May 27: Wonder Woman, Edward Albee and the Casting Dilemma, Tank and the Bangas, Teaching With Holograms

Grab your passport and sunglasses because we are going on an intercontinental adventure. We will journey to the amazon to discover the secret history of Wonder Woman, hop over to New Orleans to hear the funk-soul of Tank and the Bangas, and fly home to Portland to hear about the clown that inspired "The Simpsons" character Krusty the Clown. Could Holograms Bring the Universe to a Classroom Near You? - 24:55 A virtual trip to the pyramids? An interactive hologram of the solar system? Virtual reality has the potential to transform the classroom and how we learn everything from history to astronomy to engineering. A unique local partnership between Oregon Story Board, Intel and Clackamas Community College received a prestigious grant from Microsoft to create and test an educational curriculum for the company's mixed reality Hololens, which allows users to see and interact with holograms laid over the real world. They found that the potential to help students understand complex systems like the automatic transmission was stunning.
opbmusic Session With Tank and the Bangas - 30:53 Thousands of bands entered NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest this year, but the judges said the answer was clear: The New Orleans band Tank and the Bangas. Filmed in a classroom, the video for their song “Quick” schooled us with infectious joy and introduced viewers all around the world to the band’s funk-soul-spoken-word style and the rapid-fire storytelling of Tarriona “Tank” Ball. Playwright's Estate Says "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" Can't Be Performed With A Black Actor - 39:17 This month, a Portland Production of "Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" by Edward Albee made headlines — without an actor setting foot on-stage. A Portland producer had planned to stage the play this fall, casting an African-American actor, Damien Geter, in one of the four lead roles. However, as Albee was notoriously strict about casting, his estate delivered an ultimatum: cast a white actor in the role or lose the rights to the production. The producer Michael Streeter cancelled the play.
The Portland Clown Who Inspired The Simpsons - 48:25 And now... a blast from Portland’s past. OPB digital producer John Rosman recently produced a birthday video tribute to an icon: the entertainer who helped to inspire Krusty the Clown from "The Simpsons." Rusty Nails was a much-loved staple in the Portland entertainment community back in his day, and, despite his dangerous name, nothing like the depressed, alcoholic Krusty.