Duende Discussions

Megan Breen

A fun and invigorating artist interview podcast where I talk to my brilliant friends about their personal and creative relationship with duende - the visceral vibration of the soul making impact with its most authentic, ancient self - made famous by Spanish playwright and poet Federico Garcia Lorca. My guests and I will explore how to define what the mysterious duende actually is, how to access it, what to do with our art once we've confronted it, wrestle with it - possibly in real time! - as well as decipher who/what has it today, and what role it plays in today's ever evolving and challenging artistic landscapes and vocabularies. Why duende today? Because like Lorca says, “The true struggle is with the duende.”

Episodes

  1. 10 - Kristin Condon - Spirit Choreography - The Chaos, Calm and Communion of Surrendering to Duende

    11/20/2025

    10 - Kristin Condon - Spirit Choreography - The Chaos, Calm and Communion of Surrendering to Duende

    Happy Thanksgiving, Duende Duders! But more specifically, Happy Thanksgiving dinner! 😋 Along with your fave mains and sides, what’s been on your duende plate this fall-flavored month of gratitude and reflection? I love my mashed apple cider sweet potatoes served with an even more delectable dish - fresh self revelations and a more bonded sense of community born from honest internal work; aka, a duende discussion with my dream guest for this cozy dark-dinner-of-the-soul, the mystical-minded mover and shaker of female-first art - actress, dancer/choreographer, educator, film producer and women’s health advocate Kristin Condon! I’ve been wanting to discuss all things duendy with Kristin FOREVER - she is a dear friend and most beloved partner in conjuring up the weird and wild - and I love that she’s finally on for a thoughtful duende of Thanksgiving episode as a prominent part of her impactful art and advocacy is centered on new ways to define what health and healing actually are, and how to navigate through them as a process, not just an end-goal.  In this fun feast of both a deep and lighthearted conversation, Kristin, a longtime yoga instructor, gifts us with insights into how the chaos and calm of the spiritual practice’s lore is palpable with duende. She relays how she felt the vibration of communal duende while performing ballet - this idea of en masse duende blew my mind! - and opens up about how surrendering to the struggle with the duende (especially in the Hair and Makeup chair while prepping for a performance!) can reveal portals to new senses of self and other spiritual possibilities, including how her relationship with chronic pain has altered her creativity and how she moves through everyday life.  We weave nostalgic over how 90’s women in music went Full Duendz, and in a Thanksgiving food round of “Duende or No Duende?”, I ask one of the most controversial food questions TO EVER BE ASKED 😧 (Weigh in in the comments after you’ve listened if you have a strong opinion 🍇) And in true Thanksgiving dinner form, we express why we are thankful for our duendes, and for each other.  So much gratitude for this delicious and heart-nutritous convo with my curious and kind Capricorn queen! Hope you all have a tasty time giving thanks, and check out Kristin's info below on how to follow her and read her Substack. Happy Thanksgiving! 🤎 Follow Kristin on Instagram at @kristincondon Read Kristin's Substack The Happiness Body  Check out Kristin's website Have a great duend-ay! 🙂 Follow @duendediscussions on IG for episode updates and fun, interactive duende discussing!

    1h 20m
  2. 9 - Sean Boyle - The Duende of Edgar Allan Poe - Confronting Death and the Shadow Self with Curiosity, Creativity, and Compassion

    10/28/2025

    9 - Sean Boyle - The Duende of Edgar Allan Poe - Confronting Death and the Shadow Self with Curiosity, Creativity, and Compassion

