Episodes
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March 25, 2026 - Mahesh Daas, Reeves Gabrels + My'Kal Stromlie, and the MFA at 250
Mahesh Daas, president of Boston Architectural College, joins The Culture Show to discuss resilient architecture and what California’s wildfire recovery can teach the rest of us about building safer homes.Legendary guitarist Reeves Gabrels, known for his work with David Bowie and The Cure, joins choreographer My’Kal Stromile to discuss "The Leisurely Installation of a New Window," part of Boston Ballet’s The Dream program through March 29 at Citizens Opera House. To learn more go here.As part of our “Countdown to 250” series Nonie Gadsden, the MFA’s Katharine Lane Weems Senior Curator of American Decorative Arts and Sculpture, joins The Culture Show to explore the Boston Tea Party through teapots, tea tables, silver, and the rituals of colonial life. -
March 24, 2026 - Ken Burns, Francisco Noya and Amanda Shea, and Alan Ricks on "Seeking Abundance"
Filmmaker Ken Burns joins The Culture Show to discuss “Henry David Thoreau,” the new three-part PBS documentary series that he executive produced, and to reflect on America at 250. The conversation explores the larger questions of identity, democracy, and national meaning that have long run through Burns’ work. Henry David Thoreau premiers on March 30th on PBS. To learn more go here.As America approaches its 250th anniversary, the Boston Civic Symphony marks the moment with Aaron Copland’s Lincoln Portrait and Mahler’s Symphony No. 5. Jared talks with music director Francisco Noya and spoken-word artist Amanda Shea, who will narrate Lincoln Portrait, ahead of the orchestra’s March 28 concert at Jordan Hall. To learn more go here.Architect Alan Ricks joins The Culture Show to discuss “Seeking Abundance,” the new book he co-wrote with Sierra Bainbridge, and an approach to design that asks buildings to give more back than they take. The conversation looks at how architecture shapes daily life, communities, and the future we imagine. To learn more about the book go here. -
March 23, 2026 - Imari Paris Jeffries, Mahler's "Song of the Earth" at the BLO, and "Busing the Buffer Zone"
Republicans are advancing the SAVE Act, a bill that would require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote. Supporters frame it as election security, while critics warn it could block millions of eligible voters—raising new questions about access and democracy. Imari Paris Jeffries, President and CEO of Embrace Boston and co-chair of Everyone 250, joins The Culture Show to talk about the SAVE Act in the context of Dr. Martin Luther King’s unfinished legacy, Boston Lyric Opera is reimagining Mahler’s "Song of the Earth" as a fully theatrical experience, conceived and directed by Anne Bogart. Bogart joins The Culture Show with BLO General Manager and CEO Brad Vernatter to talk about this meditation on mortality, beauty, and farewell — and about the reopening of the company’s Opera + Community Studios in Fort Point, where the production runs through March 29. To learn more about the production go here.In 1975, as Boston’s busing crisis escalated, Chinatown mothers organized a boycott rather than send their children into desegregating schools. Now, that story is reclaimed through an exhibition and staged readings of Busing the Buffer Zone: Chinatown Mother Boycott Oral History in Play. Playwright Christina R. Chan joins us, along with translator, teacher, and community advocate Suzanne Lee, who worked directly with the mothers.The exhibition is on view at the Pao Arts Center through March 28, with staged readings there on March 28 at 2 and 7 p.m. To learn more go here. -
March 20, 2026 - Week in Review: BTS, the Bachelorette, and Trump's gold coin
On this edition of The Culture Show, Jared Bowen, Callie Crossley, and Cristina Quinn go over the week’s top arts and culture headlines, which include:ABC pulled a completed season of “The Bachelorette” just days before premiere after a leaked video showed star Taylor Frankie Paul assaulting her partner, collapsing what was meant to be a franchise reset. BTS returns with its first full-group album in years, already topping 4 million pre-orders in its first week. Jay-Z heads back to the stage for two Yankee Stadium shows, built around “Reasonable Doubt” and “The Blueprint “— the albums that defined his rise. John Galliano’s collaboration with Zara brings couture sensibility to mass-market retail, blurring the line between luxury and fast fashion.In “As Deep as the Grave,” Val Kilmer is digitally recreated through AI for a posthumous screen performance, with his estate’s support. -
March 19, 2026 - Jordan Harrison's The Antiquities, Stephen Moyer + Jack Davenport on The Forsytes and beer cocktails
In “The Antiquities,” playwright Jordan Harrison imagines a future looking back at humanity through the objects and technologies we leave behind. Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company, the play unfolds as a series of scenes across time that explore progress, memory, and how quickly our inventions become artifacts. Jordan Harris joins the culture show to talk about this work. To learn more about the production and showtimes go here.A sweeping new drama on MASTERPIECE brings one of Britain’s most famous literary families back to the screen. In “The Forsytes,” actors Stephen Moyer and Jack Davenport play brothers Jolyon and James Forsyte, members of a wealthy Victorian dynasty whose fortunes can’t shield them from rivalry, ambition, and betrayal. The series premieres March 22 on PBS. To learn more go here.With baseball season around the corner, Jackson Cannon joins us to talk beer cocktails — inventive drinks that give a ballpark staple a fresh twist. Cannon is the beverage director for ES Hospitality, the team behind some of Boston’s most celebrated restaurants. On April 11th Jackson Cannon is teaching a beer cocktails class and on April 26th you can learn the art and craft of clarified cocktails. -
