Scratchwerk ^EDU
"Scratchwerk ^Edu," hosted by Ronnie King, CEO of Scratchwerk Tech and founder of the MyVillage Project, is a dynamic podcast at the nexus of Black communities, technology, business, education, and current events. Each episode dives deep into the role of emerging technologies in promoting equity, enhancing workforce development, and reshaping education.
Join Ronnie as he explores how technology can be leveraged to uplift and empower marginalized communities through insightful discussions with experts, activists, and innovators. From the practicalities of tech entrepreneurship to the impact of community-led initiatives, "Scratchwerk Edu" is an essential resource for anyone interested in the intersection of technology and social change.
Learn about the success of tech incubators such as "Coding in Color", which has trained over 2,000 students in emerging skills and secured over $800k in funding to support young Black tech entrepreneurs, and discover how initiatives like the MyVillage Project Community Fund has united organizations and disbursed over $4M to support 220+ Black-led nonprofits across the country. Tune in to be informed, inspired, and involved in reshaping a more equitable tech future.
Scratchwerk ^EDU
Conversation with Dr. Baron Kelly - Celebrating Black Theater's Legacy Through Storytelling
Dr. Baron Kelly is not just an acclaimed actor; he's a storyteller who brings the magic of theater to life. His journey from the Metropolitan Opera's children's chorus to Broadway's grand stages is a testament to the power of early artistic exposure. We explore how his childhood in New York, filled with a fascination for old movies, laid the foundation for a career that spans international acclaim. Dr. Kelly's insights into how technology is shaping the theater world offer a fresh perspective on balancing innovation with tradition, all while stressing the importance of authentic representation in media.
Our conversation ventures into the intricate legacy of Black theater, shedding light on the profound influence of legends like Morgan Freeman and Tony Chisholm. Dr. Kelly shares the wisdom imparted by mentors such as Lloyd Richards, emphasizing the transformative role of mentorship in nurturing talent. As we discuss his efforts to honor this legacy through writing and filmmaking, the narrative underscores the global impact of Black actors and the necessity of empowering new voices in storytelling.
The journey doesn't stop at mentorship; it extends to the broader landscape of theater and representation. We touch upon the commercial dynamics of Broadway and the importance of promoting diverse narratives. Dr. Kelly's anecdotes about his experiences and successes weave a tapestry of resilience and dedication, leaving listeners with a powerful message about the importance of perseverance and the joy of supporting others in their artistic endeavors. Join us for a conversation that bridges the past, present, and future of theater, promising to inspire and engage.
Hi, Now, Tia. Today we're not going to do the interview because I have to run out. You said Friday, is that correct? Well, go ahead. How much time do you need? If you can do this in 40 minutes, I can jump in the shower and get out of here after that.
Speaker 3:Pressure pressure.
Speaker 4:Good to meet you brother Under these circumstances there? How?
Speaker 1:you doing man no problem. This has been a morning of one of the newspapers. Well, the PR person called me last night because something happened when they were recording some stuff with some of these people. And it's the way. It is no problem.
Speaker 3:Thank you, okay, people, and it's the way, it is no problem. Thank you, okay. Well, in that case, let me jump right into Dr Barron Kelly's bio. Barron Kelly is the Marilyn R, baxter and Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of Theater and Drama and has a joint appointment with UW-Madison's Department of Liberal Arts and Applied Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he currently holds the Colin Cook Professorship of Acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. A former Harvard Faculty Fellow, he is a recent recipient of both the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival Gold Medallion and the University Resident Theater Association Excellence in Undergraduate Training Award. In 2023, he was formally invested into the College of Fellows of the American Theater at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC.
Speaker 3:Barron has performed internationally for the Royal National Theater of Great Britain, performed internationally for the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain, stratford Shakespeare Festival of Canada, national Theatre of Norway, yermalova Theatre Moscow, russia, constance Theatre Athens, greece Academy Theatre Dublin, edinburgh Theatre Festival, bargello, florence, italy, among others, and his Broadway credits include Salome and Electra. He has held numerous classical and contemporary roles for over 30 of America's leading regional theaters as well. His film and television work includes A Day Without a Mexican Bird, loving Law and Order and Frasier. Barron has been a participant at Robert Redford Sundance Institute and will be seen in a supporting role in the soon-to-be-released psychological thriller the Coming, directed by Aaron Greer. His accolades include winning an Emmy Award and nominations for the Los Angeles Dramatic Circle Award and an Adelco Award.
