The Spirited Actor - Kenthedo Robinson

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, and welcome to the Spirited Actor Podcast with me
Tracy Moore. I was a casting director for film and
TV and commercials for over thirty years. I transition to
a celebrity acting coach after I cast a film New
Jersey Drive with executive producers Spike Lee and director Nick Thomas.
I audition every rapper from Biggias Balls to Tupac, and

(00:24):
I realized that rappers and musical artists they needed help
transitioning to acting. My clients consist of musical artists from
Buster Rhymes to Eve, Missy Elliott, Angela Ye from The
Breakfast Club, and Vanessa Simmons, to name a few. I
also coach sports stars and host as well. I feel

(00:45):
I have the best of both worlds. As a casting director,
I know exactly what they're looking for, and as an
acting coach, I can coach you to be remembered in
that room. Now I know, I know actors want to
get the job. I get that, but being remembered by
casting director that is powerful. And now it's time for

(01:05):
meditation of the day. If you hit a wrong note,
it's the next note that you play that determines if
it's good or bad. Miles Davis. While we worked passionately
on our craft and in this career, it's also really
important that we learned how to say no for our

(01:26):
self care. I remember I learned this lesson when I
was forty years old in casting and I, you know,
my friends are producers and directors and they would call
me and um hired me on jobs. And I felt
bad if I said no because they were my friends.
But yet I was overworking myself and I felt tired.

(01:50):
I didn't have the energy that I wanted from my family.
And one time a famous director called me and he said, Tracy,
I'm doing this project and I'm going to send you
the dates the script, just really assuming that I was available.
And I was like, no, I can't do it. And
he was like, I didn't even tell you the dates.

(02:12):
And I was like, there's no reason to tell me
the dates because I know I am not available. And
when I got off the phone, there was this initial
like glitch of fear of oh my god, am I
gonna work? Or you know, was that a good decision?
Should I have taken the job. And then just for
a moment, I came back to myself and I said no,

(02:35):
because now I don't have to put that pressure on
myself scramble around on this other job that I'm doing.
And it's not about the money. It's about your peace
of mind. It's about your self care, and it's about
yourself help. Today I will learn to say no unapologetically.

(03:00):
Before we get started, I'd like to remind everyone to
look out for my new show, Inside the Black Box.
I'll be co hosting with the great Joe Morton. Will
be on Crackle Network real soon. I'll keep you posted.
Welcome to the Spirited Actor Podcast with me Tracy Moore
and I love to bring people on this show that

(03:23):
you may be familiar with, you may be familiar with
their work and put faces on people. I think that's
so important that we put faces on people to get
to know all of these talented creative beings that exist
down here. I have the pleasure of meeting can theto
Robinson at one of my friends. I talked to you
guys about Pacento Rittard and we're going to have Hoccento

(03:46):
on the show as well. But I am so excited
for him because he has a play that he wrote
and then he is directing. It's called The Buffalo hero
of World War One, the Wayne my her story. I
want all of you to put your hands together for
writer director Canthino ron Hey, thank you, Hi, welcome to

(04:13):
the show. Thank you. It is such a pleasure to
be in the company of someone like Tracy Moore and
I appreciate love that. Yeah, I watch your video on
Crackle when you were interviewing Felicip with Sean bo Jill
Martin was there and I was saying, Oh, this is
really nice. Wow, And you know, that was an eighteen

(04:39):
year journey, eighteen years. When I started out as a
casting director in five eighty six at MTV, there weren't
a lot of people that look like me, and there
weren't a lot of casting directors that look like me,
and so I was often in situations where a white
director would say to me, Tracy, can you ask that

(05:00):
actor who was a black actor to be more ghetto
or to be more jive? And you know, and I
refused to do it because as I knew what they
were saying, I just felt it was very insulting. And
Joe has a story where he talks about a director
said the same thing to him and he said, how

(05:21):
can you ask as a white man a black man
to out black himself. As so these issues and these
misunderstanding miscommunications kept festering, and I thought teaching, educating, empowering,
mix it together in a format where again, there are

(05:43):
a lot of people out here that we don't see
their faces, but their work is out here and you
watch it, you support it. So that was the platform.
And then you know, asking in the award winning Joe
Morton to come on board, and he said yes. The
last six years it started to pick up, and and

(06:04):
then the pandemic made us sit down and be quiet,
and then there was an awareness of wokeness whatever you
wanted to find it. And Crackle TV took the chance
and gave us one season and we have ten episodes
on Crackle TV and we are waiting words for next season.

