Stanley Jackson

On this week's episode I sit down with my old BADA mate and infectiously joyful human being, Stanley Jackson. We discuss everything from his storied adventures studying and working overseas to his gut instinct life decisions.

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_02 (00:00):
Okay, I think I got something.
So nervous.
Don't be nervous.
If it's really bad, I'll cut itdown.
We'll get it in one go.
Ready?
One, two, three.
Poster.
Oh, botta.
Oh, good, good.
This segue there.
Poster and botta.
Okay.
Three, two, one.

(00:21):
Shakespeare.
I don't know where poster andbotta Shakespeare.

SPEAKER_01 (00:29):
For me, it was like, well, you have Shakespeare.
The Shakespeare poster.
That is true.

SPEAKER_02 (00:33):
That is Shakespeare.
We didn't cheat.
No.
No.
We got it in two.
That was great.
Welcome to Working Class Acts,everybody.
Cue music.
There it is.

(01:09):
Hello, everyone, and welcome tothe Working Class Acts Podcast.
I'm your host, John Metalodi.
You haven't said it for me.
I'm here today with anincredible performer and such a
lovely human being.
He was born in New Orleans andraised in Houston.
Stanley earned his BFA in actingfrom Howard University and his

(01:31):
MA in classical acting from theRoyal Central School of Speech
and Drama in London.
His training and his career havetaken him to stages around the
world, including performances inLondon and tours in New Zealand.
Ooh, and Australia.
Ah, with the acclaimed pop-upGlobe Shakespeare Company.
Very cool.
Uh in the US, Stanley hasbought, has brought, he brought

(01:54):
his talent.
He did not buy it.
He brought his talent totheaters nationwide, including
the Alley Theater, BaltimoreCenter Stage, A Noise Within
Theatre Company, the WallaceAnnenberg Center stages, and
Ensemble Theater Houston.
Off Broadway, he appeared in theRefugee Plays at Roundabout
Theatre Company.
His recent work includes theworld premiere of Fremont Ave at

(02:16):
Arena Stage, the HuntingtonTheatre Company's production of
Tony Stone, and Primary Trust atthe Alley Theater.
In addition to his work onstage, Stanley continues to
expand his storytelling intofilm, television, and new media.
Always seeking projects thatresonate with honesty, humanity,
and heart.
It's Stanley Andrew Jackson,everybody.

(02:36):
Stanley! Thanks for having me.
It's good to see you, man.
Yeah, bro.
We were just saying it's been 13years a long time since we've
seen each other last.
Although I've seen you on TV afew times in your in your
commercials.
I love I love seeing you.
I always point you out to myfriends.
I'm like, I know him.
Pay the bills.
Okay.
Dude, trust me, I just did acommercial shoot like a week and

(02:58):
a half ago.
So nice, congratulations.
Thanks, but yeah.
It was it was a lot of fun,actually.
Yeah, very great fun.
Yeah, yeah.
Um, but for for those who don'tknow, which is maybe most of the
people listening, uh, me andStan Lee met at Bada, yeah,
British American DramaticAcademy in Oxford, England.
Um God, that feels so long ago,13 years ago.
Uh it was a Shakespeare program,and it was an incredible

(03:21):
experience.
I I still think of it so fondly.
And it's so funny.
Like I like you you were justmentioning like some of the
people that we know in common.
It is wild how many people havebeen through that program and
like the amount of people whoknow whoever and the world just
keeps getting smaller andsmaller.

SPEAKER_01 (03:40):
Yeah, you'd be really surprised.

SPEAKER_02 (03:41):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (03:42):
I actually uh this summer I worked as a mentor for
Bada really with the Howardkids, and I actually went back
to London.
So they're like uh The Globe isdoing uh Chadwick Boltzmann
playing ages ago called DeepAzure.
And so what they wanted to dowas have some of the Howard kids
that were at Bada this summercome and do a workshop at the

(04:04):
Globe because the play is set inAmerica, it's set at Howard,
really.
And so they like we're not gonnaget to go to um to DC.
So why not just utilize thesekids while we have them here and
do a workshop?
They played the kids, um, and sothey needed a mentor.
Oh my god.
My grad school Shakespeareteacher is now the dean of Bada.
Really?

(04:24):
Whoa! And so he we've alwaysI've always been working with
Bada over the years still.
Yeah, yeah.
And so yeah, I just was back.
So I was at Maudlin this summer.

SPEAKER_02 (04:33):
Oh my god, I miss it so much.

SPEAKER_01 (04:35):
And I was like, this is crazy to be back.
Like it it was.
Is it exactly the same?
It is, is it?

SPEAKER_02 (04:43):
I mean, it's hard.
It's a pretty old spot.
There are not making a lot ofrenovations there, but man,
yeah, it's like it's a gorgeous,gorgeous campus.
It's exactly the same.
Yeah.
The food is still no bueno.

SPEAKER_00 (04:56):
And I just was there and I was like, you know, I I
sometimes get overly emotional.
I'm so sentimental.
I'm like with the kids, and I'mlike, oh my god, I guess you
don't understand.

SPEAKER_02 (05:05):
Ten years ago, I was where you were.
Yeah.
So it was a great but that'slike that's the beauty of it
all, you know?
Like seeing the community expandand grow, and that's that's so
awesome.
It changed my life.
Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (05:17):
It really did.
And I don't even know if you'reone of the people that I like
told that I was like, I'm goingto grad school in the UK.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (05:24):
But I Oh, you hadn't gone to grad school by the time
we were doing that.
No.
No, okay, I was still inundergrad.
I was still at Howard, and I hadjust gotten out of undergrad
when we did that.
Oh, like literally had justgraduated.

SPEAKER_01 (05:37):
Okay, I was a junior I was a I was just finishing my
junior year.
Gotcha, gotcha.
Going into my senior year, and Iwas going to apply to like the
NYU school.
I mean the New York schools.
Yeah, yeah.
And then I went that summer andit changed my life, and I was
like, I'm going to grad schoolin the UK.
Yeah, yeah.
So my senior year I applied, andthen the next year I graduated
and ended up moving to London.

SPEAKER_00 (05:57):
Wow.
Oh my God.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (05:59):
That is so wild.
Yes.
Well, let's let's take it backto the beginning.
And then we can get to thatbecause I have so many questions
about that.
Um, because that's an incredibleschool that you went to.
Um where were you born?
Where where'd you grow up?
Where where did it all begin?

SPEAKER_01 (06:14):
I was thinking it was in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Nice.
Um, third while uptown maybe.
Um and I was raised in Houston.
I moved to Houston around theage of 10.
Okay.
Um, and so yeah, Houston.
I mean New Orleans and thenHouston.

SPEAKER_02 (06:27):
Nice.
What was the move?
Was it for like your yourfamily's new job or whatever?
Something like that.

SPEAKER_01 (06:32):
Yeah, yeah.
My mom was ready for a change.
Yeah, so like she didn't feellike we were getting the best
education in New Orleans, andalso she just wanted something
different.
Sure.
And so yeah, we moved toHouston.
Amazing.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (06:43):
And when did the proverbial bug bite you?

SPEAKER_01 (06:46):
You know, that's the interesting, you know.
I'm a church boy, and so likepeople be like, when did you
start believing?
I like I've always gone tochurch, but there were moments
when I was like, I'm gonnapresume this thing for myself.
And I think as a kid, my familyis filled with storytellers,
none professional, noneprofessionally considering
themselves to be artists.
Yeah, but my grandmother, if youcome to my house, she will tell

(07:06):
you a story, and when she'stelling the story, she's
transported back.
Yeah, if it's emotional, hereyes will water, she will
physicalize, she'll get up,she'll stand.
Like she performs.
I love it.
But all of us, my cousins, allof us have that same energy.
Yeah, yeah.
So I feel like in my family,we've always been performers,
and at family gatherings, Iwould love a dance.
Yeah.
A dance moment, you know, likeeveryone.

(07:27):
Um, so I feel like as aperformer, I've always been a
performer since I was a littlekid.
But my relationship tostorytelling was starting to be
developed in high school.
Uh I started like uh I well ineighth grade, I saw a production
of Much Ado About Nothing at mymiddle school.

(07:48):
Yeah, seventh grade, actually.
Um, and I was like, I had justgotten to this school and I knew
that I wanted to be in the arts.

