WEBVTT - Struggle, Surrender, and Salvation 0:00:11.880 --> 0:00:15.000 Welcome to woke f with me Danielle Moody. Over the 0:00:15.080 --> 0:00:17.680 last few weeks, I've been featuring a number of fantastic 0:00:17.800 --> 0:00:20.760 artists whose work is being showcased at the Shed Cultural 0:00:20.800 --> 0:00:23.040 Center this summer in New York as part of their 0:00:23.079 --> 0:00:25.840 open Call program. This week, I am proud to present 0:00:25.880 --> 0:00:29.480 the final artists in our series, Troy Anthony, creator of 0:00:29.680 --> 0:00:32.680 the Revival. It is our duty? What is the Revival? 0:00:32.760 --> 0:00:35.720 And why is it our duty? Troy's project centers around 0:00:35.760 --> 0:00:39.160 the true history of Juneteenth and the importance of struggle, surrender, 0:00:39.280 --> 0:00:43.040 and salvation. Through his spoken word presentation, one that he 0:00:43.080 --> 0:00:46.080 refers to as a sermon, Troy urges a return to 0:00:46.159 --> 0:00:49.440 the original significance of Juneteenth, which you will hear him 0:00:49.479 --> 0:00:52.520 explain in our conversation. I wanted to share our entire 0:00:52.560 --> 0:00:56.160 half hour conversation in commemoration of Juneteenth to let you 0:00:56.240 --> 0:01:00.440 hear his passion and insight into this historic remembrance. As 0:01:00.520 --> 0:01:03.840 Juneteenth becomes a federal holiday, one that has rapidly become 0:01:03.880 --> 0:01:07.320 commodified by corporations, I hope you will listen closely to 0:01:07.319 --> 0:01:10.959 Troy's words and become part of the revival. After all, 0:01:11.120 --> 0:01:17.440 it is our duty Troy. You refer to this as 0:01:17.600 --> 0:01:22.240 not a performance but as a service. So let's start there, 0:01:22.400 --> 0:01:25.720 Because when I think about a revival, I keep talking 0:01:25.800 --> 0:01:27.880 about the time that we are living in right now 0:01:28.000 --> 0:01:32.640 as an opportunity to reimagine this country, this world, that 0:01:32.959 --> 0:01:36.560 oftentimes when we're at a space where things are breaking open, 0:01:36.760 --> 0:01:40.040 that it is an opportunity for us to create new space. 0:01:40.560 --> 0:01:44.800 And so talk to us about what the revival means 0:01:45.120 --> 0:01:49.080 and why that title. Yes, so I'm from the South. 0:01:49.600 --> 0:01:54.200 I grew up in Louisville, Kentucky, and I grew up 0:01:54.240 --> 0:01:58.960 going to these kind of revival services, sometimes actually intense 0:02:00.000 --> 0:02:03.240 in the middle of my neighborhood. And when I was 0:02:03.600 --> 0:02:07.520 looking for something that met this moment, I was trying 0:02:07.560 --> 0:02:11.240 to remember about like times or spaces that I've been 0:02:11.280 --> 0:02:14.400 in that helped me move from you know, point A 0:02:14.560 --> 0:02:17.840 to point B point A being like if I was 0:02:17.880 --> 0:02:20.720 in a place of like deep pain, something that moved 0:02:20.760 --> 0:02:22.920 me to joy, or if I was in a place 0:02:22.960 --> 0:02:25.200 of like not being able to see the way forward, 0:02:25.720 --> 0:02:29.400 that moved me to you know, seeing a clearer path. 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:34.680 And Church has always been that for me. And also 0:02:35.520 --> 0:02:38.079 like the Christian context that I grew up in does 0:02:38.120 --> 0:02:42.800 not necessarily feed my spirit in the same way. So 0:02:43.040 --> 0:02:47.320 I aim to dissect, like what is a revival service? 0:02:47.520 --> 0:02:50.280 How what is the what is the technology that's being 0:02:50.440 --> 0:02:52.560 used in that service that gets us from point A 0:02:52.639 --> 0:02:56.360 to point B? And I found that like all that 0:02:56.440 --> 0:02:59.040 it really is are these songs that are helping us 0:02:59.080 --> 0:03:02.639 like hold space for our own journey. And so when 0:03:02.680 --> 0:03:07.520 I titled it the Revival, it's about coming back to ourselves. 0:03:07.680 --> 0:03:13.760 It's about finding a path to salvation, and salvation being 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:18.560 about collective liberation. So there are three parts to a revival. 