Q with Tom Power

Dorothy Grant’s work as a Haida fashion designer combines art, ceremony and history. Her designs have been shown everywhere from runways in Paris and the Oscars red carpet, to legislative halls and prestigious museums. Back in April, Dorothy received the first-ever Indigenous Fashion Award at the Canadian Arts & Fashion Awards. She joined Tom Power to talk about her approach to fusing traditional Northwest Coast design with high fashion, and her take on who exactly can wear her designs.

Across three decades at MuchMusic, CBC and beyond, George Stroumboulopoulos has shaped the Canadian cultural landscape and become a defining generational voice, interviewing everyone from punk legends and sports stars to politicians and royalty. Now, in the new CBC Gem documentary Stories That Made Us, he travels across the country to explore the foundational film and television that forged our national identity.In this conversation with Tom Power, Strombo makes the case for why Canada’s weird and wonderful CanCon era needs a comeback, pointing to shows like The Hilarious House of Frightenstein and Hammy Hamster. He also looks back on his formative years at MuchMusic, and tackles some pressing cultural questions — like whether the dog from The Littlest Hobo was secretly a narc.

Before Heated Rivalry became an international phenomenon, Quebec singer-songwriter Peter Peter had never scored a film or TV show in his life. That changed when creator Jacob Tierney slid into his Instagram DMs looking for a signature sound. Fast-forward to now, and Peter Peter has just been awarded the Global Impact Award at this year's SOCAN Awards for his work on Heated Rivalry. He joins Tom Power to tell us what happens when your first big composing gig becomes a massive hit, how he approached translating Ilya and Shane’s iconic romance into music, and the story behind the fan-favourite track, It’s You.

You might know actor and filmmaker Jordan Firstman from his viral pandemic-era conceptual “impressions” or his turn as Charlie on HBO’s I Love LA, but his latest project is turning heads for an entirely different reason.This year, Jordan became the talk of the film festival circuit with his directorial debut, Club Kid — a sharp, funny and deeply personal project that he also wrote and stars in. The story follows Peter, a gay 30-something nightclub promoter 10 years deep into the New York party scene. When he unexpectedly discovers he has a son, he’s forced to grow up fast and navigate a massive shift in his life.Jordan sits down with Tom Power to talk about bringing Club Kid to life, the psychic reading that predicted the movie’s success, how an experience with toad venom gave him the courage to make the film, and why he’s drawn to exploring the complex inner lives of gay men.

Nobody speaking English today is free from the influence of the King James Bible. Back in the early 1600s, dozens of male scholars and clergymen gathered under royal mandate to translate the Bible into English. Their word choices would come to shape modern literature, music and everyday speech. But when flawed human beings set out to record the "Word of God," whose voices actually end up on the page?Dora Award-winning playwright Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman examines this question in her latest stage work, The King James Bible Play. Fresh off a sold-out run at the Stratford Festival and heading to Ottawa’s National Arts Centre on Nov. 11, the play unfolds across two distinct eras. The first act looks at the political and religious pressures faced by these 17th-century translators. The second act introduces a modern meta layer, following a group of contemporary women trying to stage a production about those very men and the lasting impact of their decisions.Charlotte joins Tom Power to discuss the big questions ra

Bryan Adams is one of the world's biggest rock stars and a Canadian cultural icon. But after four decades in the business and 100 million albums sold, he’s done something he’s never done before: made an entire record dedicated to Canada. From the story of Terry Fox's Marathon of Hope and the tragedy of Lundy's Lane to pushing back against threats of becoming America’s "51st State," Bryan is telling Canadian stories at a moment when many are reflecting on what this country means to them. He joins Tom Power to break down his new album, How’s It Goin’, his unlikely journey to global superstardom, and how a chance backstage encounter launched his legendary collaboration with Tina Turner.

Canadian hip-hop pioneer k-os is back with his first new album in more than a decade, BLackneck. It was funded by longtime fan Drake, who wanted to give his early musical hero the freedom to make a “classic k-os record.” Joining Tom Power in the Q studio, k-os shares the unlikely story behind the album, and explains why, after two decades breaking musical boundaries, he’s still determined to do things his own way.

Shiv Scott grew up listening to her family play Irish rebel songs. Today, she’s channeling that rebellious spirit with her own band, Shiv and the Carvers. Discovered at Toronto’s legendary Sneaky Dee’s and quickly earning the endorsement of Bif Naked, the exciting new punk rock band has just released their debut album, Always Watching. Shiv joins Tom Power in the Q studio to talk about the record, her Northern Irish roots and how she formed a band through roller derby. Plus, she sets up the story behind the band’s new track, Screens, which is an anthem for anyone who can't stop doomscrolling.

Nearly 40 years ago, Ann-Marie MacDonald shook up Canadian theatre with Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet), an irreverent comedy that flipped the script on two of Shakespeare’s most tragic heroines. But when she first penned it, she wasn’t thinking about love, tragedy or even comedy — she was out for revenge against Shakespeare's "cry-and-die" roles for women. Now, Canadian Stage is remounting the production in Toronto with Ann-Marie starring in the lead role as Constance Ledbelly. She joins Tom Power in the Q studio to reflect on the groundbreaking play, what it took to champion its controversial lesbian kiss in the 1980s, and what it feels like to step back into the role of Constance for the first time in a quarter of a century.

