Razzle Dazzle: Podcast Transcripts

Buy Now, Enjoy Later - Again and Again

Tuesday, September 22, 2026

Intro

[music playing]

CAROLYN KELEMEN:

Greetings from Columbia, Maryland, where we are recording Razzle Dazzle Radio, a show brought to you by Howard Community College. I'm Carolyn Kelemen, and I'm here with my co-host, Judy Templeton. Oh, what a show we have today. We're calling it "Buy Now, Enjoy Later Again and Again."

Our guests include Bruce Nelson, actor, director Howie winner, Helen Hayes nominated many times, and he represents Everyman Theatre. And he wants to save you some money on a subscription with a few added perks. And we have a representative from Sundays at Three who will introduce us to the world of classical music with outstanding local musicians, some here from Howard Community College.

And the college is represented by Janelle Broderick, Director of Horowitz Performing and Visual Arts Center, and she's going to tell you all about the fall events. So, Judy, take it away.

JUDY TEMPLETON:

Wow! We are going to razzle dazzle them today with these superstars. So let's start with Sundays at Three, Ron Mutchnick, and I would like to hear-- I know we have some connectors to the college, and so tell us how to get in on this opening season.

RON MUTCHNIK:

Well, we have tickets already available online, and we sent out our season brochures last week. So you can still get all nine concerts, one every month from September through May. These are chamber music concerts. So they are not full size orchestra concerts, but they range from single players like Brian Ganz, our wonderful Howard County local pianist who has made it to the big time-- an international star.

And we also have [inaudible], as many as nine people. All of our musicians are people based in the Baltimore, Washington area, many of them from Howard County, including performers that our faculty on Howard Community College. Like at our first concert on September 20, we have Kyle Coughlin, clarinet, joining us for a wonderful selection of French and other beautiful music for flute, harp and chamber quartet and clarinet.

All of the concerts, except for one, take place at the Christ Episcopal Church in Columbia, Maryland, the historic church off on Dobbin Road and Oakland Mills Road. And we have them, because of the name of our series, almost all the concerts are at 3:00 PM on Sundays.

There's one exception-- February 28 concert, which features waltzes, rags, a ballad, legend, and a bit of blues. That's going to take place at the First Evangelical Lutheran Church on Chatham Road in Ellicott City. So that's the one exception this year.

JUDY TEMPLETON:

Well, I heard a little scoop that you used some students in your chamber music from HCC. Is that true?

RON MUTCHNIK:

What we do is we have people in the Howard County Public School system. We have a work and stipend offer to them, plus a reward for the best outstanding chamber music musicians that are in 11th grade and go into their senior year. All of the concerts are free to them and their family members.

And they can earn money by helping us with the legwork-- putting out chairs, moving the piano, taking tickets, things like that. We've been doing this for many years. We're entering our 30th season, so this is something we feel is important to give back to the students in the school system.

Many of the people who are in the school system go on to become musicians, and we've had some of them back on our series as professional musicians.

JUDY TEMPLETON:

I love that kind of internship. That's just perfect. It's a wonderful way to get involved. And so I can't say enough about how blessed we are here in Howard County that-- you can't name any one of the arts that we don't have in some form. 30 years shows something for sure.

RON MUTCHNIK:

We're very happy about that. We didn't know when we first began, but each year has gotten stronger and better, and I think we're one of the few organizations for chamber music that actually offers some of the larger chamber ensembles. We featured 13 people from the Baltimore Symphony last year playing some famous music of Mozart.

So we're going to continue to do that sort of thing. And just the full range of things, from small groups to larger chamber groups, and all kinds-- winds, brass, strings, even singers too.

JUDY TEMPLETON:

Wow. OK. One more time, tell us when the first show is and how to get tickets.

RON MUTCHNIK:

Yes, it's September 20, 2026, and you can get tickets online. We can also send out a season brochure to you. So if you just go to sundaysat3.org and you send us a message under the Contact Us, we'll be sure to get a brochure to you. Or you can just go online to pay the tickets.

There's a ticket link for every single concert of the season. We allow students under the age of 18 to come for free with an accompanying adult, and there's a discount for college students as well. And adults, they have to pay the full price, but it's very reasonable. It's like $15 a concert, basically.

