WEBVTT - The History of Aboriginal Debutant Balls 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:02.840 I record this podcast on Gaetgol Country. I'd like to 0:00:02.880 --> 0:00:04.800 pay my respect to the traditional. 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.560 Custodians and I'm recording a Rendre country part of the 0:00:07.600 --> 0:00:08.280 Cooler Nation. 0:00:08.760 --> 0:00:14.880 Let's go mus stomach be wrong. I just had four eggs, Like, chill. 0:00:14.720 --> 0:00:16.480 Out, bro, where are you getting these eggs from? 0:00:17.280 --> 0:00:23.480 I know eggs. There's a big strike on eggs family. 0:00:23.520 --> 0:00:28.240 All the chickens are going on strike not and you've got. 0:00:28.080 --> 0:00:39.519 Four Yes, I know, I know you're going to dig this. 0:00:40.840 --> 0:00:46.040 It's like I've been given like an extra sprinkle of something. 0:00:46.159 --> 0:00:47.120 You've got layers. 0:00:47.360 --> 0:00:48.520 Yeah, I got layers. 0:00:48.640 --> 0:00:52.239 I was just thinking, I'm like, we're just such beautiful storytellers. 0:00:52.680 --> 0:00:56.320 You make a lot of sense to that girl. No, 0:00:56.760 --> 0:00:57.200 I'm done. 0:00:57.640 --> 0:00:59.080 Let's be in too honest to go. 0:01:02.240 --> 0:01:05.679 I'm super excited because last week I got to go 0:01:05.720 --> 0:01:09.240 to the opening night of an incredible new Australian play 0:01:09.520 --> 0:01:12.000 called Big Girls Don't Cry, by the one and only 0:01:12.120 --> 0:01:15.880 Delara Williams. And she is here with us in studio 0:01:16.360 --> 0:01:20.280 here at Nova on Gadigul Country. Now, Delara, please tell 0:01:20.319 --> 0:01:22.080 our audience who you are, where you're from. 0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:22.400 Hi. 0:01:22.640 --> 0:01:25.320 Yeah, thank you for having me. I am Dalara Williams. 0:01:25.440 --> 0:01:28.720 I am Rarodri and Gumbengird, but I was born and 0:01:28.840 --> 0:01:32.880 raised on Gadigl, especially my community Redfern. 0:01:33.520 --> 0:01:38.040 And that is exactly where this play is set about. 0:01:38.080 --> 0:01:42.400 The play't I haven't seen it. Fortunately, I'm Melbourne. 0:01:42.480 --> 0:01:44.679 I know, I know people go and can it come 0:01:44.680 --> 0:01:45.319 to Melbourne? 0:01:45.360 --> 0:01:45.600 I know? 0:01:45.760 --> 0:01:47.360 Please. 0:01:47.440 --> 0:01:52.440 Yeah. It's a rom com of three women that are 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:55.440 living in Redford in the sixties and it's just a 0:01:55.480 --> 0:01:59.760 story about how they're navigating their life, whether it's through 0:02:00.120 --> 0:02:03.800 love and work and social and they're all leading up 0:02:03.880 --> 0:02:07.160 towards their big nights, which is the nineteen sixty six 0:02:07.200 --> 0:02:08.040 debutante ball. 0:02:08.880 --> 0:02:15.040 Oh ours was like the year ten River Cruise to translate, like. 0:02:15.040 --> 0:02:18.000 Everyone had their like debutante ball. But I was like, yeah, 0:02:18.080 --> 0:02:19.080 Year ten River crews. 0:02:19.120 --> 0:02:23.160 Whoa can you tell us what a debutante ball is? 0:02:23.200 --> 0:02:26.080 Because some people might be thinking, well what is that? 0:02:26.160 --> 0:02:28.640 You know, I know what it brings to mind for 0:02:28.680 --> 0:02:29.840 me are the white dresses? 0:02:30.240 --> 0:02:34.760 Yes, so it is this sort of high white society. 