(06:27):
So that's where we are. One of the things that
I really enjoyed um and I talked about Jacentino on
the show before when I did the Q and A
for the screening and heard your story about how um
you connected with Jacento and just supported him financially on

(06:48):
his journey on this brilliant one of my favorite films,
one of my favorite films ever and I thought to myself,
once again, creative beings take risks and believe, and however
they could be supportive. Whatever they have they pour into that.
And right then I was like, my spirit just gravitated

(07:10):
to you. So if we could start there for the audience,
just to let them know that project, because you've been
in this business for quite some time, writing, directing, and
I think it's brilliant. Thank you, Thank you. I was
a drama teacher at Boys and Girls High School for
about twenty five years. I worked at Boys and Girls

(07:31):
High School and at one point they didn't have drama,
and I just said, I'm we're gonna do drama. I
climbed over the lighting fence one day because it's all
boarded up, you know, changing everything, and the genis was like,
don't go in there, don't climb over that fence. And
I used to go over there and play with the lights,
and I kept saying to myself, I'm wanting as soon

(07:54):
as how to do lights and sound and costume and acting,
We're gonna do it all. So I was doing that
for a while, and I was also taking some writing
classes that the Frank Silvera's Writer's Work Shop. Oh yes, yes.
I had a very good friend there who used to
take me to the writing workshops and he became close
with Jacento from well he was Percento where Ncento grew

(08:19):
up in the neighborhood and Assento. I directed a Cento
in a couple of readings and then went at the
Schaumberg and it was it was my friend's play. I
first came in contact with the Center. But from the
moment that I've come in contact with the Cento, he
has always been such a positive and encouraging person. And

(08:41):
so at one point I was doing it a production
of h directing and production at the at the high school. Uh,
Joe Turners coming gone, yeah yeah, and a cent I
used to uh used to go out on the field.
I can look outside my window and the school and
see a Center all on the field on his little

(09:02):
tai chi or whatever he does, all that stuff I
was seeing. I'm looking and said, you know what, I
need to get a central inside this building and work
with these kids, you know, working with these students. And
so one day he came, he said, you know I
need I need to come in and work with your students.
And so I said, okay, let's let's do it. And
he helped us with a beautiful production, and that was

(09:23):
kind of the beginning. And then later on after I retired,
I did a couple of production here at the American
Theater of Actors and he came to the productions and
he began to kind of pitch his idea about his film.
And after a while, it was kind of like this
guy after I read his resume and he talked to
me about who he's worked with and all that, and
I said, this guy needs the money. You know, that's

(09:46):
not hold the Oscar off like we hold Oscar off
all these great work. These actors got the good thirty films,
then we may give them an Oscar. So I said, no,
did this man this money, you can do this film.
And so that's how I just opened my heart out
to him because he was such a beautiful person and

(10:06):
always encouraging to the students. Yeah, and you know, we
I believe we reflect each other. So that's why you know,
in leaving, I gravitated to you because I felt that
energy on the stage and like, this is what helping
each other and supporting each other and empowering each other
looks like that's what this looks like right, so now

(10:27):
and and fast forward. Um, I'm so excited about this play.
I'm excited for two reasons. And ladies and gentlemen, I
just want to if you are in the New York
Tri state area on May, situ and fist at one
of my favorite theaters, American Theater for Actors. Yeah, of actors,

(10:52):
I'm sorry, American Theater of Actors. They used to have
these one acts over there, like back in the day
when they first started, and I love that theater. So
you guys, you have to support the Buffalo hero of
World War One, the Wayne Minor story. So one of
the reasons can theto I'm really excited is because I
believe that we are at a time in our history

