Speaker 1: Hudson River Radio dot com. It beats listening to nothing.
Speaker 2: It's Frank. My goodness, it's Frank being Frank right where
Speaker 2: the only way to be is Frank. Hello everyone, and
Speaker 2: welcome to being Frank. We're the only way to be
Speaker 2: is Frank. I'm your host, Franklebono, and i'd like to
Speaker 2: thank you for joining us on what we like to
Speaker 2: call the Intelligent Conversation Podcast, where no conversation is out
Speaker 2: of bounds and all points of view are welcome. As
Speaker 2: you know, we record live to tape and I give
Speaker 2: you the date so you have some relevance and context.
Speaker 2: It is the twenty sixth of August. I appreciate you, folks.
Speaker 2: We were on vacation a bit for two weeks, but
Speaker 2: we're back with a very strong program for you today.
Speaker 2: I know you're going to enjoy it, and we appreciate
Speaker 2: you staying with us. You know. The new play Castling,
Speaker 2: currently in production at the Penguin Rep, is a comedy
Speaker 2: that uses the setting of an auto shop as its
Speaker 2: backdrop and the metaphor of chess to deal with the
Speaker 2: serious issues many black Americans are facing today. In a
Speaker 2: certain sense, the place characters act as chess pieces as
Speaker 2: they deal with themes like gentrification, legacy, and community. In
Speaker 2: a recent review in Broadway World, critic and Niac's own
Speaker 2: Peter Danish said this about Castling, this delightful comedy, penned
Speaker 2: by Anthony T. Goss and skillfully helmed by Daniel Besrond'
Speaker 2: exudes a gentle ambition. While the script possesses a few
Speaker 2: rough edges, the casts captivating synergy and undeniable charisma elevate
Speaker 2: the piece, transforming any minor imperfections into charming idiosyncrasies. Joining
Speaker 2: us now for some intelligent conversation are some of the
Speaker 2: gentlemen that make Castling go. Please welcome playwright Anthony Gohos
Speaker 2: and actors David Roberts and Lamar k Chest And gentlemen,
Speaker 2: welcome to the program. We appreciate you being here, Thank you.
Speaker 1: For having us well, thank you appreciating Thank you.
Speaker 2: Guys, like, let's go one at a time. Anthony, I
Speaker 2: guess again mentioned you first, So why don't we begin there?
Speaker 2: Tell us a little bit about yourself. What brought you here?
Speaker 2: How did you get here to where you are currently
Speaker 2: in your position as a playwright.
Speaker 3: It's been a journey starting I'm an actor, so I
Speaker 3: segued into playwriting just for my love of plays writing
Speaker 3: and poetry throughout my life. And I took this passion
Speaker 3: half of the theater, and I just continue to develop my
Speaker 3: craft and work quietly and really just love what the
Speaker 3: theater could do, it what it could bring, and I
Speaker 3: love the format of theater and what it can do
Speaker 3: for society and just continuing value. So as a actor,
Speaker 3: I really wanted to go to play writing. In the
Speaker 3: last few years, I've been focusing on writing plays and
Speaker 3: thank you with things for the stage.
Speaker 2: You know, and you mentioned you you you had a
Speaker 2: desire from from an early age. Was there an epiphany?
Speaker 2: Was there a moment? You know, sometimes for a lot
Speaker 2: of people something if someone wants to be an athlete,
Speaker 2: they they they are in the presence of their favorite
Speaker 2: player and realize that's where they wanted to be. Was
Speaker 2: there something a play that particularly moved you, a performance,
Speaker 2: or something that clicked in you and said that's what
Speaker 2: I want to do.
Speaker 4: Not earlier on. Earlier on, my focus was manly sports athletics.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 3: I played college basketball, and everybody, like you know, grew
Speaker 3: up in the city. You have like a whole dream
Speaker 3: or some type of athletic aspiration, So I wasn't introduced
Speaker 3: to the artists fairly later Actually, after graduating, I got
Speaker 3: a corporate gig and I kind of wanted to work
Speaker 3: in a team environment in sports. So I took like
Speaker 3: an acting class randomly and I just progress and then
Speaker 3: I just moved to New York. So it kind of
Speaker 3: this kind of came upon me. I always like movies
Speaker 3: growing up. I always love writing. I always love reading books.
Speaker 3: I read all the time, so I guess it was dormant.
Speaker 3: But after graduation, I just wanted to pursue acting in
Speaker 3: artis and that's what let me hear.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's interesting. I have a very similar background.
Speaker 2: Do you see any similar What similarities might you see
Speaker 2: between athletics and artistic performance? Do you do you see
Speaker 2: any there? What's the connection? If any?
Speaker 3: Almost definitely, honestly, I think I link it did the
Speaker 3: same to me. They wanted to stay in the preparation.
Speaker 3: The discipline, what it takes to to be a good
Speaker 3: actor or a good writer. I think it's a lot
Speaker 3: of discipline. I think it's a lot of doing things
Speaker 3: when you know you don't want to the teamwork, the lotterie.
Speaker 3: We all have a similar goal on stage, like the sports,
Speaker 3: you want to put up a good performance. Work together,
Speaker 3: and I think it's to me, it's the same, It's
Speaker 3: one and the same. It's the same preparation, it's the
Speaker 3: same mindset, and I love it. I love the team
Speaker 3: aspect of it. I love working with great people, and
Speaker 3: so I think it was a natural transition from athletics
Speaker 3: into the theater woman articular.
Speaker 2: Excellently to be with you the second ltle more same
Speaker 2: same question. How did you get to this point where
Speaker 2: you are today?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I started out dancing with my first like performance
Speaker 1: performance days, just growing up in New York City. Of course,
Speaker 1: you know, I always loved baseball with my with my sport,
Speaker 1: everybody plays basketball, but I grew up playing baseball. Then
Speaker 1: I went into the PO the Police Athletic League, you know,
Speaker 1: and then I got when when I went there, they
Speaker 1: had baseball, they had basketball, they had ping pong, they
Speaker 1: had all these all these different you know, athletic activities
Speaker 1: that I didn't even know, you know, I could I
Speaker 1: could really take up take a part of. And they
Speaker 1: also had they all of those kids who were doing
Speaker 1: who were then who was playing those various sports but
Speaker 1: also performing in the end of the year's show. So
Speaker 1: they were also dancing and acting and singing as in
Speaker 1: addition to playing sports and things like that. So that
Speaker 1: just that was at thirteen. I was dancing for about
Speaker 1: three or four years. And then the guy who was
Speaker 1: it was over our our I guess dance team who
Speaker 1: wanted to challenge us with the play. And many some
Speaker 1: people had acted before, but I was one of them.
Speaker 1: I was sixteen, and we had the audition. Even though
Speaker 1: we all knew each other, we knew we were going
Speaker 1: to be a part of it, but that was a
Speaker 1: part of the you know, the process. I didn't know
Speaker 1: it then.
Speaker 2: I know it now.