0:02:35.680 --> 0:02:38.440 You see it in Bridgeton of these debuta Can you 0:02:38.480 --> 0:02:43.520 sort of announce yourself to society and you dress up 0:02:43.600 --> 0:02:47.520 and you do a type of partner dance, but it 0:02:47.600 --> 0:02:51.280 is just presenting yourself in these glorious gowns. A part 0:02:51.320 --> 0:02:53.560 of debutante ball is that the women have to ask 0:02:53.680 --> 0:02:58.560 the men to be their partner. I didn't know that, yes, yeah, 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:02.040 and so that's part of it. And yeah, I think 0:03:02.639 --> 0:03:05.760 Aboriginal people just wanted to be part of sort of 0:03:05.760 --> 0:03:08.440 a society that didn't want them, and they did their 0:03:08.480 --> 0:03:11.240 own spin of it. So debutantes still exists to this 0:03:11.360 --> 0:03:14.160 day in a lot of Aboriginal communities. 0:03:14.280 --> 0:03:16.200 There you go. So when you were doing a bit 0:03:16.200 --> 0:03:19.440 of research and having yarns with your aunt and your grandmothers, 0:03:19.880 --> 0:03:22.280 what was their link to the debutante ball? What were 0:03:22.280 --> 0:03:26.840 their memories like That came to mind was always positive, always. 0:03:26.760 --> 0:03:29.960 I think my grandmother's they're just always known to be 0:03:30.080 --> 0:03:32.320 the bell of the ball. They loved dressing up, they 0:03:32.480 --> 0:03:35.680 loved looking good, and this was just another example for 0:03:35.720 --> 0:03:40.480 them to dress up and dance. My auntie Esta, who 0:03:41.160 --> 0:03:43.400 was there to teach a lot of the people how 0:03:43.440 --> 0:03:47.000 to dance, and so she ran the dance classes and 0:03:47.320 --> 0:03:49.720 taught the women that came from country into the city 0:03:49.760 --> 0:03:53.200 about how the best to present yourself. So you don't 0:03:53.240 --> 0:03:56.040 really have trouble in the city and how to navigate 0:03:56.080 --> 0:04:00.200 that space. And she's only the real person that I 0:04:00.280 --> 0:04:03.360 mentioned in the play. Everyone else is sort of made up, 0:04:03.440 --> 0:04:05.400 but I wanted to keep her and what her role 0:04:05.520 --> 0:04:07.200 is towards the debutante. 0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:10.760 That's so beautiful. That's like such a nice tribute. 0:04:11.600 --> 0:04:16.719 Yeah, and I'm going to assume like the dancing was like, yeah, 0:04:16.800 --> 0:04:19.320 not like you're modern dancing now, but like it was 0:04:19.360 --> 0:04:24.440 that what. 0:04:24.320 --> 0:04:27.240 They called these days. So what's the progressive word for that? 0:04:27.360 --> 0:04:29.080 Because that doesn't sound like I should be used in 0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:29.720 twenty twenty five. 0:04:29.760 --> 0:04:31.719 I don't think so. My knee is a damage from 0:04:31.720 --> 0:04:32.520 those days. 0:04:33.120 --> 0:04:35.880 Yeah, oh my god, what a lot. 0:04:37.279 --> 0:04:39.320 You split your pants in the crack? 0:04:39.440 --> 0:04:42.080 Yeah, many times. 0:04:41.240 --> 0:04:43.719 Something like that is a death drop on Vogue. 0:04:43.880 --> 0:04:47.080 That's a Vogue, Yes, slut drop. I think we should 0:04:47.080 --> 0:04:48.760 just call it a slag drop. 0:04:48.960 --> 0:04:50.200 Slag drop. 0:04:50.240 --> 0:04:53.440 That's so clear. You've got that community in Northern Territory 0:04:53.480 --> 0:04:54.480 they call it bam bam. 0:04:54.760 --> 0:04:56.920 Oh is this one. 0:04:57.320 --> 0:05:00.440 It's more about the speed of it, so they call 0:05:00.480 --> 0:05:01.760 it are you bam bam? 0:05:01.800 --> 0:05:05.679 Well and Nanas weren't doing that, that's. 0:05:05.640 --> 0:05:08.680 Left me, honest, But they were go go dances. With 0:05:08.760 --> 0:05:12.760 short skirts. Yeah, so then you had a move. 0:05:13.200 --> 0:05:15.760 Yeah. I'm a big fan of Bridgeton. 0:05:15.880 --> 0:05:18.599 Like I know, you know there's some colonial aspects to it, 0:05:18.720 --> 0:05:21.039 but I feel like I I love that kind of 0:05:21.080 --> 0:05:23.800 like princess sort of like error of dressing up and 0:05:24.400 --> 0:05:28.200 it's not fantasy, but it's kind of like impersonating. 