JUDY TEMPLETON:

That's a deal. All right. Thank you so much! I guess I'll see you September 20 at 3:00.

RON MUTCHNIK:

Oh, that would be great. We'd love to have you.

JUDY TEMPLETON:

Thank you, Ron, so much. OK. Moving on. So, Bruce Nelson, I think everybody recognizes his name from someplace. Of course, actor, and he's been at Howard Community College and beyond, and now presently at Everyman Theatre, which is one of my favorite Baltimore theaters. I love it there!

So without further ado, Bruce, take us back. I'd like to talk about people's colorful past into the present and into the future. So take us back, how you got started in the business.

BRUCE NELSON:

Indeed. I would like to say just very quickly, thank you for having me. The Baltimore Magazine just voted Everyman Theatre best theater in Baltimore, so it seems fitting. And that also coincided with what was Vinny Lancisi's last year with us.

The season that we're beginning is the season that he just chose, and he has now moved on into retirement. But the season before that I think Baltimore magazine references was certainly Vinny's, and it's a fitting way to honor him after 35 years. 36th season begins September 4.

So my humble origins are Wilde Lake High School, and--

[laughs]

JUDY TEMPLETON:

It all began there!

BRUCE NELSON:

It did. I was a sophomore and I was in Greece, and I think Carolyn Kelemen choreographed--

JUDY TEMPLETON:

More than likely.

BRUCE NELSON:

She certainly choreographed Pippin if I have my history right, which she can weigh in, I guess by then-- by that third show, I'd done three shows at Wilde Lake. One in between Pippin and Grease was a little, like a chamber piece, called Welcome to the Monkey House, a Kurt Vonnegut play.

And it was my first straight play, and those three cemented in me the desire to become a lifelong theater arts professional. Went to Towson, majored in theater, toured with a theater group called the National Players out of Olney Theatre. And then by '92, I was back in the area working pretty frequently at Rep Stage--

Rest in peace, our dear Rep Stage-- at Howard Community college. Acting in the DC theater scene-- Folger, Shakespeare Theatre, Woolly Mammoth, where I'm also an alumni company member. And then, in 2000, Vinny approached me and asked would I join the Everyman Theatre company.

And as you know, it's had a resident company since day one, and resident companies were what regional theaters were all about years ago. So it's rare now to have a resident company, and we count ourselves very lucky to be included each season in at least two shows.

And so I've been here in the area ever since-- been able to have a family fall in love and get married. And it just made more and more sense to not go anywhere, just to stay in Baltimore-- in the DC Baltimore area and stay busy.

JUDY TEMPLETON:

Now that you told us a little bit about your colorful past and we're into the present, because that is no small deal to be in Baltimore Magazine. That's like being on the cover of the Rolling Stone, you know? So that's pretty cool. You deserve every piece of that.

So talk to us about what you're doing there, because there's always very unique and intriguing works at Everyman. So tell us about--

BRUCE NELSON:

Thank you. We are beginning our 36th season with a new artistic director. His name is Brandon Weinbrenner, and he comes to us from the Alley Theatre in Houston, where he was an associate. And what was most important to us was that he came with a knowledge of a resident company.

They have one at Alley Theatre, so he knew the importance of maintaining a resident company. And I've had a chance to get to know him and he is delightful. So our season opens September 4 with Kim's Convenience. That may sound familiar because it had a lovely long run at Olney Theatre.

Was packed and kept getting extended, so we're hoping for a similar vibe at Everyman. A Korean family runs a Korean bodega. And we learn in a sort of heartwarming way, about how race relations can be OK and how we can get along despite our differences, which is a lovely thing.

But it also might sound familiar because it was and may still be a hit sitcom, Kim's Convenience. As far as subscriptions are concerned, the literature has gone out and tickets are on sale. Everymantheater.org is the email. And box office, 410-752-2208 for tickets.

We have a six show season, but you can get smaller three show packages if you subscribe, and we always have tickets that are pay what you choose. So in every show-- in every house, we have reserved seats that are discounted. So there is always a way to get in and see the show.

I will be in our Holiday Murder Mystery-- so the November, December time slot-- doing Agatha Christie's The Mirror Crack'd. And then I won't be again on stage until the last show of the season, another murder mystery, Alfred Hitchcock's Rope.

