Speaker 1: Well this lame.
Speaker 2: Kelly six Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app and YouTube.
Speaker 2: Let me tell you about Candace Nicholas Lippman. She's an actress,
Speaker 2: spoken word artist, and arts educator with a passion for
Speaker 2: using her god given talents to uplift others. You may
Speaker 2: know her from her time as Jasmine on the show
Speaker 2: Blind Spotting. Candas Nicholas Lipman's solo play, A Rose called Candace,
Speaker 2: is an epic, moving, inspiring, cinematic ode to survival, grace,
Speaker 2: and exhilarating ambition. Candas is a shiny exemplar of how
Speaker 2: living as an artist, in spite of what the universe
Speaker 2: throws at you, or perhaps because of it, is truly
Speaker 2: a road to freedom. As the review goes, a Rose
Speaker 2: called Candace is a templess for any one of us
Speaker 2: to use in our own lives. She has created an
Speaker 2: ethos for artists to follow, and she joins us now
Speaker 2: back here on later with mo Kelly. And there's a
Speaker 2: there is a wrinkle to this because when you came
Speaker 2: in i'll say last year or so and told us
Speaker 2: about this one woman's show, you were doing everything. When
Speaker 2: I say it's a one woman show, I mean you
Speaker 2: were hanging the lights here, you were doing everything. Part
Speaker 2: of the reason why we brought you back is the
Speaker 2: show has grown. It's going to be running from June
Speaker 2: twenty first to the twenty ninth at the Los Angeles
Speaker 2: Theater Center. Have that right, yes, which is five fourteen
Speaker 2: Spring Street. But one of your producers is Academy Award
Speaker 2: winner Viola Davis. Yes, that's not bad news. You have
Speaker 2: to tell me the story of and it wasn't it
Speaker 2: by chance? You just happened to run into Viola Davis. Now,
Speaker 2: let me tell you this. I happened to run into
Speaker 2: Viola Davis at the Whole Foods across the street from
Speaker 2: the studio. It didn't go as well for me. How
Speaker 2: is it when you ran into Viola Davis you ended
Speaker 2: up working with her?
Speaker 3: Oh my goodness.
Speaker 1: Okay, guys, this is a little bit of a long story,
Speaker 1: so I'll just give the cliff notes version. A couple
Speaker 1: of years ago, we were both in text for South
Speaker 1: by Southwest, promoting our individual projects. Long, long story short,
Speaker 1: we just happened to be staying at the same hotel.
Speaker 1: We just happened to be in the Jacuzie at the
Speaker 1: same time. Meet her and her husband, and we just
Speaker 1: started talking about everything from like faith to what's going
Speaker 1: on in the world, to art and all the things,
Speaker 1: and we just kind of connected organically. And as you know,
Speaker 1: mister Kelly, I'm very transparent about, you know, things in.
Speaker 3: My life and what's going on.
Speaker 1: And then it was just you know, it's been really
Speaker 1: really hard and seven so we were just talking about
Speaker 1: all the things, and then that's how we kind of connected.
Speaker 1: Mister Julius and Miss Biola were like, Hey, when we're
Speaker 1: back in La, connect with us. Here's our assistance information.
Speaker 1: And then from there, yeah.
Speaker 2: You say that, you know, we all have our story, yes,
Speaker 2: and sometimes people only know us by our glory. You've
Speaker 2: worked in Hollywood for quite some time, you have had success,
Speaker 2: been on grades of Dat Toy, of course blind spotty.
Speaker 2: But people think, oh, it's easy after that, and that
Speaker 2: couldn't be further from the truth.
Speaker 3: Is it so far from the truth?
Speaker 1: And I think that is the thing that's really really
Speaker 1: powerful in terms of what I believe my purpose and
Speaker 1: assignment is. I believe my vulnerability is my superpower. And
Speaker 1: I just recently did an interview with KKW News and
Speaker 1: something that I quoted on there was. You know, we
Speaker 1: do live in a world right now, specifically with social
Speaker 1: media and everyone trying to put on this sort of facade.
