Speaker 1: Hi everyone, It's Sophia. Welcome to Work in Progress. Welcome
Speaker 1: back to Work in Progress friends. This week we have
Speaker 1: a guest who I've been a fan of for what
Speaker 1: feels like forever. Ariana Debos is an award winning actress.
Speaker 1: She is known for varying roles on stage, in film
Speaker 1: and television. I was lucky enough to see her in
Speaker 1: the original cast of Hamilton in New York on Broadway.
Speaker 1: I was so blown away by her, and she has
Speaker 1: just continued this breathtaking trajectory, winning an Academy Award in
Speaker 1: addition to a BAFTA for her performance in Steven Spielberg's
Speaker 1: reimagining A Westside Story. She played Anita so beautifully, and
Speaker 1: she also in the midst of you know, doing such
Speaker 1: an iconic role in such an iconic film and winning
Speaker 1: an Oscar for it happened to make history because she
Speaker 1: became the first openly queer Afro Latina to win an
Speaker 1: Academy Award. She's an absolute legend, and not only is
Speaker 1: she following up that project with incredible films other plays,
Speaker 1: hosting the Tony Awards not once but twice in two years,
Speaker 1: being nominated for Emmy's I Mean The list literally goes
Speaker 1: on and on and on, but she is doing something
Speaker 1: that is so close to her heart and mind. Arianna
Speaker 1: has taken a role as the acl USE Artist Ambassador
Speaker 1: to advocate for voting rights. She is doing incredible work
Speaker 1: making sure we all have the right to vote and
Speaker 1: also helping the ACLU to debunk myths and provide trusted
Speaker 1: information in a year where it is more important than ever.
Speaker 1: So today we're going to chat about Broadway art, identity, voting,
Speaker 1: and probably plenty more things that make us feel excited, inspired,
Speaker 1: and motivated for the year ahead. Let's get to it.
Speaker 2: Hi, how are you?
Speaker 1: I'm good. I'm so happy that you're here, and like
Speaker 1: just the overlap that we have with some of our
Speaker 1: favorite friends. I'm just like I have not gotten to
Speaker 1: spend time with her, but I love her the same.
Speaker 1: I'm is there anything that you want to know? Is
Speaker 1: there anything that you want to definitely talk about?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Not really, I feel like I mean, I don't I
Speaker 3: don't claim to be an expert in anything.
Speaker 2: I'm just like a human, so same.
Speaker 3: I always like provided disclaimer on anything, Like, guys, I'm
Speaker 3: just my perspective and experience, but I could be wrong
Speaker 3: and that's okay.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's kind of amazing when you learn more and
Speaker 1: then change your mind or just like expand your opinion.
Speaker 1: I think that Isn't that an interesting thing about our
Speaker 1: lives too, is like now, because everything is so online,
Speaker 1: it's almost like, yeah, supposedly every time you have a thought,
Speaker 1: you're declaring who you are. And it's like, right, we're not,
Speaker 1: or we're just all on this journey together learning yep,
Speaker 1: And yeah.
Speaker 4: Well I said that, like the thing about America, you're
Speaker 4: supposed to be able to like change your mind, have
Speaker 4: an opinion all the things.
Speaker 1: It's one of the things I feel like I can
Speaker 1: say to you because I know you are also such
Speaker 1: an activist and an advocate. Like when you say, isn't
Speaker 1: that the thing about this country? I think yes. I
Speaker 1: think it's baked into even the ideals of who we
Speaker 1: are because we had these incredible founding ideals that even
Speaker 1: the Founding fathers, who were by no means perfect, to
Speaker 1: have a whole lot of you know, skeletons in and
Speaker 1: out of their closets. They were like, we're going to
Speaker 1: do the most progressive thing that's been done in history.
Speaker 1: And we know we're not even building it the right
Speaker 1: way yet. So we're going to bake change into the foundation.
Speaker 1: It's what James Baldwin said, Like, I love this country,
Speaker 1: and therefore I criticize her. I want to bring her
Speaker 1: her Yes, Like I need to hold her to the
Speaker 1: standards that she says are hers, and I think the
Speaker 1: job of our generations is to get ever closer to
Speaker 1: the actual execution of those ideals.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like, that's why they created living documents.
Speaker 3: It's okay, Like anybody who wants to be better than
Speaker 3: they were the day before, they like I constantly like
Speaker 3: check myself.
Speaker 2: I ask the questions, critique, you know.
Speaker 5: What I mean, like self interrogation, you self interrogation, take
Speaker 5: the notes, you know, Like I feel like our you know,
Speaker 5: we're as well.
Speaker 4: I'm sadly recording this because it's probably Yeah, I just
Speaker 4: feel like.
Speaker 6: You know, that's part of what being a citizen of
Speaker 6: the United States is, you know, like you are if
Speaker 6: you are really being active and noticing it.
Speaker 3: It's like, no, we're not always going to get it right.
Speaker 3: The whole point of voting is so that you can
Speaker 3: participate in the critique and the making better of the
Speaker 3: world that you live in and you know, for me,
Speaker 3: being a sleep in that process is not really an option,
Speaker 3: partially because my identity demands that I stay awake.
Speaker 1: Yes, and yeah, okay, so this is this is cool
Speaker 1: because we dove in we and I actually think that
Speaker 1: this is a moment that connects us well to what's
Speaker 1: normally my first question. But I was just like, you
Speaker 1: also want to change the world. Tell me all about
Speaker 1: it when you think about that perspective, Like, you stand
Speaker 1: as this incredibly accomplished woman, and what you have achieved
Speaker 1: is breathtaking, and the way you use your platform as breathtaking,
Speaker 1: and you you are also very aware of how your
Speaker 1: identity requires you to spend the privilege of a platform
Speaker 1: like this when you I always like to know, you know,
Speaker 1: when I sit across from somebody who like has an
Speaker 1: Academy award on their shelf, I'm like, I'm like, do
Speaker 1: you see Like do you see Ariana today? If you
Speaker 1: were to like hang out with your eight year old self,
Speaker 1: would you see the through lines of who you are?
Speaker 1: Or were you into completely different things when you were little?
Speaker 1: Like how is it now for you to look back
Speaker 1: on yourself?
Speaker 3: You know, it's funny I look at if looking at
Speaker 3: my eight year old self, I could see how she
Speaker 3: got here. It's I mean, I say that like really assuredly,
Speaker 3: but I really can. Like I was a very creative child,
Speaker 3: you know. And I was the type of kid like
Speaker 3: when I would when I was born and my mom
Speaker 3: and I live with my grandmother, and I'm an only child.
Speaker 2: There's racist an only child, and yeah, what do you do?
Speaker 2: Only children? We have to find ways to entertain ourselves.
Speaker 2: We sure do, we sure do. So I would like
Speaker 2: go outside.
Speaker 3: We lived in like an apartment complex, and I'd go
Speaker 3: outside and there were these staircases, and I made the
Speaker 3: staircase like my stage, and I would just give shows
Speaker 3: for myself and like make it up songs or singing
Speaker 3: songs like her. And I'd like be like, oh, what
Speaker 3: if I did this dance step going downstairs? And like
Speaker 3: the neighbors would sort of look through the window and
Speaker 3: I would wave at them, and they were great about it.