Speaker 1: That is a part of the process. Your auditioned to
Speaker 1: get the role. And then so it was a fellow
Speaker 1: and that was at sixteen and from then on, man,
Speaker 1: I just you know, I really try to get into
Speaker 1: as many you know, artistic activities as I could. So
Speaker 1: I danced, I stepped, sang everything anything I could really
Speaker 1: get with.
Speaker 2: But acting stuck. What is it that grabbed you? What
Speaker 2: if you could describe it, what is it that that
Speaker 2: that provides that real motivation that you need? I mean,
Speaker 2: people can say a lot of people I want to
Speaker 2: be an actor, I want to be an athlete, but
Speaker 2: it takes a great deal of dedication. What fires you,
Speaker 2: what makes you have that dedication?
Speaker 5: You know?
Speaker 1: I always always say that knowing that you know, the
Speaker 1: things that the blessings that I have and aren't for me,
Speaker 1: So to guard on the stage and to give a
Speaker 1: great performance and then see see people crying, hear people
Speaker 1: talk about, you know, their experiences, relating it to what
Speaker 1: they saw on stage, and just having the human experience
Speaker 1: in a real way.
Speaker 2: I believe that theater does that.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 1: It really makes people that the actors on stage and
Speaker 1: the audience vulnerable and at the end of the show
Speaker 1: and now we can have a real conversation, so you know,
Speaker 1: and it's just it grows in every it's been blessed,
Speaker 1: and I've been blessed in my life for it to
Speaker 1: grow in every realm that I've performed in. So it's
Speaker 1: like just having those human experiences after the show and
Speaker 1: living outside of acting and bringing those living experiences to it,
Speaker 1: it just makes it. It's really like refreshing man to
Speaker 1: just be able to talk to people in a in
Speaker 1: an authentic way.
Speaker 2: We're going to develop that theme as our as our
Speaker 2: conversation goes along. But David, you're up, what's what's important
Speaker 2: for people to know about you? And what what got
Speaker 2: you here? Uh?
Speaker 6: Yeah, My my journey is a real it's pretty pretty
Speaker 6: long and it's a big segue.
Speaker 5: So I graduated graduate. Yeah, I graduated with accounting.
Speaker 2: Good microbiology figure that one out, Wow.
Speaker 6: Brother, Yeah, so you know it was it was just
Speaker 6: you know, practicality above all. So I stayed with that
Speaker 6: maybe like a good nine months, and I just realized
Speaker 6: that that's not what I wanted to do with the
Speaker 6: rest of my life. So I started thinking about the
Speaker 6: classes that I liked in school, and it turned out
Speaker 6: that I really liked the arts.
Speaker 5: I loved my speech class. I remember running to my
Speaker 5: speech class.
Speaker 6: I love British authors, American authors, our religion in history.
Speaker 6: So at the end of the day, it turned out
Speaker 6: I was more interested in the arts more so than
Speaker 6: the business classes. Business classes will get your job, but
Speaker 6: it's not what I love to do. So I started
Speaker 6: thinking about going down the realm of acting, but I
Speaker 6: was still kind of scared to do that.
Speaker 5: So I went down the road of modeling first, and
Speaker 5: that was also short lived.
Speaker 6: So with the so with the cop card that I had,
Speaker 6: I remember I went to this play and I fell
Speaker 6: in love with the play, and I walked up to
Speaker 6: the to the director.
Speaker 5: She's no longer, she's no longer what is right now?
Speaker 6: But I remember walking up to and I said, I
Speaker 6: don't have a lot of experience, but I'm ready to
Speaker 6: work and I'm willing to learn. And she decided to
Speaker 6: hire me as an actor in one of her plays.
Speaker 6: And for about a good five years, off and on,
Speaker 6: I was her assistant. And along with acting, we also
Speaker 6: conducted the rehearsals. I called people in for auditions, and
Speaker 6: I was pretty much her pa, you know, for a
Speaker 6: number of years, and her really really enjoyed it, not
Speaker 6: only but also the conversations that we would have as
Speaker 6: a collective. And along with acting, then I started writing
Speaker 6: because I didn't want to sit down waiting for producers
Speaker 6: and writers to have to hire.
Speaker 5: Me in order me to work.
Speaker 6: So then I started creating like a I guess, I
Speaker 6: guess an alter ego which I call de Black. And
Speaker 6: with that and with that, I write and create my
Speaker 6: own pieces as well.
Speaker 2: You know, I've noticed a common thread through all three
Speaker 2: and police feel free all to jump in. That's a
Speaker 2: love of communication. Your communicators talk a little bit about
Speaker 2: the importance of communication in your work. If you haven't
Speaker 2: said it directly, and I think you mostly have, you've
Speaker 2: certainly employed implied that you know, the art of communication
Speaker 2: is very important to all of you, anyone I know.
Speaker 5: I mean generally you need communication period.
Speaker 6: I think a lot of times when you look at
Speaker 6: mishaps and most understandings that people have a lot of
Speaker 6: it used to usually has to do with either miscommunication
Speaker 6: or communication.
Speaker 5: I wasn't had at all.
Speaker 6: So I think in everyday life, communication is very, very key,
Speaker 6: whether it be personal relationships, romantic relationships, platonic business.
Speaker 5: At the end of the day, all all important, effective
Speaker 5: communication is key.
Speaker 1: Lamar, Yeah, I agree with you said personal relationships. The
Speaker 1: first thing I'm married, first thing I thought about was
Speaker 1: my wife. So I'm like, you know what, I and
Speaker 1: I always and I always talk to her. I feel
Speaker 1: like if there's any if there's ever any issue, it
Speaker 1: always stems back to communication. If I could have just
Speaker 1: said if I could have said this better, or you
Speaker 1: could have said that in a different way, you know,
Speaker 1: we wouldn't even be here, you know, but I mean
Speaker 1: so much. So I love I love words. I love
Speaker 1: like I love the breaking like I wouldn't. I remember
Speaker 1: in college I took an etymology class just to you know,
Speaker 1: be around and see the breakdown and the origin of words.
Speaker 1: I'm really and when I spoke about my first play,
Speaker 1: my first play was a fellow, so that that was
Speaker 1: a totally different language for me. So that opened up
Speaker 1: my mind at sixteen years old, like, man, what is this?
Speaker 7: You know?
Speaker 1: So now I'm like, I just ended up loving words?
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 1: So communications, I didn't even get that common thing. And
Speaker 1: I know these brothers, you know, if I have a
Speaker 1: long communication is.
Speaker 2: Key, right, as they say, a great segue to our writer,
Speaker 2: our playwright, Anthony, your thoughts? Communication, What does it mean
Speaker 2: to you? Why is it important? How is it important?
Speaker 7: Yeah?
Speaker 3: I guess you know, all the brothers say, they all
Speaker 3: touched on great things. And I think from artistic standpoint,
Speaker 3: I think when you grow up and you don't have
Speaker 3: your you don't have a voice, and you don't know
Speaker 3: how to use your voice right. And I think we
Speaker 3: young black fans sometimes we use it at sports or
Speaker 3: or things that football, right, we want to express ourselves.
Speaker 4: But I think what I found was sometimes I had I.