Speaker 1: I guess if you will, yeah, you know, but people,
Speaker 1: I feel really really described to this whole mantra of like, oh,
Speaker 1: you know, you fake it till you make it, fake
Speaker 1: it till you make it. And I don't really subscribe
Speaker 1: to that. I really believe in faith it till you
Speaker 1: make it, because if you're faking anything and then you're
Speaker 1: not being authentic, how can you really be used by God?
Speaker 3: How can you really touch somebody?
Speaker 1: How can you really make a difference if you're not
Speaker 1: authentically being yourself? And so I am on this journey
Speaker 1: of freedom, which is a big theme in my show.
Speaker 1: It's because I want to release all of the things
Speaker 1: of like what my childhood has instilled in me, in
Speaker 1: terms of the people pleasing, the lack of boundaries, the
Speaker 1: caring what other people think about you, you know, like
Speaker 1: I am me, I am Joe, you know, and I'm
Speaker 1: in this season of where I'm really like, I want
Speaker 1: to release all of that other stuff, including feeling shame
Speaker 1: or guilt about things that I may experience, I e.
Speaker 1: Like a strike happening, like what happens when you're in
Speaker 1: your dream and then the strike happens and those shows
Speaker 1: get canceled. Now what happens? What does that really look like?
Speaker 1: Do you just give up? Or is it like, oh no,
Speaker 1: I got to put one pants leg back on at
Speaker 1: a time, get back up by faith and just keep going.
Speaker 1: And that's what I'm showing you this in my show.
Speaker 2: We have talked to you about this show, probably in
Speaker 2: a different iteration before, yes, and then you have a
Speaker 2: different producer, different eyes on a different viewing of it.
Speaker 2: They they see it slightly different. How has this show changed,
Speaker 2: improved or grown with the addition of not only Viola
Speaker 2: Davis but her husband, Well, it has grown.
Speaker 1: For one, of course, having their support is a big deal, right,
Speaker 1: so I'm very very grateful for that in the sense
Speaker 1: of how it has changed or how it has grown.
Speaker 1: I really have to say that is my choice in
Speaker 1: deciding to bring in a co director. I haven't had
Speaker 1: a director since like twenty nineteen. I've just kind of
Speaker 1: been doing it just me and got you know, from
Speaker 1: all the listen Jesus so from all the friends in
Speaker 1: Los Angeles to me taking it to off Broadway, Like
Speaker 1: all of that was just by myself, by faith, right,
Speaker 1: and so now having someone coming on and producing it
Speaker 1: where that kind of part of it is a little
Speaker 1: bit oliviate, you know, taken away in terms of the
Speaker 1: stress of that, I decided.
Speaker 3: To bring in a co director.
Speaker 1: And after weeks and weeks of researching various directors, because
Speaker 1: I'm really really big on who I bring with me
Speaker 1: along this journey, because it is a journey and I
Speaker 1: know all that it takes to put up my show,
Speaker 1: I decided to bring.
Speaker 3: On the amazing Bernadette Speaks.
Speaker 1: Yes, you may know her from Love Jones, from All
Speaker 1: American And I just think I could not have been
Speaker 1: more grateful for God to have partnered us together, because
Speaker 1: she is stretching me in ways that I did not
Speaker 1: know that I still needed to be stretched. She is
Speaker 1: challenging me in ways because the thing is, I did
Speaker 1: my show all the way back in twenty eighteen. But
Speaker 1: I'm not the same person I was in twenty eighteen.
Speaker 1: I'm not even the same person I was last year
Speaker 1: when I did this show, hopefully or not right, And
Speaker 1: so my as my story is evolving, so am I
Speaker 1: And so when I am constantly evolving, as we all are.
Speaker 1: Hopefully as artists, our art should reflect that evolution.
Speaker 2: I always wonder, though, and I asked you some form
Speaker 2: of this question the last time we spoke, and maybe
Speaker 2: the answer is the same or it's somewhat different now.
