Stacey Abrams explores AI, ethics and more in her latest novel

S1: It's time for KPBS Midday Edition on today's arts and Culture show. Stacey Abrams joins us ahead of her appearance at the KPBS San Diego Book Festival , plus a production of Julius Caesar with an all woman cast. Then your weekend preview. I'm Jade Hindman with conversations that keep you informed , inspired , and make you think. Coated justice , the latest thriller from Stacey Abrams , is a cautionary tale about AI and health care.

S2: I wanted to explore AI and technology , how they are intended to help us , but like any tool , a tool can be used to build and a tool can be used to destroy.

S1: Plus , founders of the Queens Men talk about their production of Julius Caesar. Then your weekend preview. That's ahead on midday edition. The inaugural KPBS Book Festival is coming up on August 23rd , and we're honored to have some influential names headlining the event. One of them is bestselling author , political advocate , and host of the podcast. Assembly required Stacey Abrams. She served as minority leader in the Georgia House of Representatives , and she was the first black woman in U.S. history to become a gubernatorial nominee for a major party. And now she is out with a new book called Coded Justice , which explores ethical questions around AI. She's bringing Coded Justice to the KPBS Book Festival later this month. Stacey joins me now. Welcome to Midday Edition.

S2: Thank you so much for having me.

S1: So glad to have you here. So many of our listeners know your name from your time in the political spotlight. You made history when you won the Democratic nomination for governor of Georgia in 2018. But you've also been writing for quite some time. Both fiction and nonfiction.

S2: It's about how do you create a vision for others where they can imagine more for themselves. And if you're running for office , it's what you could do for them if you had that office and what they could do together and for themselves if you held that office. And when it's about a narrative like coded justice , it's what kind of world are we in and what kind of world do we want ? But ultimately , the goal is to help people envision and then believe there's the possibility of making making it so. Not necessarily that you want Rogue Eye , but that you that whatever it is you are imagining , it's how do you tell a story so that people feel like they're a part of it and they can make it so. Yeah.

S1: Yeah. well , it's , uh , it's just one vehicle to to really fulfill your mission , I get that. Well , tell me a bit about your your new book , Coded Justice. I mean , it is a thriller that explores the world of AI , as you just mentioned , but I in the medical industry.

S2: But like any tool , a tool can be used to build and a tool can be used to destroy. Uh , but that was layered for me on top of just a deep curiosity. I have a niece , a teenage niece who was using AI , and it is always discomforting for a teenager to know more than you do about something. So I had to catch up. Uh , but I also wanted to think about this technology that has such ubiquity in our lives , but it seems so obscure and distanced from so many. We don't know how it works. And that often means that we abdicate , or at least don't believe we have the right to question it. And so the whole story of coded justice is really about how do you take something like the technology of AI , something that is so prominent in our lives , which is health care ? And then how do you intersect that with a population that is reflective of some of the deepest questions we're having about justice today , which is Dei , diversity , equity and inclusion. And so for that , I use veterans because they are the most diverse cohort in the American population. And yet they're currently being affected daily by the assault on Dei. And the goal was to put it all into a single story that people would actually want to read. So Coded justice was born.

S1: Well , this is your third book , following Avery Cain , who is the main character for those who don't know her. What can you tell us about Avery and what she's grappling with.

S2: So Avery Keen is a savvy , clever , and sometimes reckless lawyer. She begins her arc in the justice series as a law clerk who uncovers some nefarious behavior of US president. She then has to grapple with some challenges in the FISA court and with our electric grid. And then when we meet her in coded justice , she's no longer a law clerk. She is now a newly minted lawyer at a law firm , and she's brought in to be an investigator. And in the legal universe , there are these things called corporate investigators , legal investigators. They work for law firms , but they go inside companies and help them figure out their problems before anybody else does. And while she's inside , she is asked to investigate the death of an engineer. And , you know , mayhem ensues. Wow.

S1: Wow. Well , how much of Avery's life here is inspired by real world events in your own political career ? Absolutely.

