1 00:00:00,400 --> 00:00:03,600 Speaker 1: Wake that ass up in the morning Breakfast Club. 2 00:00:04,280 --> 00:00:05,880 Speaker 2: Yes, sister, one of the most dangerous morning show to 3 00:00:05,880 --> 00:00:08,880 Speaker 2: Breakfast Club charlamagnea god, just hilarious. DJ Envy's not in, 4 00:00:08,920 --> 00:00:11,040 Speaker 2: but Laura le Rossa is filling in for him, and 5 00:00:11,080 --> 00:00:13,240 Speaker 2: we got Royalty in the building. Man, we have a 6 00:00:13,280 --> 00:00:16,279 Speaker 2: woman who has represented you know, black people, especially black 7 00:00:16,320 --> 00:00:17,920 Speaker 2: women correctly forever. 8 00:00:18,440 --> 00:00:21,040 Speaker 1: Miss Felicia Rashad is here. How are you, queen? 9 00:00:21,239 --> 00:00:24,120 Speaker 3: I am good. Good to see you. 10 00:00:24,280 --> 00:00:25,520 Speaker 1: I'm a little star strugg too. 11 00:00:27,320 --> 00:00:30,479 Speaker 4: I mean to keep staring at you, but I cannot 12 00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:33,720 Speaker 4: believe I'm sitting here across from you and just and 13 00:00:33,880 --> 00:00:35,040 Speaker 4: like it's. 14 00:00:35,920 --> 00:00:38,120 Speaker 1: Because we've been watching you on TV. 15 00:00:38,600 --> 00:00:41,000 Speaker 2: You always carry yourself in such a regal man, But 16 00:00:41,080 --> 00:00:42,479 Speaker 2: then when you walk in the room, you feel it 17 00:00:42,520 --> 00:00:42,919 Speaker 2: even more. 18 00:00:43,040 --> 00:00:43,879 Speaker 1: It's like whoa. 19 00:00:44,120 --> 00:00:45,720 Speaker 2: I was telling him, all right, mama walking in the room, 20 00:00:45,760 --> 00:00:49,279 Speaker 2: straightening up, okay, clean, make sure everything all right? 21 00:00:49,440 --> 00:00:49,640 Speaker 1: Yeah? 22 00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:53,400 Speaker 4: Do you have and I know you have this effect 23 00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:55,800 Speaker 4: everywhere you go. Are you used to people acting like this? 24 00:00:56,680 --> 00:01:00,360 Speaker 3: Oh? You all? 25 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:01,160 Speaker 2: Or what? 26 00:01:01,240 --> 00:01:04,840 Speaker 3: Can I just say? We are as a people respectful 27 00:01:07,120 --> 00:01:11,360 Speaker 3: yeah to each other? Yes, yes, yes, ma'am, yes we are. 28 00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:14,959 Speaker 3: Yes we are, but not the others we are as 29 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:15,480 Speaker 3: a people. 30 00:01:16,680 --> 00:01:20,720 Speaker 2: Absolutely absolutely, yes, And you're here for I mean, we're 31 00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:22,039 Speaker 2: gonna talk to you about a lot of stuff. 32 00:01:22,160 --> 00:01:26,399 Speaker 1: You're making your Broadway directorial debut and purpose. Yes, how 33 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:26,960 Speaker 1: did that feel? 34 00:01:27,800 --> 00:01:30,959 Speaker 3: Well? It was wonderful. It's not the first time I've directed. 35 00:01:31,640 --> 00:01:34,760 Speaker 3: This is the first time I'm directing in a Broadway theater. 36 00:01:35,640 --> 00:01:40,080 Speaker 3: But this play and this cast, it's a real gift. 37 00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:43,679 Speaker 3: You'll come and see. Yeah, yes, and I hope you'll 38 00:01:43,680 --> 00:01:48,240 Speaker 3: come to Brandon Jacobs Jenkins is the playwright. He received 39 00:01:48,280 --> 00:01:52,000 Speaker 3: the Tony Award last year for his play Appropriate And 40 00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:58,800 Speaker 3: This particular production originates in Chicago at the Steppenwolf Theater, 41 00:01:58,920 --> 00:02:02,520 Speaker 3: and the Steppenwolf has a own ethos, its own legacy 42 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:07,200 Speaker 3: for theater as it was formed by actors. So it's 43 00:02:07,520 --> 00:02:13,720 Speaker 3: ensemble work, and that's the best work. Absolutely ensemble work. 44 00:02:13,760 --> 00:02:19,040 Speaker 3: But then that spirit I watched it move through the 45 00:02:19,160 --> 00:02:27,280 Speaker 3: cast into everybody, the designers, the production office and staff, 46 00:02:27,880 --> 00:02:33,760 Speaker 3: the theaters, we all, it's it's everybody. It's one. We 47 00:02:33,840 --> 00:02:37,280 Speaker 3: call it collective intention. Yeah. 48 00:02:37,520 --> 00:02:38,960 Speaker 2: When I think about the thing that you and your 49 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:42,160 Speaker 2: sister have done, Ms. Debbie Allen, you know, I just 50 00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:44,840 Speaker 2: wonder what did y'all dream of when y'all was kids, 51 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:47,920 Speaker 2: when y'all was just two little girls growing up? Like, 52 00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:51,240 Speaker 2: what did y'all play about? What did y'all think about? 53 00:02:51,360 --> 00:02:52,480 Speaker 2: What did y'all imagine? 54 00:02:53,960 --> 00:03:00,000 Speaker 3: We We grew up in Houston, Texas. Our father, doctor 55 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:05,679 Speaker 3: Andrew Allen's a dentist. Our mother, Vivianaires, is a poet. 56 00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:10,360 Speaker 3: We grew up with a poet. We grew up with 57 00:03:10,480 --> 00:03:17,079 Speaker 3: a visionary And it was about freedom. It was about 58 00:03:17,120 --> 00:03:22,000 Speaker 3: pardon me. It was about realizing your full potential as 59 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:24,440 Speaker 3: a human being. Can you imagine things like this? Teaching 60 00:03:24,520 --> 00:03:27,920 Speaker 3: dual children like this. She would teach us things like 61 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:32,080 Speaker 3: she'd have aphorisms and she'd give them to us to say, 62 00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:35,600 Speaker 3: the universe bears no ill to me, I bear no 63 00:03:35,720 --> 00:03:39,200 Speaker 3: ill to it. And we repeat that the universe fair 64 00:03:39,280 --> 00:03:41,480 Speaker 3: is no ill to me. I bear no ill to it. 65 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:43,720 Speaker 3: If we just go around, the universe fairs no ill 66 00:03:43,760 --> 00:03:47,120 Speaker 3: to me. I bet when you teach a child like this, 67 00:03:47,920 --> 00:03:51,600 Speaker 3: when you teach a child, be true, be beautiful, be free. 68 00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:54,760 Speaker 3: She would say things like this to us, and she'd 69 00:03:54,760 --> 00:04:00,280 Speaker 3: say things like thinking requires thought, Thinking requires thought, would 70 00:04:00,320 --> 00:04:05,280 Speaker 3: say it, but these seeds were planted by the time 71 00:04:05,720 --> 00:04:15,560 Speaker 3: I was eleven years old. Yes, oh, Debbie. Debbie was 72 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:19,800 Speaker 3: nine years old, and she said to my mother, I 73 00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:27,400 Speaker 3: did dance classes and you're not doing a thing about it. 74 00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:32,359 Speaker 3: And you're not doing a thing about it. Wow, well, 75 00:04:33,040 --> 00:04:39,760 Speaker 3: you know legal segregation at that time. My mother took 76 00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:43,600 Speaker 3: the railing off the side of the stairs going upstairs. 77 00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:47,000 Speaker 3: She took the handrail and had it attached to a 78 00:04:47,040 --> 00:04:49,320 Speaker 3: wall in what was supposed to have been the dining room. 79 00:04:50,279 --> 00:04:53,760 Speaker 3: And she hired this teacher who had come from the 80 00:04:53,800 --> 00:04:57,520 Speaker 3: New York City Ballet, a Caucasian man, to come and 81 00:04:57,560 --> 00:05:01,159 Speaker 3: teach Debbie in the house. Her ballet classes were there. 82 00:05:01,240 --> 00:05:06,240 Speaker 3: This is this is how we grew. We grew like this. 83 00:05:06,360 --> 00:05:10,120 Speaker 3: And he gave Debrah a book about ballet with photographs 84 00:05:10,160 --> 00:05:14,280 Speaker 3: of all the famous dancers, and we would look at 85 00:05:14,279 --> 00:05:18,719 Speaker 3: that book all day. Every day. My mother would take 86 00:05:18,839 --> 00:05:24,040 Speaker 3: us to exhibitions, to lectures things we couldn't understand. She 87 00:05:24,120 --> 00:05:26,520 Speaker 3: knew we couldn't understand it. She told us later, I 88 00:05:26,560 --> 00:05:29,200 Speaker 3: knew you wouldn't understand what was being said, but you 89 00:05:29,240 --> 00:05:35,520 Speaker 3: were present, and the seeds were being planted when we 90 00:05:35,520 --> 00:05:40,599 Speaker 3: were growing up. She didn't want us scarred by the 91 00:05:40,680 --> 00:05:44,840 Speaker 3: ignorance of racism, and it was all around us. It 92 00:05:44,920 --> 00:05:48,240 Speaker 3: was legal at that time, but as little little children, 93 00:05:48,920 --> 00:05:52,599 Speaker 3: if there was somewhere we wanted to go and we 94 00:05:52,600 --> 00:05:59,840 Speaker 3: were restricted, she'd explain it like this. She'd say, oh, well, 95 00:06:00,560 --> 00:06:04,839 Speaker 3: that's a private club for members only, and we're not 96 00:06:04,960 --> 00:06:08,320 Speaker 3: members of that club. And then she'd do something else. 97 00:06:08,800 --> 00:06:11,920 Speaker 3: She'd invite all our friends into the living room. She'd 98 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:16,120 Speaker 3: teach us music. She'd teach us to tumble, she'd teach 99 00:06:16,240 --> 00:06:21,240 Speaker 3: us things like this, she'd teach us chorl speech. And 100 00:06:21,320 --> 00:06:24,760 Speaker 3: that's how we grew. And at that time, music education. 