0:05:28.440 --> 0:05:33.120 It's sort of like reimagining process. Yeah, because it is 0:05:33.160 --> 0:05:36.359 a reality. It happened. It wasn't that I made that 0:05:36.560 --> 0:05:39.760 up totally. No, you still Yeah, you had the sixty 0:05:39.800 --> 0:05:41.960 six one, which was only small I think it was 0:05:41.960 --> 0:05:44.839 only under like two oh not even like two hundred 0:05:44.880 --> 0:05:47.560 people that attended. And then you had the big one, 0:05:47.560 --> 0:05:50.440 which was in nineteen sixty eight at Sydney Town Hall 0:05:50.839 --> 0:05:53.160 and that was presented in front of the Prime Minister 0:05:53.279 --> 0:05:54.400 all the time. Wow. 0:05:55.520 --> 0:05:59.240 Historic really Yeah, and you're just recreated this story around 0:05:59.360 --> 0:06:02.880 this history moments. But like you know, it has Yeah, 0:06:02.880 --> 0:06:04.159 it has fictional characters. 0:06:04.240 --> 0:06:08.599 Brook They're so funny. Like, I can't explain how great 0:06:08.640 --> 0:06:12.760 the chemistry is between Delara, Steph and Meghan on stage. 0:06:13.040 --> 0:06:15.599 You three are friends. What has it been like. I 0:06:15.640 --> 0:06:17.240 know that there was you know, at the start of 0:06:17.279 --> 0:06:19.560 this process when you had all the actors in the room. 0:06:19.720 --> 0:06:22.839 You continue to develop the story, right, you did some cuts, 0:06:22.880 --> 0:06:26.400 you continue to work it. Did you take inspiration from, 0:06:26.560 --> 0:06:28.800 you know, Meghan and steph when doing that? 0:06:29.200 --> 0:06:34.120 Of course, I can't deny that. They're just such wonderful 0:06:34.120 --> 0:06:40.479 women with amazing personalities and just seeing because they're stune 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:44.440 to think like the characters. And that was really wonderful 0:06:44.440 --> 0:06:46.400 as a writer because there was a point where I go, 0:06:46.680 --> 0:06:50.279 you know these characters more than me in really safe hands. 0:06:51.240 --> 0:06:54.159 I've known Meghan, I mean we've known each other for 0:06:54.200 --> 0:06:57.320 fourteen years. This is our first time on main stage 0:06:57.960 --> 0:07:04.000 a professional job, so we have acted since twenty twelve together. Wow. 0:07:04.279 --> 0:07:07.400 And for her to be in this piece as Queenie 0:07:08.040 --> 0:07:12.000 the ough that, I think it's everyone's favorite character. Everyone 0:07:12.080 --> 0:07:13.240 is a bit of a queenie. 0:07:13.360 --> 0:07:16.600 Yeah, and she called queen that was my nickname grown up. 0:07:17.000 --> 0:07:21.440 Yeah, there you go. So I was a little bit bossy, So. 0:07:21.600 --> 0:07:24.680 Yeah, she was a Queenie and Stephie and Lulu. That 0:07:24.800 --> 0:07:29.840 just brings this light and love and joy to that character. 0:07:30.280 --> 0:07:32.200 She sort of floats through the world, doesn't she. Yeah, 0:07:32.320 --> 0:07:35.800 which sort of leaves above some of the trauma as well, 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:38.160 which I love to see like she faces it, but 0:07:38.240 --> 0:07:41.960 she also has this sort of floatation esque where she's 0:07:41.960 --> 0:07:42.640 like it's fun. 0:07:42.720 --> 0:07:45.520 Yeah, she's just a dreamer to see the best in 0:07:45.560 --> 0:07:46.800 everybody and in the world. 0:07:47.640 --> 0:07:50.320 I can't even imagine the black joy in that room, 0:07:50.520 --> 0:07:51.360 honest to god. 0:07:51.320 --> 0:07:54.160 Oh oh my goodness. We had mob night the night 0:07:54.200 --> 0:07:55.880 before opening. 