Speaker 3:He is a four-time Fulbright Scholar and has traveled extensively as a cultural specialist for the United States Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs, teaching and lecturing on the theater on four continents. Teaching and lecturing on the theater on four continents. Professor Kelly has authored numerous essays, articles and book chapters in journals and anthologies and has written two books. His most recent book is Building Embodiment Integrating Acting, voice and Movement to Illuminate Poetic Texts, with co-author co-editor Karen Koprianski. Dr Kelly earned his PhD in theater research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a diploma from London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and an MFA in acting from California State University, long Beach. Welcome to the Scratchwork EDU podcast, dr Barron Kelly.
Speaker 4:Welcome, Dr Kelly Welcome.
Speaker 3:I personally don't know how you landed into the arts and theater and acting, so if you don't mind, just maybe sharing how you knew this may be where you should be.
Speaker 1:Everyone always asks me that question where you should be.
Speaker 1:Everyone always asks me that question. You know, growing up in New York, you know I used to watch a lot of, you know, television, you know, way before cable and all that. But I used to watch old movies and a lot of old movies, you know, and I'd be emotionally moved by these movies and sometimes I would be crying from the emotion. And you know, eight years old and you know, I was terrified. I didn't know what was happening and I didn't really discuss that with anybody in the family. And then, just like any other child with imagination, you know, trying to enact whatever I saw on the screen swashbucklers, you know, errol Flynn and all the monster movies that I watched. And then, when I was about 10 or 11, you know, I sang in the chorus in school and a couple of my friends, you know, I went to a very multicultural elementary school in upper Manhattan, up on Amsterdam Avenue, across from the Cloisters, ps 189. Where actually, you know, a number of years prior, the great opera singer Maria Callas went there. I found that out about 10 years ago. I was like wow. And so, anyway, a couple of my friends, you know they were talking about auditioning for the Metropolitan Opera. I didn't know what that was, all I know. All I knew was that I wanted to be with my friends and my mother came up and talked to the teacher and she said there was an opportunity for me. And you know, when my mother asked me and I said I want to do it, and so my mother took me down to the Metropolitan Opera. They were auditioning all these children for the children's chorus and my mother put a little white shirt on me with a clip on tie and I went in the room and sang for the great Zubin Mehta. I don't know if you know who he is. I mean, he's one of the world's great conductors, you know. And he was in the room and the rehearsal pianist was in the room and you know they asked me what I was going to sing for them you know, this little black child at 10, 11 years old and I said America. And I must have sang the hell out of America, because then they started playing around with the keys and checking out my range and all that. And then, you know, two weeks later I get a little postcard in the mail that I had made the Metropolitan Opera.
Speaker 1:So that's where it sort of started, what they call, where the sawdust went up my nose, and you know, because people in New York thought I was going to go to a math and science high school and my teacher told me about the High School of Performing Arts, because I asked if there was a place to teach people how to, you know, act in movies and all that you know theater. And so that's how it started. You know, I auditioned for theed for performing arts and made it. They must have thought I was crazy enough to let me in there and I joined all those other crazy kids and so that's where it started. But then, you know, there was a trajectory after that, but that's how it started. I think I did one play in school maybe, you know, around the holidays, but I was. I was always into sports and all that sort of stuff, but I had that other side of me, you know, because I was playing violin and piano and all of that sort of stuff, you know. So that's where it started.
Speaker 3:Let's talk about a man in the arts, because you played sports, but you also played. The instruments went into the arts and things like that. Culturally, was that an easy kind of decision or switch over Like? Did you struggle with any masculinity types of challenges in terms?
Speaker 1:of trajectory. No, at that time, you know, the arts programs in New York City were proliferating and so, you know, there were a lot of kids in band, you know, and I just happened to grab it. At first I was playing piano and then, you know, I thought the violin, the sound of the violin, look, you know, sounded cool. And then I, you, and then some people would try to tease me. But a lot of kids carried their instruments home during those days. So I think it was only later, when I started dancing, taking dance classes, that the tough guys in the neighborhood would always question me because I'd always be going off to take ballet or modern. But when they understood that I was going off to take ballet or modern, but when they understood that I was as strong as they were, or stronger, and that I could do things like a gymnast, you know, but they were like, oh man.
Speaker 3:Understood, understood. So you started the Metropolitan Opera and now you land. What's your most recent accomplishment? I don't want to mess it up, but I know there's something you will be doing. One was August Wilson's play, but also in London. If you could speak to those couple of things?
