#206 Natasha Yvette Williams on Broadway, Family & Faith ✨

This week on The Salisha Show, Salisha Thomas sits down with the extraordinary Natasha Yvette Williams currently in Wicked on Broadway to discuss her inspiring journey on Broadway, balancing family and faith, and her creative successes. Natasha, a Grammy and Tony-nominated powerhouse, shares stories about her incredible career, from starring in iconic shows like Chicago, The Color Purple, and Wicked as Madam Morble, to her role as a founding member of Black Theater United. Recorded at Gotham Production Studios in Midtown Manhattan as part of The Gotham Network, this episode dives into Natasha's resilience and the importance of representation in theater. Salisha and Natasha explore the challenges of longevity in the industry, her heartfelt experiences, and her vision for the future. With gratitude to contributors like TyNia Brandon and Big Red Studios, this conversation is a celebration of artistry, family, and faith. Tune in for an uplifting and candid episode that highlights Natasha’s brilliance and the magic of Broadway.

#wickedbroadway #theaterrepresentationdiversity #blacktheaterrepresentation #tonynominatedartists #familyandcareer

CHAPTERS:
00:00 - Intro
02:43 - Natasha's Work-Life Balance
07:01 - Secrets to a Long-Lasting Marriage
19:54 - Lessons from Personal Growth Shows
23:50 - Understanding Your Matters
26:00 - Black Theatre United Overview
29:23 - Future Plans and Aspirations
32:00 - Advice to Your Younger Self
34:03 - Impact of a Tony Nomination
39:00 - Closing Thoughts and Reflections

@salishathomas @thesalishashow, www.thesalishashow.com

Many thanks to Gotham Network in NYC, TyNia Brandon for writing and laying vocals down for the updated theme song and Big Red Studios for the intro video wherever you watch the latest season of The Salisha Show!

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:25

Hello, and welcome or welcome back to the Salicia show. I'm your host, Alicia Thomas, and I am so excited to be here recording at Gotham Production Studios in Midtown Manhattan. And my guest is is is incredible. I've gotten to see her. Look, I got my playbills. I've got I went through like l truly hundreds of playbills last night and looked through all the shows that she's been in, which she's been in 10. 10 Broadway shows, but three of them I got to see her on stage in. And it is an honor to get to sit down and talk to her today. Let me give a brief intro about the superstar next to me. Okay, let's go. She's Grammy Antoni nominated, a founding member of Black Theater United. Come on, let's go. She's toured across the country in about six or seven shows. Like, we're losing count here, folks. Um, she's on West End Regional TV and beyond. Some of her shows, some of her shows include, but are not limited to Chicago, The Color Purple, Porgy and Bess, all shook up. Cinderella, the drowsy chaperone. Um, she was Tony nominated for some Like It Hot, and boy, did she open that show as a banger. And she is currently slaying as Madame Morble in Wicked on Broadway. And it's like right before the Wicked Two movie comes out. Like, let's freaking go. Y'all, please put your hands together and help me welcome the one, the only Natasha Evan. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_04 2:04

Oh my god. You just made me want to like cheer myself. I'm like, that's amazing. You're incredible. I'm like, thank you. I can't even need tissue. Is this church?

SPEAKER_03 2:16

What's happening? I don't know what's going on. How dare you already give me chills? And we've just met.

SPEAKER_04 2:25

Yeah. That's what that was. I'm like, yeah, for real. Oh, oh my gosh, yes.

SPEAKER_03 2:31

Come on, Brion, for the win. Thank you, Brionne. Oh my God. Oh my God, you haven't even asked me anything yet. I know. What is happening? Okay. I am so honored that you're here and that you've taken the time. You have a matinee today. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:49

But listen, I'm alive. Let's do what we can do while we are alive. So I'm glad to be here and thank you for having me. Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_03 2:56

Um, so I mean, where should we begin? Let's talk about longevity in the theater. That's not something easy to do. That's hard, especially Broadway, eight show weeks. You've done it here in New York, which is a grueling world in its own. You've done it on the road. Or I mean, how are you doing? How are you doing this? How am I doing?

SPEAKER_04 3:16

What's the secret to longevity? I think like lots of of uh prayer and help. You know, I got help with my kids, I got help with my marriage, I got help, all kinds of help. Um and just the desire, the call to do it. I think I do this because I'm basically called to do it. I can do other things, I'm qualified to do other things. Um but the call to perform is is a calling, and it just falls in my lap at times, and it uh enables me to escape in a way that serves other people. Um so that's why I think I've been blessed with a with longevity in it because I recognize that it's not even about me or about my talent. It is about whatever I'm serving at the moment, being in the place that God allows me to be.