(11:15):
and our lives where we need to hear our stories
and we haven't even touched on a point. So this
is a huge education and awareness and again, you know,
we are a part of the fabric of this America.
And too because I feel like and just you know,

(11:39):
I feel really blessed. My son is in the play
and I've been able to watch his process and I'm
gonna tell you a lot of people because Miles has
been acting since he was really three. That's when I
first started teaching him, and in his school, just like you,
I was like they'd been active and I could be
around Miles. So, just like you, I just wanted to

(12:04):
say something about him. Uh. He is doing such a
wonderful job. He he has moments of brilliance in this play.
And I can't wait for you to see it him
in it. Uh. And I often picture you're sitting out
an audio his point. How break dissue? But because I

(12:32):
see Miles in me. We went home for my birthday
in March, and home in San Francisco, and I just
gave them the tracy growing up tour everywhere, right, And
when we went to my elementary school, St. Dominic's, I
just and we went into the church and around. I
just remember just the creative energy started for me there

(12:55):
and I was in place. I love plays. I moved
to New York because I want to direct theater, and
you know, different avenues opened up. But Miles has always
been fearless since three years old. I can get on
the plane and goes to Bannon, Georgia by myself, Like
I know you guys and my parents, but I'm good, right,
they have somebney who watches you. So I'm good and

(13:16):
then they're gonna pick me up. I'm good like since
he was three years old, like you know, and that's
how I feel like I have always been. So I
recognize that. So that's I'm excited. So tell us about
the story, because you know, I want people to come
see it. I love hearing it. I was approached right

(13:36):
around and guess twenty nineteen twenty, like seventeen or eighteen
to write a play about guy named Wayne Minor now
Wayne Minor. When I was growing up in Kansas City,
there was the name of a project that was in
Kansas City, Missouri, and it was a place where we
were told not to go to. It was was kind

(13:59):
of you know, projects at that particular time. So when
the guy approached me, he actually was my mentor and
my and he's a historian that he's no longer with us,
but he's a historian and he was a part of
the Wayne Minor Army Post, which is the oldest black
post in America. So he approached me, I want you

(14:20):
to write to play about Wayne Minor, and I'm thinking
you women wady to play about the projects, And he
was like no, he's worth more than the projects. And
so we had a lot of sessions by him being
a historian. We had a lot of different sessions back
and forth about how to create the characters and the
time period and what was happening. And I landed on

(14:43):
creating three soldiers. Wayne Minor was one, and then there's
a soldier from the South, Texas, which was influenced by
the Houston Riots. And then there was another character who's
from Mississippi who's just influenced by that whole southern post slavery,

(15:05):
you know, pressure that then a lot he was uneducated
now Texas, actually had gone to Harvard University to become
a doctor. But when the riots happened, the mother and
his his mother and father were killing Houston riots. So
at that time, then World War One was coming on
and then it was kind of like, well what do

(15:27):
I do? And that was the case for a lot
of Black Americans, especially men at the time one because
we're just a few years out of the Civil War,
reconstruction and all that. So all thats into the play
and then into these characters lives. So there is a
document that survived world Wayne Miner's life and it is

(15:50):
a document that's written by Lieutenant Clark, which Miles played
the character that mouth. There's one document that survived and
it tells the account as a few hours awayne manners life,
and I'm gonna try to have that that document here
on display because I think it's very, very important. Uh.
He was always the type of person who just volunteered,

(16:14):
I'll go, I'll do it, that kind of thing. So
throughout the play we get inklings of that through his character.
But by the end of the play, when we get
to this point where this very racist captain has been
pushing these soldiers throughout the whole play, right right right,

(16:34):
So now it comes to the point where his soldiers,
the white soldiers, turn tail and run down. We need
somebody to get the ammunition out to the front line,
and that's gonna end up being one of the Buffalo
soldiers who he was over. So the white soldiers ran.
He has to turn to the Buffalo soldiers to get

(16:55):
that ammunition out of say the day, and Wayne agrees,
I'll go out and uh and of course he he
uh he said, comes to uh shrapnel, uh wounds and
uh and uh passes away. You know, fighting for democracy,
I did about four years of research for this play,