0:03:18.720 --> 0:03:23.440 There's it's usually about struggle, about surrender and salvation. Those 0:03:23.440 --> 0:03:27.119 are the themes. And so I've said, okay, well, we're 0:03:27.120 --> 0:03:30.360 going to honor our struggle. We've been through so much 0:03:30.919 --> 0:03:34.160 in the past year and a half and beyond and 0:03:34.200 --> 0:03:37.560 beyond and beyond, you know, so we're going to honor that. 0:03:38.040 --> 0:03:40.040 And how do we honor that? That's been a big 0:03:40.120 --> 0:03:42.520 question for me. And then it's like what does it 0:03:42.600 --> 0:03:44.720 mean to be in this moment where we're trying to 0:03:44.760 --> 0:03:49.120 come back, where we are trying to take all the 0:03:49.200 --> 0:03:53.360 lessons that we've learned and apply them somehow to our lives, 0:03:53.520 --> 0:03:56.120 Like what does it mean to honor this moment? What 0:03:56.160 --> 0:03:58.839 does it mean to surrender to this moment? And then 0:03:58.880 --> 0:04:02.480 how do we find a path to salvation through collective liberation. 0:04:03.480 --> 0:04:07.600 That's what the revival aims to do. And I also 0:04:07.680 --> 0:04:10.280 think I harp on this thing that it's not a performance, 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:16.479 because so much about theater and art has turned into 0:04:16.600 --> 0:04:19.839 like this thing that we consume, yes, other than the 0:04:19.880 --> 0:04:23.240 thing that we like sit with or that helps us process. 0:04:23.720 --> 0:04:26.720 And so I'm just asking people to engage with the 0:04:27.360 --> 0:04:32.880 essentially the concert in a in a different way. You know, 0:04:32.920 --> 0:04:35.400 that's interesting because I think you know to your point 0:04:35.400 --> 0:04:38.240 and understanding your background, having grown up in the South 0:04:38.680 --> 0:04:41.880 and having grown up in the church, is the idea 0:04:41.960 --> 0:04:45.120 that you know, when you go to service, it is 0:04:45.160 --> 0:04:48.560 not a passive experience. You're not just sitting there and 0:04:48.680 --> 0:04:51.920 allowing the preacher and the choir to just wash over you. 0:04:52.320 --> 0:04:56.880 It is a spiritual engagement. It's an entanglement of sorts 0:04:56.960 --> 0:05:00.200 right about how you open up or a close to 0:05:00.480 --> 0:05:03.360 the experience and that you're having. I want to go 0:05:03.440 --> 0:05:06.960 back to the three parts that you laid out, the struggle, 0:05:07.040 --> 0:05:10.280 the surrender, and the salvation. You know, it was funny 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:14.279 because when you said the surrender piece, like my neurons 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:16.960 kind of lit up, because every day I post some 0:05:17.000 --> 0:05:21.880 type of like quote on my Instagram, and yesterday was 0:05:21.960 --> 0:05:26.080 about surrender and it was about surrender being not a 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:29.560 giving in but a letting go. Yes, and you know, 0:05:29.560 --> 0:05:32.360 and I posted it and folks are just like, yes, Amen, 0:05:32.520 --> 0:05:36.880 that's it, this is what we're talking about. And so 0:05:37.279 --> 0:05:41.719 you know, walk me through for you with this piece 0:05:41.760 --> 0:05:45.120 what it means to surrender, because we understand the struggle 0:05:45.160 --> 0:05:48.760 part all too well, right, we understand the generational struggle, 0:05:48.800 --> 0:05:51.400 We understand what the struggle of the past year of 0:05:51.520 --> 0:05:54.200 twenty twenty into twenty twenty one for black people has 0:05:54.240 --> 0:05:57.120 been in terms of struggle. But talk to us about 0:05:57.160 --> 0:06:00.479 the piece about surrender and what that means and what 0:06:00.600 --> 0:06:03.680 comes up for you. Yeah. So there's a big part 0:06:03.680 --> 0:06:08.800 of the piece where I take people through how I 0:06:08.839 --> 0:06:14.640 processed the murder of George Floyd and more specifically, actually 0:06:16.000 --> 0:06:22.200 how I processed Brianna Taylor's death. Brianna Taylor is from Louisville, Kentucky. 