SPEAKER_03 4:07

Okay, so you mentioned in that, like you've got your you gotta you have a whole family.

SPEAKER_04 4:13

Yes, a whole family. I got 14-year-old twins, boy-girl twins, Natasha! Husband, I got, yeah, I got uh yeah, I got all that. I got a father who's aging, and a new stepmom and siblings, and they live 10 hours away, and there's just a lot on my plate right now, but but I'm um I'm managing. I'm I'm not even managing, I'm doing well. I'm I'm I'm surpassing just managing. I'm you're thriving. I'm doing a little bit of thriving at times. Sometimes I'm slipping, but but but a lot of the times I'm doing well.

SPEAKER_03 4:48

I wasn't even gonna get into this until later, but like I'm so in a space right now where I'm like, okay, I'm very pregnant. How am I going to have a career and a family? Yeah. And it's something that you're doing very seamlessly.

SPEAKER_04 5:01

Well, yes, it looks that way, but that's but it's it's like everything. You know, people think, oh my gosh, you got you did 10 Broadway shows, you're working all the time, but there were moments where I was not. Nobody sees that. Um, I've asked all those questions that I know you must be asking now. I asked, I called my friends that had kids, and how am I gonna do this? Yeah. And they And twins, but by the way. Yeah, twins. That that's another story. But they gave you, they gave me the advice of you just do it. You do what you have to do. You you you work, you take the jobs that you can take based on how your family needs to function. And um and whatever you're called to do, he's equipped you to do that. He's gonna give you everything you need to fulfill the call on your life. So that's why I take it like that. I'm able to do amazing things just because he imparts stuff to me and to other people around me to enable me to do it. Because it's not anything I can do alone.

SPEAKER_03 5:57

That's what I'm saying. I'm like, there's gotta be like there's no, there's no like set rule book where it's like I see my peers and people I look up to balancing like life.

SPEAKER_04 6:10

But that does not mean it does not come with valleys, you know what I mean? With questions, with okay with tears, okay, with struggles, and it does, but you push through to do the things that you're called to do. And that call will equip you and give you the things you need. I can't say that enough. Your body is making a human right now. Oh my god, girl. You're making a human right now with all of the parts in place, and you have nothing to do with it. You go to sleep, and it's still happening. Your body and God is amazing, He has got to take care of his own, and he will do that. And he will do that with your child, he will do that with you, he will do that with your career. You just have to release it all and just show up. Show up and be the best you can at every opportunity, and he'll take care of the rest. He's got to. He's mandated to take care of you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:03

You hear that, Lord. Don't forget about me, Deborah.

SPEAKER_04 7:08

No, don't forget, don't forget.

SPEAKER_03 7:10

Lord Jesus, don't forget about me. Um, so we one of my good friends who loves you, she's also one of my producers, tiny and pretty. Oh, type. She has told me, like, that you have such an incredible relationship. And I've actually wanted to sit down with you and your husband. Oh, yeah, we should have brought it. I know, I know, but it's something that I've actually been wanting to do for a while. But like, how long have you guys been to married?

SPEAKER_04 7:35

We had our anniversary the other day, September the 1st, that we both forgot about. It was 24 years. Literally, 24 years. I um how you forget. Tell me, tell me how. 24 years. And I we almost didn't go. We we we were scheduled to go to um, oh gosh, we went to a concert that night. Beyonce. No, I wish it was. No, it wasn't Lady Gaga. We had a great time with Chester Gregory. Oh, 54 Below. 54 Below. It was on the 1st of September. That's the night we went. That's our anniversary. But oh, we were like, oh, and we were tired. He was like, oh, why'd you do this on your day off? And then they're complaining. I was like, we're going to see Chester. I haven't seen him in years. He's moved to LA, blah, blah, blah all this stuff. And um, I said, come on, we're going. So we go. And at the end of the concert, it's 10 something at night. We're driving home. I pull out my phone, and there's people on Facebook telling us happy anniversary. And I look over him, I said, I said, boy, it's our anniversary. Shut up. And he says, What? But I knew it. And then he said something like, oh see, I knew it was coming, and I knew it was 23 years. I was like, it's 24 years. Honey. But so we had to forgot. We both forgot. And we we but we ended up, you know, being out, thank God that we did have at least that you had a date night.

SPEAKER_03 8:52

Yes, we had a date night on our anniversary. What would you say is your secret to longevity in a marriage? I mean, because you're kind of killing a game with it.

