Interviewing
Human Trafficking In-depth
The second in-depth story I ever wrote, human trafficking, had a broad topic. I wanted my story to flow from the international level all the way down to the local level. As I began to create a sourcing sheet I realized how complicated and multi-faceted the story was becoming. I decided I needed to create a story map that I could reference when I began to outline my article. Bucketing my sources made it easier to see which sources were most relatable to my in-depth and how they all fit together. For this in-depth I supplemented my live sourcing with the International Labor Office’s Global Estimates of Modern Slavery and the US Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons reports.
Les Misérables Feature
Michelle Dowdy
Photography Isis Summerlin
Sometimes accessing a source can be difficult, but this time it was definitely worth the wait. I knew that I wanted to interview one of the actors from the Les Miserable US National tour, so I emailed a local theater I knew the tour would be visiting. My photographer and I arrived at the stage door, braved the security guard who interrogated us about why we were there, and that was when Michelle Dowdy walked through the door. The second she walked in, the room immediately lit up and I felt comfortable. She escorted us back to her dressing room where we began the interview with her showing us her costume, wigs, and props. During the interview she spoke about how her character, Madame Thénardier, is “immune to sadness” while the rest of the play is pretty dismal. What she said laid the groundwork for the unique angle that I would later take with the story. I hope you find her interview as entertaining as I did.
Matt Kinely
Les Miserable at the Aronoff Center. Set design highlights Victor Hugo's work "Town at Dusk"
Sometimes it’s easy to get together with sources for an interview, although when sources are in a different country time zones and a lack of contact information can get in the way. My article on Les Miserable highlights the 25th anniversary redesign that utilizes video projection as part of the new set design. I wanted to interview Matt Kinley, the set designer who was responsible for the redesign of the show. Kinley lives in London and the challenge became finding contact information so that I could reach out to request an interview. Originally I reached out to Cameron Mackintosh Inc., the production company located in London that produced Les Miserables. They were unable to help, so I continued my internet search and discovered Kinley had worked at Bay Productions a large set design company in London. I contacted them and while they were unable to share Kinley's contact info with me, they were kind enough to reach out to Kinley and share my contact info. Patience and persistence paid off. Click the button to view the transcript of my interview with Matt Kinley and learn about his thought process when designing a set as iconic as Les Miserables.