SPEAKER_02 (07:56):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (07:56):
But I didn't know what theater arts was, I didn't
know what drama was.
Yeah, yeah.
And so I I saw the list of allthe art programs, and I was
like, the only one I know ischoir.
I'm a little church boy.
All I know is all I know ischoir.
So I was in choir trying tolearn how to sing.
I can hold a note, but it's notmy calling.
Um and then I remember thatseventh grade year, I saw some

(08:18):
of my friends and classmates dothis like very modernized, very
country Houston production ofMuch Ado About Nothing.
I was like, that's what I wantto do.
Yeah.
So the next year I like got intothe drama class because I knew
what it was called.
Now and then my drama teacherlike put me immediately in the
advanced advanced class after Idid my first monologue.
And so like when I went to highschool, I was like, I'm gonna do

(08:40):
this thing.
This is and I always went toschools that were performing
arts, yeah.
Uh like performing arts andengineering schools.
Oh, interesting.
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (08:48):
Because my mom did it performing arts and
engineering.
They were like together.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (08:52):
Oh, that seems so engineering applied technology
and the arts.
Oh, interesting.
That's the kind of high school Iended up in.
That's amazing, though.
I love I love that.
Um, and so in high school, Ilike started the theater program
in my sophomore year in Houston,uh, and in Texas as a whole,
there are like this thing calledUIL, Interscholastic League.
They're like competitions forplays.

(09:14):
Oh, okay, okay.
Everything in Texas is acompetition in a sport.
And so uh basically you wouldevery school would have to put
on a 45-minute production.

SPEAKER_02 (09:24):
Okay.

SPEAKER_01 (09:24):
You would have seven minutes to set up the set, seven
minutes to take down the set,and you would have to take a
play.
It could be a two-act play, butyou would have to cut the script
down, still make it make sense,and you have 45 minutes to do
the show.
Yeah.
Um, strict rules.
And so I was playing the lead inthe show called Before It Hits
Home, playing this like bisexualman who's like married and he
has a partner and he has AIDSand then he dies at the end.

SPEAKER_02 (09:44):
15 like giving like the most tragic arc I've ever
heard.

SPEAKER_01 (09:52):
As a 15-year-old.
I know.
And so at the first, the waythese competitions go is like
you, if you win the first round,you're competing against other
schools to the next round.
So um, at the first round, Iremember uh doing this play, and
at the end of the play, mycharacter dies from AIDS in the
hospital.
And I remember when the play wasover, the curtain was coming
down, and I just rememberweeping because I could hear the

(10:14):
applause.
And I think it was the firsttime I realized, oh my god,
they're responding because Ithey believed me taking them on
this journey.
Yeah.
Um, and I remember crying, andthen I had to realize, oh my
god, you got seven minutes tohelp take down this set.
Which I remember telling mydrama streaming.
The drama strike.
I remember telling my dramateacher, Rashonda Jones, who is

(10:36):
now a Tony Award-winning theaterteacher.
Oh my god, that's amazing.
Um, I remember telling her, II'm like taken on the set.
I'm like, I gotta do this forthe rest of my life.
So that was the that was themoment that I was like, I'm
gonna be an actor.
Yeah.
I'm really pursue this thing.

SPEAKER_02 (10:51):
So that's so wow, that is such a beautiful story.
Yeah.
Oh my gosh.
And this was all in high school.
Well, that's that's amazing.
It is it is so interesting tome, like hearing other people's
uh experiences of like doinghigh school productions and
stuff like that, because like myit's it's like one extreme or
the other, where it's likeyou're doing really intense work

(11:13):
like this, or you're doing likeGreece Junior or whatever.
Right, right, right, right.
It's like there's no middleground, it feels like both.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (11:22):
To be honest.
So I've I've done we would do amusical every year and we would
do with the competition, andeven our musicals were
competition.
There's a name called Tuts,Tommy Toon Awards.
So now that one is national.
Ummy Toon.
Yeah, um, but so what likefreshman year we did uh
Cinderella.
No, sophomore year we didCinderella, freshman year we did
Annie, Sweet Charity.

(11:43):
So we would do the same, andthen when it was time for the
show, there was always themusical and the straight play.
The straight play was alwaysreal.
We're going hard.
The year after this one, the onethat I just I played a lawyer of
a guy who was on death row.

SPEAKER_02 (11:59):
Oh my god.
At least you got weren't the guyon death less.
That would have been intense.

SPEAKER_01 (12:04):
We're all kids.

SPEAKER_00 (12:05):
It was called A Lesson Before Dying.

SPEAKER_02 (12:07):
Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 (12:08):
It was actually well-known.
This is a it's a well-knownmovie and a well-known play, but
I'm like, we're doing this,like, and then we're doing like
Dream Girl.
Yeah.
Sweet charity.

SPEAKER_02 (12:18):
So like we're doing Angels in America next.
Right.
Yes.
That's incredible.
Yeah.
Um, so you got that, but that'sthat incredible experience.
You that's like that momentwhere you realize you gotta do
it.
Yeah.
And then so you you go toHoward.
Did you go there for for acting?
Did you get yeah?

SPEAKER_01 (12:39):
I went to Howard for acting.
Um, my junior year of highschool, I was like already
thinking about my senior year.
I was like really focused onwhere I was going to go to
school.
And I remember looking upschools, and there was a part of
me that was like, I wanted to goto HBCU.
And so I remember Googling HBCUsfor drama.
And I have a lot of moments inmy life where I felt like were

(13:00):
very, and this is a part of mylike faith walk, but like that I
feel like are very divine, thatI can't explain, and that like
kind of were guideposts for mynext moves.
So I remember being on my uh onon the computer looking up HBCUs
for theater arts, and I rememberbeing on Howard's page, and then
I remember my drama teachercalling me, and she was like,

(13:20):
Hey, I know you're looking forschools.
Um, you should consider Howard.
I'm at the National BlackTheater Festival, and these
Howard humans are winning all ofthese awards.
And I happened to be on theHoward page, and I was like,
Miss Jones, I'm on the Howard'spage.
I I think I'm just gonna applyto Howard, and that's I only
applied to Howard.
Oh whoa.
Yeah, I I I didn't choose toapply to any other school

(13:43):
because I felt it was the rightplace.
Yeah.
I didn't tell my mama that not.

SPEAKER_02 (13:47):
You're like, yeah, I applied to like 15.

SPEAKER_01 (13:49):
I don't know.
I I only auditioned and I onlyapplied to Howard.
Wow.
Um, and then I I I I got it, andI actually don't know what I
would have done if I didn't getit.

SPEAKER_02 (14:00):
You would have had to wait a year.
Um but that's amazing.
How was your time at thatincredibly historic school?

SPEAKER_01 (14:08):
Yeah, Howard defined who I am as an artist, I
believe.
I think it really gave me anidentity um for knowing how to
create as a black artist in ablack body.
Yeah.
Um, and it helped me to knowmore about who I was.
I I I don't I I I came up frommy upbringing where there was an
I felt very ignorant.

SPEAKER_03 (14:25):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (14:25):
So I'm in the from being from the South, there was
a lot of things I just didn'tknow, even just about like black
history, about who I am.
And so I I always credit Howardfor like shaping me to be the
artist that I am and helping meto like just know how to live
and be and find freedom in myown body and to always show up
um from my own body, my ownheart, my own mind.
Um, and then in that I can moldand shape shift into anything

(14:49):
else.

SPEAKER_02 (14:49):
Yeah.
Oh, that's beautiful, dude.
Yeah.
And so you go to Howard.
Do you return?
Wait, where did you go afterHoward?
Because you you just told merecently, or just today, that
you that you're new to New YorkCity.
For some reason, I thought youlived here for years.
Oh, no.
Um I I don't know why.

SPEAKER_01 (15:05):
But you did you go to the West Coast after that or
or No, so I mean, so junior yearat Howard, I went to Bada.
That summer I went to Bada.
Oh, of course, yes.
Um, and then at Bada, I had asimilar experience to called
you, you were on the website.

SPEAKER_00 (15:24):
I mean, it was a little different.

SPEAKER_01 (15:26):
I remember working on like text for class.
Yeah.
I think I'm my my senior partnerwas Catherine.
Um Catherine.