101 00:06:25,480 --> 00:06:28,440 Speaker 3: This is very interesting. In a time of legal segregation, 102 00:06:29,120 --> 00:06:33,359 Speaker 3: music education was free and in the schools, and the 103 00:06:33,440 --> 00:06:40,880 Speaker 3: schools had instruments that students could use. I studied viola. 104 00:06:41,400 --> 00:06:44,440 Speaker 3: Debbie played the bass violin, if you can believe it, 105 00:06:44,680 --> 00:06:47,000 Speaker 3: the littlest thing in the school. They had to sit 106 00:06:47,040 --> 00:06:49,880 Speaker 3: her up on a stool, had to sit that child 107 00:06:49,960 --> 00:06:53,560 Speaker 3: up on a stool, and her little fingers, her little hands. 108 00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:57,880 Speaker 3: Couldn't you know a bass player usually had big hands. Yeah, 109 00:06:58,360 --> 00:07:01,520 Speaker 3: you should have seen Debbie up there. She never missed 110 00:07:01,520 --> 00:07:04,279 Speaker 3: a beat and she never played a sour note. She 111 00:07:04,720 --> 00:07:08,840 Speaker 3: played that thing like she had created in herself. This 112 00:07:08,920 --> 00:07:16,040 Speaker 3: is how we grew We grew up in surrounded by 113 00:07:17,440 --> 00:07:21,640 Speaker 3: a community that cared for its children. And I mean 114 00:07:22,280 --> 00:07:27,280 Speaker 3: we were safe. Yeah, we were safe. We felt safe. 115 00:07:27,280 --> 00:07:33,520 Speaker 3: We didn't I didn't feel fear as a child. Our 116 00:07:33,560 --> 00:07:35,600 Speaker 3: mother was a great example of that too. One night, 117 00:07:35,640 --> 00:07:39,040 Speaker 3: somebody tried to break in the house, and my mother 118 00:07:39,200 --> 00:07:43,360 Speaker 3: was awake and she heard the clamor. She went out 119 00:07:43,360 --> 00:07:45,800 Speaker 3: the back door and walked her way around to where 120 00:07:45,840 --> 00:07:48,680 Speaker 3: this man was trying to come through the window. And 121 00:07:48,760 --> 00:07:52,520 Speaker 3: she stood right there and she said, you could get 122 00:07:52,600 --> 00:07:59,120 Speaker 3: arrested for that. You know, we scared. Jesus read we 123 00:07:59,200 --> 00:08:04,880 Speaker 3: grew up to be fearless, but not to be stupid. 124 00:08:07,760 --> 00:08:10,120 Speaker 1: Expound on that, fearless but not stupid. 125 00:08:10,400 --> 00:08:12,720 Speaker 3: Well, I mean, look, if you see a rattlesnake in 126 00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:15,240 Speaker 3: front of you, come on, that's right, that's right. Don't 127 00:08:15,240 --> 00:08:18,640 Speaker 3: be stupid. If you see a car come in your way, 128 00:08:19,880 --> 00:08:20,720 Speaker 3: don't be stupid. 129 00:08:20,840 --> 00:08:23,840 Speaker 1: Absolutely absolutely, I love that. 130 00:08:24,040 --> 00:08:25,960 Speaker 2: I love the story you just told, because as you 131 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:27,320 Speaker 2: were talking about it, I'm like, man, how do you 132 00:08:27,360 --> 00:08:30,480 Speaker 2: teach freedom the black kids in the country that wasn't 133 00:08:30,480 --> 00:08:32,000 Speaker 2: providing you that freedom? 134 00:08:32,040 --> 00:08:32,520 Speaker 1: At the time. 135 00:08:32,760 --> 00:08:41,559 Speaker 3: I'll tell you how. I'll tell you how. A poet, 136 00:08:42,720 --> 00:08:51,800 Speaker 3: a visionary hmm. You have to look inside, and you 137 00:08:51,880 --> 00:08:59,280 Speaker 3: have to teach young people to look inside. There's nothing 138 00:08:59,320 --> 00:09:08,920 Speaker 3: but freedom. So much distraction today, one thing and then 139 00:09:08,960 --> 00:09:15,000 Speaker 3: another to make anybody, not just African American children, but 140 00:09:15,320 --> 00:09:21,880 Speaker 3: anybody feel separate from its creation, separate from the one 141 00:09:21,880 --> 00:09:26,839 Speaker 3: who created everything that is separate from one's own self. 142 00:09:29,600 --> 00:09:35,840 Speaker 3: In the midst of majesty nature, in the midst of 143 00:09:36,200 --> 00:09:43,240 Speaker 3: presence distraction, pay attention to that. 144 00:09:45,520 --> 00:09:46,959 Speaker 1: You're gonna be stealing your quotes. 145 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:51,480 Speaker 5: But the rest of the month, every day there is 146 00:09:51,800 --> 00:09:55,360 Speaker 5: depositive note, and the Charlemagne is over there writing down 147 00:09:55,559 --> 00:09:57,800 Speaker 5: everything in his mind. 148 00:09:59,480 --> 00:10:01,760 Speaker 3: Going to be quoting you. 149 00:10:01,679 --> 00:10:02,520 Speaker 1: For the rest of them month. 150 00:10:02,600 --> 00:10:05,520 Speaker 3: I know it. Yeah, so you don't you know you 151 00:10:06,240 --> 00:10:11,240 Speaker 3: we knew history. You teach history, but you don't identify 152 00:10:11,280 --> 00:10:15,080 Speaker 3: with the Middle Passage. It's who you are. That's not 153 00:10:15,120 --> 00:10:20,320 Speaker 3: who you are, that's not who anyone is. That is 154 00:10:20,360 --> 00:10:27,560 Speaker 3: what happened. But people survive that because of who we 155 00:10:27,679 --> 00:10:36,640 Speaker 3: are as human beings. Right now, I'm just saying it. 156 00:10:37,160 --> 00:10:44,840 Speaker 3: Right now, we need all the people. Yeah, all the people. 157 00:10:45,920 --> 00:10:50,360 Speaker 2: Yeah, that's since the community you're talking about growing up 158 00:10:50,360 --> 00:10:50,840 Speaker 2: in Houston. 159 00:10:51,040 --> 00:10:51,640 Speaker 1: You need that. 160 00:10:51,720 --> 00:10:54,360 Speaker 2: You need to be able to teach kids freedom. You 161 00:10:54,400 --> 00:10:57,959 Speaker 2: need to be able to instill security and safety in kids. 162 00:10:57,960 --> 00:10:59,920 Speaker 2: And that can only come from come. 163 00:10:59,760 --> 00:11:04,120 Speaker 3: From it comes from home and in teaching. You know, 164 00:11:05,200 --> 00:11:09,400 Speaker 3: it's shared with others. You know, children are not born 165 00:11:09,720 --> 00:11:16,120 Speaker 3: into this world fearful. No human being is born into 166 00:11:16,120 --> 00:11:21,360 Speaker 3: this world fearful or filled with hate. Nobody's born like. 167 00:11:21,520 --> 00:11:24,800 Speaker 3: You have to learn that stuff. You know, there's a 168 00:11:24,840 --> 00:11:29,200 Speaker 3: song from a Broadway show. You have to be carefully taught, 169 00:11:29,840 --> 00:11:35,600 Speaker 3: carefully talked. Well, you can be carefully taught the right 170 00:11:35,640 --> 00:11:36,080 Speaker 3: way too. 171 00:11:37,200 --> 00:11:39,960 Speaker 4: What was your mother's upbringing like? Because she seems like 172 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:42,320 Speaker 4: she was so still and so short of herself, and 173 00:11:42,400 --> 00:11:45,839 Speaker 4: I'm sure she had, you know, experienced a lot. 174 00:11:46,240 --> 00:11:50,400 Speaker 3: My mother grew up in Chester, South Carolina, from Calina. 175 00:11:51,640 --> 00:11:53,199 Speaker 1: I was born in Charleston Rayther, then a small town 176 00:11:53,240 --> 00:11:53,880 Speaker 1: called monst Corn. 177 00:11:54,120 --> 00:11:57,760 Speaker 3: Oh you the people, okay? 178 00:11:58,840 --> 00:11:59,600 Speaker 1: You the people? 179 00:12:00,160 --> 00:12:04,960 Speaker 3: Okay. So it was a small mill town, right. Her 180 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:09,280 Speaker 3: father was a blacksmith, one of his brothers was a mortician, 181 00:12:09,320 --> 00:12:13,040 Speaker 3: and the other brother was a barber. And these businesses 182 00:12:13,120 --> 00:12:19,280 Speaker 3: had been owned by her grandfather. It was an agricultural community, right. 183 00:12:20,400 --> 00:12:22,600 Speaker 3: But there was a school there that had been founded 184 00:12:22,600 --> 00:12:26,440 Speaker 3: by the presbytery. There was such a number of such schools, 185 00:12:26,440 --> 00:12:32,560 Speaker 3: pardon me, that had been founded by the Presbytery for 186 00:12:32,800 --> 00:12:38,840 Speaker 3: the descendants of freed African people throughout the South. This 187 00:12:38,960 --> 00:12:43,040 Speaker 3: school was Brainerd Institute. And in this school there was 188 00:12:43,080 --> 00:12:52,720 Speaker 3: this classical education administered by black people. My mother was 189 00:12:52,720 --> 00:12:57,240 Speaker 3: always interested in music. Oh, she was quite the pianist. 