Hot Seat: Media Monday S2:E49: Allen Guy Wilcox, Branwen Rhiannon Drew, Royal Roots, Pregnant & Homeless, Sleep in Heavenly Peace
Lily Christopher co-hosts the full hour as Hot Seat: Media Monday spotlights theater, poetry, culture and community—and gives people across the Mohawk Valley a platform to tell their stories.
Royal Roots & Rhythms Festival
The show begins at Hanna Park, where Utica Royalties held its first Royal Roots & Rhythms Festival.
Founding Executive Director Hawa Peters and young performers explain why celebrating culture and staying connected to their roots matters. Ron also samples Sobolo from Randy at Akwaaba Kitchen and speaks with author Dr. Zachary Willis about identity, manhood and rites of passage.
Allen Guy Wilcox
Actor, poet and Theater at Woodshill founding artistic director Allen Guy Wilcox joins Ron and Lily in the studio.
Allen discusses making professional theater accessible in the Mohawk Valley, playing Caliban in William Shakespeare’s The Tempest and finding the humanity within one of Shakespeare’s most complicated characters.
He also talks about the working life of an actor and his debut poetry collection, The Red Goose. Allen reads “At the Dinner Table at Night,” a poem about family, love, loss and the importance of showing up.
Learn more about Theater at Woodshill:
https://woodshill.org
Pregnant and Homeless
Outside the Utica Public Library, a pregnant woman describes living without safe housing, prenatal care or enough food.
She speaks about sleeping outdoors and on floors, searching for assistance and trying to meet her most basic needs. Ron also shares the response he received from a supervisor in the emergency housing unit of Oneida County’s Department of Family and Community Services. The supervisor identified the region’s severe shortage of affordable housing as the larger obstacle facing people seeking help.
The story reflects an essential purpose of community journalism: giving marginalized people the opportunity to share their experiences in their own words.
Sleep in Heavenly Peace
The United Way of the Mohawk Valley invited Ron to help deliver beds with Sleep in Heavenly Peace while representing 95.5 FM The Heat.
Bill Gagnon, president of the local Sleep in Heavenly Peace chapter, explains how the organization builds and delivers more than 600 beds each year. Volunteer Jim Learned describes the smiles and laughter of the children receiving beds of their own.
Branwen Rhiannon Drew
Poet, artist and library volunteer Branwen Rhiannon Drew responds in her own words after becoming the target of an anti-transgender Facebook post.
Branwen discusses identity, visibility, coming out and how poetry helped her express emotions she could not capture through her visual art. She also describes the community support she received after the attack.
Branwen reads two poems: “The Problem Is Not” and “I Will Not Be Erased.”
Watch and Listen
YouTube:
https://youtu.be/rl16amS8QIE
Spotify—watch the video or listen to the podcast:
https://shorturl.at/QkGoG
TikTok:
https://shorturl.at/voL2h
Apple Podcasts: [ADD THIS WEEK’S APPLE PODCASTS LINK]
Production Credits
Host and Producer: Ron Klopfanstein
Co-host: Lily Christopher
Photojournalist and AI Content Producer: Jim Hale
Studio Engineer: Dave Dancy, filling in for Jonathan Brooks/DJ J-Easy
Originally aired August 31, 2026, on Hot Seat: Media Monday on 95.5 FM The Heat.
Listen live Mondays from 5–6 p.m. on 95.5 FM The Heat or at:
https://955theheat.com
Content note: This episode discusses homelessness, pregnancy, suicidal statements and anti-transgender harassment.