Speaker 1:Yeah, a couple of months ago. Well, I went to drama school in London. I went to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and I've been all over the world, you know, acting, you know in the theater, broadway, all that sort of stuff. And I last year I was in London teaching and I went over to Lambda, which is the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, and they asked me to give a couple of workshops with these students. You know, that's one of the best drama schools in the world, you know, number two or whatever and they loved what I did. And then they asked me if I wanted to direct this particular Shakespeare production last spring, before I was leaving London, and I couldn't because I already had, you know, a sort of a conflict in the States with another show. And then it was announced in October that I'd been named the Colin Cook Professor of Acting there, because they love what I do.
Speaker 1:So now I'll be in London actually in March for about a week or so this March and then I go back to direct an August Wilson piece. They asked me which shows would I want to do and I gave them a bunch of titles and you know, it just so happened that they liked Joe Turner's Come and Gone. So now I will be directing their graduate actors in a production, and most of these actors, of course, are from the States, the ones that I'm going to be directing. So I'm going to be passing that knowledge on to them, because when I've gone over to London, I'm a big history buff London, I, you know. I'm a big history buff, you know, and so I talk about the legacy of Black actors and Black British theater, which a lot of the Black actors over there don't really know about, and the administrators of the school love this, because I come in and I start opening up the consciousness of all the students, but particularly the Black students, and you know. So it's, it's been a great. It's been a great situation.
Speaker 3:Why would you say sharing that type of history matters to you. Where did that love for history and reading.
Speaker 1:You know I've always been a voracious reader. So when I was in school, you know, I always would go to the library. You know my mother when she was in school, I always would go to the library. My mother, when she was coming home from work late, she'd leave my brother Warren and I, or she'd say, go to the library and read books until I come and pick you up. So books have become my friends, you see. So I was always fascinated by all the actors that I was seeing, you know, on television and the films, and I would read as much as I could about them.
Speaker 1:And then history I started reading about instances that dealt with black people that I wasn't reading about in school particularly. I think one of the first instances was of a man named Isaiah Dorman. Now, most people listening to this probably won't even know that name, but Isaiah Dorman was the only black man killed at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Some people would remember the name of, maybe, george Custer when he fought against the Sioux. The Sioux wiped out his command in 1876. But Isaiah Dorman was the black man that was killed in that battle in one of the squads that split off from Custer's main company, and he was married to a Santee Sioux woman and he was a trapper. And he was married to a Santee Sioux woman and he was a trapper and the natives really respected him and the amount of when he was dying on the battlefield. What Sitting Bull did. The great Sioux warrior came out and honored him as he was dying on the battlefield. I loved all that stuff. So that's what started me.
Speaker 1:And you know, supreme Court Justice Sotomayor, I read something where she had said, because she grew up in the Bronx and she was a voracious reader, and she said that reading books was her way to escape from that bedroom in the Bronx. So you know that's, you know it opens up the mind and it's a shame that today children I'm speaking generally, of course, but teachers are so overloaded the kids don't have time to read whole books. Now, some do, but for the most part you know what is it? Wikipedia or not Wikipedia? Cliff Notes? Kids hit a button on the computer and the little summary comes up and you know all that. But there's something to be said about reading a book, smelling a book, particularly the old books, you know. Turning a book, that tactile experience, you know. So that's stayed with me my entire life. I have thousands of books, thousands of books.
Speaker 3:Tell me from books and turning the pages to now that you just kind of brought up something. We talk about tech a lot and where things are going and how it's making things faster. Are you seeing any tech changes in the theater world in terms of maybe when you used to have these papers and scripts and sit down and maybe do a table read and then move into, how are things being automated, if at all.
Speaker 1:Well, no, what you'll see is in classes, but I'm, and myself and other teachers, some students will try to pull scenes up on phones, you see, because what in the script of understanding how script analysis works and what you have to do to break down a script, you need to be able to have the pages in your hand to write, to analyze, uh, all of that sort of stuff. There's a lot of work that goes into acting and if you're really going to do it well and uh, you know that's just script analysis and what you do, um, and what happens, and even at read-throughs, table reads, you know, everybody has their scripts there because the dramaturg or the historian, to open it up, the contextualization of the script for the actors, if the company has a dramaturg who's been hired to do this, and you know that's just the way it goes. What I'm seeing technologically, and everybody knows this, is just like computers, the digital stuff that can be done on the stages now, the kinds of projections, what can be done with lighting, now, I mean, it's all you know, it's spectacular. What can happen? Yes, you can have little budgets, but even on those little budgets, things can happen. Yes, you can have little budgets, but even on those little budgets things can happen.