SPEAKER_04 9:01

Deciding, just deciding to stay. I mean, because like we we had, you know, we've had had some rocky moments. I'm not I actually more than that, like decided we're separated. You know what I mean? I oh my god. What was it? 2006, I believe it was. I miscarried in 2006.

unknown 9:18

Oh.

SPEAKER_04 9:19

And I was in a show in Arkansas, and I came home. Well, he came down there because we had we had to do some things with the with the miscarriage, and um, he came to me, and then when I got back home off of that job, he I don't know how much longer it was after I had been home, but he said to me he wanted a divorce. And I was just crushed, just crushed. And um didn't realize that he was like, because I'm doing all this traveling, I'm never, I'm never home. I was away, I was, you know, working or whatever. But it's something that we he said was he was okay with. Yeah. And I didn't realize he wasn't really okay with it. And um so it was, I think that was like July or something, or maybe no, it wasn't July, it was before July. Because July 4th was Independence Day. I was like, okay, I'm having the movers, I'm gonna come and get my stuff, you know, all these things. We went through this um period of being separated in the same house. So like he was it was a huge Victorian house in Peakskill, New York. Oh he was living on the third floor, I was on the second floor. Okay, and um better than the studio in New York. It was listen, I don't definitely, yes, if you're trying to be separated, definitely better. But then he started coming home late, and I'm like, and we weren't, you know, we decided we're gonna be separated, all that. But I'm just like, you can't be rolling in here at any time of night. You know, the what what's going on? So that wasn't working. So then I started, I moved out. I was like, okay, I'm getting ready to audition for this. That went on for a couple months, and I was like, I can't do this. Um, and I called cuz. I had a cousin named Regina. I stayed with my cousin Regina for a week. I stayed with Uzo Aduba for a couple weeks. Come on. Um, I stayed with friends. I was moving from couch to couch and I was like, this is crazy. And I went back to him and I said, Um, look, I'm I I think we need to, I would like to work on our marriage, but if you don't want to work on it, I get it, because I can't do it by myself.

SPEAKER_01 11:12

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 11:13

I'm gonna audition for this tour. Uh, I'll shook up. If I audition for this tour, kind of feel like I want to get it. And it's gonna take me away for a year. And if you want to work on our marriage, then I we we need to do that. But if not, I need to get out of these people's couch. I need to get off the friend's couch, and blah, blah, blah. And he said, Go on an audition. So, which was saying to me, I I don't want, I don't want this. So, how did you guys? Oh my god, how did we find our way back? Yes, how did you find our way back? I went to the audition, I booked the tour, I went on the road. I decided July 4th I was gonna come and um send my clothes, get get my stuff moved. It's like, you take the white dishes, I'll take the burgundy. You take the, you know, we I divided stuff up, and blah blah blah. And I was in the house, but my dad was like, no, get your stuff, whatever you got, get it, put it in storage, blah, blah, blah. If y'all are not together. Thank you, daddy. So I was like, okay, so a moving truck is coming, such and such, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, the moving, I go on the road. I leave for the tour, and I'm on the tour maybe a month. And the moving truck comes to the house to load up the stuff and take my stuff out. He refuses the truck, calls me, says, Look, I'm sorry. Let's, I don't want to do this. Let's, unless we're working on it. I was like, ooh, I done signed the contract. I'm on the road. Oh, yeah. What is wrong with you? The people move to stop, you know. All of this. I'm going through all this. And um, so he we won't we we I don't move my stuff out. I say, okay, but I'm on the road. I'm still going on the road. I'm already gone. I'm already what did he say? I'm on the road. He was like, it's okay, it's okay, we're gonna work it out. Blah blah blah blah, all of that. So cut to two or three months later, when I was working, we always had this thing. He would come out or I would come home. We saw each other once a month. Every three to four weeks, we had a visit. So we that was the way we were working, which I thought was working, but clearly wasn't working.