JUDY TEMPLETON:

Oh, wow!

BRUCE NELSON:

Yes. So I have two shows that I'm committed to. And then we have Agnes of God as one of our shows. We have a new play called Different Words for Happiness. We have The Mountaintop, which is this imagined conversation between MLK and a house cleaner at the hotel where he was assassinated.

It's going to be a terrific season with a lot-- as you said, Judy, lots of interesting topics for conversation.

JUDY TEMPLETON: Always! I think that's the reputation certainly, too. So now I'm going back in time and I have to ask you, did you play Mark Rothko in Red?

BRUCE NELSON:

I did, indeed, and--

JUDY TEMPLETON:

I thought so. That was one of my-- oh, wow. That was some play, and I remember you, and you were perfect for the part.

BRUCE NELSON:

Thank you.

JUDY TEMPLETON:

Don't take that wrong!

[laughs]

BRUCE NELSON:

Thank you. Vinny took a chance on me. And this is what's lovely about being a part of a company-- you are given the chance in roles where you wouldn't normally be cast. So Rothko isn't the obvious fit for me, but I had a great time. I remember one time, we had finished painting a canvas, me and my assistant.

It's a two person play, so this very vigorous painting of this canvas. And we got a base coat down, and then Rothko was-- it was important for him to feel what you were looking at. Describe what you were looking at on the canvas and to feel it. And he kept asking, what do you see?

What do you see? And some patron in the front row said "not much" and walked out, so--

JUDY TEMPLETON:

Wow.

[laughs]

BRUCE NELSON:

It wasn't for everyone, but we did, yeah, inspire something in someone, as the arts want to do.

[laughs]

JUDY TEMPLETON:

You know the feeling gets a healing and the healing gets a feeling and all that. But I would have to say, even though that was rude, there was a deep feeling in that person. I mean, yeah.

BRUCE NELSON:

Roscoe's stuff, yeah. But his stuff isn't for everyone, but yeah.

JUDY TEMPLETON:

I would have had to call him out in the lobby and tell him, no, uh-uh, you did feel something. That's why you're walking. Anyway, but that's cool. That's a great memory, and I really did love that show. OK. So now, what's the future? Are you still planning to stay at Everyman and--

BRUCE NELSON:

Yes, especially at this transition time. After 26 years, I feel like I have some institutional knowledge, some history that I can certainly pass on to the new artistic director, and I want to be a point of contact. So if maybe my time at Everyman shifts to including administrative responsibilities, I'm OK with that.

I'm OK with that. So yes, I plan to stay. I plan to continue to teach. I have a little improv workshop that I offer. And yeah, it's my home. It's my artistic home, and it's where I have my roots, and I'm settled. Yes.

JUDY TEMPLETON:

That's a wonderful place to be in this business, for sure. Now, since you did mention the improv workshop, don't they offer other classes in theater or workshops occasionally? Have I seen that?

BRUCE NELSON:

Yes, you have. We have an array of youth workshops, so 18 and under. We have certainly a lot of that. And then we have adult classes. We just finished a very successful four week long summer camp, which ended with performances and different grades, had different performances at the end of each week.

So it was really successful. But there is always a class, it seems, happening at Everyman for sure.

JUDY TEMPLETON:

Which I assume we can find on your website?

BRUCE NELSON:

Everymantheater.org.

JUDY TEMPLETON:

Well, Bruce, thank you for all you've done and for all you're yet to do. And we so appreciate that you're here telling us about that. We've got-- let's see, 30 years with Ron. We got 36 with you. But don't worry, Janelle, we're not going to play "Can You Top This".

But yes, so next, I'm honored and proud to introduce Janelle Broderick, who is the director of the Horowitz Visual Performing Arts Center, HVPA. And that is no small task. So when you say the word "administrative" that's just only one part of her job description.

And of course, she comes from an acting background and an acting husband, and I knew both of them and watched them on stages in the past. So Janelle, thanks for being here. So let's start with your colorful past.

JANELLE BRODERICK:

Oh, gosh. I have to say how lovely it is to be in such good company today. I began my history with HCC as a student-- I'm an alum-- began as a music major, vocal performance, and quickly added theater to that as a double major. And Carolyn was an instructor of mine, took modern dance with her. She got me moving.