Speaker 1:But the Broadway shows now and the Royal Shakespeare Company and the bigger theaters in London, they know that they're in competition with the movies. You know, people are staying home or, and so the shows, depending on what they are, have to be more spectacular to bring the people in. You know, today people are used to watching fast cuts in movies. Slower movies can't hold the attention of a lot of people today, you know, because the story takes a while for that to be drawn out, whereas people want action and all that stuff today. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:The Nickel Boys is a new film that has come out about these two young African-American boys. The book is terrific and I was wondering how he was going to, the director was going to do this, but he shoots it in a very artistic way, which is phenomenal with what he's done with the camera, and so all of that kind of stuff is happening today. But the tried and true of being able to understand what to do with a script and what you have to write in the script, that doesn't ever go away. That's never going away.
Speaker 4:I'm curious and I'm just again fascinated by your personal story and just the work that you do. I've been in the tech space for, you know, almost over two decades and I think in so many ways, when I think of the word artist, I'm always thinking about that person, of the work that we do in terms of building applications and building different tools, as a form of art in a lot of ways. And so, as I'm seeing kind of the technology advance and things are changing, definitely is changing in my field, I feel the getting to the core of what creativity is, getting to the core of what an artist is, you know, those lines are starting to be blurred a little bit. It sounds like it is in your space as well. I mean, where do you feel the core of of of an artist or creativity? What does that lie in your space?
Speaker 1:Well, you, know being the training is for acting and directing. The training is still the same, but it's how that is put out on the stage and what the director's imagination is, that that can be realized with the technological aspects that can be brought up today. What did I see in London last year which I didn't see it on Netflix? I think it's a series called Passing Strange and I saw the stage production of that. They spent so much money must have been millions of pounds to do all of that kind of stuff on stage, but the audience was packed, sold out. So that's coming to Broadway at some point within the year and I wonder how they're going to do that, because people they recognize the title, they want to see certain things on the stage, because there are certain kinds of supernatural elements.
Speaker 1:We have supernatural elements in the production that I'm doing here, but I figured out a way with the designers to be able to bring that out in this production. Watching all of those, I became a cinephile early, so watching German Expressionism and what they were doing with lighting and all of that, you know you start the way that you start talking about your concept to designers. Then they start going wow, this is great. How can we do this? There are certain things and images that I want to see on the stage, and then you know, they bring that to life during the tech rehearsals.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I love that, going back to even the story telling part of it all.
Speaker 4:And I get I'm I will admit I'm hypersensitive to images of particularly black folks on TV. Matter of fact, I was watching the Super Bowl and they always kind of do this. You know, they'll find some A-list actor to kind of take us through a minute or two of how we got to this point. And it was a story of America and what I, what I noticed was it was like two and a half minutes of what America is and there were definitely images of black folks in that that story, but it was either marching or a position of fighting for justice, you know, all the images of the scientists and the great engineers and the mathematicians and all the things that made America great. From that perspective, I did not see us represented and again, it's such these subtle things. Obviously I'm looking for strong roles of characters and movies and things like that, but even in terms of just any kind of media, commercials, all the things, I think there's always this element of back and forth in terms of black representation on the screen.
Speaker 1:You know, first of all, you know that happens, geez, that happens in higher education, it happens in the American theater as well, because, although we have more allies now, there have been certain images in the consciousness of America that have been culturally curated, images of black people, and that still seeps in to the consciousness. I mean, you talk about the Super Bowl. So, yeah, you had two young men who identify as black I would assume Mahomes identifies as black in that position of a quarterback, because you need to be able to strategize, plan, you know, have that quickness and facility of mind, you understand, and so that, to me, was what was important about the two of them the second time being there. But these images that have been and that's why, you know, for me, you know, even though I've risen to the heights of whatever I'm doing, if this was a movie about the mafia, I'm a made man, but to get there I have never given up my soul, you understand, and there are a lot of people, I know that have given up their souls. They get up to the gate and then they get their legs blown off, you know, by an IUD. They thought that they were liked. See, I came out of the streets in New York, so I know exactly how to play the game. It's a game and once you understand the rules of the game, that's just how it is, because look at what's happening now with all the DEI stuff that has to be scratched.
Speaker 1:It's like anybody, that's any kind of folk, whoever they are, that are being excluded and making noise. That's what these people don't like. That's all it's about. That's all it's about. Yes, you can have bias training, you can have all this other stuff, but when you start talking about monies that are given specifically for black and brown people to do things, that's what they don't like. They don't like that because then that means these people are excluding the others, and the others are the white folks, you see.