SPEAKER_02 (15:34):
Yeah.
God, I haven't seen some of themin so long.
It's wild.

SPEAKER_00 (15:38):
I just see them on social media.

SPEAKER_02 (15:39):
I know.
She she she's doing great, itseems like she's got a whole
production company now.

SPEAKER_01 (15:43):
Yeah, it's great.
Um, and so I remember I rememberworking on some text, and I
remember feeling this likeimpulse.
And I think this is allconnected to the summer and how
it was changing me.
Yeah.
But I remember feeling this deepimpulse of like, I need to go to
school in the UK.

SPEAKER_00 (15:56):
And so I remember I made these choices and I called
I I believe that they'respiritual, but also somebody
could be like, brother, you wasjust crazy.

SPEAKER_02 (16:04):
Um he's only applied to one place?
Yes, he has to go here.

SPEAKER_01 (16:08):
Um, but I I remember looking at our pamphlet, and my
voice teacher that summer, I Ithink his name was Robert
something, I don't remember.
But he went to Central.
Oh, wow.
Oh so I knew little, but Iremember walking around a lot.
You know, I told um at the timeI told the Dean, Ian Woolrich, I
told Dean uh Ian that like, Ian,I'm gonna apply to school.

(16:30):
I'm gonna apply to school and umto in the UK.
And yeah, I my senior year atHoward, I applied to Central,
and that's the only school Iapplied for for grad school, and
I got it.

SPEAKER_02 (16:39):
Honestly, you you have some sort of radar for like
it, you know what's gonnahappen.
You're seeing the future.

SPEAKER_01 (16:45):
Uh and I don't know if I want to say seeing the
future, but I because I don'twant to, but that's a lot of
pressure.

SPEAKER_00 (16:51):
Um because if that I would hope I see more money in
my life.

SPEAKER_02 (16:55):
I was just gonna say, I'm like, I'm gonna ask you
for some investment advice.

SPEAKER_01 (16:58):
Listen, I don't need that for my damn self.
But um, yeah, and I've even myapartment in London for school,
Ian was my guantor.
Really?
Yeah, like that.
Wow, that was very sweet.
Oh, that's lovely.
Um, but yeah, so I went toschool in London and I was in
London for a year and a half.

(17:18):
Okay.
Um the program was a one-yearmaster's program.
Oh, interesting.
Studying classical theaterspecifically.
Right.
Um, really intense, reallyrigorous, four modules, a lot
happening in a short amount oftime.
Um, and then I was like unsureof what was next because I
always felt spirit-led.
And I was like, what am I doing?
I was like broke, I washomeless, I was living on a
classmate's couch.
Um, and I was like, what am Igonna do next?

(17:40):
And uh my Shakespeare teacher atthe time, he uh had partnered
with a friend who was startingthis theater company in New
Zealand called the Pop-UpShakespeare Company.
Wow, and it was called thePop-Up Globe Shakespeare
Company, and the whole idea wasthat he was reading a
Shakespeare book to hisdaughter, uh, and it was a
pop-up book, and the globepopped out, and she was like,

(18:02):
Daddy, I want to go there.
And he had this idea.
He was like, Oh, well, we can'tjust go to London right now
because we're in New Zealand.
But what if I have this idea ofbuilding a building a replica of
the globe and taking it toplaces that people won't be able
to access the globe?
Whoa.
And so he like mortgaged hishouse, he like put his house up
for mortgage and took everythinghe had, and he followed this

(18:23):
idea.
My Shakespeare teacher fromCentral happened to be a friend
of his, so he was like, Hey,will you direct one of these
shows?
Let's do two shows and rep.
Yeah.
So my Shakespeare teacher wasdirected, Romeo and Juliet, and
he got me and one of myclassmates to audition.
And so I was like, I auditioned.
I had also been up for somethingelse while I was in London, like
the Tempest in Ireland, and Iwas really grappling as living
on this friend's couch, yeah.

(18:44):
I was really grappling with likewhere I was gonna go.
Yeah, you know, because I'm justlike this little black boy in
this foreign space, justfollowing where my spirit is.
Yeah, yeah.
And so I like wrestled what Iconsider I wrestled with God one
night emotionally, trying tofigure out what, and then the
next morning I woke up withpeace about moving to New
Zealand on a one-way ticket.
You just knew it, yeah.
And so I moved to New Zealand ona one-way ticket.

(19:06):
Whoa.
Um, and then a couple weeksafter that, that's when I booked
the Super Bowl.
I booked a Super Bowlcommercial.

SPEAKER_02 (19:12):
I saw that one and I went, good for Stanley.

SPEAKER_00 (19:14):
I'm like, that's a paycheck, I'm sure.
Honestly, yeah, I wish I knewhow to steward money better.
If I really could see in thefuture, I would have saved
because I would have seen themoments I was gonna be broke.
So I had to say, I can't see inthe future.
Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 (19:29):
But um, yeah, and so I I moved to New Zealand on a
one-way ticket, and I just waslike, I'm just I I think the
real surrender was like, I'mjust gonna take take the next
step that I'm feeling had tomake.
And that's kind of where my howmy it's still, I'm still in that
space.
Now I have a wife, so it's alittle different.

SPEAKER_00 (19:46):
It's like, oh, she's like, brother, you just taking
steps with this, you know.
And I'm like, I know.
You just gotta trust thejourney.

SPEAKER_02 (19:52):
You gotta trust that the next step will be there,
correct?

SPEAKER_00 (19:55):
As I'm like, oh Lord, please let the next step
be there, guys.
Please let the next it's justreal.
That's the real thing.

SPEAKER_02 (20:01):
I mean, that's that's that's the artist's way,
it feels like, you know.

SPEAKER_01 (20:46):
I worked with the company the first season.
We did Romeo and Juliet and 12thnight in rep.
Oh, nice.
Um, and uh the the the gig waslike six months, and I was like,
after it finished, I had thislike it was my first ever like
professional gig post-school.
Yeah.
Um, other than like undergradprofessional gig that I did like
a summer thing in DC.
Um and so I was like, okay, uh,what do I do?

(21:08):
I'm just in New Zealand, I havea visa for two years, so I got a
job at a cafe and learned how tomake coffee, and then I knew the
theater was gonna, it wasfairly, it was really
successful.
Yeah.
And so it the SouthernHemisphere had never had
anything like it.
Oh, that's so cool.
And so it kind of blew upquickly.
And so the second season withthe company, I knew I was bought

(21:29):
in with the company, they loveme, I love it.
Yeah, of course.
Um, and so the second season, itwas bought by Live Nation.
Really?
Yeah, and so like now there wasmore money.
Jesus.
Yeah, there was more money.
So then the second season wewere gonna do a season in New
Zealand, and then it was gonnahave a season in Melbourne,
Australia.

SPEAKER_02 (21:47):
Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 (21:48):
And so um, yeah, second year they like expanded
it instead of just doing twoproductions, there was four
productions and there was twocompanies.
So there were two companiesdoing two shows in rep.
Um, and so I was in Henry theFifth and uh As You Like It and
As You Like It, I played Seal Itand As You Like It Because there
was an all-male company and thenthere was uh like a male and
female company.

(22:09):
Gotcha, gotcha.
This is pre-summer things.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (22:13):
They were doing they were doing like a traditional
sort of style of yeah, sure,sure, sure.

SPEAKER_01 (22:18):
Where yeah, and so um yeah, I I I did the second
season and then I was likereally aching to go home.
Yeah.
And I was just like, I I nowsurrendered to the journey, but
uh God, like I I wanna beworking in America, and this is
not helping my American career.
Like no one knows what Work I'mdoing here.

SPEAKER_02 (22:38):
Yeah, I'm getting even though it's amazing work
you're getting to do.
But it's I I totally get that.

SPEAKER_01 (22:43):
Yeah.
And so um I did the season inNew Zealand and then I did the
bit the stint in um Melbourne,Australia, and then February
2018 I moved back to America.
So I had been gone from Americafrom September 2014 to February
2018.
So I had just moved back toAmerica.
You were out for four years.
Wow.
I've come back, I had come backmaybe two or three times.