Speaker 3: Didn't know how to communicate well, and I would either
Speaker 3: use it and over compensate or work hard or try
Speaker 3: to please. And I find that through poetry and arts,
Speaker 3: I'm able to communicate things that I feel deep believe
Speaker 3: that I don't say. So arts helped me become a
Speaker 3: better communicator in life just in general, because sometimes like
Speaker 3: you might have a miscommunication with your family or your friend,
Speaker 3: and you know how to communicate. But by doing praise
Speaker 3: and like Lamara saying at the monagory of the words
Speaker 3: and characters, you start to realize.
Speaker 4: How important communication is.
Speaker 3: And when you go and stay so often or a film,
Speaker 3: you develop a confidence in the way you communicate and
Speaker 3: start to know who you are.
Speaker 4: And as a writer, I'm trying to communicate.
Speaker 3: Those things that I see and feel often and I
Speaker 3: don't I don't say so as key.
Speaker 4: It's it's just how It's one of the things that
Speaker 4: I use with my writing a.
Speaker 2: Lot of Yeah, I want to share with you, you know,
Speaker 2: because I teach it for the University at Lincoln Center
Speaker 2: and we're starting soon. And the very first thing I
Speaker 2: say to my students is I am here to help
Speaker 2: you find your voice, not my voice, your voice. So
Speaker 2: I hear you all, and I agree with you one
Speaker 2: hundred percent. I answer you like, let's talk specifics this play, Okay,
Speaker 2: this method of communication, what you're trying to communicate, et cetera.
Speaker 2: But first, unusual title Castling. Tell us more about the
Speaker 2: title and the and the germ of that. Where did
Speaker 2: that come from in your mind? Castling?
Speaker 3: So I started writing Castling with Liberation Theater, a great
Speaker 3: theater company in New York City that kind of gave
Speaker 3: me my starting to play writing about two years ago.
Speaker 4: So this is my first real play.
Speaker 3: So Castling was just came out this idea of I
Speaker 3: wanted to see. First of all, I always wanted to see
Speaker 3: more people who look like me on stage. And I
Speaker 3: wanted to talk about the people who I grew up
Speaker 3: with in my community, the people who were like og
Speaker 3: so to speak, or people in my neighborhood who helped
Speaker 3: raise me, because you know, growing up without a father.
Speaker 4: Or anything like that, you kind of you kind of
Speaker 4: get a little piece of everybody you know.
Speaker 3: And one of the people I got a piece was
Speaker 3: from a guy who was at a local library, taught
Speaker 3: and how to play chess.
Speaker 4: And I used to walk by the library to go
Speaker 4: play basketball. Every day. I'll go and get some water.
Speaker 4: He'll be in there.
Speaker 3: He'll taught me this move and the move was castling,
Speaker 3: and I realized he taught me because it was the
Speaker 3: coolest thing. It was like, oh, he can move these
Speaker 3: pieces right here. So that stuck with me as I
Speaker 3: went through middle school, high school, the move castling, And
Speaker 3: as I started writing this piece, I knew I wanted
Speaker 3: to talk about the things that are going on in
Speaker 3: my neighborhood all around me, but I wanted to do
Speaker 3: it in a different way, and I wanted to combine
Speaker 3: my love of chess with this piece as well. And
Speaker 3: then it just started formulating coming together about using the
Speaker 3: chess pieces as like a metaphor for like the castles
Speaker 3: that they build all around us to displace us, castling
Speaker 3: as the moves that we as typically as African American
Speaker 3: men or people in inner cities as well, have to do.
Speaker 3: I ain't pivot at any time, so I wanted to
Speaker 3: combine combine those two themes, and I wanted to just
Speaker 3: see more diverse storytelling on stage. And that's how the
Speaker 3: idea of Castling came about just the meaning of tentrification
Speaker 3: and the moves that we have to make the dividually
Speaker 3: collectively to kind of offset some of the challenges becase
Speaker 3: every day.
Speaker 2: A place in setting is important in every play, and
Speaker 2: you chose an order repair shop, but.
Speaker 3: One because there was an auto repair shop growing up
Speaker 3: that was actually brought out and replace. It was like
Speaker 3: a tire shop near ashmout in Boston, Massachusetts. It was
Speaker 3: brought out, but it used to be an auto shop
Speaker 3: and now it's condominius. So when thinking about the setting
Speaker 3: of the play, I didn't want to have too many
Speaker 3: different settings. This is my first play, my first endeavor.
Speaker 3: I wanted to focus on characters. And I was thinking
Speaker 3: about this shop, and I was thinking about where I
Speaker 3: grew up, and I said, it would be great to
Speaker 3: have it here. And another reason is because the auto
Speaker 3: shop there's so many There's a.
Speaker 4: Lot of group called workers.
Speaker 3: We know the auto shop, but there's a lot of customers,
Speaker 3: there's a lot of relationships. There's a lot of depth
Speaker 3: that could happen there that we could mind. So I
Speaker 3: wanted to keep it. I wanted to honor the auto
Speaker 3: shop that I grew up in and I wanted to see.
Speaker 4: Some blue collar, every day people on stage.
Speaker 2: Lamar and David, let's move. Let Lamar Flich start with
Speaker 2: you talk a little bit about your character in the play.
Speaker 2: Who do you play and who are they and what
Speaker 2: do you bring to that role.
Speaker 1: I played the character of Justin's he's a young dreamer
Speaker 1: soon to be an entrepreneur, and I was thinking, I
Speaker 1: was thinking about it today. I'm like the I think
Speaker 1: he and this is no slight to anybody. I think
Speaker 1: he had because he's the youngest, has like the the
Speaker 1: most upside.
Speaker 2: The guy right above him, who.
Speaker 1: You learn about later, he's like in the in the
Speaker 1: thick of life, you know, and then you got the
Speaker 1: eldest statesman, the og suggesting he has kind of, like
Speaker 1: you know, the the most to want to do and
Speaker 1: to dream to do and actually be able to to
Speaker 1: realize it. And funny story man, I started, well, I
Speaker 1: did a reading with Anthony. I looked at the picture
Speaker 1: the other day, the very first reading of Display when
Speaker 1: it was in development, like you said, with Liberation Theater Group,
Speaker 1: December eleventh, twenty twenty three. We were all in a
Speaker 1: small room and in the city and just reading, just
Speaker 1: reading his words. And I didn't even play Justin. I
Speaker 1: played David's part because I think there was a scheduled
Speaker 1: conflict and David couldn't make it, so they had to
Speaker 1: switch stuff around this And now it's like seeing all
Speaker 1: of this, seeing the worlds the characters. How I've literally
Speaker 1: seen Anthony developed characters in real time, you know, I've
Speaker 1: never like we would come to rehearsal on a Monday Wednesday.
Speaker 2: We got all new pages and even more fleshed out.
Speaker 1: So it's like it's it's been amazing to see the
Speaker 1: journey of Anthony of Justin, you know, of the characters,
Speaker 1: and yeah, man, I'm having so much fun with him
Speaker 1: because he's he's relatable, you know to everyone knows that Justin.
