Podcast
The Kitchen Sisters Present
Hosted by The Kitchen Sisters & Radiotopia · EN
The Kitchen Sisters Present… Stories from the b-side of history. Lost recordings, hidden worlds, people possessed by a sound, a vision, a mission. Deeply layered stories, lush with interviews, field recordings and music. From powerhouse NPR producers The Kitchen Sisters (The Keepers, Hidden Kitchens, The Hidden World of Girls, The Sonic Memorial Project, Lost & Found Sound, and Fugitive Waves). "The Kitchen Sisters have done some of best radio stories ever broadcast" —Ira Glass. The Kitchen Sisters Present is produced in by The Kitchen Sisters (Nikki Silva & Davia Nelson) in collaboration with Nathan Dalton and Brandi Howell and mixed by Jim McKee. A proud member of Radiotopia, from PRX. Learn more at radiotopia.fm.
28episodes
Episodes
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Come Life, Shaker Life: From the Cradle to the Cradle
3w ago00:25:12Tap to summarizeThe Shakers. An offshoot sect of The Quakers, born in England in 1747. In worship they were known to break into states of ecstatic trembling. Trembling Quakers. Shaking Quakers. The Shakers. They came to America in 1774 with a utopian vision, egalitarian ideals, a belief in the equality of the sexes, a philosophy of communal, celibate, simple living. Known for their purposeful communities, their pacifism and legendary craftsmanship.At their peak in the mid-nineteenth century there were some 6,000 Shakers worldwide. As of 2024 there were but two Shakers left in America, so it made headlines in 2025 when Sister April Baxter entered the fold. Four-time Academy Award winner Frances McDormand and artist Suzanne Bocanegra were inspired by the communal Shaker philosophy and aesthetic and were invited by The Shaker Museum in Chatham, New York to create a pop-up exhibit curated from the museum’s archive of Shaker furniture, textiles and goods. They called their installation “Cradled.” Maira Kalman's pop-up exhibition, Shaker Outpost: Design, Commerce and Culture, a curated selection of her favorite pieces from the vast Shaker Museum collection opens on Saturday, May 2 at 4 Depot Square in downtown Chatham, New York, running through Sunday, July 5. Along with the exhibit Maira and the Museum will open a General Store drawing on the historic tradition of Shakers’ public-facing stores where Shaker communities shared their goods for purchase with “the world.” Handmade crafts, food in the Shaker style, potholders, honey, ginger snaps, Swedish fish, sardines, marmalade made by TART, notebooks, textiles and items made by local artisans will all be on sale.Come Life, Shaker Life was produced by The Kitchen Sisters (Davia Nelson & Nikki Silva) in collaboration with Brandi Howell, Nathan Dalton and Hannah Kaye. Mixed by Jim McKee.
Transcribe →Requiem for Larry Massett
4w ago00:52:56Tap to summarizePioneering radio artist Larry Massett, a producer's producer, who led listeners into unexpected worlds and influenced so many in public radio and beyond, died last year at the age of 80. The Kitchen Sisters were fortunate to work with Larry on our NPR series Lost & Found Sound and Soundprint. He was a friend and colleague. We learned of Larry's passing last spring on Transom.org, the premier site for producers to come together, share their work, and access the latest tools and advice. It was there that we found a “Requiem for Larry Massett” created by Barrett Golding of Hearing Voices. We asked Barrett if he’d help produce an audio piece and bring it to air. He said yes. Transom said yes. And all of the producers who offered their memories said yes. And so, yes!The Kitchen Sisters Present: “A Requiem for Larry Massett” — produced in collaboration with Barrett Golding and Transom.org. Featuring excerpts from some of Larry Massett's iconic radio works including: Listen Up: Piano Down the Stairs, A Trip to the Dentist, Helium Filled Astronaut, Death in Venice, The Road, Solidod, Apache Elder and more. With remembrances from Larry's friends and colleagues: Jay Allison, Art Silverman, Bob Boilen, Rob Rosenthal, Joe Frank, Jesse Boggs, Katie Davis, Erica Heilman, Susan Stamberg, Keith Talbot, Robin Wise, Scott Carrier.Special thanks to Transom, Hearing Voices, NPR, Soundprint, Jake Fleming, The Shed Studio. And thanks to: Corporation for Public Broadcasting, National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities. The Kitchen Sisters Present is produced by The Kitchen Sisters (Nikki Silva & Davia Nelson) with Nathan Dalton and Brandi Howell. We’re part of Radiotopia from PRX, a curated network of podcasts created by independent producers. Visit kitchensisters.org for more stories and news from The Kitchen Sisters.