S2: All of it. I mean , I've never actually been chased through the streets. Uh , but but but what I do with Avery , what Avery allows me to do is to one be curious to investigate topics I want to know more about , either because of the work that I was doing in the legislature and politics , or simply because it's a policy issue that's out there , too. I try to make certain that I'm exploring policy topics that other people want to know about , but don't always feel that they're entitled to or capable of delving into. And you don't want it to feel like you're reading a textbook. And then three , I like grappling with the the shades of gray. Avery's not always right. And you've got these heroes sometimes who are perfect at what they do. She's flawed and she's young , and she's navigating this responsibility that she has over and over again without the authority to necessarily solve the problems. And so I try to write stories where when I was a lawyer or when I was in the legislature or even today , what are the policy implications of decisions that we're making ? What are the real world results that can come about ? And then how do we make sense of the places we are with what we know ? Yeah.

S1:

S2: We have fed it all of this data about ourselves , Intentionally or not. And so you've got questions of data surveillance. You have issues of privacy. You have questions of copyright. And all of this is fed into what they call large language models. This technology can be used to discriminate. It can make information vanish. It can make up information. And these are powerful tools that are now in every facet of our lives , from our institutions to our companies to , you know , our televisions and our phones. And so what I want us to think about with AI is that it's an extraordinarily powerful technology that is controlled by people , and that means people have to understand what's happening , and that means other people have to question where it comes from , what it does , and what impact it will have on us. And so I deal with a lot of the conversations about the legality , the morality , but also the long term implications if we don't ask the tough questions.

S1: Now , it sounds listen. It sounds both fascinating and terrifying at the same time.

S3: Well , I want I want it to be.

S2: Yes , I wanted to terrify. It's a thriller. So you should be scared. And I do my level best to create a technology or a set of technologies , AI technologies in the book that are actually based in real technologies , real things that happen right now. If you go to your doctor's office , there's some form of AI that's operating , whether it's the AI that's being used by your insurance company to decide whether they're going to cover your medication or not , or when you get checked in , the information that's gathered , all of that is artificial intelligence , but it also decides the kind of medical care that you get. And if we're not asking questions about what the AI knows , then how do we know that it can know us ? And that's really why the Dai conversation is so important to me as someone who is a legal background working in healthcare and is someone who , as a legislator , grappled with issues of health care and who had access. If we are using these tools to save our lives , but they do not respect our lives and the people who created it don't think that our lives should be part of the training. Then how can we trust that it's going to be there for us when we need it ? That is a very real and present conversation. And we just had , you know , the president of the United States issued an executive order demanding that AI companies not consider those issues. And if you're a woman to be told that I can't think about the specific needs of women that differ from men. If you're a person of color , we know that there are certain diseases that are more prevalent among certain communities. If those things aren't permitted to be studied , how then can they be solved ? And that's why I wanted this book to come out. I didn't know the president was going to do what he was doing , and I could not predict we would be in the place we are.

S1: In April , the U.S. Naval Academy banned nearly 400 books under anti die policy , one of them being your book , our time is Now power , purpose and the fight for a Fair America.

S2: They oppose diversity , which means all people. They are afraid of equity , which means fair access to opportunity. And they are offended by inclusion , which means respect for differences. If you tell me you're anti di , I want to know which of those value systems you object to. And what we've seen the president of the United States do. What we've seen the Republican Party. Suburban is the dismantling of protections for communities that have been marginalized , that have been disadvantaged , that have been denied access to the American dream. Now , absolutely no one is arguing that people should get unfair advantage. What we're simply saying is that it is critical in a nation as diverse as ours , in a nation that believes in opportunity and success , in a nation that thinks that if you are willing to work for it , you should get to have it. If you do the if you're willing to put in the effort , then how dare we say that it is unlawful , or somehow impractical and impertinent to dismantle the barriers and to leverage diversity , to encourage equity , and to say that everyone who is willing to be here deserves an opportunity to thrive. Hmm.

S1: Hmm. You know , also , the Voting Rights Act turned 60 last week , and you spent much of your political career making sure everyone's voice is heard at the polls.