(17:16):
and I went. I started in Kansas City, of course,
I went to the World War One Museum, that's World
War Museum in Kansas City, the National Yeah, and Schaumburg.
I did some great research at Schaumburg. I went to London,
London War Museum, to France, where I was born. I mean,
I'm sorry, my minor is uh is it's later built

(17:41):
for cemeteries over there, um immaculate cemeteries. And so we
went up to his grave site and saw his cross,
and the lady when I first went there, she shumps
up out of her seat as I told her who
we were from Kansas and we're writing played by Wayne
Minor and blah blah blah. Because I had had discussions
earlier with the historian who said, well, you know, he's

(18:04):
the last guy to die, but kind of this question
marks there right. So when I went to her and
I said, well, I'm from Kansas City and I'm ready
to play about Wayne Man, she thumps out of it.
Oh my god, I'm so glad you're here. When my
students come, when the kids come to the cemetery and
take a tour, I always tell them about Wayne man
be in World War One for democracy and that's all

(18:25):
I needed, That's all I needed. Yes, he's the last
night And I asked her, I said, well, why aren't
his remains in Kansas City and in America? We asked
all the parents if they were like there to remains
to be flown back home or if they would have
it here in that cemetery, And so the mother decided

(18:47):
to have it there in a cemetry which gives him
an international flair, right right, So but did you also
this is such an amazing story. Did you also, and
that's what I was going to ask you feel the
difference between the admiration, the story, the you know, the
service of Wayne Meyer in Europe as opposed to in America. Yeah,

(19:13):
I did. It was I mean, she spent a lot
of time with us, and and she would point out
different soldiers, the process of different soldiers, graves, and she
would said, this guy right here was from a very
wealthy family, and this guy right here was a doctor,
and and she would point on all of these different ones.
But somehow she came to Wayne Minors. She went and

(19:36):
got a bucket of sin from that period, from from
seventeen and she took this sin, and she gave me
some and she took something and she says, Okay, let's
smearrit over his name because it's engraved and across and
which stand over this gray sand over his and and
the name just pumped and then the clouds parted. Wow.

(20:01):
So myself, this is a magical. This is yeah, this
is meant to be, I guess, yeah, yeah, I mean
it just reminds me of like Josephine Baker, you know,
when she left America and how she was adored and
praised even to this day, and it felt like you
have to leave, you know, to mean something in this country.

(20:23):
I did a film, a short film. This was years
in the beginning of my career, and Danny Glover was
one of the executive producers. It was a short film
and it was about the first African American jockey and
he had to leave America to go to Germany to
get the respect to come back to America. And I
thought that was very interesting, you know that you know,

(20:45):
we we don't give that praise and um and we're
a very yeah, no, no, no, I'm just thinking that
those kind of issues are touched on. That theme is
touched on throughout the play, and it brought on a
lot from quite character the Captain, I would imagine because
there's I mean, in two it's still relevant. You know.

(21:07):
It's like I could listen to Marvin Gay what's going
on and I'm like wow, Like he was a prophet son,
you know, so many similarities, still many similarities. And for me,
in listening and hearing the story and reading the story initially,
it's like, you know, where do we get to that point?

(21:31):
And you know we're two? And for me, I was
in a mental state after the Buffalo murders that I
have never been in prior to that. And when I
came to New York City, my introduction to New York
City was unfortunately used at Pockets and that was my

(21:52):
first introduction in eighty three and I was like wow,
like they chased him out of Bensinghurst to the point
where he dies on ongoing traffic. Like so, I just
feel great knowing that you are one of our storytellers,
that are you know, preserving our our stories and bringing

(22:13):
awareness to our stories. Because for me, this doesn't stop
at the Wayne Meyer story. It makes me want to
do research on other stories and other parts of you
know this world America, that we've had contributions, that our
stories have been buried or critical theory. Now let's take
them out of the schools. Yes, it seems like throughout

(22:37):
history when we get close to telling the truth is
when try to change the field, when we get close
to that truth, they they say, oh, no, we don't
want you to see that. We don't want no critical
race theory. No we don't want It's just another way
of saying, we don't want you to deal with the

