Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the Spirited Actor Podcast with me
Speaker 1: Tracy Moore. I was a casting director for film and
Speaker 1: TV and commercials for over thirty years. I transitioned to
Speaker 1: a celebrity acting coach after I cast a film New
Speaker 1: Jersey Drive with executive producer Spike Lee and director Nick Domez.
Speaker 1: I auditioned every rapper from Biggie Smalls to Tupac, and
Speaker 1: I realized that rappers and musical artists they needed help
Speaker 1: transitioning to acting. My clients consist of musical artists from
Speaker 1: Buster Rhymes to Eve, Missy Elliott, Angela Yee from The
Speaker 1: Breakfast Club, and Vanessa Simmons, to name a few. I
Speaker 1: also coach sports stars and host as well. I feel
Speaker 1: I have the best of both worlds. As a casting director,
Speaker 1: I know exactly what they're looking for, and as an
Speaker 1: acting coach, I can coach you to be remembered in
Speaker 1: that room. Now I know, I know actors want to
Speaker 1: get the job. I get that, but being remembered by
Speaker 1: casting director that is powerful. And now it's time for
Speaker 1: meditation of the day. Opportunities to find deeper powers within
Speaker 1: ourselves come when life seems the most challenging Joseph Campbell.
Speaker 1: What I will say to you is that life overall
Speaker 1: is challenging. Life has obstacles, life has hurdles, Life catches
Speaker 1: us off guard. But I'm here to tell you that
Speaker 1: we have all the elements, we have all the tools,
Speaker 1: we have all the resources to get through it.
Speaker 2: Most importantly, we have prayer.
Speaker 1: Whenever you get to a stressful time in your life
Speaker 1: or when you think you can't get through it, know
Speaker 1: that prayer is your refuge.
Speaker 2: Whether you're on your knees, whether.
Speaker 1: You're sitting alone in a hospital room, close your eyes,
Speaker 1: ask for your angels to embrace you and give you
Speaker 1: the strength that you need and that's deep inside of
Speaker 1: you to get through this moment, to get through this time.
Speaker 1: And trust me, there is light at the end of
Speaker 1: the tunnel. Today I will.
Speaker 2: Only see the light at the.
Speaker 3: End of the tunnel.
Speaker 1: Before we get started, I'd like to remind everyone to
Speaker 1: look out for my new show, Inside the Black Box.
Speaker 1: I'll be co hosting with the great Joe Morton. We'll
Speaker 1: be on Crackle Network real soon. I'll keep you posted.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Spirited Actor Podcast with me Tracy Moore.
Speaker 3: I am so excited for this show.
Speaker 1: Now, I know you guys know me, and I'm excited
Speaker 1: about every show, but I'm super excited about this because
Speaker 1: my guests mister David Shepherd.
Speaker 3: Wait, David M. Shepherd. This David used.
Speaker 1: To always tell me, you guys in classes, that he
Speaker 1: was my favorite student.
Speaker 3: He would tell me that was like the best pay ever.
Speaker 1: He would say, Tracy, you don't have your favorite. To
Speaker 1: this day, David still said to you guys. And it's
Speaker 1: been a lot of years. I had so much fun
Speaker 1: with David M. Shepherd in my class. His spirit, his energy,
Speaker 1: and he's like a great hype person because he used
Speaker 1: to get on my students. I thought I got on him,
Speaker 1: but you know, I'm rainbows and butterflies.
Speaker 3: But he would get on students.
Speaker 1: This man so talented, so well connected, and one of
Speaker 1: the reasons why, you know, there's several reasons why he's
Speaker 1: on the show. So get ready for your treasure chest
Speaker 1: to he's going to drop some diamonds and jewels for
Speaker 1: you guys.
Speaker 3: However, he took the initiative, you.
Speaker 1: Guys, and he had a production company coming to the table,
Speaker 1: so he wasn't jaded in my opinion, as actors are
Speaker 1: sometimes there's stressed financially, there's just overall stress, just stuff.
Speaker 1: He came into the class confident, peaceful, assured because way
Speaker 1: back then he knew what it meant to own his
Speaker 1: own stuff, to be in control of his own path, creativity, productions.
Speaker 3: So, ladies and.
Speaker 1: Gentlemen, I just I want him to talk. Please put
Speaker 1: your hands together for David M. Shepherd.
Speaker 4: Thank you, thank you, thank you. I appreciate that so much.
Speaker 4: And and the check is in the mail.
Speaker 1: All right, you guys, he has a strong background in comedy.
Speaker 3: Okay, I just want to say he is a strong background.
Speaker 1: But we're also blessed you guys that you two to
Speaker 1: put your hands together. And I asked David to give
Speaker 1: you this introduction because just hearing him a few minutes ago. Yes,
Speaker 1: about that, ladies and gentlemen, please put your hands together. Legend.
Speaker 1: We have another legend here, Debbie B. Jackson.
Speaker 3: All Rightbebi, thank you, David.
Speaker 1: Listen, favorite introduction that I feel is worthy by please okay.
Speaker 4: Wieb is her affectionate name.
Speaker 5: Her name is Wi B. Jackson, but affectionately called de
Speaker 5: wie B, and that was given to her by her
Speaker 5: late husband. The legendary radio personality mister Howe Jackson, who
Speaker 5: with him and Percy Sutton created WBLS and w l
Speaker 5: i B. And I'm gonna tell you something about that
Speaker 5: creation of that radio station. Back in nineteen seventy one
Speaker 5: to seventy three, I was driving a yellow cab in
Speaker 5: the evenings and going to Bronx Community College during the day.
Speaker 5: I remember having two gentlemen in the backseat, two white
Speaker 5: guys in the back seat with suits, and they're talking
Speaker 5: about selling a radio station, but they just wanted it
Speaker 5: to be urban, and they couldn't figure out. They were
Speaker 5: wondering why they wanted to own it. They said, I
Speaker 5: don't know why they want to own it. We could
Speaker 5: let them play whatever they want to play. And who
Speaker 5: they were talking about was how Jackson and.
Speaker 4: Percy Sutton. Wow, Percy Sutton.
Speaker 5: Had the means and the know how and the connections,
Speaker 5: and how Jackson was the executive producer of putting things together,
Speaker 5: had the money to put everything together. And Debbie was
Speaker 5: his wife and her first time on the radio. How
Speaker 5: asked her to read a commercial and she said, you
Speaker 5: want me to read this?
Speaker 4: She said, yeah, I want you to read it.
Speaker 5: So then she read her commercial and then from then
Speaker 5: she started doing it everything for the last thirty years.
Speaker 5: I mean she's been retired now, think about eight or nine,
Speaker 5: eight years now. But that's her story and my story
Speaker 5: with you. Well, when I met you, Tracy, you had
Speaker 5: a lot of energy. I said, this lady is full.