Transcribe →Lutah Maria Riggs Designs the American Riviera
Apr 700:43:02Tap to summarizeStucco arches, red tile floors, exposed beams — the look and feel of the houses in the oceanfront towns of Santa Barbara and Montecito can be attributed to a woman architect known by one name: Lutah. The Ohio-born and California-bred architect Lutah Maria Riggs was on track to be a teacher, one of few professions to welcome women in the early 20th century, when she won a scholarship to Berkeley by selling newspapers. Like architect Julia Morgan before her, she gained entry to the university's Beaux Arts influenced architecture program – one of only four women in her class. Also like Morgan, she was talented enough to capture the interest and mentorship of the head of the program, John Galen Howard, and a series of other older male architects who helped her launch her career and chaperoned her travel to Mexico, Spain, and other countries whose architecture was highly influential in California in the 1920s. Riggs's most famous public project, the Lobero Theater in downtown Santa Barbara, was directly influenced by a serendipitous stop in Spain. Traveling on her own, Riggs took advantage of the network of women's hotels and clubs available in those days. She was always up for a dance, and was even friends with Martha Graham when the modern dance pioneer spent time in Santa Barbara. Her work has helped define the indoor-outdoor, casual, one-story style that is most identified with southern California today. That has made her houses highly prized for their luxurious materials, swoon-worthy views, and easy living. Unlike many architects who focused on public commissions, many of her houses are still extant, and the real estate agents know what they've got. Zoe Saldana lives in a Lutah today, and architecture enthusiast Ellen DeGeneres has in the past. Riggs – who lived until the 1980s – continues to be one of Santa Barbara's most celebrated architects. Produced by Brandi Howell for the New Angle Voice Podcast presented by the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation.The Kitchen Sisters Present is produced by The Kitchen Sisters (Nikki Silva & Davia Nelson) with Nathan Dalton and Brandi Howell.The Kitchen Sisters Present is part of PRX's Radiotopia podcast network.
Transcribe →Have a Seat, The Casting Director Will See You Shortly – The Legends of Juliet Taylor & Ellen Lewis
Mar 1300:35:36Tap to summarizeOn Sunday the first Oscar for Achievement in Casting will be given in the 98-year history of the Academy Awards. Today, The Kitchen Sisters and host Frances McDormand bring you the story of two legendary casting directors: Juliet Taylor and Ellen Lewis.Listen to Part 1 of this saga: Everyone’s a Casting Director: The First-Ever Academy Award for Casting in the 98-Year History of the Academy Awards“Casting is the first thing that is done on a movie. Everybody's sort of in a great mood, nothing's gone wrong yet, and everybody's feeling very positive. And it's the first time the director's heard the words read and it can really influence the way the movie goes.” —Juliet TaylorDuring her career, Juliet cast 103 films including Annie Hall, Taxi Driver, Manhattan, Terms of Endearment, Big, Schindler's List, Midnight Cowboy, Network and so many more. “It's an old-fashioned trade. You are learning from the person that you are working for. That's like your graduate school.” —Ellen LewisEllen has cast some dozen films for Martin Scorsese including Goodfellas, Casino, Gangs of New York, The Age of Innocence, Cape Fear, Kundun, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Irishman, The Departed, Killers of the Flower Moon. Also Forrest Gump, The Devil Wears Prada, A League of Their Own, lots of Jim Jarmusch movies, and the television series The Queen's Gambit, Godless, Boardwalk Empire and so much more.“More than 90% of directing a picture is the right casting.” —Martin ScorseseHave a Seat, The Casting Director Will See You Shortly: The Legends of Juliet Taylor & Ellen Lewis was produced by The Kitchen Sisters (Davia Nelson & Nikki Silva) in collaboration with Nathan Dalton, Brandi Howell and Hannah Kaye. Mixed by Jim McKee.