S2: We are in the midst of an authoritarian overthrow of our country. This is not hyperbole. Right now , the National Guard , at the insistence of the president , is occupying Washington , D.C. , and has taken over domestic law enforcement. That is right out of the authoritarian playbook. If we saw this in any other nation , there would be shivers going down our spines. And so we have to understand that democracy is not under threat. It is being overthrown at this moment. And that begins with who gets to vote , who gets to be heard. Democracy is a construct. And when people are told that their voices are not valued , when they are denied participation. It begins with voter suppression. It begins with denying certain voices a chance to be heard at the ballot box. And I've focused on voter suppression and voting rights because I believe in democracy. Democracy has to deliver. And that begins with delivering the right to be heard. But what we're watching play out , what we're watching the courts authorize is the steady and very , very intentional dismantling of our democracy. Recently , we watched the state of Texas dismantle democracy by deciding to change the structure of its districts in order to gain the system and guarantee a victory in Congress in 2026. They are doing midterm redistricting , not for any other reason than the stated purpose of making sure they have enough votes. And because of that , we now have a voting rights arms race where gerrymandering across the country is going to happen as states try to stop this rigging of the system. But we are forgetting that patriotism is not the same as partisanship. No one is guaranteed elections. No one is guaranteed power. The parties have the responsibility to argue for their positions. And when you game the system , by letting the politicians pick the people who get to vote for them , that's a problem. You then add to that the attempt to undermine the US census , which he's also announced. And you look at what's happening at the Supreme Court , who's about to kick out section two of the Voting Rights Act. We are watching the dismantling of democracy , using voting as one of the tools. But it's not the only one. And part of the reason this book matters to me , this work matters to me , is that the warning signs of autocracy , of authoritarianism. It doesn't just happen. It's built action by action , code by code. And today we're watching very powerful people , not just lay the foundation , but build the architecture that will dismantle our country as we know it. And I'm a traditionalist , I like America , I want America to be a democracy where we can all strive , where we can all stumble , but where we all know we can be heard. And what is happening now ? What is being led by the president of the United States and his party is an attempt to make discrimination , okay again , to make dissent vanish and to undermine who we are by controlling what we know.

S1: Well , in bringing it back to your book , Coded Justice , you know , it can be a real challenge to to tackle these world problems through fiction.

S2: I write because we know that the stories , they help us notice the warning signs before they become headlines , but they also help us imagine what's possible. And it goes. I think back to your very first question. I tell stories because it helps us imagine what's possible , but it also gives us permission to think about things we've never seen before. I love writing fiction , and I write romance because I believe in happily ever after. I write legal thrillers because I know it's really hard. I write suspense because I know that sometimes you got to get scared to believe that you've got to take make change. I write children's books because I want kids to understand both empathy and advocacy. And I write nonfiction because sometimes we just need to get it straight. But overall , where we have the greatest success is not only when people understand the world they're a part of , but when they believe that there's a way they can influence it and change it. And that's where fiction matter so much. It's also why in autocracies and authoritarian regimes , you see books being banned. You see media being shut down because information is power. Knowledge is power. And if you can take away that power , then you can create a complicit society that stops arguing with you. And I'm so proud to be in a society that believes we should argue , that believes we should fight back , and that believes we have the right to the power that we hold and that our elected officials are appointed. Officials are simply borrowing that power. Hmm.

S1: Hmm. You know , there's so much to take from your writing.

S2: I did very deep dives into how algorithms are designed. I studied the difference between a large language model and a reasoning model. I know about alignment. What happens when you don't properly code how AI takes information ? I learned that AI hallucinates when when they can't come up with an answer , it will not only make up an answer , it will make up its theory for the answer. It will create its own sources to justify the answer. We know that there have been AI models that , in response to testing , essentially tried to blackmail their coders. So AI is incredibly advanced , but I'm not worried about how from , you know , 2001 A Space Odyssey , I'm worried about when the AI chat bot gives us a bad answer because we were searching for it on the internet and we no longer think , let me check and see if that's right. I'm concerned about the deepfake that gets permitted to share political information and undermines not just a candidate , but how people see themselves. And so what surprised me is just how weak not only our laws are , but how weak our questions are we need to be asking harder questions. Regulation does not mean stifling innovation. It means putting guardrails around it so that it doesn't veer off. And it was so exciting for me to get to write this book because I got to do a deep dive. I was terrified for a minute , but when I surfaced , what I realized is that we have to be cautious , but we also get to be excited. This is an amazing technology , but it's a technology controlled by people , by the coders , by the companies , and by the politicians who decide whether or not we're going to let it run amok , or whether we're going to hold it accountable for being part of the society we inhabit today.