    Happy Halloween, Duende Demons! I mean, Duende Duders 😈 Hope your spooky season has been super(naturally) fun and soul-igniting. I love that the liminal space between realms is so palpably dynamic during this time of year, it makes the ethereal nature of otherworldliness a bit more visceral, which is absolutely thrilling to me, and which is why I’m *beyond* excited to share this special Spooky Season Duende Discussion with you - the duende of 19th-century master of the macabre - Edgar Allan Poe - with the outrageously talented and creative craftsman/artist of all things beautifully strange and sublime - Sean Boyle!! Every time I see whatever wildly imaginative, cool new artwork Sean is working on (especially the period pirate hats - so cool!), or donning one of his handmade, incredibly inventive and intricate costumes at Ghouls Ball, I always want to discuss duende with him. So when I saw that he was performing his one-man Edgar Allan Poe show at Burnt Umber Coffee this Halloween, I knew I wanted him on for a Spooky Season Special.  This was such an inspiring conversation! We dig into Sean’s longtime love of all things gothic, what sparked his Poe show and its intriguing development over the years, and why he’s drawn to the inner turmoil of Poe’s provocatively grotesque characters and tales. We then dig even more deeply into the surprisingly tender duende of Poe’s close-to-the-bone, affecting melancholy and grimness, and discover some moving similarities between him and OG Duende Discusser, my beloved Federioco García Lorca. One of my favorite moments is when we go full Poe and lift the veil on Death, so to speak, uncovering the intimate vulnerability of confronting it with curiosity and compassion, two attributes seemingly absent from a lot of the world today. Such a treat of a convo! 🙂🖤 So have a rad Romantic and playful Halloween/rest of your Spooky Season, and check out this info on how to keep updated on all of Sean’s cool projects - His Edgar Allan Poe show will be at @burnt.umber.oc at 6:30pm this Halloween! 👻 Follow Sean on Instagram - @westonpeece Follow Sean's Poe Show - @fantasticterrorspoeshow Have a great duend-ay! 🙂 Follow @duendediscussions on IG for episode updates and fun, interactive duende discussing!

    1h 22m
  3. 8 - Olivia Lilley - Conjuring Mystical Futures in the French Quarter, Free Reign Duende for Radical Protagonism, and Reimagining Romanticism’s Man-Made Monsters

    09/10/2025

    8 - Olivia Lilley - Conjuring Mystical Futures in the French Quarter, Free Reign Duende for Radical Protagonism, and Reimagining Romanticism’s Man-Made Monsters

    Hi Duende Duders!! Happy September! Hope your summer-to-September transitions have been going smoothly, and that you’re staying cool out there. My guest for this 8th episode is absolutely perfect for this seasonally liminal time - it’s sharpest of the sharp emotional intellects and provocative writer/director/prolific podcaster, New Orleans’ freshest book apothecarist and Piscean world-building queen - Olivia Lilley! In this episode, everyone will get a glimpse of how Olivia - a hustler for impactful futures - is helping me endure the cosmic labor pains of moving from summer-mode to school-year art igniter by giving me tips on how to distill useful, life-plan-worthy duende from mystical experiences. Very September shadow-work vision board vibes :)  After the wondrous discovery that teenage Olivia wrote a feminist, anti-colonialist reimagining of The Phantom of the Opera musical - !!! - she reads her poem response to my question of, “What is your personal definition of duende?” - a thrilling Duende Discussions first! Through this we explore how New Orleans is, in her words, “a city that runs on duende.” She discusses the duende of her experience as the artistic director of an experimental theatre company in Chicago, and the unique vulnerability she conjured in the rehearsal room of one her most ambitious projects.  As an energizing force on Substack, we discuss how mystical poet Rilke informed her epistolary abundance, and, feeling in the moment, I have her write a letter to her personal duende (which I might try myself, tbh!).  After all of this inner intensity, we geek out over our mutual love for Gothic Romantic classics The Phantom of the Opera and Frankenstein, psychoanalyzing the strikingly similar monster tropes in both. And after a love fest for our hero, the irreverent and imaginative inventor of Gothic Sci-Fi, Mary Shelley, we play a game of Duende This-or-That, creature version! Mary would be so proud.  Olivia is such a stimulating, spontaneous conversationalist, I think you’ll be able to feel her ride-the-stormy-waves-of-life vibrance throughout this listen. I love how she prioritizes progressing one’s path forward to not only ignite one’s dreams, but actualize them. Please enjoy her soul-nurturing and vibrant harnessing of duende through this spirited convo 🩷 Follow Olivia on Instagram at @thisisolivialilley and @thefutureofartinamerica Check out her podcast here https://www.olilley.com/podcast Have a great duend-ay! 🙂 Follow @duendediscussions on IG for episode updates and fun, interactive duende discussing!