Speaker 4: Of energy man, always smiling, always encouraging.
Speaker 5: And it made me feel a lot even more comfortable
Speaker 5: because I was kind of it wasn't that child a
Speaker 5: little bit, not that much.
Speaker 4: But I enjoyed your encouragement.
Speaker 5: I enjoyed the classes, and I especially enjoyed when you
Speaker 5: asked me to do a monologue at Martha's Vineyard with
Speaker 5: this other young lady who is your other top student.
Speaker 5: I think, I can't think of it. And she was
Speaker 5: out of Chicago. Oh the house ye work with her? Yep,
Speaker 5: And you told us to come out to uh Martha's
Speaker 5: Vineyard and and to do a monologue.
Speaker 4: We had a good time out there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so much fun.
Speaker 1: And that was the Martha Vineyard, my friend's film festival,
Speaker 1: and I became oh my god, oh my god. I
Speaker 1: became friends with Tim Reid and Daphne Reid. Daphne was
Speaker 1: doing a workshop with me. You guys performed in front
Speaker 1: of Daphane and I became.
Speaker 3: Friends with her.
Speaker 1: To this day, we're still friends. I was so amazing.
Speaker 1: I want to say, well, I want to welcome you
Speaker 1: w B. Jackson to the show, and I also just
Speaker 1: in I'm going to go back and forth with the
Speaker 1: two of you. But I wanted to ask you, Debbie,
Speaker 1: because we're living in a different time and you know,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell you David talks about my energy, but.
Speaker 3: I'll talk about his work ethic.
Speaker 1: That's what I saw immediately with him, was his work ethic.
Speaker 1: It was different from the other actors that you know,
Speaker 1: turning in homework and things like that. I just wanted
Speaker 1: to ask you, what's your view today on radio? You know,
Speaker 1: serious versus because I when I tell you, Jeff Fox
Speaker 1: and Sheila are friends of mine and talent when they
Speaker 1: were on the air, I used to come on the
Speaker 1: show and I've coached talent before.
Speaker 3: I uh.
Speaker 4: A story about talent.
Speaker 5: I'll tell you later, Okay, A good story, I say it,
Speaker 5: I talk about it later.
Speaker 1: Okay, good, But what's your take on today twenty twenty three?
Speaker 3: Music?
Speaker 4: Things?
Speaker 3: Things have changed considerably when I was doing radio and
Speaker 3: I was doing it for thirty years. It was personality radio,
Speaker 3: and you would turn in because you'd like to. You'd
Speaker 3: like Frankie Crocker, you know, you would tell you to
Speaker 3: put on the candles and run a bath, and you know,
Speaker 3: and then enjoy the music that is all gone green, yes, yes,
Speaker 3: and it's all gone. It's all gone. What they do
Speaker 3: now is they pick music, they put it on. There's
Speaker 3: I mean like when Hall and I did music, we
Speaker 3: we played what we liked, we wanted to do. Back then,
Speaker 3: you could put on any music that you walk it to. Right,
Speaker 3: there's a playlist. Everything's in a computer and it is
Speaker 3: what it is, and a lot of it is voice tracked.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 3: People now, especially since COVID, people are now doing radio
Speaker 3: from home and reading from a piece of paper saying
Speaker 3: that you just heard you know, Evelyn Champagne King and
Speaker 3: and there's there's no story behind it. Music has changed,
Speaker 3: and there used to be a story when you heard
Speaker 3: a song. It was a story that went on with
Speaker 3: that song. Now it's like saying the same thing over
Speaker 3: and over and over and over and over, you know
Speaker 3: that that that line and then people say, oh, yeah,
Speaker 3: I like that song because yeah, they're saying the same
Speaker 3: thing over and over and over.
Speaker 1: Right, I mean, I'm from that generation and I feel
Speaker 1: the same way.
Speaker 3: I mean I think that.
Speaker 1: You know, for you, David, one of the reasons why
Speaker 1: I followed and shared your information because you have stayed
Speaker 1: consistent in you know, honoring the talent and keeping the talent.
Speaker 1: And we can go into the show from this because
Speaker 1: the show is, oh my god, stellar headlines you guys got.
Speaker 1: But how do you feel in terms of the shows
Speaker 1: that you are promoting?
Speaker 3: How you know, are there challenges.
Speaker 1: In the relevance of some of these artists, Like.
Speaker 3: I don't know that world, but I know that for me, you.
Speaker 1: Know, music was different growing up now, like Debbie says,
Speaker 1: I don't feel a message, I don't feel forget about
Speaker 1: a story.
Speaker 3: I don't know how they do music videos now.
Speaker 2: So how does that How has that affected you know
Speaker 2: or has it affected your production company? And you promoting
Speaker 2: all these shows that you work on.
Speaker 5: Well, I try to deal with shows that are from
Speaker 5: my eraror because I have a following of people who
Speaker 5: are in my general age bracket.
Speaker 4: So I have my I have a blue and white
Speaker 4: party once a year for me and old meals.
Speaker 5: I'm a Leo and it's a grown party. It's a
Speaker 5: grown and sexy party. And I was going to stop
Speaker 5: when I reached seventy. I'm seventy one. I had my
Speaker 5: I'm seventy one. Yes, anyway, it's the Vasco Lan.
Speaker 3: Okay, well here, Tracy, I'm seventy three. I'm done. The
Speaker 3: show is over. Thank you for coming to the Spirit
Speaker 3: of Actal podcast with me. You got Oh my god.
Speaker 5: I was going to give my last party blue and
Speaker 5: white party. I like blue is my favorite color, and
Speaker 5: I mixed it with white. I started giving blue and
Speaker 5: white parties when I was sixty and all the way
Speaker 5: up to seventy. I was going to be that was
Speaker 5: going to be my last party. But everybody and when
Speaker 5: I told him that, people said, Dave, listen, you can't.
Speaker 5: This can't be your last one. Man, You're still able
Speaker 5: to do. We still want to come. There's no place
Speaker 5: else for us. These young guys are young. They one
Speaker 5: they want to do is fight when they come to
Speaker 5: the place, and if you step on their sneakers.
Speaker 4: They want to do this. Dave, you got to keep
Speaker 4: doing this.
Speaker 5: So I'd listened to my people, my friends, my relatives,
Speaker 5: and I had another one last year seventy one, and
Speaker 5: I'm going to have another blue and White party seventy two.
Speaker 5: I already have the date, July twenty seventh on a
Speaker 5: Saturday at the al Humber. This is shameless plug, No, I.
Speaker 1: Want to be there. I want to be there for
Speaker 1: this one. Because you said you were giving up. I
Speaker 1: want to be there for this month at.
Speaker 4: The al Humber Ballroom in Halem. You will definitely know
Speaker 4: about it.
Speaker 3: I love that place.
Speaker 4: Okay.
Speaker 5: This will be my third party there, and it's a
Speaker 5: black owned business.