S1: Wow , a fascinating story and a word of caution with this book. I've been speaking with Stacey Abrams , bestselling author , political advocate , and host of the podcast Assembly Required , and she'll be bringing her book to the inaugural KPBS Book Festival on August 23rd. As a festival headliner. You can catch our live conversation on stage if you're there. More details on our website KPBS. Stacy , thank you so much.

S2: Thank you so much for having me. Jade.

S1: Coming up , a new theatre company called The Queens Men has a fresh take on Shakespeare's play about Roman politics.

S4: Our Julius Caesar is performed on a high school girls soccer team. So we just put our set in today , and we have the soccer field.

S1: Go behind the scenes with us when midday Edition returns. Welcome back. You're listening to KPBS Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman. During William Shakespeare's lifetime , acting wasn't considered a proper profession for women , so all the roles in his plays , regardless of gender , were played by men or boys. But needless to say , times have changed and two young women have launched a new acting company called The Queen's Men , meant to flip that script. KPBS arts reporter Beth Accomando recently sat down with Audrey Sweet and Charlotte Brie Larson , who founded the Queens Men. They talked about staging an all female production of Julius Caesar. The play will premiere at Sean Boyd's nonprofit Trinity Theater in Mission Valley Mall. Now , here's that conversation. Audrey.

S5: Audrey. The Queens men are going to be performing Julius Caesar , and there is something unique about this particular production. So explain what kind of the mission or approach of the Queens man is. Yeah.

S6: Yeah. So the Queens men , Julius Caesar is all modern day and high school girls. So we really wanted to bring this Shakespeare story that is so male centered and heavy on the men to the modern day , and to performers who wouldn't normally get the chance to do this show. So it's all high school girls in the modern day.

S5: And Charlotte , where did this idea come from ? How did you decide to do this ? Well , I know that I always grew up around soccer.

S7: My dad played soccer. Growing up , I played like peewee soccer. And my sister is like a huge softball girl. So she's going to go to college for it. So she's been really , really deep into the college admission process for softball , which is really intense. It's pretty cutthroat and girls get mean. And I thought that was such an interesting concept. And like the soccer concept itself isn't novel. I mean , Yellowjackets is around the Wolves exists , and I think there's something about pitting women against one another that like is like not speaks to me , but I think is a topic to be explored.

S5:

S7: This was something that Audrey and I talked about the end of our senior year. We wanted to provide a space for women and non-binary people to do classical work that they wouldn't necessarily be able to do. We've had some trouble playing certain roles just because we're not men in so much of Shakespeare's canon is men , but that doesn't mean it's just for men.

S6: The original idea was we wanted to perform Julius Caesar and the Queen's Men was born from that. So we'll see if anything else comes by. Buy tickets to. Caesar.

S7: Caesar. Yeah.

S8: What need we any cause but our own to prick us to redress. What other bond than secret Romans who have spoke the word and will not falter. And what other oath than honesty to honesty engaged that this shall be , or we will fall for it.

S5: So this is based on Shakespeare.

S6: I've read all of his surviving plays. So cutting this show was really fun because , you know , there's so much politics involved in it. But translating that to the modern day , there was a lot that we didn't need. So we were really able to find the heart of the story and what we felt added to the characters and added to the journey and trim away the excess. And it was really fun because we've made it all women , so we've changed all the pronouns we really got it to get into , like the scansion of the lines and like really dig into the text and what it means. And it was really fun.

S8: But Mario , Brutus. Oh my God , give me trouble. You know , I these women that come along with you. Yeah , every girl of them. And no woman here but honors you and just wish that you had that.

S6: Opinion of yourself. That every noble.

S8: Roman bares of you.

S5: And performing this.

S7: And while this isn't about Roman senators anymore , it's still very much prevalent. And the original story of Caesar is very topical with today's political climate. So I think seeing it through a different lens will definitely speak to a lot of people.

S8: It was a mere foolery. I did not mark it. I saw Mark Antony offer her of the crown , and she put it by once. But to my thinking , for all of that she was very loath to lay her fingers off it. Then she offered it to her again. She put it by again , but to my thinking she would blow the packet. Then she offered it the third time. She put it the third time by , and still , as she refused the crown , the women howled and clapped their chopped hands and threw up their sweaty nightcaps and uttered such a deal of stinging breath , because Caesar had refused the crown , that it had almost choked Caesar , for she swoon and fell down at it.