0:06:22.440 --> 0:06:26.159 She still has not seen justice, and I've been really 0:06:26.200 --> 0:06:30.400 sitting with her as i've been writing this, and so 0:06:31.560 --> 0:06:36.440 there's a part of surrender that is about like, I 0:06:36.560 --> 0:06:38.760 have been through what I've been through, I've seen what 0:06:38.839 --> 0:06:42.159 I've seen. I have control of what I have control over, 0:06:42.720 --> 0:06:47.279 and this kind of like letting go and like and 0:06:47.520 --> 0:06:53.880 letting whatever happens happens. Is that surrender moment and getting 0:06:53.920 --> 0:06:58.080 there actually takes a lot of work. Yes, it's like 0:06:58.240 --> 0:07:01.040 so hard to let go, right, and then when you 0:07:01.080 --> 0:07:03.320 think about all the things that you need to allow 0:07:03.400 --> 0:07:05.440 to happen. One of the things that I had to 0:07:05.480 --> 0:07:07.880 do in this pandemic was I had to allow myself 0:07:07.920 --> 0:07:11.960 to sit in rage. That's not an emotion that I 0:07:12.000 --> 0:07:14.560 allow myself to sit in. But as soon as I 0:07:14.680 --> 0:07:17.800 let myself just be mad, right, as soon as I 0:07:17.840 --> 0:07:20.440 gave myself space to do that, I could continue my 0:07:20.520 --> 0:07:25.640 grieving process. You know, I had to surrender to like, 0:07:25.920 --> 0:07:28.960 oh I have there are some things about myself that 0:07:29.040 --> 0:07:31.440 I don't love, you know, and I just had to 0:07:31.440 --> 0:07:33.880 sit with them and go, Okay, these things are here, 0:07:33.920 --> 0:07:37.480 Like what can I do about them? Or I'm like wait, 0:07:37.680 --> 0:07:41.360 like I've actually been holding onto all this shame, Like 0:07:41.800 --> 0:07:44.480 why am I holding onto that? Like, let me surrender 0:07:44.560 --> 0:07:47.160 and just let go of that, Like what am I 0:07:47.200 --> 0:07:51.120 holding onto it for? So I think for me, this 0:07:51.120 --> 0:07:55.040 pandemic has taught me a lot about how much I'm 0:07:55.040 --> 0:08:00.240 not in control of, how much I actually don't have 0:08:00.320 --> 0:08:05.119 agency over, and when I allowed that to exist next 0:08:05.160 --> 0:08:08.400 to all the other things that I actually can do right, 0:08:08.480 --> 0:08:11.480 when I surrender, that allows me actually to move forward 0:08:11.840 --> 0:08:14.920 to something and to say what tools do I have? 0:08:15.080 --> 0:08:19.480 So the Revival Service kind of asks us to sit 0:08:19.560 --> 0:08:22.680 with that and also kind of provides us some tools 0:08:22.760 --> 0:08:26.120 through music to kind of move us forward in that way. 0:08:26.840 --> 0:08:29.840 You know, I have been talking so often on woke 0:08:29.880 --> 0:08:33.800 app about well, one unlike you, my natural state is rage, 0:08:33.960 --> 0:08:38.520 and so you know there are some people that might No, 0:08:38.640 --> 0:08:40.560 I don't think anyone would actually say that about me. 0:08:41.280 --> 0:08:44.080 My natural state is rage, and I have, you know, 0:08:44.200 --> 0:08:48.719 through the pandemic, have been learning how to let go right. 0:08:48.840 --> 0:08:52.720 That part of the process of trying to break things open, 0:08:52.720 --> 0:08:55.560 and for my work, it is through politics, right, and 0:08:55.600 --> 0:09:00.720 through letting people understand their power and responsibilities citizens of 0:09:00.760 --> 0:09:04.440 this country right to be active and activate themselves. And 0:09:04.520 --> 0:09:07.440 the part of doing that is, like James Baldwin had said, 0:09:07.520 --> 0:09:09.679 is that the more conscious that you become about this 0:09:09.760 --> 0:09:13.960 country the more enraged you are, right, particularly as black people, 0:09:14.520 --> 0:09:18.200 and so, you know, do you feel as an artist 0:09:18.320 --> 0:09:23.640 that in some essence there needs to be some struggle 0:09:23.880 --> 0:09:30.520 and strife and that there is something productive about