(22:58):
truth about what happened to people in this country. Well,
it's really about but thank god that this play for
me is able to really go inside and push that
away because I really give a lot of foundation two

(23:20):
what it was like back then, similarities of what it's
like now. There's a lot of that and play in there.
So there's a soldier starts to act up and wants
to wants to call Captain Blue, who's a white, right,
he wants to say something to him because this is
the guy who's been affected by his mother and father's death. Right,

(23:41):
So he says to uh, the lieutenant, he's because he's
trying him out. It's early in the place, trying him
out and oh, lieutenant, uh, did you get your training
from Captain Blue when you were here? And tennant said no,
and so and then he's walking off because he just
bought him their mail, right, and he said, just wanted
if he's been as stuck up cracker white stupid at right. Yeah, yeah,

(24:04):
so I heard that. Lieutenant Clark has to come back
and say, wait a minute, hold up, what this wrong
with you? When you're addressing commission officers white or black
in my present, you will address them as captain, lieutenant, colonel, whatever, right,
and so, and then he says, things ain't never gonna
change that much, right, I think you can talk to

(24:26):
any commissioned officers the way you want to, white or black.
What he says that we have to keep your structure here.
Right as we move, as black people move into those
foundations and into those areas where we have not been,
the CRUK is saying, we're getting there, but we got
to keep the structure, because if you look at what

(24:48):
happened January six, trying to take the structure away, that's
what they're doing. And so gives this idea, No, it
ain't ever gonna change that much. Now, talk to anybody
any way we want to. I tried to get that
those kind of things I try to get, you know,

(25:10):
into the play because a lot of the stuff in here,
There are a lot of some things in there that
the White Biden is gonna be sitting and looking and
watching and seeing something a little different. Like in the
very beginning of the play, the character Wayne Minor says
the angel who's selling selling letters, and yeah, that they
started talking about the Birth of a Nation being shown

(25:33):
in the White House, and then she said, because she said,
you want me to start a picture of Wilson in
here and this and no, Wilson, I don't want no
picture of Wilson because my daddy say, Wilson showed the
picture of Birth of a Nation in the White House
and he said it was writing history with the truth.
And no, so my daddy said, ain't no picture gonna

(25:54):
be in his house. I want to ask you as
a director, because as an acting coach, I have had
clients right well, just in my class when I do
monologue classes, I have women who do the monologue confencees
Rose's monologue eighteen years right, and so they'll they'll show

(26:17):
me their monologue. This is pre pandemic because I would
be in my space in Manhattan working one on one
with them and Canceto, these women would come out like
what what what? What square up to the dude, Like,
you know, I had the challenge, and I used to
say to my women in classes that I get the
idea of you know, you know bosses and you know

(26:40):
black business, own and empowerment, black girl magic and all
of that. But in nineteen that's so, I'm gonna need
you to do your due diligence, but even more, I'm
chiseling this armor this with these actors. Do you find
and during this period piece that you have up Yeah,

(27:02):
that's a great question because okay, so I'll use Miles
as an example, right, So there were times early in
her superiods where Miles would like tense up. You can
see his his fists bottled up, right, and it was like,
you know, at the end up at the end of
the scene, and I would say say, Miles, um, why
are you uh, what is your thought here at the

(27:23):
end of the scene. He said, Oh, I'm upset for
all the things they did to us over all these years.
I said, yeah, but Myles, I don't know if we
were really bold, I feels up in front of the
captain in seventeen. I said, now get it that you're
and him alone in the room. Yes, okay, Now, if

(27:43):
there had been another white person in there, then you
definitely wouldn't be able to do that. So I said,
I said, listen, I said, your character, Lieutenant Clark, is
an educated man. He approached that man from here, right,
I want you to start working on approaching him from here,
I staid, thinking that's a stealth fighter, a stealth you know,

(28:05):
airplane that goes to it. You can't really see by
the time he dropped the bomb, and you can't really
see what happened. That's what you're doing. And he took
that and like boom, see him on the stage now,
just pouncing and trying to change this man's mind, I said,
because that's where the battle is going to really be wanting. Yeah, yeah,

