American theatre is at the heart of entertainment, and these powerful faces are here to evolve the story of what theatre can be. Watch along as household names Alicia Keys, Sade Lythcott, Suzan-Lori Parks, Anna Deavere Smith, Sarah Jones, Dominique Morisseau, Jasmine Lee-Jones, Danai Gurira, Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu, and more talk about their experience growing within the theatre community. Listen to the stories of how theatre can be bold, speaks to topics that challenges form, and represents voices both on and off the stage.
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00:00 The arts is life, and if you're not seeing yourself in what you're watching, it really
00:05 doesn't reflect life properly.
00:14 Theatre at its best is the most democratic space possible.
00:18 When we participate in theatre, we are reminded how to be human.
00:22 What's unique about theatre, you know, it's really trite, but it's all of the arts coming
00:26 together, movement, the visual arts, very often music, so it is a big hallelujah chorus
00:33 about the human condition.
00:35 The first time I experienced live theatre was actually at school.
00:40 I was part of a, and I'm proud to say this, a public school experience of performing Shakespeare.
00:47 I remember being a little girl and watching my mother in the theatre.
00:51 I really internalized the way that our pain and process can be transformed into something
01:00 that really touches the spirit and the soul in a way that few things can.
01:05 The sense of community you can find in theatre can be beautiful.
01:08 It can also be challenging.
01:12 I went to the University of Michigan, and I got my BFA in theatre performance.
01:17 When I was there, I was struggling with roles, especially for a black woman in my department.
01:22 They were very minimal.
01:23 A lot of the time, when you don't see a reflection of yourself, it can make you feel like you
01:29 don't exist.
01:30 When I started out, I did not see stories from an African female perspective.
01:34 I decided that I was going to write a play for myself and the two other black women in
01:38 the department at the time.
01:39 The way that the audience responded to the things that I had to say and talk about, I
01:44 thought, oh wait.
01:45 I might not just be an actress.
01:47 I might need to be writing for the stage.
01:51 We're not going to watch it if we're not seeing our stories, you know?
01:55 And so I think we're starting to understand our own power, and we're wanting that access.
02:00 What do we as theatre artists right now have to say about this moment that in 10 years,
02:05 25 years, 50 years, people can look back to get a human record of what these moments feel
02:10 like?
02:11 I want to see theatre that challenges form.
02:14 I want to see theatre that is bold.
02:16 I want to see theatre that speaks to things that many people don't want to talk about
02:21 anymore or are afraid of talking about.
02:23 There's so many more stories that we need to tell.
02:25 I think the thing that excites me is that theatre has opened its doors in a lot of ways.
02:31 I'm seeing a lot of voices coming through and innovative ways of telling stories that
02:36 I didn't always see.
02:37 The future of theatre is exciting because of how we are finding each other in this moment
02:42 in time.
02:43 I think our legacy, our mark, that storytelling that is made by our folks looks and feels
02:50 like our folks.
02:51 There's never enough because our stories are vast and tremendous and unique and incredible
02:58 and there's so much to tell.
03:00 [Music]
03:07 (rock music)