SPEAKER_02 13:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 13:09

Um, so anyway, so we did we did that for a couple months, and then I had, oh, also before I left, I auditioned for, oh, wow, I'm telling this story again. I auditioned for the color purple. Um, the original color purple. And I auditioned for the I wish I had that one on here. I auditioned for the gospel singer. But in my contract for All Shakup, I could only leave my contract if I booked a principal role on a Broadway show. Equity. They be doing that. That was I had to do this upward mobility thing. I couldn't just leave for anything. A lateral. The um print the uh gospel singer was a featured ensemble role. Anyway, so I uh auditioned for that, but the callback didn't happen until two months later. So I auditioned for it. The callback was September. I remember this so vividly. Wow, September 15th. Oh my gosh. Okay, so July 4th, the movers came. He told the movers array, said he wanted to work on a marriage. So for from July 4th through to September, we were I was on the road, but we were talking, we were trying to figure out how we want to make this work. September 15th was a callback for Color Purple. In New York. In New York. Okay. My tour was in Wisconsin, was in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. So I was like, oh, I'm going, I gotta go to this callback, blah, blah, blah. Um so I figured out how I could do that. I had to fly, I had to drive from Mill, because the flight wouldn't let me get back for the show. So I had to go to the audition on that Friday and get back to do the show that night. That was the point. You did not drive to New York. I drove no, I drove from Milwaukee to Chicago to catch a flight that would put me back in time to come. All things working well. Okay. All things were not working well. Oh my God. It was raining in New York. I got to New York, I did the audition. I go in, Gary, the director, comes out of the room after I come. He says, Oh my god, you hugged me. That was wonderful. I get back in my cab, I go back to LaGuardia, and I get on the airplane and I sit on the airplane for three, two to three hours on the tarmac. On the tarmac. On the tarmac. Because we've not got a lot of people. You're making me nervous. Like, I'm you nervous. Come on. I don't know in Milwaukee that I'm not there. Because we had just open now. We just opened in Milwaukee. And um, my understudy had not been on, had not had rehearsal in anything. But I told her before I left, I said, look, I'm going to this audition. Prepare. Blah blah. I'm taking it. I'm supposed to be back. But you know, anyway, I and they had rehearsal. You know how you when you hang open, you still have rehearsal 12 to 5. Yes, but they're called I'm not able to come to rehearsal because I gotta be at the airport. Because I never lied. I said, I'm I'm not saying I never lie. I said I never lied to them. Yes. And um I said I'm at the airport. Are you at the airport? They assumed I'm going to pick up people that's coming in for my opening. They didn't. I just said I'm at the airport and I think rehearsal. Oh, okay, okay. So that was the start of rehearsal, like I wasn't gonna be there. So I was thinking I could get there by the end. But anyway, you're making me nervous. Take them off. Come on. Okay, yeah, I gotta tell the story. I'm doing I'm dragging on. Anyway, the plane did not take off. I finally called them two hours later. I said, hey, yes, I'm still at the airport in New York. And they're like, what are you talking about? And then I gotta have this emergency rehearsal, getting the understudy ready, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, all of that. I finally fly back into Chicago now. Not even Milwaukee. After drive from Milwaukee back, I mean Chicago to Milwaukee. I get there at like 7:55. My understudies on. They had all these 75 at the 808. Yeah, I didn't go on. I didn't go on. Aurelia, Aurelia Williams, shout out to Aurelia Williams. She was my understudy shirt on. Um, and so what happened? Oh, so then they called me, sat me down, the producer sat me down, Mr. Rich Martini, great man, uh, sat me down, told me, you know, I'm gonna be we're gonna have to find you. We had to call these emergency rehearsals and call these men and blah, blah, blah, all this stuff. Where were you? And I just said it's something that I had to do. I never said what I went in for. I just, it was something that I had to do. And I really did have to do it. I wanted to be in color purple for since when it was in Atlanta. I went, I flew to Atlanta. All this stuff. Yes. You have to listen to that. So um, that was on a Friday. Um, I didn't do the show that day. I went back into the show Saturday. I already did a fabulous job. It was great. Um, and then Monday morning, I get the call from my agent to sit down, and I thought they were told me to sit down because they wanted to tell me how much my fine was. Because my fine could be anywhere from$2,000 to$10,000. Wait, no, no, no, no. Yes, yes, yes, yes. No, no, no. Because he told me I had to pay for all the people coming in, all the all the all the the immersion. They can find this for that much? Apparently back then, I don't think they can do that today. That's a lot. But 20 years ago, they can do that. From two to ten. Two to ten thousand. So she was like, sit down. I thought she was telling me what the fine was. I was gonna keep these stories up. I wish I was, I wish I was. She sat down and she told me, she said, okay, Natasha, you have booked Sophia in the color purple. You went in for the I went in for the gospel singer. In the featured ensemble. Everybody knows Sophia. Yeah, which was the only way that I could leave the tour, was that it if I booked the uh um principal role. And I could only leave the tour after six weeks or whatever it was. Anyway, I told you this was September. And and the the day that they wanted me to start was January 4th or something. January 6th. January 6th. January 6th of that year. Um, and the contract, my contract said that I could leave after January 4th. So come on. It all was just ordained and orchestrated. Okay. And I so and then I got to come back home because it was in New York. I was in the Broadway show, but I got to work on my marriage. Because you were here and he was here. Yeah. Yeah. Because it because he sent me to do this tour for a year and I would have been gone. For the whole year. Yeah, but I wasn't. I didn't end up with it. Oh yeah. So that's that story. That's how we that's that was a I don't know, how we ended up back together and how we, yeah, all that.

