March 11: War in Iran, e-transport crackdown, and the Nevada Shakespeare Festival

[music] From Nevada Public Radio, I'm Paul Boger. This is State of Nevada. The war with Iran is in its second week, and while the fighting appears to be a tense fine, there also continues to be questions about why the U.S. began military operations. Administration officials have offered various and sometimes conflicting justifications for the war. Referencing Iran's growing ballistic missile program, its network of terror proxy groups across the Middle East and its nuclear ambitions. To get a better sense of what's going on, I spoke with Democratic Congresswoman Dina Titus, a member of the House Foreign Relations Committee. Congresswoman Titus, thank you for joining me. Well, thank you for having me. As a member of the House Foreign Relations Committee, I have to assume you're getting briefings or seeing reports about what's going on in Iran. What do you make of the situation? I don't get very good information. We were briefed as members in a classified briefing by the administration, the Vice President, the Secretary of Defense, Secretary of State, but they never give you much information that you can't read on the front page of the newspaper. I think the problem is lack of information and lack of understanding of what the purpose is. The President, excuse me, has an answer to why now or what next. And those are the two critical questions for determining why our lives of our service men are being put at risk. I have been lost when the declared victory. So those are the things that concern me. Obviously this conflict has the potential to impact military personnel first and foremost. We've already seen seven members of the U.S. Armed Forces killed in the last week and a half. I'm curious though. Closer to home, do you foresee this were having any impact on the average in a baton? Well, it already has. And you're right. Seven have died. 140 more were injured. Very seriously, but you're seeing the impact in the price of the pump. Look at how much gas is going up about a dollar a gallon since last week as a result of this force of people will feel that already immediately. And we'll see what the impact on tourism is as we no longer have TSA being paid and then threats internally by terrorist sales. That's always makes airplanes target. So I think absolutely people will feel it directly right here at home. In your opinion, what's the off ramp here? Do we just stop bombing say mission accomplished and try to act like everything's back to normal? Well, I think Trump is looking for an off ramp as the markets are fluctuating. The price of gas goes up and the war is unpopular. Look at all the opinion polls. He's trying to figure out how to get out of it. That's why he's saying, oh, it's going to be over soon. And it's almost complete. And we have devastated their military. So I think he wants to just declare victory and leave. But when there is no objective, it's hard to to pin them down on when we have accomplished what we set out to do. Was it regime change? Was it to get them back to the negotiating table? Was it to destroy the nuclear weapons that he said we'd already obliterated? Was it stopped an attack that he said we thought was coming because they were going to attack us or Israel? What is the reason we are there? And if you don't know that, you can't declare victory. Democratic Congresswoman Dean the Titus represents Nevada's first congressional district. Congresswoman Titus, thank you so much. Well, thank you. Nevada's sole Republican in Congress represented a Mark Amadeh release of statement after bombing began. Here's what he had to say, quote, "As a leader of the free world, we have a responsibility not only to say that Iran cannot be nuclear-armed, but to promise that it never will be. The time has come to make it clear that radical regimes seeking to undermine democracy will enthusiastically chanting death to America will be met with the strength of America and its allies." Again, that was a statement from Northern Nevada representative Mark Amadeh, the state's lone Republican in Congress. Of course, it's not just Congress. That's experienced a difference of opinion about what's taking place in the Middle East. Members of the Iranian American community are also conflicted about the ongoing war. Many are happy. The Iatola community is dead. Well, there are still not only concern over the safety of loved ones, but also who or what will take place of the current regime. Shahab Zagari is an independent filmmaker, faculty at UNLV, and someone whose family fled Iran just before the 1979 revolution. Shahab, welcome to state of Nevada. Thank you for having me. To make sure we're just on the same page, your parents fled just before the revolution. That means you were born here, but you still have quite a bit of family in Iran. What are you hearing from them? Are you hearing from them? Well, there has been a government blackout for about 240 hours now, and it makes it very hard to get through. I'm not sure what technology they have now, but even VPNs aren't working. When we do get a hold of our family members, they can't really say much because they're saying that people are listening in and they've even resorted to writing things on paper and showing us on the screen. So kind of difficult. We're not really getting much. You've never been to Iran. Why? Why? So I've never been to Iran because of this regime. My parents got out before the regime took over. My dad was an interpreter for the U.S. Air Force, and he kind of saw it coming. And I've