May 28, 2025 • 40 mins
In this episode of Black in the Green Room, host Keith L. Underwood sits down with acclaimed actress DeWanda Wise, known for her standout roles in "Jurassic World Dominion" and "She’s Gotta Have It." DeWanda opens up about growing up misunderstood and how those early experiences shaped her commitment to portraying complex, authentic characters. She shares insights on protecting her peace, honoring the emotional truth of every role, and using storytelling as a tool for healing, representation, and power. 🎙️ Topics covered:
- The emotional impact of being misunderstood
- How personal growth informs performance
- Navigating Hollywood with purpose
- The intentional craft behind her acting process
- The power of authentic representation in film and theater
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You are black in the green room with me, your host,
Keith Underwood, and this is your spot for real talk
about entertainment with the entertainers, creatives and show viz professionals.
Today's guest is a very definition of creative range and intention.
From lighting up the screen as Nola Darling and Spike Lee,
(00:21):
She's got a habit to her breakout role. She's had
many of them, y'all, in Jurassic World, Dominion to deeply
rooted indie work, and now back on stage. Nowanda Wise
does it all with clarity, purpose and power. Her latest
project is the stage play Furlough's Paradise at the Gift
and Playhouse, a bold, beautiful dive into family healing and
(00:42):
the stories we carry. And she's here to take us
behind the curtain to Wanda Wise, Welcome to the room.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
I feel like I should just take that recording of
your intro and just play it anytime I need an introduction.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
That was great.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
I appreciate that, Thank you, thank you so much. Let's
see here, let's what you know for those Paradise. I
had the pleasure of interviewing your creative team, and I
would like to hear you talk more about them as well.
But tell me what can audiences expect from this production.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
I think kind of implicit in the implicit in the title,
and kind of when you go on the website, you
know of the Geffen, you know you're gonna come and
be deeply moved.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
I also think that something.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
That I love about the play, that I love about myself,
that I love about black people is we find humor
even in the most dark and dire circumstances. True, so
it's also very funny.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
With all of the darkness and comedy. Well, tell me
a little bit about it, just a little bit, because
I know you can't give us too too much.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
That's true without spoilers.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
I mean, I think anyone who kind of came of
age or grew up in the nineties, or who's super
familiar with nineties reference says, we'll really appreciate the show
because it kind of chock full of those In many ways,
there's it's kind of like the play in many ways is.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Steeped in nostalgia but not stuck.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
You know, there is an expanse of time where we're
playing with you know, where these characters came from, but
also where they see themselves where they envision themselves going. So, yeah,
it's been a dream. It's been a dream constructing their dreams.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Yeah, tell me a little bit about your character.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
My character Shade, she is on furlough from prison. She's
in the middle of a fourteen year sentence. Uh, and
she is on furlough to attend her mother's funeral.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
So, like I said, it's a heavy premise. Yeah, yeah,
it is.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Yeah, what do you think you know? You said that
Black folks, we always find a way to laugh at
even in the most dire situations. Where do you think
that comes from?
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Man, I just feel like it's our birth right, you know,
I just I do. I feel like it's a birthright.
I think part of it is just a matter of
generations of conditioning. It's it's it's just one of the
most beautiful instincts, truly. I just I think about my
own family and our capacity to move forward and also just.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Not just to look back on an event with a sense.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Of perspective and humor, but to be in it, you know,
and have that ability.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
You know.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
I something just happened in my family this weekend, like
someone's hospitalized and the first day right like the first
couple of hours are super scary, and then the I
promise you, by like hour five, we're joking about what
that family member was requesting, you know what I mean,
because black folks don't eat hospital food, so she's putting
(03:54):
a request.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
For food immediately. So yeah, you know, I just I
just think that's who we are.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
I think it definitely, absolutely, especially for Black Americans, comes
from a history of enslavement, in our capacity to subvert
our experiences, you know, and to take something that was
meant for our harm and turn it into something beautiful.
You know, the potential, our ability to take the scraps
(04:25):
and turn it into a main course. You know. I
just think we're magic, and I think this play is
emblematic of that magic.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Yes, and you would be right. And to wander wise,
what do we do after a funeral?
Speaker 3 (04:39):
We party, that's right, We eat really well. If we
don't eat really well, we talk about it, you know
what I mean. We have very strong feelings about it,
you know. And I mean even in the midst that's
a part of the play too, that's and I don't
feel like that's a spoiler, but just the idea of how,
(05:00):
oh we celebrate a life, like what it means to usher,
you know, our loved ones into a homecoming, creating a
service that's specific and celebratory and actually represents who they are.
You know, that that imbues them with that sense of
like humanity, you know, that doesn't deifies them, but allows
(05:20):
them to be.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
You know. It's it's like how do you capture that?
Speaker 3 (05:24):
You know? And you find these cousins really grappling with
that challenge of like how do you capture the magnificence
of a life?
Speaker 2 (05:32):
You know? And a couple of paragraphs, but yeah, we
we eat and we party.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Dropping.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
I love color hoodies while I'm like sound tracks, eight
tracks they get it back to health. These that's a flashback.