Speaker 2: I wonder how you manage to tell some of these
Speaker 2: same stories, relive some of the same pain, and not
Speaker 2: either become numb or find yourself falling back into that
Speaker 2: pit of pain.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, This is also another reason why I'm so grateful
Speaker 1: that I have a co director, because a lot of
Speaker 1: the trauma or whatever it is that I'm sharing on
Speaker 1: stage from part of my life story is either trauma
Speaker 1: that I am still currently actively working through, like in
Speaker 1: therapy or whatever, or it may be something that I
Speaker 1: am reliving currently right now in my present day. So again,
Speaker 1: my vulnerability is my superpower, and I think within that
Speaker 1: transparency that's the thing that really touches people's souls, because
Speaker 1: it's like, here I am bearing my soul on this
Speaker 1: stage unapologetically in hopes and hopes that I can impact,
Speaker 1: inspire and courage one person in the audience that my
Speaker 1: bravery and my courage and my understanding that our stories
Speaker 1: are our trials or tribulations of what we go through
Speaker 1: is not just for us. It is literally meant to
Speaker 1: help to save to someone else. And so because I
Speaker 1: talked about this too in another interview that because within
Speaker 1: the African American community specifically, we are always brought up
Speaker 1: to be like, hey, what happens in this house days?
Speaker 1: And it's not you bet not going against the grain.
Speaker 3: You bet not. I promise you.
Speaker 1: We cannot break generational curses that way, we cannot heal
Speaker 1: that way.
Speaker 3: And because I.
Speaker 1: Am so much joy right, I literally am an illustration
Speaker 1: of not looking like what I've been through, and I
Speaker 1: think that.
Speaker 3: Is powerful too.
Speaker 1: And so if I can show people that resilience and
Speaker 1: how no matter what, I still can continue to get up,
Speaker 1: then you could get up too.
Speaker 2: We're talking about a rosecalled Candace with idi am. I
Speaker 2: am amazed Candace Nicholas Lipmann because each time we talk,
Speaker 2: you have a renewed sense of self and energy which
Speaker 2: confounds me. And then I hear your person of faith like,
Speaker 2: oh yeah, that expats that, you know.
Speaker 4: Yeah very quickly?
Speaker 2: How can people find the show and get their tickets
Speaker 2: right now?
Speaker 3: Yes, right now?
Speaker 1: You can go to the Robitheatercompany dot org. Robitheatrecompany dot org.
Speaker 1: They are also a producer on this show.
Speaker 4: That's r O b e Y Yes.
Speaker 3: R O b e Y Theater Company dot org.
Speaker 1: You can also head to my website a rosecall Candace
Speaker 1: dot com for more information and it will be We
Speaker 1: have our first preview this Friday, hold June twentieth, and
Speaker 1: then the official opening is June twenty first, and we
Speaker 1: run through the twenty ninth.
Speaker 2: Just got to let people know it's the Robytheatercompany dot org.
Speaker 2: That's r O b e y t e e A
Speaker 2: t r E Company dot org. We're gonna make sure
Speaker 2: that you get there. Will help more with boy I
Speaker 2: tell you Candace Nicholas Flipman because I tried not to
Speaker 2: get too caught up in the conversation, you know, but
Speaker 2: when the spirit starts moving, as they say, you know
Speaker 2: more in just a moment. It's Lady with mo Kelly
Speaker 2: k if I AM six forty. We live everywhere in
Speaker 2: the iHeartRadio app and YouTube.
Speaker 5: You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
Speaker 5: KFI AM six forty k if.
Speaker 2: I am six forty, Yes Later with Mo Kelly We're
Speaker 2: live on YouTube and the iHeartRadio app, and you're just
Speaker 2: tuning in. My guest in studio is Candace Nicholas Lipman.
Speaker 2: You know her as an actress, probably from Blind Spotting
Speaker 2: as Jasmine and her solo play Now I'm sorry to now,
Speaker 2: I'm sorry. I hate when I get things wrong with that.