Speaker 3: But look, I mean I think about it now, I'm like, Wow,
Speaker 3: they must have thought, Wow, she's really going.
Speaker 1: For it, that little girl just belting it out.
Speaker 3: Just belting it out, like but it I don't know
Speaker 3: that that sort of endless like childlife like curiosity and
Speaker 3: the need to express because that's really what it was.
Speaker 2: I wanted to find a place to put my emotions
Speaker 2: or you know.
Speaker 3: I remember when Titanic came out that you know, Celine
Speaker 3: Dion's my heart will go on, like eight year old
Speaker 3: Lorianta or however old I was, like she was belting
Speaker 3: it out on the staircase, like really believing that she
Speaker 3: was on.
Speaker 2: The Titanic in.
Speaker 3: The front ofership with the sunset and the wind and
Speaker 3: the singing and the chest pounds, Like there's a lot
Speaker 3: of that young person that is still inside of me.
Speaker 3: But also, you know, my mom is a public school teacher.
Speaker 7: She's an educator, and again she raised me as a
Speaker 7: single parent, and there were I was surrounded by educators
Speaker 7: and predominantly female educators for that matter, and so it
Speaker 7: took it really took a village to raise me.
Speaker 2: But as you can see, I'm the brown, the brown,
Speaker 2: but I'm a black woman.
Speaker 3: In the United States of America, some people would look
Speaker 3: at me and be like, oh, she's brown, and I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 3: but I'm black.
Speaker 2: I am an Afro Latina and my mom is white.
Speaker 3: So and I was raised by her side of the
Speaker 3: family really and our extended like chosen family. So my
Speaker 3: father that that brings the Latini dad to my existence
Speaker 3: was not present. So Spanish was not spoken in my home.
Speaker 3: I was not raised eating the food at all times
Speaker 3: that are cultural to my identity, and so I I
Speaker 3: didn't come to that portion of my identity of really
Speaker 3: having the opportunity to dig into that as much until
Speaker 3: my adulthood. So there was sort of a disconnect in
Speaker 3: my childhood. I didn't and I hate the way this,
Speaker 3: but it is my reality.
Speaker 2: I did not see color for.
Speaker 3: The longest time, and I didn't really have a concept
Speaker 3: of race. I could hear tone, like if I'm in
Speaker 3: the grocery stores with my mom as a kid, and
Speaker 3: you know, someone says something that doesn't sound very nice
Speaker 3: or throws us a look that is not very inviting
Speaker 3: or is judgmental. I could discern those types of things,
Speaker 3: but it wasn't really until you know, I was, you know,
Speaker 3: very much in school that I really started to process
Speaker 3: all of that. And as we know, they don't put
Speaker 3: a lot of the realities of certain things in textbooks.
Speaker 2: So but thank.
Speaker 3: God I had an educator for a parent who helped
Speaker 3: supplement all of that, you know, And she did go
Speaker 3: the extra mile understanding that she has a child of color,
Speaker 3: and she needed to explain certain things to me, you know,
Speaker 3: and really give me an understanding of racism, even though
Speaker 3: in my mind.
Speaker 2: I wasn't processing, if that makes sense.
Speaker 3: I knew what racism was, but I felt like the
Speaker 3: civil rights movement was so far away because it was
Speaker 3: in a book, you know. And so then as I'm
Speaker 3: as I was developing as an adult or becoming an
Speaker 3: adult and moving to New York City and seeing the
Speaker 3: realities of the world, and like, no, the civil rights
Speaker 3: movement ain't that movement is not that far away.
Speaker 2: In fact, she's fresh, Yes, she's still fresh.
Speaker 1: Well, And when you consider the fact speaking of your
Speaker 1: mom as an educator, like Ruby Bridgers is still alive,
Speaker 1: that little girl who had to be escorted by state
Speaker 1: troopers into her school at the age of five, in
Speaker 1: her little Mary Jane's and little bows in her hair,
Speaker 1: like she's younger than my mom. And so I think
Speaker 1: it's so interesting to hear hear you the way you
Speaker 1: talk about this, because I know that for me, what
Speaker 1: feels like the experience of our generation is the waking
Speaker 1: up to what we were taught as children lived in
Speaker 1: books is actually our present day experience that remains reverberating.
Speaker 1: And I don't know if I put myself in your
Speaker 1: mom's shoes, like to think back to when you were
Speaker 1: a little kid, and we weren't having, you know, common
Speaker 1: conversations about intersectionality. We weren't, we were we were in
Speaker 1: that process. Like what an incredible thing that, as you said,
Speaker 1: your mom was an educator who had the wherewithal to say,
Speaker 1: I'm a white woman raising a daughter of color whose
Speaker 1: identity is also intersectional. And like, of course you've had
Speaker 1: a journey and thank god she was your mom, Like whoa,
Speaker 1: what a? What an experience? Was was moving to New
Speaker 1: York because of how diverse it is and because of
Speaker 1: how diverse artists communities are. Like did that feel like
Speaker 1: a homecoming or a wake up call? Or both both?
Speaker 2: To be honest, I felt like both.
Speaker 3: I feel like, you know, my journey with the Broadway
Speaker 3: community has been.
Speaker 2: Wonderful and also fascinating.
Speaker 3: I think, you know, I was I came under what
Speaker 3: felt like to me living in the experience of it.
Speaker 3: I felt like I came under a lot of criticism
Speaker 3: that I was like the white black girl.
Speaker 2: I didn't sound black enough.
Speaker 3: I didn't sing black enough, I didn't really dance black enough.
Speaker 2: Like I just really wasn't black enough.
Speaker 3: In fact, there were several nights I'd be out and
Speaker 3: about with artists and there would be people who would
Speaker 3: try to tell me about myself and my own blackness,
Speaker 3: and I was never afforded the in those spaces, I
Speaker 3: was not afforded the opportunity to defend myself. It was
Speaker 3: never welcomed for me to explain anything. It was just
Speaker 3: assumed that I was elitist or thought I was better
Speaker 3: than everyone else, when in actuality, what was really happening
Speaker 3: was I was trying to find community.
Speaker 2: You know, I would ask, for example, like I would
Speaker 2: ask a question.
Speaker 3: You know, every culture has its own language, its own
Speaker 3: like euphemisms or whatnot, and like.
Speaker 2: Sometimes I'll be perfectly frank.
Speaker 3: Sometimes there were moments, especially when I was eighteen and
Speaker 3: fresh in New York and even into my second Broadway show,
Speaker 3: like where I didn't understand something and so I'd asked
Speaker 3: the question and they'd be like, what the hell, Oh
Speaker 3: so not really black, And I'm like, what does what
Speaker 3: does that mean, like when I walk down the street,
Speaker 3: I'm very I mean, the cops don't see a difference
Speaker 3: between me and you, so I don't.
Speaker 2: I don't get it. So things like that, and so
Speaker 2: that was very jarring for me, And.
Speaker 3: To be honest, sometimes I still like have to chet
Speaker 3: that one out in therapy, like I don't because I don't.
Speaker 2: I went the first person to say.
Speaker 3: You know, being a member of both the black community
Speaker 3: and the Hispanic community, it's like, yeah, there's there's colorism.
Speaker 2: Is a thing.