(28:29):
and yeah. I can't wait for you to see him.
I can't I can't wait. I can't wait because I
know he's called it back to me that I think
for me, like the moment with you with him where
it's almost like you see the light bulble with their
head or you feel the connection that's where, you know,
my heart just flutters because these are things that I
don't think act you think about, you know, especially when

(28:53):
we do stories about our history. And I remember when
I saw raising in the sun with Puffy and that
was one of the things that I felt like, we
have to, you know, as actors, you have to know
that time period because that's what's you know, the foundation
and and and understand where these things are coming from.

(29:14):
Because for me with Rose, after eighteen years of you know,
like that emotion coming up and pushing it down and
coming up and pushing it down to finally not being
able to control it, and this is her holding back
for eighteen years, everything that she wanted to say and
everything that she thought, finding her voice because what we
saw after that and she said, you that child may

(29:37):
have a mother, but you, my friend, do not have
a wife. You He came home and he's sitting there
and looking at his dinner. No, here's a box of rice.
Read the directions. You know what I'm saying. But there
was a shift, and that's the beauty. That's the beauty.
So it's about that shift. Well, I just want you

(29:59):
to know that we only had five minutes left in
Greece five and it was a great conversation. Cancino. If
there are anything that you want to share with these actors,
please just a little bit more of what you were saying,
because the display takes blace the nineteen seventeen and so

(30:19):
I had to really press upon the actors. You guys
were faced with all kinds of lynchings. Think of the
weight of reactor at that time on The Black Man.
I mean even in the play I mentioned one of
the characters wives have to move up north because one
of the kids girlfriend's mother was lynched. So we are

(30:44):
a beautiful, strong, resilient people. To have come from where
we have come from. For Rose, maxim of that together
and to have the best is just lynchings and whatever
else that they had to go through at that time.

(31:07):
We are a beautiful resilient, strong people. And find that
in your history, because it's go throughout. Find that. Whatever
parents you're doing, it's some of those people in there
that are strong. We didn't all cower and hide in
the corner. We didn't do that. We wouldn't be here

(31:29):
today if we had done that. Find those things, find
that strength. Find that in the play or film of
your character. Look seek that out, seek their weakest point
as their strongest point. Somewhere that play. There should be
a point where you can that their weakness can be

(31:49):
can be revealed, and go for it to be sensitive.
A lot of the actors, young men actors today, young
male actors today, they want to be this. We want
to see your sensitivity, that's right. Vulnerability, Yes, we want
to see that. Yeah right, So show us that, show

(32:11):
us that. Don't be afraid to cry. If you're a
man on the stage and ball up in a in
a position and cry, don't be afraid to do that.
Because some of the mass and other aties want to
do it. Yes, yes, And that's what gives them the
inspiration to do it is allowing yourself because that's real.
If we're going to recreate the human experience, that's real.

(32:33):
And Omar Dorsey on Inside the black Box Crackle TV
subscribe for free that I co host with John Morton.
Omar said on our show that that was one of
the things that he felt able to juvenet gave him
the ability to be vulnerable and to cry and to
be and so we need that and we need to
see more of that. Giving ourselves permission to be that.

(32:55):
I just want to give you a standing ovation because
you didn't amazing job dropping diamonds, pearls, emerals. If you guys,
you guys need to read, listen, and hear, and theater.
This is my true love because theater is live. Theater
is in my opinion, every night you have the opportunity

(33:17):
to get better and better and find something new. Here's
something different, but stay within the integrity of the work.
So I wanta you guys, put your hands together for
a kid you thank you. This is gonna be you guys.
We're gonna repeat this again, but I want you, guys,
if you are in New York or in the Tryst

(33:38):
State area American Theater of Actors. It presents the Buffalo
hero of World War One, the Wayne Meyers story, directed
and written by Kim Theto Robinson, thank you and you
can sit around. We're still bless you, guys. He's gonna
stick around for class and session. We'll be back with