190 00:12:58,920 --> 00:13:01,360 Speaker 3: She's described herself to me once is saying she was 191 00:13:01,400 --> 00:13:08,000 Speaker 3: a little girl swinging high on the swing, looking up 192 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:12,840 Speaker 3: at the sky and dreaming big dreams. That's how she grew. 193 00:13:13,240 --> 00:13:16,160 Speaker 3: Her mother passed away when she was When my mother 194 00:13:16,320 --> 00:13:19,440 Speaker 3: was nine, she lost her mother. And she said, as 195 00:13:19,480 --> 00:13:22,000 Speaker 3: she sat at her mother's funeral and listened to the 196 00:13:22,040 --> 00:13:26,640 Speaker 3: things that people were saying, she decided none of them 197 00:13:27,160 --> 00:13:31,800 Speaker 3: were intelligent enough to tell her anything to do. She 198 00:13:31,840 --> 00:13:37,520 Speaker 3: would chart her own course at nine, at nine at nine, 199 00:13:37,840 --> 00:13:42,960 Speaker 3: and she did, and she did. It was not an 200 00:13:42,960 --> 00:13:51,040 Speaker 3: easy life, but there was this spirit in her, living 201 00:13:51,320 --> 00:13:57,520 Speaker 3: in her, burning in her, that carried her through. Her 202 00:13:57,559 --> 00:14:05,520 Speaker 3: first publication is by Collection of Porns. Her second publication Hawk. 203 00:14:06,840 --> 00:14:09,480 Speaker 3: If you read Hawk, you will understand how I grew. 204 00:14:11,400 --> 00:14:15,440 Speaker 3: This is an inner journey. This is an allegory of freedom, 205 00:14:15,440 --> 00:14:20,080 Speaker 3: which parallels flight through space without a vehicle. It was 206 00:14:20,080 --> 00:14:24,120 Speaker 3: published eleven weeks before the launch of sputnk Ie. 207 00:14:28,120 --> 00:14:30,640 Speaker 1: Wow, what did you learn from your your father, because 208 00:14:30,640 --> 00:14:31,520 Speaker 1: you said he was a dentist. 209 00:14:31,680 --> 00:14:36,840 Speaker 3: Oh, my father. My father was born on the back 210 00:14:36,880 --> 00:14:41,840 Speaker 3: porch of a farm in Lovedale, Louisiana. He was one 211 00:14:41,880 --> 00:14:47,320 Speaker 3: of nine children. His father worked on the railroad. He 212 00:14:47,480 --> 00:14:50,840 Speaker 3: was a fireman on the South Pacific Railroad. And his mother, 213 00:14:50,960 --> 00:14:57,640 Speaker 3: you know, was housekeeping. Right. My grandfather put great emphasis 214 00:14:57,720 --> 00:15:00,680 Speaker 3: on education, and he made sure that all of his 215 00:15:00,840 --> 00:15:02,520 Speaker 3: children went to college. 216 00:15:03,240 --> 00:15:06,640 Speaker 1: Imagine it, especially in that time. 217 00:15:06,880 --> 00:15:15,360 Speaker 3: Imagine it. So my father was a very kind and 218 00:15:15,480 --> 00:15:20,280 Speaker 3: generous man. He was what was called a man's man. 219 00:15:21,360 --> 00:15:26,560 Speaker 3: Men loved him and trusted him. He was always the 220 00:15:26,640 --> 00:15:29,880 Speaker 3: treasurer of the dental Association because they said, if text 221 00:15:29,920 --> 00:15:33,400 Speaker 3: takes care of the money, we're in good shape. He 222 00:15:33,520 --> 00:15:38,360 Speaker 3: was organized, he was very clean. He loved music, he 223 00:15:38,440 --> 00:15:41,480 Speaker 3: loved theater, he loved the arts. He came to see 224 00:15:41,560 --> 00:15:46,200 Speaker 3: any and everything we did, whatever it was. He was 225 00:15:46,360 --> 00:15:56,320 Speaker 3: very supportive. He was he was so handsome, he was 226 00:15:56,400 --> 00:16:03,760 Speaker 3: so handsome, and he was so good. He did things 227 00:16:03,760 --> 00:16:08,240 Speaker 3: that people didn't know he did. He was like that. 228 00:16:10,560 --> 00:16:17,040 Speaker 3: And in his office he dealt with people's pain and 229 00:16:17,080 --> 00:16:25,360 Speaker 3: anxiety every day, and they came to him and trusted him. 230 00:16:25,440 --> 00:16:27,960 Speaker 3: And when they couldn't pay, he'd work out a payment 231 00:16:28,160 --> 00:16:32,720 Speaker 3: plan for them that was convenient for them. They didn't 232 00:16:32,760 --> 00:16:36,080 Speaker 3: have to go anywhere and incur interest rates. He would 233 00:16:36,120 --> 00:16:41,000 Speaker 3: work that out for him. When my father passed away, 234 00:16:41,680 --> 00:16:49,160 Speaker 3: at his viewing, the line stretched out of the mortuary, wow, 235 00:16:49,520 --> 00:16:53,480 Speaker 3: all the way down the street, all the way round 236 00:16:53,560 --> 00:17:00,640 Speaker 3: the block. And when the last person came, he said, 237 00:17:00,840 --> 00:17:02,920 Speaker 3: he looked at it and me, he said, you don't understand. 238 00:17:03,760 --> 00:17:11,960 Speaker 3: You don't understand. That's my dentist mmm. And that motiicaide as. 239 00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:13,040 Speaker 1: I remember. 240 00:17:15,600 --> 00:17:18,880 Speaker 3: That moticaid on the way to the cemetery, stretched as 241 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:22,920 Speaker 3: far as the eye could see. He was so beloved. 242 00:17:26,119 --> 00:17:28,159 Speaker 1: Thank you, Joe, thank you. 243 00:17:29,800 --> 00:17:32,880 Speaker 2: So that's why I asked, just because you know when 244 00:17:32,880 --> 00:17:34,480 Speaker 2: you look like I said, you know you we look 245 00:17:34,520 --> 00:17:36,120 Speaker 2: at Felicia, a shot at Wie Allen. 246 00:17:36,160 --> 00:17:39,000 Speaker 1: Two strong queens. Somebody had to raise them, somebody had 247 00:17:39,040 --> 00:17:40,720 Speaker 1: them steal that in them. And as a father raising 248 00:17:40,760 --> 00:17:42,159 Speaker 1: four beautiful black girls. 249 00:17:42,440 --> 00:17:44,520 Speaker 2: You know, I'm just always thinking about you know what 250 00:17:44,560 --> 00:17:47,120 Speaker 2: should me and my wife be in stealing in them 251 00:17:47,200 --> 00:17:48,920 Speaker 2: all the time just so they grow up to be. 252 00:17:49,320 --> 00:17:52,639 Speaker 1: Strong black women. Love them, my mom says, all the 253 00:17:52,680 --> 00:17:53,560 Speaker 1: time when you. 254 00:17:53,440 --> 00:17:57,359 Speaker 3: Love them, that's all you know. My father, if I 255 00:17:57,400 --> 00:18:00,440 Speaker 3: can remember one great instruction, my father gave me two 256 00:18:00,440 --> 00:18:04,480 Speaker 3: great instructions. He said, and I was a little girl, 257 00:18:05,640 --> 00:18:08,199 Speaker 3: he said, never let anybody run over you. Who was 258 00:18:08,240 --> 00:18:11,080 Speaker 3: five years old, and he told me that, never let 259 00:18:11,160 --> 00:18:17,880 Speaker 3: anyone run over you. And then later on in life, 260 00:18:17,920 --> 00:18:21,560 Speaker 3: he said, always know the balance of your bank account 261 00:18:22,440 --> 00:18:23,800 Speaker 3: and keep your own money. 262 00:18:24,640 --> 00:18:32,520 Speaker 5: Yeah, what can you tell us about to start without 263 00:18:32,560 --> 00:18:33,280 Speaker 5: spoiling it? 264 00:18:33,520 --> 00:18:34,720 Speaker 1: You know the Broadway? 265 00:18:35,920 --> 00:18:37,359 Speaker 5: But what can you tell us about the story of 266 00:18:37,400 --> 00:18:39,800 Speaker 5: purpose without giving it all the way? 267 00:18:39,800 --> 00:18:42,760 Speaker 3: I know you don't want to. Oh, this is wonderful 268 00:18:42,800 --> 00:18:50,240 Speaker 3: family family drama, and there's humor in it. A young 269 00:18:50,320 --> 00:18:58,720 Speaker 3: man is recalling a visit to his home and on 270 00:18:58,760 --> 00:19:04,640 Speaker 3: this night of nights, so much happens in one night, 271 00:19:05,400 --> 00:19:10,320 Speaker 3: and so much is revealed in one night, and some 272 00:19:10,520 --> 00:19:18,040 Speaker 3: things are resolved. It's uh, That's all I'm gonna tell you, 273 00:19:20,560 --> 00:19:27,520 Speaker 3: except to tell you that cast Harry Lennox mm hmmmmkay, 274 00:19:28,040 --> 00:19:37,879 Speaker 3: the Tanya Richardson Jackson mm hmm Okay, Glynn Glenn Davis 275 00:19:38,840 --> 00:19:47,480 Speaker 3: mm hmmm, Alana Arenas and John Michael Hill. It's the 276 00:19:47,520 --> 00:19:51,440 Speaker 3: most it's the most incredible ensemble that I've ever witnessed. 277 00:19:52,640 --> 00:19:58,720 Speaker 3: Each one is a master, each one and the inimitable 278 00:19:59,640 --> 00:20:05,439 Speaker 3: Carry Young, who was Louty Bell in Pearly Victorious last season, 279 00:20:06,720 --> 00:20:11,240 Speaker 3: that's her cast. People come at the end of the 280 00:20:11,280 --> 00:20:17,159 Speaker 3: play and have various reactions. One woman said, ooh, that 281 00:20:17,280 --> 00:20:21,600 Speaker 3: scene at the dining room table. Who that was my 282 00:20:21,760 --> 00:20:23,720 Speaker 3: family's thanksgiving for the past time? 283 00:20:24,560 --> 00:20:26,080 Speaker 1: Relatable? Right? 284 00:20:26,800 --> 00:20:31,080 Speaker 3: And she was not an African American woman. People see 285 00:20:31,119 --> 00:20:33,960 Speaker 3: themselves and that's when we know we are really doing 286 00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:37,400 Speaker 3: our best work. When you see yourself. 287 00:20:40,840 --> 00:20:42,800 Speaker 4: I was gonna say, speaking of doing your best work, 288 00:20:42,880 --> 00:20:44,480 Speaker 4: I think you know, for a lot of us and 289 00:20:44,600 --> 00:20:47,639 Speaker 4: watching you on television, the iconic role of Claire Huxtable 290 00:20:48,160 --> 00:20:51,320 Speaker 4: and just what that image of you know, having a 291 00:20:51,359 --> 00:20:54,720 Speaker 4: mom that was just so graceful and so like everything 292 00:20:54,760 --> 00:20:58,040 Speaker 4: that you were in that show. Do you like in 293 00:20:58,119 --> 00:21:00,800 Speaker 4: real life? Is there ever, per sure was there at 294 00:21:00,800 --> 00:21:04,200 Speaker 4: the time for you to like upkeep like a certain 295 00:21:04,320 --> 00:21:06,040 Speaker 4: like I don't know, like an image or like just 296 00:21:06,119 --> 00:21:09,680 Speaker 4: anything that people try to house. No, like so not 297 00:21:09,720 --> 00:21:11,879 Speaker 4: in your house, but like in real life, like in 298 00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:14,240 Speaker 4: Hollywood and other roles you were taking in, like you 299 00:21:14,240 --> 00:21:16,040 Speaker 4: know what I mean, Like, did you ever feel like 300 00:21:16,160 --> 00:21:18,320 Speaker 4: because I think for us like you are like the 301 00:21:18,400 --> 00:21:21,960 Speaker 4: perfect like image of like a black woman. Like so 302 00:21:21,960 --> 00:21:23,800 Speaker 4: I always wondered if you felt that pressure. 