Speaker 1:So you know, but I understand that I went over uh someone's uh application for a job last night and I said well, you know what? I think you need to start to take out some of these words and still have the same tone, but you don't know who's seeing this. But you know, you know, you know, lay back a little bit on words like activism and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And she called me back up and she read it to me and it was fabulous. And I said that's exactly how you play the game right now. That's exactly doesn't mean you're giving up who you are, you just play the game. But a lot of people you know they talk loud and, yes, you should be heard, but you know there's a way to be able to get your point across without you know. So you know I may have gone off on a tangent a little bit, but but yeah, you're preaching to the choir man.
Speaker 1:I mean this, this play that I'm doing. I told the newspaper person this morning. I said, look, I'm interested in at least for play like this, that the historical essence of this play can live. And because he said that was interesting when you were working with the younger actors, because you were getting them to understand, I said yeah, because they're removed from this.
Speaker 1:And I said it's about the historical essence of this play or any other play no different than the Irish dramatists of O'Casey and Singh. They were talking about certain things, about the common people. Common doesn't mean stupid, and I say every time I listen to these dramas or I read these dramas of Wilson these are like how my relatives talked. You know what I mean. So I have to put that on the stage because African-American history is part of American history as far as I'm concerned, and that's what it's about and everything else that goes into these dramas, to pull that stuff out, the rhythms of how we talk, all the nuances and the relationships, all of that you know, and yeah, I think that's why A Raisin in the Sun was so important in 1958, 59, because it was like a curtain went up and white people were sitting in a Broadway audience seeing how black people probably were acting in this little apartment with Walter Lee and, you know, his family. They'd never seen anything like that. There had been black plays on drama, but not like what Lorraine Hansberry did.
Speaker 1:So here's August Wilson. What is it? The 20th anniversary of his death this year. The man would have been 80, and you know his plays are still going strong. I learned from these great actors. I was in a baby of a group of Morgan Freeman and Tony Chisholm and all those guys and you know I used to sit on the side and they'd take me under their wings and they'd say listen to this, this, this, this and I'd go okay. Lloyd Richards, who's passed away, was the dean at the Yale School of Drama. He directed all of August six of his plays on Broadway. I mean, you know, angie Bassett, courtney Vance, they were all there because of Lloyd Richards at Yale and others.
Speaker 1:So you know I come from a tradition and a history of people that you know. I'm trying to pass that on now and I think God bless the Brits, they understand that. That's why they're bringing me over there to. You know, pass on these lessons to these black actors, who are good, but they still need to dig down deep and the white folks know that they're not equipped to do that.
Speaker 1:Because you know, if you're in a drama school, at Yale or Juilliard, you know maybe a white teacher might lay back a little bit, because if they say, hey, I don't understand you, you have to be clearer. What does that really mean? What are you trying to tell me that I have to sound a different way? You understand what I'm saying and a lot of teachers don't want to be. They're afraid of being accused of being a racist. You understand I'm not saying that happens at Juilliard, although there have been things that have major drama that has happened there over the past few years. But yeah, that's a so. But I can. I can relate to people in a certain way that they understand. I don't hate them, but I'm saying you know you've got to step up. You've got to step up. You know you want to entertain your grandmother, go in the living room and twirl around and dance or something.
Speaker 3:I used to do that a lot. Now you're joking, but no, no, no, no.
Speaker 1:But I mean you know you want to get applause. Then no, no, but I mean you know it's, it's, you know you want to get it, get applause Then you got a lot of work to do.
Speaker 3:That is where my applause stopped. Right there in the living room, on the in front of the fireplace, she had a little, you know. Anyway, that was my stage. You talked about legacy, though.
Speaker 3:And I want to kind of go there, because I know you did have someone in the family that it kind of started in this direction. Thinking about your own legacy and and having this imagery, I want to know why. That's why that's important for you, but also what you're doing about it, like, yes, over in London is great and they get it, but what are we missing here also in America that you're trying to do to be able to make sure that we don't miss it?