Teagan Johnston is a multidisciplinary singer-songwriter with a knack for writing evocative, beautiful lyrics. She’s toured North America, Japan and Europe, and even performed at director David Lynch’s private nightclub in Paris. Teagan joins Tom Power to talk about her new album, Big Time, and what it took to make it entirely on her own terms. She shares how themes of identity and family shape her lyrics, how teaching kids music helped her fall back in love with making it, and the dream that inspired her song Take Me to the Trailer.

Forget the crooked nose and the bubbling cauldron. For her new Crave series YAGA, award-winning Canadian playwright and director Kat Sandler turns Slavic folklore upside down, reimagining the mythical witch Baba Yaga as a complex, sexually liberated woman who turns the tables on bad men. The eight-part murder mystery series is an adaptation of Kat’s celebrated play of the same name. She sits down with Tom Power to talk about reclaiming the narrative of the crone, channeling overlooked female rage into a TV anti-hero, and what it took to bring her hit stage play to the screen alongside stars Carrie-Anne Moss and Hudson Williams. YAGA is streaming now on Crave.

When Noam Tomaschoff ordered an at-home DNA test on a whim, he didn't expect to learn anything earth-shattering. But before the results even arrived, his parents revealed a secret they had kept for decades: he was conceived via sperm donation, meaning the man who raised him wasn't his biological father. Digging deeper into the results, Noam made another startling discovery — he had more than 35 half-siblings scattered across North America. The Toronto-born actor, writer and director sits down with Tom Power to share how he navigated that identity shock, and how turning the experience into an award-winning musical helped him make sense of it all. Our Little Secret: A True New Musical opens at Toronto’s CAA Theatre tonight.

If you grew up on ’80s and ’90s action movies, you’re probably familiar with Dolph Lundgren. He played the towering Soviet boxer Ivan Drago opposite Sylvester Stallone in Rocky IV, He-Man in the original live-action Masters of the Universe, and more recently, he’s been kicking butt in The Expendables franchise. But long before Hollywood came calling, Dolph was a chemical engineering student headed to MIT on a Fulbright scholarship. His entire trajectory shifted when a chance encounter with pop icon Grace Jones pulled him into the whirlwind of New York’s Studio 54. Now, a new documentary, Dolph: Unbreakable, traces his journey from a painful childhood in Sweden to global superstardom. Dolph joins Tom Power to talk about his unlikely path from academia to Hollywood, how he nearly died performing some of his own stunts, and how he managed to channel his severe childhood trauma through martial arts and acting.

Last week, the world said goodbye to Sir Patrick Stewart — the British stage and screen actor best known for playing Captain Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men film franchise. In memory of Patrick, we revisit his 2023 conversation with Tom Power, where he looked back on his extraordinary six-decade career.

For more than 50 years, Marina Abramović has used her own body to push the boundaries of performance art. Now, as she approaches her 80th birthday, she’s preparing to stage her most ambitious — and most autobiographical — work yet, Balkan Erotic Epic. The bold new performance piece draws on ancient Balkan folk rituals to explore sexuality, spirituality, fertility and death. In this candid conversation with Tom Power, Marina details how the project has allowed her to achieve emotional liberation from her childhood in former Yugoslavia, her difficult relationship with her strict mother, and the past she’s still trying to make peace with.

Damhnait Doyle thought her days of making music were behind her. But after facing some personal hardships, an urge to reconnect with her authentic self led her back to songwriting. Now, the Juno-nominated musician and host of CBC Music’s Mornings is embracing the “weird kid” she was 30 years ago when she first broke onto the Canadian music scene with her hit song A List of Things. Damhnait joins Tom Power to talk about her new EP, Bird in Flames, and her simple message for middle-aged women: it’s never too late to get back to yourself.

Holland Taylor (Legally Blonde, Two and a Half Men) has had incredible success acting in hit movies and TV shows — but her transition to the screen was originally intended to bolster her theatre career. In this conversation with Tom Power, Holland shares how she honed her craft under legendary acting teacher Stella Adler, how having ADHD has helped her channel focus into her most intense roles, and why she chose not to meet Matthew McConaughey's mother before portraying her in the new series Brothers.

Documentary filmmaker John Wilson has a very particular way of seeing the world. For his acclaimed HBO series How To With John Wilson, he wandered the streets of New York City with a camera, following his curiosity into some bizarre and unexpectedly moving encounters with ordinary people. Now, he’s released his first feature documentary, The History of Concrete, using a similarly unconventional approach. John talks to Tom Power about how the camera has helped him connect with people in ways he never thought possible, why it was so hard to fund a movie about cement, and how a mundane material led to an unexpectedly spiritual reflection on impermanence.

Ten years after Leonard Cohen’s death, his songs are as alive as ever. In a special remote interview at Hotel2Tango in Montreal — the studio where he helped produce his father’s final albums — Juno-nominated musician Adam Cohen sits down with Tom Power to discuss bringing Leonard’s songs back to the stage on a new tribute tour featuring his 19-year-old son, Cassius. Adam opens up about grief, legacy and the complicated business of remembering someone who never had much time for nostalgia.

In 1989, a young singer from New Brunswick sparked an international frenzy across Quebec and Europe known as "Rochmania." That singer was Roch Voisine, who skyrocketed to fame overnight with his breakthrough hit, Hélène. While the craze was initially written off as short-lived pop hype, Roch has sustained a career in both official languages for nearly four decades. Fresh off his induction into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, he joins Tom Power to look back on surviving teen-idol stardom, staying grounded through his family life, and why he’s now honouring the legendary Gordon Lightfoot with his latest project, The Lightfoot Sessions.