Speaker 3: There's interdimensional prejudice that is going on for very different reasons,
Speaker 3: and sometimes you really have to sit down and unpack
Speaker 3: what that is, and it's it can be really hard
Speaker 3: because it's pitting the community against each other.
Speaker 2: And then and also those two communities.
Speaker 3: In particular, it's like they get pit against each other
Speaker 3: all the time when in reality it's like we should
Speaker 3: be working together. I'm really unclear, and yet we're still
Speaker 3: arguing about minutia and not that the minutia is not important,
Speaker 3: but given the world that we live in, can we
Speaker 3: not find our common ground and elevate that first?
Speaker 2: You know, like, is are there? I don't.
Speaker 3: I would I wish that we as communities could have
Speaker 3: those conversations and like see our differences or the beauty
Speaker 3: of the minutia as like these make us individual, but
Speaker 3: these things bring us together. And sometimes that's not the
Speaker 3: standpoint that's taken. I will be the first to admit that.
Speaker 1: And now a word from our wonderful sponsors, And what
Speaker 1: a hard thing it must be to be growing up,
Speaker 1: growing into yourself, wanting to amass more understanding of your
Speaker 1: multi identities, and in a way to be told that
Speaker 1: your multiness is the problem. You're like that this is me,
Speaker 1: Like I live here, I'm literally this.
Speaker 8: Person every day and it's the you know what I
Speaker 8: look back on and like my first experiences in New
Speaker 8: York and because I was so hungry for community and like.
Speaker 2: And to be honest, like coming to New.
Speaker 3: York and and finding as an artist and finding the
Speaker 3: Broadway community also was one of the best things that
Speaker 3: could happen to me.
Speaker 2: But I think when you are like developing and trying.
Speaker 3: To embrace who you are, what is interesting is that
Speaker 3: for me, it put me in a place where I
Speaker 3: allowed people to tell me who I was, and I
Speaker 3: am innately and aquarius, and I don't do well authority figures.
Speaker 2: But I look back on it now and I'm like, oh,
Speaker 2: but I let people try to tell me which box
Speaker 2: I could be in, which also created issues because I
Speaker 2: butt heads against that.
Speaker 3: So I was sort of cultivating this like cycle of
Speaker 3: of unhappy.
Speaker 2: Which is not unlike voting rights.
Speaker 1: Because it's so weird that they all sort of tied
Speaker 1: together really anything.
Speaker 2: But I feel like it's I look at it.
Speaker 3: Now and I think I I started finding a flow
Speaker 3: in my life when I embraced all of the things
Speaker 3: that make me me and instead of trying to like
Speaker 3: put a lid on some things by owning them, it
Speaker 3: allowed me to actually live my most authentic life and
Speaker 3: I've found happiness in my life. That doesn't mean that
Speaker 3: everything's cupcakes and sprinkles. It's not.
Speaker 2: But there became a flow, and so I could find
Speaker 2: the spaces that were meant for me. You know.
Speaker 3: It's almost like I had to be ready to accept
Speaker 3: all of that, that there was going to be good
Speaker 3: with the bad, and you were never going to be
Speaker 3: able to cookie cut yourself down enough to be acceptable.
Speaker 3: It's like, I don't I don't fox with palatability anymore.
Speaker 3: I think that's death to creativity, palatability, bye, goodbye.
Speaker 2: I love it.
Speaker 1: But that's such an experience of stepping into power. And
Speaker 1: it's like, you know, we clearly don't have the same
Speaker 1: experience as young women finding our artistry and our specificity.
Speaker 1: But like I'm hearing you talk about this, and I'm like, girl,
Speaker 1: yes to so much of it. I you know, at
Speaker 1: twenty one, moved for my first big job and moved
Speaker 1: to a very small town and felt very isolated and
Speaker 1: really wanted to be an adult and really wanted to
Speaker 1: prove that I was good enough, really wanted to do
Speaker 1: all the things right. And you know, I carried all
Speaker 1: my familial and childhood trauma with me and I wanted
Speaker 1: to like build a life and do a thing. And
Speaker 1: I didn't have anybody saying if what is offered around
Speaker 1: you doesn't feel like enough, go out and seek it.
Speaker 1: I was sort of like, Okay, well, if these are
Speaker 1: the five forks I get to choose from all time,
Speaker 1: do this and if this, and I would I built
Speaker 1: a life to be like kind and a good team
Speaker 1: player and palatable and things, and wasn't good for me.
Speaker 1: It's a it's a journey, I think, to discover how
Speaker 1: to seek more, how to be grateful for what it is,
Speaker 1: but like not give up on yourself a little bit,
Speaker 1: not shrink yourself a little bit. And people especially don't
Speaker 1: like when women don't shrink themselves, And they especially don't
Speaker 1: like when we don't shrink ourselves and we're political. Like
Speaker 1: for them, it's, oh yeah, they just they melt down.
Speaker 1: But like, even when I think about your art, like
Speaker 1: your identity is inherently political, your art has been political,
Speaker 1: Like hello, you were part of the original cast of Hamilton,
Speaker 1: Like you made politics pop culture in this like beautiful way,
Speaker 1: in a way that claimed diversity, chose diversity, Like what
Speaker 1: what was that like? Because by the way, I remember
Speaker 1: like early days and I'm like, this is the most
Speaker 1: inspiring thing I've ever seen. All I care about is
Speaker 1: like the actual potential of the realization of the American Documents?
Speaker 1: Does everybody know? Like do people know? And then I remember,
Speaker 1: like within four weeks I wanted to bring a bunch
Speaker 1: of friends back and like couldn't get tickets for four months,
Speaker 1: And I was like, Okay, everybody knows, Like, and what
Speaker 1: was it like to be in it? Because I know,
Speaker 1: as an audience member and a fan, I was just
Speaker 1: like melting down. And I was like you as a
Speaker 1: kid on the staircase, like wapping around in my car
Speaker 1: with the windows down, singing along to you guys, Like
Speaker 1: what what did it feel like to be in it?
Speaker 3: Oh? I mean.
Speaker 2: I could say it was wild?
Speaker 9: You know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think.
Speaker 3: I don't know if you, if you speak to any
Speaker 3: members of the original cast, I don't know that we
Speaker 3: have good words for it because it felt so singular,
Speaker 3: to be honest, but you're but what what you what
Speaker 3: you said is exactly what we did, Like.
Speaker 2: We made are political.
Speaker 3: It's like how it's so rare that you get like
Speaker 3: every you know, you get presidents to Broadway, like what
Speaker 3: the Secretary of State is coming to Broadway, like you know,
Speaker 3: like senators.
Speaker 2: Actively want to see this.
Speaker 3: It like it made you know, art, It gave art
Speaker 3: a different platform, and it certainly gave Broadway a different
Speaker 3: a different audience, you know, And I think that was
Speaker 3: really cool and there there, It wasn't a you could
Speaker 3: be in your seventies or eighties and still love Hamilton.
Speaker 3: You could be a child and love Hamilton for different reasons.
Speaker 3: But the messaging behind it, the diversity, spoke to the
Speaker 3: you know, facing some truths about women.
Speaker 2: Women in the sake wall work, you.
Speaker 3: Know, like there was there was a lot in there
Speaker 3: that I think, you know, created a different synergy and
Speaker 3: showed a lot of people as possible.
Speaker 2: I think.