Speaker 4: We have a very good relationship. Okay.
Speaker 5: But getting back to giving shows and events, Debbie and
Speaker 5: I met through Vaughn Harper. I was giving, I was giving. Yeah,
Speaker 5: Von Harper's been my buddy for twenty years. Von Hopper
Speaker 5: came to a show at the Dugout in the Bronx
Speaker 5: where I had Mark Adams and Tom Brown funking to
Speaker 5: funking to Jamaica, and I had I had what's the
Speaker 5: guy's name, I can't think of his name as the
Speaker 5: drummer anyway, Vaughn came in and he said, Dave, I
Speaker 5: like the show you gave here.
Speaker 4: Can you bring this show to Holland, I said, of course.
Speaker 4: He said, yes, there's a new place called Mist which
Speaker 4: is on one hundred and sixteenth Street.
Speaker 5: We were the first there and we brought and I
Speaker 5: brought that same show to him, minus one artist. I'm
Speaker 5: not going to say his name, but we gave that show.
Speaker 5: And Vaughn had a stroke years prior to that, so
Speaker 5: he wasn't into hosting shows anymore. So I hosted the show.
Speaker 5: That's what I do. So I hosted the show and
Speaker 5: Debbie and Vaughn's wife was sitting in the front row.
Speaker 3: Wait a minute, Wait a minute. Fired to the show.
Speaker 3: It was Valentine's Day. Was on a Valentine's Day, So
Speaker 3: I told gone, because hal had passed in May and
Speaker 3: that was February. Is valentine'sd A is my first Valentine'sday?
Speaker 3: And I said, Bonne, I don't have a Valentine, So
Speaker 3: can I be a Valentine with your wife? And he
Speaker 3: said so his wife and I came, go.
Speaker 4: Ahead, Dave, Oh Tracy.
Speaker 5: As I was hosting the show, Debbie had this gigantic
Speaker 5: smile on her face and I'm saying to myself, I said, Debbie, Jack,
Speaker 5: I had met a price I said, Debbie Jackson is cute.
Speaker 4: Are you there, Tracy, Yeah, I'm here.
Speaker 3: I see you this story.
Speaker 5: So I said Debbie Jackson is cute on the mic,
Speaker 5: so Vaughn's wife said, Debbie thinks you're cute too, but
Speaker 5: I didn't hear that. So when the show ended, I'm
Speaker 5: taking pictures of all the artists and people and everything.
Speaker 5: So Debbie will up to me with this gigantic smile
Speaker 5: and says, why don't you get into the picture?
Speaker 4: And I looked at it. I was possessed by the smile.
Speaker 5: So I walked over there like a little puppy dog
Speaker 5: and turned around so she could take my picture.
Speaker 4: But here's the thing of Tracy.
Speaker 5: When everything was all over and everybody was congregating in
Speaker 5: the lobby, there's a small space between the lobby and
Speaker 5: the staging area. I walked into that space. Debbie was
Speaker 5: right there and I tripped.
Speaker 4: He tripped.
Speaker 3: So are you falling for me? Ah?
Speaker 5: So Tracy, I know how to take a hint. So
Speaker 5: I put my my really deep Vonn Harper, very white,
Speaker 5: you know, voice on her and said baby I am.
Speaker 5: And then we had a short conversation of finding out
Speaker 5: that she was born in Harlem hospital. So was I,
Speaker 5: and we lived in Harlem. We both families moved migrated
Speaker 5: to the Bronx. I'm in entertainment. She was on the radio,
Speaker 5: but I didn't know at what capacity. So she gave
Speaker 5: me her card. So later on in the evening, a
Speaker 5: guy came up to me and said, Dave, Debbie Jackson
Speaker 5: is asking about you.
Speaker 4: So I said, okay.
Speaker 5: He said, no, Dave, you don't understand Debbie don't ask
Speaker 5: about anybody. I said, okay. He said, do you know
Speaker 5: who she is? I didn't know who she was. He said,
Speaker 5: that's Debbie b from WBLS. That's how Jackson's widow. So Tracy,
Speaker 5: I was intimidating. I didn't call her for three weeks.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, Hey, von.
Speaker 5: Vonn kept saying, damn, Dave, when you're gonna call Debbie,
Speaker 5: when you.
Speaker 3: Gonna call it?
Speaker 4: Deaf?
Speaker 5: I was intimidating Tracy that this was the wife of
Speaker 5: the legend, and she was still on the radio. She
Speaker 5: was a person radio personality, you know. So I'm a
Speaker 5: retired correction officer trying to get a nut.
Speaker 1: Right, Well, let me tell you about I don't even
Speaker 1: know Debbie, but what I can tell you is that
Speaker 1: she still has hearts of flutter turning butter so in
Speaker 1: that smile. So Debbie is still a person. All that
Speaker 1: other stuff is that. That's I honor that. But I'm saying,
Speaker 1: in this moment and seeing this story, Debbie was Debbie.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, you're right.
Speaker 4: You're right.
Speaker 5: If if I did not have that brief conversation with
Speaker 5: her in the whole way, I would not have called her.
Speaker 5: Because sometimes when you meet people that are in that
Speaker 5: light and quote, they attract so many different people. Sometimes
Speaker 5: they put up a little God, you know, I don't,
Speaker 5: I don't, I don't know. I don't want to meet
Speaker 5: you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: Not all of them. Some of them do. But she
Speaker 4: did not, And that's.
Speaker 3: I'm about to write this love story because.
Speaker 1: She did not, and she gave signals you just were
Speaker 1: not paying attention.
Speaker 3: Thank God, when did you wake up?
Speaker 4: What?
Speaker 3: So three weeks later did what happened?
Speaker 5: I'm gonna tell you what happened. Three weeks later, I'm
Speaker 5: gonna tell you what happened, Tracy. I spoke to a
Speaker 5: childhood friend about what I went through about Debbie, and
Speaker 5: Vaughan came back.
Speaker 4: So he told me.
Speaker 5: He said, Dave von Harper knows Debbie and a husband
Speaker 5: for years.
Speaker 4: If he's telling you to call her, there's a.
Speaker 5: Reason why he feels that you two might be right
Speaker 5: for each other.
Speaker 4: And it's been ten years now. It's been ten years now.
Speaker 1: Oh, chraiz God, thanks three weeks three week two. I
Speaker 1: would be like forget it, but thank you for hanging
Speaker 1: it is Debbie, because he's a great guy.
Speaker 3: He really is. Seriously, he has always been a great guy.
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask you, Debbie, because the climate now.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 1: I was having a conversation yesterday with an actor, a man,
Speaker 1: about how my challenge in the acting today is that
Speaker 1: women are so strong, so bosses that they don't have
Speaker 1: I'm teaching vulnerability in my class. I'm teaching flirtation in
Speaker 1: my class. And he said to me, he said, oh
Speaker 1: my god, that is the big thing in social media
Speaker 1: now is that women don't know how to flirt. They
Speaker 1: think they're flirting men. He told this is a situation.