never been back because for one reason or another, I know for a fact whether it's because I'm a filmmaker or allied LGBTQ folks, they would put me in prison and I just don't want to do that. There are so many who are questioning the aims of this war so far. It looks like it's mostly about regime change. How do you feel about that? Personally, and this is just my own opinion, I really hope that there is a regime change. It's selfishly because I've never been and I really want to go to the place of my ancestors and take a couple of cameras with me and just do a nationwide travel. Not making it about me. Again, I have so many family members there and they're just sick and tired of 40, almost 50 years of this repressive regime where no one has enough to eat and yet the government under the guise of Islam is feeding money to terror cells all over and then just sick of it. There also seems to be quite a bit of difference of opinion about what the Iranian diaspora would like to see come out of this conflict. What have you experienced? What have you seen? Well, the masses in Iran, regardless of religion, color, ethnicity, they are all sick of this regime but the government wants to stay in power. With that, there are bots and different things leaking this information. Outside of that, just the Iranian diaspora itself is now fractured. Everyone has a completely different idea of where this war should go and everyone's kind of being cutthroat about it and throwing everyone under the bus. I don't know where we go from here but the Iranian diaspora is shattered right now. That's Shahab Zagari, filmmaker, UNLV faculty and a member of Southern Nevada's Iranian-American community. Now I want to bring in Professor Matthew Weiss, he's a social scientist professor at the college of Southern Nevada who has spent much of his career studying conflicts in the Middle East. Professor Weiss, it's good to talk to you. It's good to be with you as well. Thank you. Essentially, as I mentioned a second ago, this is a war about regime change. At least that was the explanation for the death of the Itollate. Do you think the US expects Iranians themselves to exploit this change in leadership and take to the streets and protest again like we saw just a few weeks ago? I mean, I think it's fair to say that that is one goal of the Trump administration though. It is very difficult to read at times what their actual objectives are. I mean, for instance, the US military, in the US military campaign, they have bombed police and security installations, revolutionary guards, headquarters in certain cities in Western Iran and presumably motivated by the goal of trying to instigate, uprising by, uprisings by Kurds and other ethnic groups there. But the same token, I don't necessarily really believe that the Trump administration is ultimately aiming for a transformation of Iran into a democracy. And in fact, a lot of the statements that have been made by the Trump administration suggest that they be perfectly happy, cutting a deal with kind of a so-called more pragmatic or moderate Itollate or clerical government who might be willing to cooperate a little bit more with the US and nuclear negotiations in exchange for restrictions relief. So I'm not exactly convinced that this Trump administration is ultimately going for democratic regime change. You know, as somebody who has studied the history of the region, are you at all concerned about this military conflict? Are we setting off a powder cake? Yes, I do believe we are. One can seriously think of any US-led military intervention in modern history that's gone as intended, that's resulted in the establishment of a mature democracy that engages in good governance, that respects its citizens, fundamental human rights. And actually, one need look no further than Iran. runs by industry to see how you know military, US military interventions are forceable, you know, US interventions can go horribly wrong, can backfire in the long run. For instance, in 1853, the US and British intelligence services jointly led a coup against the then democratically elected government of Iran, the only democratically elected government in Iran's modern history. And at first, it seems like everything was going swimmingly, they were able to install on power, the Shah, who was very, very responsive to American interests, very good caretaker of American interests. But then that generated a whole lot of resentment among the Iranian populist that was brewing just underneath the surface. And that resentment eventually exploded in the 1979 Iranian Islamic Revolution that brought the current regime to power. So I think it's fair to say that that only ended up, you know, the US goal of regime change only ended up being profoundly counterproductive in the end, leading to the establishment of the very regime that has still menaced America. It Israel in so many other countries in the region for for several decades now. Professor, we only had about 20 seconds left, but I think there is a concern that Iran has been a state sponsor of terror for decades. Should Americans be more generally concerned about retaliatory attacks on the US soil? Very quickly. I think that there is definitely an outside possibility of that, but I wouldn't see it as highly likely. After all, Iran did not retaliate for the assassination of one of its leading military commenders, Kusen Solimani, you know, several years ago under Trump's First Administration. So I'm not exactly sure. I mean, of course, the FBI and the CIA and other. Professor, we're going to have to leave it there. That's