Speaker 1:Well, you know, black drama is a part of what I do, but it doesn't define who I am. So that's one thing. You see, and again, without giving up my soul, you know, when people read the books that I've written, I'm the second African-American in the history of this country that has written a book on acting technique, just acting, technique, right. The second, susan Babson, was this first out of the actor's studio. So that's number one. And you know, people talk about black acting methods today and all that that's. I'm not doing that, I'm talking about the text, technique, right. And so when people are reading this and now I'm evaluating other people, it has nothing to do with the color of my skin. It has to do with the fact, just like my homes and hurts, that they're there in those positions because they're excellent. It has nothing to do with the color of their skin, but because of what I do and how I'm opening up spaces. That's what's important, because people don't even know who. I'm all about. Trying to teach people about who has come before, because things just didn't come out of a vacuum and you know, I could mention names here and people wouldn't even know who they are. But in the theater world, more and more people are starting to get to know who they are. Now Sam Jackson and Denzel may not know about. They know the names, but they may not know about these people the way that I know about their background. They know the names and say, oh yeah, he was so-and-so and so-and-so or she was so-and-so and so-and-so. So that's what I'm doing wherever I go, even in Norway, that's what I did. I was speaking in front of all of these people about Earl Hyman. See, I'm going to mention another name. People go who's Earl Hyman? Earl Hyman played Bill Cosby's father on the Cosby Show, grandfather Cosby. That brother had a tremendous career in Norway. This is way before issues of multiculturalism and all that. As a matter of fact, the late James Earl Jones, jimmy Jones, would always say that if it wasn't for Earl, he wouldn't have had a career. And what Earl was doing? Earl did everything, but he had a love of Ibsen and that's what brought him there, which that love of Ibsen started when he was 13 years old just happened to see a play and all of a sudden he wanted to learn the language and all that sort of stuff. So that's what I do and the legacy is more of me being able to.
Speaker 1:I have one more book in me and I'm going to have meetings in London because I was brought to Paris a couple of years ago on a film script that I wrote, and that film script is on one of the people that I could mention their names and no one in the audience would know who it is. But certain people know who this man is, and so now when I'm in London I'm going to have meetings because one guy, one producer, likes the script and I said, oh really. And so he said we need to have a meeting and I have notes for you. I asked him. I saw him in New York a couple of weeks ago. I said, well, you're going to, can you help me Because he has all those connections with the BBC and all that? I have a lot of friends that are screenwriters, but I never thought about this. It's just my love of putting the story forth, that's all it is. And you know, if you're studying computer science, one would seeing her come around her parents' house with people from casts of shows and I was like, wow, who are all these people?
Speaker 1:Woman has been in a trajectory of black actors that have made their mark on the screen, certainly in the 1970s, but she was. She had a Broadway career before she appeared on the screen and you know the little tube, the television, and she was always so proud of me because she would always tell me as I was doing things, because I was low, under the radar, the commercial radar, but she knew what I was doing. She said, man, what you're doing is so important. She said you just keep doing that, just keep being you. And she was always so proud of that and I always held that in my heart, that and I always, I always, I always held that in my heart. I always tried to get her to do things later and come and talk to universities and stuff, but she always shied away from it. You see, because she's been in certain books that people read about her and they go, wow, she did this. You know, this is what you know. Yeah.
Speaker 4:I know Tia has a few kind of questions to wrap us up here, but when I think about again, just just from from my vantage point when I think about black folks on on screen and in plays and things like that, I always see us kind of depicting what happened in the past or maybe even telling our story of the present, or maybe even telling our story of the present. I think one of the things that was so impactful about a movie like like Wakanda, you know, like Black Panther, it gave a quasi vision for a future. You know, it allowed, I think, the black community to dream, even if that's all it did. Right To dream of something bigger than what was current and bigger than than maybe what the past has been. Are you seeing more than what we're? You know we're just seeing as just folks that are watching? You know, common TV and movies. Are you seeing enough of that in your spaces in terms of this forward thinking, futuristic type of performances for our culture audiences?
Speaker 1:for our culture and if not, why not? No, it may be, you know, in smaller theaters, which hopefully it will get. You know, there are all kinds of writers now that are doing all kinds of wonderful things, but you have to, you know, curate the audience to come into those. You know, shows. And so if you have a theater up in Harlem, like the National Black Theater and a couple of other spaces, those audiences are used to coming in seeing more avant-garde stuff. La Mama, down in the East Village in New York, they're used to seeing more avant-garde stuff which is moving into other off-Broadway spaces.
Speaker 1:But Broadway is about money and it's about, you know, it's getting the butts in the seats. Who's going to spend the money? Listen, denzel Washington's Othello Othello's always done somewhere. And now all of a sudden you've got Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal. Those tickets are going for $1,000. The average person who's going to spend $1,000 to go see that play? There will be people, but most people I know don't have $500 for a ticket, $600. That's ridiculous, but they'll get it. It'll be interesting to see what happens. But that's Shakespeare and people are going to see Denzel and, just like when he did August Wilson's Fences on Broadway and all that, but those tickets weren't $800. It's ridiculous. So, yeah, I think that in time there's Top Dog Underdog I don't know if you know that title, susan Laurie Parks. That's been on Broadway. It was on Broadway again last year. They brought it back, but in the sci-fi realm, or what is called, there's a certain term for it. There are people writing about it. You can tell me what's the name of the great sci-fi writer? African-american female.