Speaker 1: And I think that that's a that's a that's a
Speaker 1: skill that is that shouldn't be lost on the writer
Speaker 1: because everyone knows they will leave that that that the
Speaker 1: shows I know, someone like you on my nephew and
Speaker 1: my son in law. Whatever it is that there's there's
Speaker 1: there's one of those. But that's just the testament to
Speaker 1: how how intricate and and and greatly woven the characters
Speaker 1: are together by by Anthony.
Speaker 2: Excellent David, please tell us a little bit about the
Speaker 2: character you play. What should we know about him? What
Speaker 2: do you bring to the role there?
Speaker 6: Yeah, I play the role of Byron, and when you
Speaker 6: look at chess pieces, he takes on the role of
Speaker 6: a knight. He's not he's not the king, but he's
Speaker 6: on his He's he's on his journey and taking his
Speaker 6: steps to get there.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 5: He has a son that he that he loves very much. Uh.
Speaker 5: He's at odds with, you know, with the with the
Speaker 5: mother of his son.
Speaker 6: But he's trying to do the best that he can
Speaker 6: to to put himself in a more stable a position
Speaker 6: to h to co parent, you know, with with the mother.
Speaker 6: He's he's he's seen some downstroddedness in his life and
Speaker 6: he's trying to make sure that he doesn't go down
Speaker 6: that road again. He's trying to stay focused in being
Speaker 6: the good man that he know that he is. But
Speaker 6: at the same time, he knows that the environment has
Speaker 6: its own has its own clock, and it runs on
Speaker 6: its own scale, and he's trying to do what he
Speaker 6: can to fight against that while still staying above water
Speaker 6: and keeping his head above water with all those eyes
Speaker 6: as well. What I try to bring is some some
Speaker 6: some edge because I think that that it's just something
Speaker 6: that a type of person like Byron would have.
Speaker 5: I don't want to give it all the.
Speaker 6: Way, but when you see more of his history, you
Speaker 6: will understand where the way he speaks, the way he walks,
Speaker 6: the combativeness that that may come out of him, is
Speaker 6: his passion for things to go the way that he
Speaker 6: would like for them to go generally comes from. And
Speaker 6: but at the end of the day, he does have
Speaker 6: a brought and he and he always means what and
Speaker 6: he always means well for self definitely is some but
Speaker 6: also as fellow man and his brethren.
Speaker 2: It's an open question for all three of you. And
Speaker 2: it's billed as a comedy. Okay, yet you were talking
Speaker 2: a tackle serious subjects here. People can't see us, but
Speaker 2: you all have kind of smiles on your faces while
Speaker 2: you're not. And again it's an open question anyone take it.
Speaker 2: But what are the challenges of doing quote unquote serious comedy.
Speaker 2: I guess that's an oxymoron, but that that makes certain
Speaker 2: level of of sense. I guess can you describe that?
Speaker 2: That's gotta be some kind of real challenge.
Speaker 4: You know what?
Speaker 1: I laugh because we we do talk about We've talked
Speaker 1: about that it's a comedy and they are very fun
Speaker 1: I mean, it's a funny place. But but there's also
Speaker 1: so much great drama in it as well. I'm like,
Speaker 1: I don't know, it's it's just it's just a good
Speaker 1: play man, But it the challenges Arena are navigating and
Speaker 1: and and living and living truthfully in those moments when
Speaker 1: it's funny. It's funny, you know that, don't you know?
Speaker 1: Don't you don't tell a joke and then uh bait
Speaker 1: the audience to laugh by laughing or just over tell it.
Speaker 1: That really living that thing truthfully. And also when it's something,
Speaker 1: when something hits you that you know, tears come out.
Speaker 7: Here.
Speaker 1: We're working with some great actors up there. I'm working
Speaker 1: with some great actors up there. So man, I'm laughing.
Speaker 1: It's a little bit of lamar might be laughing too.
Speaker 1: And or if they're if they're going through something and
Speaker 1: then and they're talking through through their their journey, I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm there with them as well. So I just
Speaker 1: think that as long as you live truthfully in the moment, man,
Speaker 1: you could leave saying it was one of the funniest
Speaker 1: things you ever short, you ever seen, you've ever seen,
Speaker 1: but you'll get the comedic element as well.
Speaker 2: Anthony looks like you want to you want to jump
Speaker 2: in here? What do you I want?
Speaker 4: I want?
Speaker 1: I want to know is it a comedy?
Speaker 7: I want to know what we call it?
Speaker 2: Being frank you can't.
Speaker 3: Know too.
Speaker 4: I want to know who put the spin on it
Speaker 4: instead of.
Speaker 3: But uh, I think it's it's a few things, a
Speaker 3: testament to the actors being able to mine it right.
Speaker 4: But I think I've known these guys for a while
Speaker 4: and I think our.
Speaker 3: Banters naturally, which I think that's as black men in general,
Speaker 3: we have like everything serious, right, We got so many
Speaker 3: things we gotta deal with a lot of times I've
Speaker 3: seen shows and it's always dealing with our drama, our pain,
Speaker 3: our conflict. But it doesn't resolve it without joy. And
Speaker 3: I want to see like black joy or just joy
Speaker 3: on the stage as well, because even though I'm going
Speaker 3: through something now, I'm still laughing with my brothers, like
Speaker 3: I'm still playing ball, I'm still having a good time.
Speaker 3: So we can go from one moment like yo man,
Speaker 3: my girls, and the next moment he cracked a joke
Speaker 3: and we laughing, and I wanted to experience that on stage,
Speaker 3: Like Lamar was saying, let's just be truthful out there,
Speaker 3: like we can celebrate our joy within our pain, like
Speaker 3: we go through we know what's going on in the world,
Speaker 3: but that doesn't mean we're not having fun at home.
Speaker 3: That doesn't mean we're not playing cards, that doesn't mean
Speaker 3: we're not playing ball when I being good fathers, good friends.
Speaker 3: So for me, I wanted to see that, and these
Speaker 3: guys just kind of elevated it, so they naturally gifted
Speaker 3: at it. So it seems like a comedy because they
Speaker 3: can elevate what's on on the page, but those drama
Speaker 3: moments are there too. So we were hoping to give
Speaker 3: the audience a little bit of everything, just so they
Speaker 3: can be the understanding of our experiences on the stage
Speaker 3: and as a human experience overall, not just as Black
Speaker 3: American men or women, but a human experience because we
Speaker 3: all go through it.
Speaker 2: David, you want to add please, Yeah.
Speaker 6: I think I've always I've come to the conclusion that
Speaker 6: you really need one with the other. I don't know
Speaker 6: of too many comedies that don't have a touch of drama.
Speaker 6: I don't know how many dramas that don't have a
Speaker 6: touch of comedy. It's just it's just the balance of things,
Speaker 6: and it's you know, once again, Piggyback and Over said,
Speaker 6: in the human experience, we need those things sometimes you
Speaker 6: need that comedy to to let that drama.
Speaker 5: We need that comedy to let that drama land. We
Speaker 5: need that drama to.
Speaker 6: Let that comedy really, you know, really really hit that nerve.
Speaker 6: So I think it's just a I think it's just
Speaker 6: one of those things that just go hand in hand.