(33:59):
the at An Actor Podcast with Me Tracy Moore. Four
Class in session. Welcome back to the Spirited Actor Podcast
with me Tracy Moore. And you are still blessed and
we are so grateful to have kN theto Robinson still
with us. Okay, so today we're gonna do something different.
You guys, normally can theto what we do is we

(34:22):
will bring on spirit actor alumni and have them read
a scene for you or monologue. But today I want
to do something different because Elsa and I are casting
a musical Aretha Respect and it's an a D City
musical and it's gone through breakdowns and actors access and

(34:43):
every single time I just say to myself, you know, Tracy,
you don't need to teach anymore, it reaffirms me, Yes,
I do, and I need to teach more consistently. So
today I need to stress kin theto, I need to
stress with the actors, and I just have a couple
of points here, but I would love for you to
chime in on anything that you had that can just

(35:07):
really empower, educate and the truth. That's one of the
things that I love about your authenticity, your truth, so
I hear and feel your truth. So I'm just gonna
really run through this because I want to hear from you.
So one of the things that I feel is that
actors need to be honest with themselves. They need to

(35:27):
be honest with why they're on this journey before they
pick up any type of acting book, go to any school.
Because I've been blessed in my career to have a
career as a celebrity acting coach, and you can be
around I call it noise where people, oh, you know,

(35:48):
I'm trying. You know, there's a revenge aspect, there's approving
themselves aspect to why they're gonna be this beyond this
journey of the successful actor, eat being those things to me,
slow down the process. They aren't relevant to your journey.
But it's true. And some people want to be rich

(36:09):
and just put it in people's faces. It's true. So
I think that there needs to be a conversation to
be honest. If you want to closet full of shoes,
if you want to travel around the world, just be
honest with yourself and say, I'm pursuing this journey as
a working actor to what you know and remember why
you chose to do it in the first place. You know,

(36:31):
where are you coming from, and and being honest with yourself.
We did a film, Soul Santa, premiered last year on
bat and one of the breakdowns was handsome, fit, charismatic,
you know, uh, just you know that Castanova type character,

(36:52):
and some of the submissions were frightening, Like I understand
that what you think of yourself and I applaud you. However,
you have to be consistent with the breakdown and if
you have a muffin top, that's not being consistent with
being physically fit. So you have to be honest with yourself.

(37:13):
And lastly, I just want to throw out that in
order for you to be because acting is not pretending
or imitating, in order to for you to be these characters, one,
you need training, but you also need to know who
you are and your experiences, because not all of your
experiences will match your character's experience and that's where the

(37:35):
research comes in and not bringing two to nineteen fifty
and doing your due diligence to understand what that is
about so that you can bring the authenticity of someone
from nineteen seventeen too. So those are just some things

(37:55):
that I just want to throw out there for actors, Yeah,
he loves you're focusing on the person. I had an
actor that was in this play and actually he did
three productions of this play. But yeah, yeah, but what
happened was that in the last production. He didn't have

(38:19):
his life together. So one day at rehearsal, he says, oh,
he has his phone in his pocket. Oh, I gotta go.
So we all knew that he lived with his grandmother
and mother, and his grandmother was of age and all
of that kind of stuff. But then then there were
days he would come in where he wasn't quite didn't
having all of his faculties. So I basically said to him,

(38:45):
you need to get the part of your life together
so you can do this. You can't, you really can't.
And I think it goes to write what you're saying.
You have to be solid and comfortable and who you
are to do this, and to do anything in life

(39:05):
that's worth doing, you have to know who you are
the same same thing you're saying. I love to use
that example. That similar Jackson, and everybody knows his stories
about in the eighties as a matter. Yeah, I was there,
see I was there in Harlem, and Sam would give
those parties. Yes you know, did you know Stephanie Stephanie Healley,

(39:30):
They yes, Yeah, I lived with them when I first
came to New York. Oh my god, that was right
over the other blocks. Yeah, yeah, and so this this guy,
I told him about Sam's story, but I think he
got it wrong. He thought I was saying that it's
okay to do that and trying to the theater. Oh yeah,

(39:55):
and so so that never works. It just on a
job that doesn't work. Yeah, your job. So so your
point about knowing who you are and and how if
you really want to do this, there's just certain things
you can't do. Now, you just can't do certain things
to do this because one it's it's a fleeting theme.

