Karen Frillmann

A trip to the Lyceum Theater on W. 45th Street before December 12th will give you a brush with history.

The Queens of my childhood was different from the Queens of my youth and I saw it morph again long after I moved across the river into "the city." Among the the most important lessons I learned was that change is the only constant in New York City.

Rye Brook, NY —

While the lengthy roll call for the attorney general nomination was underway inside the convention hall, WNYC caught up with Arthur Schwartz, a state committee member from Lower Manhattan. Calling himself a progressive ...

Brian Lehrer, Bob Hennelly, and Karen Frillman congratulate Leonard on his 25 years at the station. Find out more about Leonard's 25th anniversary here.

In their Main Streets Project, the WNYC Newsroom is following six blocks over an entire year to track how the economic downturn is being felt at street level. Main Streets editor Karen Frillman is joined by reporters Jenna Flanagan, Lisa Chow, Richard Yeh, Brigid Bergin, and Ailsa Chang to discuss ...

Karen Frillmann visited with a mother in Dutchess County, one of the few there who lost family on 9/11.

Paul Robeson

“It was a huge crowd. I think 10,000 people. A small group of people at the gate were shouting at us 'kikes, nigger lovers, go back to Russia.' There was a policeman there with a ...

New York, NY —

The Lincoln Center Festival is winding down, but there are still a few ambitious international productions running through this weekend. WNYC’s Karen Frillmann has been following the festival and has this report.

New York, NY —

A new Arabic language production of Shakespeare’s Richard the Third has arrived at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. And as far as WNYC’s Karen Frillmann is concerned, it’s not a minute too soon. She spoke with the director backstage at BAM.

REPORTER: The corrupting influence of ...

A new Arabic language production of Shakespeare’s Richard III has arrived at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. And, not a minute too soon. I spoke with the director backstage at BAM.

The corrupting influence of power –- it’s hard to think of a time when a play with that theme isn't timely. Kuwaiti based director, Sulyman Bassam was looking for a project that could hold a mirror up to our current political climate, and he found it in Richard III.

"What interested me most was the way the piece portrayed the ways in which a society can be so swiftly hijacked by a group of powerful individuals, ways in which the instruments of state can be coerced and used to give birth to a nightmare scenario."

Shakespeare wrote Richard III at a time when accession to the English throne was marked by intrigue, manipulation and violence. Basam, who adapted the piece, thought the setting worked well as a window into the power dynamics of the world he hails from, the Arab gulf.

"What we have is a society that has been brutalized by cycles of violence and cycles of revenge and blood letting and that cyclical aspect of history is interesting to me as well. And the dysfunctional family element—contending allegiances of tribes and oligarchs was something that was of significance to the adaptation that I was looking to make."

It's squarely set in a contemporary royal court in the Arabian gulf. And, as it is in life — western figures, in the roles of Buckingham and Richmond appear in that court as players and power brokers.

The WNYC news team's Main Streets project is spending a year looking closely at six blocks around the region. Karen Frillmann, Brigid Bergin, and Elaine Rivera discuss the goals of the project, what ...

Pete Seeger continues to work hard for what he believes in. And his fans are right there with him. His 90th birthday birthday party (and sing-a-long) at Madison Square Garden on May 3 turned into a retrospective of many of ...

New York, NY —

There are a number of productions of classic Greek plays in the city right now. The plots are filled with family strife, and the cost of war and revenge.

And they got WNYC's Karen Frillmann thinking that seeing the Greek classics is a refreshing way to ...

New York, NY —

New Yorkers flocked to the Union Square market today to gather provisions for the big day.

REPORTER: Jan Sweeney brought her own shopping bag and was filling it on her way to work.

SWEENEY: Bought a turkey, I bought 4 pies, I bought broccoli .... we're having ...

New York, NY —

The Twin Towers are on the minds of many New Yorkers today. But they made such a strong impact on one man, Phillipe Petit, that in 1974 he illegally strung a wire between the World Trade Towers. Then, for 45 minutes in the early morning ...

New York, NY —

New York Republicans gathered in the Flatiron district to watch the convention coverage. Marion Drayfus of the Upper West Side said she was not disappointed by the spirited speech by vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin

DRAYFUS: I thought it was nine innings, and I thought she ...

New York, NY —

Paul Steely White, of Transportation Alternatives, says now is the time to pull out your bike and join the city's estimated 130,000 daily riders.

WHITE: The first thing is to make sure your bicycle is in proper working order. Make sure your brakes are working, that ...

New York, NY —

The historic NY Philharmonic concert in North Korea remains the topic of conversation in classical music circles and diplomatic coffee klatches.

REPORTER: WNYC’s John Schaeffer was there and says as the concert ended the audience just continued applauding until the musicians got up to leave the ...

A look at how the racial politics of Gone with the Wind play out today, and why the story still speaks to readers and viewers.

For a time, Margaret Mitchell’s saga of the antebellum South was the second bestselling book next to the Bible. Gone With The Wind had it all: charming debutantes, a sacred family home, an indomitable heroine, the destruction of a society, and a whopping love story. Her book beat out another ...