Modern fables with Karey Kirkpatrick
Air Dates: June 22-28, 2020
Fables are ancient tools for delivering big lessons to human audiences. In his work, Karey Kirkpatrick applies modern story-telling technology to this ancient tradition.
Kirkpatrick is a writer, director, composer and lyricist whose films include 鈥淐hicken Run,鈥 鈥淗itchhikers Guide to the Galaxy鈥 鈥淛ames and the Giant Peach,鈥 鈥淥ver the Hedge鈥 鈥淐harlotte鈥檚 Web,鈥 and the 2018 animated musical 鈥淪mallfoot鈥 among others. He and his brother, Wayne Kirkpatrick, were nominated for a 2015 Tony Award for Best Original Score for 鈥淪omething Rotten!鈥 This was just one of many honors for Kirkpatrick, who has won four Annie Awards for television and movie animation. He has also won a Saturn Award, a Hugo Award, and a Cannes Film Festival Award, among others. He directed the computer-animated feature films 鈥淥ver the Hedge鈥 and 鈥淪mallfoot,鈥 from Warner Bros., and co-wrote the story and screenplay, and his brother Wayne, wrote the songs. 鈥淪mallfoot鈥 featured the voices of Channing Tatum, Zendaya, James Corden, LeBron James, and Danny DeVito among others.
On this episode of 鈥淪tory in the Public Square,鈥 Kirkpatrick describes drawing inspiration for his work from events taking place around him. As a creator, he said, 鈥渨hatever world you鈥檙e living in, living in and [whatever is] going on in the world, it鈥檚 impossible for you to not have feelings and thoughts about them. And it鈥檚 almost impossible for them to not kind of leak in to whatever it is that you鈥檙e creating.鈥
鈥Story in the Public Square鈥 broadcasts each week on public television stations across the United States. In Rhode Island and southeastern New England, the show is broadcast on Rhode Island PBS on Sundays at 11 a.m. and is rebroadcast Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. An audio version of the program airs 8:30 a.m. & 6:30 p.m. ET, Sundays at 4:30 a.m. & 11:30 p.m. ET on SiriusXM鈥檚 popular P.O.T.U.S. (Politics of the United States), channel 124. 鈥淪tory in the Public Square鈥 is a partnership between the Pell Center and The Providence Journal. The initiative aims to study, celebrate and tell stories that matter.