SPEAKER_03 19:02

Listen, the journey that you just sent me. Oh honey. Um, you know I'm in I'm about to give birth. You over here stressing me. I'm like, oh no, breathe. I'm like, wait, did you get fine? Did you get the job? Did you get back together?

SPEAKER_04 19:17

My fine was like, I think it was 2,000. That's still a lot. That's well, they're trying. Well, it was it was it was a lot. And I put them through a lot, I felt like, you know, but I it was worth it for me.

SPEAKER_03 19:29

Yes, it was worth it. I wish I got to see you. Okay, so wait, you've done a lot of shows. Yes. You've done a lot of shows.

SPEAKER_04 19:36

A lot of tours, too.

SPEAKER_03 19:37

And a lot of tours. Eight.

unknown 19:39

Eight.

SPEAKER_03 19:39

I said six, four, seven. That's all right.

SPEAKER_04 19:41

No, eight's right right next.

SPEAKER_03 19:43

Y'all look national tours.

SPEAKER_04 19:44

When you are leaving credits off the table, that is I remember those tours. Now, those Broadway shows, some of them I might not remember, but yeah. Those tours, honey, I remember.

SPEAKER_03 19:54

Well, I guess what I would like to know is out of all the shows you've done, which one has taught you the most about yourself? Wow. Or about life?

SPEAKER_04 20:06

Well, they're different. They're different shows. Um I think waitress taught me the most about myself. Oh, you were Becky.

SPEAKER_02 20:13

Why did I Becky?

SPEAKER_04 20:14

My mother passed. I was Becky. I was Becky, and my mother passed three days before my opening.

SPEAKER_03 20:21

No.

SPEAKER_04 20:23

So I was like.

SPEAKER_03 20:24

But no. Did you still take the stage three days later?

SPEAKER_04 20:28

I took the stage and then I went home to bury her. I left, I went home, I came back, I did my opening, and then I and that night. I think it was my opening night. Um and mind you, I was leaving town right after that to go home to bury my mother. North Carolina, I'm from North Carolina. That night I had a um, there was an audience member, there was a line in the sign in line. I went into the sign-in line, and um and there was a man in the line, a stranger. And he was like, Oh, Natasha, I love you so much, you're wonderful. I um met you in Massachusetts. You um you and your mother were at this um concert in Massachusetts. I knew exactly what he was talking about because I had um the previous summer taken my mother um with me on the road. First time that she didn't want to be with me. She had dementia. And she was very agitated. So I took her, I took her with me. We went to Boston, and um Tyree Jones helped me with my mom. And we went to this concert. They must not have been there for this one because she was there alone. And I was doing a concert, and I told the audience, hey guys, my mom is right there. Mom waved, mom, she was at the one of the tables, and I wanted them to watch her because I didn't want her to get up and walk around and get lost or whatever. I said, you know, she's um having some memory issues right now. I said, but you know, if you see her wandering off, I said to somebody, you know, let's just look out for her. Nice. This man said all of that to me. My opening. Night of um of um waitress and uh I didn't ask him for it, didn't know what his name I still don't know what his name is. He told me that he was there that night when I said to ask the audience to watch out for my mother and that she was in good hands that night. He said because everybody was looking at people and bringing her cups and doing little food things and she didn't want anything that night, and it said to me that right now she is exactly where she needs to be, and everything's okay, and I'm where I needed to be. And um, it was just a beautiful, beautiful moment and expression of his love for that man, that strange man, to come up to me and say that to me about one of that. That was waitress that show taught me about myself and the strength of myself and the strength of everything deposited into me by my mother and by my ancestors, by all these women that I look up to in this business. Um taught me about how I can be what that man was for me, for other people. Waitress, uh the song Soft Place to Land, and that where this this character is singing about her mother's lessons, and I want to be a soft place to land for people. Um so waitress taught me the most about myself. Some like it hot, some like it hot has taught me the most about being a performer, I think. Um Wow. There's just so many lessons. We don't have time, we don't have time.

SPEAKER_03 23:31

I'm like, I'm like, if you bring this much depth to literally every sentence you ever say. I'm like looking at these tissues, I'm like, I can't reach them, then I need one. I'm like everything you say, I'm like, what is your metamorble? No.