303 00:21:24,280 --> 00:21:32,320 Speaker 3: No, light is not heavy, m carry light, share light. 304 00:21:33,920 --> 00:21:35,119 Speaker 3: Light is not heavy. 305 00:21:38,640 --> 00:21:42,160 Speaker 5: Even in even in interviews. But I understand what you're saying. 306 00:21:42,480 --> 00:21:46,399 Speaker 5: Even in interviews back then, you would still have the 307 00:21:46,480 --> 00:21:52,320 Speaker 5: same deposition, the same grace when you know outside of 308 00:21:52,320 --> 00:21:55,119 Speaker 5: that role. I'm gonna tell you the one that sticks 309 00:21:55,119 --> 00:22:00,960 Speaker 5: with me when you told uh Saundra's boyfriend Elvin that 310 00:22:01,119 --> 00:22:05,760 Speaker 5: is iconic. And then when Vanessa wanted to go to Baltimore, 311 00:22:05,960 --> 00:22:10,280 Speaker 5: I'm friend to see the wretchet. Oh my god, when 312 00:22:10,320 --> 00:22:15,960 Speaker 5: I tell you those are my two like key episodes. Right, Well, yeah, 313 00:22:15,960 --> 00:22:17,840 Speaker 5: because I'm from Baltimore. I done snuck out the house, 314 00:22:17,880 --> 00:22:20,520 Speaker 5: and you know i'd have done all that. You ain't 315 00:22:20,600 --> 00:22:23,120 Speaker 5: knocked Vanessa out. I got knocked out a few times. 316 00:22:22,800 --> 00:22:25,440 Speaker 1: But. 317 00:22:26,080 --> 00:22:31,280 Speaker 5: Well yeah, right, that's it. Also, I also want to 318 00:22:31,280 --> 00:22:35,400 Speaker 5: bring up the movie bee Keeper. Oh my god, how 319 00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:38,520 Speaker 5: is that working with Jason Stathum. 320 00:22:39,200 --> 00:22:44,200 Speaker 3: Oh he's such a good person. Yeah, oh yeah, so generous, 321 00:22:44,200 --> 00:22:48,840 Speaker 3: so kind, amazing to a fault. You know, that was 322 00:22:48,840 --> 00:22:49,879 Speaker 3: a great experience. 323 00:22:50,240 --> 00:22:54,040 Speaker 5: That was a great movie because it also like talks 324 00:22:54,080 --> 00:22:58,119 Speaker 5: to what's going on these days. Like it's so I know, 325 00:22:58,200 --> 00:22:59,960 Speaker 5: y'all you probably didn't see it. So The bee Keeper 326 00:23:00,160 --> 00:23:04,480 Speaker 5: is a movie about an older woman who is robbed 327 00:23:04,520 --> 00:23:09,800 Speaker 5: of her her retirement funds, everything cleared, her bank accounts, 328 00:23:10,040 --> 00:23:12,040 Speaker 5: fraud a lot of frauds. She took a phone call 329 00:23:12,119 --> 00:23:14,960 Speaker 5: from this company that acted as if they were trying 330 00:23:14,960 --> 00:23:17,560 Speaker 5: to like help her with some type of banking information, 331 00:23:17,640 --> 00:23:22,440 Speaker 5: and she like kind of fell forward and ended up 332 00:23:22,920 --> 00:23:25,320 Speaker 5: now and Beekeeper did? Is this the question always have 333 00:23:25,840 --> 00:23:28,040 Speaker 5: Did the woman kill herself? 334 00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:31,720 Speaker 3: Or did she killed herself? Not because she lost her money. 335 00:23:32,160 --> 00:23:35,840 Speaker 3: It was other people's money she lost, Okay, And do 336 00:23:35,920 --> 00:23:40,199 Speaker 3: you know that maybe six months after that filming, I 337 00:23:40,280 --> 00:23:43,520 Speaker 3: read of such a thing in the newspaper. Wow, oh wow, 338 00:23:44,359 --> 00:23:49,159 Speaker 3: this was a man. Yeah, and he was so embarrassed. 339 00:23:50,600 --> 00:23:51,959 Speaker 1: His own Yeah. 340 00:23:52,320 --> 00:24:00,119 Speaker 3: But the greater problem here is access, Yes, yeah, how 341 00:24:00,240 --> 00:24:04,280 Speaker 3: much access to people? Is all of that necessary. Is 342 00:24:04,320 --> 00:24:04,800 Speaker 3: it good? 343 00:24:06,200 --> 00:24:07,359 Speaker 1: No, No it's not. 344 00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:10,080 Speaker 3: No man, no it's not. And as we see it 345 00:24:10,160 --> 00:24:15,159 Speaker 3: moving towards more, think about that. 346 00:24:15,440 --> 00:24:20,280 Speaker 4: Yeah, how do how do you now a days like 347 00:24:20,359 --> 00:24:22,520 Speaker 4: because I mean you obviously pick and choose what you 348 00:24:22,560 --> 00:24:24,800 Speaker 4: want to do with your roles. Like I watched you 349 00:24:24,800 --> 00:24:27,840 Speaker 4: in the air from Detroit and I was like, the 350 00:24:27,840 --> 00:24:29,359 Speaker 4: one thing we all lay in the car and you 351 00:24:29,400 --> 00:24:34,080 Speaker 4: were talking about the temptations, all of them. 352 00:24:34,160 --> 00:24:34,760 Speaker 3: I'm gonna tell you. 353 00:24:34,840 --> 00:24:36,879 Speaker 4: Right now, I felt bad watching that. I'm like, I 354 00:24:36,880 --> 00:24:38,000 Speaker 4: don't think I was supposed to hear her. 355 00:24:41,480 --> 00:24:45,280 Speaker 1: But it's so funny though. 356 00:24:45,320 --> 00:24:47,199 Speaker 2: The first time I saw the clips, they didn't tell 357 00:24:47,200 --> 00:24:48,359 Speaker 2: me it was from a TV show. 358 00:24:48,840 --> 00:24:57,119 Speaker 5: Yeah, he thought that you were really reflecting all your life. 359 00:24:58,640 --> 00:25:01,400 Speaker 1: I said, damn she slept. 360 00:25:01,520 --> 00:25:04,480 Speaker 3: No, no, no, that was a character, Darling. That was 361 00:25:04,520 --> 00:25:07,520 Speaker 3: a character. As actors, we play these roles. 362 00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:09,919 Speaker 4: When you choose a character like that, where it's like 363 00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:12,280 Speaker 4: it's a lot different than how we've seen you or 364 00:25:12,320 --> 00:25:15,440 Speaker 4: how I've seen you anyway, and different things that you've done. 365 00:25:15,640 --> 00:25:17,400 Speaker 4: What's your thinking behind it? Is it because you want 366 00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:18,720 Speaker 4: to you want people to see you in the different 367 00:25:18,800 --> 00:25:20,600 Speaker 4: lights or is it just I just want to do 368 00:25:20,640 --> 00:25:21,080 Speaker 4: to see. 369 00:25:20,920 --> 00:25:24,200 Speaker 3: What she was doing. Yes, that's why I chose the character, 370 00:25:24,280 --> 00:25:27,600 Speaker 3: because of what she was doing. Yeah, people get all 371 00:25:27,640 --> 00:25:31,960 Speaker 3: caught up in funny stuff. Yeah, what was that woman doing. 372 00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:33,080 Speaker 4: She was rescuing people. 373 00:25:33,119 --> 00:25:37,439 Speaker 3: She was rescuing people. She was living with the deepest 374 00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:42,120 Speaker 3: hurt that a mother can have, that she lost her 375 00:25:42,240 --> 00:25:48,560 Speaker 3: child because she was not paying attention, and in her 376 00:25:48,600 --> 00:25:52,080 Speaker 3: heart she felt that her child was alive somewhere. And 377 00:25:52,119 --> 00:25:55,919 Speaker 3: this is years later, but just in the moment of 378 00:25:55,960 --> 00:26:01,040 Speaker 3: being too tired and too annoyed and too you distracted 379 00:26:01,080 --> 00:26:04,639 Speaker 3: and wanting to do something else, she turned away and 380 00:26:04,720 --> 00:26:10,480 Speaker 3: in that instant her child was taken from her. Yeah, 381 00:26:11,040 --> 00:26:14,679 Speaker 3: and so she said about saving people, She went on 382 00:26:14,800 --> 00:26:18,240 Speaker 3: saving people open one day somebody would save her son. 383 00:26:18,640 --> 00:26:21,359 Speaker 3: M hm. So I choose people because I choose a 384 00:26:21,440 --> 00:26:23,199 Speaker 3: character because of what people are doing. 385 00:26:23,480 --> 00:26:25,800 Speaker 2: Yeah, I want to go back to something just said. 386 00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:29,800 Speaker 2: She brought up the Elvin scene, right, because that. 387 00:26:29,840 --> 00:26:30,720 Speaker 1: Was a role. 388 00:26:31,640 --> 00:26:34,440 Speaker 2: Well, when you schooled Elvin on I guess the marital, 389 00:26:34,640 --> 00:26:38,160 Speaker 2: the marital, how much input did you have on that 390 00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:40,359 Speaker 2: scene and what were you trying to convey when you 391 00:26:40,400 --> 00:26:42,639 Speaker 2: saw it on paper? What did you say to yourself Oh, 392 00:26:42,680 --> 00:26:44,080 Speaker 2: I know what I can do in this scene to 393 00:26:44,119 --> 00:26:45,199 Speaker 2: convey a larger message. 394 00:26:45,280 --> 00:26:47,359 Speaker 3: Oh, I didn't say anything. I just said I just 395 00:26:47,359 --> 00:26:47,960 Speaker 3: said the lines. 396 00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:49,639 Speaker 1: It was just as it was there. 397 00:26:51,080 --> 00:26:53,040 Speaker 3: It was there, but it was the way you deliver it, 398 00:26:53,440 --> 00:26:53,720 Speaker 3: you know. 399 00:26:54,440 --> 00:26:59,080 Speaker 1: So it was like battle rapping. 400 00:27:02,119 --> 00:27:04,439 Speaker 3: It was so good. I thought it was impriv you know, 401 00:27:04,520 --> 00:27:06,760 Speaker 3: it was this is this is a part of your 402 00:27:06,800 --> 00:27:09,760 Speaker 3: training as an actor in language and how you use it, 403 00:27:10,080 --> 00:27:14,199 Speaker 3: you know, And there's rhythm in this pace, and so 404 00:27:14,280 --> 00:27:17,000 Speaker 3: much is conveyed in that way. If you said it 405 00:27:17,080 --> 00:27:21,960 Speaker 3: another way, it wouldn't be as effective. If you tried 406 00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:25,879 Speaker 3: to say it like you were singing the lazy No, 407 00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:26,680 Speaker 3: it wouldn't work. 408 00:27:28,280 --> 00:27:29,840 Speaker 1: It wouldn't hit like a black mama. 409 00:27:30,359 --> 00:27:32,879 Speaker 2: What would in writers' rooms like though, because it felt 410 00:27:32,920 --> 00:27:37,359 Speaker 2: like a black experience with black writers writers. 