Speaker 3: Fighting personally fighting the Revolutionary War eight times a week
Speaker 3: was really hard. Girl.
Speaker 1: I thought about you guys again, because it's just like
Speaker 1: one of the shows I've seen the most times. And
Speaker 1: I did a play like a straight play on the
Speaker 1: West End in twenty ty three, and I would get
Speaker 1: to the end of a five show weekend and literally collapse,
Speaker 1: and I was like, wait, I have friends who do
Speaker 1: this and they sing and dance like wow, you like
Speaker 1: I look at you now like a person with superpowers.
Speaker 1: It's incredible.
Speaker 3: It's the wildest thing. I will always say that like
Speaker 3: Broadway in like theater theater in general. If you're if
Speaker 3: you're doing theater at a high.
Speaker 2: Level, which the West End is, is so like more
Speaker 2: power to you.
Speaker 1: It was so cool.
Speaker 10: It was also doing straight plays on the West End
Speaker 10: I find just inherently intimidating because like the Brits, they
Speaker 10: they know thet all, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: Oh great?
Speaker 1: It was the one American in the play, and I
Speaker 1: was like, cool, no pressure, I'm going to be Oh
Speaker 1: my god, I heard you great though.
Speaker 11: Actually I'm sad I missed it, but I heard you
Speaker 11: were absolutely wonderful, So go you.
Speaker 1: I loved every minute of it. I was crushed when
Speaker 1: I got like, you know, as so many people did,
Speaker 1: like hit so hard, pandemic, yeah, sickness that I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm actually like too sick to keep working. I've never
Speaker 1: had this happen before. I've left the hospital and gone
Speaker 1: back to set. What do you mean I have to go?
Speaker 2: Do you mean? Yeah?
Speaker 1: But the months that I got to be there and
Speaker 1: do it, it gave me the bug in such an
Speaker 1: intense way. And now I'm like, what's my next.
Speaker 3: Playing to be?
Speaker 1: I need it.
Speaker 2: I'm really need it. Okay, now, okay, gool gool cool.
Speaker 1: So if you want to do a straight play straight already.
Speaker 2: You're great. All right, I'm going to keep the lookout. Okay,
Speaker 2: you heard it here first, everyone.
Speaker 1: Let's go to Broadway.
Speaker 2: Broadway. No, but I do think what was I saying? Oh?
Speaker 3: I do think there's no training like.
Speaker 2: Like doing theater. It's a different kind of stamina, it's
Speaker 2: a different kind of work.
Speaker 3: Ethic, you know, and I had the privilege of doing
Speaker 3: like six Broadway shows almost back to back.
Speaker 1: Wow, yeah, you never stopped.
Speaker 2: I didn't, and I'm very grateful.
Speaker 3: You know. I got some great advice when I was
Speaker 3: doing my first Broadway show. I ran into Judith Light
Speaker 3: who is my favorite humans on the world in the
Speaker 3: Planet Icon, and she was like, just say yes, just
Speaker 3: keep saying yes.
Speaker 2: You will.
Speaker 3: You will learn something from every show that you do.
Speaker 3: And the lesson may be easy, the lesson may be hard,
Speaker 3: but you will learn. And you will always have an
Speaker 3: income because you know, I didn't go to university for
Speaker 3: what I do.
Speaker 2: I think people like assume.
Speaker 3: That maybe I went to Juilliard or maybe I went
Speaker 3: to you know, a really great.
Speaker 1: Like a conservatory, a conservatory, thank you.
Speaker 2: Nope, did not, did not. I I graduated in two
Speaker 2: thousand and nine. So there just wasn't any money any
Speaker 2: the recession.
Speaker 1: No, like they always say, like the bubble burst in
Speaker 1: two thousand and eight.
Speaker 3: Yes it did, it did, and it there was no
Speaker 3: money for scholarships. And again I single parent home with
Speaker 3: a public school teacher salary. It's like there, we barely
Speaker 3: had money for you go to a state school, you
Speaker 3: know what I mean. I was reliant on scholarships even
Speaker 3: in my when I was training, Like I went to
Speaker 3: a competitive dance studio and received incredible training, but I
Speaker 3: worked as a teacher's assistant to pay off some of
Speaker 3: my basic tuition.
Speaker 2: And then every time we went.
Speaker 3: To like a convention, competition or something, I took them
Speaker 3: very seriously because in the class portion of the convention
Speaker 3: I wanted to do well. It was very focused, not
Speaker 3: to my detriment, but I knew that if I didn't
Speaker 3: get a scholarship, nine times out of ten, I would
Speaker 3: not be coming back the next year because we could
Speaker 3: not afford it. So like, dance was such a savior
Speaker 3: to me because it gave me a structure for my life.
Speaker 3: I found something I loved and I was willing to
Speaker 3: do the work to so that my opportunities would continue
Speaker 3: to advance. Like yeah, I could keep the doors open.
Speaker 3: And you know, there at one point in my life
Speaker 3: there was a very privileged white woman said to me, like,
Speaker 3: you're so privileged because you had a white mom. And
Speaker 3: I was like, in what way do you think that
Speaker 3: I was privileged? I lived in a small town. We
Speaker 3: for a time, we lived in subsidized housing, and people
Speaker 3: really look down on my mom because she had a
Speaker 3: brown child or a black child, And.
Speaker 2: So I'm I don't get it.
Speaker 3: Like if the cops stopped us and saw me, there's
Speaker 3: like a myriad of questions. Even sometimes you know, white
Speaker 3: women in the in the grocery store, like would say
Speaker 3: some things like is that your child? Like her students
Speaker 3: at times were like are you adopted? Like there was
Speaker 3: always this question around what I came to believe my validity.
Speaker 3: And now that does not mean that we had it
Speaker 3: harder than absolutely everybody. That is not what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: I am saying that as a child, I understood that
Speaker 3: there were differences, and no, my mom did not have
Speaker 3: an easy time of it, and perhaps at times my
Speaker 3: identity might have made it harder, you know, but like
Speaker 3: she's my mother, and she loved me, and she busted
Speaker 3: her butt to give me a good life. But whiteness
Speaker 3: at times does not always translate to privilege. And I
Speaker 3: think there are will always be an inherent privilege to whiteness.
Speaker 3: But given my identity and the life that I lived
Speaker 3: growing up, I saw some real times where it was
Speaker 3: not helpful. The whiteness did not play come into play
Speaker 3: as a helpful factor, if that makes.
Speaker 2: Sense, and there are there are people who have trouble here.
Speaker 1: It's so odd to me. I don't understand why people
Speaker 1: want to always couch what others have gone through. It's like,
Speaker 1: why why would someone even feel the need to say
Speaker 1: that to you, because then, by the way, you're required
Speaker 1: to do the emotional labor of educating someone to be like,
Speaker 1: you know what, I, because I lived with my mother,
Speaker 1: might have had proximity to a version of her privilege,
Speaker 1: but I also was very aware of how that privilege
Speaker 1: didn't extend to me because I don't look like my mother. Like,
Speaker 1: just the fact that you have to sit and say
Speaker 1: that to somebody is like, God, it's exhausting say that.
Speaker 2: Oh it was exhausting, and to this day at times
Speaker 2: it is exhausting.
