The Exacting Clam Cephalopodcast Exacting Clam

Today we talk about the play Kinderkrankenhaus and its new production at the Brick Theater in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY, with author Jesi Bender, director Nola Latty, and assistant director/dramaturg AJ Stoogenke.
Jesi Bender is an artist from Upstate NY. Her play, Kinderkrankenhaus, was published by Sagging Meniscus Press in late 2021 and debuted at Colgate University's Brehmer Theater in 2022. The NYC premiere will occur September 28-30 at the Brick Theater in Brooklyn, NY.
Nola Latty is a director, producer, and performance artist from Philadelphia, based in Brooklyn, New York. They create work that balances the intimate with the avant-garde. Their surreal digital play, Still Goes, was a part of the 2022 Exponential Festival. They have produced shows at Ars Nova, The Brick, and New York University, and performed at New York and Denver Fringe Festivals, Chaos Computer, and The Tank, along with several other small DIY Venues. Nola is a neurodiverse artist, and invites that part of them to affect their creative and leadership practices. 
AJ Stoogenke (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist based in New York. She is currently assistant directing and dramturging Kinderkrankenhaus at The Brick Theater. She recently cast the web series “High Functioning: A Chronicle of Chronic Ills” and has previously worked as a makeup artist and costume designer for a variety of independent films, editorial projects, and theater productions.
As a disabled individual, AJ prioritizes accessibility in her work. She is a proud co-founder of the NYU Tisch Drama Coalition of Disabled Artists. She also currently works as a talent booker for models with disabilities. 
The Brick Theater is Williamsburg’s primary incubator of innovative theater and performing arts. https://www.bricktheater.com/event/kinderkrankenhaus/all/

The Cephalopodcast returns to life with a brief report from an appropriately mollusk-friendly region—Wellfleet, Massachusetts. Featuring "observations and admonitions" from roving, raving publisher Jacob Smullyan and proper poems by Clam regulars Mike Silverton and Marvin Cohen, its nudities of meaning are gracefully hidden behind the murmur of a consuming sea.

In this episode, Kevin Philip Sirois presents C.J. Spataro’s gorgeous, moving, strange yet familiar story, “The Becoming,” available in the print edition of Exacting Clam’s Autumn 2021 issue.
C.J. Spataro is the MFA program director at Rosemont College and the editorial director of Philadelphia Stories and PS Books. She is an award-winning short story writer, Pushcart Prize nominee, and a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts grant winner. 

In this installment of the Cephalopodcast, Kevin Philip Sirois talks with publisher Jacob Smullyan about art's futility and necessity, the origins of Sagging Meniscus and Exacting Clam, the Cephalopodcast itself, and, especially, Royce M. Becker.

In this, the Cephalopodcast's inaugural episode, host Kevin Philip Sirois reads pieces by Kurt Luchs, Charles Holdefer, Steven D. Schroeder, and Daniel Beauregard.
Books from this episode:
Kurt Luchs: Falling in the Direction of Up
Charles Holdefer: Dick Cheney in Shorts
Exacting Clam No. 1 — Summer 2021