(23:06):
Holidays, my sister graduatedfrom high school.
But yeah, I'd been I'd been awayfor a while.
And so yeah, I moved backFebruary 2018 and then I lived
in Houston with my mom with thegoal of like, I'm gonna be here
three months and I'm moving toLA or New York.
I was there for a year and ahalf, sure.
Um, and really fell in love anddiscovered uh the Houston

(23:27):
theater scene.
Oh, great.
Um, because I came back like,I'm not trying to work in the
Houston theater scene, I've beenworking all over the world, and
then was immediately humbled andlike broke, and my mom was just
like, I'm just sitting on thebed, my mom's not pressuring me
to do anything, and she knowsI'm depressed because I've like
finished this sort of world tourand so yeah, she was just like,
Why don't you just like try towork here?

(23:48):
Yeah, I I went to an auditionand started to build community,
book some gigs, worked at thetheaters in Houston, and then I
was like, after a year and ahalf, I was like ready to move
forward and move on.
And um then I moved to LASeptember 2019.
Um and I stayed in LA.

SPEAKER_02 (24:06):
We all know it's coming.
We live in the future now.

SPEAKER_01 (24:11):
Yeah, you know, because the heart and the hope
had been like I've been doing somuch theater, I would love to do
more TV and film.
Of course.
And so I moved to LA and I havean agent this whole time.
Like, I had an agent in London,and then I left my London agent
once I moved to New Zealand.
In New Zealand, I got a I wasworking with people who had like
great New Zealand agents, sothen I got a New Zealand agent.
Oh wow.
Um, and then my New Zealandagent, once I moved back to

(24:32):
America, got me an LA agent.
Wow.
Grateful favor, I'm so gratefulat the time.
Yeah, of course.
Um, and so even while I was inHouston, I still had an agent in
LA, and I remember we had beentalking, I had been auditioning
for all the things, all TVshows, still just in Houston.
And I remember uh August of thatyear, I was like fidgeting
ready, like, what is the am Igonna and then I remember the LA

(24:56):
agent calling me and being like,hey, where are you gonna be in
the fall and the spring, thefall of this year and the spring
of next year?

SPEAKER_02 (25:02):
And I was like, I don't know, but since you're
calling me, I think I think youmight be telling me where I'm
gonna be in the fall.

SPEAKER_01 (25:10):
What was it for?
It wasn't for he was justcurious because he knew stuff
was happening in the city.
Yeah.
Because after that call, in amonth I moved to LA.
I didn't have a car, I bought acar.

SPEAKER_02 (25:23):
I thought you were gonna say you walked.
I walked the whole way there.

SPEAKER_01 (25:28):
This is a hell of a journey.
But yeah, in a month, I bought acar, packed all my stuff, wow,
and I moved to LA in September2019 with like a dollar and a
dream.
And so I'm there.
I'm living on my best friend'scouch for uh from high school
from undergrad.
Nice.
Um, I was living on her couch,and yeah, I was there, and then
you know, I'd February 2020.

(25:52):
I had just moved there.
I still did a couple gigs overChristmas in Houston, but I was
like, I gotta stop working inHouston because if I keep coming
back, they'll they'll think thatI'm just always gonna jump in.
You're gonna be there.
Yeah, sure, sure.
So I was like, I'm gonna do thislast gig and that's it.
Um, and I'd come back to LA andthen I had some really dope
auditions.
And they were, I rememberauditioning for this pilot for

(26:13):
NBC, and I was like, oh my god,I really like this script.
You know, sometimes you're doingit because you want the
opportunity.
You want the cards.
Of course, of course.
And then there are times.
And then sometimes you get ascript and you're just like, I
actually like this.
I don't feel right for this.
And so I was in LA and I waslike trying to get this LA
agent.
I was like, hey, can you get mein the room?
And they were like, oh no, wedon't think we can.
Oh, now the audition, I wasstill with my New Zealand agent.

(26:33):
So I had the New Zealand and LAagent at the same time.
Oh, great.
The audition actually came frommy New Zealand agent.
Oh, interesting.
Yeah, when you learn thatthey're cast all this stuff all
worldwide.
It don't really matter.
Whoever gets going first.
They were like, just get them inthere.
So I was like, I'm just gonnareally try to send in a really
good tape.
So sent my tape in to my NewZealand agent.
Uh-huh.
New Zealand agent sent it toAustralian cast and director.

(26:55):
Australian cast director sent itto NBC, and then I had a
producer session.
Fantastic.
And then I did the producersession, and then like I made it
to screen test.
And I'm like, it's happening.
Spoil this I didn't get the job.
I didn't get the job.
But I was like, this is a greatopportunity.
Now my LA agent values me insome sort of way.

(27:15):
You know, always looking forwords from these people.

SPEAKER_02 (27:18):
Um but like showing that, like, hey, had you like
pushed me for this, like you sawwhat I just did.
Correct.
I got all the way there.
Correct.
Almost all the way there.
Just close.
What was it for?
Do you if you don't mind it'sokay if you don't want to.

SPEAKER_01 (27:30):
Wait, what was that?
The thing is, I don't even knowif I remember the name of the
show.
At the time, it didn't.

SPEAKER_02 (27:34):
Did they have a name?
They didn't have a name in theshow.

SPEAKER_01 (27:36):
But it's it's it's come out like a couple years
after the pandemic.
I just Grand Crew.
Grand Crew, okay.
It followed like four black guysin their relationship to wine
and them doing life together.
Oh, fuck.
It was a sit cool.
Interesting.
Loved it, enjoyed it.
The all them brothers were olderbrothers who were playing
younger, and I do not look theirage.
Yeah, sure.
Regardless, I was grateful forthe opportunity.

(27:57):
And it was right into my mywheelhouse, I felt.
Yeah.
Um, and so I was like, oh, thisis gonna give me more auditions.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And it's once I like got thenote, the next week it did.
Oh, nice.
And then two weeks later thepandemic happened.

SPEAKER_00 (28:12):
And so, you know, and then we all ran inside.

SPEAKER_01 (28:18):
It just like the momentum started, and then it
was just like uh here goes thecollective world traumatizing
and and uh depression.

SPEAKER_02 (28:26):
Yeah, honestly, and then just a total reshape of how
auditioning happens now in thisindustry.
Yeah.
I mean, everything you see thehooks on my wall over here for
myself tape.

SPEAKER_01 (28:37):
Yes, I have listen, we have a two-bedroom in my our
office, is an office, a workoutroom, and an audition.
Love it.
I love it.
It's all the things.
Um, but yeah, that I was sohappy because I was deciding
between New York and LA.
So when an agent called me, Ichose LA.
Yeah.
As I have always done in thatstory.
I'm like, what's the thing?

(28:57):
And then I something propels meto make a decision.
But I'm so happy that I did thepandemic in LA.
Yeah.
I needed to do the pandemic inLA.
I needed space, I needed greengrass, I needed the sun.
I how have you moved.
I wish I had been there.

SPEAKER_02 (29:12):
I would love to interview you about how you made
it through.
Uh I was going through gradschool at the time too, and it
was it was a really wildexperience.
Maybe I should just likededicate an episode to just like
that whole experience.
It's because it was I genuinelyI wouldn't trade it for anything
though.
It because the thing Iconstantly say about my time

(29:32):
during there was when we firstgot thrust into it, because it
like happened, it started likeat the start of our spring
break.
So we had a week where it waslike, you gotta be inside,
this'll be over in a weekanyway, so it'll be fine.
And so we were all just like,all right, well, we were on
vacation anyway.
I wasn't gonna go fuckinganywhere because like I'm like,

(29:52):
I just wanted to lay at home.
And then obviously it lasted fora few years.
What year were you?
What was that?
What year were you at NYU?
My first year.
So it was my second semester, myfirst year, and when we first
got thrust into indoors, it wasterrible.
Like there was just no, and likenobody could prepare for this.
Nobody knew like that we weregonna have to like do everything

(30:15):
at home over Zoom, this thing wejust learned about.
Right.
Um, so the fur that the end ofthat year was very difficult.
Um, there were were someinstances that were amazing,
like uh Brandon Dearden uh wasuh one of our our teachers.
One I think he just started atNYU, if I remember correctly.