    1h 39m
  4. 7 - Patrick Dennis -Confronting the Danger & Chaos of the Dionysian Self, "Tutti Frutti" Duende, and the Muscular Mysticism of Inspiration & Imperfection

    07/28/2025

    7 - Patrick Dennis -Confronting the Danger & Chaos of the Dionysian Self, "Tutti Frutti" Duende, and the Muscular Mysticism of Inspiration & Imperfection

    Hey Duende Duders! Hope your summers have been fun and full of whatever form of sunshine warms your soul up 🙂☀️ I’ve missed you! It’s been awhile since the last Duende Discussion, but this one is so worth the wait because it’s with my first ever musician guest - my fave rockstar of both visceral and soulful confrontations and divinations, the colossal-hearted, fearless digger of artistic and personal truth - Patrick Dennis! Patrick is a mighty receptor and igniter of inspiration, I always leave our convos with a million art ideas and mind-blowing revelations about what it means to cultivate and set aflame one’s beating heart of creativity, and the same happened here! In this Duende Discussion, we get into the role of duende in his deep creative process as an artist who felt like an outsider, his duende-iest moments rocking out on stage, and the sometimes dangerous and chaotic attempts to understand yourself through duende explorations.  He shares why Little Richard’s joyously raucous “Tutti Frutti” vibrates with duende for him, and why modern American music could use more Tutti Frutti duende. And as a Virgo poet word-nerd, I was *stoked* to dig into which words Patrick feels resonate with the most duende, and how they might work their way into his lyrics - some of the most deliciously gritty and openheartedly self-reflective poetry imo. And bonus! We delve into the duende of his emotionally-driven work as an abstract painter. His portraits resonate with such sublime perspective and vision. The connection and catharsis that comes from experiencing live music and art of all kinds is so spiritually impactful right now, especially for Otherized/persecuted communities and those struggling amidst such dark and stressful times. So one of the many things I love about Patrick is the beauty, leadership and forward-thinking thrust of his anarchical art and humanity, just like Lorca’s. I found this discussion so inspiring in this regard, a type of spiritual respite, and hope you all do too! He’s been such a thoughtful and integral supporter of my writing and artistry, I’m so honored to share his expansive, vibrant mind and generous heart with you via this convo 🩷 Check out Patrick's websites for his music, art and updates - www.patrickdennis.com www.wharfechild.com Have a great duend-ay! 🙂 Follow @duendediscussions on IG for episode updates and fun, interactive duende discussing!

    1h 44m
  5. 6 - KD Sims - The 'Sexy Grotesque', Embodied Longing and Muscular Channeling of Dark Matter Duende

    04/30/2025

    6 - KD Sims - The 'Sexy Grotesque', Embodied Longing and Muscular Channeling of Dark Matter Duende