Speaker 3: But it's like, I share that with you in this
Speaker 3: moment because I also am like, but yes, podcast, people
Speaker 3: love this podcast and maybe they never thought about that,
Speaker 3: And I'm like, I don't have a problem sharing, but
Speaker 3: in the moments where it's like, oh God, controversial again,
Speaker 3: I don't care about being palata well anymore.
Speaker 2: I'll just say it. If that makes sense.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and now a word from our sponsors that I
Speaker 1: really enjoy and I think will too. Well, that's the thing, Like,
Speaker 1: I think we have to be as frank as possible
Speaker 1: about reality if we ever hope to create better ones,
Speaker 1: and to your point, like, okay, if we want to
Speaker 1: rally the troops for a better America, we want to
Speaker 1: make this country live up to its ideals. Actually, us
Speaker 1: women should be mobilizing fifty one percent of the population, like,
Speaker 1: let's go. But we have to be willing to hear
Speaker 1: the different experiences of the women. Like if we're all
Speaker 1: in a pool, then we're a bunch of buckets in
Speaker 1: a pool. And if I don't know anything about what
Speaker 1: you go through, or I'm not willing to hear what
Speaker 1: you go through, or I'm not curious about what you
Speaker 1: go through, not only am I doing a disservice to
Speaker 1: you in our relationship, I'm also making myself more ignorant.
Speaker 1: So I'm going to advocate us well for you and
Speaker 1: for me, Like come on, we should just we should
Speaker 1: just be willing. Yeah, not dissimilarly to a good script, right,
Speaker 1: like to our friends at home. You hear me talk
Speaker 1: about this a lot with other actors. Like how a
Speaker 1: really good movie or TV show will make they will
Speaker 1: tell someone's specific story. And when you do specificity really well,
Speaker 1: everyone identifies with it because it's also universal. And like,
Speaker 1: we only create a good universal outcome if we are
Speaker 1: willing to pay attention to everybody's specificity and then design
Speaker 1: an outcome that supports us all.
Speaker 3: And honestly, you say it so plainly, I'm like this, yeah, God,
Speaker 3: just that it's pretty.
Speaker 11: It seems so simple to me, which is also why
Speaker 11: I was just like, you know, I'm I I knowing
Speaker 11: my I mean, why my life, So I know my journey,
Speaker 11: but like knowing all these different like mile markers in
Speaker 11: my life, it's like, Okay, I want to I want
Speaker 11: to try.
Speaker 3: And cultivate community in the ways that I might not
Speaker 3: have had growing up, you know what I mean. And
Speaker 3: and so I try to choose my art from that standpoint,
Speaker 3: like who can this speak to?
Speaker 2: Or how how can my presence be a value?
Speaker 3: Add Like, I'm not someone who just like inserts myself.
Speaker 2: Just because like I'm very intentional.
Speaker 3: About things when I like, I think that's very important.
Speaker 3: But that's also why I think about like just to
Speaker 3: sort of whack because like I know, I.
Speaker 2: Tell you realness, I.
Speaker 3: Especially on a day like today, But I think when
Speaker 3: I think about my idea, my my identity, my my journey,
Speaker 3: I'm an artist, and they all work together and like
Speaker 3: sometimes separating because I think clarity about like what is
Speaker 3: going on with your identity and your work because people
Speaker 3: like to confuse the two is very important. But that's
Speaker 3: how I come back to like who am I as
Speaker 3: a human and what am I trying to do with
Speaker 3: this platform that I've been given?
Speaker 2: So for me when I was like, oh, I love
Speaker 2: the ACLU, why because they are.
Speaker 1: Not They're advocating for all of us.
Speaker 2: I think that's really important.
Speaker 3: They're advocating for everyone, even the people, and that's the
Speaker 3: beauty of being an American, Like I don't always have
Speaker 3: to agree with my fellow American, but I do believe
Speaker 3: that we all have a place here in this country
Speaker 3: and we all have the right to be heard.
Speaker 2: And so I was like, I can get down. I
Speaker 2: love that, let's go.
Speaker 1: That also takes a certain willingness to self interrogate and
Speaker 1: to hold yourself to the standards you say you believe
Speaker 1: it to say, like I really do not agree yes,
Speaker 1: with this person's bigoted opinion. But guess what, I'm the
Speaker 1: first amendment they're allowed to say it. So what am
Speaker 1: I going to do to support the people they might
Speaker 1: be verbally attacked? How am I going to build a
Speaker 1: better system? How am I gonna allow them to be
Speaker 1: who they are whether I agree or not? And then
Speaker 1: make sure I'm defending the people who their rights might harm?
Speaker 1: Like that takes a bigness. And you know, again, when
Speaker 1: you talk about your identity, your journey, your work, like
Speaker 1: I think about you being in the original cast of Hamilton,
Speaker 1: I think about you as this woman who lives at
Speaker 1: the intersections you live at. In twenty twenty two, by
Speaker 1: the way, like talk about how history is now you
Speaker 1: became the very first queer woman of color to win
Speaker 1: an Academy Award for West Side Story. And you know
Speaker 1: you're talking about how as a kid you didn't grow
Speaker 1: up speaking Spanish, Like what has it been like to
Speaker 1: lean back into your culture? Have you learned your language?
Speaker 1: How have you built that community? Would it feel like
Speaker 1: to stand up and do that job and then get
Speaker 1: like the best award?
Speaker 2: It to what I see, the.
Speaker 1: Exact thing you were just talking about about how all
Speaker 1: these pieces of you come back to connect. Does it
Speaker 1: Does it feel like that from the inside? Does it
Speaker 1: feel like a homecoming?
Speaker 2: You know? I mean, here's the thing about homecomings.
Speaker 3: Sometimes they're uncomfortable and that's okay, that's that's that's life.
Speaker 3: So the journey with West Side Story was both highly
Speaker 3: uncomfortable and cathartic and wonderful and shiny. It was all
Speaker 3: of it. But I think the only way that I
Speaker 3: was I did what I always do. Yeah, I came
Speaker 3: to it authentically. It's like the very first day I
Speaker 3: met Steven Spielberg, he was like, so, what do you
Speaker 3: want me to know? And I was like, well, I
Speaker 3: want you to know that I'm Afro Latina. I am
Speaker 3: a black woman who is Hispanic. And he was like
Speaker 3: and I was like, yeah, I know, I know, but
Speaker 3: like it's real and and that if you were not
Speaker 3: willing to, you know, explore that and the content because
Speaker 3: of the making of your movie, then don't hire me.
Speaker 2: That's what I said to him. And he just sort
Speaker 2: of was like, thank you for your honesty.
Speaker 3: And I was like, and I'm also going to tell
Speaker 3: you that I did not grow up with Spanish spoken
Speaker 3: in my home so I took it in high school.
Speaker 3: I was pretty good at it, but like, this is
Speaker 3: going to be work for me, and also my dad.
Speaker 2: Is not in my life. And he was like, ah,
Speaker 2: thank you for.
Speaker 3: Your honesty, and I appreciate, Like I was always honest
Speaker 3: about who I.
Speaker 2: Was, you know, and who I am, Like there's no
Speaker 2: need to not be for me.
Speaker 3: But I went into it with like, this may not
Speaker 3: be good enough for you, you know I was, And honestly
Speaker 3: I was ready for you to be like it's not
Speaker 3: like you're not you don't look like Rita Moreno, you
Speaker 3: don't look like Cheter of Vera.