Matthew Weiss, Professor of Social Sciences at the College of Southern Nevada before that we heard from Shahab Zakari, a filmmaker and faculty at UNLV. Matthew Shahab, thank you. Bring up e-bikes in any conversation and you're likely to get an earful at one of the spectrum and automobile driver. They say the careless operation of these devices is reason enough to ban them. At the other end, people who have been hit or nearly hit on e-bikes by careless automobile drivers in between as a plethora of different drivers, devices and situations. Underpinning all of this are the traffic safety laws that are meant to protect everyone on the roads. Local lawmakers have been racing to to keep up with trends in e-bikes, e- motorcycles, e-scooters, and other so-called micro-mobility devices. In that context, the city of Henderson recently passed an update to its municipal code governing the safe operation of these devices. Here, talk about that law and how it fits into the statewide picture as a panel of experts will start with a person closest to the Henderson Code revision, the city's sustainability and climate manager, Tori Jackson. Tori, welcome to the state of Nevada. Thank you. So glad to be here. Tori, Henderson's municipal code governing these micro-mobility devices is complex, but for the sake of simplicity, can you summarize what's going on there? Yeah, so we wanted to make specific ordinance changes that would really cover three key areas, being clarifying our definitions of what these devices are for bicycles, e-bikes, e-scooters, and electric motorcycles. I'm just increasing the safety regulations to make these things safer for all of our riders across different ages, and then to really dial in what those restrictions are and what those penalties are for those that are using them illegally. I think we really wanted to focus specifically on illegal electric motorcycles, and that was a huge clarification from our original code that we had updated about a year or so ago. We wanted to just really define what those are and explicitly indicate that those are prohibited from use on our public roadways, sidewalks, trails, and parking lots. Those are legal electric motorcycles being the ones that are different than how the DMV defines a motor vehicle. And we also really wanted to focus on the safety of our youth, so we've explicitly required that helmets need to be on the heads of anybody under the age of 18, whether they're riding an e-device, like an e-scooter or an e-bike, as well as a bicycle across Henderson. And that's really just a response to the increase in traumatic brain injuries that we're seeing at our hospitals across Southern Nevada, as well as across the United States. So these laws, are they specifically, are they for everybody? Is it for people who are 16 and up, 16 and younger? Who is, who do these laws apply to? Yeah, so we listened to what our residents wanted and what our resident said, and this is really a community wide effort to address the issues at large. We wanted to focus on the most dangerous behavior on our roads, which we were seeing is the the use of these unauthorized e-motor cycles that are primarily being operated by teenagers and young adults. But again, we wanted to also hear that with the helmets required for everybody under 18 on those bicycles, e-bikes and e-scooters, but in terms of the dangerous reckless behavior to apply to anybody of all ages. We are primarily seeing it at those younger ages, but if we did have an older senior citizen popping a wheelie going down St. Rose, we would apply the the laws the same to them as well. I want to bring in JD Decker here. He's the chief of police for the Nevada DMV's compliance enforcement division. He's based in Las Vegas. JD, welcome to state of Nevada. Good morning. Thank you. You heard Tori Jackson talking about the update to the Henderson code. The Las Vegas Review Journal reported that Henderson's changes mirrored similar laws in Clark County and Las Vegas. Is it accurate to say that the law is now the same all over Southern Nevada? Well, I wouldn't say it's the same all over. So from the state perspective, the registration licensing rules of the road helmet laws are the same, but I think each jurisdiction is tailoring it towards their own experience within their city limits. So what differences are you seeing? Well, so I think the types of vehicles that are on the road are different than maybe what was contemplated when the state laws were enacted. The performance of some of these electronic engines, the electric engines and the types of vehicles that are maybe designed for off-road that we're now seeing on the streets, especially when they're being driven by miners. So we're seeing cities and municipalities take up laws in their own jurisdictions which mirror their enforcement experience and the dangers of some of these products that are out there that maybe weren't out there, you know, 10, 20 years ago or even last year. So what devices at this point need to be legally registered? So right now the state law requires motorcycles and moped heads to be registered licensed and in the case of motorcycles, obviously insured. There is a carve out for moped heads in that while they're on the road, just like a motorcycle is they actually are not required to maintain insurance. So the e-bikes and e-scooters and these micro-mobility devices, or they're not necessarily addressed in the state laws when it comes to the kinds of devices that we currently see on the road that are much faster, much more powerful than some of the devices that existed