    My dearest, duende-iest duders! Happy spring! Happy flirty flowers, happy April showers, happy devouring of more sweet than sour during these stressful times 3 I’m rhyming (badly) because it’s the last day of National Poetry Month and my stunning-soul’d guest for this sixth episode is ingenious provocateur/ conjurer of the lyrical for the visceral - poet and writer KD Sims! KD not only inspires with her fearlessly full-bodied versifications, she arouses, playfully and intrepidly sparking a more sensual state of mind and just, being.  So I wasn’t surprised that my warmhearted friend’s stimulating powers would deliciously spill over into our duende convo. We dig into how we created magic writing poems together over text, what she brilliantly calls the “sexy grotesque” nature of her smut poetry, the role of the body as a channeling instrument for duende, the eroticism of suggestion and ecstatic word divinations, the kindred-spirit building fun of our snowy playwriting retreat in Colorado, and the formative benefits of just jumping into the capital “M” Mystery of dark-matter duende.  We explore the duende possibilities within listener-submitted examples of duende words/lyrics/poetry, wade through the complexities and compromises of posting poetry to social media, and play a quick game of Poetry & Duende "This or That?" that turned into the podcast’s first ever rendition of “Hot or Not?” Lol You guys, this convo with KD is like getting a tasty cup of coffee with a vibrant, funny genius pal. I hope it ignites a more robust interest in the invigorating properties of poetry today, cuz that’s what her luscious language mastery and energy did/does for me! So cheers to more savoring of Life’s flavors, tasty ones!  Follow her on Instagram at @her_perverse and keep an eye out for her first chapbook, published by Wet Press, coming out this summer.  Yours in sensual springtime revelations, Megan  https://wet-press.com/ Have a great duend-ay! 🙂 Follow @duendediscussions on IG for episode updates and fun, interactive duende discussing!

    1h 29m
  6. 5 - Nathan Singh - Heart Spelunking, Joy-First Emotion Excavating, & Breaking the Waves of Duende's Dark Love

    02/09/2025

    5 - Nathan Singh - Heart Spelunking, Joy-First Emotion Excavating, & Breaking the Waves of Duende's Dark Love

    Happy Love Month my Valentine duders! I know this February has been *the most* intense/tense month  - sending so much affection and peace your way ❤️‍🩹 - but I can’t contain how stoked I am to share this very special heart-full convo with you. Because while there’s so much divisiveness right now, I hope this love-themed episode with my super sweet and generous twin friend - a consummate creative thinker and communicator of theatre directing and educating, Nathan Singh - sparks your heart, discussing duende with him definitely sparked mine! I mean he started the episode off bringing me (and duende) a dozen red roses, what a Romantic 🥰🩷 We dig into Nathan’s fearless and compassionate emotion-excavating approach to directing vulnerable stories for the stage (including his own story of turning heartbreak into self-love), why sensitivity is his superpower, how the spiritual activations of the duende-conjuring dance is a mystically possessing experience for him, and how creating work joy-first helps him deal with duende’s sometimes overwhelming darkness.  As what happens when two wild cinephiles get together, we completely nerd out over romantic movies! We start off by fawning over Emily Watson’s remarkable, otherworldly film debut in Lars Von Trier’s 1996 romantic fable Breaking the Waves - his duende-of-love art example. And in response to some rad listener-submitted Love & Duende art, we wrestle with the tricky nature of duende’s darker effects on possessive love. We also play a quick game of Valentine’s Day Duende This-or-That - he prompts me with one of the most challenging This-or-That questions I’ve EVER been asked! Listen to the end to discover my very dramatic answer. And please weigh in if you disagree with me. 😊 I hope you enjoy this defiantly joyous and love-focused discussion. Nathan’s wholly original leaning-into-love life vision can be contagious, I hope you catch some of it and that it fills your Valentine’s Day week with so much warmth and connection 😘🌹💘 Sending so much love, Megan Have a great duend-ay! 🙂 Follow @duendediscussions on IG for episode updates and fun, interactive duende discussing!

