Diversity And Inclusion In Theatre Are Focus Of New KPBS TV Show

Speaker 1: 00:00 Over the years, audiences at the old globe LA Jolla Playhouse, the San Diego opera, North coast rep and other local theaters have appreciated how directors have embraced diversity and inclusion among playwrights directors and actors. Now a new interview series called theater corner that focuses on diversity and inclusion in the national theater scene debuts tonight on KPBS television, the host of this new series, Michael Taylor, along with actress, Wendy Raquel Robinson spoke with KPBS host, Mark Sauer. Here's that interview Speaker 2: 00:35 Well, Michael and Wendy, welcome to midday edition. We're very happy to be here, Mark. Well, Michael, tell us about theater corner. What's the concept behind your show? The concept has perhaps everything to do with a why and how it started. And so, uh, when I, when I joined the board there at the old globe, uh, I had already, uh, attended plays there, uh, prior to that. And one thing I noticed, uh, each time that I would attend a play, uh, there's perhaps maybe a handful of people that actually look like me and the audience. And so when I became directly involved with the globe, I, I, I took the initiative to sort of address that in my own little way. And so, uh, uh, Barry Edelstein, the artistic director, he actually had, uh, black actors performing on the stage there, uh, and the Shakespearian plays as well. Speaker 2: 01:33 But I, I, I didn't think the black community may have been aware of that. And so I decided to start interviewing these black actors and in back then theater corner was a print interview series. And we were published in the voice and viewpoint, uh, newspaper, which is the oldest black newspaper in San Diego. And so the, the, the objective was to perhaps normalize the idea of attending theater, just like, uh, the idea of attending a sports event or a concert, it's a normalized consideration. And so this, this was my, uh, this was the approach. This was the purpose. And, and then it just sort of naturally evolved into filming the interviews. The first several episodes are done. They're ready to air starting this weekend, Friday night and Saturday afternoon on KPBS television. And Michael, tell us about this first episode you interviewed the actors performing as Nat King Cole and Sammy Davis jr. And a musical that would be a duly Hill and Daniel J. Watts, Daniel J I want to hear a little bit from them and I'm going to set up a little soundbite here. Daniel J. Watts who plays Sammy Davis jr. Is also a cast member of Hamilton. The theatrical phenomenon created by Lin Manuel Miranda, which won 11 Tony awards and the Pulitzer prize. And let's hear a clip of you asking them about what drives them to move from television to the stage. Speaker 3: 03:01 The thing about stages that there's this, this immediate automatic partnership that you have with the audience, there's an agreement. There's an agreement that we're have to this moment, to this time. And you also understand this is the live theater. Something might go wrong here. No, we don't have the option to say, you know what, cut it again. And like splice it together and put together this perfect polished thing. There's this element of like, Oh, wow, this is happening before my very eyes. Speaker 2: 03:32 And Michael, what were you going for there? What insight about acting were you after from Daniel J. Watts, this distinction between performing in film and television as a, as opposed to performing on stage, you know, to try to squeeze out those differences because not all television actors actually performed in theater. And so this is, this is what I try to get in. So when young actors are watching this interview, perhaps these are, are very useful insights, uh, or perhaps even motivation to, to experience, uh, acting on the stage. And when is a woman of color in theater and on TV, how does your experience compare with that of male actors like duly Hill and Daniel J. Watts? Speaker 3: 04:18 You know, I've seen men get so many more opportunities in terms of even longevity and age. I use the Morgan Freeman, uh, analogy, and there's not many women, um, that are able to have, you know, a career as long and as sustainable, uh, on camera as you know, your Morgan Freeman's. And it just seems like there's so many more opportunities for, um, men in general. And then if you were to break it down to African American males and females, there's so many more roles for the African American male, but I, I am optimistic and I'm saying, um, so many women get behind the camera behind the lens, you know, creating stories, directing like myself. I'm honored to be, uh, producing now. And, um, you know, moving up that ladder and creating power positions for not only myself, but other women of color, Speaker 2: 05:15 Wendy, are you still working is still managing to, to act. At this point, Speaker 3: 05:20 I've done two shows. Uh, one was for the own network and the other was for a Bravo television, but they bring out, I call it a TV and a kit. They brought out a, a suitcase, one of those big plastic Pelican cases. And they were filled with, uh, three I-phones, one laptop and a ring light microphones. And we set it up. They hooked it to our router in the house and turned it on and everything was to be a zone. And we shot two different episodes of two different, different shells from my house. And I saw at least 20 jobs just go out the door. That's the new norm. And even the producers that were calling the show were at home. So it's, it's been interesting. It's been innovative. It's been out of the box thinking, um, even with my conservatory, we haven't missed a beat. We've been fortunate enough to continue on an instruction. We'd been doing it via zoom. Speaker 2: 06:25 Well, the show must go on one way or another. I guess I've been speaking with an actor, producer and instructor, Wendy Raquel Robinson and Michael Taylor host of theater corner premiering tonight, Friday, August 7th on KPBS to television and airs on KPBS TV on Saturday afternoons@fourthirtycanalsobestreamedonkpbs.org. Thanks very much to you both. Speaker 3: 06:48 Thank you and make sure you tune into theater corner. Thank you, Mark. I really appreciate the allowance to come here.