S5: Now some people have a fear of Shakespeare , and they think they're going to come and not understand it. You're both very young.

S7: But I think as soon as you remove the , like , stigma of , oh , I don't understand that because it's in like a weird language and you actually , like , look at it and look and break it down. I think it becomes a lot easier. I've found it's a lot easier to understand Shakespeare if you're not trying really hard. So I think that as soon as people remove that lens , it becomes a lot more enjoyable.

S6: Yeah , and I think bringing it to the modern day , all of our actors have done a really good job of , you know , they don't speak as if they're Roman senators reciting a speech like they talk like teenage girls , and it makes it a lot easier to understand. So I think our production does a really good job of breaking down the Shakespeare of it all.

S8: Look fresh and merrily let not our looks put on our purposes , but bear them , as our Roman actors do , with us tired spirits and formal constancy. And so good morrow to you , everyone.

S5: What was it about Caesar that attracted you ? Because , you know , you could go for plays that are much more popular or accessible that , you know , in some people's minds. I mean , the Globes doing the Comedy of Errors , which everybody kind of is familiar with. This is a kind of meaty political play that might not be people's first choice.

S7: Like they are so , so petty.

S8: So if they pray you. What did Caesar swooned ? I she fell down in the marketplace and founded the mouth and was speechless. What , said she , when she came unto herself ? Mary , before she fell down , when she perceived the common heard , was glad she refused the crown. She plucked me open doublet and offered her throat to God. And I have been a girl of any occupation. If I were not a tub taken her out , a word for it , I would. I might go to hell among the robes. And so she fell. When she came to herself again , she said if she had said or done anything amiss , she desired their worships to think it was her infirmity. 3 or 4 wenches where I stood and cried , alas , good soul , and braver with all their hearts. But there's no need to be taken of them. If Caesar had stabbed their mothers , they would have done no less.

S7: It's like that whole thing where it's like Caesar doesn't necessarily hasn't necessarily done anything before. They're like , we're gonna kill him. And I think that that's very teenage girl. It's very , very based in jealousy. And I think that that rings very true in a high school setting.

S8: And gentle friends , let's kill her boldly , but not wrathfully. Let's Carver as a dish fit for the gods , not humor as a carcass , fit for hounds. And let our hearts , as subtle masters do , stir up their servants to an act Oh , great. This will make our purpose necessary. Not envious. Which ? So appearing to the common eyes , we shall be called burglars , not murderers. And as for Antonie , do not think of her , for she can do no more than Caesar's arm when Caesar's head is off.

S6: I mean , the play is so interesting in how it explores friendship and jealousy and betrayal , and we thought that was really interesting to bring to the modern day. And , you know , not to read too much into the politics of it all , but it is about the abuse of power. And so that really spoke to us as well. Yeah.

S7: Yeah.

S5: How old are each of you ? Because this is kind of a. Big.

S7: Big.

S5: Project to tackle.

S7: I'm 19. I turned 19 in March of this year and I am currently going to school at Rutgers University. But this is my. This is the third play I've directed , so not inexperienced.

S6: The answer is actually the same for me. I'm 19 and my birthday's in March were like a week and.

S7: A half apart.

S5: So we're we're.

S6: Young , but this is something we've been passionate about for a long time. And I think we're we're doing something interesting with it.

S5: It just seems like a large project to tackle.

S7: So they've been great throughout all of this. Yeah.

S6: Yeah. They've been so welcoming and so helpful and so prepared. I mean , every question we have , they have an answer to and things we hadn't even thought of , they'll bring up. And they're so like open to hearing our ideas and working with us. It's really been an absolute joy.

S7: Um , Audrey and I are extremely lucky to have worked with Sean before on other Shakespearean projects , so we are so grateful that he is letting us use this space and has been just such a wonderful mentor throughout the whole process.

S5:

S6: I mean , the sign out front , people know it's a theatre , but people definitely do come in. And like , I mean , Trinity has all the like summer camps right now and all their performances. So there's always something happening. So it's been really fun. We get a lot of theatre people come , but also just regular people who wouldn't necessarily be interested in the theatre but then see it and pop in anyway.