March 18, 2026 - Wednesday Watch Party: Taxi Driver
This month’s Wednesday Watch Party revisits Martin Scorsese’s 1976 classic “Taxi Driver,” a film that remains one of the most unsettling portraits of loneliness, alienation, and urban disillusionment in American cinema. Jared Bowen is joined by Callie Crossley and Mark Anastasio, Artistic Director of The Coolidge Corner Theatre, to ask whether Travis Bickle’s post-Vietnam America still holds up today — and what the film reveals now about masculinity, violence, and isolation. We also take listeners calls and observations from the live audience at the Boston Public Library. -
March 17, 2026 - We Black Folk Showcase, Jill Medvedow on "The English Understand Wool," and Matthew Shifrin
Artist and musician Cliff Notez and singer-songwriter and composer Gabriella Simpkins join “The Culture Show” for a preview of the We Black Folk Showcase, coming to Arts at the Armory in Somerville on Friday, March 20. Created by Cliff Notez, We Black Folk is a Boston movement opening up the idea of folk through song, roots music, poetry, and story. To learn more about the upcoming showcase go here.We’re launching a new recurring series, “Read on Arrival,”devoted to short books and novellas that can be read in one sitting but linger long after. Leading the way is former ICA director Jill Medvedow, who joins Jared to discuss the inaugural selection: Helen DeWitt’s novella “The English Understand Wool.”Matthew Shifrin returns for AI: Actual Intelligence, our recurring feature spotlighting original, algorithm-free thinking from voices across the region. This month, the founder and CEO of Bricks for the Blind continues his conversation about traveling blind, from the unpredictability of ride-shares to the apps that can help navigate unfamiliar situations. -
March 16, 2026 - An Oscar Night recap, Lynette D'Amico on "Men I Hate," and Masako Miki
Culture Show co-host Callie Crossley and Culture Show contributor Lisa Simmons, the Artistic and Executive Director of the Roxbury International Film Festival and program manager at Mass Cultural Council, join Jared Bowen for an Oscars recap.Writer Lynette D’Amico joins The Culture Show to discuss “Men I Hate: A Memoir in Essays,” a searching new book about marriage, gender, and identity. Drawing on the upheaval that followed her spouse’s transition, D’Amico writes about love, estrangement, and what happens when the life you built no longer fits the language you once used to define it. On May 28th she’ll be at Concord Art as part of the Independent Press Prose Reading Series. To learn more go here. And the West Coast premiere of P Carl's play “Becoming A Man” will be opening at Z Space in San Francisco on May 30. Artist Masako Miki joinsThe Culture Show to talk about “Midnight March,” her exhibition now on view at the MassArt Art Museum through May 31. Inspired by Japanese folklore, the show fills the gallery with soft felt creatures that are strange, playful, and faintly uncanny — reimagining figures once associated with fear as something more communal, tender, and inviting. To learn more go here. -
Boston Lyric Opera Reimagines Mahler's "Song of the Earth"
Boston Lyric Opera is reimagining Mahler’s "Song of the Earth as a fully theatrical experience, conceived and directed by Anne Bogart. Bogart joins The Culture Show with BLO General Manager and CEO Brad Vernatter to talk about this meditation on mortality, beauty, and farewell — and about the reopening of the company’s Opera + Community Studios in Fort Point, where the production runs March 20 through 29. To learn more about the production go here. -
March 13, 2026 - Week in Review: Andris Nelsons, an Oscars preview, and a Chalamet faux pas
On this edition of The Culture Show, Jared Bowen, Callie Crossley, and Cristina Quinn go over the week’s top arts and culture headlines, which include:The Boston Symphony Orchestra says it will part ways with music director Andris Nelsons after the 2026–27 season, ending a 13-season run. His tenure brought Grammy-winning recordings, international recognition, and a major role in shaping the orchestra’s sound in Boston and beyond.Timothée Chalamet stirred debate during a filmed Variety and CNN town hall with Matthew McConaughey when the conversation turned to opera and ballet. His joking but dismissive remarks touched a nerve, raising familiar questions about cultural relevance, audience tastes, and what kinds of art get taken seriously.Concert ticket prices remain one of the biggest frustrations in live music, with fans facing surging costs, layered fees, and little transparency. Now regulators are targeting Live Nation, the parent company of Ticketmaster, in a case that could reshape the live-music business and potentially open the door to more competition.Those financial pressures are also changing the theater world. More producers are developing work in London’s West End and other overseas markets, where mounting a production can cost far less than it does on Broadway.