Speaker 2: Your background is not good enough, you know.
Speaker 3: I was ready to have all of those normal things
Speaker 3: that I've thrown it in my face every traditionally, and
Speaker 3: he didn't do that. And so from there on it
Speaker 3: made it like it it gave me permission to continue
Speaker 3: to bring the fullness of my identity to that job.
Speaker 3: And so then when being the first openly queer woman
Speaker 3: of color to win an Academy award was incredibly special
Speaker 3: because every part of the process was that, like, I
Speaker 3: never had to be anything but who I am, you know,
Speaker 3: and if I had a thought I could share it.
Speaker 2: You know, I'm opinionated. I share my opinion.
Speaker 3: I believe I share my opinions in a way that
Speaker 3: does not smack someone else down. That is not the
Speaker 3: point of me sharing an opinion, but I share it
Speaker 3: from the space of let's open up the opportunities, the horizons,
Speaker 3: like maybe there are several different paths we could go down,
Speaker 3: and if we commit to one without first considering these
Speaker 3: other things, like what are we even doing?
Speaker 9: Sometimes but it was wild and but the short answer
Speaker 9: to your question was no, it didn't always feel good,
Speaker 9: but it was.
Speaker 2: The whole process was totally mine and it complete.
Speaker 3: I got to completely embody and own it every step
Speaker 3: of the way. So the uncomfortability I owned, the celebration
Speaker 3: of it I owned. And you know, during that process,
Speaker 3: I discovered I got to do some family digging and
Speaker 3: my Hispanic roots come from sant Thorse, the little barrio's
Speaker 3: outside of San Juan, though my father's family is from Santors.
Speaker 2: Like I took the Spanish lessons I was and to.
Speaker 3: Be honest, I'll be candid and like I'm I have
Speaker 3: a musical ear.
Speaker 2: My accent is good.
Speaker 3: But like language, when you don't learn it from a
Speaker 3: young age. It's use it or lose it, and it's hard.
Speaker 3: And so I still get anxiety in Spanish speaking spaces
Speaker 3: when I know what's being said and I can't think
Speaker 3: quick enough to respond in Spanish, like it kills me
Speaker 3: and I want to cry, and I turned into five
Speaker 3: year old arid like isn't good enough. It's very hard
Speaker 3: for me, But I still try well, and I think
Speaker 3: that's important. Part is like you have to make the
Speaker 3: effort well.
Speaker 1: And what I hear you saying really is like you're
Speaker 1: advocating for the fullness of yourself in yourself, and I
Speaker 1: don't think it's accidental that you are such an advocate
Speaker 1: for other people too. Like that passion to lean in,
Speaker 1: you know, tracks for what we were just speaking about
Speaker 1: with the ACLU, and like for you to be on
Speaker 1: your journey and simultaneously want to go on a journey
Speaker 1: for everyone, for us, for people's rights, like you sit.
Speaker 1: You know today you're the newest voting rights ambassador for
Speaker 1: the ACLU, and you mentioned they defend everybody. They do
Speaker 1: all the good work, they make sure everybody has access
Speaker 1: to the same rights. But we know that voting rights
Speaker 1: in particular have been so under attack and what made
Speaker 1: you want to jump into this? And is there like,
Speaker 1: you know, being being the resident expert on this call, like,
Speaker 1: is there a little overview you can give to our
Speaker 1: friends who are listening at home, because I know that
Speaker 1: so many people in my audience are like it feels
Speaker 1: like everything keeps getting worse.
Speaker 2: What do we do?
Speaker 1: And you actually have some steps of things we can
Speaker 1: really do to you know, be here for each other.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I mean I wanted to jump in because
Speaker 3: I just felt like so my identity again sort of
Speaker 3: like demanded it in a way.
Speaker 2: And I care about people. I really do. Even once
Speaker 2: I disagree with I still care about you. I want
Speaker 2: you to have a good life, even if you don't
Speaker 2: want that for me.
Speaker 3: But it's like, I'm also passionate about young people, and
Speaker 3: I feel like when I watch our you know, our
Speaker 3: rights in.
Speaker 2: General get like dwindled down, and it's it for me.
Speaker 3: I look at it, and I'm like, you just trying
Speaker 3: to put people in boxes and I'm so not here
Speaker 3: for it. You want You're like, we've we've changed the
Speaker 3: narratives so much to try and kind of keep people
Speaker 3: small and keep them from asking questions and so for me,
Speaker 3: the basis of my ambassadorship really starts there. It's like,
Speaker 3: I don't think there's a single dumb question when it
Speaker 3: comes to voting rights.
Speaker 2: I think you should ask them all, even the ones.
Speaker 3: That you're like, this may not have anything to do
Speaker 3: with anything, but I'm gonna ask it, like I want
Speaker 3: to sort of demystify that, you know, and just ask
Speaker 3: the questions.
Speaker 2: People may have and the ones that I have, also
Speaker 2: knowing that I may not have.
Speaker 3: The answer, but an organization like the ACLU probably does
Speaker 3: and they can explain things like I.
Speaker 2: Know, I was reading, you know, which is hard. Reading
Speaker 2: the news is hard, or listening.
Speaker 3: To it can be like debilitating and depressing. But I
Speaker 3: was reading a lot of these you know, decisions that
Speaker 3: were coming down from the Supreme Court, and I was like,
Speaker 3: oh gosh, this is like so much and this language
Speaker 3: is so like heavy and honestly makes me feel really dumb,
Speaker 3: and everything in me just wants to like not read.
Speaker 2: But I know I need to.
Speaker 3: And so that's when I would like call up my girl,
Speaker 3: just go over at the assau like what does this mean?
Speaker 3: And she was like, oh, let me prefer you to
Speaker 3: so and so and they can tell you. And I
Speaker 3: was like, that's what we should be doing. Like when
Speaker 3: these decisions come down that it's hard to understand.
Speaker 2: I want to be like, hey, this thing happens, and
Speaker 2: I'm pretty sure it.
Speaker 3: Affects so and so in Arkansas, or this came down
Speaker 3: from the eighth circuit course, and who does this effect?
Speaker 3: And I want to ask those questions and see how
Speaker 3: we can open up the conversation or at least make
Speaker 3: the facts easier to digest.
Speaker 2: And again, just remind folks there are no stupid questions.
Speaker 3: But the only dumb questions or stupid questions are the
Speaker 3: ones you don't ask and you don't try to find
Speaker 3: the answer to. And so I'm sort of putting myself
Speaker 3: in that space, you know.
Speaker 2: And also I know you know all about that, because like, hell,
Speaker 2: I have been an for a long long time.
Speaker 1: Thank you. I look, I think we're all in this together.
Speaker 1: And yes, it is so important as as we were
Speaker 1: talking about earlier, like when you when you managed to
Speaker 1: have a platform because of what you do, like you
Speaker 1: got to do good with it. So when you talk
Speaker 1: about all of the things that you know you've been
Speaker 1: learning and the questions you've been asking of the folks
Speaker 1: at the ACLU. We are in an election year, are
Speaker 1: there any myths that you want to set straight or
Speaker 1: any any fun facts you want to give to people.
Speaker 2: Oh that's a really interesting question, you know what I think.