I lay they have fashion on the streets like Beverly's
hell pass form. Got everyone driving clean.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
That can't help but.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
Feel the fops. It's a full of soul from these coach.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Do wand to welcome black Thank you, You're very welcome.
So transitioning from major film sets like Jurassic World Dominion
back to life theater must be a big shift. How
do you navigate these different performance levels?
Speaker 3 (06:21):
It's a welcome shift, I will say, you know, my
I think anyone who responds to my work feels the
level of detail. And so for me, it doesn't matter
if it's about dinosaurs or if it's on the stage,
they get the same amount and degree of loving care
and thought.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
That's an actor.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Oh, it's just I don't know any other way to
be like, if I don't care, it's it's very clear.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
And I'm not being cast in the thing.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
You said. If you're just not invested, it's not going
to happen anywhere.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
It shows, it shows.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Yeah, So in that respect, you know, not much changes.
I think what really what really changes is the process.
There's just nothing like the process of theater.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
It is the most.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Kind of massaging into the muscle, like you will never
be more directed almost that As an actor, I am
kind of steered and ushered honestly to be really real
with you on in film and TV. Largely, I just
kind of do my own thing, you know, and it's
really great. But I you know, I relish the experience
(07:29):
to Nache is brilliant. She's an extraordinary director. She's very
specific and it's just deeply satisfying work. And I will
say I feel like in the theaters where I feel
like I get to be inspired. Often when I'm giving
(07:50):
an offering of a performance in film and TV. It's
I find that it's like inspiring for other people, but
I'm not necessarily getting something that makes me go oh yeah, yes,
like yes, yes I want to try that, or like
you know it. Just it's the process that probably makes
me feel the most understood and where I get to
(08:10):
stretch and grow because someone's asking something of me that
maybe you know, I didn't see for myself.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Yes, tell me a little bit about more about Tanache
and her style and her approach, and then also about
your wonderful author of the play.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
So to nasehe is an artist that I've known for years.
I actually met her, I think for the first time
maybe in.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Twenty twelve, I want to say.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
And my introduction to her was as an actor, so
I knew her as an actor first. And I think
that little Mustard Seed is essential because she gets into
the work the way that an actor would like her
lens into work, into the character, into their motivations, into
(08:57):
why they move when they move. It never it's never
coming from a lot.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
I just wanted. I thought it would look cool, you know.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
You get a director and it's like they're very form
over function, so they're very into like, oh, this is
the tableau I want to create, But then they can't
help you figure out what you're why, Like why am
I moving there just because you said so? Like you know,
so she's really coming from an exploration that is deeply
character centric and psychological and antipological. She's just very thoughtful
(09:28):
and funny. I like working with funny people, and it's
not it's hilarious, you know, and it's it's been really
funny and fun watching her manage everything that you have
to manage, you know, for production and.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Ak Pain.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Speak on it.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Ak Pain is.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Our Generations August Wilson, Laurien Hansbury.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
And Tazaki. You know she is going to be.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Widely produced. They are soulful, they are deeply intuitive.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
You know.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
When I first read this play, it felt like looking
through my own family's photo album. And I feel like
that is the mark of a truly remarkable playwright. Like
I feel so extraordinarily honored and blessed. You know, when
(10:46):
you get to work with someone at the very beginning
of their career, it's very special.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
There's no.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
For an actor too there's really if you train in
theater and you're like one of those like really nerdy performers,
knowing you're going to be in the play, like knowing
your name is going to be right listed as you know,
one of the earliest actors to perform.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
In that role. I mean it is.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
You know, my husband's an actor to Alano and I
talk about it all the time. We've both been very
fortunate to originate a number of roles in our careers
in the theater, and I just I just feel so
very honored.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Yeah, And what's really good for you as a performer
when you have an author that brings that to the
table as a familiar lens for you that you're looking through,
and that familiar lens gives you something to draw from
as a performer.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Absolutely, and it shows up too in every facet of production.
You know, you you when you get to we got
to the stage and you know, the linoleum floor made
me emotional. You know, the magnets on the refrigerator are familiar.
The records just there's there's so much detail and thought
(12:11):
and you can tell that everyone, every single artisan who's
working on this play was really inspired by the script.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Itself.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
M Yeah, your portrayal of Nolah Darling was groundbreaking. How
has the role influenced your approach to characters since then?
Especially on stage?
Speaker 3 (12:31):
I feel like I think, you know, that was my
first time leading a show specifically, and Spike is extraordinarily empowering.
So I think the level of ownership that I continue
to take and have, you know, over my work and
(12:51):
over my characters just naturally and organically translates to everything
I do. I mean, I came into this process far
more more open and flexible than I normally do, but
I was still you know, Casey my you know, my
my playmate on stage, it's two hander shout out to
Casey Rogers.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
To Casey Rogers.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
She said it from the start, she was like, you know,
I mean you came in knowing who sha day. So
I think that that sense of like just deep knowing
kind of soul knowing, like really knowing how she moves,
how she sounds, that I think I got naturally. I
(13:36):
probably had it for sure before She's got to have it.
