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Re-Creative

Re-Creative

By: Mark A. Rayner and Joe Mahoney (MonkeyJoy Press and Donovan Street Press Inc.)
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 Hosted by Joe Mahoney and Mark A. Rayner, Re-Creative is a podcast about creativity and the works that inspire it. We talk to creative people from all walks of life, and learn from them what piece of art stokes their own imaginative fires.

mahoneyj.substack.comJoe Mahoney Art Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Trevor Strong on Creativity, Humour, and Tom Lehrer's Poisoning Pigeons in the Park

    Trevor Strong on Creativity, Humour, and Tom Lehrer's Poisoning Pigeons in the Park
    Apr 13 2026
    Re-Creative Spotlight: Trevor StrongIn this episode of Re-Creative Mark and I talk to Trevor Strong—writer, educator, and long-standing member of the musical comedy troupe The Arrogant Worms. Trevor introduces us to the musical comedy gem “Poisoning Pigeons in the Park” by Tom Lehrer, a huge influence on Trevor’s own work. Trevor points out the song’s “gleeful” subversion of innocence as a template for his own (occasionally dark) repertoire.Trevor holds a PhD in Education. For his thesis, he explored the concept of “creativity” from a historical perspective, which yielded surprising results. Trevor walks us through it; it turns out that creativity is really quite a modern concept. It happens that Trevor himself is extremely creative, his work with The Arrogant Worms but a fraction of his output. His recent solo album, too many songs about cats, is a perfect example. He recorded it all in his own home, using a table as a drum and performing all the cat parts himselfs because (and I think I have this right) he was too cheap to hire a real cat.We include one of the tracks (“Kitty Loves Me More Than You”) on the episode, which I purchased for a buck on Trevor’s Bandcamp account (cuz I’m cheap too). I highly recommend you check out the entire album. Yes, he did it at home, but it’s actually very well produced and, not surprisingly, quite charming and funny. Support Our GuestTrevor Strong is a member of the musical comedy troupe The Arrogant Worms, with whom he had toured extensively across Canada and abroad. Possessing a PhD in Education allows Trevor to call himself “Dr. Strong,” which he admits “carries certain supervillain overtones.”Trevor has published three books and one doctoral thesis pithily titled Creativity in the Ontario Elementary Curriculum 1853–2018: A Historically Situated Document Analysis. Currently, he maintains an adjunct professorship at Queen’s, operates a comedy writing school, and conducts workshops on the mechanics of humor and music.You can subscribe to six month’s worth of this podcast completely for free. Paid subscriptions support Donovan Street Press Inc. and the creation of new books and podcasts.Re-Creative is a co-production of Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with MonkeyJoy Press.Contact us at: contact@donovanstreetpress.com If you don’t wish to receive the podcast (or you’re receiving too many emails from this newsletter), it is possible to manage your Substack subscription to receive only the sections you want (e.g., the Donovan Street Press newsletter, the Captain’s Away serial, the Re-Creative podcast) via your account settings. You can do so by clicking on your avatar and selecting “Manage subscription” or by directly navigating to your account page.Follow Joe Mahoney and Donovan Street Press Inc. on: Goodreads, Bluesky, Threads, Mastadon, Facebook, and Instagram Get full access to Donovan Street Press Inc. at mahoneyj.substack.com/subscribe
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    55 mins
  • Judy Cormier on Acting and Dames Judi Dench and Maggie Smith