moving 0:09:30.559 --> 0:09:34.640 through trauma to create something new. Somebody had shared that 0:09:34.800 --> 0:09:39.000 thought on social media earlier this week, and I've been 0:09:39.000 --> 0:09:41.720 sitting with it as a content creator, not as an artist, 0:09:41.760 --> 0:09:46.120 but thinking to myself, can you create without there being 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:54.160 some type of conflict? I think, you know, conflict drives 0:09:54.200 --> 0:09:58.440 a lot of art, you know, even in music, like 0:09:59.000 --> 0:10:01.960 the way that I compose, like it's all about conflict 0:10:01.960 --> 0:10:06.800 and resolution, tension and resolve. So that just exists, right, 0:10:06.840 --> 0:10:11.000 and it doesn't for me like conflict doesn't have like 0:10:11.040 --> 0:10:15.400 a bad thing, Like yes, sometimes the conflict is the 0:10:15.440 --> 0:10:18.800 catalyst right for us to move through. I think the 0:10:18.840 --> 0:10:23.679 thing that I have been sitting with is, you know 0:10:23.760 --> 0:10:28.400 a lot of art that deals with trauma, especially black trauma. 0:10:28.480 --> 0:10:30.920 It's like if it's a play, it's like you go 0:10:31.000 --> 0:10:32.920 through the whole play. By the end of the play 0:10:33.000 --> 0:10:36.280 you realize that, like, oh, trauma exists. For me, it's 0:10:36.280 --> 0:10:40.960 about starting with the trauma and saying like, Okay, this exists, 0:10:41.200 --> 0:10:43.559 and now I'm going to spend an hour and a 0:10:43.640 --> 0:10:46.600 half on the path to healing, Like, how do we 0:10:46.679 --> 0:10:49.480 work through this? It's the moving through that I'm interested 0:10:49.480 --> 0:10:51.679 in right now, and I feel like we don't do 0:10:51.720 --> 0:10:54.640 that enough. And then just what you said, when you 0:10:54.679 --> 0:10:58.199 start to move through, then you can start to dream 0:10:58.280 --> 0:11:02.720 and hope and build, you know, And it's like sitting 0:11:02.720 --> 0:11:05.360 with trauma at the same time as being able to 0:11:05.400 --> 0:11:09.480 activate our imagination about Okay, what will happen after I 0:11:09.559 --> 0:11:13.080 burn it all down? Right, Like, those two things hand 0:11:13.080 --> 0:11:15.959 in hand is actually what leads to our liberation. And 0:11:16.000 --> 0:11:18.840 it's not one or the other. You have to have 0:11:18.920 --> 0:11:21.880 them both. So I guess the short answer to your 0:11:21.960 --> 0:11:25.760 question is yes, I think that conflict is a major 0:11:25.880 --> 0:11:30.840 part of the equation. You know, I love what you 0:11:30.920 --> 0:11:33.960 just said about being able to activate that kind of 0:11:34.040 --> 0:11:37.959 dream space through the action of burning it all down 0:11:38.160 --> 0:11:41.040 because you know, you realize and what I am starting 0:11:41.080 --> 0:11:44.920 to understand is that when everything is in such complete disarray, 0:11:45.320 --> 0:11:48.800 right when we're looking at we're living through a global 0:11:48.840 --> 0:11:53.320 health pandemic, we are living through racial uprisings, there's like 0:11:53.559 --> 0:11:56.960 a return and a resurgence of white nationalism. There is 0:11:57.400 --> 0:12:01.160 you know, this continuation of black trauma that is played 0:12:01.240 --> 0:12:04.920 over and over again like horrible porn on cable news 0:12:04.920 --> 0:12:08.079 on a regular basis. When you see all of this happening, 0:12:08.160 --> 0:12:11.760 there is like this pit that arrives and you see 0:12:11.800 --> 0:12:15.079 all of the destruction that is happening. But through that 0:12:15.160 --> 0:12:18.040 same time, it's just like, well, what happens if it 0:12:18.080 --> 0:12:23.600 does all burn down? Like then what right? Like then 0:12:23.679 --> 0:12:26.920 what right? Because through the mud comes the lotus flower, 0:12:27.200 --> 0:12:30.240 through the ashes comes the phoenix. It's like, you can 0:12:30.280 --> 0:12:33.920 imagine so much more, I think, in a place of 0:12:34.040 --> 0:12:38.319 devastation because everything that you did know is no