Speaker 2: I am so sorry.
Speaker 4: I love it.
Speaker 2: But we're here for your solo one woman play, a
Speaker 2: rose called Candace, and it is debuting on the twenty first,
Speaker 2: and it's running through the twenty ninth at the Roby
Speaker 2: Theater excuse me, at the Los Angeles Theater, which is
Speaker 2: five to one four Spring Street in LA. And from
Speaker 2: what I hear, you got two people in the studio
Speaker 2: who will be there as well.
Speaker 4: You see, it.
Speaker 1: Should be foult mister Kelly, look fair enough, fair enough toala.
Speaker 4: You got my schedule.
Speaker 2: I think we could do Saturday and twenty first. As
Speaker 2: we talk about this, I suspect you're drained after every performance.
Speaker 3: Oh my goodness, I'm again transparency.
Speaker 1: I'm drained right now, like I am exhausted, like literally
Speaker 1: even all day today. Although I do have producers on
Speaker 1: the show, I am still a producer of my show
Speaker 1: and I will make sure that my show is successful
Speaker 1: in the name of Jesus. And so I'm still behind
Speaker 1: the scenes, very much so, going all over Los Angeles
Speaker 1: networking with people, passing out flyers, doing all the things,
Speaker 1: booking my own press things, you know, like doing whatever
Speaker 1: I can to make sure that you know, by God's grace,
Speaker 1: that we get people in the seats and whoever is
Speaker 1: meant to be there will be there.
Speaker 2: You and I were having a very candid conversation off
Speaker 2: air talking about the realities of entertainment. Let me put
Speaker 2: it that way, where with each success, there is someone saying.
Speaker 4: You're a failure.
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, each step.
Speaker 2: Of the way, someone is saying you can't do this,
Speaker 2: or you're not good enough, or they don't recognize the
Speaker 2: path that you're on.
Speaker 4: How do you deal with it? I know how I
Speaker 4: deal with it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, the way that I look at it.
Speaker 4: What is it?
Speaker 1: You know how sometimes people have been saying, well, like
Speaker 1: if you don't got no haters, then that means you're
Speaker 1: not doing you know kind of thing and not trying
Speaker 1: to say that these people are haters. But when people
Speaker 1: are trying to speak okay, but like when people do
Speaker 1: try to feed me with all that negativity. Again, everything
Speaker 1: is perspective, and I have to do the work constantly
Speaker 1: to be like, No, I know who I am, I
Speaker 1: know who God is, and I know what God.
Speaker 3: Said and what he has ordained for my life.
Speaker 1: So regardless of what you're saying, I can listen to
Speaker 1: what you say, but I don't have to receive it,
Speaker 1: and I'll have the positive in my spirit.
Speaker 3: I rebuke it.
Speaker 2: Take me inside a rose called Candice. How is it
Speaker 2: broken up? Is it broken up? Let's say in the
Speaker 2: thirds where you're a child for a portion, maybe an
Speaker 2: adolescent than an adult.
Speaker 4: How does it proceed?
Speaker 1: Yes, So it's sixty minutes exactly, no intermission, and basically
Speaker 1: the show is done like in three acts. However, it's
Speaker 1: literally like as people have described it in emotional rollercoaster ride,
Speaker 1: like I literally take you through a lot.
Speaker 3: In sixty minutes.
Speaker 1: And so yeah, So like Act one, we're really digging
Speaker 1: into me in my childhood. Act two is kind of
Speaker 1: like high school, more of the growth high school college.
Speaker 1: And then Act three is here being in Los Angeles
Speaker 1: and what that experience has been like.
Speaker 2: So do you find that Well, I'm pretty sure audiences
Speaker 2: react differently on different nights of different parts. Do you
Speaker 2: find people responding more to when you're an adolescent or
Speaker 2: maybe in college or I'm quite sure it hits people differently.
Speaker 1: Yes, because it hits people differently, and the different responses
Speaker 1: that I've gotten from people.