Speaker 1: He told me, there's a meme or something on the
Speaker 1: going around. This guy is in a gym. The woman
Speaker 1: sees him, he's really attractive. He goes to the barbelles
Speaker 1: she goes to the barbella. Everywhere he goes, she follows him,
Speaker 1: and then at the end she goes into the locker
Speaker 1: room and calls her girlfriend and says, oh my god,
Speaker 1: I saw this guy that I like, and I did
Speaker 1: everything I could to flirt with him and get him
Speaker 1: to pay attention to me.
Speaker 3: He didn't.
Speaker 1: I'm done with men. I'm done with men, and that's
Speaker 1: the whole story. And I'm like and so he was
Speaker 1: saying to me. But in my experience, women don't don't
Speaker 1: know that sensuous, that femininity side, and I'm.
Speaker 3: Finding that in acting.
Speaker 2: So my question to you is, in this climate, you know,
Speaker 2: and women the aggression behind some of the music, especially
Speaker 2: in rapping, you know, and I'm missing my R and B.
Speaker 3: You know, do you think that there's a.
Speaker 1: Way for us to come back to that or you know,
Speaker 1: can we incorporate some of that, because I in my
Speaker 1: experience as an acting teacher coach, I see I feel
Speaker 1: like I'm chiseling women and trying to get these armors
Speaker 1: and things off of them.
Speaker 3: I really don't know, you know what, I've always been
Speaker 3: me and things have changed considerably because I mean, you
Speaker 3: look at the way that that young girls dress. They're
Speaker 3: showing everything, so what is there to show later? You know,
Speaker 3: I really I don't have an answer for it because
Speaker 3: I know, like with myself, I think that fast day,
Speaker 3: I think I still have my sensuality, sensuality, sensuality about
Speaker 3: which I've never lost. Uh. And I mean like that
Speaker 3: time when when he came walking in, I said, are
Speaker 3: you falling for me? I don't know where that came from,
Speaker 3: but that's from within me.
Speaker 6: You know, I gotta think about men's shoot too, But
Speaker 6: so I I couldn't tell you.
Speaker 3: I mean, if you're saying, chiseling it out of them? See,
Speaker 3: that's just like with talented teams. Well, we were teaching
Speaker 3: them was how themselves on stage and how to how
Speaker 3: to speak, how to stand up straight, how to you know,
Speaker 3: how to present themselves. Women, they don't have the training,
Speaker 3: the kind of training they had a fill your divorced,
Speaker 3: Yes they had. They had mother and father taught you.
Speaker 5: You know that you hit right on the nose that
Speaker 5: I think it comes with home training. Yeah, teaching kids
Speaker 5: watch their parents right. And there's so many parents out
Speaker 5: here that are like fifteen sixteen if they don't know
Speaker 5: and they're raising these little girls, and they watch their
Speaker 5: mother and father. And that's where you can't go into
Speaker 5: anybody's house and tell them how to raise their children.
Speaker 5: And they are too many young people having children and
Speaker 5: don't know how to raise them and weren't taught themselves,
Speaker 5: you know, because you leave. But by example, the kids
Speaker 5: don't listen to what you say. They look at what
Speaker 5: you do and they copy. Right, it's an excuse me,
Speaker 5: it's in.
Speaker 3: It's in you. Yes, you're chiseling them, you're trying to
Speaker 3: chisel it out, but it ain't gonna be there.
Speaker 1: Well, what I'm saying is there's this wall. Right, this
Speaker 1: is I'm gonna give you an example. You know, Senses
Speaker 1: Rose her monologue eighteen years stand here eighteen years, right,
Speaker 1: So most women approach that monologue wearing up on Troy.
Speaker 3: I've been here eighteen years.
Speaker 1: You know all of this, And I'm like, first of all,
Speaker 1: it's nineteen fifty five.
Speaker 3: You didn't do that, No, you didn't.
Speaker 1: You got to study your history and the roles of
Speaker 1: nineteen fifty five.
Speaker 3: And this is the first time.
Speaker 1: That you've used your voice because women didn't have a
Speaker 1: voice in.
Speaker 3: Nineteen fifty five.
Speaker 1: So here you got all these cobwebs and this stuff
Speaker 1: has been inside.
Speaker 2: Of you, like, oh, I can't stand whatever. So there's
Speaker 2: vulnerability there.
Speaker 3: Women.
Speaker 2: But the vulnerability is what I do not I see.
Speaker 3: I'm a boss. I could take care of myself.
Speaker 1: I don't need a man, and I'm like, okay in
Speaker 1: your personal life. But characters do right right and they
Speaker 1: have relationships.
Speaker 3: You know, So that has been a challenge.
Speaker 1: And then and you know, in some of my experiences,
Speaker 1: women don't want to show all of the vulnerability of
Speaker 1: their character, not of you, but of your character because
Speaker 1: there's you know, labels week and this and that, and
Speaker 1: it's like, no, this is the truth of the character's journey.
Speaker 1: And as an actor, you embody that you know. And
Speaker 1: I think that I've been influenced like all my life
Speaker 1: in music, all of my life, like I learned about
Speaker 1: life through Gladys Knight, Chuck Kahn, earth Wind and Fire
Speaker 1: like that was.
Speaker 2: Marvin Gaye berry White. That was my life.
Speaker 1: And people were saying something, they were using their words
Speaker 1: or their experiences. And then I moved from San Francisco
Speaker 1: to New York in eighty three and landed in the
Speaker 1: whole rap scene and married a man who managed.
Speaker 2: Full Force Lisa Lisa and called Jam Sheryl, Pepsy Riley
Speaker 2: Full Force, and so then I was there.
Speaker 1: And then now just the other day, one of my
Speaker 1: clients like, oh, Tasey, there's this really great song. And
Speaker 1: I was like, you know what, honestly, because.
Speaker 3: If I can't hit.
Speaker 1: WBLS or if I can't hit like, I don't know
Speaker 1: what's out here anymore, you know.
Speaker 3: But I wanted to say, just in terms.
Speaker 1: Of your company, you know, well, let's talk about the
Speaker 1: show that you guys have coming up, because you know,
Speaker 1: twenty eight minutes flies on this show, so please tell
Speaker 1: us about this event.
Speaker 3: Well, the event is going to happen on Thursday, oh,
Speaker 3: right around the corner, huh, at sven Peck in Englewood,
Speaker 3: New Jersey. What it is is a fundraising concert. It's
Speaker 3: it's a hot R and B old school kind of show.