Speaker 6: If you're gonna cry, there may be a time that
Speaker 6: you're gonna laugh. If you're gonna laugh that there may
Speaker 6: be a time that you're gonna cry. And I really
Speaker 6: think that it's just one of those things that go
Speaker 6: hand in hand. It's it's it's called balance, and it's
Speaker 6: all part of the human experience.
Speaker 2: Great point, gentlemen, there's a method behind my madness there.
Speaker 2: I think it's fair to say it's kind of a
Speaker 2: male dominated most of the characters, but not all. One
Speaker 2: of the main characters, Hope is kind of and you
Speaker 2: mentioned as a chess game, she's kind of the queen,
Speaker 2: and we know the queen can rule can rule the
Speaker 2: chess board. Speak a little to that where where again
Speaker 2: kind of male dominated, but one of the most important
Speaker 2: characters is a woman. Speak to that, Anthony, why don't
Speaker 2: you take it first?
Speaker 3: That's just how my life is built, honestly, Like have
Speaker 3: a great mother, great aunts. I had great female influences
Speaker 3: in my life and in the community. They kind of
Speaker 3: hold it down and they might not be present in
Speaker 3: this play. There's one female character and Hope, but there's
Speaker 3: so many references to strong women, you know, Justin's mom
Speaker 3: or David's girlfriend or mister d or women in general.
Speaker 3: I kind of determine our moves when we're in the
Speaker 3: shop or when we're in life, and because we're working,
Speaker 3: we're doing our things as men.
Speaker 4: And Hope as a queen, I think.
Speaker 3: She wants to provide a little bit of old but
Speaker 3: she also is just a representation of all the women
Speaker 3: I've noticed in my community growing up, who are smart,
Speaker 3: who are like around the way, girls, who are go getters,
Speaker 3: who are you know, fierce, who are tenacious, who are
Speaker 3: emotional and vulnerable, And I kind of wanted to highlight
Speaker 3: a woman who had all those qualities but who was
Speaker 3: still learning about herself who's still growing.
Speaker 4: And that's what's fascinating to me about Hope.
Speaker 3: And even though she's the only female character I like,
Speaker 3: she represents a lot of the women that I grew
Speaker 3: up in hiring and being inspired by.
Speaker 2: Lamar of your thoughts please, Yeah, Hope.
Speaker 1: Is played in this show beautifully by Kashane and Johnson
Speaker 1: Man and and I just I have to make sure
Speaker 1: I said that because that that's my road dog right there.
Speaker 1: But what I will say is that I've seen, like
Speaker 1: just just being a part of the process, what people
Speaker 1: will see now in the full production of it. If
Speaker 1: they would have been there two years ago, they wouldn't
Speaker 1: they wouldn't have seen. Not no pun intended this much Hope,
Speaker 1: you know in the show literally because I think she
Speaker 1: might have. I think when the first reading of it,
Speaker 1: she might have had two scenes or maybe a scene.
Speaker 5: And a half.
Speaker 2: I can't remember.
Speaker 1: But but over over, every over the course of all
Speaker 1: of the readings, all of the feedback was people wanting
Speaker 1: more of this character. And it was a reason it
Speaker 1: was like to see that Anthony planted with the character,
Speaker 1: but it had so many legs to grow, and people
Speaker 1: saw it. And I've seen him develop it and now
Speaker 1: hope is she she They were waiting on every word
Speaker 1: that she says, you know, when she's in the shop,
Speaker 1: and now she feels like another not not, she feels
Speaker 1: like she's part of the culture of the shop and
Speaker 1: this rendition of the show. But I've just I loved
Speaker 1: that she's been developed by Anthony and how she's being
Speaker 1: played now she's just amazing. So yeah, but she holds it.
Speaker 1: She holds it down for all women. There needs to
Speaker 1: be one. There was more.
Speaker 7: I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you couldn't have one of them
Speaker 1: because she.
Speaker 2: She's on fire. Indeed, I live with one. One. Oh yeah,
Speaker 2: I hate you one. But it's plenty. Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1: We love it.
Speaker 2: We love it, David your perspective.
Speaker 6: Yeah, so before we got into rehearsals, I had to
Speaker 6: own him to the fact that I really didn't know
Speaker 6: how to play chess. So every day for about a
Speaker 6: good two weeks, I was playing chess, trying to just
Speaker 6: get familiar to that way. When we get to that
Speaker 6: part that doesn't feel as acted as it as it,
Speaker 6: I don't'm not pretending that much. So one of the
Speaker 6: things that I love about the queen, and I think
Speaker 6: our director he had shown us a documentary about the
Speaker 6: history of chess, and I didn't even know that a
Speaker 6: queen piece was kind of added later. I think it
Speaker 6: was like a missionary first and then after a missionary
Speaker 6: it was changed into a queen. And it's just really
Speaker 6: good because it's it's it goes back to the balance.
Speaker 6: At least that's my belief.
Speaker 5: The queen can move anywhere she wants to.
Speaker 7: She can.
Speaker 6: She can she can go straight and go diagonal. She can,
Speaker 6: she can guide up to the top, she can got
Speaker 6: up to the bottom. But she's always at the end
Speaker 6: of the day, at the end of the day, protecting
Speaker 6: that king. The game is only over once the king
Speaker 6: is check made it. Now, when the queen is check
Speaker 6: made it, the queen can be removed. But at the
Speaker 6: end of the day she's still the most powerful. So
Speaker 6: I think it's just a it's just a necessity going
Speaker 6: back to the to the laughter and the tears and
Speaker 6: the comedy with the drama, it's a it's an added necessity.
Speaker 2: Well, guys, you know, we've talked a little bit about
Speaker 2: the message to the play and some of the themes,
Speaker 2: but I also I hear a broader message and and
Speaker 2: and some of you have mentioned it, for example of
Speaker 2: seeing people who look like yourselves having more diversity in theater.
Speaker 2: I'd like each of you to talk to the to
Speaker 2: the importance of that. What is the what is the
Speaker 2: broader message not only of the play, but of your
Speaker 2: your work in general. David, why why don't you start
Speaker 2: with you? And we'll work in the opposite direction. David,
Speaker 2: why don't you begin with it?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 6: I think that one of the things that that theater does,
Speaker 6: or acting in general does is it gets us back
Speaker 6: to that just that human message, that the fact that
Speaker 6: there are many things that you may think you're alone
Speaker 6: on but you're really not. Somebody else has experienced it
Speaker 6: may mean a different form, maybe in the same form.
Speaker 6: When you see it in theater, it reminds you that, oh, yeah,
Speaker 6: there are people who have had similar experience, and it
Speaker 6: can be showcased, it could be shared, it can be embraced,
Speaker 6: and it can be felt. And one of the things
Speaker 6: with art is that it allows us to be in
Speaker 6: touch with so many different people, ranging across the world
Speaker 6: in so many different ways, but yet in a similar emotion.
Speaker 1: Yeah, man, I think I was talking about I was
Speaker 1: talking to Anthony recently about funding that just got cut
Speaker 1: from something that we had that I met the director
Speaker 1: of this show, you know, in the past, I met
Speaker 1: Daniel Boyce Ron and.