    Judy Cormier on Acting and Dames Judi Dench and Maggie Smith
    Mar 23 2026
    Re-Creative Spotlight: Judy CormierIn this episode of Re-Creative, it’s all about acting. I grew up wanting to be an actor but changed my mind right before university for some reason that still eludes me. Chickened out, probably. It’s a profession that requires actual talent and considerable nerve. But I still find the profession fascinating and appealing. Which is why I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation with Judy Cormier.Judy is an actor based in London, Ontario where she can often be found onstage at the Palace Theatre acting with the London Community Players. She’s also dabbled in directing, having recently co-directed The Wicked Witches of Oz for the Kettle Creek Players. She’s also known for her film work, notably in Black Donnellys, an indie film from 2017 that explores the brutal, vigilante-led end of an infamous Irish immigrant family, and in which Judy portrayed family matriarch Johannah Donnelly.Because it’s what we do on Re-Creative, we also talk about work that has inspired Judy. In her case, it’s the work of three heavyweights of the craft—Judi Dench, Ian McKellen, and Maggie Smith. Judy shares with us specific lessons she unearthed in Dench’s memoir Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent, including the fundamental difference between rote line memorization and the necessity of truly understanding the text you’re performing. We discuss everything from the tragedies of Euripides to the structured chaos of “Pantos,” those unique traditional musical comedies often performed around Christmas. Judy walks us through the unique challenge of training polite Canadian audiences to abandon their reserve and scream at the villain, something we discover Mark excels at. It’s a fun conversation with someone truly passionate about her craft that left me torn between wanting to audition for our local community theatre or writing a panto for them to perform. Or maybe… both?You can subscribe to six month’s worth of this podcast completely for free. Paid subscriptions support Donovan Street Press Inc. and the creation of new books and podcasts.Re-Creative is a co-production of Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with MonkeyJoy Press.Contact us at: contact@donovanstreetpress.com If you don’t wish to receive the podcast (or you’re receiving too many emails from this newsletter), it is possible to manage your Substack subscription to receive only the sections you want (e.g., the Donovan Street Press newsletter, the Captain’s Away serial, the Re-Creative podcast) via your account settings. You can do so by clicking on your avatar and selecting “Manage subscription” or by directly navigating to your account page.Follow Joe Mahoney and Donovan Street Press Inc. on: Goodreads, Bluesky, Threads, Mastadon, Facebook, and Instagram Get full access to Donovan Street Press Inc. at mahoneyj.substack.com/subscribe
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    52 mins
  • Tim Blackmore on the Film "Alien"

    Tim Blackmore on the Film "Alien"
    Mar 13 2026
    Re-Creative Spotlight: Tim BlackmoreIn this episode of Re-Creative, Mark A. Rayner and I are joined by Tim Blackmore, an author and professor at Western University’s Faculty of Information and Media Studies, to talk about the 1979 classic movie Alien.Tim knows a lot about the concept of “design” and a lot about this movie, which allows to take a deep dive into the design elements of Alien, which has inspired Tim in his own work and research on propaganda and war.“It’s the stuff that you don’t see coming that you have to watch out for,” Tim tells us, referring to the propaganda that you don’t necessarily realize is propaganda. “Any time you see Grogu, watch your wallet!”After discussing the context of what was happening in the field of science fiction at the time the movie came out, along with SF cinema and culture in general, Tim gets into just exactly how the visual presentation of Alien came about. Turns out it was the combined genius of a whole team of designers, including Roy Cobb, Chris Foss, H.R. Giger, and the screenwriter, Dan O’Bannon.Tim also tells us how the movie was conceived and brought to life, how Ridley Scott became its director, and its influence on so much cinema that came afterwards.Support Our GuestTim Blackmore is a professor in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies at Western University in London, Ontario (Canada). In addition to extensive articles and book chapters, Blackmore has published two major academic works: War X: Human Extension in Battlespace, and, Gorgeous War: The Branding War Between the Third Reich and the United States.In Tim’s own words: “I work on all kinds of projects, and I love that. I read, see and write about popular culture, particularly science fiction (in prose, film, animation, jello…it doesn’t matter to me what the medium is), but also comics and comic strips, science fiction film design (I know that sounds specific, but it’s a huge field). I also focus a great deal on what Leo Marx called The Machine in the Garden, and the persistence of the pastoral in this weird age of post-everything and all-transparency. We need to stay grounded.”You can subscribe to six month’s worth of this podcast completely for free. Paid subscriptions support Donovan Street Press Inc. and the creation of new books and podcasts.Re-Creative is a co-production of Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with MonkeyJoy Press.Contact us at: contact@donovanstreetpress.com If you don’t wish to receive the podcast (or you’re receiving too many emails from this newsletter), it is possible to manage your Substack subscription to receive only the sections you want (e.g., the Donovan Street Press newsletter, the Captain’s Away serial, the Re-Creative podcast) via your account settings. You can do so by clicking on your avatar and selecting “Manage subscription” or by directly navigating to your account page.Follow Joe Mahoney and Donovan Street Press Inc. on: Goodreads, Bluesky, Threads, Mastadon, Facebook, and Instagram Get full access to Donovan Street Press Inc. at mahoneyj.substack.com/subscribe
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    1 hr and 11 mins
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