(30:36):
Him and Crystal were likeadjunct professors, and they did
this amazing uh um course onAugust Wilson that was like
engaging and informative.
I like I was learning more aboutWilson than I had ever had
before.
Um, and they made it engagingthrough Zoom.
And like to this day, I'm justlike, I'm so grateful for that
experience because like theysomehow cracked some sort of

(30:57):
code on how to like teachthrough this and also perform.
Um and and that's to you know,to the other teachers there.
They if any of you are watching,um, you also did a wonderful job
as well.
It was really freaking difficultwhat you had to go through, uh
what we all had to go through tolike get learning done.
Um, but then by the second yearwe were hybrid, it was like some

(31:20):
in-person, some not, and thenthird year we were back pretty
much fully in person, uh, butthere were still some protocols
in place.
Uh, but we got to do our finalyear production, which was
great, and got to do like I gotto be in Gloria, which is
Brendan Jacob Jenkins, and it'slike it I think is a modern
masterpiece.
It's so fucking good.
Um, so I was very grateful forthat.

(31:41):
And uh yeah, oh, and all this tosay too, like I the reason I
wouldn't trade it for anythingis because a couple of things.
I've said this before, but I'mgonna keep repeating it.
Is when you're working in thetheater, your job is almost
always working withrestrictions.
Like whether it's budgetary orlike the space or what have you,

(32:04):
you're you learn to work withthe restrictions.
Absolutely.
We had to wear masks, we had tobe six feet apart.
That was the restriction.
It was really fucking hard towork with, but like we made it
work and figure it out.
You know, it it really unlockedthis notion of this is really
funny.
One of my my old roommates,Dylan, used to say, Who knew we
were we were all ugly from theeyes down?

(32:26):
You know that was the thing thatmakes us ugly.
Ugly.
But uh, all that to say, like,there's so much information on
the face.
Of course, yeah.
Um, the eyes give a lot, but themouth and the rest of the face
do too.
Yeah.
And so it was like when wefinally were able to take off
the masks, it was like anexplosion of information.
And being able to work that waywas like there was something

(32:48):
really like I'd never take itfor granted.
Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 (32:51):
You value all of a person more.
Yes, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (32:54):
Absolutely, like all the little things going on in
the face, behaviors.
You just I feel like we likepicked up on that more as a
result.
And the other was because wewere on Zoom so much, I got used
to being in front of a camera.
Of course.
And it was like that wassomething that was like always
in my head because film andtelevision is something that
I've also wanted to be gettingmore into.
Yeah.

(33:14):
Um, but uh for whatever reason,haven't been able to like really
dive into that market.
I'm more of a theater performer.
Yeah.
Um but yeah, I'm I'm so gratefulfor that and wouldn't change it
for anything.
Yeah, I get it.

SPEAKER_01 (33:28):
I get it.
I I always am so curious.
I had a friend who was inJuilliard at the time as well.
Who?
Who was Nedra Snipes?
Oh, okay, I don't know.
Um, but um, and I just rememberbeing alongside of her in the
midst of the journey, and I wasjust like, I'm just always so
curious.
But also, I think it's reallybeautiful what you like
discovered in the midst of that,and like how Brandon and Crystal

(33:50):
were able to like find ways tolike unlock things in y'all, and
then also, you know, justvaluing who we are, and then the
ingenuity of a creative, like wehave we we're we we make
something out of nothing.
That is what we do.
Yeah, that is our job.
That is the job, and that's whatI loved about Howard is like it
did not have all the things, allthe facilities, but we learn to
create, yeah, and to make honesthumanity, pictures of humanity

(34:14):
that would reach people in anyway with whatever we had.
So I I I love that.
I love I love that too.
Oh my god.
Yeah, so I was I was I was inthe um the the throws of LA in
the midst of that.
Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 (34:28):
And you but that must have been nice to be like
like in a like sunshine state.
It was actually is it thesunshine state?
What state is that?
I don't know.
Oh, I think that's Florida.
Is that Florida?
Oh maybe I don't know.
Anyway, it was warm over there.
It was so you had some niceweather going on.

SPEAKER_01 (34:42):
The sun, like, it was really great.
Honestly, I loved it.
Uh I it was the best intro intoLos Angeles.
Yeah.
Really?
That's so.

SPEAKER_00 (34:52):
I mean, not as an artist, not as an actor, not as
a person who has a desire, notnot as a person who desires to
do TV and film.
Because there was no TV andfilm.
Nothing was happening.

SPEAKER_01 (35:07):
Um my gosh.
But it was a great opportunityfor me to like really
rediscover.
Like, wait, but who are you?
Yeah.
You are more than what you do.
Yeah.
And you know, that's alwaysreally hard to remember and
think about.
I still have to remind myself ofthat.
Yeah.
Like, I am more than what mygifting.

(35:30):
You know.
Like I me being present isenough.
Yes, yes.
You know, and so I mean, Iutilize that time to like, I got
really invested in a church inLA.
Fantastic.
Um, because that's always aplace where I first built
community um and found greatfriends.
And I met my wife in 2020.
In LA?
Ah.

(35:51):
It's all for a reason.
Yeah.
In 2020.
In twenty October 2020 is when Imet my current wife.
Um, we had a we we I'd met a wehad a mutual friend that I had
just met months prior.
Um, through a friend fromHouston who was like, Hey, I
have a friend who needs friendsin in LA.
And I was like, Okay, cool.
I got friends.
I already have friends.
It took me no time to makefriends in LA.

SPEAKER_00 (36:13):
But I was like, okay, I got friends, but that's
okay.
Let me, I'll I'll go have afriend.
Like, I guess I'll go meet myfuture wife.
Well, no, it wasn't her.
Oh, it wasn't her.
It was our mutual friend.

SPEAKER_01 (36:21):
It was a mutual friend that I was that that's
now.
Well, that was our mutualfriend.
Anyway, but yeah, I had coffeewith her and I was like, okay,
cool, cool, cool.
And so she invited me to adinner on the beach um because
we had all been in love with it.
Yeah.
And she was like, I we've allbeen inside.
I'm inviting, you know, friendswho like love God and our
creatives to this like beachdinner.
And so, like, I was shop rockedup to the beach dinner, and then

(36:42):
there was this girl there, and Iwas like, What is going on with
my heart?
I have been single and fine fora long time.
What is happening?
And so, I mean, the story goes,and if you're not gonna like
this, baby, but I know the thingis, you're gonna watch this.

(37:04):
But you know, I rocked up to thebeach, and it was a very
multicultural beach, you know,thing.

SPEAKER_00 (37:10):
And so I was like, Well, I'm not just gonna try
this.
It felt like there was two blackpeople sitting together, and I
was like, What I'm not gonna dois just go sit next to the black
people.

SPEAKER_01 (37:18):
Um, and so I was like, There was these two girls,
um, and I was like, I'm gonnasit over here.
And then she was like, There'ssome space over here.
And I was like, immediately Iwas like, dang, girl, if you
want it, I'll come over thereand sit next to you.
I didn't say this, but this iswhat goes on in my brain.
Sure, sure.
Um, but that's like the order,like, so I, you know, I always
attest, like, I don't, you know,I don't know, I don't see the

(37:39):
future because I could havenever seen that when I chose to
move to LA, but I've alwaysfound that following my
instincts and where my spirit isbeing led has led me to like
really great things.
And my wife is like my biggestthing that I take from my season
in LA.
That's lovely, dude.
You know, finding my person.
Um, but yeah, and the rest of LAwas just like, you know, really

(38:00):
being with her.
And I um I became a residentartist at a theater company.
Amazing, a classical theatercompany called A Noise Within
Theater Company.
Fantastic.
Um, I'm kind of now like as a uhuh a guest artist with them now,
but I'd been a resident artistfor a while and I did like four
productions with them, worked ata church and yeah, just like

(38:20):
enjoyed the LA world for fouryears.
Yeah.
Um, and then I just moved hereSeptember 2023.
Wow.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (38:29):
What and what was the what was the impetus to move
here now?

SPEAKER_01 (38:32):
Uh so my wife and I had been together for a while at
the time, and so she was gettingher PhD in communications from
University of North Carolina,and the only reason she happened
to be in LA was because it washer first year of her program
and it was on Zoom.
Oh she would have been in NorthCarolina if the pandemic didn't
happen.

SPEAKER_02 (38:49):
Whoa.