in the past. I also want to bring in Kai Plask on he's from Reno. Kai is a board member president of the Nevada Bicycle Coalition. He closely follows and advocates for cyclists related state legislation. Kai, you heard Tori Jackson describe the Henderson Ordinance update and JD Decker's perspective from the DMV. Broadly speaking, are the laws they've been talking about similar to those in Washoe County and the rest of northern Nevada? I'm not really sure exactly what we have up here, but they're definitely not as strict. We haven't had the same kind of response as they're having down south. They're in a tough spot down there. The transportation landscape is changing and from my perspective, they're not really sure what to do about it and we're missing a huge education element. Why is northern Nevada Reno area so different from say Clark County and Las Vegas? I think we have a long history of bicycles here in our community in the north. We know how to cope with people and we also have an education element that I think probably trickles down from parents to kids. We do see some of the same behavior. I live on a very busy street and I see high school students, middle school students riding e-bikes and very fast, probably about the same speed as the cars on the street. It does raise some concerns, but when we look at the facts from Metro and themselves, the numbers aren't there. Riding an e-bike is safer than many other modes of transportation. In Las Vegas from metros, numbers themselves in 2025, there were only three fatalities on e-bikes. There were five e-scooter fatalities, nine bicyclists fatalities, 56 pedestrian fatalities and 158 drivers died. So, you know, folks. focusing on e-bikes, I'm not sure, you know, pedestrians face much more danger. We're not telling people to stop walking, you know. And meanwhile, we're focusing on e-bikes, which, according to Metrozone statistics, are the least dangerous of all of those. The Nevada laws we've been talking about regulating e-bikes, e-motor cycles, e-scooters, and similar so-called micromobility devices only work if there's someone to enforce them. That's the job of people like both JD Decker, who we've heard from already, and Henderson Police Department Sergeant Richard Paul, Sergeant Paul, welcome to the program. Hi, Paul, thanks for having us. Let's dig into enforcement. Whose job is it to enforce micromobility laws that we've been talking about? Well, that would be the law enforcement officers at the municipality and where this is going on. And real quick, I just wanted to mention, you know, we're talking about e-bikes, you know, it's a common phrase, but there's a big difference between an e-bike and an electric motorcycle. So when it comes to enforcement, a lot of our efforts are focused on these unauthorized electric motorcycles that have no place on our public roadways in the city of Henderson. Our parks, trails, and like Torrey mentioned, it's something that we're very much unified in Southern Nevada regarding these electric motorcycles. And a lot of times parents don't really know because we referenced, hey, this is oftentimes younger demographic that are using these things. So we know that these things are not cheap and that parents are likely buying these things form. So parents need to know that these electric motorcycles are ones that go up to 50 plus miles per hour and these children are using them as a primary means of transportation. I've stopped some children that are middle school age that are traveling 10 plus miles to school on one of these types of motorcycles that we're talking about. No, we're not talking about e-bikes. We're talking about an electric motorcycle that has the capabilities of going very high rates of speed. So as far as enforcement, you know, that's going to be our police department. We do have our code enforcement that does conduct some levels of enforcement in our parks and trails in the city of Henderson. So to answer your question, the PD is going to be the one that's going to be doing it. So what happens if somebody decides they want to take one of these motorcycles out on one of those trails? Is there a fine? Is there a fee? What's it going to cost? There is. So when you talk about costs, we're talking anywhere from $150 to $415. And that's something that is going to have if it's a juveniles name or an adult, their name on the citation. And there is an Nevada state law which references that parent or guardian who knowingly and willing to allow their juvenile to be committing traffic offenses using an electric motorcycle as one could be issued their own separate citation knowing that children are out committing traffic law on our roadways. You know, as a police officer, what have you seen yourself with these e-bikes and motorcycles? Well, we've seen a whole lot of them and we're consistent with our community. The community's upset about it. So we see these out and about those who are conducting enforcement. We have patrol officers and then we have our traffic section that I'm a part of. You know, we conduct a traffic enforcement. If we come across one of these bikes, we're going to be issuing citations, possibly a warning discretion by the officer on scene. And we've even taken bikes. So when I mentioned we take bikes back in December of this past year, we conducted a four-day operation where we had officers that were assigned to an operation, if you will, where we were exclusively looking for these electric motorcycles. Now if there is an e-bike rider with a pedal assist bike that was out in the middle of the road, of course, we would look into it. But our main focus was on these electric motorcycles. So back in December, we stopped over a four-day period, 97 electric motorcycles on our public roadways, parks, and trails. Sidewalks included. And we issued a whole lot of citations. We had taken 14, we towed 14 of these bikes. 