411 00:27:37,520 --> 00:27:43,720 Speaker 3: The thing was to write a human story, to write 412 00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:48,239 Speaker 3: about human behavior, the truth of human behavior. That's what 413 00:27:48,600 --> 00:27:54,480 Speaker 3: makes comedy and theater real, the truth of human behavior. 414 00:27:54,920 --> 00:27:58,720 Speaker 3: You don't have to make something up. If you're writing 415 00:27:58,760 --> 00:28:02,000 Speaker 3: about something that's real mm hmm, you can take a 416 00:28:02,040 --> 00:28:05,440 Speaker 3: different perspective on it, and your skills as a writer, 417 00:28:05,640 --> 00:28:10,159 Speaker 3: you know, show up in your language or your you 418 00:28:10,240 --> 00:28:12,560 Speaker 3: know those things that writers do. 419 00:28:13,960 --> 00:28:18,439 Speaker 5: Yeah, h what do you do to channel roles like 420 00:28:18,920 --> 00:28:21,359 Speaker 5: your role and fall from grace, like when you're the villain, 421 00:28:21,760 --> 00:28:23,840 Speaker 5: What do you do to channel those roles? 422 00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:31,440 Speaker 3: Everybody is a human being, right, yeah, okay, m she's 423 00:28:31,480 --> 00:28:37,200 Speaker 3: just a nasty human. This is a person who is sick. 424 00:28:39,120 --> 00:28:43,880 Speaker 3: Her whole perspective is warped. You've got to be sick 425 00:28:43,920 --> 00:28:47,680 Speaker 3: to mistreat another person. I'm sorry. You cannot be sane 426 00:28:48,120 --> 00:28:52,760 Speaker 3: and do hurtful things to people. You just the sane 427 00:28:52,800 --> 00:28:54,120 Speaker 3: person won't do that. 428 00:28:54,600 --> 00:28:59,880 Speaker 2: Do you agree that one of the four agreements is, 429 00:28:59,880 --> 00:29:02,640 Speaker 2: you know, don't don't take offense to things, don't take 430 00:29:02,680 --> 00:29:05,080 Speaker 2: things personal because what you do, what somebody does to 431 00:29:05,120 --> 00:29:06,840 Speaker 2: you is not a reflection to you, is something that's 432 00:29:06,840 --> 00:29:11,280 Speaker 2: going on internally with them. It's hard, you know, to 433 00:29:11,320 --> 00:29:13,520 Speaker 2: put yourself in that position, but you really got to know. 434 00:29:13,440 --> 00:29:16,960 Speaker 3: That sometimes you want to just clutch somebody, shake them 435 00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:17,440 Speaker 3: real good. 436 00:29:17,680 --> 00:29:19,960 Speaker 2: My daddy used to say, you'll stop taking everything personal 437 00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:21,720 Speaker 2: personal once you realize that it's a bunch of people 438 00:29:21,720 --> 00:29:28,920 Speaker 2: out here on cocaine wos like, people out here doing 439 00:29:28,960 --> 00:29:30,640 Speaker 2: all types of stuff that you have no idea about. 440 00:29:30,760 --> 00:29:32,240 Speaker 3: Where was your father from. 441 00:29:32,200 --> 00:29:36,440 Speaker 2: Monk's Corner, South Carolina. All my family in South Carolina, Mama, daddy, everybody. 442 00:29:37,800 --> 00:29:40,000 Speaker 2: It's the best because you know, it's like if you 443 00:29:40,040 --> 00:29:42,480 Speaker 2: ever been to the International African American Museum. Oh you 444 00:29:42,520 --> 00:29:45,160 Speaker 2: were there, i'mugging, yes, you were there for the grand opening. 445 00:29:45,360 --> 00:29:46,640 Speaker 1: I didn't get to meet y'all. Want to meet y'all 446 00:29:46,640 --> 00:29:47,360 Speaker 1: was on the other side. 447 00:29:47,480 --> 00:29:51,240 Speaker 2: But yes, it's right there on the port where, like 448 00:29:51,280 --> 00:29:53,760 Speaker 2: I think fifty percent of all enslaved Africans came through. 449 00:29:54,200 --> 00:29:56,160 Speaker 1: So that's like home for a lot of us. 450 00:29:57,000 --> 00:29:59,480 Speaker 3: And don't know that's right, And don't. 451 00:29:59,280 --> 00:30:01,800 Speaker 2: Know another thing I want to ask you about when 452 00:30:01,840 --> 00:30:04,680 Speaker 2: you ran down on Vanessa, who are what were you 453 00:30:04,760 --> 00:30:07,560 Speaker 2: channeling in that moment, because I'm sure you, I'm sure 454 00:30:07,560 --> 00:30:09,880 Speaker 2: you and your sister snuck out the house a couple 455 00:30:09,880 --> 00:30:11,280 Speaker 2: of times and Mama had to get on you. 456 00:30:11,640 --> 00:30:12,360 Speaker 4: Never snuck out. 457 00:30:12,760 --> 00:30:17,040 Speaker 3: I didn't have to sneak. Yeah, I didn't have to sneak. Okay, 458 00:30:17,360 --> 00:30:18,959 Speaker 3: yeah it was good. I didn't have to. But it 459 00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:21,640 Speaker 3: was good not to have to do that. Yeah, you know, 460 00:30:21,880 --> 00:30:25,400 Speaker 3: sometimes it might have stayed a little too long or 461 00:30:25,440 --> 00:30:28,760 Speaker 3: we didn't have to sneak. It was it was, it 462 00:30:28,800 --> 00:30:31,680 Speaker 3: was fun, it was you know, it was an actor 463 00:30:33,040 --> 00:30:41,080 Speaker 3: and you understand human behavior, you understand feelings. It's it's 464 00:30:41,240 --> 00:30:43,840 Speaker 3: the way you develop yourself. This is the craft. This 465 00:30:43,920 --> 00:30:48,240 Speaker 3: is what we do. And uh, I guess if you 466 00:30:48,320 --> 00:30:51,400 Speaker 3: do it in a certain way, people think it's you. 467 00:30:51,480 --> 00:30:53,840 Speaker 2: Yes, that's why they can't see you playing a role 468 00:30:53,880 --> 00:30:56,960 Speaker 2: like in a fall from grades, like mister Shott is 469 00:30:57,000 --> 00:30:57,440 Speaker 2: a villain. 470 00:30:58,520 --> 00:31:00,560 Speaker 3: No, she was. 471 00:31:02,160 --> 00:31:02,600 Speaker 1: Exactly. 472 00:31:02,840 --> 00:31:08,120 Speaker 3: We have to detach the actress from the character. Oh yeah, 473 00:31:08,160 --> 00:31:10,600 Speaker 3: you know. And as an artist, you don't want to 474 00:31:10,640 --> 00:31:14,480 Speaker 3: sing the same song or play the same tube. Yeah, 475 00:31:16,720 --> 00:31:21,160 Speaker 3: you don't want to paint the same picture whatever. You've 476 00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:25,920 Speaker 3: got a paint box, you want to use those paints 477 00:31:26,520 --> 00:31:30,320 Speaker 3: and do a different scenes because we have range. Well yeah, 478 00:31:30,440 --> 00:31:34,000 Speaker 3: and you want to express humanity in whatever you do 479 00:31:34,160 --> 00:31:35,000 Speaker 3: at least I do. 480 00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:37,600 Speaker 1: You know you can't. 481 00:31:38,400 --> 00:31:40,240 Speaker 4: I was going to say your time at at Howard, 482 00:31:40,280 --> 00:31:42,160 Speaker 4: I'm a HBC. You graded went to Delaware State? 483 00:31:42,320 --> 00:31:43,120 Speaker 1: Have you ever heard of it? 484 00:31:43,680 --> 00:31:44,440 Speaker 3: Yes? Wow? 485 00:31:46,880 --> 00:31:51,040 Speaker 4: The police thing next exactly right. But the freedom that 486 00:31:51,080 --> 00:31:53,200 Speaker 4: you were talking about earlier, I remember, like I was 487 00:31:53,240 --> 00:31:55,120 Speaker 4: raised in a household where my mom was very much 488 00:31:55,200 --> 00:31:58,280 Speaker 4: like that. But going to an HBCU. I remember that 489 00:31:58,360 --> 00:32:00,360 Speaker 4: being the first time where I was like, oh, okay, 490 00:32:00,480 --> 00:32:03,600 Speaker 4: the world like really needs me. And it was because 491 00:32:03,640 --> 00:32:06,360 Speaker 4: of like teachers and counselors and stuff that kind of 492 00:32:06,360 --> 00:32:08,640 Speaker 4: had the same spirit that you have. I wonder, like 493 00:32:08,720 --> 00:32:10,680 Speaker 4: for you, what was like one of your favorite things 494 00:32:10,720 --> 00:32:13,320 Speaker 4: about walking on campus every day with those students as 495 00:32:13,360 --> 00:32:14,800 Speaker 4: a dean as. 496 00:32:14,600 --> 00:32:23,360 Speaker 3: The dean ooh, walking on campus. Everywhere I looked, I 497 00:32:23,520 --> 00:32:26,719 Speaker 3: was reminded of my time there as a student, and 498 00:32:26,720 --> 00:32:31,520 Speaker 3: I was reminded of my friends, and I was reminded 499 00:32:31,560 --> 00:32:34,800 Speaker 3: of the things that we did in the time in 500 00:32:34,840 --> 00:32:40,440 Speaker 3: which we were living as students. It was an important time. 501 00:32:42,480 --> 00:32:45,080 Speaker 3: Doctor King was assassinated in my sophomore year. 502 00:32:45,440 --> 00:32:46,040 Speaker 1: Wow. 503 00:32:47,560 --> 00:32:53,080 Speaker 3: Yeah, I watched these things happen. So much unfolded on 504 00:32:53,160 --> 00:32:56,600 Speaker 3: that campus. I remember when Muhammad Ali came and spoke 505 00:32:56,680 --> 00:33:01,160 Speaker 3: on the steps of Frederick Douglas Hall mm hmm. And 506 00:33:01,200 --> 00:33:05,360 Speaker 3: I remember him standing there and he said, look at me. 507 00:33:06,680 --> 00:33:13,560 Speaker 3: Can't you see that I'm free? And you could. Oh. 508 00:33:13,560 --> 00:33:19,560 Speaker 3: They were great people. There were great. Oh. The instructors. 509 00:33:20,920 --> 00:33:23,680 Speaker 3: When I tell you about instructors I had at Howard. 