    1h 38m
  7. 4 - Sabina Zúñiga Varela - The Marrow of Moment-to-Moment, The Wondrous Irrational Body and "A Christmas Carol"'s Grittier Phantoms

    12/16/2024

    4 - Sabina Zúñiga Varela - The Marrow of Moment-to-Moment, The Wondrous Irrational Body and "A Christmas Carol"'s Grittier Phantoms

    Holiday greetings, my spirited duende duders! Hope your December so far has been full of magic and merrymaking. It’s hard to cut through all the seasonal chaos, but I think this wondrously stimulating and partially holiday-themed episode with my beloved storytelling goddess and epically fun, soulful partner in loving and conjuring the moony and mythic - award-winning actress, theatre educator and director Sabina Zúñiga Varela! - can melt away a bit of the stress-frost that may be on our hearts right now. She is a master manifester of the visceral and revelatory in the way we tell stories and activate creativity for the greater communal good, so I knew this convo would be rich with provocative, meaningful reflection. We discuss her uniquely metaphysical definition of duende, the harrowing nature of experiencing fully in-the-moment duende as an all-in performer - specifically in her journey performing playwriting icon Luis Alfaro’s Ancient Greek adaptations, and her deep love for the enthralling scope of duendes within Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, a tale she feels is an underrecognized social justice reckoning. And Sabina’s stories are always so fascinatingly insightful - we learn why elk blood can be turquoise, how humans can be turned into diamonds, and the best way for a Pisces to “de-role”, among many other fun facts and histories.  She gifts us a few sublime recitations - such a treat! - and we share our examples of duende holiday scents - hers harboring a nefarious origin :) We play a holiday-themed version of Duende This-or-That, and tackle one of the most divisive pronunciations in the western theatre canon. Please weigh in if you feel compelled to do so! :) Merry merry, my duende-discussing friends! Have the most magical holiday season 3 Sabina's blog detailing her experience in Dallas Theater Center's  2014 production of "A Christmas Carol" - https://sabinazunigavarela.wordpress.com/2014/12/ Have a great duend-ay! 🙂 Follow @duendediscussions on IG for episode updates and fun, interactive duende discussing!

    1h 26m
  8. 3 - Alexis Roblan - "Annihilation", Anxiety, Apparitions and Art Anarchy on All Hallow's Eve

    10/22/2024

    3 - Alexis Roblan - "Annihilation", Anxiety, Apparitions and Art Anarchy on All Hallow's Eve

    Hi Duende Duders! Hope your spooky season has been spooking along spectacularly! I'm absolutely thrilled to bring you Episode 3 - my duende-of-Halloween episode - a horrortastic convo with my favorite art anarchist -  playwright, screenwriter and novelist Alexis Roblan! Ali is a masterful adventurer of the mystical and mind-bending, so it's no wonder our talk of duende is full of spiritual, psychological and emotional revelations. We discuss how confronting panic and one's personal duende head-on - through the writing and experiencing of theatre/horror art, as well as in real life - can be a vigorous catharsis and necessary shake-up for the mind and soul. She breaks down why posters of A24 horror movies decorate the walls of her apartment, and we connect over how being raised Catholic formed our present relationships to the paranormal. We overly thoroughly navigate an intensely complex taste test journey of the duende of candy corn, and a Halloween session of "Which Has More Duende?" brings up strong opinions on how to fully immerse oneself into the duende of Knott's Scary Farm. And omg towards the end of the interview we debate over whether or not literal duendes actually exist and it may have caused an energetic interruption!! Perhaps a duende infiltration??? So just be ready for that...visitation :) Happy Halloweeeeeeen!!  Have a great duend-ay! 🙂 Follow @duendediscussions on IG for episode updates and fun, interactive duende discussing!

    1h 20m

Ratings & Reviews

4.2
out of 5
5 Ratings

About

A fun and invigorating artist interview podcast where I talk to my brilliant friends about their personal and creative relationship with duende - the visceral vibration of the soul making impact with its most authentic, ancient self - made famous by Spanish playwright and poet Federico Garcia Lorca. My guests and I will explore how to define what the mysterious duende actually is, how to access it, what to do with our art once we've confronted it, wrestle with it - possibly in real time! - as well as decipher who/what has it today, and what role it plays in today's ever evolving and challenging artistic landscapes and vocabularies. Why duende today? Because like Lorca says, “The true struggle is with the duende.”