Transcribe →Everyone's a Casting Director – The First-Ever Academy Award for Achievement in Casting with Host Frances McDormand
Mar 401:15:43Tap to summarizeWho discovered Diane Keaton and put her in Annie Hall? Who found Dustin Hoffman and made sure he played Ratso Rizzo in Midnight Cowboy? Who saw Jason Schwartzman and made sure Wes Anderson knew about him for Rushmore? Casting Directors, that’s who. When the 98th Oscar ceremony airs on March 15, the first Academy Award for Achievement in Casting will be given in nearly 100 years of Academy history. Five films, laden with stars and fascinating new discoveries, are nominated — Hamnet, Marty Supreme, One Battle After Another, The Secret Agent and Sinners. The Kitchen Sisters and four-time Academy Award winner Frances McDormand take us behind the scenes and into the lives and work of this first-ever batch of nominees and into the mysterious and fascinating world of film casting. Everyone's a Casting Director was produced by The Kitchen Sisters (Davia Nelson & Nikki Silva) in collaboration with Nathan Dalton and Brandi Howell. Mixed by Jim McKee. Hosted by Frances McDormand.
Transcribe →Louis Jones - Activist Archivist, Detroit
Feb 1700:22:38Tap to summarizeLouis Jones is a keeper— working as a Field Archivist at the Reuther Library at Wayne State University in Detroit, he cares for the largest labor archive in North America. Home to numerous union and labor collections from around the country, the Reuther Library also actively collects material documenting Detroit’s civil rights movement, women’s struggles in the workplace, the LGBTQ Archive of Detroit and more.Born in New York City, the grandson of a Pullman porter, Jones takes us through the archives with stories of the United Auto Workers, Cesar Chavez, Utah Phillips, A. Philip Randolph, the Civil Rights Movement, the 1967 Detroit uprising, and how archivists are examining and re-imagining their roles in the midst of Covid-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement.Special thanks to the Reuther Library at Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan; Nancy Beaumont and the Society of American Archivists (SAA); Paulina Hartono; The National Endowment for the Humanities; and supporters of The Kitchen Sisters Productions.Produced by The Kitchen Sisters (Nikki Silva & Davia Nelson) with Nathan Dalton and Brandi Howell. The Kitchen Sisters Present is part of Radiotopia from PRX.
Transcribe →Betty Reid Soskin - Sign My Name to Freedom - 1921-2025
Feb 300:29:25Tap to summarizeOn December 21, 2025, activist and trailblazer Betty Reid Soskin passed away in Richmond, California. She was 104. Over the years we've chronicled Betty's remarkable story and want to share it today in honor of Betty and Black History Month.In 2011, at age 89, Betty became America's oldest national park service ranger, a position she held until she retired at 100. Her bold and forthright tours and talks at the Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front Museum were legendary. As a Black woman who worked in the segregated war effort, she spoke from her personal experience revealing a fuller, richer understanding of the World War II years experienced by women and people of color on the home front.Betty's Creole/Cajun family was from New Orleans and her great grandmother had been born into slavery in 1846. Displaced by the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, Betty moved with her family to Oakland, where she grew up in the late 20s and 30s. During WWII she worked as a file clerk for Boilermakers Union A-36, a Jim Crow all Black union auxiliary, where she witnessed firsthand the discrimination faced by Black workers in the wartime industry.Betty raised four children in the highly segregated Diablo Valley area where the family was subject to death threats. She and her first husband, Mel Reid, owned one of the first Black record shops west of the Mississippi located in Berkeley. She also worked as a Field Representative for California State Assembly women Dion Aroner and Lonnie Hancock. In 2016, at age 94, Betty survived a violent home invasion and returned to work at the Rosie the Riveter Museum just weeks later.A singer, songwriter, poet and musician, Betty chronicled her life and work in a memoir, "Sign My Name to Freedom," which inspired both a stage play and a documentary film. Betty received numerous awards and honors throughout her life, including a presidential coin from Barack Obama in 2015 after she lit the national Christmas tree at the White House.Special thanks to: The San Francisco Public Library and Shawna Sherman of the African American Center of the San Francisco Main Library; This is Love Podcast and creators Phoebe Judge and Lauren Spohrer; and A Lifetime of Being Betty, a Little Village Foundation recording release produced by Mike Kappus. Thanks also to Betty’s son, musician and songwriter Bob Reid http://www.bobreidmusic.com/The Kitchen Sisters Present is produced by The Kitchen Sisters (Nikki Silva & Davia Nelson) with Nathan Dalton and Brandi Howell. We are part of the Radiotopia network from PRX.