510 00:33:23,600 --> 00:33:26,600 Speaker 4: University, you know, yeah, they feeling they pour in like 511 00:33:26,680 --> 00:33:29,280 Speaker 4: you never forget that, like they pouring into you in 512 00:33:29,280 --> 00:33:30,080 Speaker 4: a different way. 513 00:33:30,240 --> 00:33:36,400 Speaker 3: And they're so well developed. They are deep, they are deep. 514 00:33:36,680 --> 00:33:40,440 Speaker 3: So there was a time, you know, I was just 515 00:33:41,040 --> 00:33:45,080 Speaker 3: referencing back to my father's area dentistry. There was a 516 00:33:45,120 --> 00:33:49,920 Speaker 3: time when African Americans were trained, could be trained at Harvard, 517 00:33:50,760 --> 00:33:55,200 Speaker 3: but they wouldn't hire them to teach. So these people 518 00:33:55,240 --> 00:34:00,400 Speaker 3: who were trained in these great quote great institutions went 519 00:34:00,440 --> 00:34:07,360 Speaker 3: to HBCUs to teach. You were receiving that education there, 520 00:34:08,320 --> 00:34:14,560 Speaker 3: that discipline, those demands. They were serious about it. They 521 00:34:14,600 --> 00:34:17,759 Speaker 3: were so serious about it. There was there was an 522 00:34:17,760 --> 00:34:21,640 Speaker 3: instructor at Howard down in medical school, dtr Montague J. Cobb. 523 00:34:22,560 --> 00:34:26,440 Speaker 3: They talked about this man. He was legendary. My father's 524 00:34:26,480 --> 00:34:30,840 Speaker 3: friend said, oh, no, you don't understand. If we failed 525 00:34:30,880 --> 00:34:35,400 Speaker 3: the test, he would say, meet me in the lab tonight, 526 00:34:36,560 --> 00:34:38,719 Speaker 3: and they'd all show up in the lab and while 527 00:34:38,719 --> 00:34:40,840 Speaker 3: they were going around doing what they were supposed to 528 00:34:40,880 --> 00:34:44,600 Speaker 3: be doing, he would pull out his viola and play 529 00:34:45,160 --> 00:34:48,960 Speaker 3: as he walked up and down the aisle. And my 530 00:34:49,040 --> 00:34:51,400 Speaker 3: father's friend said, you wanted him to play that viola 531 00:34:51,480 --> 00:34:53,440 Speaker 3: because that meant that he was pleased with what you 532 00:34:53,480 --> 00:34:56,759 Speaker 3: would do. I mean it came, you know, people, we 533 00:34:56,880 --> 00:34:59,640 Speaker 3: came through in a time that we should remember. 534 00:35:00,880 --> 00:35:02,359 Speaker 1: I feel like that's a level of village. I don't 535 00:35:02,360 --> 00:35:03,200 Speaker 1: know if we have anymore. 536 00:35:03,800 --> 00:35:06,040 Speaker 3: Well, we can have it if we want it, and 537 00:35:06,040 --> 00:35:08,319 Speaker 3: we can expand it. We can expand it to it 538 00:35:08,680 --> 00:35:13,400 Speaker 3: include our Hispanic family. We can expand it to include 539 00:35:13,440 --> 00:35:16,520 Speaker 3: our Asian family. We can expand it to include our 540 00:35:16,600 --> 00:35:20,759 Speaker 3: Caucasian family. We can expand it because we need all 541 00:35:20,760 --> 00:35:26,080 Speaker 3: the people. That's a line from August Wilson's play Jim 542 00:35:26,160 --> 00:35:30,680 Speaker 3: of the Ocean on Esther who on this It says, 543 00:35:33,360 --> 00:35:36,000 Speaker 3: I'm going to show you what happened when all the 544 00:35:36,040 --> 00:35:40,560 Speaker 3: people call on God in the one voice. God got 545 00:35:40,560 --> 00:35:47,880 Speaker 3: beautiful splendors, and God got room for everybody. 546 00:35:48,760 --> 00:35:51,000 Speaker 4: Were you when you when you decided not to return 547 00:35:51,040 --> 00:35:53,360 Speaker 4: back to Howard did you feel like you didn't return 548 00:35:53,360 --> 00:35:55,680 Speaker 4: because your work was done there? Or was it just 549 00:35:55,719 --> 00:35:58,040 Speaker 4: like a personal decision because like business reasons, Like I 550 00:35:58,080 --> 00:36:00,160 Speaker 4: just felt like people like you what we need? You 551 00:36:00,160 --> 00:36:02,839 Speaker 4: want campuses every day. But I know it's probably it's 552 00:36:02,880 --> 00:36:05,520 Speaker 4: a lot to do well at once. But like, what 553 00:36:05,600 --> 00:36:07,399 Speaker 4: was that like for you, that decision not to go back? 554 00:36:08,320 --> 00:36:12,440 Speaker 3: Well, I will always be connected. I will always be 555 00:36:12,480 --> 00:36:15,560 Speaker 3: connected to Howard University. As a matter of fact, next 556 00:36:15,640 --> 00:36:19,920 Speaker 3: week I will be in Washington, D C. For the 557 00:36:19,960 --> 00:36:25,840 Speaker 3: one night only reading of Chadwick A. Boseman's Deep Azure. 558 00:36:26,360 --> 00:36:28,640 Speaker 3: He wrote that. So he was one of my students 559 00:36:28,719 --> 00:36:32,319 Speaker 3: early early on, when Al Freeman Jr. Invited me to 560 00:36:32,360 --> 00:36:36,160 Speaker 3: come and teach for a semester. So we were in 561 00:36:36,200 --> 00:36:40,120 Speaker 3: the studio doing the show Monday through Thursday, and Friday morning, 562 00:36:40,160 --> 00:36:43,320 Speaker 3: I'd get up and fly down and I'd teach m 563 00:36:44,640 --> 00:36:47,880 Speaker 3: And he was one of my students. Collecchi Susan Collecchi 564 00:36:47,880 --> 00:36:51,440 Speaker 3: Watson was one of the students. Camilla Fors one of 565 00:36:51,480 --> 00:36:55,720 Speaker 3: the students. He was He was fearless, he was brave 566 00:36:55,880 --> 00:37:03,359 Speaker 3: South Carolina, and and he was also very respectful. That's 567 00:37:03,360 --> 00:37:05,720 Speaker 3: why I say, as a people, we are a respectful people. 568 00:37:06,320 --> 00:37:14,319 Speaker 3: We are naturally, you know. So anyway, he kept in 569 00:37:14,400 --> 00:37:19,399 Speaker 3: contact with me, and after he had graduated, one day 570 00:37:19,440 --> 00:37:22,760 Speaker 3: I received this call, I'm sending you something, mister Shady, 571 00:37:22,800 --> 00:37:25,080 Speaker 3: but always call me that I'm sending you something, mister. 572 00:37:26,280 --> 00:37:31,239 Speaker 3: Even after he had attained fame and notoriety, he still 573 00:37:31,280 --> 00:37:36,480 Speaker 3: called me mister always. So said okay, and what he 574 00:37:36,560 --> 00:37:38,520 Speaker 3: sent was a copy of the script that he had 575 00:37:38,520 --> 00:37:42,520 Speaker 3: written hip Hop Theater. Hip Hop Theater was born on 576 00:37:42,520 --> 00:37:45,080 Speaker 3: the campus of Howard University, and he was one of 577 00:37:45,120 --> 00:37:50,720 Speaker 3: the progenitors. He was one of the innovators. And it's 578 00:37:51,520 --> 00:37:58,239 Speaker 3: how can I say hip hop language and rhythm through 579 00:37:58,320 --> 00:38:00,879 Speaker 3: the voice and experience of a class that. 580 00:38:02,920 --> 00:38:07,759 Speaker 4: It is grand that's like the essence of HBCU. Like 581 00:38:07,960 --> 00:38:09,560 Speaker 4: when you're saying it, it's like, okay, that's what it's 582 00:38:09,600 --> 00:38:12,040 Speaker 4: like when you go to like the caf for like 583 00:38:12,080 --> 00:38:14,640 Speaker 4: you and the parties or it's literally like everybody is 584 00:38:14,680 --> 00:38:18,440 Speaker 4: so like astute, but like you. It's a vibe like 585 00:38:18,480 --> 00:38:20,880 Speaker 4: you can't describe it. You got to just be there. 586 00:38:20,760 --> 00:38:24,799 Speaker 3: And it's real. It's real. And people are taking their 587 00:38:24,920 --> 00:38:28,200 Speaker 3: education seriously right but now with this AI business, I 588 00:38:28,200 --> 00:38:32,120 Speaker 3: don't know, trying not to write their own papers to 589 00:38:32,239 --> 00:38:34,239 Speaker 3: try to do this what do they call it? This 590 00:38:34,360 --> 00:38:39,160 Speaker 3: chet thing chat? And who excuse me for stammering, but 591 00:38:39,239 --> 00:38:41,760 Speaker 3: it puts me at a loss for words like darling, 592 00:38:42,120 --> 00:38:45,200 Speaker 3: don't you understand why you're here now? If you wanted 593 00:38:45,239 --> 00:38:49,080 Speaker 3: to do that, you could stay home. You should stay 594 00:38:49,080 --> 00:38:51,359 Speaker 3: home because you're taking up room that somebody else could 595 00:38:51,400 --> 00:38:54,440 Speaker 3: be occupying. Who really wants to. 596 00:38:55,680 --> 00:38:56,239 Speaker 5: Do the work? 597 00:38:56,840 --> 00:39:00,960 Speaker 3: Yeah, who really wants to develop? What about your intellect? Baby? 598 00:39:02,040 --> 00:39:04,360 Speaker 3: Do you have no care or thought for your intellect 599 00:39:05,280 --> 00:39:11,359 Speaker 3: for expanding that? What about that? What about your worldview? 600 00:39:11,440 --> 00:39:11,760 Speaker 1: Darling? 