Speaker 2: Who masterfully crafted, you know, directed this piece.
Speaker 1: But and it's things like that that I wanted to
Speaker 1: participate in it this year, just to find out that
Speaker 1: we're not having.
Speaker 2: It because of cut funding.
Speaker 1: I've known, I've known people that have gone to Broadway
Speaker 1: from certain opportunities like this, you know, or going on
Speaker 1: to just do do you know, commit great feats and
Speaker 1: we need to keep telling these stories. I recently did
Speaker 1: a production and that I knew as Lamar there was something,
Speaker 1: and Anthony spoke to it earlier. There was there were
Speaker 1: things that I couldn't say, couldn't get off my chains
Speaker 1: as Lamar or didn't not couldn't didn't know how to
Speaker 1: communicate it. But I knew through this show, by having
Speaker 1: seen it and having read it, if I was able
Speaker 1: to do it the right way, a lot, a lot
Speaker 1: of what I was dealing with as a man would
Speaker 1: just be relieved. And it was exactly what I needed.
Speaker 1: Sometimes theatre just does that I had. There was no
Speaker 1: there was no other way for me to communicate and
Speaker 1: get these feelings off of me in front of people,
Speaker 1: if it wasn't for this experience, you know, and I
Speaker 1: don't think there's any other place in the world you
Speaker 1: can get that. And then every night or six nights
Speaker 1: a week for having many weeks, it's like it's an
Speaker 1: experience that you'll never get the next day ever again, Anthony,
Speaker 1: your thoughts, Yeah, I.
Speaker 4: Mean, I just I agree with the fellas I think
Speaker 4: there is like it's like nothing else you get to.
Speaker 3: Is just important because people need to see themselves and
Speaker 3: save you know, a lot of the work that I
Speaker 3: want to do work inspire to do this before the
Speaker 3: next generation. It's for some young kid to come in
Speaker 3: there at thirteen fourteen who doesn't mess with it there
Speaker 3: to go in there and see themselves.
Speaker 4: So when they just see Lamar, when they goes to David,
Speaker 4: it's like, yo, I can do this.
Speaker 3: It's like the same feeling they did when I watched
Speaker 3: August Wilson or when I watch other places. It's not
Speaker 3: about me. It's like who out in the audience needs
Speaker 3: to hear this story today? Who needs to be inspired?
Speaker 3: And about me just going on the stage being being
Speaker 3: able to act on stage, I get to affect somebody else.
Speaker 4: So for me, I always think about the next generation or.
Speaker 3: Somebody who's coming up who wants to see themselves, or
Speaker 3: who's going through difficult times, or for a fun fact
Speaker 3: like Justin is named after my cousin, and my cousin,
Speaker 3: you know, as a young kid growing up Boston who's
Speaker 3: having some tough times and his brother is great as
Speaker 3: a mechanic. So for me, I wanted him to be
Speaker 3: able to see this place he can see himself going
Speaker 3: through life and overcoming and having So that's that's kind
Speaker 3: of what I what I loved about theater because it
Speaker 3: can change your life any day you sit down and
Speaker 3: we have actors like these guys on the stage and
Speaker 3: for a great experience.
Speaker 4: So that's what I hope for.
Speaker 2: Guys. We're gonna take a quick break. We mentioned it.
Speaker 2: We have to talk a little bit about the current
Speaker 2: environment with a very hostile administration. DEI has become a
Speaker 2: dirty word term, et cetera, threats of funding cuts, et cetera.
Speaker 2: You know how, we got to find a way to
Speaker 2: make it work. And I want to get your thoughts
Speaker 2: about how you're preparing to be able to deal with that,
Speaker 2: because your perspective certainly is a valuable one. From the
Speaker 2: new play Castling, we have the playwright Anthony T. Goss
Speaker 2: and actors Lamar kay Cheston and David Roberts also known
Speaker 2: as d Black Gentlemen. This has been absolutely terrific. I
Speaker 2: appreciate your time. We don't want our audience to go anywhere.
Speaker 2: We still got more time, more discussion, more important topics
Speaker 2: to discuss here on Being Frank, I'm your host, Frank Lebona.
Speaker 2: Will be back with more Being Frank right after these
Speaker 2: brief commercial messages. Please don't go anywhere yet. Hudson Riverradio
Speaker 2: dot com.
Speaker 3: This is Hudson River Radio dot com.
Speaker 7: Hudson River Radio dot com.
Speaker 2: Hudson River Radio dot com.
Speaker 1: This is Hudson River Radio dot com.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to Being Frank, the Intelligent Conversation Podcast. Thanks
Speaker 2: for sticking with us. Of course, I'm your host, Frank
Speaker 2: Lebono and as always, our engineer is the mailman because
Speaker 2: he always delivers. Mister Neil Richter. Guys. Before we left,
Speaker 2: we were talking about how the importance of community theater
Speaker 2: and good solid professional community, of which Penguin rep is
Speaker 2: one tell us a little bit about your involvement, why
Speaker 2: it's important, where it is, so people know a little
Speaker 2: bit more about it, you know. Again, even though we
Speaker 2: originated at Hudson River Radio, and you know, we bring
Speaker 2: our audience a fresh topic every week, and we stream
Speaker 2: from Hudson River Radio which is in Stony Point, New York.
Speaker 2: And you can catch Being Frank anywhere you get your
Speaker 2: favorite podcasts, Apple, Spotify, High Heart Radio and all the others.
Speaker 2: And it's archives, you know, so you can listen to
Speaker 2: any program anytime you like. Nice part of it is
Speaker 2: that streams all over the world, believe it or not.
Speaker 2: We have listeners in Italy, I have as listeners in Australia,
Speaker 2: so we give them a little bit of context. So
Speaker 2: let's tell people a little bit about Penguin Rep where
Speaker 2: it is and why it's important.
Speaker 1: I'll start.
Speaker 2: You got your hand up first, you're I just I
Speaker 2: have I have a long.
Speaker 1: Love affair with community theater and the real affinity for
Speaker 1: it because it's where it's where I started, and I
Speaker 1: believe that it's it's it's where you a lot of
Speaker 1: times find the most passionate artists, you know, because.
Speaker 2: They're not doing it for the money.
Speaker 1: Rarely are you ever doing theater for the money, even
Speaker 1: no matter where you're doing it. But it sounds like podcasting,
Speaker 1: podcasting right right right, but specifically in community theater. I
Speaker 1: remember getting out of college and it was a community theater,
Speaker 1: black spectrum theater, growing up in Queens, New York. And
Speaker 1: I it was walking distance. Whatever was in thirty minutes,
Speaker 1: walking was walking distance to me. If I could walk,
Speaker 1: then a half hour I did it, and I would walk,
Speaker 1: I would I would go up to there. I went
Speaker 1: up there after graduating college. I have a headsho on resume.
Speaker 1: I don't have any experience, but I'm here because I
Speaker 1: want to.
Speaker 2: I want to act.
Speaker 1: They had me intern for like five or five or
Speaker 1: six months. But in that in that interning, I learned
Speaker 1: so much about the business. I saw performances, I saw auditions.