SPEAKER_01 (38:50):
Fate.
Fate?
Lisa.
I ain't trying to evangelize,but I'm just saying.
Um but yeah, so the second year,yeah, the second year of her
program, she did, she did haveto go to North Carolina.
So we did long distance for twoyears.
Ooh, that can be that can behard.
It was really tough.
Yeah, it was really tough, butwe made a commitment of like we

(39:12):
it it was tough, but it alsolike really increased our form
of communication.
Yeah.
We were forced to likecommunicate everything, yeah,
schedules, money, all the thingsbecause we had we had we chose
to commit to each other.
Um, and then uh one of us wouldtravel once a month to see the
other one.
And once I became a residentartist at a theater company, she
was doing more of the traveling.

(39:34):
Um but then she had gotten anopportunity to apply for a
fellowship in New York um at theBotanical Gardens in the Bronx.
Um, and so when the fellowshipopportunity arose, I was like,
we're moving to New York.
And so she hadn't even applied.
She just told me, she just toldme it existed.

SPEAKER_02 (39:54):
And and a little bit of trust me, only apply to this
one and you'll get it.
Trust me.
No.

SPEAKER_00 (40:00):
Her we actually have this conversation still to this
day because her and I havedifferent relationships with
this kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_02 (40:07):
She's like, does she apply to a lot of things?
Yeah.
So she's trust me.

SPEAKER_01 (40:12):
I'm applying for a lot of things, and you know,
there were times when she wouldget the green light, and there
were a lot of times I didn't aswell know.
Yeah, yeah.
Um, but the context was that amonth prior, I had been sick of
working at the church.
Just men working in ministry wasreally challenging on me.
And I just felt very stagnant.
I was just like, I just want tobe creative.
And I was at the theatercompany, but I I move around a

(40:34):
lot as my story lets you know.
And so like I get a little bitlike, okay, what's happening?
You know, and like I wasn'tfinding favor in TV and film.
My momentum had left, and I feltlike I was like a sitting duck
on that um the agent's books atthe time.
Yeah.
Um, and so a month prior, I haddone like a retreat with the
folks at the church, and uh theywere asking what's our one-year

(40:55):
plan, five-year plan, one year,two-year, and five-year plans.
And so I was like, Well, in ayear, I want to get engaged, I
want to get married, and Ialways say I want to be a
serious regular on TV show.
That hasn't changed, and I'mstill believing, you know.
So if you're watching, you know,we're both looking at the
camera.

SPEAKER_02 (41:10):
Hey, hey, hey, all the cameras.
All the cameras.

SPEAKER_01 (41:13):
Do you see the cameras?
And so, and I also said, I don'tsee myself working at this
church.
So that was a month before shetold me about the so when the
fellowship.
So when she told me about thefellowship, I was like, and I
had I see it.
Well, I had to take that out ofmy the honesty of my heart.
Yeah, just exhausted at thatrate.
Yeah, and so when she said that,I was like, this is what's gonna

(41:35):
happen next.
And I had shared then I sharedwhat I'd said at the retreat,
and so yeah, she ended upgetting the fellowship.
Yeah.
Um, and I proposed in March of2023.
We got married July 2023.
We moved to New York, September2023.

(42:16):
Oh, hey, that was pretty fast.
Wait, 2020, March, January,March, April, May, June, so
March, three months to likefast.
We had been together sinceOctober 2020.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (42:27):
But um But I mean, like from engagement to wedding,
like that must have been a lotto put together, or or maybe
not.
I don't know.
We're both not married.

SPEAKER_01 (42:37):
We both we consider ourselves to be type B C D with
high level A qualities.
We don't like being tape able toif we need to.
And so like we planned our ownwedding.

SPEAKER_02 (42:50):
I love it.
This is yes, no, and sometimeswhy.
This is where I ask a bunch ofyes and no questions to Stanley
here.
And then every so often, when myinterest is peaked, I'll ask
why.
And he'll answer.
So let's get to it.
Oh, and these questions aresourced from teambuilding.com.
Nice! Thank you,teambuilding.com.

(43:12):
If you still exist.

SPEAKER_01 (43:14):
Without you, we wouldn't.

SPEAKER_02 (43:17):
Wouldn't be a team.
This team wouldn't get built.
All right, Sir Stanley.
You ready?
Mm-hmm.
Here we go.
Do you vote?
Yes.
Have you ever been grounded?
Yes.
Do you drive?
Yes.
Do you live alone?
No.
Are you married?
Yes.
Do you have kids?

SPEAKER_00 (43:35):
Well, sometimes.
Oh, why?
No.
My wife is gonna be so nervous.

SPEAKER_01 (43:42):
Do you have pets?
No.
Why?
Uh because I live in New York.

SPEAKER_02 (43:47):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (43:48):
You know, like my wife wants a dog.
She wants a dog, she's gonnawant to, her family has a dog.
I've had a dog.
I'm not anti-pet.

SPEAKER_02 (43:56):
The pet people.
Can you squash these rumors thatyou're anti-pet right now?

SPEAKER_01 (44:00):
I just want everybody to know I have nothing
against pets.
Pets actually love me.
I love them from a distance.
It's like kids at the moment, Ido have baby fever, but kids at
the moment, I love them.
I'm a great uncle.
Right now, I I could take careof your kids, I can watch them
for one night.
But then I want to give themback to you.
So same with the pets.
And so, like, I don't know.
We will when we move, we'regonna move back to LA one day.

(44:22):
Uh-huh.
But when we move, we when wehave more space.
I can't.
In my New York apartment, Ican't.
Trust me.
I get it.

SPEAKER_02 (44:29):
I I I used to be a dog walker for many years, and
uh, it's it's tough.
Like, like the the some dog likea smaller dog, I get it, I get
it.
Like they're less, there's aless energy that needs to get
out.
But man, I've walked a lot ofpit bulls in this city, yeah,
and I don't I don't know, and Ilove pit bulls, they are the
sweetest dogs in the world.
But man, they've got a lot ofstrength and energy, and they

(44:52):
just need some wide open spaces,you know.

SPEAKER_01 (44:54):
I just don't know how people do it.
No, they just walk on theground, it's dirty.
And I see the people who got thecute, and I don't have the
budget for.
That's a child.
I don't have the budget for thecute shoes.

SPEAKER_02 (45:04):
I know.

SPEAKER_01 (45:04):
That live shoes.
You know the people that havethe little moodies.
Yeah, I'm like, cool, so thatthey can take them off and they
get in the house.
I don't have the desire.

SPEAKER_02 (45:12):
Fair enough, fair enough.
Do you work full time?
No.
Do you like your job?
Yes.
Do you have a second job?
Yes.
Are you afraid of the dark?
I almost asked why, but then Iwas like, eh, fuck it.
I think I've asked that before.
No.

(45:32):
Are you not afraid of the dark?
No.
Why?

SPEAKER_00 (45:35):
Uh.
Well, now you got me reallythinking about the dark.

SPEAKER_02 (45:40):
I'm gonna make you scare the dark.

SPEAKER_00 (45:41):
Well, well, no.

SPEAKER_01 (45:42):
I'm like, well, hold on now.
If I walked in here and youdidn't have no lights on.

SPEAKER_02 (45:49):
If the door opened and it was pitch black in here
and you didn't see me, wewouldn't do be doing this
interview.

SPEAKER_01 (45:56):
I feel like if I was in a horror movie, it would have
to be like scary movies.
Yeah.
Like sort of like parodying inthe movie.
I'm unserious.

SPEAKER_00 (46:04):
Yeah.
Because if I walked in here andthen the door opened, I'd be
like, John.
You in there?
John, why are you in there?
I'm country.
I'm a little conjured in thespirits.
And I'd be like, John, what?
John, what is you got going onhere?
And I'm a I'm gonna talk to youuntil you showed up.
I'd be like, all right now,John, I'm not gonna keep walking
in.
I'm covered in the city.
I don't know if I'm afraid.

SPEAKER_01 (46:24):
But I my wife is afraid, but I'll be trying to
scare her.
She's afraid of the dark.

SPEAKER_02 (46:29):
Love that.
Do you like spiders?
No.
Do you know how to swim?

unknown (46:36):
Kinda.

SPEAKER_02 (46:39):
Why?
Well, you know.
Or what's going on there?
Maybe more than why.

