the colors for the character's eyes are specifically chosen based off of their characterization and aspects of who they are that are pertinent to the stories.
S6: You've not only thought through doing four books , but you have a website where you want to offer tools to people who might be using the book. So explain what that's like. Yeah.
S5: Yeah. So our website Quick Plug is happy Wiggly. Com and what we've tried to do is make it very approachable. So there's an interactive map where people can go on , kids can go on with their parents or caregivers and click on the little animals and find out more about them. We plan to put coloring pages out of the various characters we have activities like build your own Confidence Crown , make your own kindness cards. Again , the whole world is about sharing kindness. And I know that sounds trite , but I really felt like this world at this time really needs more kindness. And I was thinking about great friends that I have who are grandparents and spend a lot of time with their grandchildren , aunts and uncles who get to spend time with their nieces and nephews. And these are fun things that we can do together. So again , we're going to try and put more of that stuff out.
S6: And you mentioned that this is a four book series. So who will Lenny be joined by?
S5: So Lenny is actually joined by all three of his friends , Penny , Daphne and Felix in the first book. So we have Penny , who's a little piglet , and she's very conscious of her weight and being messy because she loves mud. So that's her story. We have Felix , who is a very cute little nerd , and he's , you know , people think of foxes being sly like a fox. He's shy like a fox. And his story is all about finding his laughter and being able to let other people in. He also wears glasses because my little great niece got glasses last year , and she was very upset that she looked different to everyone else. And so we figured , let's give Felix glasses. Let's let's make that normal. And then we have Daphne , who doesn't quack like other ducks. And that was really an analogy for me around children who have speech impediments. Or I was thinking about , you know , refugee children who come to different countries. They have different accents. They can't speak the language , but they all have something to offer. So that's our three characters so far. I wrote them time agnostic. I mean , I wrote them in a certain order , obviously , but each book is a standalone , so we have to decide which one we do next. I think we have an idea of what we want to do next , but yeah , I'm not sure what we'll do. Maybe we'll surprise everyone. Yeah.
S7: Yeah.
S6: And you said this is your first attempt at drawing children's books. How has this experience been? Is this something that you enjoyed?
S7: Yeah , I've enjoyed it a lot. I think what differentiates this kind of art style versus other styles out of John , like I mentioned before. I love the simplicity of it. I love the simplicity of the shapes , the color choices. Everything just looks clean , I guess is the word that I can say. Everything looks clean and polished. Because I would say that in some of the other kind of drawing styles I have , there's just always kind of a lot going on. So then sometimes the eyes don't really know where to look. Whereas with creating this book , I wanted there to not only be the aspect of hearing the story and being able to process it that way , I wanted the eyes to have a journey that it could go. So the way that the text is laid out , the way that the characters are positioned in the pages , I wanted there to also be a visual journey that is easy for the eyes to follow where it needs to go. So it was kind of a mixture of a drawing style that develops from simplicity , mixed with I want to create a roadmap. That's part of the experience for the visual aspects of the book. So I love the simplicity of this because I feel oftentimes I'm drawing way too much.
S8: Well , Darren Dawes is also an amazing illustrator , right?
S5: So I think it's like a way for you to show off how good you can draw. And I think the thing that we both realized was this journey of minimalism in some ways , and certainly from earlier versions of the book to what actually came out. We really invested in negative space.
S7: Yes , the first iterations of the book felt cluttered. That's how we describes it. We were like , okay , there's a lot of exciting things going on , but now the eye is kind of confused sometimes. Like if you go to like a buffet and you look at everything all at once , it's like , where do I start? Whereas if you have fewer options , it's a little bit less overwhelming for you to then navigate. So it kind of felt like that with some of the earlier versions where then we thought , okay , let's leave some more empty space in the page so that there's at least not this overwhelming sense of , ah , like , I don't know what to pay attention to. And so then it was this back and forth in the design of trying to figure out how minimalism would then help to bring out more of the story.
S1: That was illustrator Darren Choi , along with author Rashmi Gandhi , speaking with KPBS Arts reporter Beth Accomando about their new book , Your Fluff Is Enough. It's now available on Amazon. Up next , a preview of weekend arts events. KPBS Midday Edition is back after the break. Welcome back. You're listening to KPBS Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman. For our weekend preview , we'll take a look at some artistic , patriotic , and unusual things to do for the 4th of July weekend , from pie eating contest and fireworks to indie rock and street festivals. Joining me with all the details are KPBS arts reporter Julia Dixon Evans and someone new to the scene , KPBS web producer Brendan Minardi. Welcome , Julia. Welcome , Brendan.