Speaker 3: This is also how I know that this is purpose.
Speaker 1: Because when I'm just a black girl from the hood
Speaker 1: of Sacramento that's.
Speaker 3: Out here trying to achieve her dream, okay.
Speaker 1: And the fact that me, someone like me, my story
Speaker 1: can reach someone of different faith backgrounds, of different ethnic groups,
Speaker 1: of different age demographics. How that's nothing but God that
Speaker 1: my story can reach all these different people. And I
Speaker 1: really have to say, that's kind of kudos to my pastor,
Speaker 1: doctor Hoaiah Collins, because it was him Back in twenty fourteen.
Speaker 1: I was homeless living in my car when I started
Speaker 1: writing this story.
Speaker 2: Run too fast past that, slow down so people can
Speaker 2: hear it and understand not only where you're going but
Speaker 2: where you've come from. Yeah, thank you almost living in
Speaker 2: your car.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, it's so interesting you said that, because
Speaker 1: that's one of my notes that my co directors. She's like,
Speaker 1: you know, you don't have to speak like hand is
Speaker 1: let us be there with.
Speaker 4: You, Yes, let us twell in the moment.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So yes. It was twenty fourteen.
Speaker 1: I was living in my car, homeless, and I remember
Speaker 1: having a counseling session with my pastor and I remember
Speaker 1: kind of just talking to him like about my life
Speaker 1: little bit. And he's the one who say He was like,
Speaker 1: baby girl, you have a powerful story, he said, and
Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell you something.
Speaker 3: Your story is not unique.
Speaker 1: But it's because it's not unique is the reason why
Speaker 1: you need to share it. And that shifted everything for
Speaker 1: me where I was like, oh again, our testimony is
Speaker 1: not just for us.
Speaker 3: It is meant to be for other people.
Speaker 1: And so with that, I just was like okay, God,
Speaker 1: And I just was writing, writing and writing, and then
Speaker 1: I debuted it in twenty eighteen and then just kept
Speaker 1: on with it from there. But the response I got
Speaker 1: in twenty that really SOLIDI for that confirm where I
Speaker 1: was like, oh, wow, okay, so cause I'm terrified. It
Speaker 1: is terrifying. I am literally sharing things that people put
Speaker 1: in their journals.
Speaker 3: Do you understand, like this is.
Speaker 1: Things that I'm sharing out But again, because it is
Speaker 1: bigger than me, I have to remove myself and understand
Speaker 1: that Kennis is bigger than you. You have more of
Speaker 1: a calling, you.
Speaker 4: Know, Kenn's.
Speaker 2: I always wonder, yes, women are going to get something
Speaker 2: out of this. Women made more readily identify with the
Speaker 2: different parts of your story.
Speaker 4: But I'm sure men get something.
Speaker 1: Absolutely absolutely if you go back. And I'm so grateful
Speaker 1: for those who leave reviews and stuff. Thank y'all so
Speaker 1: so much, because not only, of course, is it letting
Speaker 1: other people know what your experience was to see in
Speaker 1: the show, but it also reminds me too on days
Speaker 1: that I may have where I'm doubting myself or feeling
Speaker 1: low or hearing all that negativity.
Speaker 3: And I'm like, why am I doing this?
Speaker 5: God?
Speaker 1: You know? And then I go back and I look
Speaker 1: at I'm like, Okay, God, I'm making a difference. God
Speaker 1: is having impact the men. If y'all go read the
Speaker 1: reviews the men their reviews, Wow.
Speaker 3: It's amazing.
Speaker 2: It's interesting because we do different things, but we respond similarly.
Speaker 2: What I mean by that is when you're performing, and
Speaker 2: this is kind of a performance art at radio, we
Speaker 2: may not get the immediate response and reaction from people,
Speaker 2: but when we do hear from someone, it renews us
Speaker 2: because we sometimes forget we're touching people in ways that
Speaker 2: we don't.
