Episode 19 of the PAD Podcast is a very special one featuring longtime beloved PAD faculty member Annamaria Pileggi. After 35 years in the department, Anna will be retiring at the end of the 2025-26 academic year leaving behind a legacy of dedicated teaching, collaborative theatre (and people) making, and a ‘butterfly effect’ of alumni who were inspired by Anna’s teaching and bring that energy to their lives and work all over the world. On the episode, Anna reflects on her training before arriving at WashU, her influences and mentors who helped her along the way, andher favorite productions and collaborations that made her career at WashU, as she says, a “joy”.

If you feel a heartwarming shot of exuberance, wisdom, inspiration, and that distinctive Annamaria Pileggi laugh that has echoed in the PAD hallways for 35 wonderful years is what you need in life right now, then this episode is for you!

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!