50 warnings were given and 47 citations were issued. And education is a big part of our job, you know, through education enforcement and through engineering or our own ways trying to make our town safer. So with that, warnings are given. We come across some young kids in a park that are playing basketball and they happen to have a couple of electric motorcycles in our parks. We would probably give them a warning. They understand, we understand our contact is likely to change their behavior, we contact parents. We load them up in a back of a truck, send them on their way with a warning. That's a good citizen contact for the police department and our community. But however, the different side is, if you're doing wheelies down a public roadway, you know, we'll gladly take that motorcycle from you and you'll be subject to paying for the tow bill with that as well. Tory Jackson, sustainability and climate manager for the city of Henderson. Education has brought up a couple of times now. Your office is doing some of the educational work in Southern Nevada to help build awareness of these new laws. Tell us about what you're doing. Yes, so at the end of last year, we received a state grant through the Office of Traffic Safety's Vulnerable Road User Program to launch our own micromobility campaign across Henderson. So we've called this the Ride Smart, say, "safe campaign." And this campaign is really focused on those juveniles and the middle school and high schools across Henderson and providing them and their parents and families as well as the community at large with education and tools on how to write these devices safely, helmet use, understanding that difference between the legal and illegal devices, as well as just how to safely share the roads, trails and parks responsibly. So as part of this campaign, we're really closely partnering with schools. We have a very good partnership with CCSD's Safe Routes to School to launch some youth eBicycle and eScooter skills workshops across our middle schools and high schools later in the spring. And these workshops are going to provide our students with hands-on writing instruction and just understanding how they can safely navigate these devices that they're already writing to school in a safer manner. We're also putting together some communications toolkits for our schools and the public so that we can have this shared messaging on our education attempts. And then we are also doing some safety giveaways that pair really well with our new ordinance. Just tomorrow is part of CCSD's Safe Travels Day. We're going to go to three different schools and do safety giveaways to our students. We'll meet them right where they are at the bike rack and we are going to be doing helmet and bike-like giveaways. This is in a direct response to our campaign where we went and did a bike rack inventory in December and January and we found that two thirds of our middle school students and three quarters of our high school students aren't bringing a helmet to school when they're writing to school. So meeting them where they are and getting those helmets on their head and giving them the tools to safely write to school is part of our campaign for Ridesmart Safe Safe. JD Dekkar, I want to come back to you. We get feedback from listeners saying they've seen people drive these eBikes and eScooters motorcycles particularly fast. One listener said he sees them going up 35 miles per hour in their neighborhood. What should people do? Should they call 311? Should they call 911? What should they do if they see people breaking the law? Yeah, part of the problem is enforcement. The state laws address limits on speed and engine power for vehicles that are going to share the road ways in Nevada with motor vehicles and motorcycles. So there are currently vehicles that are manufactured that are not street legal, certainly ATVs and dirt bikes and those kinds of things but we just generally don't see them on the road being driven by minors. So part of the problem is that when you exceed the state standards then you're talking about a vehicle that's designed for off-road and when we're seeing them on the streets without turn signals and safety lights and you're seeing them at night speeding and being driven by minors. That becomes an enforcement issue for the jurisdiction. So yeah, I would definitely work with your local municipality, the local police on enforcement when you see those things happening. Kai Plask going back to you. We've got about two minutes left. You mentioned that Northern Nevada, you know, Wal-Hat, they have these bikes, these eScooters. You know, not seeing necessarily the same number of problems as Southern Nevada. You know, there has been a lot of focus on micromobility projects in Northern Nevada over the last several years. Is that one of the reasons why is Northern Nevada taking any bigger effort to adjust to these sorts of new devices? Yeah. We're definitely taking steps to improve our safety on our roads and that's really where the focus needs to be. I think that the priority of, hey, we're going to change the law and we're going to criminalize this behavior before we do the education. We should be doing the education first. Sure, helmet laws are, or it'd be great if kids wore helmets. But helmet