Who Are We? What Makes Us Care? Jim Shepard, Neil Patrick Harris, John Patrick Shanley & Artists Share Their Stories

Who Are We? What Makes Us Care? Jim Shepard, Neil Patrick Harris, John Patrick Shanley & Artists Share Their Stories

From The Creative Process in 10 minutes or less · Arts, Culture & Society: Books, Film, Music, TV, Art, Writing, Creativity, Education, Environment, Theatre, Dance, LGBTQ, Climate Change, Sustainability, Social Justice, Spirituality, Feminism, Technology by The Creative Process • Books, Film, Music, TV, Art, Writing, Creativity, Education, Environment, Theatre, Dance, LGBTQ, Social Justice, Spirituality, Feminism, Technology…

February 6, 2026 · 14 min · Season 16 · Episode 1211

About this episode

This episode explores how curiosity and empathy can be fostered through storytelling, featuring insights from various artists and writers.

Can curiosity and empathy be taught? How can we expand our sense of solidarity through stories? In this episode, we explore the internal dialogues of artists, actors and writers to ask what it means to step into someone else's shoes. (0:00) Novelist  Jim Shepard discusses Literature as a Tool for Emotional Education and Exploring History (2:05) Tony Award-winning Actor Neil Patrick Harris on Being Moved by Theater and its Ability to Bridge Worlds (3:55) Novelist Katie Kitamura on How a Book is Made in Collaboration with the Reader (5:00) Screenwriter, Playwright Laura Eason on Inhabiting the Hearts of Characters Different from Ourselves (6:03) Academy Award-winning Director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy on the Art of Visual Storytelling (6:37) Cinematographer, Director Benoit Delhomme on the Freedom of Handheld Cinematography (7:19) Author Etgar Keret on Looking for Humanity through Shared Intention (8:18) Viet Thanh Nguyen – Opposing Power through Expansive Solidarity (9:27) Adam Moss – Author, Fmr. Editor New York magazine on “The Work of Art” (10:29) John Patrick Shanley – Tony & Academy Award-winning Writer, Director on Finding Value in Ordinary Experiences and the Creative…

People in this episode

Guests: Jim Shepard, Neil Patrick Harris, Katie Kitamura, Laura Eason, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Benoit Delhomme, Etgar Keret, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Adam Moss, John Patrick Shanley, Nicholas Kristof

Topics covered

  • curiosity
  • empathy
  • storytelling
  • solidarity
  • art
  • literature

Keywords

  • curiosity
  • empathy
  • storytelling
  • art
  • literature
  • solidarity
  • theater
  • humanity

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