S7: Some people literally walk in and are like , what is this ? Because it is a shopping mall. And so there's tons of variety here. This is just one of the things that it offers.

S5: Now because this is for radio. Explain what people are going to see when they enter your theater in terms of what the set design is. Yeah.

S8: Yeah.

S7: So today we spent an hour and a half putting down turf onto the stage , which was really fun. And we are very , very lucky to have a Carnegie Mellon art student who is really good with crafts and tools and things like that. So we have turf , there's a soccer net , and we will eventually have banners , which will be super cool. Um , but we've we've turned the space effectively into a soccer field.

S5:

S6: One thing we were really strong on is we wanted each cast member to really decide who their character was themselves , and like their character's style and how they present themselves , because , I mean , I think that's the strength of teenage girls is the individuality and the self-expression. So we've had a really fun time with each cast member being able to develop what they want their character to be , and everyone's so like some of them are sassy and some of them are funny , and some of them are kind of more quiet and introverted and like the ways they've brought that to the play has been really , really good. Yeah.

S7: Yeah. And then with the text itself , we have a couple of first time Shakespeare people. Like they've never done any Shakespeare before. They've read it in high school , but they've never really performed it. And I think we never send them in blind. First of all , we're always there to answer questions and if not , we if we can't do it , if we can't answer them , we will always refer them back to our books. So we use lexicons , Shakespearian lexicons which tell us what every single word he's ever used means. And we use the Arden Shakespeare for a really helpful translation of the text. And those are very , very helpful resources for everyone. So they can always refer back to those if they are lost.

S5: Oh , and you also have some fight scenes in this. So that is always a challenge. So discuss choreographing that and how that works. Yeah.

S6: Yeah. So I'm as well as directing and producing I am the choreographer for this show. So stage combat has been a passion of mine for a really long time. And I've choreographed before. But this this piece was a challenge because our stage is only so big and we have so many characters and at the end it's a battle. So every single person is fighting. And normally this would be done with traditional weapons , but bringing it into the modern day , it's almost entirely unarmed , just girl on girl. So it was a process to choreograph. I think I spent probably like a week or two on it , and then bringing it to the cast and giving it to them , they've all been really good about like some some of them have no fight experience at all. So it was really I had to choreograph it for them and then seeing them perform it , they shaped what it became. So it was it was a process.

S7: Our wonderful assistant director and our stage manager are both very , very fight oriented people and have been really helpful during fight calls when Audrey is fighting.

S5: All right. Well , I want to thank you both very much for talking about the Queen's men and Julius Caesar. Yeah.

S7: Yeah. Thank you so much. Yeah.

S6: Yeah.

S7: Thank you.

S1: That was Audrey Sweet and Charlotte Larson , co-founders of the Queens Men and co-directors of the all female production of Julius Caesar , speaking with Beth Accomando. The production of Julius Caesar will take place this Friday through Sunday at Trinity Theatre in the Mission Valley Shopping Center , near target. Still to come for our weekend arts preview , we have a film festival for kids , meteor showers and visual art , plus much more. 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 have a film festival for kids , meteor showers , visual art , all about caregiving , and more. Joining me with the details is KPBS arts reporter and host of the finest , Julia Dixon Evans. Julia , welcome.

S9: Hey , Jade. Thanks for having me.

S1: Always great to have you here. Well , first , let's talk about the dark Sky Festival. What is this about ? Yeah.

S9: So this is the San Diego chapter of dark Sky international , whose mission is to protect wildlife and communities from light pollution. And a nice little side effect of this as it makes stargazing more accessible in more places. And the festival is Saturday afternoon and evening. It's in Julian at the Mangini Winery , and this weekend is the Perseids meteor shower. It happens every summer. It's peaking right now , but it will continue through the weekend. And on Saturday , even though it's no longer actually peaking , it should be more vivid and more bright than right now because it will be a moonless sky , so that's cool. The dark Sky Festival will celebrate the Perseids and other stargazing. It starts at three. There's educational exhibits. There's panels , demonstrations and music , and they'll have Kenyan food available for purchase. And then the real stargazing or the meteor gazing will kick off at about 830. There'll be telescopes and a laser guided sky tour.