[laughs]

And of course, Bruce was part of that experience, as well as a student here. And I had such lovely role models to look up to, how to conduct yourself in the arts, and always show a love and appreciation for what you do. So thank you for that. As a theater major, you have to do production credits, like practicum credits.

And I spent many hours painting breakable figurines for a show that Bruce was in that would then, nightly, get smashed to smithereens. So I quickly learned I didn't need to spend too much time with my perfectionism, painting the figurines.

JUDY TEMPLETON:

Memories, memories.

[laughs]

JANELLE BRODERICK:

Yeah, yeah. So I had a wonderful time here as a student, which is really a lot of the reason that I feel so passionate about continuing service as an administrator in the arts here at HCC. There's just so much passion from the faculty and from the community that comes out and supports the art here on campus.

So I feel so grateful that my career has snowballed from an hourly lab assistant to stage managing-- assistant stage managing, learning from professionals in the arts and having so much support, so-- and now I get to support all of our producers, our internal producers, and our external partners in the arts who present in our venues.

And it's just-- it's a wonderful place. We're looking forward to this season.

JUDY TEMPLETON:

And what a job you do. There's so much detail involved in everything you do and making it all work with all the different juggling of the different spaces and so forth-- is no small task. So shout out to you for that for sure. And of course, I do love your job too.

I think your job is so fitting for you because of your background. All right. So now let's talk about the present. What's happening at HCC?

JANELLE BRODERICK:

Yes, of course. I almost don't know where to start because we have so much going on, but-- [inaudible] Visual and Performing Arts Center, so I'll start with the visual. Right now, we have a fabulous faculty exhibition running in both of our galleries.

We have the Rouse Company Foundation Gallery, which is the large gallery across from Smith Theatre, and then down the Hall, the Richard B. Talkin Family Art Gallery. Both of those spaces are featuring faculty work right now, which we do every couple years, bring the faculty together-- our wonderful visual arts faculty, led by Steven Silberg, Department Chair of Visual Arts.

And our gallery manager, Bill Watson, curated the exhibition, and it's just wonderful-- multimedia, painting, ceramics, photography. There's some projection involved, so please make your way down. On September 17-- that's a Thursday night-- we are having a reception free and open to the public.

There will be some nibbles and bits available while you take a look at the artwork and speak with the faculty and see what we have. So that's in the galleries.

JUDY TEMPLETON:

And can I just add that the cool thing about those nibbles and bits is that they're prepared by our culinary department at the college as well. So that's [INAUDIBLE].

JANELLE BRODERICK:

Yes, we have a fantastic-- yes, that's one of our great joys the past few years, is this partnership that we've developed with the culinary arts to provide the reception food and drink for our opening night receptions for theater and dance, and our select music concerts, and for all of our gallery receptions.

So we have all of the students together celebrating the culinary arts along with everything else.

JUDY TEMPLETON:

So what's next?

JANELLE BRODERICK:

So moving on from the galleries, right now we are on sale with subscriptions to the Columbia Film Society at the Horowitz Center. We just finished our first season producing the film series, and that is a 10 weekend subscription.

About once a month from September to June, there are film showings that are curated now by Marie Westhaver, who is our coordinator of film. She selects the films along with her colleague, Mike Juliano. This is a steal-- 10 weekends for $35. That starts on September 25, and you can find that information at howardcc.edu/filmsociety.

We hope that you make it a date. We'd love to see you for the Columbia Film Society. Moving on, we have on Thursday, September 24, is the college's bauder lecture. There are two opportunities to meet with the author of the book Backlash. This is an annual tradition.

There's a book every year, through the book connection, that's selected through our humanities department with Tara Hart, also with Nana in the library, and Howard County Library system. And this year's book is a graphic novel by Matt Johnson, who will be here on Thursday, the 24th.

There's a daytime, 12:30 PM in the Monte Burrow, that's also live streamed. In the evening, there's a 6:00 PM in-person only, but there's an opportunity for question and answer. If you don't have the book, you can come and listen and then purchase the book. [inaudible] will be on site selling books.

So we invite you to come to that. That weekend, we're kicking off the concert series. Doctor [inaudible] Ming is our concert series director, and she has pulled together a fantastic season of faculty concerts. Some of them also are connected with Ron and Sundays at Three.