Speaker 3: We have Howard hewittt. We have the Ladies of Sky,
Speaker 3: we have Melissa Morgan and Jeff Red and we also
Speaker 3: have the Bell's two point oh. The Bell's two point
Speaker 3: oh as a husband and wife team. They do duets
Speaker 3: like Ashford and Simpson, oh yeah, and the Peaches in Her.
Speaker 4: And you know.
Speaker 3: So it's a fantastic show and it's to raise money
Speaker 3: for the Youth Development Foundation. We no longer have Talented Teams.
Speaker 3: Talented Teams was in existence from the early seventies. Over
Speaker 3: five decades. We have the Youth Development Foundation where we
Speaker 3: award scholarships to five young ladies. We give them a
Speaker 3: college shower as opposed to a baby shower to help them,
Speaker 3: you know, in their first semester of college. We buy
Speaker 3: them comforters and pillows and all that kind of stuff,
Speaker 3: you know, to put into their dorm rooms. And each
Speaker 3: of those young ladies, after finishing their first semester in college,
Speaker 3: send their transcripts to us, and should they maintain a
Speaker 3: three point zero or better, we send one thousand dollars
Speaker 3: directly to their college. And we've been doing that for
Speaker 3: the minimum the last ten years. I think it's closer
Speaker 3: to fifteen. I'm not sure, but yeah, as I partnered
Speaker 3: with Black Women for Black Girls, and so it's been
Speaker 3: it's been wonderful. Now Talented teams. Who's come through Talented Teams, Well, yes,
Speaker 3: some of the actresses. Actresses, do you know the name SHIRLEYE? Ralph? Absolutely?
Speaker 3: Do you know the name Taraji p Henson, Ah, do
Speaker 3: you know the name Jada Pinkett Smith. All of them
Speaker 3: came through Talented Teams, as well as Evelyn Champagne, King C. C. Pennison,
Speaker 3: Melissa Morgan, Alison Williams, Regina Bell then as dancers. Tyjimenez,
Speaker 3: who was a point dancer during Talented Team, she went
Speaker 3: on to become the principal dancer for the Dance Tuitor
Speaker 3: of Harlem and now she's a director at the Dance
Speaker 3: Tuitor of Column. Tanya R. Kennedy, she's now a Supreme
Speaker 3: Court judge in the State of New York. And doctor
Speaker 3: Susan Johnson Cook, Ambassador Susan Johnson Cook, who was appointed
Speaker 3: by the Obama administration. She was also a form of
Speaker 3: Talented Team. So they come from all walks of life
Speaker 3: and everything and they've come through Talented Teams. And what
Speaker 3: we want to do is to continue house legacy. You know,
Speaker 3: with awarding scholarships. The funds in the bank account a
Speaker 3: little low, so we have to do things to try
Speaker 3: and put money there and to keep those scholarships rolling.
Speaker 2: Well, we salute that and we want to keep it
Speaker 2: rolling by letting people know about this event and also
Speaker 2: supporting you guys.
Speaker 3: In any way we can.
Speaker 1: And I donate time in sessions, so I'm just throwing
Speaker 1: that out there.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I have just recently a friend of mine, she has
Speaker 1: an organization with young teen women, and so I donated
Speaker 1: an hour one on one private session. And then at
Speaker 1: my church, I just donated a session there. So I
Speaker 1: love doing stuff like that. So you can you know
Speaker 1: understood that's giving.
Speaker 3: That that's giving.
Speaker 1: Me I love I mean, And David, you know, I
Speaker 1: know you said that allegedly you were retiring, and neither
Speaker 1: you are.
Speaker 3: Debbie, you look like y'all have retirement age. I need
Speaker 3: to know what you guys are putting on your face
Speaker 3: as a drink.
Speaker 1: But like in terms of DMS productions, like and look,
Speaker 1: we got five minutes to go.
Speaker 3: I want you, yes, I told you it flies.
Speaker 1: I want you David to just give some words of
Speaker 1: encouragement and also, Debbie after David, to these actors, these
Speaker 1: young people who are looking for inspiration, motivation and guidance
Speaker 1: and don't know where to start or where to tap into.
Speaker 5: So you just read, well, the first thing, you have
Speaker 5: to set up a plan as to what you want
Speaker 5: to do, and if you're dealing with people. You have
Speaker 5: to be humble, and you have to be open, and
Speaker 5: you have to make yourself accessible to people in order
Speaker 5: to get them to see you, to learn what you're doing,
Speaker 5: or come to anything that you're putting together. I've been
Speaker 5: fortunate enough to belong to a number of different organizations,
Speaker 5: so I have a lot of contact with different people.
Speaker 5: Twenty years in corrections, forty years in the martial arts,
Speaker 5: playing basketball for many many years. Coming from the projects
Speaker 5: and being and being involved with a lot of different organizations.
Speaker 4: We started a Old Timers Day.
Speaker 5: Okay, let me let me start in the beginning nineteen
Speaker 5: seventy six, my brother won the gold medal and they
Speaker 5: had a big event in the park for him. So
Speaker 5: we put together an Old Timers Day and Edenwall's Day together.
Speaker 5: We had Edenwall Day and Old Timers Day was in
Speaker 5: the same day. Edenwell Day was for everybody including the children,
Speaker 5: men and women. Old Timers Day was old timers playing
Speaker 5: basketball in the park.
Speaker 4: So bill exists every every year. We have Edenwall Day.
Speaker 5: The second Saturday of August for the last thirty something years.
Speaker 5: So with that and just being you know, approachable and
Speaker 5: being yourself treating people, the way you want to be treated,
Speaker 5: and you know you people gravitate towards you, and then
Speaker 5: you you put me in be kind rewind.
Speaker 3: Oh, I haven't heard you.
Speaker 5: Danny Glover, mea Farrell, Jack Black, Most Death, they were
Speaker 5: all in that movie and that movie is still playing.
Speaker 5: And Tracy that the director of that movie was a
Speaker 5: French guy. He had me say something to Most Death
Speaker 5: in the store and then he put up his fingers
Speaker 5: like this that that's money, I said, so listen. They
Speaker 5: never they cut that part, but they still gave me
Speaker 5: checks for the left, so I don't know.
Speaker 2: Eight nine years wow, and that's what they would do.
Speaker 3: That's exactly.
Speaker 1: And you know what that was Actually Melicent Diane called
Speaker 1: me up for that she was casting, and that's when
Speaker 1: I recommended you to.
Speaker 5: Yes, yes, yeah. But before that, I was in Milchael Mix.
Speaker 5: That was my first movie.
Speaker 4: I was going to.
Speaker 3: Tracy Vilar wins Sinclair.
Speaker 4: Yeah. But you know I did a play, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5: That was the first time she ever saw me act.
Speaker 5: And I really liked that play because he wrote it
Speaker 5: for me. He wanted my people to come to the show,
Speaker 5: so he said, if I put you in it, were
Speaker 5: you promoted I said, heck, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3: So he said, the next one you do, you gotta
Speaker 3: let us know so we can.