S1: It sounds like just the natural art in the sky. It's. Yeah. Well , let's take a look at some visual art. Now there's a new exhibition opening at Institute of Contemporary Art , San Diego. Tell us about this show. Yeah.

S9: Yeah. So this is at their Encinitas , their north campus , and the exhibit is a project of Las Hermanas Iglesias. It's a sisters art duo. It's locals , Lisa and Janelle Iglesias , who they've been working together for 20 years in this collaboration And this exhibit , it's called Won't Lovers Revolt. Now it's centered around caregiving and , like , the way that we understand and value what it means to provide care both , like in a really granular level and in the broader sense in communities. And it's not just a collaboration between the two sisters. They also work with the community , with their own children and families. And in this case , they've created these incredible bronze casts of their mother's hands. There's also textiles , neon and more. It looks to me like a really thoughtful and lovely exhibition. Caregiving is one of those super universal things. Like , almost every single one of us will take care of someone or be taken care of. And there's an opening reception on Saturday. It's all free from 4 to 7 p.m.. It's their cue Saturday art party. There'll be art making projects for all ages. The artists will do a walk through of the exhibit that starts at 5 p.m. , and then there will be tacos and drinks for the rest of the evening. And ICA North will also be open noon to five Saturday and Sunday throughout the run of the exhibit.

S1: That sounds beautiful. Well , this next one combines visual art and dance. It's a photography exhibition about the dancer's body. Huh ? Yeah.

S9: This is photographer Doug McMenemy , and he's a long standing dance photographer in San Diego. He's an educator as well , and he's also opening a new art exhibit at Art Produce in North Park. And he's done a couple of art exhibitions and collaborations with dancers in the past. And this new show , it's called A Body of Work. It's a series of photographs taken over the course of three years with 20 something local dancers ranging from ballet , hip hop , modern flamenco dancers with all kinds of body types , ages and backgrounds. And the way that he's approached these images are like extreme close ups. So they combine this kind of intimacy of being up close , and he's motivated by the idea of the body being this incredible source of power and art , like the instrument or the work of art itself. This opened last week and it'll be up through September 6th , but Doug McMenemy will be on site for gallery hours Thursday and Friday from 2 to 5 or by appointment.

S1: That's great. Well , let's talk about theatre.

S9: It's called title of Show. That's the actual title. It's a new Village Arts in Carlsbad , and this is an original Broadway musical. It's by Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell , and it's basically a peek behind the curtain of what it's like to write a musical about writing a musical. So it's like a play within a play , within a play. And I really love that sort of thing. Theatre about theatre , I say that as someone that has never been in a play or anything like that , it's just always such this like fun and strange slice of life. And this one is probably going to be a little chaotic to you. It's a really funny script , and it's directed locally by Desiree Clark Miller , this longtime director and teaching artist in San Diego , and she's currently the executive artistic director at Moxie Theatre. The official opening night is this Saturday , and it'll be on stage at New Village Arts through September 21st.

S1: Well , for kids , the 2025 San Diego International Children's Film Festival debuted at Comic-Con and will screen again this weekend.

S9: It's like a reprieve from the chaos of the exhibit hall , and I love that it screens again a few weeks later every year for the public , and the screening on Saturday includes dozens of short films made for young people and sometimes even by kids. There's everything ranging from animation to documentary shorts , and they're all always delightful. And this is Saturday at the downtown library. It's from 10 to 5 and it's free.

S1:

S9: It's the New York based band Morricone Youth. They're famous for how they compose and perform original music specifically for the screen. So it's like a re score to perform with a projected film as a backdrop. And this will be a matinee show. You got to love that. It's Sunday afternoon at the Casbah. They'll perform music from scenes like night of the Living Dead , mad Max and a bunch more. And they're also going to perform with local group The Color 49 , and we're listening to their latest track , The Whisper. It's from an album that came out earlier this year.

S10: To the What ? They're in the shadows. On your walls. You're gonna find them one alone.

S1: Sounds like a really good show. You can find details on these and more arts events on our website at KPBS. I've been speaking with KPBS arts reporter and host of the finest , Julia Dixon Evans. Julia , thanks.

S9: Thank you. Jade.

S10: I say. Let them shout. Let them whisper.

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.