laws have been tried all over the United States and in Seattle in particular, these helmet laws were disproportionately targeted to people who were poor and couldn't afford helmets or couldn't get helmets or didn't know. And so, you know, forcing a kid to have a bike bell on their bike, people are trying to use parks and we need to meet them where they are trying to use them. So if they're trying to ride an e-bike in a park and finally using parks in Southern Nevada, we need to support that, not start to criminalize it. And I think that that's the problem with these new laws. I'm afraid that's where we're going to have to leave it. We've been talking about laws governing e-bikes motorcyles. and e-scouters with the City of Henderson's Tori Jackson, Sergeant Richard Paul, and Kai Plaskon and Reno, and JD Decker of the Nevada DMV. Thank you all so much. Thank you, Paul. Thank you. And note that we'll have links to the e-transportation regulations and other information they discussed on our website at knpr.org. [MUSIC] [MUSIC] Anyone that has ever said Shakespeare is a hard sell for the general public probably hasn't seen a Nevada Shakespeare Festival production. This is not your grandfather's barred. Nevada Shakespeare goes big and bold. It ditches the traditional dialogue delivery and ramps up the drama and the last and infuses classics like Hamlet with modern cultural touchstones. And it's staged at parks all over Clark County. As it is currently through May 2nd with two productions, Henry V and The Taming of the Shrew. KMPR's Mike Provat recently spoke to Nevada Shakespeare's founding executive artistic director Matt Morgan, and here's how that chat went. Matt, welcome to State of Nevada. >> Hello, Mike. Thanks for having me here. >> Thanks for being here. Nevada Shakespeare Festival has not been your only avenue for producing the old barred. Why are you so passionate? >> About him and his work. >> Goodness, that's a loaded question to start off with Mike. Thank you, no pressure there. So we go into schools a bunch and we talk to students and why should they care about what we're doing? And the thing that's great for me about Shakespeare is that every second of every play of every character's journey is life or death. And to me, that is good story, telling that is good drama, that is good theater. So that's why I care about what we do and why I love producing this play so much because it is extreme. It is extreme theater and when he was writing theater, it was provocative, it was daring, it was bold, it was political, it was all those things. So let's get to it. How did the Nevada Shakespeare Festival begin? >> Pre-COVID. We were actually talking with the City of Henderson about doing some sort of a Shakespeare Festival. They had some spaces. They were open to the conversation and then COVID came along and obviously everything kind of stopped. Early 2021, the City of Henderson reached back out and they said, hey, we have this space that we just finished on Water Street, their amphitheater. Would you do something? We can have limited audience, it'll be outdoors, all these things. And so I said, of course we can do something. So I went out and I snatched Nevada Shakespeare Festival.com and I got an Instagram, all of the things that sort of make us valid and relevant in the world. And we produced Romeo and Juliet for them with six actors and 12 rehearsals. And that was sort of the like beginning. And then from then I just kind of kept on them at the city where I was like, hey, can we do another one, hey, can we do another one, hey, can we do another one? And now we're six years in. We have expanded to free parts programming. We have expanded into a relationship with the school district. We now partner with the city of Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Boulder City, Clark County. It's just sort of exploded into this thing that sort of is, I'm hoping taking over Clark County in this valley. So the thing that we need to discuss here is how unconventional your interpretations of the Shakespeare can and are by design. Yes. As you mentioned earlier, you seem to be looking for the relevance of these plays to our times, the parallel between these works and what we're all experiencing. So how do your productions accomplish this? So we are an adaptive festival. We trim the place down. We have sort of three tiers. We do school shows that are about 40 minutes. Our parks programming is 80 minutes. We call that our starter piece, starter Shakespeare. And then our main stage shows in the tent using the cornerstone park are about two to two and a half hours, including an intermission. We twist the plays to sort of, in my mind, make them relevant to the time that we're living in, which I believe Shakespeare did in his time with the pieces as well. So we did Titus and John De Kiss a few years back. Titus and John De Kiss is a super violent play. There's revenge. There's all kinds of things. So we set it as a late '70s, '80s grindhouse film. And we had a trailer that played before it. And then we sort of transitioned into live theater. And it was over the top. Very much how those grindhouse films are. We took Hamlet last year was our main stage production. And we set Hamlet in an American trailer park in the late '90s. And it was just so that people walk into this tent and they go, "I know where I am." So they immediately have an association to the space, to the world that they're about to experience. And then the way in which we present, it's not precious. The language is not heightened. The language is how you and I would