SPEAKER_01 (46:43):
Well, you know, well, you know, they said, not
even to go stereotypical, butlike I don't have no one ever
was like, hey, let's teach youhow to swim.
Sure, sure.
My mama was like, boy, you don'tknow how to swim.

SPEAKER_00 (46:52):
And it's just like, well, damn, sis, did you ever
try to teach me?
You don't know until I'mtalking.

SPEAKER_01 (46:58):
But I do think I can swim.
Like I've I've been in, I'vebeen in, you know, larger pools
of water.
I would think in New Zealand.
In New Zealand, like my NewZealand best friends.
Yeah, like, and I've been out,you know, and then I've been
like, oh, let me just get backto the rocks.
Ah, good old dry land.
You know, like I don't have a Idon't have a huge amount of

(47:19):
confidence, but I always say,like, I could survive.

SPEAKER_02 (47:21):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (47:22):
But that's in theory.

SPEAKER_02 (47:23):
I'd love that's on your resume.
You're like someone who's adancer.
Do you move?
Uh are you a swimmer?
I survive.
Fantastic.
That was round one.
How you feeling?

SPEAKER_01 (47:34):
Yeah, I feel good.
I got enjoyed.
I'm good.

SPEAKER_02 (47:36):
I'm good.
I'm glad.
Round two.
Oh, something I didn't mention.
They get the answer or thequestions can get progressively
harder as they go along.
You'll understand what I mean.
Okay.
I almost started with a reallysilly one.
Wait, actually, I want to know.
Are you a twin or a triplet?
No.
Okay.
Those rumors are squashed too.
It'd be given hell if there wasmultiple of me.

SPEAKER_01 (47:57):
I'm already a lot.

SPEAKER_02 (48:00):
Can you recite pi to more than 10 digits?
3.14.

SPEAKER_01 (48:05):
That's all I got.
That's three.
Six?
That's pretty good.
3.146?
Is it nine?
Oh, you beats me.
I don't know.
Oh, so now I can make it up.
You should put like some.

SPEAKER_02 (48:15):
I should have it listed, even though this page
would be infinite.

SPEAKER_01 (48:20):
3.146975432.
Is that real?

SPEAKER_02 (48:25):
I don't know.
That was a guess.
You could have.
This is an actor right now.
Here we go.
Can you make a dolphin noise?
I don't know.
I needed to hear it.
That's not, I know.
I don't know.
Do you believe in ghosts?

SPEAKER_01 (48:39):
The Holy Ghost! Oh, Jesus!

SPEAKER_02 (48:45):
I love it.
Have you ever been in a band?
No.
Have you ever taken a road trip?
Yes.
Have you ever gotten a speedingticket?
Yes.
Why?
Do you have like a specificthing that happened?
Well, I was guilty.

SPEAKER_01 (49:00):
Yeah, uh, I have one specific one that oh, I just
told my mom about this.

SPEAKER_02 (49:04):
Okay, so this one's safe to tell.

SPEAKER_01 (49:06):
It is.
Because yeah, I've got stories.
Um, I had just moved back toHouston.
My mom was letting me use hercar, and I remember I was just
trying to hustle, and I was uh Iwas I took like an extra gig in
Austin, Texas.
And so I I took my mom's car,which wasn't in the best shape,
very old, from Houston uh toAustin, Texas.

(49:29):
The car broke down right beforeI like had arrived at the place.
Uh and so I like pushed it topark in someone's driveway, and
I went in to do the extra gig.
And then on the I realized thatnight, like, oh, I can't get
back to Houston.
So I ended up telling my mom,and she was like, just take a

(49:51):
mega bus back with us, me herand her boyfriend, and we'll go
back tomorrow and put a newtransmission in there.
Sure.
Um, and so they came the nextday.
We went back to Austin, they gotthe transmission, and then we
were in separate cars.
And so driving back, I wasspeeding out of them, and my mom
was just like, What are youdoing?
Why are you driving so fast?
And I was like, Mom, I'm fine.

(50:13):
I had gotten at least like 10 to15, I mean, maybe 10 to 20
minutes ahead of them, and a copcame out of nowhere, drove
behind me, pulled me over.
Oh no, and I was just like, Idon't want mom to see.
I don't want my mom to see.
So I'm just like, anything heneeded, I just gave him
everything very fast, veryquick.
Uh just got the ticket.
He was like, You're going 90 inthe 75, 90, probably 92 in the

(50:35):
75.
Oh my god.
And I um I was I got the ticket,driving back out, and my mom
gets behind me really soon.
And then all of a sudden she'scalling me.
She's like, Why are youswerving?
She didn't see me get theticket.
She thought I was swerving, butI was coming from off of the
sides, the path.

(50:56):
And so she was like, All right,well, just pull over to the the
gas station.
Um, we need to get some gas.
And I was like, okay.
Then she was like, give me thekeys.
I'm driving.
You're swerving, and I just wantto make sure you're okay.
Um, I just want to make sureyou're okay, and I don't have
and I was just like, so I hadrecently just started going to
therapy, and I was learning howto like navigate.

(51:16):
Being I had been away for eightyears.
Sure.
Live at home with my motheragain.
And so my little inner childcame out, and I like, when she
took the keys, I like got in theback seat and I like put my
knees on it on heart.
And then rump.
Yes, and then like I'mprocessing as my therapist has
taught me about like, why am Ifeeling like this?

(51:38):
Sure.
And then I have this like deep,beautiful revelation.
I'm like, oh, I am a son whowants to be trusted.
Now I'm having a therapysession, a reminder of a therapy
session with you.
But I was like, I'm a son whowants to be trusted, and she's a
mother who wants to protect herson.
Yeah, both are both are validbasically.
Both are valid and valuable.
We're still at the gas station.
I get out of the back seat.

(51:58):
I'm a quick to apologize person.
My wife will tell you I willapologize.
Yeah, yeah.
I get out of the back seat, andthen I get in the front seat,
and we're driving, and then Iit's quiet because she knows I'm
in my feelings, and so I'm like,hey Ma, I I think I realize that
you're just a mother who wantsto take care of her son, and I
think I'm just a son who's feltvery sheltered, and I just want

(52:20):
to be trusted, and I think bothare okay, you know, and that was
really it.
And then she like pulled overagain and gave me the keys and
let me drive the car.
That's so sweet.
No, she didn't know until 10years later.

SPEAKER_00 (52:35):
No, that wasn't 10 years, but like it was like it
was like no more than two yearsago that I was like, Mama, well,
you thought I was swerving, Ijust got a ticket.
So we had this like really big.

SPEAKER_01 (52:49):
She didn't know, she really didn't know.
She really didn't know.
She thought I was fallingasleep.
It was nighttime.
Oh, and it was later in theevening.
Yeah.
So it was dark.
But she didn't know to be.
That's a good mom, though.
Oh, yeah, she's a great mom'smom.

SPEAKER_02 (53:03):
I love her deep.

SPEAKER_01 (53:04):
That's a great mom.

SPEAKER_02 (53:05):
Love you, mother.
Do you speak more than onelanguage?
Uh no.
Do you know why the sky is blue?

SPEAKER_00 (53:14):
No.

SPEAKER_02 (53:14):
Do you have a favorite dinosaur?

SPEAKER_00 (53:17):
No.

SPEAKER_02 (53:20):
Have you ever lived in another country?
Yes.
Uh oh god, I'm jumping around.
Wait, let me give you one lastgood one.
Oh, have you ever done stand-upcomedy?

SPEAKER_01 (53:29):
No.

SPEAKER_02 (53:30):
Why?

SPEAKER_01 (53:32):
Fear.
But I have been having a desire.
Fear?
Yeah, fear.

SPEAKER_02 (53:36):
And insecurity.
It's scary.
I tried it.
I tried it.
Really?
Yeah.
How was the experience?
It went well.
So I did it for like a freeplay.
So at NYU, we do like a freeplay where it's like it's a
segment or a section of learningwhere you can put on anything
you want, anything you you wantto do.
And so I did like a one-man showwith like music and stand-up and

(53:56):
stuff, and it was terrifying.
It was so difficult.
It's because there's no one tofall back on.
If you forget something, it'slike just figure it out.