0:07:56.080 --> 0:07:56.960 Did that go off? 0:07:57.240 --> 0:08:02.720 It was something else never So we had community nights 0:08:02.800 --> 0:08:06.600 and so it was this mob knight for all of community. Yeah, 0:08:06.720 --> 0:08:08.920 it sort of gives them. They're in the space of 0:08:09.000 --> 0:08:11.640 their own and they got to express. So they were 0:08:11.760 --> 0:08:15.000 so loud and wanted to talk and wanted to but 0:08:15.040 --> 0:08:16.880 they were honor. It was like bold and the beautiful 0:08:16.880 --> 0:08:21.400 for them. They were there all the way and there 0:08:21.440 --> 0:08:25.600 were comments and there was this beautiful moment of a 0:08:25.640 --> 0:08:28.840 scene between Queenie and Ernie, which is Guy Simon and 0:08:28.880 --> 0:08:33.240 Megan Wilding and Queenie sort of is talking about how 0:08:33.280 --> 0:08:37.400 I want to be wanted without having to ask, and 0:08:37.720 --> 0:08:40.440 you had an Auntie just call out go and tell 0:08:40.520 --> 0:08:44.040 her to Ernie's character. It was they were just there 0:08:44.120 --> 0:08:47.880 the whole way and it was something that was really 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:50.200 special because I wrote it for community. 0:08:50.400 --> 0:08:53.679 Yes, when you were casting, I know that you have 0:08:53.720 --> 0:08:55.079 a room full of good friends. 0:08:55.200 --> 0:08:55.440 Yes. 0:08:55.600 --> 0:08:56.560 Was that important to you? 0:08:57.360 --> 0:08:58.319 Yes? Oh well. 0:08:58.600 --> 0:09:01.680 The funny thing is that everyone auditions, and that was 0:09:01.720 --> 0:09:04.840 one thing that I really wanted to do, is going. 0:09:04.960 --> 0:09:07.400 You can go and pick your friends, but then you 0:09:07.559 --> 0:09:11.080 have to navigate work ethics totally, especially with new work, 0:09:11.120 --> 0:09:15.240 and you really want great minds in there to navigate 0:09:15.280 --> 0:09:18.720 the space for you, because as a writer and also 0:09:19.520 --> 0:09:23.200 acting in it, it can be a bit overwhelming. Megan 0:09:23.200 --> 0:09:25.360 did an audition that was her role from the get gum. 0:09:26.400 --> 0:09:29.760 I can't imagine anybody else being her. I think somebody said, 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:34.160 going and Megan Maldin steals the scenes as Queen and 0:09:34.160 --> 0:09:37.079 I was like, no, No, Queenie steals the scenes. She's 0:09:37.120 --> 0:09:39.960 written that way to just take up space and what 0:09:40.000 --> 0:09:42.840 it means for black women to absolutely take up space 0:09:43.200 --> 0:09:44.679 and be unapologetic about it. 0:09:44.760 --> 0:09:48.360 But there is a beautiful tenderness to the character as well, 0:09:48.559 --> 0:09:50.360 and I think we see that with Queenie. I think 0:09:50.400 --> 0:09:53.360 that there's a brave front, but she's vulnerable, she's squishy, 0:09:53.520 --> 0:09:53.800 you know. 0:09:53.800 --> 0:09:56.600 She's insecure, and I think, like all of us, you 0:09:56.640 --> 0:10:00.120 see such big personalities and you could sort of so 0:10:00.280 --> 0:10:03.520 what's underneath that and it's just them trying to survive, 0:10:03.800 --> 0:10:07.600 and it's I find that really beautiful amongst especially for 0:10:07.640 --> 0:10:09.680 Aboriginal people, that we don't get to see a lot 0:10:09.920 --> 0:10:12.280 is our vulnerability. 0:10:11.960 --> 0:10:14.840 And our joy and our joy, our joy, our black joy, 0:10:14.880 --> 0:10:17.480 which is what was on display on that stage for sure, 0:10:17.559 --> 0:10:19.679 like there's a lot of black joy. I wanted to 0:10:19.720 --> 0:10:22.200 ask you about your writing process. I know that it's 0:10:22.320 --> 0:10:23.600 very different for a lot of people. 