longer right, 0:12:38.400 --> 0:12:40.680 everything that we kind of trusted, And I think the 0:12:40.800 --> 0:12:42.640 thing about the pandemic, and you tell me if you 0:12:42.720 --> 0:12:46.480 felt this way as well, is that we were living 0:12:46.520 --> 0:12:51.560 in this false sense of security, right that something's a 0:12:51.640 --> 0:12:55.280 catastrophic global event couldn't possibly ever happen. That's something that 0:12:55.280 --> 0:12:58.080 we see in sci fi. It's something that we read 0:12:58.120 --> 0:13:00.719 in books, or something that happened to Central Ago, right 0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:03.800 with the Spanish flu. So there's something that is very 0:13:03.880 --> 0:13:11.520 unsettling now about collective trauma, Like it's not just black trauma. Yes, 0:13:12.280 --> 0:13:17.000 our community experienced it differently and more so. But there's 0:13:17.040 --> 0:13:20.760 something about the collection of this trauma. How do you 0:13:20.840 --> 0:13:28.680 think that we use that community space to build right 0:13:28.800 --> 0:13:31.560 to move through? Like you're saying, this isn't a play, 0:13:31.600 --> 0:13:34.440 and it isn't a performance. This is all of our lives. 0:13:34.960 --> 0:13:38.360 But there is still a moving through that needs to 0:13:38.400 --> 0:13:42.439 happen from this collective struggle. How do you imagine that 0:13:42.480 --> 0:13:45.880 to come forth? Or does it? You know? I think 0:13:45.920 --> 0:13:51.440 there is something about everyone having to grapple with the thing, 0:13:51.760 --> 0:13:55.280 you know, whether we were talking about racism or police 0:13:55.280 --> 0:13:59.160 brutality or name and name and name, But there is 0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:01.760 something about like, Okay, this is in front of all 0:14:01.840 --> 0:14:04.160 of us and we all see it now, like what 0:14:04.200 --> 0:14:06.760 are we going to do about it? And I think 0:14:06.800 --> 0:14:09.719 there is something that has happened in this pandemic that 0:14:09.760 --> 0:14:12.480 has and I'm not going to say an equalized year, 0:14:12.480 --> 0:14:14.280 because I don't like it when people say that, but 0:14:14.520 --> 0:14:18.240 there is something that kind of like allowed us to 0:14:18.360 --> 0:14:20.960 name everything that we see on the table and agree 0:14:21.000 --> 0:14:22.920 that all of these things are on the table right 0:14:23.400 --> 0:14:25.840 so that now now we can work through together because 0:14:25.840 --> 0:14:29.760 we have a common you know, we we see the 0:14:29.840 --> 0:14:32.920 same thing, you know. Um so I and I think 0:14:32.920 --> 0:14:36.480 that that that is a step, you know. And I 0:14:36.520 --> 0:14:41.520 think now, because this is a collective problem, as you said, 0:14:42.160 --> 0:14:44.920 everyone has a stake, and I think now we're at 0:14:44.920 --> 0:14:47.440 the point we're trying to figure out, like, Okay, what's 0:14:47.480 --> 0:14:51.960 my role? What what role do I play? And you know, 0:14:52.040 --> 0:14:55.720 I worked at a place called Dreamyard, Um the dream 0:14:55.800 --> 0:14:58.920 Yard Project in the Bronx. Actually just had my last 0:14:59.000 --> 0:15:01.760 day a few weeks ago, but we do art and 0:15:01.840 --> 0:15:04.960 social justice education. And when I first got there, the 0:15:05.000 --> 0:15:07.360 first thing that we did as a learning community, as 0:15:07.360 --> 0:15:10.640 a full staff was talk about the civil rights movement 0:15:10.760 --> 0:15:13.920 and like how it worked. And one of the things 0:15:13.960 --> 0:15:18.560 that really jumped out at me was I had this 0:15:18.640 --> 0:15:20.720 narrative in my head that like all the black people 0:15:20.760 --> 0:15:24.440 came together and had like one agenda and then that 0:15:24.520 --> 0:15:27.760 one agenda was pushed through like with all the might, 0:15:28.120 --> 0:15:30.560 and I'm like, no, actually, there was a lot of discourse, 0:15:30.720 --> 0:15:33.480 Like there were a lot of different ways of going forward, 0:15:33.760 --> 0:15:36.920 which which is actually pretty obvious, Like there was a 0:15:36.960 --> 0:15:41.120 lot of disagreement, but everybody did there. Everyone had a 0:15:41.120 --> 0:15:44.600 common goal, even if they had different paths to getting there, 0:15:44.960 --> 0:15:48.960 and it actually took everybody. There is no Martin without Malcolm, 0:15:49.720 --> 0:15:54.520 you know, like, and so I am interested in how 0:15:55.240 --> 0:16:00.080 is everyone using their tactic toward this common goal to 0:16:00.080 --> 0:16:02.160 tackle this thing that we all see on the table. 