S4: Hey , Jade.
S9: Thanks for having us.
S1: Glad to have you both here. So , Julia , let's start things out in the North County. What's happening at Oceanside Museum of Art on Friday night? Yeah.
S9: Yeah. So this is their street level party. It coincides with Oceanside First Friday Artwalk. Um , Oceanside Museum of Art has live music. They have food and drinks , and then you can tour the museum for free with docent led tours. And right now they have a super impressive slate of exhibits. They always have a bunch , but right now they're pretty great. A couple on my radar are Kate Tova. She has an exhibit of these , like really unique paintings. They're kind of like beautiful fields of flowers , but then they have people face down in them. So it's kind of unsettling. That's called a place to rest my tired mind. There's also matrix multiplied hybrid approaches to printmaking and brothers in art switches work by James Hubble , the late legend , and his brother Bert Hubbell. So if you're wanting to check any of these out , this is a great excuse to do it. It's 5 to 8 p.m. on Friday in Oceanside , and it's all free.
S1: Sounds nice. Brendan , what's something unusual folks can see for this 4th of July?
S10: Um , well , eating contests are a very traditional 4th of July event , but here in San Diego , Julian puts kind of their own spin on it. Um , the town is holding an apple pie eating contest , which is very on brand for Julian , if you know. Um , but it's also very patriotic because as we know , nothing's more American than apple pie. So there are going to be two divisions , one for kids and one for adults. And the pies were donated by none other than Julian Pie Company. The contest is at 1025 , but it's part of a larger all day celebration which includes a giant American flag , a parade , live music , and a vintage play five plane flyover.
S1: All right , Julia , in theater , the Old Globe has a new show opening this weekend , but it's adapted from a classic film. Tell us. More.
S4: More.
S9: Yeah , so this is a new play. It was first produced in the UK in 2025 by Emma Rice , and The Old Globe is holding the North American premiere of it , and it's an adaptation of Hitchcock's film from 1959 , North by Northwest. The story follows Roger Thornhill , who's this ad executive who gets mistaken for a Cold War spy , ends up entangled in all sorts of stuff dangerous encounters like kidnappings , murder plots , police chases , you name it. And Emma Rice is actually here directing the production with her company for the globe. The actors , I think with the exception of Danny Collins , who's playing Roger Thornhill. They're all playing multiple roles. And I kind of love like the physical comedy of that when you have those shapeshifting actors on stage. Um , this is here at the globe from July 3rd through August 2nd.
S1: All right. And the nation is celebrating 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Brendan , are there any events for the history buffs out there?
S10: Yeah there are. If you're looking to celebrate , like San Diegans did in the 1800s , the old fashioned fourth of fourth , that old town San Diego State Park is the perfect event for you. There's going to be live music , craft vendors. Um , one thing I think is really cool is weaving , spinning and black blacksmith demonstrations and also a slate of 19th century lawn games like sack races , tug of war , and of course , hoop and stick.
S4: You love. It.
S10: It. Yeah. Um , all of this is free to enjoy. And the museums at the state park will also be open. Okay.
S4: Okay.
S1: And , Julia , you have a World Cup watch party to recommend. Why is this one on your radar?
S9: Yeah , this is a big outdoor watch party. It's on Sunday along the newly renamed Chicano Park Boulevard in Barrio Logan. It's happening right underneath the Barrio Logan neighborhood sign. That's where they're going to set up a screen. It'll be a giant screen , 23 by 13 foot mobile LED. And they're going to broadcast the Mexico versus England. Their round of 16 game kickoff is at 5 p.m. , but they'll start gathering for the festivities at four. They say bring your own chairs or blankets and snacks. It's totally free. And I have to confess that I love the England team. I was born in England , but also I recently got to watch the Mexico game earlier this week with KPBS border reporter Gustavo Solis. And now I'm also indoctrinated as a Mexico fan. So emotionally , this is basically like the finals for me. Um , I also think that both of these teams could easily have made it to the finals , so it should be one of the best matchups in the World Cup so far. But yeah , and while you're in Barrio Logan , there's tons to do. Um , so if you're looking for art , there's plenty of that. Um , I want to specifically shout out Por Vida Cafe. They have a new exhibit by a muralist and Chicano artist , Ricardo Ellis. It's called mixtape , and Vita is open every day until six , so.