0:10:24.240 --> 0:10:29.040 It varies. It's one thing I make a playlist, especially 0:10:29.200 --> 0:10:32.400 something writing something in the sixties. I made a playlist 0:10:32.440 --> 0:10:35.600 of sixties music because I wanted to hear what the 0:10:35.720 --> 0:10:39.839 characters would be listening to on radio, what has been 0:10:39.920 --> 0:10:44.000 spoken to in that time. But there is doubts, especially 0:10:44.000 --> 0:10:46.360 when you're writing about romance. You can go, oh, that's 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:50.360 a bit cheesy, Oh these words don't is it going 0:10:50.400 --> 0:10:53.719 too far? But people love cheese? They do, they do. 0:10:53.920 --> 0:10:54.720 They love. 0:10:57.040 --> 0:10:59.679 People really lap romance and cheese. And I think I 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:03.320 haven't really personally seen a lot of love stories around 0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:07.160 First Nations culture, but it's nice to see like its 0:11:07.200 --> 0:11:10.079 showcase in like physical form. I want to see more 0:11:10.200 --> 0:11:14.600 First Nations love stories on our tell you tell us 0:11:14.600 --> 0:11:17.120 a bit about your career, Delara, Like, I know you've 0:11:17.200 --> 0:11:19.800 been acting for quite a long time now. You know 0:11:19.840 --> 0:11:21.880 what was your first job? Was it a stage show 0:11:22.000 --> 0:11:24.040 or was it a was it screen? 0:11:24.559 --> 0:11:24.719 Oh? 0:11:24.800 --> 0:11:29.439 Yeah, my first was a stage show. I did sort 0:11:29.440 --> 0:11:33.040 of kids pantomime kind of thing called Willem and A 0:11:33.240 --> 0:11:36.880 and the Seventh Bama Nui, which is a TWI play 0:11:37.960 --> 0:11:42.719 that was written by the lovely adjacent Desantish and it 0:11:42.840 --> 0:11:44.440 was about to know when the seven dwards but in 0:11:44.520 --> 0:11:47.880 twe So I got to learn about Twee culture through that. 0:11:49.000 --> 0:11:54.240 Amon Flak, who is the artistic director of Belvoir, directed it. 0:11:54.400 --> 0:11:56.320 So that was my first contact with him. 0:11:56.440 --> 0:11:57.720 Full circle moment, I know. 0:11:57.920 --> 0:12:01.040 Yeah. And then I went to study. I think I 0:12:01.120 --> 0:12:05.319 really wanted to understand more about the craft. And I 0:12:05.320 --> 0:12:09.360 always say you learn the language of the arts through study. 0:12:09.160 --> 0:12:09.840 You really do. 0:12:10.000 --> 0:12:14.200 I had no idea like the lingo that was used 0:12:14.200 --> 0:12:16.840 and thrown around in I guess the craft of acting. 0:12:16.920 --> 0:12:19.440 But then going and studying, you just it just makes 0:12:19.440 --> 0:12:25.920 so much sense, don't you reckon? Like, so you went 0:12:25.960 --> 0:12:31.640 to NIDER how was that three years? The course a slog. 0:12:31.600 --> 0:12:35.200 Everyone has their their stories of going to drama school, 0:12:36.280 --> 0:12:38.760 but it was a real lesson for me. I found 0:12:38.760 --> 0:12:45.160 my voice in especially politically through Nider and just speaking 0:12:45.240 --> 0:12:48.960 up and just questioning the system, going why this? Why 0:12:49.000 --> 0:12:50.120 do I have to sound like this? 0:12:50.360 --> 0:12:50.720 Why? 0:12:51.160 --> 0:12:52.800 It was a lot of that, and I don't know 0:12:52.840 --> 0:12:55.959 if they got annoyed about it, But from that I 0:12:56.280 --> 0:12:59.320 came out and I did Black Comedy and Top End 0:12:59.400 --> 0:13:02.760 Wedding and another film, The Flood, and then I'd sort 0:13:02.800 --> 0:13:06.520 of just bounce between TV and stage and I think 0:13:06.559 --> 0:13:11.440 writing then started creeping in because I love Tony Morrison 0:13:11.760 --> 0:13:14.080 and she says, if there's a book that you really 0:13:14.080 --> 0:13:16.000 