SPEAKER_04 23:56

No, no, no. Metamorals is the opposite of everything of almost everything I've ever done. Um, but she's a part of Wicked, which is this um massive machine. People like to say machine, and I don't think that is a bad thing, but it is a it is, you know, it is its own entity. So she falls, my Metamorable falls right into in line with the other morables, I think.

SPEAKER_02 24:19

What a time to be in the show. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 24:21

What's a time crazy good time, crazy good time.

SPEAKER_02 24:25

This is like talk about God's timing.

SPEAKER_04 24:27

He's a master. Divine.

SPEAKER_03 24:31

Oh my gosh. Like, how it doesn't get more divine time than this. Than this. Yeah. Yeah. And is it still Black Elfie?

SPEAKER_04 24:40

Yes, it is. What's her name? Lyncia Cabede. She's so gorgeous. She is. She's extremely gorgeous, extremely talented, and kind and smart. So yeah. Come and see us. Come and see us. Why did she? We're both there till March 2026.

SPEAKER_03 24:54

And please don't tell oh March 2026. Please don't tell me you're the first black madam.

SPEAKER_04 24:58

I'm not. Cheryl Lee Ralph was the first. No, she was not. It was like 14 years ago or something like that, or 13 years ago. She was Madame Morrible? She was Madame Morrible. Oh my gosh. She was Madame Morable. And uh I'm the second. Now that we've had some black understudies and on the road a little bit, um, but never full time on Broadway. Thank you for representing. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for letting us glad I'm representing.

SPEAKER_03 25:22

It really makes a difference seeing people of color on stage. Yes. It it is a reminder to me. I'm so sorry I had this Chipotle, please.

SPEAKER_04 25:32

No, listen, listen, I got kids. Males don't bother me.

SPEAKER_03 25:36

It is a reminder whenever I see somebody on stage in a role that I didn't expect to see someone who looks like me. It is inspiring and it reminds me, okay, Celicia, when you're given an opportunity, keep your eyes open because that could be you could be opening up a door for someone else too. Because I'm always like, oh, I can't do that. That part's not written for me. But when I see other people doing it and doing it well, it's it's like it is inspiring. And speaking of inspiring, you've also, are you one of the founding members for Black Theater United?

SPEAKER_04 26:11

I am one of the founding members of the United States.

SPEAKER_03 26:13

Can you educate what is Black Theater United?

SPEAKER_04 26:16

Wow, what is? We are so many things. But but more than anything, we're an organization that came together under the the suggestion really of Audrey McDonald and Lachant's uh coming together to as a in a response to George Floyd's murder, um, because our industry wasn't saying anything for a while, a long while, and we just wanted to do something, felt helpless. You know, the world had shut down, we were all home trying to figure out what we could do to be to say something to protest. And so we decided that our industry, because it was silent, definitely needed changes. Um because a lot of us weren't uh being seen or heard in in particular areas. Uh the the creative aspect, the production, the producing aspect, all of those things. So we wanted to to do something to affect a change in our industry. Um and so Black Theater United took up the mantle. And and we're not the only ones. There were like 30, 30 organizations really that sort of some of them were already uh established, but certainly came to light during that particular, particularly dark time to help um shine a light on the needs for diversity and inclusion and um and belonging in our industry.

SPEAKER_03 27:28

What are some of the things that you guys are doing today?

SPEAKER_04 27:30

Oh wow, we have uh a couple of mentorship programs. We have some uh the uh what is it the word it starts with a D, but I can't think of it. But the design. I'm like Dracula. Design of design program, design initiatives going on. We have a lot of political things going on where we get people involved to vote and to take part in the sentences when it's the that time for it to come around. Um we have uh an education program for uh sixth graders that goes into the the public school systems and gives people, teaches kids how to put on a play, how to write a play and put those things together. So it's a lot of At sixth graders? Sixth graders, at is the second year for that. At risk kids, there's a total curriculum for English, math, all of those things, but also um using the arts to help them have something to do after school so we're not getting in trouble or have something to do with that um ADHD or that other energy that you might have. Um just giving them and and introducing them to all of the uh not all, but a lot of the different jobs that are in theater that people don't know about that they can think about and start to get uh acquainted with. So we are an organization that is about young people incredible, the the the the next generation of artists. I saw something about internships too. There's lots of internships, paid internships, paid paid internships, housing, some so the the uh the oh god, the rise program gives housing for eight weeks um and paid, you get a weekly salary, you're get all this information and you get the connections.

SPEAKER_03 29:02

You better believe as an adult. I was like, do they take yes?