601 00:39:12,920 --> 00:39:16,480 Speaker 3: Do you not care for that? Oh? Okay, you're gonna 602 00:39:16,640 --> 00:39:18,799 Speaker 3: give that to the chap too. All right, Well let's 603 00:39:18,800 --> 00:39:20,799 Speaker 3: see where you lad, Let's see where you end up. 604 00:39:23,120 --> 00:39:27,440 Speaker 3: So purpose the play. Yes, one of the things that 605 00:39:27,560 --> 00:39:32,080 Speaker 3: said in this play by the patriarch, he said, he 606 00:39:32,160 --> 00:39:41,480 Speaker 3: feels he feels that he has lost a communion with God. 607 00:39:42,760 --> 00:39:47,439 Speaker 3: He said, ancestors were in such close communion with God 608 00:39:47,480 --> 00:39:50,080 Speaker 3: and his creation. They knew how to do things and 609 00:39:50,120 --> 00:39:53,200 Speaker 3: how to take care of things, he says, And I 610 00:39:53,239 --> 00:39:55,120 Speaker 3: think that I have I think that we all have 611 00:39:55,640 --> 00:39:58,759 Speaker 3: lost that. He says. Well, maybe it's old age. I 612 00:39:58,760 --> 00:40:02,920 Speaker 3: don't know, but he says, he's very interested in the 613 00:40:02,960 --> 00:40:07,400 Speaker 3: things we used to do back home down in the country, 614 00:40:08,520 --> 00:40:11,319 Speaker 3: fishing and hunting and bee keeping and growing. You know, 615 00:40:14,120 --> 00:40:21,480 Speaker 3: I was shocked, shocked to know that they are children 616 00:40:23,040 --> 00:40:26,600 Speaker 3: who don't understand that French fries come from potatoes that 617 00:40:26,640 --> 00:40:27,319 Speaker 3: are alone, and. 618 00:40:29,600 --> 00:40:31,200 Speaker 4: Those wasn't the children that how it was? 619 00:40:31,239 --> 00:40:36,000 Speaker 3: It? Okay? But I'm shocked. But I'm shocked to know. 620 00:40:37,800 --> 00:40:42,040 Speaker 3: I'm shocked to know from two pediatricians in two different cities. Right, 621 00:40:42,640 --> 00:40:45,400 Speaker 3: they have books, you know, in their waiting rooms for 622 00:40:45,440 --> 00:40:48,319 Speaker 3: the young children. Young children come in and pick up 623 00:40:48,320 --> 00:40:49,719 Speaker 3: a book and try to scan it. 624 00:40:50,800 --> 00:40:51,120 Speaker 1: M m. 625 00:40:51,640 --> 00:40:53,759 Speaker 3: Because the parents aren't giving them books, They're giving them 626 00:40:53,760 --> 00:40:59,319 Speaker 3: these little things. Have these these things. Yeah, it's like, 627 00:41:02,080 --> 00:41:06,520 Speaker 3: so here we go back to parenting. You'll leave that 628 00:41:06,560 --> 00:41:09,520 Speaker 3: in the hands of somebody else and think it's gonna 629 00:41:09,520 --> 00:41:11,799 Speaker 3: come out right. I don't think so. 630 00:41:14,960 --> 00:41:17,000 Speaker 1: The dramatic pause, I don't know. This is a dramatic pause. 631 00:41:17,040 --> 00:41:22,320 Speaker 1: You'll be stopping. That's why i'd be just like, speaking 632 00:41:22,320 --> 00:41:26,360 Speaker 1: of dramatic pause, you call it a dramatic I'm. 633 00:41:26,200 --> 00:41:28,000 Speaker 2: Trying to figure out sometimes it's dramatic, Paul, but then 634 00:41:28,040 --> 00:41:29,239 Speaker 2: sometimes you really are done. 635 00:41:29,440 --> 00:41:30,680 Speaker 1: So I'm just trying to figure it out. 636 00:41:31,080 --> 00:41:35,480 Speaker 3: She's speak. We're in conversation. 637 00:41:35,600 --> 00:41:36,040 Speaker 5: That's right. 638 00:41:39,160 --> 00:41:41,439 Speaker 4: The I had a question about the deep as you're 639 00:41:42,200 --> 00:41:44,560 Speaker 4: so the proceeds from the One night Only are going 640 00:41:44,600 --> 00:41:49,200 Speaker 4: back to the College of Finding Arts at Howard. Yes, 641 00:41:50,480 --> 00:41:53,080 Speaker 4: what like today if Chadwood could see kind of like, 642 00:41:53,120 --> 00:41:55,279 Speaker 4: you know, how the final product has come along and 643 00:41:55,320 --> 00:41:59,120 Speaker 4: everybody that's involved, Like what would his sentiments be? 644 00:41:59,200 --> 00:41:59,279 Speaker 5: Like? 645 00:41:59,280 --> 00:42:00,880 Speaker 4: How happy would he b two see all of this 646 00:42:01,000 --> 00:42:03,200 Speaker 4: coming to fruition from that first phone call that you 647 00:42:03,280 --> 00:42:04,160 Speaker 4: guys had about I'll. 648 00:42:04,040 --> 00:42:08,560 Speaker 3: Tell you his wife is very and he's producing partner 649 00:42:08,680 --> 00:42:11,400 Speaker 3: who was his best friend in college. They're very happy, 650 00:42:13,120 --> 00:42:17,680 Speaker 3: and I'm very happy because it's happening, and it's happening 651 00:42:17,760 --> 00:42:21,040 Speaker 3: with a great cast of actors. I don't know if 652 00:42:21,040 --> 00:42:21,760 Speaker 3: you have that list. 653 00:42:22,920 --> 00:42:23,640 Speaker 4: I can look it up. 654 00:42:24,239 --> 00:42:25,839 Speaker 1: I don't know if you have the list you want 655 00:42:25,840 --> 00:42:26,200 Speaker 1: to look it up? 656 00:42:26,480 --> 00:42:26,680 Speaker 4: Yeah? 657 00:42:26,680 --> 00:42:29,960 Speaker 3: I got it. Oh, you should look at it. 658 00:42:29,960 --> 00:42:36,480 Speaker 4: It's it's Isaiah Johnson, Yes, Amber Emmon, who plays as 659 00:42:36,520 --> 00:42:41,280 Speaker 4: your Greg. Alvarez Reed plays Tone, Joshua Boone plays Rod. 660 00:42:42,760 --> 00:42:47,439 Speaker 4: Lauren Banks the Street Knowledge good. Yeah, I'm a mess 661 00:42:47,480 --> 00:42:51,120 Speaker 4: this one up. At a Sola isa col Aska, Looming. 662 00:42:53,440 --> 00:42:54,359 Speaker 3: She said, what what you say? 663 00:42:55,200 --> 00:42:58,360 Speaker 4: Oknew, I was gonna mess it up. I'm sorry. Is 664 00:42:58,400 --> 00:43:03,880 Speaker 4: the Street Knowledge evil? Jess Washington? Uh is stage directions? 665 00:43:04,800 --> 00:43:12,840 Speaker 3: These are all professionals, yes, and uh god, we're so honored. 666 00:43:13,560 --> 00:43:17,040 Speaker 3: Mm hmmm, We're so honored and our and our our 667 00:43:18,040 --> 00:43:21,960 Speaker 3: Honorary Host Committee. H I mean you know who's on 668 00:43:22,040 --> 00:43:24,920 Speaker 3: that mm hmm. You can look it up. Look it 669 00:43:25,040 --> 00:43:28,120 Speaker 3: up and see. I mean, these are people supporting this. 670 00:43:33,239 --> 00:43:37,320 Speaker 4: So the Honorary Host Committee. Ryan Coogler is the honorary chair, 671 00:43:38,000 --> 00:43:44,240 Speaker 4: Common Susan Khalichi Watson, don Cheto uh Tony see Coats, 672 00:43:44,480 --> 00:43:50,360 Speaker 4: I'm sorry, Tannahisee Coats, Camilla Forbes, Reginald Hudlington, Kenny Leon 673 00:43:50,640 --> 00:43:59,120 Speaker 4: and Terrell, Alvin McCraney. Yes, universe, ye. 674 00:43:59,239 --> 00:44:05,040 Speaker 3: All too supporseeah to support his legacy. Chadwick was He 675 00:44:05,160 --> 00:44:10,160 Speaker 3: was really amazing. Chadwick was an actor. Yes, Chadwick was 676 00:44:10,200 --> 00:44:13,440 Speaker 3: a writer. Chadwick was a director. Chadwick was a scholar. 677 00:44:14,840 --> 00:44:20,360 Speaker 3: He studied many things. The etymology of words, oh, he 678 00:44:20,520 --> 00:44:24,239 Speaker 3: was deep into that, into names and the meanings of them. 679 00:44:24,600 --> 00:44:31,600 Speaker 3: He studied the Bible, not to Bible thump, but to 680 00:44:31,800 --> 00:44:37,040 Speaker 3: understand its origins really and its deeper meanings. And then 681 00:44:38,000 --> 00:44:42,439 Speaker 3: he combined all of that with you know, I hate 682 00:44:42,440 --> 00:44:44,439 Speaker 3: to say it like this, but I'll say it like this, 683 00:44:45,200 --> 00:44:47,480 Speaker 3: with African cosmology. Why do I hate to say it 684 00:44:47,520 --> 00:44:52,000 Speaker 3: like that, Because Africa is a huge continent and it 685 00:44:52,120 --> 00:44:56,160 Speaker 3: is not a monolithic proposition, but there is a certain 686 00:44:56,200 --> 00:45:04,600 Speaker 3: ethos that runs through all. He was brilliant. He was brilliant. 687 00:45:04,960 --> 00:45:07,280 Speaker 3: There was nobody else to play back Black Panther. 688 00:45:07,360 --> 00:45:10,520 Speaker 1: But mm hmm, Chadwick, see I big. We got him 689 00:45:10,520 --> 00:45:13,400 Speaker 1: on the door. Oh yeah. 690 00:45:13,440 --> 00:45:18,040 Speaker 3: And you know what he really cared about. He called 691 00:45:18,040 --> 00:45:21,600 Speaker 3: me one day and this was after graduation. He was 692 00:45:21,640 --> 00:45:25,279 Speaker 3: living in New York and he was so excited and 693 00:45:25,280 --> 00:45:27,319 Speaker 3: he wanted me to know what he was doing and 694 00:45:27,400 --> 00:45:29,480 Speaker 3: to come and see. And I was thinking, Okay, now, 695 00:45:29,560 --> 00:45:33,000 Speaker 3: let's see what premiere is this, what film is this? 696 00:45:33,080 --> 00:45:35,920 Speaker 3: What play is this? It was none of that. He 697 00:45:36,080 --> 00:45:42,000 Speaker 3: was working with young people in the Schomberg Library and 698 00:45:42,080 --> 00:45:51,719 Speaker 3: he was so excited about that. M wow, yes he was. 699 00:45:52,320 --> 00:45:54,080 Speaker 2: You know, you came up in an Arab mister Shad, 700 00:45:54,360 --> 00:45:57,920 Speaker 2: where dignity and grace were everything. So do you have 701 00:45:57,920 --> 00:46:01,840 Speaker 2: a look at how wild Hollywood is now? Think to yourself, boy, 702 00:46:02,239 --> 00:46:04,440 Speaker 2: y'all got it easy. Y'all wouldn't have got away with 703 00:46:04,480 --> 00:46:05,040 Speaker 2: dad my day. 704 00:46:05,560 --> 00:46:08,319 Speaker 3: Mm hmm. Yeah, you have to look at Hollywood. I 705 00:46:08,320 --> 00:46:16,279 Speaker 3: could look at the way young ladies dress. Pan I'm 706 00:46:16,320 --> 00:46:23,759 Speaker 3: not talking about I'm talking about you know, the young 707 00:46:23,840 --> 00:46:30,960 Speaker 3: ladies are so beautiful. They're so beautiful, and something has 708 00:46:31,000 --> 00:46:37,120 Speaker 3: happened in popular culture, you know. And I don't mean 709 00:46:37,160 --> 00:46:40,680 Speaker 3: to be critical, and I hope young ladies listening don't 710 00:46:40,680 --> 00:46:43,120 Speaker 3: take this as personal criticism because I don't mean it 711 00:46:43,160 --> 00:46:51,160 Speaker 3: that way. But you're young, Queen's beautiful and smart and 712 00:46:51,239 --> 00:46:56,840 Speaker 3: brilliant and bright, and it really I know I'm taken 713 00:46:56,880 --> 00:47:02,240 Speaker 3: aback when I see on a college campus young women 714 00:47:02,400 --> 00:47:10,160 Speaker 3: dressed in strips of clothing. I mean, male instructors don't 715 00:47:10,280 --> 00:47:18,440 Speaker 3: like it. But more importantly than that, and you correct 716 00:47:18,520 --> 00:47:23,080 Speaker 3: me if I'm wrong, sir, No man wants his woman 717 00:47:24,360 --> 00:47:28,359 Speaker 3: to be out like that right now. 718 00:47:28,360 --> 00:47:31,240 Speaker 2: I grew up on method man saying wearing three fourths 719 00:47:31,280 --> 00:47:34,840 Speaker 2: of cloth and that was showing your stuff off boo. 720 00:47:37,680 --> 00:47:42,160 Speaker 3: You know, it's like there's today's designers. I mean, there's ways, 721 00:47:43,080 --> 00:47:46,000 Speaker 3: you know, there's there are other things and I. 722 00:47:46,080 --> 00:47:49,399 Speaker 1: Just leave something to the imagination. It would be nice 723 00:47:49,560 --> 00:47:51,000 Speaker 1: somethings for my eyes only, you know. 724 00:47:51,400 --> 00:47:53,160 Speaker 4: And like you said, there are ways of being sexy 725 00:47:53,200 --> 00:47:54,439 Speaker 4: without showing so. 726 00:47:54,440 --> 00:47:57,840 Speaker 3: Much, please, and that's really not sexy. 727 00:47:58,080 --> 00:48:00,000 Speaker 2: I mean, one of the most sexy is most beautiful 728 00:48:00,480 --> 00:48:02,560 Speaker 2: is you. I forgot what year it was. But you 729 00:48:02,640 --> 00:48:09,360 Speaker 2: got on like a basketball jersey, like and some popcorn. 