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How to Succeed at Failing, Part 3: Grit vs. Quit (Update)
Episode 563
Giving up can be painful. That's why we need to talk about it. Today: stories about glitchy apps, leaky paint cans, broken sculptures — and a quest f…
9 months, 3 weeks ago
How to Succeed at Failing, Part 2: Life and Death (Update)
Episode 562
In medicine, failure can be catastrophic. It can also produce discoveries that save millions of lives. Tales from the front line, the lab, and the I.…
9 months, 3 weeks ago
How to Succeed at Failing, Part 1: The Chain of Events (Update)
Episode 561
We tend to think of tragedies as a single terrible moment, rather than the result of multiple bad decisions. Can this pattern be reversed? We try — w…
10 months ago
632. When Did We All Start Watching Documentaries?
Episode 632
It used to be that making documentary films meant taking a vow of poverty (and obscurity). The streaming revolution changed that. Award-winning filmm…
10 months, 1 week ago
631. Will "3 Summers of Lincoln" Make It to Broadway?
Episode 631
It’s been in development for five years and has at least a year to go. On the eve of its out-of-town debut, the actor playing Lincoln quit. And the p…
10 months, 1 week ago
Is It a Theater Piece or a Psychological Experiment? (Update)
Episode 92
In an episode from 2012, we looked at what Sleep No More and the Stanford Prison Experiment can tell us about who we really are.
SOURCES:Felix Barret…
10 months, 2 weeks ago
630. On Broadway, Nobody Knows Nothing
Episode 630
A hit like Hamilton can come from nowhere while a sure bet can lose $20 million in a flash. We speak with some of the biggest producers in the game —…
10 months, 2 weeks ago
629. How Is Live Theater Still Alive?
Episode 629
It has become fiendishly expensive to produce, and has more competition than ever. And yet the believers still believe. Why? And does the world reall…
10 months, 3 weeks ago
Policymaking Is Not a Science — Yet (Update)
Episode 405
Why do so many promising solutions in education, medicine, and criminal justice fail to scale up into great policy? And can a new breed of “implement…
11 months ago
628. Sludge, Part 2: Is Government the Problem, or the Solution?
Episode 628
There is no sludgier place in America than Washington, D.C. But there are signs of a change. We’ll hear about this progress — and ask where Elon Musk…
11 months ago