Speaker 3: I think there there's the and this is a large
Speaker 3: like a larger conversation, but I think a lot of
Speaker 3: people are like, oh, well, the presidential election is the
Speaker 3: only one that matters.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 3: I know you've talked about this on your podcast and
Speaker 3: like that's.
Speaker 2: Not the truth. Yeah, it is so not the truth.
Speaker 3: Like it doesn't matter it, it does not I'm not
Speaker 3: here to tell you who to vote for it when
Speaker 3: it comes to the presidential election, but I am here
Speaker 3: to like remind you that, like anything that is like
Speaker 3: important to your life whatever, you're showing up to the
Speaker 3: pole four right, nine times out of ten, those local
Speaker 3: elections are real important, my friends.
Speaker 2: And we don't think of that because what's in the
Speaker 2: news so.
Speaker 3: Often is these bigger, these bigger elections.
Speaker 2: And so that's part of it.
Speaker 3: I mean that just reminding people that, like it takes
Speaker 3: work to be a voter. Voting is not easy, and
Speaker 3: the institutions that surround us don't make it easier for us.
Speaker 3: It does take time, effort and planning. For the longest time,
Speaker 3: even myself, I don't even know how to find the
Speaker 3: correct websites for certain things like how do I find
Speaker 3: people's platforms?
Speaker 2: Like what is even on my ballot? And then I
Speaker 2: did find resources like I am a voter.
Speaker 3: But you have to do that work and you have
Speaker 3: to want to to to have your voice heard. And
Speaker 3: the reality is it does matter. It really does matter,
Speaker 3: and it matters more in election years like this year.
Speaker 3: Every year it matters.
Speaker 2: But when you have so.
Speaker 3: Many they ticket items on the ballot, if you don't
Speaker 3: show up and.
Speaker 2: Vote, then for me, I'm just like that, then we're
Speaker 2: not we're not seeing the fullness of our democracy.
Speaker 3: Yeah, take hold and again because I vote, it in
Speaker 3: my mind is my own personal opinion. Now I can
Speaker 3: reserve the right to really criticize my country, like I
Speaker 3: will go ham at her Yes because I showed up
Speaker 3: to vote.
Speaker 2: Yes, because I did my part.
Speaker 1: And now for our sponsors. The way I think about
Speaker 1: it too, is like voting is a it's a relationship.
Speaker 2: You know, that's nice.
Speaker 1: Like democracy to me is a verb, like love is
Speaker 1: a verb. It is an action an action. It is
Speaker 1: so important to take that action because your entire life
Speaker 1: is governed by policy. Your experience, the roads you drive on,
Speaker 1: whether or not they have potholes, whether or not kids
Speaker 1: have you know, healthy schools, whether or not people can
Speaker 1: go to the doctor. It is all designed by policy,
Speaker 1: and so we have to show up and exercise our
Speaker 1: right so that we can have a healthier relationship to
Speaker 1: life in this country. Yes, and that is the thing,
Speaker 1: Like when people talk about feeling discouraged or things feel dangerous,
Speaker 1: or like this election matters so much because it will
Speaker 1: decide the future of the Supreme Court, and we already
Speaker 1: saw how that went in the last one that didn't
Speaker 1: go so well. Like, people are being harmed by the
Speaker 1: outcomes of these events, and if we want to undo
Speaker 1: that harm, we have to show up and vote like
Speaker 1: we love each other and this country.
Speaker 2: That to me is the part I think.
Speaker 3: You know I've had personally, you know, I've had some
Speaker 3: slightly uncomfortable conversations with members of my family.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's it's it's tough.
Speaker 3: When you do come to someone who doesn't necessarily believe
Speaker 3: that they're vot vote actually speaks for their families as well,
Speaker 3: or members of their families.
Speaker 2: Like, your vote isn't always necessarily just for you, it's
Speaker 2: for your neighbor, you know, it's for someone you love.
Speaker 3: Like you know, I am a queer woman of color
Speaker 3: and my family members are white.
Speaker 2: But every time they cast a vote, and like, just remember,
Speaker 2: vote for me, I'm going to vote for you.
Speaker 3: I'm going to vote so that your your your identity,
Speaker 3: your wants and needs are encompassed in mind, you know,
Speaker 3: are encompassed in my vote, But am I encompassed in yours? Like?
Speaker 3: And that's hard because there's there's the rights of the individual,
Speaker 3: and then we also have to look at the rights
Speaker 3: of the whole.
Speaker 2: And again, I've heard you talk about this a.
Speaker 3: Lot, Like it's not a pie guys, more rights for
Speaker 3: me doesn't mean there's less rights for you.
Speaker 1: It just means the rights get bigger, bigger.
Speaker 3: Yeah, creating more equity meets creating more pie.
Speaker 2: Ye, Like Merrol and I love pie. You want everybody
Speaker 2: to have it.
Speaker 1: So for our friends who also love pie, should we
Speaker 1: should we tell them where they can begin, because to
Speaker 1: your point, it can be hard to start the journey.
Speaker 1: So would you recommend, like, yeah, you know, the ACLU
Speaker 1: on Instagram is ACLU Nationwide. Everybody maybe should go there first.
Speaker 3: Yes, I do think that the ACLU if you, like,
Speaker 3: if you aren't sure where you stand, right, if you're
Speaker 3: just interested in learning, the ACLU provides a breadth of
Speaker 3: information on breadth of topics, right. Yeah, and again it
Speaker 3: is non partisan. So this is literally about human rights.
Speaker 3: It's about your rights for all or all. And that's
Speaker 3: why I think there's such a great place to start.
Speaker 2: If you really are not here for.
Speaker 3: Like, I'm blue, I'm red, why don't you just be
Speaker 3: try being first? The AL Nationwide is a great place
Speaker 3: to start. Their Instagram account is honestly one of my
Speaker 3: favorite things to and yes, because obviously we're dealing with
Speaker 3: facts and things that are happening in real time all
Speaker 3: across our country. Sometimes it can't be depressing, but it's
Speaker 3: informative and it's always hopeful. There's always hope because knowledge
Speaker 3: is power.
Speaker 1: Yes, and I love that.
Speaker 2: That makes sense.
Speaker 3: And also vote dot org like if as far as
Speaker 3: like just process, if you need to check to see
Speaker 3: if you're registered, little the basic one, twos and threes,
Speaker 3: everything you need to know to vote vote.
Speaker 1: I love that or I am a voter, yes, and
Speaker 1: I will say to our friends at home, you can look.
Speaker 1: I don't like a lot of text messages. I don't
Speaker 1: like a lot of emails. Like too much. Communication is
Speaker 1: the bane of my existence. So I helped UH organize
Speaker 1: that I am a voter chatbot because I was like,
Speaker 1: if it texts me all the time, I'll be furious.
Speaker 1: And it's partially my organization. You can text the word
Speaker 1: voter from anywhere in the country to two six seven
Speaker 1: nine seven voter vot er and it will give you
Speaker 1: your updated info on registering. You can make sure you're registered,
Speaker 1: and it will send you a text reminder before the election,
Speaker 1: remind you of where you're going, where your polling place
Speaker 1: is in case it's changing. It is like the best
Speaker 1: amount of information with the least amount of being bothered possible,
Speaker 1: So go online and then also send a text and
Speaker 1: we will make sure you are covered, because we want
Speaker 1: everybody to have more pie. Now, my dear, you are
Speaker 1: obviously spending this year being a voting rights ambassador for
Speaker 1: the ACLU. You are working to defend American democracy. You
Speaker 1: are out here advocating for people and reminding people of
Speaker 1: the ways we can be better, deeper, more aware of
Speaker 1: each other. And I know people are like and where
Speaker 1: else can I see her? Like, I got a lot
Speaker 1: of questions about you, like what's next in your career?