Transcribe →The Giving Game: Andrew Carnegie and the Evils of Wealth
Jan 2000:34:44Tap to summarizeThe Gilded Age was a time of unparalleled wealth and prosperity in America—but it was also a time of staggering inequality, corruption, and unchecked power. Among its richest figures was Andrew Carnegie, the steel magnate who built his fortune on the backs of low-paid workers, only to give it away—earning him the nickname the Godfather of American Philanthropy. He didn’t just fund libraries and universities, he championed a philosophy: that it was the duty of the ultra-wealthy to serve the public good.But, as it turns out, even philanthropy is a form of power. So, what exactly have wealthy philanthropists done with their power? We explore that question at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, inside Carnegie’s former mansion. There, a board game called Philanthropy invites players to reimagine the connection between money and power—not by amassing wealth, but by giving it away.Produced by The Smithsonian's Podcast — Sidedoor. With host and Senior Producer Lizzie Peabody. Featuring: Christina de León, Associate Curator of Latino Design at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum Tommy Mishima, artist and co-creator (with Liam Lee) of the installation Game Room in Cooper Hewitt's triennial Making Home David Nasaw, author of the biography Andrew Carnegie The Kitchen Sisters Present is produced by The Kitchen Sisters (Nikki Silva & Davia Nelson) with Nathan Dalton and Brandi Howell. Part of the Radiotopia network from PRX.
Transcribe →Marion Cunningham: Late Bloomer, Agoraphobic, Food Pioneer
Jan 600:21:08Tap to summarizeThey don't make 'em like Marion Cunningham these days. Food writer, home cook, Fannie Farmer's new incarnation, James Beard’s sidekick, wizard of waffles. Marion was a treasured friend of The Kitchen Sisters, and in 2003, we sat down with her and recorded a long conversation.We've been digging through our archive of late looking for people and stories that inspire, that illuminate, that cut a new path and nourish the soul. Marion's story ticks all those boxes and more.Marion died in 2012. She left such a big hole in the firmament when she passed, but she left so much love, wisdom, guidance, and her amazing recipe for waffles behind. You can find that recipe on our website, kitchensisters.org.This story is part of The Kitchen Sisters Grand Dames of Cooking stories — kitchen visionaries who worked to preserve, develop and pass on traditional foodways and cultural history through the art of cooking.
Transcribe →Hidden Kitchens World—With Host Frances McDormand
Dec 1600:49:07Tap to summarizeHost Frances McDormand leads us through this rich international story collection of land, community and food. From the organic olive groves and vineyards being grown on confiscated Mafia land in Sicily, to secret night clubs embedded in Soviet dissident kitchens. From tales of "cooking dogs" in Medieval England, to the little-known tale of agricultural explorers — the "Indiana Joneses of the plant world" — who introduced exotic dates from the Middle East to the Coachella Valley. We also go underground into the world of wine, war, and counterfeiting.Plus, actor Gael Garcia Bernal takes us to his grandmother's Sinaloa kitchen in Mexico, Salman Rushdie takes us to Chocolate Town, Werner Herzog eats his shoe, and poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti gives us his recipe for happiness.Hidden Kitchens World was produced by The Kitchen Sisters (Davia Nelson & Nikki Silva) in collaboration with Nathan Dalton and Brandi Howell, along with listeners around the world. Mixed by Jim McKee.
Transcribe →