SPEAKER_01 (54:05):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (54:05):
It's wild.

SPEAKER_01 (54:06):
It's deeply personal.

SPEAKER_02 (54:07):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (54:08):
It's an art form, and I love that art form so
much.
Like I think I think stand-upsare like pastors to me.
Like they I I I kind of likethey're the oracles of the time
who say particularly now.
Correct.
Yeah.
They say the things that societyneeds to be said no matter how
hard sometimes to have theconversations.
I don't I don't think weactually need to always agree,

(54:29):
or like, you know, but I thinkthey bring up things that we
should talk about.
Yeah.
That sometimes society is afraidto talk about.
Yeah.
And I also find stand-up to bedeeply personal.
And yeah, I have I've beensaying that I just like want to
write a five-minute set and justlike just try it.

(54:50):
You should do it.

SPEAKER_02 (54:51):
I will.
I really believe I will.
If you do an open mic, I willcome and I will laugh at
anything you say.

SPEAKER_00 (54:58):
Just really mean jokes about the time, and I'm
like, I will deeply die becauseI've been like, damn, he's
really trying to support me.

SPEAKER_01 (55:06):
God damn.
Um but yeah, I have I have sucha deep desire to do it.
And I will, I I really believe Iwill do it.
I one day I was in the showerand I like I had a I was like,
this is my stand-up.
And I don't remember what it is.
It's in my notes.
I started writing it in mynotes.
I was like, I need to talk aboutthis.
Oh, it was I think it wasprobably like wife stuff.

(55:27):
Your wife is gonna love thisepisode.

SPEAKER_00 (55:30):
I was like, she knows I love her, so I'm like, I
always talk about her and talktrash, good, badly, all the
things.

SPEAKER_01 (55:35):
I love it.
But I was like, yeah, I can'tremember what it was.
Oh, it's from my notes, but um,yeah, I'm gonna try it.
I'm gonna try it.

SPEAKER_02 (55:43):
I love it, I love it.
That's the end of round two.
Nice, all right.
Round three.
These ones are kind ofexistential and weird.
Ready?
Mm-hmm.
Would you fake your own death tosave your family?

SPEAKER_00 (55:56):
Damn.

SPEAKER_02 (55:57):
No.
You wouldn't fake your own deathto save your family.
I guess it doesn't say whatwe're saving them from.
Yeah.
From death themselves.

SPEAKER_01 (56:09):
Fake.
Well, I guess if I'm gonna fakeit, I'm gonna still be alive.
So yes.

SPEAKER_02 (56:13):
But they have to believe you're dead.

SPEAKER_01 (56:16):
Oh god.

SPEAKER_00 (56:20):
That was such an impact.

SPEAKER_02 (56:22):
That was a really that was a really big one from
the start.
Let me do one uh one of theother ones.
Uh if you could have certainmemories erased, would you do
it?
Like that question I just asked.

SPEAKER_01 (56:31):
No.
No.
I think experiences shape theperson.
I absolutely I have so many somereally bad shit that has
happened to me, but I like Iwouldn't change it.
I have the heart I have for mylife, for humans, for
spirituality because of thoseexperiences.
So I wouldn't change that.
I love that answer.

SPEAKER_02 (56:48):
Beautiful.
If you could bring a loved oneback to life, but they would
have no memory of you, would youdo it?

unknown (56:54):
No.

SPEAKER_02 (56:54):
Yeah, that I don't think I've ever asked that one
before.
I think I've always sort ofmissed that one.

SPEAKER_01 (56:59):
And I just think I just I think things happen as
they're supposed to happen.
So I I'm I'm I I don't know ifI'm kind of morbid and or or
like uh I recognize that likewe're on earth for a specific
amount of time and like we'rejust passengers, and so I I
respect that.
Totally, you know, but Iunderstand human attachment to

(57:20):
humans.
Oh, of course, of course.

SPEAKER_02 (57:23):
But it's also like it bringing them back and they
don't remember you.
What would be the point?
Yeah, you know, what would belike 51st date of 500?
Is it 500?
No, it's 50, you got it.
500 days of summer days.
I just see five.
That's a mashup I want to see.
Um if you could gain magicalpowers but lose one of your five

(57:43):
senses, would you do it?
And also what would what wouldyou trade?
This is a good one, actually.

SPEAKER_01 (57:51):
Yeah, if I could gain magic no.

SPEAKER_02 (57:53):
Oh, some people have actually had clever choices for
this one.
Right.
Not not to put pressure on you,to make it clever.

SPEAKER_01 (58:02):
Um, okay, if I what sense what sense would I give
up?
And what would my power be?
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, that's boring.
Sorry, my first thought I waslike, well, super the first
thing that came to me wassuperhero strength.
And then I was like, but I wouldtake away touch.

SPEAKER_02 (58:20):
You would never know if you were like holding
anything or uh then nothingwouldn't yeah, yeah.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (58:26):
The other thought I had was about like losing my
senses, but being able to havelike a deeper spiritual insight.
So I didn't I wouldn't need myeyes to see people or things.
I would know.

unknown (58:40):
Whoa.

SPEAKER_02 (58:40):
Kind of like how I knew to go to Howard, and I knew
I sent in the one applicationfor all these.
Oh, that would be great.
You can help so many people.

SPEAKER_01 (58:51):
Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 (58:52):
You can't you should be like, apply here, apply
there.

SPEAKER_01 (58:55):
Well, yeah, I mean, uh I I okay, so like the any
power, now I'm going to getdeep.
But any power I would have, Iwould want it to help people.

SPEAKER_02 (59:03):
Sure, sure.

SPEAKER_01 (59:03):
And so I think the idea of like spiritual inside
would also help people like inmoments of like deep agony,
hope, help, give them hope tosee themselves through.

SPEAKER_02 (59:11):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (59:11):
Which I hope I still do today, which is the inside I
have.

SPEAKER_02 (59:14):
You you have that superpower, Stanley.
I do.
If you won the lottery, wouldyou still continue working?
Yes.
I I yes.
Well what would you do?
Here's a better question.
What would you do if you won thelottery?

SPEAKER_01 (59:29):
Well, I mean, I did just start a production company.
Now they're like crazy likebillions.
They're huge.
Um, I did just start aproduction company called Gold
Mines Productions.
Fantastic.
Um, and I would really like umbeyond things that feel
philanthropic right now becausethe production company is a
newer thing, like I am having somany people that I'm connected
with send me scripts, and justlike I'm connected to so many

(59:51):
creative humans who have theseideas, and I feel like a lot of
times we're like waiting for theindustry to approve us a find
our work and they're trying tofigure out who they are, and
they don't know who they are.
The world doesn't know who itis.
And so yeah, I even the peoplewhose scripts I have, I'm like,
I just want to do this with youand for you because I I love I I
love like making people's dreamscome true.

(01:00:13):
Yeah, you know, I think that'sthe beauty of being an actor,
like when you can like seesomeone's words on a page and
like bring it to life.
And so in any in every area ofmy life, I love like whether
it's like serving a church,whether it's doing event
coordination, like I'm likesomebody had an idea.
I love being the handsome feetof those ideas.
Yeah, uh, whether it's as anartist, whether it's as
producer, director, all the likeI I I I genu it brings me so

(01:00:36):
much.
I love to hear that.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (01:00:38):
So Stanley, I think this is the end of the
interview.
This flew by, but I I am sohappy we got to reconnect.
That's beautiful.
You're in New York now, so wecan actually hang out.
Yes.
Um, anything you want topromote?

SPEAKER_01 (01:00:53):
Anything like going on at the moment that you want
to uh well, Gold MinesProductions is producing its
first short, which I'm reallyexcited about.
Um and then also uh the showthat I will premiere in uh DC
called Fremont Ave uh is alsohaving a stint in LA.
Well South Coast Rep, which isin uh it's uh in orange like

(01:01:14):
Orange County area um April May.
So if you're in Los Angeles orOrange County area, April, May,
well, really May, um, come seeFremont Ave.
Fantastic!

SPEAKER_02 (01:01:25):
Yeah, oh Stanley, so good to see you, dude.
Thanks.
This was so much fun.
It's so good to see you too,bro.
All right, y'all.
That's this week's episode ofWorking Class Acts.
We'll see you next week.

unknown (01:01:36):
Bye.