THEATER TALK to Welcome FUN HOME's Alison Bechdel, Lisa Kron & Jeanine Tesori This Weekend

An all-new THEATER TALK welcomes the key creative artists behind the new musical hit Fun Home - composer Jeanine Tesori, librettist/lyricist Lisa Kron, and author Alison Bechdel, who wrote and drew the bestselling graphic memoir that inspired the production. The show, now selling out at Circle in the Square, deals with the true story of Bechdel's relationship with her demanding father, her coming out in college as a lesbian that led her to learn of her father's closeted homosexuality, and his suicide, which followed this revelation.

Nominated for 12 Tony® Awards, including Best Book, Best Original Score, and Best Musical, Fun Home is a beautiful and heart-breaking show about growing up in a troubled family. "It's the most important musical I've written ... ever," Tesori tells co-hosts Michael Riedel of the New York Post and Susan Haskins. "You're looking backward as much as you're looking forward and trying to understand what your parents burdened you with and gifted you with." Kron and Tesori also perform songs at the piano from their score, including "It All Comes Back," "Helen's Etude," "Come to The Fun Home," and Bechdel's personal favorite from the score, "Ring of Keys."

Although the show contains plot elements that would not predict box-office success on Broadway, Fun Home's honesty and emotion, along with its brilliant conception and cast, are resonating with audiences.

This latest edition of THEATER TALK premieres in the New York metropolitan area on Friday, May 22 (2015) at 1 AM (early Saturday morning) on Thirteen/PBS, with repeats on CUNY TV* on Saturday 5/23 at 8:30 PM, Sunday 5/24 at 12:30 PM, and Monday 5/25 at 7:30 AM, 1:30 PM, and 7:30 PM.

THEATER TALK is jointly produced by the not-for-profits Theater Talk Productions and CUNY TV. The program is taped in the Himan Brown TV and Radio Studios at The City University of New York (CUNY) TV in Manhattan, and is distributed to 100+ participating public television stations nationwide. THEATER TALK is made possible in part by The New York State Council on the Arts, The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, The CUNY TV Foundation and The Friends of THEATER TALK.