speak. There's a Southern draw. There's that sort of stuff that's associated with the language so people hear it and they go, "I know this sound." And then we put things in the play like poltergeists or like a scooter or Darth Vader makes appearances in the school shows so that the audience understands, "I know the relationship between those characters, I understand what that is." And all those things are ways in which to hook the audience. As you're speaking, the word that's popping into my head is relatable. It almost sounds like you are looking for how they can better relate to the material. Yes. So we have an adult only Shakespeare thing called "Shot Spear" and we take these plays to bars and there's all kinds of stuff. There's audience participation. There's a wheel of soliloquy. There's a drinking game. There's sort of all kinds of stuff and that is where we sort of started with the mashup of sort of circus clown and Shakespeare. And I said, "I want to do these plays in places where nobody wants to see Shakespeare." I want to create a good fun, engaging, exciting, spectacle-driven theatrical experience. So let's talk about this year's edition of the festival which kicked off last weekend on March 6th and will continue through May 2nd. Now you've got Henry V. that's part of the Parks program that's hitting the Parks and Community Centers all over the valley. And then starting on April 23rd, there's the taming of the shrew. It's in a stationary tent at Cornerstone Park in Henderson. By the way, we will have a link for information about those shows at kmpr.org. Now Matt, how did you decide on this sort of two-track structure for your spring festival? So I want to produce multiple shows. I mean obviously there's budgets and numbers and things that come with sort of producing a big mainstay show in the circus tent and we aren't in that space yet where we can say we're going to produce these two big shows. And we're very audience focused. What does the audience want? What do they want to see? What's interesting to them? And so offering something that's free and that's digestible and that is good for kids. Those park shows. They are short and easy and fast and the plays move at a lightning tempo. And the far that we can reach within the community across the valley to do those things, the hope is that that generates an interest that will drive people to the tent show that's at Cornerstone Park. So it was important for us to have tears, have the ability to, for you to try it, see that you like it because you will and then go, okay I'm going to go see something that's a bit more robust, bigger set, longer show, more actors, more performers, but it's in a circus tent. So it's still, as we say punk rock Shakespeare, you know, and it's provocative. Now you mentioned numbers earlier, taming is a ticketed event. Henry the fifth is free. So I'm wondering how do you fund these productions? The park shows we have relationships with the municipalities. As I mentioned before, the city of Henderson has been a huge partner with us from the very, very beginning and we do two park shows with them. We do a park show with Boulder City, North Las Vegas, the county, the city of Las Vegas. And those municipalities, they purchase the show. When it comes to the tent, we hustle, we grind, we do just about anything to eke out a dollar from any single person that we can possibly find in order to help us to fund those programs in that show. The other thing that's important for us is accessibility. And like I said, we have these free shows that we do. The park shows are, it's a $15 ticket and I've sort of had people over the years, we've got to raise your ticket price, you've got to raise your ticket price and I'm like no, no, no, no, no. I keep threatening them if you tell me to raise it again, we're going to drop it. So we have a $15 general admission ticket price and a $5 student ticket and that's the meat of our audience. So each year, how do you determine which plays to produce? Why Henry the fifth and the taming of the shrew for this year? To me, it's about what's interesting to me in the moment, what's going to create a good play. I don't have a great robust story where I say, this play is attached to our society at this moment because I'm not that smart. But I find often as we do and as we present, I go, wow, that's quite relevant to today for some reason. Henry five is about a king who goes to war. Is it justified or not for the audience to determine? Wow, that seems relevant today. Taming of the shrew is about the patriarchy. I guess that seems mildly relevant today. So to me, these plays, they're all that way, they all have that. But in the end, I want to make good theater. Now, one of the big Academy Award nominees for this month's ceremony is Hamlet. You could say that the movie tells the origin story of Hamlet. Yes. At a curiosity, does a cultural moment for Shakespeare help you sell tickets for your productions? - Yeah, for sure. Perfect example right now, Troy heard at Majestic. They're doing Romeo and Juliet at the same time that we're doing Taming of the Shrew. To me, more Shakespeare is more Shakespeare. So more eyes and more ears listening to that language does the exact thing that I want it to do. It creates excitement, it creates interest, it creates conversation around that historical figure and the works that that person has done. - Yes and yes, like more Shakespeare, let's go. - Let's do it. - In January, Nevada Shakespeare performed at the foothills Montessori School education. I think you mentioned this earlier, is a