Speaker 1: I built a mobile stage and put it back down,
Speaker 1: Like all of these elements of the theater told me
Speaker 1: a lot as an artist, but also a lot as
Speaker 1: a man, as a human responsibility. Getting out of college,
Speaker 1: you know, and I wasn't getting paid.
Speaker 2: For these things.
Speaker 1: It was just out of the love man, so you know.
Speaker 1: And to be back working at Penguin Rep right now
Speaker 1: and working with Joe Broncatto. We did a reading of
Speaker 1: this show up in at Penguin a couple I think
Speaker 1: it's back in October, and everyone loved it. And you know,
Speaker 1: it's just every audience that we've had has had great
Speaker 1: things to say, but they.
Speaker 2: Just love the story.
Speaker 1: And imagine, I can't imagine what Stony Point, New York
Speaker 1: would be like without Penguin Rep as an outlet for
Speaker 1: its residents, you know, or even the Bronx or you know,
Speaker 1: City Island where my mother went after she saw the show.
Speaker 1: They went to get some food, like you know, you
Speaker 1: go see food after you I mean go see food,
Speaker 1: go get food after you know, see a show. So
Speaker 1: there's so much that can come out of community theater,
Speaker 1: and it's sad to see funding cuts. It's sad to
Speaker 1: see one show seasons because of funding cuts, you know,
Speaker 1: and then the actors can't work tech tech people can't
Speaker 1: work stay chanced. Man, It's just so many things that
Speaker 1: come out of community theater that we see now every
Speaker 1: day we don't know.
Speaker 2: Those stories that linears.
Speaker 1: So you know, I always be a proponent of it
Speaker 1: because it's something that I think teaches you a lot
Speaker 1: as an artist, but definitely as a human.
Speaker 2: You know, David, would you like to add to that, please?
Speaker 6: Honestly, what I really hope that the people who come
Speaker 6: to see this show. I hope that they spread the word.
Speaker 6: Now I'm kind of seeing it from a completely different angle.
Speaker 6: I hope they spread the word, or if they don't
Speaker 6: spread the word, I hope that we plan to the
Speaker 6: seed of them seeing black men in a certain light.
Speaker 6: I think a lot of times when you look at
Speaker 6: the news social media reels, there's a lot of negative
Speaker 6: images of us that are just being like pushed out
Speaker 6: on a regular basis at heinous levels. Whether you want
Speaker 6: to see it in your feed, whether you do want
Speaker 6: to see it in your feed, it's there. But when
Speaker 6: you go to see a play and you see the
Speaker 6: richness of these men telling these stories that are probably
Speaker 6: foreign to you, or maybe you've heard just a pinnacle
Speaker 6: of it, but now you're getting it flushed out in
Speaker 6: four different you know, from four different bodies. You get
Speaker 6: to see these people who are probably not living next
Speaker 6: door to you, but maybe you are living next door
Speaker 6: to you, but you get to see the richness of
Speaker 6: them as human beings. As human beings in ways that
Speaker 6: you probably never saw before.
Speaker 2: Anthony, your thoughts.
Speaker 4: Yeah, first off, just a thing of the red.
Speaker 3: You know, Joe having met Joe when we did the
Speaker 3: reading with these guys who did are reading about a
Speaker 3: year ago. And Joe, really I have to champion him
Speaker 3: for allowing us to first come up to being rep
Speaker 3: the barn and present this play, and then not only
Speaker 3: to present the play, the response. I remember the initial
Speaker 3: response we got from just a reading alone and watching
Speaker 3: everybody you know, sharing and being happy and watching these
Speaker 3: guys say the words it scripts it in. I'm just
Speaker 3: watching it and I was just amazed. And Joe has
Speaker 3: his post on that theater. I will say, he knows
Speaker 3: his audience, he knows what he wants, and he's made
Speaker 3: this process for me as a I'm literally a beginner
Speaker 3: playwright and this is my first time getting to play
Speaker 3: with these first player I'd written. So I'm learning as
Speaker 3: I go about this process and what works, what rights
Speaker 3: do we have a playwrights? And Joe, you know, has
Speaker 3: helped me during this process. He's given us a platform,
Speaker 3: He's allowed us to perform here. You know, we don't
Speaker 3: take these things for granted. As artists, because, like you
Speaker 3: were saying, the funding is being cut and our opportunity
Speaker 3: to act and the technicians to work is a jeopardy.
Speaker 3: And when you get a chance to perform, when you
Speaker 3: get a chance to work with the other companies like
Speaker 3: Penguin Rep. Who hasn't established audience, is a great reputation
Speaker 3: and a great team leading it. It's it's always a
Speaker 3: blessing to me, no matter what, nobody has to do anything,
Speaker 3: and it's a privilege and it's a testament to us
Speaker 3: as well from the work that we're continuing to do.
Speaker 3: And so Penguin Rep. I'm I'm indebted to I'm grateful
Speaker 3: for them, and I just want the audience. So David
Speaker 3: said to come and to see these men and this
Speaker 3: woman hoping just to be inspired and watch with my guy,
Speaker 3: the director, Daniel did a fantastic job working there and
Speaker 3: doing this thing. And I think when people come to
Speaker 3: Penguin Rep. We want to give them more than what
Speaker 3: they're expected. And and I'm and I'm I'm just grateful
Speaker 3: for the experience. I'm grateful for Joe Broncado and his
Speaker 3: mission with Finger and Rep and producing new plays and
Speaker 3: for this opportunity and just seeing these brothers up there
Speaker 3: and working with Hope and it's it's it's it's amazing
Speaker 3: to see.
Speaker 4: So I'm looking forward to to continue to go.
Speaker 2: Forward, all right, not to you know, not to be
Speaker 2: a downer, but it should this all go away? What
Speaker 2: do we lose? What do we lose?
Speaker 5: Do you want to No?
Speaker 1: No, I mean it kind it kind of we kind
Speaker 1: of been talking about it. I guess the whole conversation
Speaker 1: with the first word that our director said to us
Speaker 1: that we were doing our tablework was community.
Speaker 2: That's it.
Speaker 1: I mean we and in that community, we lose connection,
Speaker 1: you know, like after every show, after every show, And
Speaker 1: I didn't know that this was a practice that my
Speaker 1: brother David Roberts has started himself personally. I just hopped
Speaker 1: on the train and then now we've been doing it
Speaker 1: for twelve thirteen years. But after every show, we come
Speaker 1: out and greet the audience, say hi to them, shake
Speaker 1: their hands, talk to them, like, have a real experience
Speaker 1: with them. If there's no show, there's no chance for
Speaker 1: us to meet that one person that we may have
Speaker 1: been doing the show for anyway, that one person, you know,
Speaker 1: So we lose community and we lose connection.
Speaker 2: Final thoughts, David, you any guys you see is yielding
Speaker 2: to you? Your final thoughts on what is lost if
Speaker 2: we lose uh plays like this in theater?