0:16:02.600 --> 0:16:05.400 And I think we'll find our way there. That's just 0:16:05.520 --> 0:16:12.120 my theory. You know, I wonder too. You know, the 0:16:12.280 --> 0:16:17.080 ending right is about salvation, right, But everybody's idea of 0:16:17.120 --> 0:16:21.240 salvation doesn't look the same. So when so even when 0:16:21.600 --> 0:16:23.400 you know, I listen to you saying, well, we have 0:16:23.520 --> 0:16:27.040 this common goal, and I think that within the black community, 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:30.960 the common goal is to get free, right, But everybody's 0:16:31.000 --> 0:16:36.440 idea of how we get free and what that freedom means, right, 0:16:36.720 --> 0:16:41.800 it's different, right, And so I wonder for you with 0:16:41.840 --> 0:16:47.120 this piece, what does salvation mean for you? The goal 0:16:47.160 --> 0:16:49.800 of this piece is for people to go on a 0:16:50.720 --> 0:16:57.440 personal journey in a collective space. Right. So I talk 0:16:57.480 --> 0:17:00.400 a lot about the choir. Why is choir a lot? 0:17:00.560 --> 0:17:03.400 And acquire your training to honor your individual voice and 0:17:03.480 --> 0:17:06.640 also make this beautiful thing for it with everybody else 0:17:06.680 --> 0:17:11.040 around you. And in the revival, we go through a 0:17:11.119 --> 0:17:13.520 series of songs that really are about like what have 0:17:13.720 --> 0:17:16.840 I gone through? How did I get here? What do 0:17:16.920 --> 0:17:20.840 I need to let go of? But the end goal 0:17:21.600 --> 0:17:26.000 is that you are able to see literally see how 0:17:26.040 --> 0:17:32.159 everyone else is moving through their stuff. And my hope 0:17:32.240 --> 0:17:36.320 also is that the takeaway from the revival is I 0:17:36.359 --> 0:17:39.760 can't get free unless you are free, and you can't 0:17:39.800 --> 0:17:45.120 get free unless I'm free. And so if our definitions whatever, 0:17:45.480 --> 0:17:48.360 whatever I think it means for me to be free, 0:17:48.600 --> 0:17:53.040 if it does not include you being free, that's not freedom, period. 0:17:53.720 --> 0:17:56.840 And so it's trying to get people to say, oh 0:17:56.920 --> 0:18:01.200 oh oh, like to move from a personal journey, right, 0:18:01.240 --> 0:18:04.360 which is necessary, like we have to do work on ourselves, 0:18:04.400 --> 0:18:07.000 but to move from what do I need to what 0:18:07.040 --> 0:18:11.400 do we need? And specifically like you might need more 0:18:11.480 --> 0:18:15.639 than I do, you might need something different, um, and 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:18.640 so how can I honor what you need? And and 0:18:18.720 --> 0:18:21.800 think about what what can I do? And sometimes that 0:18:21.880 --> 0:18:24.800 means what can What do I need to give up? Right? 0:18:25.600 --> 0:18:28.199 What do I need to give up in order to 0:18:28.240 --> 0:18:31.600 make sure you have what you need? Do you know? So? 0:18:33.040 --> 0:18:34.920 I do I think that the Revival is going to 0:18:35.040 --> 0:18:38.520 like solve all the problems? No, it's not. Its purpose. 