Tina Renick

As a young actor Peter Riegert (Local Hero, Crossing Delancey, Animal House) played Goldberg in The Birthday Party, overseen by Harold Pinter himself. One speech was particularly opaque. “I had no idea what it meant, but to say these words was to be Isaac Stern on the violin.” Learning to trust the writer

Interior designer Kia Weatherspoon has worked on many low-income housing projects. Sometimes her clients resist: “You’re making it too nice for these people; these people will tear it up.” Bringing good design to “these people.”

Israeli-American architect Eran Chen likes buildings, of course, but it’s the spaces between buildings that he loves. “It’s a blur between public and private, it’s a stage, it’s sort of an in-between territory, a threshold to the city, a place of in-between.”

Some architects want their buildings to endure unchanged forever, but partners Marion Weiss and Michael Manfredi welcome eventual repurposing. “Hopefully, our La Brea Museum, 100 years from now, will be appropriated by somebody else.” Weiss and Manfredi talk to us about Romaldo Giurgola, La Brea Tar Pits and a Roman paving stonean.

As a kid, mezzo soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano sang in a church choir. Its implicit purpose: “To bring joy to people, and bring comfort to people, and help people feel what they need to feel.” Not a bad approach to art or, for that matter, life.

Although utopia has not arrived, racial segregation has faded significantly since the reopening of the Apollo Theater in 1934, so is the place still needed? Absolutely, declares its Director of New Works, playwright Kelley Girod: “The Apollo will always be necessary as long as we have stories to tell.”

President and CEO of American Jewish World Service Robert Bank esteems the International Declaration of Human Rights as a blueprint for humane, egalitarian, democratic societies, and for this: “Article 24 is the right to a vacation. There are some amazing things in here.”

Esteemed musician Wynton Marsalis tells great stories, but are they strictly true? Marsalis tells us about Danny Barker, Lu & Charlie’s and an inscribed stone.

Suzanne Vega is a singer-songwriter with a music career that spans almost 40 years. She is joined by composer Gene Pritsker, who has written over 800 compositions, including chamber operas, orchestral and chamber works, electro-acoustic music and songs.

“New York Times” book critic Dwight Garner has many accomplishments: “Learning how to eat chicken feet and love them is one thing I’m really proud of.” The author of “The Upstairs Deli” expands our capacity for joy — in reading, in eating, in life.