Speaker 4: Know in the moment.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there was a rehearsal that Bernadette and I had
Speaker 1: and it was on a really hard part of my
Speaker 1: story that I was sharing, and I just broke down
Speaker 1: in the middle of rehearsal and I literally yelled out
Speaker 1: to her, why am.
Speaker 3: I doing this again?
Speaker 1: Because yes, because I'm like, why am I putting myself
Speaker 1: out here again for people?
Speaker 3: Why am I doing this?
Speaker 4: God?
Speaker 1: Like, what is the purpose of Like, So, even within
Speaker 1: the process and me still being very clear of.
Speaker 3: My assignment, I'm still human.
Speaker 1: Like, this is not easy, and y'all will see when
Speaker 1: you come see the show.
Speaker 3: It's not easy what I'm doing at all.
Speaker 2: Candace Nicholas Slippman, I'm out of time with you at
Speaker 2: this point, but i want to make sure that you
Speaker 2: know that we support you and make.
Speaker 4: Sure that people know how to get there.
Speaker 2: Yes, tell people the when, the where, the how, all
Speaker 2: the specifics.
Speaker 1: Please Yes, So again, y'all, my name is Candace Nicholas Flipman.
Speaker 3: That's Candace c. A. N. D Ace. Oh wait, I
Speaker 3: forgot we online Now y'all can see my name right here.
Speaker 5: Break.
Speaker 4: It's a YouTube show.
Speaker 3: What's up you too?
Speaker 1: So yeah, if you go you typed in my name
Speaker 1: Candace Nicholas Lippman, you can find me on all the platforms.
Speaker 1: I don't have a stage name. That is my name, amen.
Speaker 1: And then for tickets, you can go to a rose
Speaker 1: called Candace dot com, which is spelled the same way
Speaker 1: as my name there, or you can also go to
Speaker 1: the Robitheater coompany dot.
Speaker 2: Org and that's r O b e y Theater t
Speaker 2: h e A t r e dot org. Because some
Speaker 2: of y'all can't spell the way you eat.
Speaker 4: You a theater. It's not like boovie theater. It's like
Speaker 4: play right the r E.
Speaker 1: Yes, you guys, come, come come. It is more than entertainment.
Speaker 1: This show is ministry. I promise you, based on what
Speaker 1: all throughout the years that other people have said, you
Speaker 1: will not leave the theater the same way you came in.
Speaker 3: I'm very grateful to the Roby.
Speaker 1: I'm so grateful to mister Julius and miss Viola for
Speaker 1: giving me this opportunity to share my story again and again.
Speaker 1: This is probably the final run in Los Angeles.
Speaker 3: So if you've never seen my show.
Speaker 1: Come, and even if you have seen it, you have
Speaker 1: not seen it this way before.
Speaker 3: So come, come, Come.
Speaker 2: All I got to say is I appreciate when someone
Speaker 2: like the statue of Viola Davis sees potential and talent
Speaker 2: in you and then takes it upon themselves to help
Speaker 2: you reach another level.
Speaker 4: We should do more than just helping an assisting one
Speaker 4: or another.
Speaker 1: Amen. And then also, y'all, when you you know how
Speaker 1: they say like manifesting or speaking things too. So it
Speaker 1: is one thing about like how we kind of met.
Speaker 3: But also if you go.
Speaker 1: Back through my Twitter feeds, if my friends can attest
Speaker 1: to this, I have been manifesting or professing like one
Speaker 1: day I'm gonna work with miss Viola one day. One
Speaker 1: now in my mind, I'm thinking, like on the movie set,
Speaker 1: please Jesus still one day. But the fact that this
Speaker 1: is why you tell God your plans he laughs, Because
Speaker 1: the fact that it's happening this way with something that
Speaker 1: I created is amazing, and so I'm just so grateful.
Speaker 2: Let me just say this, see you soon, Aye, It's
Speaker 2: later with Mokelli. If I am six forty, we live everybody.
Speaker 5: I heeartradio up you're listening to Later with Moe Kelly
Speaker 5: on demand from KFI a M six forty