Episode 18 of the PAD Podcast features our first Master’s graduate from the WashU Performing Arts Department in Dr. Jenny Kokai. Dr. Kokai is an award-winning educator, playwright, scholar, and administrator. She is currently the Director of the School of Theatre and Dance and Professor of Theatre at the University of South Florida (USF). As a scholar, she is recognized internationally for her work on tourism and performance, with a focus on themed and immersive entertainments. In 2017, she published the well-reviewed monograph Swim Pretty: Aquatic Spectacles and the Performance of Race, Gender, and Nature and in 2019 co-edited the anthology, Performance and the Disney Theme Park Experience: The Tourist as Actor. She also continues topublish as a playwright and her most recent work in that arena just came out in the form or two plays for young audiences: Zombie Thoughts and Ballet for Aliens co-written with her son, Oliver Kokai-Means. Ballet for Aliens toured and was presented to over 10,000 elementary school students throughout Utah in 2022-23 with Plan-B Theatre and Zombie Thoughts was turned into an app game by Riverside in Australia. Don’t miss this enlightening conversation with multidisciplinary artist and administrator Dr. Jenny Kokai!

Episode 17 of the PAD podcast features our first guest in the design and technical area of the PAD in Adriane Heflin! Adriane is the amazingly talented and creative Technical Director for the Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis, Minnesota where she has held the role for 17 years. Before that she was at the Guthrie Theatre with summer stock stints at such respected companies as Williamstown Theatre Festival, Stages St. Louis, and Opera Theatre of St. Louis. Adriane talks about her time in the PAD, the moment she realized that the theatre would be her artistic and career home, and the accolades she received performing in an open mic night at WashU called “INPO” (In No Particular Order). Don’t miss this infectious and inspiring episode featuringthe incomparable Adriane Heflin!

After a summer hiatus, the PAD Podcast is back with abrand-new episode featuring PAD alumnus Jayson Johnson. Jayson is currently the Head of Strategic Partnerships and Chief of Staff at Genentech based in San Francisco. Rob and Jayson begin by talking about his journey at WashU studying and practicing Dance in the PAD followed by his post graduation journey from Washington Ballet to the San Francisco Ballet where he worked his way up to his current position on the Board of Directors for that world famous institution. Jayson served for two years as a Commissioner for the San Francisco Human Rights Commission and receives rave reviews from co-workers: “I gave him some of the most ambiguous problems to solve and he consistently deliveredsomething better than I could have imagined”. Don’t miss this delightful interview where we learn about all the things Jayson learned at WashU that prepared him for all the multiple roles he has had in life and how he continues to choreograph his future.