Speaker 4:I don't know her name off the top of my head, but I just learned about it the other day, yeah, so more of that has to be done and put out there.
Speaker 1:Be put out there.
Speaker 3:So I think while you're in that vein, though, let our listeners know how they support that. So I think there are the there's kind of the double-edged sword here, where you have people that are actually writing it and putting it out, but also those that will or won't go see it or won't even know that it's happening, won't even know that it was written and that it's out. How do we, if we're completely disconnected from the arts and arts arenas, how do we plug in to even know what's happening in this space so that we can support it?
Speaker 1:Well, you know, I'm not on social media. That's personal choice. So I mean, I'm sure there are people out there. You can get on all kinds of listservs and you know all that stuff is out there on social media. So I mean, that's today how people find things and then once they become aware of this, then you've got to start doing the research and finding out the other works that people have done. That's how you do it. But you have to have a love of being able to be a detective and start saying, oh, this person did that, like Walter Mosley the writer I mean, you know he wrote quite a few saying, oh, this person did that, like Walter Mosley, the writer I mean, you know, wrote quite a few, he's written quite a few books, you know, and so.
Speaker 1:But you know, people have to have that love of reading. Do people have it anymore? I'm speaking very broadly. You know that's a learned. I have to read something every night before I go to bed. But that's a habit. You see, I read all of the. I read the Washington Post, I read the New York Times. I mean I try to stay informed. Al Jazeera, I try to stay informed. You know, I don't watch television anymore. I mean if somebody's on something that I know on streaming, whatever Netflix or whatever, but I don't network television. I haven't watched that in a long time.
Speaker 4:NK Jemison, is that who you're thinking of? The African-American woman, the writer? No NK, oh, okay, all right, she's a big one. That's the one I thought you were referring to. Good, good and.
Speaker 3:I'll have to look her up too, because I'm quiet, I'm not. I don't even know where to start researching.
Speaker 3:So I'll let y'all have that, but I do think I know you have to run, so I want to just kind of in a bit of a culminating statement. I would love for you to just kind of think back over your career and think about the attributes that you think are the most important, or what aspects either of your discipline or of your work ethic, or of even some things that may have been instilled in you as a child, what have been the most significant things, aspects of your success? What do you attribute your success to? What do you think has made this metro opera singer in America with a clip-on tie? Now to this point How'd you get here?
Speaker 1:Yeah, no one's ever given me a thing. I've always worked hard. I was just telling somebody the other day I've never, no one's ever, given me a daggone thing. I've always worked hard. I was just telling somebody the other day I had paper routes. When I was in high school I still had a paper route Going to school doing shows, telling friends take my route, because a couple of my friends knew the route, and I worked hard. I never had anybody give me anything that I didn't really work for. You know what's the old adage in our community you got to work two and three times as hard just to get. You know, that's what I did, but I never had a chip on my shoulder about it. And I still work hard. That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:Now for me to evaluate all these other people. I mean, I have four Fulbrights If people in the audience know what that is. I have four Fulbrights. I sit on the commission now. I didn't knock on these doors. People came to me, you see, and it's hard work helping others. I'm helping a young brother right now that I coached and he won some acting awards recently and he's getting ready to do something else. He's calling me, you know, and that's what I do, because I had plenty of people that helped me, and so I believe in helping others. You know who have had those opportunities, others you know who have had those opportunities, and so that's to try to have an unselfish spirit and pass it on, that's the only way.
Speaker 1:And that just doesn't mean black folk, plenty of white students as well. They don't come in a room and say if it wasn't for this man here, I wouldn't be where I am right now. One of my former students, who's white, known him since he's 19,. His first book he dedicated to me not his father and his father knew me and he called his father. He says, dad, I'm going to dedicate the book to Barron because he called me Barron Kelly. And his father said of course you are. That was it. His father died last year and Peter said my father loved you, man. And I said, yeah, yeah, you're lucky that you had your father, man. So that's it.
Speaker 4:That's it. I love that. You know T. I don't know if I'm going to have an opportunity to share this little piece of black history, but I don't know if you know we had a cute chorale in college. I used to sing in the cute chorale. I don't know if I ever told you that Tia. I am a listen, I promise you. I promise you. I got some fraternity brothers that can vouch for that. We sang in the cute chorale. I at one point was a stage performer.
Speaker 3:We're here with a director right now, right now, so we don't need cues. We can get a little, I mean. So. No, no, no, I said back in the days you retired, back in the days you retired. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So Omega Psi Phi had a corral and you, yeah yeah, you, yep, yep.