Speaker 1: Promote it and also be there to support you, because
Speaker 1: you know, I get out as much as I can
Speaker 1: and support my people.
Speaker 3: Debbie, I'm gonna.
Speaker 1: Let you have the last word on give and some
Speaker 1: words to the actors, and then I'm going to open it.
Speaker 3: Up for questions. Okay, Well, I would say, if you
Speaker 3: want to get better at something, you have to do it,
Speaker 3: and you have to be hyper intentional. You have to practice, practice, practice, practice,
Speaker 3: and practice some more. Do a lot of reading, listen
Speaker 3: to what people are saying to you. And if you
Speaker 3: have a dream, go for it. Don't let anyone take
Speaker 3: your dream away.
Speaker 4: Wait.
Speaker 3: My motto smile at the world, and the world will
Speaker 3: smile back at you. If you walk down the street
Speaker 3: and you smile at someone, they'll smile at you.
Speaker 7: You know.
Speaker 3: So that's me anyhow, and that's what we lead. We
Speaker 3: need smiles.
Speaker 1: And this morning this doctor said we need at least
Speaker 1: six hugs a day. So yeah, scientific fact that it's
Speaker 1: something about when we embrace someone and feel good about it,
Speaker 1: all the endorphins are excited. So the physical aspect of it,
Speaker 1: but mentally a hug, reassuring, comforting mo.
Speaker 3: All of that. He broke it down.
Speaker 1: I was like, my granddaughter woke up this morning and
Speaker 1: she was like headed towards the restroom and I said, nope,
Speaker 1: I need my hug. Six of them, so this is
Speaker 1: one today.
Speaker 2: So yeah, so that's important. Well, you guys, hang on.
Speaker 1: I have two spirited actor alumnis who are going to
Speaker 1: come on.
Speaker 3: I have Leah Chaney. You guys can.
Speaker 1: Turn on your cameras and unmute yourself. And also Brindey Jackson, Hey, Britdany,
Speaker 1: both of my favorites.
Speaker 3: You guys, I haven't seen that. These are my people.
Speaker 7: Everyone.
Speaker 2: Oh you guys, so let's start with you.
Speaker 3: Leah.
Speaker 2: You have a question for David or for Debbie b both.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 8: I liked how you guys were talking about just kind
Speaker 8: of how it feels like. I think that authenticity and
Speaker 8: that rawness and that vulnerability is miss think from art
Speaker 8: from different you know, genres, music and acting. I think,
Speaker 8: what do you think, how do you think we got
Speaker 8: to that point and how do you think that we
Speaker 8: can kind of cultivate it more as a as a community,
Speaker 8: as a culture, and as actors and artists individually.
Speaker 4: That's a good one, Oh, very good one.
Speaker 3: How do you cultivate it? I don't know. It's just
Speaker 3: you know, you have to go within. You have to
Speaker 3: find it within yourself. If it's in there, it's going
Speaker 3: to come out. Look within and find who it is
Speaker 3: that you are and who it is that you want
Speaker 3: to be and become that person the person who uh
Speaker 3: who like with me? I am a smiler and a hugger.
Speaker 3: Oh that's me.
Speaker 4: I can't help it.
Speaker 1: It's just me, me too, And I think that that's important.
Speaker 1: And I also think what you guys said earlier about
Speaker 1: you know, it stems from your home.
Speaker 3: Everything of who we are evolved from our home.
Speaker 1: And so you know, well I didn't get the hugs
Speaker 1: and kisses and I love you in my home, But
Speaker 1: when I stepped out and saw it in other homes,
Speaker 1: That's how I knew I needed to incorporate it. When
Speaker 1: I was a mom, so my children say I love
Speaker 1: you before they walk out the door, hang up the phone, anything.
Speaker 2: So I agree, it's in It starts here first.
Speaker 3: And be tied.
Speaker 5: And you have to stay true to yourself, you know,
Speaker 5: and and just stayed the same all the time and
Speaker 5: and not change up and uh, you know, treat people
Speaker 5: like you want to like you want to be treated.
Speaker 3: That's that's basically do unto others as you would have
Speaker 3: them do until. That's something that my parents taught me.
Speaker 3: You know, treat people the way that you want to
Speaker 3: be treated, right, right, and treat everyone the same. You know,
Speaker 3: some people have this thing that if a person's a janitor,
Speaker 3: oh man, all they do is they sweep floors and stuff.
Speaker 5: Right, they got a job. They're not breaking into your house.
Speaker 5: I'll say that I'd rather you sell that water on
Speaker 5: the street and be breaking in my car. So I mean,
Speaker 5: here's that dollar for that water.
Speaker 3: Excellent.
Speaker 1: Okay, We're gonna go over to Britney Jackson. Hi, Britty hik.
Speaker 9: Tracy, how you doing?
Speaker 3: Oh good?
Speaker 2: Thank you your question?
Speaker 9: Well, first I want to just I appreciate I'm all
Speaker 9: about this conversation with black love and light. It's just
Speaker 9: it's stilling my cup so much today. And Tracy, all
Speaker 9: the things you said about just because I grew up,
Speaker 9: I'm nineties, R and B, tried and true, and that
Speaker 9: is missing. So if it's not, then I don't listen
Speaker 9: to anything new now because I can't find that same connection.
Speaker 9: So my question for you both is in the connection
Speaker 9: as things have changed. And also you both mentioned staying
Speaker 9: true to yourself and just leading with love.
Speaker 4: How do you?
Speaker 9: How do you and how have you? How have you
Speaker 9: handled working with people in the business who aren't moving
Speaker 9: in that same light without losing yourself?
Speaker 3: I just keep moving forward, Yes, moving forward and doesn't
Speaker 3: take no for an answer. With one door closes, this
Speaker 3: one hundred more that you can walk through.
Speaker 4: That's so true, so true.
Speaker 5: And then you learn to separate yourself from the negativity
Speaker 5: and only think about the positive end of what you're
Speaker 5: doing and deal with that. And if you find that
Speaker 5: you can't handle it, step away and move on, go
Speaker 5: someplace else.
Speaker 4: That's it.
Speaker 5: You know, it doesn't make sense to stay in a
Speaker 5: bad relationship, whether it's a personal relationship or a business relationship,
Speaker 5: it doesn't make sense to stay in that.
Speaker 4: Light. And you know when it's bad, you'll feel it,
Speaker 4: you'll see the red flags, and you have to listen
Speaker 4: to yourself.
Speaker 1: I have to say this too, the wiser you get
Speaker 1: an age, and a lot of people fear getting older,
Speaker 1: but I'm telling you I embrace it with love and wisdom.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, but I'm gonna tell you and I
Speaker 1: and you've heard this and I heard this growing up
Speaker 1: in different ways. But we spend too much time on
Speaker 1: the small stuff. And it's all small stuff. If I've
Speaker 1: learned anything at this point my life is like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, the time and we take this time that
Speaker 1: we have for granted. So you know, I love what
Speaker 1: you both of you said, and then ask.
