Storybeat with Steve Cuden

My guest today, Christine Pedi is known as the “Lady of 1000 Voices." She discovered her talent for multiple personalities through her long association with the legendary Off-Broadway revue, Forbidden Broadway, performing in companies all over the world, including New York, London, Japan, Singapore, and more. Among the dozens of personalities Christine is known to impersonate are: Liza Minelli, Rosie Perez, Ethel Merman, Angel...

Ron Roman has written extensive travel, academic, and political articles for regional, national, and international publications. He studied both fiction and creative writing for his third graduate degree in Humanities from Wesleyan University. 

Ron has acted in numerous Korean TV dramas and motion pictures like Operation Chromite, portraying Admiral Forrest Sherman opposite Liam Neeson’s General Douglas MacArthur. 

In 2025 Ron publis...

Leslie A. Rasmussen wrote TV comedies for folks like Gerald McRaney, Burt Reynolds, Roseanne Barr, Norm McDonald, and Drew Carey, while working on popular sit-coms such as Major Dad, Roseanne, ALF, The Wild Thornberrys, Sweet Valley High, Evening Shade, Norm, and The Good Life.

After leaving the TV industry to raise her boys, Leslie obtained a master's degree in nutrition and ran her own business for ten years.

She’s been publis...

Paige N. Regan is a dark fantasy author known for her great ability to infuse humor into the macabre. With a focus on Young Adult and Adult novels, her captivating stories transport readers into worlds teeming with magic, myth, and murder. Her most recently published works include: Sin and Bones and Blood and Stone, which are the first two books of the Sin and Bones trilogy. Paige’s upcoming Gothic Fantasy novel, We Are Buried in t...

Amy Meislin Pollack was a teacher for over four decades. From her own childhood, to the classroom, to being a parent of three and grandparent to seven, she’s perfectly positioned to write her coming-of-age book series based on a mischievous young girl, Jillian Kramer, who everyone calls Jelly Bean. After 60 years of occasionally working on her Jelly Bean books, Amy took advantage of the Covid pandemic to finish them.

The series bega...

My guest today, P.S. “Pat “Conway has published more than 50 poems across four online journals and 16 poetry anthologies. Two of those anthologies have been Amazon Best Sellers.

Pat released his first poetry collection, Echoes Lost in Stars, in March 2024. To date, it’s garnered significant critical acclaim. In 2025, Pat released Life Sucks: Memories and Introspections During the Great Covid Lockdown, a compilation of satirical essa...

The novelist, John David Bethel, is appearing for the second time on StoryBeat. David’s the author of award-winning political and psychological thrillers, including Mapping the Night and Holding Back the Dark. His short fiction has been published in popular consumer magazines, and his essays and opinion editorials have been published in respected political journals.  

 David spent 35 years in politics and government. He served in th...

My guest today, British author and pop culture historian Jon Kremer is appearing on StoryBeat for the second time. He’s best known for his memoirs and books detailing the 1960s pop and rock music scene. 

A long-standing friendship with “Year of the Cat” singer-songwriter, Al Stewart, along with owning his hometown Bournemouth’s original vintage vinyl shop led to Jon experiencing many aspects of the UK music industry.

The recently rel...

Thomas Cullen is a federal trial judge and former U.S. attorney in Virginia. He was recently honored as the 2024 Carter O. Lowance Fellow from the William & Mary Law School, which is his alma mater.

A native of Richmond, Virginia, Thomas studied history and ran track at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, from which he was recently awarded an honorary doctorate.

Thomas is also an accomplished writer. For more than te...

Art Bell is a writer and former television executive. While at HBO, Art became known for developing and launching the Comedy Channel, which later became Comedy Central. As President of Court TV, he oversaw daily live courtroom coverage and the production of hundreds of hours of original true-crime TV series, documentaries, and movies.

Art’s memoir, Constant Comedy: "How I Started Comedy Central and Lost My Sense of Humor",...

Rusty Austin was a reality TV show producer for over three decades and is now the author of six published books, including an illustrated children’s book series.

Rusty broke into Hollywood as a freelance electrician on dozens of movies, including Terminator 2. After a few years, he decided to give up movies because everything in the lighting and grip department weighed no less than 50 pounds.

He then spent 35 years producing reality ...

Brad Oscar is a two-time Tony Award nominee for his performances on Broadway as Franz Liebkind in Mel Brooks’ The Producers and as Thomas Nostradamus in Something Rotten!

Brad has performed in more than 15 shows on Broadway, including being in the original casts of the stage version of Schmigadoon, Mrs. Doubtfire, Big Fish, Aspects of Love, and a show I know a little bit about called Jekyll & Hyde. He’s performed in Wicked, Nice...

JJ Nelson is a Michigan native who, as a kid, made schlocky home movies with his best friend. He then built his comedic chops as an editor of his high school newspaper, writing irreverent Onion-inspired articles mocking the establishment. Somehow, he got away with all of it, diploma in hand. 

JJ honed his writing skills as an undergrad at the University of Michigan before earning an MFA in Screenwriting from UCLA’s renowned School o...

Virginia DeLuca is a writer and psychotherapist. She’s the author of the award-winning novel, As If Women Mattered. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Modern Love, The Boston Globe, Vulture, The Huffington Post, the Iowa Review, and The Writer. 

Virginia’s also a graduate of GrubStreet’s 2020 Memoir Incubator.

Her most recent book is If You Must Go, I Wish You Triplets, a candid, funny, and emotionally rich memoir about her...

Haris Orkin is a prolific novelist, playwright, screenwriter, and game writer.  His play Dada premiered at The La Jolla Playhouse. His feature film, A Saintly Switch, was produced by Disney and directed by the great Peter Bogdanovich. Haris has written screenplays for Universal, Sony, Fox, and Paramount.  

He’s also has written numerous video games, many of which have been nominated for the WGA and BAFTA Film Awards. Games he’s work...

Debi Derryberry is one of the most in-demand voiceover actresses in Hollywood. She’s perhaps best known for voicing Jimmy Neutron in both the Academy Award-nominated film Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius and in the TV series The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius. Debi’s also played dozens of memorable characters in features like the original Toy Story in which she’s one of the aliens, The Boy and the Heron, Despicable Me 2, Kiki’s D...

The highly renowned classical clarinetist, David Singer, has performed many times at Carnegie Hall. He was a principal member and soloist with the Grammy Award-winning Orpheus Chamber Orchestra for 36 years and is featured on many of the group’s 70 CDs on Deutsche Grammophon. 

David began with Orpheus when the group was playing for free. He has played with many of the world’s greatest classical musicians, including legends like Yehu...

Mark Mangini is a six-time Oscar-nominated, two-time Oscar-winning Sound Designer. He won his Oscars for Dune and Mad Max Fury Road. Mark’s also well known for designing sound for numerous films, including: Blade Runner 2049, Star Treks I, IV and V, Beauty and the Beast, TheFifthElement, Space Jam, Poltergeist,Gremlins, Aladdin, and Raiders of the Lost Ark, among many more.

Mark has spent his 49-year career in Hollywood imagining an...