want to read and it hasn't been written, then it's 0:13:16.080 --> 0:13:18.720 up to you to write it. And I think that's 0:13:18.720 --> 0:13:21.160 how it came in. I've gone I have all these stories, 0:13:22.040 --> 0:13:26.640 especially through the black lens, and because I'm so close 0:13:26.640 --> 0:13:29.680 to community and I just see such amazing characters that 0:13:29.760 --> 0:13:33.880 I just want to see everybody and everything. Yes, and 0:13:33.920 --> 0:13:35.960 I go, I might as well If I have that skill, 0:13:36.000 --> 0:13:38.840 I might as well put it to practice and absolutely 0:13:39.080 --> 0:13:40.160 taking up the space. 0:13:41.880 --> 0:13:43.520 Have you got the writing bug down? Like? Are you 0:13:43.640 --> 0:13:45.280 already thinking what is the next story? 0:13:45.400 --> 0:13:49.480 Oh? Yes, yes, I do. I have my next story. 0:13:49.520 --> 0:13:53.400 I'm still part of balnaves Is. It's Redfernd again. They're 0:13:53.440 --> 0:13:56.120 talking about like the Red Fand trilogy, and I want 0:13:56.160 --> 0:13:58.960 to do Redfern on the Block in nineteen eighty eight 0:13:59.040 --> 0:14:01.840 in the lead up to the bise Entennial. And so 0:14:01.920 --> 0:14:06.960 I love this mixing with historic events and then just 0:14:07.000 --> 0:14:11.000 sprinkling all this sort of creative stories that are just 0:14:11.080 --> 0:14:14.400 made up around that. I find that marrying them together 0:14:14.480 --> 0:14:15.480 is so fascinating to me. 0:14:15.760 --> 0:14:18.520 Will you stay on the realm of romance? 0:14:20.280 --> 0:14:23.760 There is romance in anything, but you can sprinkle horror 0:14:23.800 --> 0:14:24.080 in that. 0:14:24.320 --> 0:14:24.600 You can. 0:14:24.880 --> 0:14:25.840 That's they're the. 0:14:25.840 --> 0:14:28.560 Tricks I know. Romance horror stories tell you. 0:14:28.560 --> 0:14:33.280 That stories can fit into anything. 0:14:33.960 --> 0:14:34.200 Yeah. 0:14:34.400 --> 0:14:37.560 I love the idea of writing about love, writing about 0:14:37.600 --> 0:14:44.400 people loving black women, wanting black women, desiring them. Ah. 0:14:44.720 --> 0:14:47.280 I love it because I feel like black women are 0:14:47.600 --> 0:14:54.440 just absolutely sexy and beautiful and just like charismatic and 0:14:54.680 --> 0:14:57.440 just own themselves in there, and I think we don't 0:14:57.480 --> 0:15:00.800 give them enough love, especially in media. 0:15:00.880 --> 0:15:04.960 Absolutely no almost combating what we know about black women 0:15:05.040 --> 0:15:09.440 is it. It's like the misinterpretation, the stereotypes. It's writing 0:15:09.520 --> 0:15:12.760 what black women actually are, you know, how the media 0:15:12.800 --> 0:15:13.240 see them. 0:15:13.400 --> 0:15:16.200 I love that growing up like did you see a 0:15:16.240 --> 0:15:19.840 black woman that really inspired you, or like, did you 0:15:19.920 --> 0:15:23.240 see someone that you were like, yeah, that's a bit. 0:15:23.160 --> 0:15:25.840 Of me in my real life. I can't help but 0:15:25.960 --> 0:15:30.200 say my mother, she just she dresses up, she loves makeup, 0:15:30.280 --> 0:15:34.120 and she always looked good and just watching. When you're 0:15:34.120 --> 0:15:35.960 a kid, you're like, you get a bit of embarrassments 0:15:36.000 --> 0:15:38.360 because you just they just take up space. But then 0:15:38.440 --> 0:15:41.640 you when you're older, you going, ah, I always channel 0:15:41.640 --> 0:15:43.000 her when I want a bit of confidence. 0:15:43.200 --> 0:15:45.080 Love. It is so beautiful. 0:15:45.560 --> 0:15:47.560 I want to be that bougie mom rocking up at 0:15:47.560 --> 0:15:50.480 school pick up being like, yeah, I'm the mother. 