Bret Stephens

Thursday, October 1, 2020 at 7:30 PM Online

Bret Stephens became an op-ed columnist and associate editor for the New York Times in April 2017. Before that, he spent 11 years as the author of “Global View,” the foreign-affairs column of The Wall Street Journal, for which he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary in 2013. He also served eight years as the Journal’s deputy editorial-page editor, responsible for the newspaper’s global opinion section, as well as a member of the editorial board.

Mr. Stephens began his career at The Wall Street Journal in 1998 as an editor in New York and later wrote editorials and articles for the newspaper from Brussels. In January 2002 he was named editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post, a position he assumed at age 28. At the Jerusalem Post, he was responsible for the newspaper’s news, editorial, digital and international editions and wrote a weekly column.

Mr. Stephens returned to The Wall Street Journal in late 2004. He has reported stories from around the world, including Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Gaza and interviewed dozens of world leaders. In June 2017 he became a regular political analyst for MSNBC.

Mr. Stephens has twice been chairman of Pulitzer Prize juries and is a national judge of the prestigious Livingston Awards. He holds two honorary doctorates. In 2014 he was awarded the Professional Achievement Prize by the University of Chicago, a distinction he shares with composer Philip Glass, astronomer Carl Sagan and Nobel laureate Gary Becker.

In 2014 Penguin published his book America in Retreat: The New Isolationism and the Coming Global Disorder. Former Secretary of State George Shultz hailed the book as “wise counsel for a constructive, tough-minded and sensible foreign policy.”

Mr. Stephens was born in New York and raised in Mexico City. He holds a BA with honors from the University of Chicago an MSc from the London School of Economics. He lives with his wife Corinna, a classical music and opera critic for the New York Times and their three children. The family divides its time between New York City and Hamburg, Germany.

Paula Poundstone

Thursday, April 11, 2019 at 7:30PM at the Tibbits Opera House

Paula Poundstone is one of our country’s preeminent comedians, known for her smart, observational humor and spontaneous wit that has become the stuff of legend. She tours regularly performing over 85 shows a year.

Paula is also an Author, Lecturer, Host, and Actress. In her second book, The Totally Unscientific Study Of The Search For Human Happiness (Algonquin Books) she asks the question, “Is there a secret to human happiness?” She offers herself up as a guinea pig in a series of “totally scientific” experiments, recording her data for all mankind. Kirkus Reviews calls it, “A deeply revealing memoir in which the pathos doesn’t kill the humor—delivers more than it promises.”  The book debuted at #1 on Amazon best sellers lists in Humor in Hardcover, Audible, Kindle and CD within its first ten days of release and is now out in paperback. The audio book, read by Paula, was one of five finalists for the 2018 Audio Book of the Year.

Paula is a popular panelist on NPR’s # 1 show, the weekly comedy news quiz, Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me!  Her new weekly podcast for Maximum Fun, Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone, is a comedy field guide to life. Each week Paula and her co-host, Adam Felber, a friend and fellow panelist on Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me! bring on leading expert guests and use their unique comedic sensibility to help us navigate life in the 21st century. Along the way, Paula attempts to explain existence through her kaleidoscopic perspective, and Adam tries to interject some rationality.

Paula’s guest appearances include The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Star Talk with Neil deGrasse Tyson, Late Night with Carson Daly, Nerdist with Chris Hardwick, and she was a clue in a New York Times crossword puzzle.  She’s filed commentaries for CBS Sunday Morning, and Morning Edition and All Things Considered for NPR. She voices the character “Paulette” in Cartoon Network’s new animated series Summer Camp Island.  An avid Disney movie fan, Paula had a dream come true when she was cast to voice the character “Forgetter Paula” in Disney/Pixar’s Inside Out, winner of the 2017 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film.

Paula has had numerous HBO specials and starred in her own series on HBO and ABC.  Her second special for HBO, Paula Poundstone goes to Harvard, marked the first time the elite university allowed its name to be used in the title of a television show.

Paula was the first woman, in its then 73rd year, to perform standup comedy at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.  She won an American Comedy Award for Best Female Standup Comic and is recognized in innumerable lists, documentaries, and literary compendiums noting influential standup comedians of our time.

Josh Ritter • Acoustic Show

Troy Music Hall • 05.12.18 • 8 PM

- A limited number of $50 Gold Circle tickets are available.

 “Josh Ritter remains at the top of his game two decades into a highlight-strewn career. He’d be forgiven for loosening his grip, but his hand has never felt surer." - NPR

Josh Ritter's acclaimed 20-year career as a songwriter and musician reaches new heights with the release of his ninth full-length album, Gathering.  In Josh’s words, "I began with an exciting sense of dissatisfaction, and what emerged, as I began to find my voice, was a record full of storms. I still can’t tell what era these stories are from. They feel part roustabout, part psalm to me."

A songwriter, a musician, a New York Times best-selling author, a painter, a consummate performer. Josh Ritter encompasses all of these descriptors and more. He is a true artist. One who is not afraid of growing, changing and constantly challenging earlier versions of himself. Here, two decades into his storied career, Josh Ritter is just getting started.

This is a special solo acoustic show.