Joel Grey & Courntey Love Next Subjects of Curran's 'GROUNDBREAKERS' Series

Carole Shorenstein Hays announced today the next two subjects of Groundbreakers with Kevin Sessums, Curran: Under Construction's on-stage series of conversation and performance featuring today's most compelling thought leaders and artists.

March line-up:

Courtney Love and Composer Todd Almond:
The San Francisco Sessions
Monday, March 7
7:00 p.m.

One of the most influential figures in contemporary popular culture, rock legend and actress Courtney Love will sit down with the Curran's Editor at Large, Kevin Sessums, for an evening of conversation and performance. Love will be joined by her friend and collaborator Todd Almond, with whom she shares a unique artistic alchemy. The wide range of topics will include that curious magic that occurs when artists collaborate and the fears that they must bravely overcome to create their art. Love and Almond will perform songs from his musical theatre piece Kansas City Choir Boy in which Love starred in New York and Los Angeles.

"One of the best cover stories I ever wrote for Vanity Fair during my years there was on Courtney Love," says Sessums. "I even took her - rather infamously - as my date one year to the Vanity Fair Oscar party. I adore her and admire her tenacity and talent and spirit. I am so excited that Todd is accompanying her on the Curran stage for our conversation. The audience is in for a treat. We'll gossip a bit too."

Joel Grey:
Drawing Back the Curtain
Tuesday, March 8
7:00 p.m.

Celebrating the publication of his new memoir, Master of Ceremonies (which was released just yesterday), Oscar, Tony, and Golden Globe winner Joel Grey talks to the Curran's Editor at Large Kevin Sessums about his storied life and career, touching upon his many roles including the Emcee in Cabaret, his history at the Curran, his 25+ year marriage and his decision to publicly come out last year at the age of 82. The evening will be one filled with show biz dish, heartfelt conversation, and even a performance or two.

"I have been a fan of Joel Grey since I first saw him in Cabaret at the Capri Theatre in Jackson, Mississippi, when I was a freshman in college," Sessums commented. "I went back to see him and the film the very next night. His menacingly impish rendition of Kander and Ebb's Willkommen welcomed me to my truer self. It opened a closet door for me in a way. I look forward to welcoming Joel back to the Curran stage for my Groundbreakers series so I can thank him and talk about how he went about opening doors in his own life."

Shorenstein Hays said, "I have always had a particular affinity for artists who fearlessly push boundaries, so it's with great pride that I welcome two of our great contemporary iconoclasts to the Curran stage. Joel Grey's indelible rendering of the Emcee in Cabaret sparked nothing short of a revolution, the effects of which are still reverberating around popular culture today. He has continued to create cherished portrayals on stage and screen in each of the ensuing decades. Courtney Love has exhibited a level of uncompromising artistic integrity throughout her career that has made her a music legend as well as one of the most talked about public figures in America. I know that Kevin will, as he always does, present both of them at their most revealing and intimate."

Groundbreakers with Kevin Sessums, Curran: Under Construction's on-stage series of conversation and performance featuring today's most compelling thought leaders and artists, began last fall with New York Post columnist and author Michael Riedel (October 19), actor Jonathan Groff (November 7) and opera star Leah Crocetto (February 4).

Tickets for these events, taking place onstage at the Curran (445 Geary Street) at 7:00 p.m. can be purchased for $25 via Eventbrite by visiting www.SFCURRAN.com.

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