0:15:50.360 --> 0:15:56.520 Of this daughter, big hoop earrings, you know, and I 0:15:56.560 --> 0:16:01.000 will just watch, I will. I think that's really beautiful. 0:16:01.040 --> 0:16:03.680 I feel like I am always really inspired by women 0:16:03.720 --> 0:16:07.440 who take so much pride in like what they wear 0:16:07.640 --> 0:16:09.160 and how they carry themselves. 0:16:09.200 --> 0:16:11.320 There's someone who just like walks into a room. 0:16:11.360 --> 0:16:13.480 There's a few people in my life that are like 0:16:13.560 --> 0:16:18.320 black women that I'm like, that's just you. Just you 0:16:18.440 --> 0:16:21.880 demand the room's And I think that there's not many 0:16:21.920 --> 0:16:25.800 stories about women demanding a room right, Like, I feel 0:16:25.800 --> 0:16:28.880 like if we look out what's trending and what's like 0:16:28.960 --> 0:16:31.600 streaming at the moment, like all the majority of the 0:16:31.640 --> 0:16:35.600 love stories and romance like stories are these like not 0:16:35.720 --> 0:16:39.080 to be mean, but like these basic white women who 0:16:39.200 --> 0:16:43.200 like don't have spice, spice or flavor, like give us 0:16:43.840 --> 0:16:50.240 better something like yeah literally like boiled chicken, trust God, yeah, 0:16:50.280 --> 0:16:52.480 like the love, like you said at the start of 0:16:52.520 --> 0:16:54.080 this episode, the love. 0:16:54.080 --> 0:16:56.200 Like where do we like? 0:16:56.400 --> 0:17:00.880 Everything that I see sometimes is just sometimes playing into 0:17:00.880 --> 0:17:04.160 that discourse, and I'm like, no, there's so much love 0:17:04.240 --> 0:17:05.359 in our communities. 0:17:05.560 --> 0:17:08.399 Like go and watch a Black fellow pipe play. You 0:17:08.440 --> 0:17:12.199 will see and feel the love that we have not 0:17:12.280 --> 0:17:12.560 just for. 0:17:12.560 --> 0:17:17.080 One another, but like for our life and for living 0:17:17.280 --> 0:17:18.000 you know what I mean? 0:17:18.119 --> 0:17:19.600 And I am yeah. 0:17:19.800 --> 0:17:23.879 I always say that, especially with survival, I think we 0:17:24.080 --> 0:17:28.159 forget that love has gotten us this far. If it 0:17:28.200 --> 0:17:30.439 wasn't for the love of our people, the love of 0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:34.800 our family, the love of our land, also black people 0:17:34.840 --> 0:17:39.040 falling in love for us to exist, it is I 0:17:39.040 --> 0:17:42.159 think we sort of forget that that it isn't like 0:17:42.240 --> 0:17:45.879 you when you have auntie love and they have your back, 0:17:45.960 --> 0:17:50.040 you just truly it's big warm hugs and or even 0:17:50.119 --> 0:17:52.760 when you want to be held accountable, that is also 0:17:52.840 --> 0:17:56.840 through love Jarring. Yeah, and I know you can be 0:17:56.840 --> 0:17:59.520 better than this, and that is through just the love 0:17:59.680 --> 0:18:02.560 of somebody seeing you. And I think I really wanted 0:18:02.560 --> 0:18:06.200 to write something where a lot of people felt seen 0:18:07.080 --> 0:18:10.040 and it wasn't about the sort of stereotypes of what 0:18:10.119 --> 0:18:13.919 being black is but underneath it all because it's living 0:18:14.160 --> 0:18:17.720 day after day in this space as a black person, 0:18:18.160 --> 0:18:19.600 and that is the rollercoaster. 0:18:19.960 --> 0:18:20.200 Yeah. 0:18:20.320 --> 0:18:22.160 I love that you've given that breath of fresh air 0:18:22.240 --> 0:18:24.719 to the industry in terms of this writing and the 0:18:24.720 --> 0:18:27.840 themes that it covers. I think for so long, theater 0:18:27.960 --> 0:18:34.040 companies in particular have invested in trauma of our community. 