Speaker 6: I think I think that in general, you use a
Speaker 6: piece of yourself. Not to sound so so heavy, but
Speaker 6: I really think that you do. I think that the
Speaker 6: arts specifically right now, theater is is that venue and
Speaker 6: that means of us being able to express ourselves. So
Speaker 6: without having that, I think we're kind of just left
Speaker 6: with thoughts on our own, trying to find means or
Speaker 6: avenues or vehicles of finding that expression. But when you
Speaker 6: have theater, and when it's this good and it's this rich,
Speaker 6: it's given us a voice that we can hopefully impact
Speaker 6: others to do the same.
Speaker 2: Anthony final thoughts on that, Yeah, I think they hit
Speaker 2: it on the head.
Speaker 3: Com unity. Next, we lose a piece of ourselves. But
Speaker 3: I will say one thing that we have with the
Speaker 3: is has always survived. We look back before and now,
Speaker 3: no matter what was going on in the world, did
Speaker 3: it was that place where people came to see themselves
Speaker 3: they hope be inspired. So no matter what I know,
Speaker 3: we go through tough times, I think the theater when
Speaker 3: it's done and we're doing it will always have a
Speaker 3: place even though it's been threatened and things are being cut,
Speaker 3: and there are some positives and moments where you can say, Okay, well,
Speaker 3: this is what's happening.
Speaker 4: How do we pivot, you know, how do we castle
Speaker 4: to use the title?
Speaker 3: How do we make sure that this is something that
Speaker 3: we can be better at next year, the next five years,
Speaker 3: the next ten years. So for me, I'm always thinking like,
Speaker 3: all right, if this is how it's going, how can
Speaker 3: I position myself and how can we position the community
Speaker 3: and other actors so we can be better have a
Speaker 3: better chance of with standing in the future.
Speaker 4: And people like, uh, just a shout out like Window Pierce.
Speaker 3: I've heard that he was like creating some fun for
Speaker 3: black theaters to thrive, Like Black Spectrum, I think is
Speaker 3: on the list. So when there's challenges, that's when the
Speaker 3: people who really want to make a difference and step up.
Speaker 3: And I hope that we're all a part of that,
Speaker 3: people who want to make a difference in the theater.
Speaker 3: And this is one way we're making a difference by
Speaker 3: you know, doing this play, being with Joe and being
Speaker 3: with Penguin.
Speaker 4: Rep and working with these guys and watching them perform.
Speaker 3: I think this is this is a testament to what
Speaker 3: we can do when we when we have community in connection.
Speaker 2: Okay, the good news is the play is on. It's
Speaker 2: currently at the Penguin Rep uh and plays through this Saturday.
Speaker 2: If you were watching, we are recording on a Tuesday.
Speaker 2: The play airs through the actually weeks to seven, so
Speaker 2: you got two weeks to go at Penguin Web. Guys,
Speaker 2: how can people find out show times, locations, et cetera.
Speaker 2: What are websites who can give us that? Lamar, are
Speaker 2: you you can?
Speaker 4: You? Ye?
Speaker 1: I got you covered. See, I'm I'm all, I'm handy.
Speaker 1: I'm handy, but.
Speaker 2: Somebody no.
Speaker 1: Before I even get to that, I do want to
Speaker 1: give a major shout out to Junie Smith. He is
Speaker 1: playing mister d in this show and then he is
Speaker 1: is a four person cast and we need all four
Speaker 1: of them, so I would wanted to make sure I
Speaker 1: get director.
Speaker 2: Please not everyone could come today. We should say that
Speaker 2: and yes, yes they are all appreciated of course.
Speaker 1: Directed Daniel boys Ron, but you can you can. Penguin
Speaker 1: Rep Theater, seven Cricket Town Road in Stony Point, New York.
Speaker 1: You can go to www dot Penguinrep dot org. We
Speaker 1: have ten shows left. If we're going to September seventh,
Speaker 1: one on Thursday, one on Friday, two on Saturday, one
Speaker 1: on Sunday for two for the next two weekends. If
Speaker 1: you want to call listen, you can call eight four
Speaker 1: five seven eight six two eight seven three. I will
Speaker 1: tell you one more time. It is eight four five
Speaker 1: seven eight six two eight seven three. And tickets are
Speaker 1: limited because those four people on stage are do you know,
Speaker 1: and Joe he knows how to sell it, So tickets
Speaker 1: and limited. Please get your tickets www dot Penguin Rep
Speaker 1: dot or we hope to see you at the data.
Speaker 2: This has been absolutely terrific. I really want to thank
Speaker 2: you for being frank, you know, and forget the trite.
Speaker 2: I got to get those little talks wherever and whenever
Speaker 2: I can really informative, really interesting. I know you're busy
Speaker 2: or you know you're working, you're working actors, so I
Speaker 2: really appreciate the time. I really do.
Speaker 1: Guys, Yes, sir, we appreciate you, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 7: You know.
Speaker 2: Of course, we offer special thanks to our listeners who
Speaker 2: take time to give us a voice in their lives.
Speaker 2: We offer fresh topic just about every week, of course,
Speaker 2: unless we do take a little break now and again.
Speaker 2: But remember you can get to any of our podcasts
Speaker 2: because they're archived anytime you like, and that includes Apple, Spotify, iHeartRadio,
Speaker 2: Speaker and more. Check us out on the Hudson River
Speaker 2: Radio Facebook page. We asked that you like us and
Speaker 2: leave a meant to you. Always leave you with a
Speaker 2: couple of last little things, a slogan that I think
Speaker 2: is appropriate. Some great music and this comes from the
Speaker 2: great Lorraine Hansberry, who wrote a Raisin in the Sun,
Speaker 2: one of the classic plays of all time, and she said,
Speaker 2: there's always something left to love. And if you ain't
Speaker 2: learned that, you ain't learned nothing. You gotta love that.
Speaker 2: I certainly do. All right, We've got some great music
Speaker 2: from my friend David Snyder, and.
Speaker 7: This is be cool.
Speaker 2: And I'm telling you you listen to this and you
Speaker 2: will be cool. For our engineer, the mailman, mister Neil Richter,
Speaker 2: I'm your host, Frank Lobono. We hope to have you
Speaker 2: join us on the next being Frank, We're the only
Speaker 2: way to be is Frank. Thanks. Everyone, be.
Speaker 7: Be cool, They.
Speaker 8: Be good my son.
Speaker 2: Good.
Speaker 8: They don't.
Speaker 7: Be cool?
Speaker 2: Video do do pet?
Speaker 7: Do you do?
Speaker 2: Instead thinking.
Speaker 7: Think do do do?
Speaker 4: Do?
Speaker 8: We adn't.
Speaker 5: Say they don't mating.
Speaker 7: Come on, what you're looking at?
Speaker 2: Look at so me?
Speaker 7: Don't you make a move to break my goods?
Speaker 2: Get out of my way a bust the move, Say
Speaker 2: something nice and nothing at all, because together we stand
Speaker 2: the body with falling with mutual.
Speaker 7: Respect, we get out of it all.
Speaker 2: Life is short.
Speaker 7: Don't be a boy, so try to help those and
Speaker 7: please be cool cool Hudson River Radio dot com