Speaker 3: To keep moving forward. Who cares, Well, that's their thing,
Speaker 3: that's not mine. I don't own their stuff.
Speaker 4: Right right, that's true.
Speaker 3: Own your own and.
Speaker 1: Keep going like and this is man, this is I'm
Speaker 1: gonna have to do a Wisdom Wednesday something because this
Speaker 1: is no because the move again, the wiser I get
Speaker 1: and I tap into my friends, I'm like, we're all
Speaker 1: on the same plane.
Speaker 4: You just maybe that's time for all of that. What
Speaker 4: created wisdom Wednesdays.
Speaker 5: You just created it right now, Wisdom Wednesdays.
Speaker 3: They got to do it.
Speaker 1: I gotta do it because it's like I learned, and
Speaker 1: then you know, I talked to I know Saraia is
Speaker 1: just ten, but I try to get it.
Speaker 3: Into her brain, like you know, when we're waiting.
Speaker 1: For the bus, I'm giving her nuggets right and I'm.
Speaker 2: Like, oh please, But then She'll turn around and say something.
Speaker 3: I'm like, she really was listening. There's hope. So we
Speaker 3: got to turn all this around.
Speaker 1: Ladies, Leah and Brittany, thank.
Speaker 2: You so much for your great questions. And these are
Speaker 2: two women who also.
Speaker 1: Leah has taken her own career by her own hands,
Speaker 1: created her own project.
Speaker 3: I'm talking no, I'm talking about.
Speaker 1: A full fledged TV project, pilot finance wrote, put.
Speaker 2: Up the sets shot, she's the actress in it.
Speaker 7: She entery traumatic. How don't we want to talk about?
Speaker 4: Where can my resume?
Speaker 1: But you know what, but you know what, this is
Speaker 1: the thing, Leah, I can tell you this too, and
Speaker 1: holding on eighteen years to inside the black Box and
Speaker 1: now you know we have we're moving in to see
Speaker 1: and three when this strike's over, it has to be
Speaker 1: that that's the only way that we see the light
Speaker 1: at the end of the tunnel. That's where we see
Speaker 1: the joy and the journey, that's where all the light is.
Speaker 3: Because we got to get through that act as.
Speaker 1: They were like, you are not going to have to
Speaker 1: go through that again. You will, but it'll be a
Speaker 1: different mentality.
Speaker 3: And a different run. Let me give you a little
Speaker 3: story about my late husband, Hal Jackson. In nineteen thirty nine,
Speaker 3: before any of us were even thought about, he went
Speaker 3: to a radio station in DC and told them that
Speaker 3: he wanted to do a radio show. They said, no,
Speaker 3: n word, will ever go on this station. You couldn't
Speaker 3: tell him no. He left. He got a white advertising
Speaker 3: agency to call the station, and by time they bought time,
Speaker 3: he walked in there with doctor Mary macloud, Bethune and
Speaker 3: Charles Drew. It was a fifteen minute show. It blew up.
Speaker 3: Then he was on three different radio stations in three
Speaker 3: different cities in the same day. He did syndicated radio
Speaker 3: before there was anything called syndicated radio in DC. Did
Speaker 3: it also in New York. He wouldn't take no for
Speaker 3: an answer. So you go ahead, Leah, You go ahead
Speaker 3: with your bad self. Yes, Leah, she.
Speaker 1: Is so, and Brittany as well, like they take They
Speaker 1: understand that, yes, we're part of the entertainment business, but
Speaker 1: we can create our own lane is You have to.
Speaker 4: You have to, you have to never never give up,
Speaker 4: never ever give.
Speaker 3: Up exactly, keep moving forward.
Speaker 4: That's right, hey, Ben, you.
Speaker 3: Got the words today, all right?
Speaker 7: Ladies.
Speaker 1: So, David and Debbie, our next segment is class and
Speaker 1: Session when we come back and these two ladies are
Speaker 1: doing the scene for you, so yes, and you got
Speaker 1: could give your feedback and you know, whatever constructive criticism
Speaker 1: you want to give them. So when we come back
Speaker 1: on the Spirited Actor Podcast with me Tracy Moore, and
Speaker 1: we're still blessed to have David M. Shepherd and Debbie B.
Speaker 1: Jackson with us. So don't go anywhere, We're coming right back.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Spirited Actor Podcast with me Tracy Moore,
Speaker 1: and you are still blessed we have David M. Shepherd
Speaker 1: and Debbie B. Jackson still with us, you guys. And
Speaker 1: so now what we're going to do is we're going
Speaker 1: to have our Spirited Actor alumni, Leah Cheney and Britney
Speaker 1: Jackson are going to read a scene.
Speaker 3: I will read the narrative. So ladies, are you ready ready?
Speaker 3: Guys man, Okay, here we go.
Speaker 1: The title Dad's Funeral by Lean Amado Interior Funeral Home Night.
Speaker 1: Cassie sits heavy but still with tissue in hand, in
Speaker 1: an almost vacant room with her father's in front of
Speaker 1: her in a casket.
Speaker 3: Her lifelong friend.
Speaker 1: Veronica enters the room and sees her sitting there alone.
Speaker 1: She hesitates, but forces her way towards Cassie be Cassie
Speaker 1: looks up at her. Her face goes blank.
Speaker 3: I'm so sorry.
Speaker 9: I would have come sooner, but I just found out.
Speaker 1: Cassie just nods her head. She listens. Veronica takes a
Speaker 1: seat next to her.
Speaker 7: You don't need to sit, seeze, I want to.
Speaker 2: There's an awkward, eerie silence.
Speaker 7: You would have known sooner had you pick up the
Speaker 7: phone and called me for once.
Speaker 9: You're right, and I feel terrible and just so guilty.
Speaker 7: Yet please be let this will not be about you.
Speaker 2: Veronica sinks lower in her seat silence.
Speaker 7: You don't know what I've been going through.
Speaker 10: It happened so fast that I didn't even have a
Speaker 10: moment to blink and realize that I was alone, and
Speaker 10: I'm tired. And when I find when I finally had
Speaker 10: to let him go, the one person that I needed
Speaker 10: to be there was too busy, didn't even know what.
Speaker 3: Was going on, nothing to say.
Speaker 7: And when my mom died and you were working, I
Speaker 7: was understanding.
Speaker 4: But this.
Speaker 7: You didn't realize that it happened days and you hadn't
Speaker 7: heard from me.
Speaker 9: The big cast.
Speaker 4: But I was.
Speaker 9: So wrapped up in a bad thing, and and and
Speaker 9: then too busy to realize anything else.
Speaker 4: And I but.
Speaker 3: No, excuse, Casey. Cassie looks at her.