SPEAKER_04 29:05

We have internships for not just college students, but there's different there's different programs for um adults that are already in the industry that maybe want to change. Maybe dancers want to go into producing or or uh artists, actress, actors want to go into marketing or whatever. There's all kinds of things you can do it as an adult and as a student.

SPEAKER_03 29:23

Work. Yes. Oh, do you find yourself because you are multifaceted, but like you're killing it on stage. Do you think that you'll st continue to do on stage for the rest of your life? Are you trying to be behind the scenes? Are you wanting to be on stage until like listen?

SPEAKER_04 29:43

I want to be on stage as long as I can, but that's not all I want to do. I'm I write, I'm a writer. I've written a screenplay. Um, and uh I'm gonna figure out how I'm gonna get that out very soon. Um, and film it. It's not filmed, it's just a screenplay right now. And that is about Mamie Peanut Johnson, a woman who played baseball in the Negro Leagues with the men. There were three women, and um, it's about her rise into the Negro League and the simultaneous demise of black businesses during that time. Interesting. It is um that's that's where my heart is right now. I also want to do uh more TV. I wanna be on TV. Be on television and do that so that I can be home. And you've done a little bit of TV, want to do more. Uh and that's big. I'm I'm I'm not really into producing right now, but I'd like to um certainly open up that opportunity for for more stories about people of color to be told. So whether I'm writing those things or finding someone that I can push along and push up, I want to do those. That's what I want to do.

SPEAKER_03 30:38

I see you in leadership roles in addition to all the things that you said, because you your spirit, oh my goodness, it is you're talking about a soft place to land. There is something so um unspoken, unsaid about walking into a room and seeing other people.

unknown 30:53

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 30:54

Ah, that looked like it's no, there's nothing like it. And that never gets old. I don't care where you are in your career, I don't care who you are, it it is an amazing feeling too for that representation is so important.

SPEAKER_03 31:05

It really, yeah, really, it really does make a difference. Um, I know we have to wrap up soon because you got a show, baby.

SPEAKER_04 31:13

I got a show to do. Dream Girls is coming with a producer. One of my friends, LaJounce is one of the producers on Dream Girls. That's coming back, but anyway.

SPEAKER_03 31:20

Will you be involved in it all?

SPEAKER_04 31:21

No, no, I'm gonna be in that audience. I'm gonna be yelling and cheering and running and asking, yes.

SPEAKER_03 31:26

I'm gonna be Are you kidding?

SPEAKER_04 31:28

Dream Girls? I love it.

SPEAKER_03 31:30

Who's not excited for Dream Girls? My pregnant body. I'm like, okay, how much time do I have to lose anything? Like, let's go. Oh my god. So, okay, with such an incredible career that you have already lived, that you are continuing to expand on, and also these other gifts and talents and all the things that you have going on. Black Theater United, there's other things that I haven't even the mentoring, we didn't even get to all the mentoring that you do personally. With all, oh gosh, there's so many things I wanted to ask you. What would you say to eight-year-old Natasha? If you knew, then would you know now? Like, what would you tell? Or maybe maybe it's eight-year-old, maybe it's a 20-year-old, the one that needs the most encouragement. Like, you're doing it. You did it, and you're doing it. What would you tell her?

SPEAKER_04 32:30

I think I'd tell her that it's okay. Her voice is enough. There's no need to um try to be anything other than what's inside. Let what's inside come out. And who accepts it and embraces it, that's your tribe. And who does it, dust your feet off, and move forward. I tell her to not be so caught up in boys. But listen to her voice. Um I don't know, so much I tell her. She had a lot of issues. But I would I would tell her that it's okay and that it will be okay. I would tell her that as as long as she is true to herself, the self-calling will push her forward. That's what I tell her.

SPEAKER_02 33:34

Amen. It's okay to make mistakes. Just get up. It has to get out. Wise words from Natasha Evette Williams.

SPEAKER_04 33:47

Always wanted to be profound, profound. You're profound. I'm I don't feel profound. No, you're profound. But as a young person too, I was like, oh, I want to say something, but I'm not sure it's gonna be good enough. That kind of mess, that's what I would tell her to squash right away. Did things change when you got your Tony Dom? Did they change? I mean, I got into more rooms, I think. I definitely got into more um TV rooms, probably, in terms of being able to uh allow to audition. Um I think it changed a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 34:20

Changed a little bit. Like anything, or was it just like, you know what? Just another day.

SPEAKER_04 34:25

That was an amazing no, it was not just another day because I have been doing it at that point for maybe 17, 18 years. I've been eligible maybe five times. Well, the first time they sort of took that away before it came. But because they had a category of first replacement um on Tony, a Tony first replacement.