Speaker 1: Where are you going? People are like they're just desperate
Speaker 1: for more of you and your voice and all that are.
Speaker 2: Oh that's really sweet. You know. Well, I'm currently in Winnipeg, Canada.
Speaker 2: Make it a movie.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you are in a cold place.
Speaker 2: I am.
Speaker 3: I am, but hey, I'm still paying attention to what's
Speaker 3: going on in the country.
Speaker 2: Yes, so that's that's the other thing. It's like, I
Speaker 2: take it off.
Speaker 3: I take it very seriously, like it's a responsibility to
Speaker 3: like like a pay attention read anyways.
Speaker 2: But yes, I'm I'm I'm working after.
Speaker 3: You know, the entertainment industry was on strike for like
Speaker 3: what felt like an eternity for absolutely every person involved,
Speaker 3: and so I really wanted to work this year, and
Speaker 3: I'm very grateful to have opportunity.
Speaker 2: So I'm doing just that at the moment. But I've
Speaker 2: got some things up my sleeve. Okay, she might be.
Speaker 3: Doing your girl might be doing some things, might be
Speaker 3: taking some big swings, trying some new things.
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm very excited to hear what they are when
Speaker 1: it's time.
Speaker 2: When it's time, I mean, that's the name of my game.
Speaker 3: Though, like I when it becomes formulated to me, that's
Speaker 3: when I don't want to do it because I don't
Speaker 3: like doing the same thing twice. Every show I did
Speaker 3: on Broadway for ten years was different. None of them
Speaker 3: were the same. And I'm really grateful that I seem
Speaker 3: to have a path in this new facet of the
Speaker 3: industry that is allowing me to do that. I'll be honest,
Speaker 3: it's not always easy. Sometimes you really got to go
Speaker 3: in there and like advocate for yourself in a way
Speaker 3: that's like, yes, see me for this part. I know
Speaker 3: it doesn't make sense, it doesn't have to, but let
Speaker 3: me try.
Speaker 1: Just look, I have a hunch.
Speaker 3: Just look, I just have a hunch, Like my gut
Speaker 3: is telling me. You'll be pleasantly surprised. So it's really
Speaker 3: a lot of that. And I'm this is my year
Speaker 3: of I said to myself at the beginning of the year.
Speaker 3: If the energy is not electric, I do not want it.
Speaker 3: So that's my sort of like guiding light, and I'm
Speaker 3: following that and so everything I do right now feels
Speaker 3: very creatively stimulated. And while that did not answer the
Speaker 3: question of what am I doing next and where is
Speaker 3: it coming beyond making where's it going beyond making movies?
Speaker 3: I can tell you I'm very excited about the things
Speaker 3: I have in front of me and sensibly terrified because
Speaker 3: when you take on bigger things and it is scary.
Speaker 3: But I do scary things every day, and I think
Speaker 3: that's what makes life magical.
Speaker 9: You know.
Speaker 1: So my favorite question to ask everyone is the following,
Speaker 1: And I wonder if if maybe that's part of the answer,
Speaker 1: is that it works around like courage and fear. When
Speaker 1: when you look out at the year ahead of you,
Speaker 1: what feels like you're work in progress.
Speaker 3: I mean, the wholeness, my whole being is a work
Speaker 3: in progress. That's the work in progress. And here's why
Speaker 3: I say that is, you know, I think it's fairly
Speaker 3: well documented that my life changed very quickly.
Speaker 2: The West Side Story absolutely changed my life.
Speaker 3: And then even though I had worked for ten years
Speaker 3: on Broadway, that was the thing that suddenly people knew
Speaker 3: about me, right, And I think the work in progress
Speaker 3: for me is having the courage to own this new identity,
Speaker 3: part of my identity, and to really dig in and.
Speaker 2: See how far I can go with it.
Speaker 3: You know, it's like there's a part of me that
Speaker 3: feels like I've only scratched the surface of this area
Speaker 3: of my life, this part of my creativity, and every
Speaker 3: day it is a work in progress to not let
Speaker 3: the fear of platform, criticism of failure get in the
Speaker 3: way of that. You know, So it does take courage
Speaker 3: to like it takes. It takes courage to pursue magic.
Speaker 1: Oh really good God, Yes, that Like if I were
Speaker 1: Oprah in the audience at Harpo, I'd be like, tweet it.
Speaker 1: That's a tweeted moment for sure, but that.
Speaker 2: It's so good.
Speaker 1: It takes its strige to pursue magically.
Speaker 2: It does, and it looks different for everybody.
Speaker 12: But that's also why I think, you know, part of
Speaker 12: this work and this year and my ambassadorship with the
Speaker 12: a c l U, it takes courage to pursue the
Speaker 12: magic of making space for everyone.
Speaker 2: And for allowing everyone to be heard. It is courageous
Speaker 2: because it's.
Speaker 3: Hard to please, right, It's so hard to please everyone,
Speaker 3: and that is that is a reality.
Speaker 2: But I think the endeavor to allow everyone the opportunity
Speaker 2: to live a beautiful life and to be heard that
Speaker 2: is a life well lived.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and she drops the mic at the end and
Speaker 1: the lights come on. My god, thank you that was beautiful.
Speaker 2: Thank you beautiful.
Speaker 3: Thank you for having me, thank you for letting me
Speaker 3: share and for talking with me. I just think you're
Speaker 3: so You're so smart, and you're so inspiring.
Speaker 2: I love look. Oh my god, I just your everything.
Speaker 1: You're everything. I can't wait for us to go to
Speaker 1: a play together. Added to the list.
Speaker 2: Added to the list, Annie, Yes.
Speaker 1: What a dream do you?
Speaker 2: Thank you for doing this?
Speaker 1: No, by the way, tell me, I'm ready, let's go.
Speaker 1: I I so appreciate you taking the time today, especially
Speaker 1: because I know you're on location and it is a
Speaker 1: lot to show up and offer like you know, your
Speaker 1: heart and your thoughts and your journey to feel in
Speaker 1: such an authentic way. So thank you for doing that
Speaker 1: in the midst of like a job that you know
Speaker 1: has you in the tundra. It's it's no small effort,
Speaker 1: and I appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Oh, it's my honestly, my pleasure. I was honored to
Speaker 2: be asked.
Speaker 3: I'm always happy to speak with you.
Speaker 2: You're likewise.
Speaker 1: I can't wait come home. Let's go see some shows.
Speaker 2: Let's go see shows. Oh my gosh, yes, there's so
Speaker 2: many to see.
Speaker 5: Okay, I've just turned into like twelve years old.
Speaker 2: You're like, it's time, it's time. You can't take the
Speaker 2: Broadway out of the girl. You really can't.
Speaker 1: Oh all right, my dear, you have an amazing rest
Speaker 1: of your day. Thank you, Thanks Darling, You appreciate you.