0:18:38.640 --> 0:18:43.879 The purpose is to to shift our our viewpoint, to 0:18:44.000 --> 0:18:48.840 shift how we are showing up, how we are continuing 0:18:49.000 --> 0:18:51.080 that you don't leave the same way that you came. 0:18:51.520 --> 0:18:53.600 That you're able to do even a little bit of 0:18:53.640 --> 0:18:56.000 work in that space with a bunch of other people 0:18:56.480 --> 0:18:59.640 that hopefully radiates and radiates and radiates and radiates out 0:19:00.080 --> 0:19:05.480 side of whatever happens in that twenty minutes. I love it, 0:19:06.119 --> 0:19:11.280 your service. The revival will take place on Juneteenth. Yes, 0:19:11.960 --> 0:19:15.159 so talk to us. I know the significance, but the 0:19:15.240 --> 0:19:20.800 significance for you, the significance for why this Juneteenth. And 0:19:20.880 --> 0:19:24.000 also I have another question, but I'll let you. I'll 0:19:24.080 --> 0:19:27.600 let you answer this one first. It's about Juneteenth twenty 0:19:27.680 --> 0:19:32.280 twenty and what we saw. What we saw? Yes, yes, 0:19:33.400 --> 0:19:37.480 so I have actually like Juneteenth has been one of 0:19:37.520 --> 0:19:40.720 those things that I it was like I kind of 0:19:40.840 --> 0:19:44.280 understood it, like growing up. It wasn't something that like 0:19:44.359 --> 0:19:47.440 my family like got together. Like when I think of Juneteenth, 0:19:47.440 --> 0:19:49.960 I think of Texas, like I specifically think of black 0:19:49.960 --> 0:19:53.280 people in Texas who really do the thing. But and 0:19:53.440 --> 0:19:55.439 I did not grow up with like that kind of 0:19:55.480 --> 0:20:02.200 history of Juneteenth. But especially last year when suddenly everybody 0:20:02.440 --> 0:20:05.320 wanted to celebrate Juneteenth, it was just like we've always 0:20:05.359 --> 0:20:09.600 done this, right, Oh yeah, Nike, you know everybody coming 0:20:09.680 --> 0:20:15.480 up with the okay oh, okay um, but I actually 0:20:16.000 --> 0:20:18.439 really focused, I really focused on it. I have a 0:20:18.480 --> 0:20:22.679 really wonderful friend. Her name is Ava Um. She is 0:20:22.760 --> 0:20:27.359 the director of education at BAM and also was like 0:20:27.480 --> 0:20:29.880 my work wife at dream Yard for a period of time, 0:20:29.920 --> 0:20:31.800 and she's joining me as a drama turk on this 0:20:31.840 --> 0:20:37.239 piece she gave. She gives this Juneteenth presentation that like 0:20:37.359 --> 0:20:42.280 literally shifted my everything because at the center of it, 0:20:42.400 --> 0:20:45.520 she questioned all of the narratives that I grew up 0:20:45.520 --> 0:20:48.280 with about Juneteenth about how it was about like, oh, 0:20:48.320 --> 0:20:52.600 we learned of our freedom late, like everybody learned at 0:20:52.600 --> 0:20:57.040 different times. It's like, no, actually, what Juneteenth is actually 0:20:57.080 --> 0:21:03.080 about is how my ancestors lived rated themselves, how they 0:21:03.400 --> 0:21:09.800 used you know, Lincoln's call to join the army to say, okay, great, 0:21:09.920 --> 0:21:12.120 I'm really gonna go and I'm really gonna take over 0:21:12.280 --> 0:21:14.159 Richmond and then I'm gonna go to the outskirts and 0:21:14.240 --> 0:21:16.919 I'm gonna get my kids and my and my wife 0:21:17.840 --> 0:21:22.240 or like like and we and that history and lineage 0:21:22.320 --> 0:21:28.240 of like, oh, like our country like needed to free 0:21:28.480 --> 0:21:33.880 enslaved people because rebellions were real and like people were scared, 0:21:34.240 --> 0:21:37.680 like our ancestors weren't just sitting around waiting for people 0:21:37.720 --> 0:21:44.040 to free them, right, and books tell it that. His 0:21:44.280 --> 0:21:48.520 books tell it yes. And I'm sermonizing. I literally give 0:21:48.520 --> 0:21:50.520 a sermon in this piece, and this is what my 0:21:50.560 --> 0:21:54.040 sermon is about, about how our ancestors are actually our 0:21:54.200 --> 0:21:58.760 wildest dreams, Like if we've been looking for like in 0:21:58.880 --> 0:22:01.800 a like people that really showed up for themselves, that 0:22:01.920 --> 0:22:06.080 really figured out what collective liberation was, like what it 0:22:06.160 --> 0:22:10.000 meant to really free yourself, like our ancestors did that, 0:22:10.600 --> 0:22:13.640 and like we can also do that. We don't need 0:22:13.680 --> 0:22:17.760 to wait around for someone to hand us anything. You know, 0:22:18.160 --> 0:22:23.520 we have