Sarah Ruhl is an award-winning writer whose play Eurydice has been turned into an opera at Lincoln Center.  Ruhl is also a Pulitzer Prize finalist and a Tony Award nominee for her play In the Next Room (or the Vibrator Play). After Ruhl gave birth to twins, a hospital worker noticed that Ruhl’s left eye was droopy. That turned out to be a 10-year battle with a paralyzed face. We talk about the sadness of not being able to smile and the joy of working in the theater again. “Now What?” is produced with the help of Steve Zimmer, Annika Hoiem and Alex Wolfe. Audio production is by Nick CIavatta.

Photo credit is Greg Constanzo.

I first met Neil deGrasse Tyson at a bug eating event at the Museum of Natural History when he was munching on a fried tarantula. You may remember Tyson as the host of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey. That was the continuation of a television series that originally starred Carl Sagan, another well-known astrophysicist. Tyson is also the Director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York and he’s written more than 17 books. The latest is called A Brief Welcome to the Universe. But when you’re talking to Neil deGrasse Tyson, as you’ll discover, nothing is brief. “Now What?” is produced with the help of Steve Zimmer, Annika Hoiem and Alex Wolfe. Audio production is by Nick Ciavatta.