Re-Creative: A podcast about inspiration and creativity

Mark and Joe are joined by the Canadian actor, director, producer and playwright, Saul Rubinek.

They have a wide-ranging and educational conversation that they launch with the question: "Who was your favorite playwright." Saul answers Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, whom he believes (along with many others) wrote all of Shakespeare's plays.

"Even some of the most renowned academics have trouble accepting the evidence," he says.

He's done a one-man version of Merchant of Venice, and in the process researched the question; he's a proponent of the idea.

Then the conversation moves into a discussion of an opportunity Saul had to play a Hasidic rabbi in a little village in 1941 Ukraine, called Shttl. (The Yiddish word for "village.") It was a project that deeply connected him to his own family's history.

Not to be missed!

For more info on this episode, please visit the show notes.

Re-Creative is a co-production of Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with Mark A. Rayner.

Contact us at: [email protected]

Mark and Joe talk to poet Penn Kemp about fellow poets Harold Rhenish, Sharon Thesen, and others, and how they work in collaboration. They start with Penn’s roots in visual arts – her father was the well-regarded London painter Jim Kemp – and how it became poetry, not painting, that sparked her muse.

Penn, Joe and Mark then get into a fascinating discussion about poetry, song lyrics, Leonard Cohen, Shakespeare and performance.

For more information about Penn Kemp and this episode, please visit the show notes page.

Re-Creative is a co-production of Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with Mark A. Rayner.

Contact us at: [email protected]

Joe and Mark join Brian Wyvill, professor of computer science, computer graphics pioneer, rock climber, mountain climber, author and amateur musician (and Joe's brother-in-law) to talk about Ludwig van Beethoven's Adagio from Sonata Pathétique and how it's featured in his writing. They also discuss software he's developing to help writers, and top the conversation off with Brian's story of how he and his team created the first ever computer animation to be featured in a Hollywood film, in Ridley Scott's Alien.

For more information about this episode, please visit the show notes.

Re-Creative is a co-production of Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with Mark A. Rayner.

Contact us at: [email protected]

Joe and Mark are joined by Karina Bates, a potter from Omemee, Ontario.

Karina takes the lads through a quick tour of what it’s like the throw pots and other ceramics on the wheel. Her work tends to be functional and purposeful.

“It’s a nice feeling to have people hold up a cup you’ve made and say they enjoy having their coffee in it,” says Karina.

On the bottom of every piece, Karina leaves her "maker's mark", which is the Eye of Horus. In ancient Egypt, Horus was represented as a falcon-headed man, and was the god of order. His right eye was the morning star, embodying power, and his left eye was the evening star, representing healing. Karina explains her personal connection to this maker's mark.

This is a thoroughly engaging conversation about the art of pottery, the purpose of guilds, and ancient Egyptian mythology.

Find out more about Karina's work in the show notes page for this episode.

Re-Creative is a co-production of Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with Mark A. Rayner.

Contact us at: [email protected]

Mark and Joe are joined by documentary film maker Teresa Alfeld. She's made two films, The Rankin File: Legacy of a Radical and Doug and the Slugs and Me.

Both of the co-hosts listened to (and loved) Doug and the Slugs when the Canadian band was popular. Teresa's best friend growing up was Shea Bennett, the daughter of Doug Bennett, who was the front-man and main songwriter for the band.

"For me, Doug was just Shea's dad, but I didn't appreciate the scope and magnitude of his career in their hey day," she says.

Teresa discovered Doug's music later in life, when she was choosing the score for The Rankin File, and she wanted music from the Vancouver scene in the 1980s, as the doc was set in the same time.

"It was such an absolute shock to hear their music. It was just so much richer, both musically and lyrically, than I thought."

She ended up using just Doug and the Slugs material exclusively for the film.

Then they take a deep dive into the story of Doug Bennett, the band, and how she created such a wonderful documentary.

A great conversation, not to be missed if you're interested in the 80s, the music business, and Doug and the Slugs.

For more info on this episode, visit the show notes page.

Re-Creative is co-produced by Donovan Street Press Inc. and MonkeyJoy Press.

Contact us: [email protected]