all of the agency, and I'm just giving 0:22:23.560 --> 0:22:28.240 away the whole people. No, I know, you're making everybody 0:22:28.359 --> 0:22:31.840 want to go show up, because that's what I'm sitting here, 0:22:31.840 --> 0:22:34.080 and I'm saying to myself. You know, I have that 0:22:34.200 --> 0:22:37.959 T shirt that says I am my ancestors wildest dreams, 0:22:38.160 --> 0:22:40.880 and now you just like totally flipped it on its head, 0:22:40.960 --> 0:22:45.359 and I'm thinking to myself, Wow, you know when you 0:22:45.440 --> 0:22:50.159 think about the narrative that we have been given, that 0:22:50.200 --> 0:22:53.640 has been force fed to us about our lack right, 0:22:54.040 --> 0:22:59.200 and I think about a people who created their own liberation, 0:22:59.280 --> 0:23:04.880 their own rich rolls, their own everything, moving through bondage, 0:23:05.119 --> 0:23:10.800 physical bondage, but allowing them like being spiritually free. And 0:23:10.880 --> 0:23:13.359 that's the place that we're actually trying to get back to. 0:23:13.560 --> 0:23:19.160 Now you just you twisted, you twisted my mind. Well, 0:23:19.200 --> 0:23:21.679 I have to give credit where credit is due. A 0:23:21.720 --> 0:23:25.719 lot of the things that I don't create anything by myself. 0:23:26.200 --> 0:23:31.480 I like to really tell everybody that I try to 0:23:31.560 --> 0:23:35.920 run away from this whole like the singular genius artists 0:23:36.040 --> 0:23:40.280 like to me, that is ridiculous. And so that all 0:23:40.359 --> 0:23:44.399 came out of intense conversation with Eva, and she was like, 0:23:44.600 --> 0:23:47.359 this has been on my mind, you know, like how 0:23:47.400 --> 0:23:50.119 our ancestors are wildest dreams. I was like, say that again. 0:23:51.640 --> 0:23:56.280 I'm like, please pause, what did you just say? You know? Um, 0:23:57.000 --> 0:24:00.560 So every this whole piece has borne out of community 0:24:01.240 --> 0:24:04.200 around my conversations with people. That's why I was like, 0:24:04.240 --> 0:24:06.320 I need as many people involved in this as possible, 0:24:06.520 --> 0:24:09.760 Like I need, I need, I need a choir of people, 0:24:09.880 --> 0:24:13.000 Like everybody needs to bring their experience to this thing. 0:24:13.680 --> 0:24:16.000 It's not about even like it's not even about like 0:24:16.080 --> 0:24:19.360 just the shed presenting it. It's about like you know, 0:24:20.640 --> 0:24:24.359 who are all the many people that came together to 0:24:24.440 --> 0:24:27.960 make this thing happen, um, even though the shed is 0:24:28.000 --> 0:24:33.160 giving it a beautiful home. UM. So yes, I think 0:24:33.920 --> 0:24:40.480 collective liberation, our ability to free ourselves. Like that's that's 0:24:40.520 --> 0:24:47.040 where we're going, That's what we're touching on. I really, 0:24:47.080 --> 0:24:51.200 I mean I I you know, one, I'm excited about 0:24:51.240 --> 0:24:55.119 your performance kind and I am I'm totally going to 0:24:55.200 --> 0:24:59.800 combine in every single one of you amazing open call artists. 0:24:59.840 --> 0:25:01.720 I'm it's like I'm coming. I'm just gonna live at 0:25:01.760 --> 0:25:05.800 the shed, live at the shed and wait for everybody's 0:25:05.880 --> 0:25:09.320 from here. But there is just something you know, you 0:25:09.359 --> 0:25:12.440 can get caught. And I think from you know, for 0:25:12.560 --> 0:25:15.359 myself in particular, because of the nature of the work 0:25:15.440 --> 0:25:18.399 that is politics that has become so dark that I 0:25:18.560 --> 0:25:21.399 entered it as a very hopeful bride eyed, you know, 0:25:21.600 --> 0:25:24.240 wanting to believe that I could be this change maker 0:25:24.320 --> 0:25:26.680 to now being like I hate all of this and 0:25:26.720 --> 0:25:29.200 I don't want to go like end to my plans 0:25:29.400 --> 0:25:34.080 at like like just you know, listen to Gospel House. 0:25:36.280 --> 0:25:40.199 But you know, I think about you know, the beauty 0:25:40.200 --> 0:25:43.200 of art is to allow us to be able to 0:25:43.359 --> 0:25:46.880