730 00:48:09,440 --> 00:48:09,879 Speaker 1: That is. 731 00:48:12,040 --> 00:48:13,800 Speaker 4: That white jersey? 732 00:48:14,000 --> 00:48:14,200 Speaker 1: Yes? 733 00:48:14,360 --> 00:48:17,120 Speaker 4: That was Yeah, that was a beautiful picture. 734 00:48:17,200 --> 00:48:19,000 Speaker 1: That's like that is the epitome of sexy. 735 00:48:19,520 --> 00:48:22,560 Speaker 3: Oh well, it's it's I think it has to do 736 00:48:22,680 --> 00:48:26,080 Speaker 3: with I think it has a lot to do with 737 00:48:26,120 --> 00:48:31,600 Speaker 3: what they're what they see, what they're emulating what they see. See. 738 00:48:31,680 --> 00:48:33,719 Speaker 3: We we grew up in a time where you know, 739 00:48:33,840 --> 00:48:40,960 Speaker 3: the the singers, these ladies were dressed down, these women 740 00:48:41,520 --> 00:48:46,919 Speaker 3: who they were wearing robes and gowns and dew right. 741 00:48:48,520 --> 00:48:51,239 Speaker 3: Well it's a little different today. Yeah, so they're really 742 00:48:51,320 --> 00:48:53,200 Speaker 3: just emulating what they said. Hmm. 743 00:48:53,880 --> 00:48:56,959 Speaker 4: I thought it was from nineteen eighty seven. Madison Square 744 00:48:56,960 --> 00:49:00,880 Speaker 4: Garden was jery, it was, Yeah. 745 00:49:01,560 --> 00:49:07,279 Speaker 2: I'm talking about yes, yes, remember what you were doing. 746 00:49:07,560 --> 00:49:09,759 Speaker 3: I was there with Malcolm Jamal Warner. 747 00:49:13,400 --> 00:49:14,600 Speaker 1: Be here before you got here. 748 00:49:14,719 --> 00:49:16,759 Speaker 3: Yes, congratulations. 749 00:49:17,920 --> 00:49:20,960 Speaker 2: You know, try to give your icons they flowers and 750 00:49:21,000 --> 00:49:22,359 Speaker 2: celebrate them while they're still here. 751 00:49:22,520 --> 00:49:28,640 Speaker 4: Absolutely, whoa got her balloon. 752 00:49:29,840 --> 00:49:30,440 Speaker 3: Flowers? 753 00:49:31,320 --> 00:49:36,000 Speaker 1: We don't never do that. Nobody here. 754 00:49:37,239 --> 00:49:39,400 Speaker 2: You've you've been so gracious with your time. So I 755 00:49:39,719 --> 00:49:41,759 Speaker 2: just got a couple more questions. What's the lesson you 756 00:49:41,880 --> 00:49:44,560 Speaker 2: learned way too late in life that you wish you 757 00:49:44,560 --> 00:49:47,120 Speaker 2: figured out sooner and you would teach the next generation. 758 00:49:48,880 --> 00:49:53,720 Speaker 3: Now, this is gonna sound weird to you after everything 759 00:49:53,760 --> 00:50:02,000 Speaker 3: I've told you. The lesson that I learned later in 760 00:50:02,080 --> 00:50:12,000 Speaker 3: life was that I'm enough as a young girl growing up, 761 00:50:12,040 --> 00:50:14,120 Speaker 3: you know, and young girls go through this. You'll know, 762 00:50:15,040 --> 00:50:19,280 Speaker 3: you go through a period where you feel like because 763 00:50:20,280 --> 00:50:27,760 Speaker 3: and it's because you're looking outside yourself. You compare yourself 764 00:50:27,800 --> 00:50:32,920 Speaker 3: to everyone else you see, and you're not enough because 765 00:50:33,000 --> 00:50:38,200 Speaker 3: you don't dressed like that one, or you don't have 766 00:50:38,360 --> 00:50:42,400 Speaker 3: hair like that one, or you don't have legs like 767 00:50:42,440 --> 00:50:45,240 Speaker 3: that one. You can think of any number of things. 768 00:50:46,040 --> 00:50:50,400 Speaker 3: Young girls go through. This kind of thing usually happens 769 00:50:50,440 --> 00:50:57,680 Speaker 3: around adolescence, where you feel like you're not enough. Part 770 00:50:57,680 --> 00:51:00,000 Speaker 3: of that had to do with my mother being so beautiful, 771 00:51:00,239 --> 00:51:03,320 Speaker 3: my father being so handsome, and my sister being so cute, 772 00:51:03,640 --> 00:51:08,880 Speaker 3: my brother being so whatever, And I just thought, well, 773 00:51:08,960 --> 00:51:12,359 Speaker 3: when I was born, the Lord was doing something else. 774 00:51:16,160 --> 00:51:18,959 Speaker 4: I'm serious, what age was this that you felt like that? 775 00:51:19,400 --> 00:51:26,080 Speaker 3: And I was when I was young, when I was 776 00:51:28,560 --> 00:51:35,120 Speaker 3: oh ten, eleven, twelve. And that's a subtle thing that 777 00:51:35,160 --> 00:51:40,839 Speaker 3: you'll carry with you until you look inside yourself, and 778 00:51:40,880 --> 00:51:48,520 Speaker 3: you start looking inside yourself, and that thinking vanishes and 779 00:51:48,560 --> 00:51:53,880 Speaker 3: goes away. This is only when we look inside ourselves 780 00:51:54,440 --> 00:51:56,160 Speaker 3: that we see what beauty really is. 781 00:51:56,760 --> 00:51:58,200 Speaker 1: So when did you get to that place of worthy? 782 00:51:59,120 --> 00:52:00,360 Speaker 3: When did I get to this? Please? 783 00:52:00,440 --> 00:52:01,640 Speaker 1: Yeah? 784 00:52:04,600 --> 00:52:12,680 Speaker 3: I think I was about thirty I want to say 785 00:52:16,920 --> 00:52:21,720 Speaker 3: I was about thirty four, thirty five years old. 786 00:52:22,080 --> 00:52:22,440 Speaker 1: Wow. 787 00:52:26,480 --> 00:52:29,000 Speaker 3: And now I look back at those pictures of myself 788 00:52:29,040 --> 00:52:35,719 Speaker 3: and I say, what'd you feel like that? Yeah? The mind? Oh, yeah, 789 00:52:35,760 --> 00:52:40,720 Speaker 3: the mind. That's why it's important to teach young people 790 00:52:41,080 --> 00:52:48,239 Speaker 3: to look inside the mind, the state of mind. And 791 00:52:48,280 --> 00:52:51,080 Speaker 3: there's too much going on right now that's so distracting 792 00:52:51,160 --> 00:52:54,080 Speaker 3: for them. I don't know how young people feel. If 793 00:52:54,080 --> 00:52:58,640 Speaker 3: they listen to news reports today, they can't feel empowered. 794 00:53:00,360 --> 00:53:02,880 Speaker 3: It's not meant to do that for us, for anybody. 795 00:53:03,000 --> 00:53:03,960 Speaker 1: But it never has though. 796 00:53:04,239 --> 00:53:06,280 Speaker 2: I mean they always say if it bleeds, it leads, 797 00:53:06,320 --> 00:53:09,480 Speaker 2: like they especially for black people, it never would telling 798 00:53:09,560 --> 00:53:12,280 Speaker 2: us anything to make us feel uplifted and empowered. 799 00:53:13,040 --> 00:53:16,080 Speaker 3: All of humanity is in the same boat, my friend, 800 00:53:17,200 --> 00:53:24,080 Speaker 3: nobody feels empowered by that. None, really. I was taught 801 00:53:24,080 --> 00:53:26,839 Speaker 3: a very great thing. I heard a very great thing 802 00:53:26,880 --> 00:53:34,120 Speaker 3: from a great being some years ago. Make yourself great 803 00:53:34,360 --> 00:53:40,800 Speaker 3: by making others greater. Mmm mmm, and that's what I 804 00:53:40,840 --> 00:53:42,320 Speaker 3: would teach a young. 805 00:53:42,320 --> 00:53:46,120 Speaker 1: Person, make yourself great by making others greater. 806 00:53:46,600 --> 00:53:49,040 Speaker 3: M yes. 807 00:53:49,120 --> 00:53:51,799 Speaker 4: Man, Well, thank you, not just for the interview, but 808 00:53:51,840 --> 00:53:53,680 Speaker 4: for your career things. 809 00:53:54,480 --> 00:53:57,400 Speaker 2: Thank you, Thank you for being you. Like you know, 810 00:53:59,400 --> 00:54:01,520 Speaker 2: it is not every day you get to meet people 811 00:54:01,560 --> 00:54:04,000 Speaker 2: that you you know, you grew up on and watched 812 00:54:04,280 --> 00:54:06,399 Speaker 2: and you know said to yourself, Man, that person right 813 00:54:06,400 --> 00:54:08,799 Speaker 2: there is a pillar of our community and what we 814 00:54:08,880 --> 00:54:09,760 Speaker 2: need to be as a people. 815 00:54:09,800 --> 00:54:11,960 Speaker 1: And then you meet them and you're just as gracious 816 00:54:12,000 --> 00:54:12,920 Speaker 1: and regal in person. 817 00:54:13,120 --> 00:54:13,319 Speaker 3: Yeah. 818 00:54:13,640 --> 00:54:14,680 Speaker 1: Just thank you. 819 00:54:14,719 --> 00:54:17,360 Speaker 2: Thank you to your mother and your father for raising 820 00:54:17,400 --> 00:54:21,160 Speaker 2: such a beautiful, strong woman, and I hope I can 821 00:54:21,360 --> 00:54:22,680 Speaker 2: do the same for my daughters. 822 00:54:22,920 --> 00:54:26,279 Speaker 3: I think you are I think when they look at you, 823 00:54:26,680 --> 00:54:30,759 Speaker 3: they know that they're loved and they're protected. That's all 824 00:54:30,760 --> 00:54:31,320 Speaker 3: they need. 825 00:54:31,560 --> 00:54:36,240 Speaker 2: Absolutely absolutely make sure y'all go check out Purposes running 826 00:54:36,239 --> 00:54:38,200 Speaker 2: through on Broadway through July sixth. 827 00:54:38,320 --> 00:54:40,520 Speaker 1: It is Queen Felicia Rashad. Thank you for joining us. 828 00:54:41,239 --> 00:54:44,480 Speaker 1: Wake that answer up in the morning. Breakfast Club