Person Place Thing With Randy Cohen

The chief theater critic of the New York Times is a model of sophistication, but she didn't begin that way. "I was an extremely nerdy, very braces-wearing, awkward girl from Kansas." Not just braces-wearing, very braces-wearing. The making of an analytical mind. Presented with the Hunter College Office of the Arts. Music: Leonardo Reyna.

Having received many awards, this actor and playwright says that winning need not be so great nor losing so dreadful. "Some people can win something and lose their minds. I don't know that losing has to be destructive." We spoke at the Brick Theater after a matinee of his solo performance in without mirrors. Music: Ira Khonen Temple.

This Harlem fashion icon owns more than 600 hats. "There were times I would leave my house, get down the hill, and recognize it's the wrong hat." She'd turn around and march back up that hill, with the dedication of a true artist. Harlem, history, and hats.  Produced with the Maysles Documentary Center. Music: Warner Meadows.

His research on the neuroscience of aesthetics suggests that people crave the human touch. "If they think something is made by a person, they like it more; if they think it's made by a machine they don't like it." He does not mention Twinkies.  Or the late Joan Rivers. Presented with the Viñoly Foundation. Music: Rupert Boyd, Laura Metcalf.

This scholar says, "What made American fashion different is that it was to be wearable, comfortable, practical." But not on the red carpet at the Oscars, she did not add. We spoke in conjunction with her exhibition Art X Fashion currently at the Museum at FIT. Music: Stephanie Jenkins.

I'm reluctant to declare an artist a success or failure. This Syrian-born composer and clarinetist has a better characterization: doing well. "Staying true to what I wanted to do, and leading a fulfilled artistic life." And he does. Presented with the Hunter College Office of the Arts.

The Cathedral of St. John the Divine is an Episcopal church and more, says its Dean. "I have Jewish, Hindu, Muslim friends who pray here, because it feels like a holy place." My house shall be a house of prayer for all nations, said Jesus, quoting Isaiah, quoting God. Music: Daniel Ficarri.

As portrayed by Michael Boriskin, director of Copland House. "I decided from the time I was in my mid-twenties that there was no such thing as a rival or a competitor, that we were all colleagues." So modest, and yet so dead. A conversation from beyond the grave. Sort of. Music: Siwoo Kim, Alexis Pia Gerlach, Michael Boriskin.

Can architecture be witty? At that scale? At those prices? This architect ponders. "It can certainly be smart, and it can do unexpected things, which doesn't necessarily make it witty. That might make it clever," he says wittily. Presented with the Center for Architecture. Music: Hubby Jenkins.

This playwright directed his When the Hurly Burly's Done in Kyiv. "It's about six young women putting on a play in the middle of a war, to be performed by six young women putting on this play in the middle of a war." There was an opening-night air raid. Presented with the Hunter College Office of the Arts.

The leader of the Willie Mae Rock Camp describes a device she uses to teach girls about blues and STEM: "It is a collision of culture and technology and future possibilities." One of those robot vacuum cleaners? Her electronic banjo. Electronic Banjo! Music: Thea King.

"There are only two reasons to be a journalist," says this one, "To bear witness—to see things that your viewers or readers or listeners can't see themselves—and then to use that to hold power to account." No mention of the food in the greenroom. Austere! Presented with the Hunter College Office of the Arts. Music: Ashley Jackson.

As head of NYC's Economic Development Corporation, he guided massive projects. "I knew in my twenties that I wanted to be in urban economic development. I actually knew from being a little kid." When I was a little kid, I wanted to be a cowboy. Presented with the Department of Records and Information Services. Music: Karl Schwarz

"My father was a pastor. My grandfather was a pastor. My great-grandfather was a pastor." Why didn't this composer go into the family business? Perhaps he did. "I'm doing some of the same things as my father, just not in the same place." Music sacred and secular at Klavierhaus.

This preservationist speaks movingly about his great great grandfather, Samuel Untermyer, "the super-lawyer who took on Hitler." It's the comic book Michael Chabon was born to write. A conversation at and about Woodlawn Cemetery.

These Jane Austen scholars note that she long had a diverse readership, but in post-war America that changed. "Publishers pushed her to women specifically. Just like they made pink Cadillacs, they made pink Janes." (Caution: do not read and drive.) Produced with the Grolier Club. Music: Reid Jenkins.

The Curator of Architecture and Design at MoMA enjoys work that surprises, up to a point. "I don't like gigantic provocations, I like small provocations, the ones that sneak up on you." Jolted awake, not pummeled into submission. Presented with the Viñoly Foundation. Music: Ethel—Ralph Farris, Kip Jones, Corin Lee, Dorothy Lawson.

Celebrated for his use of light, this architect is moved by that from distant stars: "Those photons are around us—we can't see them—but they are fundamentally carrying the history of the universe." We spoke at 7 World Trade Center, a building he worked on, through the generosity of Silverstein Properties. Music: Valerie and Ben Turner, DBA Piedmont Bluz.

The heirs of deceased playwrights can be finicky about new productions—Samuel Beckett, Arthur Miller—but the head of the Mint Theater has a different experience. "What I tend to run into from estates is, 'Really? You're interested in that old play? Great!'" How to revive neglected plays. Music: Sean Hagerty

The curator and executive director of the AKC Museum of the Dog recalls one owned by Charles Dickens. "It was a Maltese that was so flea-ridden, they regularly had to shave him and bathe him to get rid of all the fleas." The dog, not Dickens. I think. Dogs in art, ethics, and history.  Music: Dorian's Room—Jonathan Stutz, Madeline Nickerson, Fae Hartt.