Speaker 4:We used to do what we were saying snapping the fingers and the whole nine.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we did that.
Speaker 4:That's beautiful.
Speaker 1:That's beautiful, little known black history fact.
Speaker 4:You know what I mean. You're getting all these good black history facts on this call today.
Speaker 3:Definitely little known and not one that is coming to the stage. It sounds anytime soon.
Speaker 4:Not no time soon.
Speaker 3:I got to pull those brothers from real professional jobs at this soon.
Speaker 4:I got to pull those brothers from real professional jobs at this point. I don't think any of us are going to get on the stage at this point.
Speaker 3:I think that you could Right now just for the sake of.
Speaker 4:No, that's not going to happen we tried.
Speaker 1:Thanks for pulling this out of him we never, would have heard this story on the podcast forever in life? We never would have heard this story on the podcast forever in life.
Speaker 3:We got a whole singer in the Q Corral, wow, alright. Well, if you see him next time, dr Kelly, in a clip on Tide, just know what's happening.
Speaker 1:Before we go. There's some wonderful actors out there that people probably don't know their names, but you need to keep your eye on it. Jarrell Jerome is one.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 1:I mean, he was in Moonlight. When they See Us.
Speaker 4:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:He's in Unstoppable right now. I mean, he's phenomenal, phenomenal.
Speaker 3:Awesome.
Speaker 1:It was like Lorenz Tate when Lorenz Tate busted on the scene in Minister Society, you know. So I mean you know, but anyway, there are a whole slew of people Carrie if people haven't seen the 6888,. Carrie Washington, about the Black Battalion of Female Wax in World War II, which was based on a true story.
Speaker 4:Tyler Perry did it, netflix, I think.
Speaker 3:Yeah, tyler Perry did the excellent job. Hold on, ronnie. Have you seen it, ronnie?
Speaker 4:No, I haven't seen it. I've seen the trailer. No, I have not seen it, but I know what he's talking about.
Speaker 3:Oh, my God, dr Kelly, I've seen it. I can't even count the times now. If I just need background, I'm playing it. It's that good, ronnie, you have not. So you're singing in a chorale and you haven't seen 6888.
Speaker 4:Like come on Mm-mm, mm-mm.
Speaker 3:Thank you for calling that out. That is a good one. You should have seen that by now.
Speaker 4:Is that your way of making up for not knowing what Uncle Nearest Whiskey is? I?
Speaker 3:didn't know who Uncle Nearest was. Wait, you know who Uncle Nearest is too.
Speaker 1:Oh no, I'm just listening to the two of you?
Speaker 3:Okay, good, do you? But I'm not a drinker like that. Oh, but see, you knew it had to do with alcohol.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:So low key, he is Low key, he does know.
Speaker 4:He does know, he actually does know.
Speaker 3:I didn't know. I didn't even know what it was affiliated with. I had no idea, anywho. Well, I'm not a drinker like that either. So then there you have it. But I didn't know it was associated.
Speaker 4:Actually, I'm going to blame that on why I can't sing anymore and kook around.
Speaker 3:That's actually Not so much. I mean, at least watch your purple anyway. Anyway, we're not going to take too much more of your time. We thank you so much for having joined, just for joining us today, for sharing all the great things you're doing, for the work that you're doing around the globe.
Speaker 1:We're just so proud and happy that you could join us, thank you, thanks, cuz Yep, and I'll send it to my girlfriend. Send it to me so she can listen to it. So, I'm going to send it to her so right before she goes to sleep, she can listen to it and fall asleep. Beautiful no, to help her, she's going to say oh God, here he goes again talking. She can go to sleep. She can go to sleep. She can go to sleep now.
Speaker 3:It's going to be because of the sound of your voice.
Speaker 2:Yeah right.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much. You have a great day today.
Speaker 1:Okay, bye-bye, y'all. Take care Okay bye-bye, bye-bye, I like to be educated.
Speaker 2:But I'm so frustrated way I wish I knew how much I missed that moment that we're all screwed when we play our roles and ignore the problems. I like to be away and more patient. Stay up. I feel so outdated. How can we look the other way? Sun is out, but the sky is gray. What would happen if I took a chance? It's always hard at first glance. I don't wanna, but I know I gotta do it. The truth is hard to swallow. I think I'll chew it, yeah yeah. I wish I knew how much I missed not knowing that we're all screwed when we play our roles and ignore the problems. I wish I knew how much I miss not knowing that we're all screwed when we play our roles and ignore the problems. I wish I knew.