Speaker 7: He left.
Speaker 3: Again. Good.
Speaker 2: Cassie puts her hand on Veronica's side of the comfort.
Speaker 7: I'm sorry, b I know how bad you wanted.
Speaker 11: It to work, right, Doronica shifts her eyes towards ahead.
Speaker 3: Your dad was my dad.
Speaker 7: God, I'm so sorry.
Speaker 6: Sorry.
Speaker 7: He would tell me to be easy on me.
Speaker 3: They smirk.
Speaker 7: I'm really gonna need you now going anywhere.
Speaker 2: Veronica wraps her arm around Casey and holds her see hey, child, ladies.
Speaker 3: Okay, So David and Debbie.
Speaker 1: Whatever you feedback you want to give them, this is
Speaker 1: the opportunity.
Speaker 3: To do it.
Speaker 4: You want to go first day?
Speaker 3: Wow, that was really touching.
Speaker 4: You.
Speaker 3: Oh wow, yo making me cry? That was really really good.
Speaker 3: How long have you guys been rehearsing.
Speaker 1: That they just got it last night or no this morning?
Speaker 3: Oh this morning?
Speaker 1: Yeah, they don't get an opportunity to really work on it.
Speaker 3: We give it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, the let's let let me say this.
Speaker 5: I pay attention to what how they feel when they're
Speaker 5: saying something. When they're saying it, I see the feeling.
Speaker 5: But what's more important to me is the inner dialogue
Speaker 5: that they both have.
Speaker 4: Yeah, they're not speaking.
Speaker 5: That is so important, And they both have it inner
Speaker 5: dialogue when you're not saying anything and you're making the face.
Speaker 5: And that's so important because some people say their lines
Speaker 5: and then forget about what the moment that they're in.
Speaker 5: But you both have good inner dialogue, which is so important.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So Brittany, you know, like you kind of moved out
Speaker 3: before we even got started to get yourself into that.
Speaker 5: But she did do that. Yeah, she took a deep
Speaker 5: breath and went over there saying, I'm doing this.
Speaker 3: You don't know nothing about acting. Okay, you ladies are fantastic.
Speaker 4: Wow.
Speaker 3: Well, what I will tell you, Debbie B is that
Speaker 3: you do you know talent and you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: So that's that's the bottom line.
Speaker 1: Because if it makes you, if it resonates with you
Speaker 1: like that, you're gonna walk away and you're gonna remember
Speaker 1: Brittany and you're going to remember Leah. So that's what's important.
Speaker 1: And David, I couldn't I agree with you one thousand
Speaker 1: percent it's not what they're saying.
Speaker 3: Is what they're not saying that.
Speaker 1: Engages us and resonates with us as an audience. So
Speaker 1: I say bravo to both of them, and I stand
Speaker 1: right beside them.
Speaker 2: They don't want to.
Speaker 1: Ladies and gentlemen and Leah Brittany, let's put our hands
Speaker 1: together for our rivity. I just feel like I had
Speaker 1: a rivity conversation with David M. Shepherd and Debbie B. Jackson,
Speaker 1: new to our Bearded active family. Thank you, thank you
Speaker 1: so much for being on with us today.
Speaker 3: You guys were amazing. Oh and so you Oh my god,
Speaker 3: I didn't know that we were going to be doing
Speaker 3: this kind of stuff. Oh well, this kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: Listen, we do all kinds of stuff so you can
Speaker 1: come back for more stuff.
Speaker 3: You guys are doing something so that we can promote it.
Speaker 5: When I told her I was doing this with my
Speaker 5: old acting coach, she said, well.
Speaker 3: If you don't want like for real.
Speaker 1: And maybe it was because David and I we were
Speaker 1: of a certain age. However, we did click immediately, and
Speaker 1: when he said he was my favorite student, I was like,
Speaker 1: David Shepherd.
Speaker 3: Really is my favorite suit.
Speaker 1: So I'm glad he said it, but he does say it.
Speaker 1: And every time he calls her or text whatever, he's like,
Speaker 1: Tracy is your favorite student, like David m zephyr Goa's David,
Speaker 1: thank you so much? Amazing.
Speaker 3: All right, you guys.
Speaker 1: When we come back on the Spirited Actor Podcast with
Speaker 1: me Tracy Moore, I'm going to give you guys some
Speaker 1: love because I've been inspired.
Speaker 3: Hey, we are here at Kudos.
Speaker 1: Corner and at Kudos Corners, this is where we celebrate
Speaker 1: our Spirited Actor alumni. So proud of them whether they're writing, directing,
Speaker 1: or performing themselves. So today we are celebrating Vanessa McNair.
Speaker 3: Vanessa plays Adrian in.
Speaker 1: The TV series Hush that's on the All Black Network,
Speaker 1: which films in second season right before the strike. She
Speaker 1: also played Tanya in the play King Hedley the Second
Speaker 1: in November twenty twenty two, and she is a recent
Speaker 1: graduate of her Masters of Engineering for Cyper Security. Upcoming roles,
Speaker 1: She's in a play Wednesdays in Mississippi, which is going
Speaker 1: to be November tenth through the nineteenth, playing at Joe's
Speaker 1: Movement and that's Joe's Movement Emporium in Maryland. And then
Speaker 1: she has a film coming out conflict of interest. So
Speaker 1: we just want to say kudos to Vanessa McNair for
Speaker 1: continuing to represent the Spirited actors, whether you are acting, directing, writing,
Speaker 1: all of the above, we say bravo, and now it's
Speaker 1: time to give love, ladies and gentlemen. I have had
Speaker 1: some challenges and continue to have challenges in my life.
Speaker 1: What grounds me, what roots me, is knowing and remembering
Speaker 1: when I had challenges before and how I got through them.
Speaker 1: Prayer is my first resource. I pray in seconds. That's
Speaker 1: what I feel like currently in my life. Prayer gives
Speaker 1: me peace, comfort and security. When my son came in
Speaker 1: this world two pounds, one ounces, all of the faith,
Speaker 1: all of the prayer sustain me. Seventeen years later he
Speaker 1: got hit by a car. They said all of the
Speaker 1: worst things that you want to hear. However he continues
Speaker 1: to thrive. Prayer, love and faith got us through. Always
Speaker 1: always resort to whatever your faith, whatever your religious belief is,
Speaker 1: Always land there first.
Speaker 3: Don't forget to look out for us.
Speaker 1: On our new show, Inside the black Box, my co
Speaker 1: host will be Joe the Legend Morton. It's going to
Speaker 1: be The Spirited Actor Podcast on Steroids we'll be streaming
Speaker 1: on the Crackle network.
Speaker 3: I'll keep you posted.
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us on the Spirited Actor Podcast
Speaker 1: with me Tracy Moore. I look forward to our next
Speaker 1: Spirited podcast.
Speaker 3: Thank you,