And we have Sundays at 4:00, and hopefully they don't overlap too much this season.

JUDY TEMPLETON:

You just got to drive quick.

JANELLE BRODERICK:

But most of our concerts are Saturdays at 7:30. So we have a number of faculty concerts-- I won't go through all of them right now, but they will all be on our website. We also have some fantastic guest artists. So we bring in guest artists to perform a concert for the community and the students.

But also part of that program is to have master classes with our students. So there's this educational goal there with the guest artists so that they have this opportunity to speak with professionals in the field. And this year, we have some-- Leah Hawkins, as I say, generationally appealing as someone who's a younger artist in the field that our students can reach out to and learn from.

So we have all of those concerts coming up, faculty, guest artists. And of course, in December, we have our student concert week. So that's coming up. On top of all of that, we have our theater and dance season. So, Judy, I know you have some upcoming news about dance.

I don't want to steal your thunder, but we do have a fabulous dance showcase coming up in November. Just fantastic. And I don't want to give any spoilers, so I won't. But Liz Higgins has pulled together some fantastic students, faculty, guest artists, and really beautiful, beautiful artistry on stage for this showcase that is November 6 and 7.

And that will also be in Smith Theatre.

JUDY TEMPLETON:

I will only give a cliffhanger about this. Tune in next month for Razzle Dazzle to hear what the subject is for this very amazing dance concert, and it's been a collaborative approach. And I'll only say that it involves MCIW. And if you don't know what that is, that's a cliffhanger. And back for more in September.

[laughs]

Go ahead, Janelle.

JANELLE BRODERICK:

Turning to theater, we have five productions this year through the HCC Theatre program, starting off with a new play called Witch, and that will be directed by Jenny Male. That is running October 8th through the 11th in our studio theater.

That's the Rouse Company Foundation Studio Theatre. It's our black box space, and it's going to be good for the fall. It's a little spooky. And then we're turning to a classic, a favorite, Our Town, in November. And that will be directed by our Department Head of Performing Arts Bill Gillette.

I know that's a title that many people know and love, so we hope to see a lot of familiar and new faces in the seats for that. And then going forward into February, we will be presenting Mud Row by Dominique Morisseau, and that will be directed by our production manager, Alice Lorraine Robinson.

And so I'm really excited to see that coming up. Then, Bill comes back in late May with something I think is going to be really fun. It's called The Life of Insects. So if you want to see personified bugs on stage, that's the time to come out. That will also be in the studio theater space, and that will be in the round too.

So we really try to use the spaces that we have to create a different experience for the audiences. You come into the black box space and you could be seated in the round. You could be seated alley formation on two sides. It really pulls the audience in in a different way than just a regular proscenium stage that creates this distance between the actors and the audience.

So in June, we're turning back to Shakespeare with an adaptation by Jenny Maile, 10 Things I Hate About Shrew, which promises to be a load of fun.

JUDY TEMPLETON:

If she's directing, absolutely. She has a really special way of doing Shakespeare.

JANELLE BRODERICK:

Absolutely, absolutely. But back to December, I did want to let you know, we are also presenting another children's theater piece this December-- theater for the very young-- the tiny ones, the infant to five-year-old sector-- were bringing back Mouse on the Move.

And that's part of our collaboration with Imagination Stage. And so we'll be working with the Imagination Stage artistic team, casting HCC students in the roles. So beautiful to see all the little tiny kids from Howard County enter our spaces for just this-- entering a wonderful world of mice on the move.

JUDY TEMPLETON:

Wow, that's a lot! So--

JANELLE BRODERICK:

It is a lot.

[laughs]

JUDY TEMPLETON: I know! I'm thinking of the line from Cabaret, "Stop sitting alone in your room." OK? All right. Come out, because you can go to Sundays at Three, the Everyman Theatre, and HCC's theater, concert, dance films. And even bring your little grandbabies or babies, they can start by getting into the theater early.

We just have it all here, and that's because of you three superstars and your love and passion for what you do. Don't stop doing it. We absolutely love all that you do, and there's just nothing like the arts. But we have run out of time, and this has been so fun!

So until next time, join us. And it's Carolyn Kelemen and Judy Templeton. Razzle dazzle.

Outro

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Buy Now, Enjoy Later - Again and Again