Wanda's Picks Radio Show: Shakespeare @ San Quentin

Quinn DeVeaux, from Gary, Indiana, has packed houses and astounded audiences in the bay area for years with his smooth and dirty spank you voice and cool melodic songwriting. First he started an early Chicago Blues band and then a New Orleans soul and gospel band. Both groups had audiences clamoring for more. Now he has combined it all in the Blue Beat Review a self-styled crossroads of his many musical roots.Next Marin Shakespeare Company's Lesley Schisgall Currier joins us to talk about inmates at San Quentin State Prison who will have the rare opportunity to see fifteen of their peers performing in Shakespeare's problematic comedy "The Merchant of Venice," a play about commerce, love, revenge, and mercy. Under the direction of Currier and Suraya Keating, the actors have been studying the play, creating characters, learning lines, practicing fight choreography, and preparing for the performance for the past 8 months. The lead role of Shylock will be undertaken by inmate Luke Padgett, who has appeared in previous S@SQ productions as Hamlet, Malvolio, Lysander, Mercutio, Don Pedro etc. Padgett is serving a life sentence for murder, arson and robbery. She is joined by former company member, Johnathan Wilson (JW) who speaks about the transformative power of art now that he is on the other side of the prison walls.  Music: Nina Simone, Leon Thomas, Meklit & Quinn.