Los Angeles, California Aug 29, 2018 (Issuewire.com) - Hugging and Learning, a new podcast hosted by award-winning writers Chelsea Marcantel and Andrew Grigg, is a nostalgic exploration of those very special episodes of television -- when light-hearted sitcoms from the late 1970s to early 1990s broke from their regular format to discuss serious issues such as alcoholism, crime, racism, the Challenger explosion, cults, and bootlegging a Doobie Brothers concert. Chelsea and Andrew use the Hero’s Journey, along with many jokes and laughs, to evaluate and explore these special relics of television to see how they hold up today. Anyone who grew up watching shows such as The Facts of Life, Family Ties, Saved by the Bell, The Golden Girls, or simply loves vintage sitcoms will enjoy listening to Hugging and Learning.
Host Chelsea Marcantel on why they started the show, “I like looking back at TV sitcoms that seem ridiculous or out of touch, and evaluating how closely they actually adhere to ancient storytelling structures like the Hero’s Journey. Andrew and I have been doing this un-recorded for years. I most like when we set out to make fun of an episode we remember as clunky, and end up genuinely moved and educated by it.”
The most recent episode of Hugging and Learning features the very special episode from What’s Happening!! in which main character “Rerun” tries to bootleg a Doobie Brother’s concert. Past episodes include looks at Family Matters, Boy Meets World, and Punky Brewster. New episodes of Hugging and Learning are available every Friday and can be found at www.HuggingAndLearning.com, iTunes, Spotify, and anywhere podcasts can be found.
ABOUT CHELSEA (host): Reared by Cajuns in southwest Louisiana, Chelsea Marcantel has lived and made theatre among the tribes of the Midwest, Appalachia, the Mid-Atlantic, and now the West Coast. In 2016, she completed a Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Fellowship at The Juilliard School. Her plays include AIRNESS (A.T.C.A. Osborn Award), EVERYTHING IS WONDERFUL, LADYISH, DEVOUR, and TINY HOUSES. They have been produced around the United States and Canada.
ABOUT ANDREW (host): Born the “largest baby on record” in Enid, Oklahoma and raised in a small swamp town in eastern Virginia, Andrew Grigg managed to escape all of that for the bright-ish lights and the big-ish city of Richmond, VA. After he earned a BFA in Theatre from Virginia Commonwealth University, he made the jump to the actual city of Chicago, where he wrote numerous award-winning, comedic plays including The SHAKESPLOITATION Series (where classic plays are reset in the ‘exploitation’ cinema style). He is now - somehow - writing horror TV in Los Angeles and shamefully complaining about 40° weather being “too cold”.
ABOUT MILES (producer & director) is a sound designer, composer, and projection media designer for the theater. Previously Miles worked on the podcasts 2nd STORY and THEATRE MATTERS. New York theatrical credits include productions with: The Flea Theater (Drama Desk nominee and Jeff Award nominee for FULFILLMENT by Thomas Bradshaw), Transport Group, Playwrights Realm, National Asian American Theatre Company, Ma-Yi Theater Company, Pace Gallery, NYU Tisch, among others. Regional credits include productions with Geva Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, American Theater Company, Red Tape Theatre (Jeff Award for MOUSE IN A JAR by Martyna Majok), among others.
Media Contact
Andrew Grigg huggingandlearningpodcast@gmail.com 3124015998 PO Box 291874 Los Angeles, CA 90029 http://www.HuggingAndLearning.com