0:18:34.160 --> 0:18:37.880 Then the highlighting you know, important historical things like through 0:18:37.920 --> 0:18:42.080 Stolen you know that play, but also there's a lot 0:18:42.080 --> 0:18:45.320 of spotlight on the deficit or the trauma that has 0:18:45.400 --> 0:18:47.560 caused to our community. And I think what you've done 0:18:47.600 --> 0:18:50.919 beautifully is that you're highlighting our joy and it's just 0:18:50.960 --> 0:18:53.880 as important, if not more, you know, to be able 0:18:53.880 --> 0:18:55.760 to show that part of our community. I want to 0:18:55.760 --> 0:18:58.639 know what's on the horizon for you. So you've just 0:18:59.160 --> 0:19:01.680 you know, open black. I was gonna say, black girls 0:19:01.720 --> 0:19:09.320 don't cry, black girls don't big girls don't cry. Would 0:19:09.359 --> 0:19:10.200 you love it to tour? 0:19:10.320 --> 0:19:15.959 And if so, yeah, I think I'll ownly tour it 0:19:16.000 --> 0:19:20.400 if I have the same company, because we've just created 0:19:20.480 --> 0:19:24.520 such a family during this process, and I think none 0:19:24.520 --> 0:19:27.200 of us would know what to do if it wasn't 0:19:27.240 --> 0:19:30.760 all of us. Yes, but I will, like I really hope. 0:19:30.800 --> 0:19:31.000 So. 0:19:31.240 --> 0:19:34.720 I just the feedback that I've gotten from I had 0:19:34.720 --> 0:19:38.119 a mum tell me that her three girls went to 0:19:38.160 --> 0:19:41.560 the school show, and three Aboriginal girls, and they walked 0:19:41.560 --> 0:19:45.600 out of it so like with pride and just loving themselves. 0:19:46.040 --> 0:19:48.080 And I think that is so important, and the importance 0:19:48.160 --> 0:19:51.879 of arts and telling stories like this is to empower 0:19:52.359 --> 0:19:55.800 your people. I just wanted to empower going you belong here, 0:19:56.000 --> 0:19:57.560 we love you, we need you. 0:19:57.800 --> 0:19:58.959 That's just beautiful. 0:19:59.480 --> 0:20:03.200 I'm looking forward to, like a lot of your future writings, Stellara, 0:20:03.320 --> 0:20:06.200 this is going to be exciting. Would you publish anything 0:20:06.359 --> 0:20:07.080 like the book? 0:20:07.600 --> 0:20:10.280 You know what I think right now, I sky's the limits. 0:20:10.359 --> 0:20:13.080 I would never do it myself, and if it happens, 0:20:13.119 --> 0:20:17.080 it happens like Big Girls is now a published play, 0:20:17.440 --> 0:20:22.680 which is unbelievable. I would love to then go into film, 0:20:22.800 --> 0:20:25.919 like film has always been my first passion It's like 0:20:26.359 --> 0:20:31.560 my first access to storytelling is through films. I'm my 0:20:31.640 --> 0:20:34.840 family and I are big fans of Eddie Murphy, and 0:20:34.880 --> 0:20:36.840 so you can sort to tell my writing like Coming 0:20:36.840 --> 0:20:41.480 to America is a romantic comedy. It is this crazy 0:20:41.560 --> 0:20:44.000 comedy with this romance that is filtered through. 0:20:44.800 --> 0:20:47.200 I haven't been that film in so long. 0:20:47.320 --> 0:20:55.960 Please watch What's the Golden Thing? The Golden penis. 0:20:58.160 --> 0:21:02.280 Trust just thinking about something else. 0:21:03.200 --> 0:21:06.640 But I completely like being on stage and doing these 0:21:06.680 --> 0:21:10.920 really important stories that you understand these stories need to 0:21:10.960 --> 0:21:14.119 go out. But then you're as a performer, as a 0:21:14.160 --> 0:21:17.119 black faller, you're sort of left empty because you're pouring 0:21:17.160 --> 0:21:19.800 so much out to an audience that you feel like 0:21:19.840 --> 0:21:23.679 it's falling on deaf is sometimes especially towards a predominantly 0:21:23.680 --> 0:21:28.280 white audience, and I think there's a distance between them 0:21:28.680 --> 0:21:30.359 and they're watching. It feels like they're watching through a 0:21:30.400 --> 0:21:35.600