(40:19):
Uh huh. It's so you gotta have your feet on
the ground at least if that thing is leading out there,
you gotta at least have your foot on the ground.
So yeah, so yeah, ground yourself and know yourself as
much about it. And now when you were talking about
like different different ages or different stages of this time

(40:40):
period that we may be dealing with, right, you may
not be able to experience those things, but you can
pick up a book, you can go to the museum
and you can read and study and watch the videos
and come back. And one thing that I think the
actor needs to do more of, and I encourage this
in this production, and they did pretty well. I said

(41:00):
ask questions. M hm. Digging, dig and dig and dig.
Find out the time. If you hear something in the
script I don't know about you, a person's name John Brown.
This this one guy begins to say, oh, now I
agree with John Brown, and uh and Nat Turner. And
you could tell that he was just saying these words,

(41:23):
saying the words. But when I laid out who Nat
Turner was and who jumped and the connection they had
in Kansas City. Yeah, when we went to Kansas City
with the play and we went to the African burial
ground and there was Nat Turner's uncles like headstone on
the ground, and I told him, then they got a

(41:44):
different That's that's research. That's research because if you have
the experience, you understand that there's authenticity in your walk.
But not knowing that's what I say, children, children, and
children will bypass the word or I'll say that's not
the correct pronunciation. And now we live in Google and
all this just as series. You know, give you the

(42:06):
correct pronunciation. And if the work is so simple, right,
and I say to them, if you don't know a word,
procedure or name, you got to look it up because
otherwise you're just saying worsening. There is no emotional connection
at all, and there's no feeling in that. But like
you said, knowing who the history then it brings a

(42:27):
certain pride and admiration as well. And back to you're
not squaring up on a white person in and that's
what You're not doing that unless it's suicidal, you know
what I mean. So, but I just want to thank
you again, can theto and I just want to reiterate
to all of you out there once again. If you
live in New York City the Try State area, please

(42:50):
support at the American Theater of Actors is starting May
twenty six, this Thursday through June five. The Buffalo Hero
of World War One, the Wayne Meyer Story, written and
directed by our guest, And we were going to invite
you again. You were absolutely amazing, you know, Robinson, And

(43:18):
we'll be back with the Spirited Actor Podcast with me
Tracy Moore. And I'm gonna give you some love. I'm
gonna give you some love for you guys and sprinkled
us and now it's time to give love. Get out
of your way. It's you. No one is in your

(43:38):
mind giving you or feeding you any other thoughts except
you get out of your way before we sit and
celebrate ourselves, whether we got a new job, whether we
attracted the attention of an agent or manager or casting director,

(43:58):
whatever happens to move your career along. In my experience
and observation, actors don't sit in and long enough to appreciate,
love it, to understand what this means, and that you're
never going to be at that place again. You're moving,
you're progressing. Get out of your way, get out of
your thoughts of what if I don't get the job?

(44:20):
What if you do get the job? What if you
do get the job, then you do a great performance,
and then other people start to recognize your voice, and
now you have your work, and now you have an agent,
and you have a manager, and now people are calling
them for you. What if that happens instead of there's
nothing out there for me? Then why are you doing it?

(44:44):
And that's what I want you to ask yourself. I
want you to be honest with yourself. I want you
if it's a closet full of shoes, if it's a
closet full of bags, that whatever it is, it's your thoughts.
You aren't just hire your passion, but be honest because

(45:04):
in this journey, it takes work, it takes commitment, it
takes passion, and it takes never given up. Don't forget
to look out for us on our new show, Inside
the black Box. My co host will be Joe the
Legend Morton. It's going to be The Spirited Actor Podcast
on Steroids. Will be streaming on the Crackle network. I'll

(45:26):
keep you posted. Thank you for joining us on the
Spirited Actor Podcast with me Tracy Moore. I look forward
to our next Spirited Podcast. Thank you,