S4: All right.
S1: Well , Brendan , a San Diego soccer team , plays this weekend. Um , tell me more about the wave FC match on Saturday. Yeah.
S10: Yeah. So for soccer fans looking to catch the action live. Wave FC is playing New York's Gotham FC at Snapdragon Stadium. The team is doing a bunch of 4th of July promotions and giveaways. The best one , in my opinion , is the $1 hot dog deal. I think if I were going , that would be very dangerous for me. Um , and wave FC is number one in the league right now , so the team has a target on their back , so I expect it to be a pretty good match. But I think the best part of all is that tickets start at $20.
S1: Well , all right , that's good. I'm. I'm excited about the hot dog.
S4: Yeah , true a dollar.
S1: Come on. Costco is. I don't think.
S4: They're doing that.
S9: Does that beats Costco? Yeah.
S4: Yeah. Yeah , yeah.
S1: All right , well , Julia , what's on your radar? Radar?
S4: Radar?
S1: What's on your radar for live music this weekend?
S9: All right , so there is an all local show on Sunday night at Soda Bar. Um , three great local bands. There's dead ohm Mike Hall and gone. Gone are this indie punk projects fronted by Mario Rojas with Alex , Alex , Jacob Alley. Um , we're listening to their track called Test the Stars. It's from their full length album that came out in 2023 called thinker , which is such a good album. It's just really impressive start to finish.
S11: I only want to go and dance with you. Nothing to lose. Straight in my breathing the minute she's leaving , so I think I'll go down.
S9: And Michael and Denholm are all so great. I really love Michael's , the kind of like goth synth new wave sound. And tickets for the show are just $10 , including fees. So yeah , that's important because it's it's rare to see a show that cheap.
S1: All right. Well Brendon , you've you've done all of the homework here and put a list together of places where we can check out fireworks displays. But what stood out to you.
S10: Yeah , I'm definitely KPBS resident fireworks expert right now , but a couple events caught my eye. First is in Oceanside , which actually does their fireworks show on the third. Um , it's 4th of July , but also it celebrates the founding of the city. Something to note this year the city is doing a combination drone and fireworks show , and I'm kind of curious to see how that works. Um , but if you're looking to ditch the fireworks entirely , La Jolla is again doing a drone show over La Jolla Cove , and then further south in downtown , the big Bay boom returns. If you aren't aware , fireworks launched from four barges anchored in San Diego , be it San Diego Bay. Sorry , there's no bad view along the waterfront , and organizers say it's the largest fireworks display on the West Coast. And then finally in Chula Vista at the Elite Athlete Training Center , there's going to be a fireworks show set to a bilingual soundtrack , which is really cool.
S1: All right. I always attend that one. And finally , Julia , for classical music fans. Uh , we've got some piano music , right?
S9: Yeah , this is at the Athenaeum Music and Arts Library. It's the 27th annual summer festival with piano player local Gustavo Romero , who is a super dynamic performer. He spent the last 27 summers just playing piano every Sunday afternoon at the Athenaeum. And one little tidbit that I really love about Gustavo Romero is that he first performed there when he was a little kid , just like this little piano prodigy. So yeah , every summer he kind of chooses 1 or 2 composers and does this deep dive into their music. And this year , he's selected the Hungarian composer Franz Liszt , as well as Manuel de Falla , who's a Spanish composer. And one of the pieces that he's playing this week in Sunday's show is List's Hungarian Rhapsody Number 11 , which we're listening to now. And the summer festival has a concert every Sunday in July at 4 p.m. at the Athenaeum , there space in La Jolla , and you can get festival passes for all four weeks , or just a ticket for one of the shows if you want.
S1: All right. And you can find details on all of these events and more on our website at pbs.org. I've been speaking with KPBS arts reporter and host of the Finest , Julia Dixon Evans. Julia. Thank you.
S4: Thanks , Jason.
S1: Along with web producer Brendan Hutchins. Brendan , thanks. It was great to have you on. Yeah.
S10: Yeah. Thanks , Jade.
S1: That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.