SPEAKER_03 34:44

How did they get rid of that?

SPEAKER_04 34:46

Thank you. I don't know, but I was eligible for that in color purple. But by the time the Tonies came around, they they did away with that category. So that that knocked me out for being eligible for that. And then um I was eligible for in in Gershman's Poor Again Best, I was eligible, but there were like literally 80 shows with literally 800 featured actresses in it. Um, so I didn't I didn't um get a nomination for that year. I broke my foot in a night with Janice Joplin. Oh. And I didn't do the opening. So you could only do it if you did the opening. I did, you know, everything before I broke my foot the night of the first previews. Um so I'm I'm listed as a replacement.

SPEAKER_03 35:23

But you're not on broke.

SPEAKER_04 35:25

So the database. I'm not.

SPEAKER_03 35:26

Well, I mean, no, I'm kinda, but no, you're OBC, but you broke your freaking butt.

SPEAKER_04 35:31

So that's that's that's a weird, that was a weird feeling. But anyway, um, I forgot what the question was. If like the tone, like a tone. Oh, did it change? Did the Tony nom change? But no, it didn't really change me. It just gave me a little bit of validation. It wasn't just another day because I was like waiting so long. I had stopped waiting. I had stopped, you know, for when it first started, it's like, oh my God, I want to get a Tony, I want to get a nomination, I want to blah, blah, blah. That's those are the things I wanted on my mantle. But after 10 years or so, then you're like, okay, well, I I guess, you know, you tell yourself, I don't want that, I don't need that, and you don't. You don't need it. Yeah, you know, I'm I'm doing the same work and the same kind of work before I got it.

SPEAKER_02 36:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 36:15

But and so I I did, was like, okay, well, that's probably not gonna happen for me. That's okay. I'm not in that particular box or bag or whatever. So, and then literally when it happened, we were on the set of Good Morning America or some some show. Oh my gosh. And I'm like, is this real? They call my name, my cast is there, they're yellow and stuff. But I'm like, is this real? Yes. Wow. And then you're like, what does it mean? What does it mean? It means you get up and you go to work, you go to work and keep doing the job. That's what it means. You keep doing the work. And if there are some little perks that you get, okay, great. I certainly went back to a Chicago, a job that I had been doing for 10 years, and nothing really changed there. You know what I'm saying? People said sometimes I'll hear it in front of my name, which is great, and it is a little bit of validation, but I was doing the work prior to that nomination and prior to my Grammy win. I won we won the Grammy. You grammy! I have a Grammy in my why you let me say Grammy nominated and I'll win! We're gonna get to it. I won a Grammy. I have one with my name on it. It is absolutely amazing. Oh my god. Cried and cried and cried when that box came and I'm unveiling it. I went to the Grammys. It was a monsoon out there that year. We I was soaking wet. Um but I went and I stood on that stage and I've done the things that I professed that I wanted to do, and I've been allowed to get some of those things. We still got more to do. Yes. Um, but I'm very excited, and it was, it changed me in that I knew that I had I had a goal of something I worked to. Might have took 20 years, but I worked for that and I and I have it, and nobody can take it away from me. It's like a college education, guys. Y'all get that? Can't nobody take that out of your head? You got whatever education you get, whether it's college or just school of knocks or high school or whatever it is, nobody can take that out. So you get all of that. And whether it's in this business, all that education, all that stuff that you can pile into your doctor's bag so that when you go, you ready, get that.

SPEAKER_03 38:19

We're speaking this into existence right now because as you're talking, I am hearing you in the present, but I'm seeing you in the future. And I see you on the stage with not a dry eye in the house. You have brought us all to tears at your Tony Award except and speak. Yes, it's coming. No, it is coming. It is coming. And when you you will have an entire industry celebrating you. I felt that.

SPEAKER_04 38:48

I felt that this time too at the time when I was nominated. But I felt like all of the, just all of people's hands pushing me up and on. It was it was amazing. That was amazing.

SPEAKER_03 38:58

That's all to do. You guys, Natasha Yvette Williams, thank you so much for joining me today. You are so incredible. You are incredible. Thank you. Oh my gosh. Thank you for taking the time. Go to your show.

SPEAKER_04 39:14

Oh, that's right. Oh, yes, and y'all go.

SPEAKER_03 39:16

Go see these shows. Yes. Support the theater, please. Come to Broadway and make sure you catch Natasha in Wicked on Broadway. Let's freaking go. Let's wrap.