Publisher Description
As a young Jewish man in 17th century Amsterdam, Baruch de Spinoza excelled as a theological student; but as he encountered free-thinking Protestants, atheists, and radicals in this relatively tolerant city, he began to question his religion and the nature of God. As a result, he was branded a heretic and faced excommunication. Includes an interview with Steven Nadler, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and author of A Book Forged in Hell: Spinoza’s Scandalous Treatise and the Birth of the Secular Age. Recorded before a live audience at the Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles, in July 2011. Director: Rosalind Ayres Producing Director: Susan Albert Loewenberg An L.A. Theatre Works Full-Cast Performance Featuring: Edward Asner as Abraham van Valkenburgh Richard Easton as Saul Levi Mortera Andrea Gabriel as Clara Arye Gross as Ben Israel Amy Pietz as Rebekah James Wagner as Simon de Vries Matthew Wolf as Baruch de Spinoza Associate Producer: Christina Montaño Recording Engineer/Sound Designer/Editor: Mark Holden for The Invisible Studios, West Hollywood Sound Effects Artist: Tony Palermo
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About the Narrators
Matthew Wolf has worked extensively as a voice, theater, radio, and television actor. He has appeared in many productions on the London stage, including the title role in a sell-out production of Macbeth alongside Twilight star Robert Pattinson. He is also the official voice of Thor for Mavel Studios’ animated films Hulk Vs. Thor and Thor: Tales of Asgard. He lives in Los Angeles, where he is also producing with his production company, Cool Hand International.
Shannon Cochran is an actress and director, whose work includes the First National Tour of the Pulitzer Prize–winning play August: Osage County, a film opposite Kathleen Turner called The Perfect Family, and Last Days, a radio play for the BBC. She has performed and directed with LA Theatre Works, an organization producing radio plays for NPR, for fifteen years.
Edward “Ed” Asner (1929–2021) was an American actor best known for his Emmy-winning role as Lou Grant on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, later continued in a spin-off series, Lou Grant. He made dozens of appearances—including voice-over work—on television shows and recorded a number of audiobooks.
Richard Easton received the 2001 Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Awards for his performance in Tom Stoppard’s The Invention of Love. His other Broadway and London theater credits include Henry IV, Noises Off, Exit the King, The Misanthrope, Taming of the Shrew, Much Ado, Cock-a-Doodle Dandy, Hamlet, Back to Methuselah, The Country Wife, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, and The School for Scandal. His films include Finding Forester, Henry V, and Dead Again.
Matthew Wolf has worked extensively as a voice, theater, radio, and television actor. He has appeared in many productions on the London stage, including the title role in a sell-out production of Macbeth alongside Twilight star Robert Pattinson. He is also the official voice of Thor for Mavel Studios’ animated films Hulk Vs. Thor and Thor: Tales of Asgard. He lives in Los Angeles, where he is also producing with his production company, Cool Hand International.