component of the organization. And I'm wondering, what connection do you feel that you're making with the students with regards to Shakespeare? - I guess I'm using Shakespeare as a tool there to excite them about the theater arts at its core. And then we use Shakespeare as that tool to do that. As you're performing for these kids, what have you observed in terms of their reaction to Shakespeare? Does the bard have another generation of influence? - Yeah, for sure, they love it. They're studying at school, right? So they're getting it. And let's have a run of a boss for all the teachers cold reading Shakespeare in a classroom to a bunch of 13 year olds. Nobody wants to do that. But they're getting it. They're seeing the play they're reading. And immediately they have an association to the characters. They understand the dynamics and the relationships. So it gives them a better experience when hearing the play in their class. It also makes the play jump off the page. To me, that is exciting. A sort of a young person in a way that is different than whatever they're getting from their phones. And they enjoy it. - Matt Morgan is the founding executive artistic director of the Nevada Shakespeare Festival, which is running through May 2nd, at various locations across Clark County. And we'll have a link with more information at kmpr.org. Matt, it's been a pleasure. - Thank you, Mike. (upbeat music) - There's no shortage of what to see here and do at any time in Nevada. Here to filter out a few of the best options is kmpr's Mike Pervat, who oversees the arts and culture beat for Nevada Public Radio. Hi, Mike. - Hey, Paul. - It's Women's History Month, and there are more than a few things happening to observe it. And you're choosing to recommend a visual art option. What's going on? - Yeah, and unlike most of our usual art recommendations, this is in Henderson. In fact, it's in the Henderson City Hall to be specific. The name of the exhibition is called "Lure of the Land, Women Artists on Southern Nevada." And note the nuances in that title. It makes it very clear that these artists have something to say about our unique landscapes and also their attraction to them. But we're not just talking the physical landscape. This is a phrase that, you know, for me at least, would suggest like a natural environment. This also evokes the cultural landscape and say urban scenery. So it's a whole vibe. I suppose they are, but they're not just atmospheric works. These artists are saying something about their surroundings and also their inhabitants and also themselves. And and furthermore, these aren't just the impressions that Southern Nevada make on their art, but it's also the impressions that they're making on our everyday experiences. - Who are they? So this is a who's who of Las Vegas art. We're talking Jennifer Clevin, Crystal Ramirez, Fawn Douglas, Shapiro Chouk, JK Russ, among others. This is a group show, by the way. And visitors to the exhibit can see Southern Nevada through their lenses, Monday through Thursdays, and that's through March 26th. - Speaking of vibes, your next recommendation is called "Ancient Echoes, Baroque and Modern Resonance." That's a lot, just in the title. - Yes, but at its core, "Ancient Echoes" is just a concert. That said, it will be a whole vibe because this dynamic chamber music concert is not going to be staged in a concert hall or auditorium like you might expect. This is at the Rita Deen and Abby Art Museum in the La Magyre foothills Northeast of Lone Mountain. - I didn't even realize there was an art museum near Lone Mountain. - Yes, and as someone who's covered music for longer than I care to admit, I do love the idea of seeing live music performed in unconventional spaces. I've seen live music played in public parks, retail shops, even at Red Rock Canyon. And the Rita Deen and Abby is a very beautiful space. So this experience should feel nothing like a typical Las Vegas concert. And as for the who of the show, if you were going to ask, this includes six musicians who will use period and modern instruments. And this will allow them to make the old sound new or at least sound different. And that's on March 14th at 2 p.m. - Our loyal KCNV listeners should enjoy that one. And finally, the Oscars are this weekend. You've come up with movie recommendations, but these are not exactly best picture candidates. - Correct, and it doesn't even look like any of them are nominated for any category this Sunday. That being said, the BAMP Center Mountain Film Festival World Tour will once again make its annual stop at the Clark County Library. That will be on March 14th, by the way, and one day before the big award show in case you were worried. These short films of this festival are all about the outdoors and mountain sports. They range in length from two minutes to 47 minutes. Those are about the only limitation that these selections have. - Sounds like it's for those who didn't get quite enough at the Olympics. - Yes, and in fact, there's a film about kite skiing. Yeah, that's skiing with kites. And also not in the winter Olympics, but, you know, 10 gentle. There are also films about mountain bikers with disabilities and beehives and one about these twin brothers from Indonesia that make an unlikely impact at the IFSC climbing world championships. Lots of stuff that's probably more exciting than watching Brad Pitt drive a Formula One car. Yeah, I just said that. - I think that's how I feel about the Ping Pong movie. - I feel you there. - Anyways, that's all the time we have for this week. Thanks, Mike. - Thanks, Paul.