Ron Brown, Arcell Cabuag

Brown, the founder of Evidence, a dance company, says, "You'll see yourself on stage." I hope he's speaking figuratively. Cabuag, its associate artistic director agrees. Presumably. How else has the company flourished for forty years? A conversation at the Billie Holiday Theatre, where they'll perform on November 14 and 15.

This set and costume designer worked on 80 Broadway shows, 30 films, several operas, and innumerable dance works. Here's a tip he gleaned collaborating with Paul Taylor: "Give a man 17 chairs and see what he comes up with." Good advice for any part of life. Presented with the Paul Taylor Dance Company.

For decades after graduating, these architects avoided Cooper Union. "We would detour three or four blocks or else the PTSD would kick in." Apparently it used to be like The Paper Chase or Whiplash but with less compassion. Presented with The National Academy of Design. Music: Karl Schwarz.

This preservationist, a wily veteran of decades of urban campaigns, is happy in his work: "I've never regretted being involved in saving a landmark. I've only regretted the ones I couldn't save." I envy his serenity. I regret nearly everything. Presented with the New York Preservation Archive Project. Music: Adrian Untermyer.

When this playwright's grandfather faced a tough decision, "He sought the advice of Paul Robeson." Of course he did. Who wouldn't? And it all worked out fine. Fine-ish. A writer, his family, his community. Presented with the Classical Theatre of Harlem. Music: Emery Mason, Melissa Mosley.

She and her neighbors—untrained, uncredentialed—revived the Bronx River and are taking on the hideous Cross Bronx Expressway. "We're just a group of Bronxites with ambitious ideas." Presented with the Architectural League, in conjunction with the exhibition Cross Bronx/Living Legend at the Bronx River Art Center. Music: Jeremy Bosch, Román Lajara.

"The least interesting thing about a book is its contents, assert the curators of the recent Grolier Club exhibition After Words: Visual and Experimental Poetry in Little Magazines and Small Presses, 1960-2025. Now my head hurts. Seldom have I felt older or enjoyed a conversation more.

In 1972, his parents, Massimo and Lella, designed a map of the New York subway system. Many people hated it. I loved it. (I have one framed on my living room wall.) The MTA soon withdrew it. Now it's back, slightly revised. Good news in bleak times.

As a member of Manhattan Transfer, she won ten Grammy awards, but "I was not going to be a singer at all, actually; I was going to be a nurse." Medicine's loss, music's gain. Guitar: Sean Harkness. Presented with The Village Trip.

Her father, Leonard Bernstein, thought "that if he could write a good enough song, maybe he could stop war." Not insane, aspiring. "It's ridiculously idealistic, but that was his impetus." Tales of a famous father. Music: Amy Burton, accompanied by John Musto. Presented with The Village Trip, whose annual festival begins September 19.