But the process of, you know, being a series lead
on a TV show will give you that sense of
leadership and ownership and confidence.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
I think as a performer, Harry.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
That Yeah, were you were you that liberated before She's
got to Have It? Or did She's got to have
it liberate you?
Speaker 2 (14:00):
I think it was, yes, An. I feel like every
role I play just continues to open me up more
and more.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
I think by the time we were shooting She's got
to Have It in twenty sixteen, and I still had
a certain kind of like fight and desperation and hunger
and all of that really went into Nola Darling in
many ways, that kind of ferocity, that kind of you know, insatiability, and.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
You know, yeah, I mean it's so funny.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
It goes in the title, right, it's called She's got
to Have It because she really had this kind of
you know, Nola in many ways was really ravenous. And
I think, you know, as I've gone along for sure,
for sure, Spike saw that early fight in me, and
it has evolved, I think into something new.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
It's evolved into just.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
To like knowing, like I think I have greater ease now,
I have a lot more trust, you know, so my
roles will naturally shift and evolve and change with as
I do.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Mm hmm, yeah, I love that. What what does it
mean to you too. For this this She's got to
Have It was a legacy piece. So how did you
feel coming into it, you know, knowing that.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Yeah, it was always a balance of honoring you know,
what existed already. And for me that was more a
matter of the style of the show because it was
a stylis show. You know, there's a difference between doing
like She's got to Have It in Breaking the Fourth Wall,
and you know, even the voice of Nola was you
(15:44):
know almost it was almost a narrator sound like it's
not how I do want to sound right, right, So
there was so much that I was mindful of about,
you know, what I wanted to honor in the original
and how to ex cute organically like Spike style, like
all the things that he does with the camera and
(16:05):
all the really cool iconic you know what I mean shots,
And then in many ways, you know, I was bringing
it into the new millennial and so I just had
a responsibility to represent what it means to be, you know,
a black woman. Now, Like there was one moment we
got into it, me and Spike, Me and Spike love
to get into it, but we had moment where we
(16:26):
got into it in season one because he really wanted
this feat where she's being cat called for her to
fight back a little more, and I was like, but
women don't do that now.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
It's not safe, right right.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Women might have been able to do that in the eighties,
you know, and not be punched in the face, but
that's just not where we're at today unfortunately, you know,
So there would be moments like that where I would
have to, you.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Know, give a little pushback.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Yeah. If Spike were to do a stage work, would
you be involved?
Speaker 2 (16:59):
Spike loves theater.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
First of all, I don't know if anybody knew this,
but you know, I mean.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
It has to be somewhere, right.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
But originally Spike wanted She's got to have it to
be me and the cast of Hamilton. Not even joking
like he wanted it to be me and the cast
of Hamilton. It was supposed to be Anthony Ramos, And
then I think he wanted Leslie Odom.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
And w Diggs. He saw Hamilton.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
He I don't know if there is a person who
has seen Hamilton more than Spike has seen Hamilton.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
So Spike wants to do some theater. The brother knows
theaters I would be there.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
That's a little bit of insightful tea. I appreciate that.
So having worked with so many visionaries like Spike Lee,
Ava de Verne and beyond, what wisdom from those collaborators
do you carry with you and to new work like this?
Speaker 2 (18:00):
I carried the work ethic.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
I find that my style. I'm like a very you know,
vigorous performer. I believe in deep preparation, Like I'm not
kind of actor who shows up to work without, you know,
being ready to do the job. And I think so
much of that is like is dwindling, you know, for
(18:22):
millennials and gen z. I wish there was a little
more rigor in a little more like discipline, you know,
like I feel like the the I feel like Angela Bassett.
You're never going you know, you're not gonna catch her
out here. You're not going to catch Viola off, you
know what I mean. So I think, you know, when
(18:43):
you work with icons like that and folks who are
are true, uh just game changers, just trailblazers in the industry,
you get a sense of what it took to get there,
you know, and there's a certain like drive, and I
think working with them, you get like.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Spike's energy is out of this world. You're not outworking
Spike Lee.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
You're not outworking Spike Lee. Okay, So, so you mentioned
all of these fantastic women who came before you and
what their legacies have meant to you, and especially on
how you know people read you out in the streets.
Is that important for you looking back on the generations
that are now coming up behind you.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
I mentor a lot, you know. I mentor you know,
early career actors quite a bit.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
And I always have, Like even when I.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
Was in my early twenties, I was like mentoring, you know,
just kind of at the very least sharing the wisdom
you know, that I had at the time. And I
do think it's really important, and I think it's important
for so many reasons, like the not the least among
them is because you really do have to take care
of yourself and pace yourself as a performer, you know,
(19:58):
and in these industry is that you know historically have
not been safe for us.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
I could be harmful in many ways, you know.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
So, so much of my advice is not even really
artistic advice. It's more about how to continue to care
for yourself and advocate for yourself and navigate and negotiate
all the things that we're required to to continue to
have careers in this industry.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Dropping.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
I love color hoodies while I'm like sound tracks. Eight
tracks they get it back to health. These that's a flashback.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
I lay they have fashion on these streets like Beverly's.
Speaker 4 (20:40):
Help passed for got everyone driving clean that you can't
help but feel the fops. It's a full of soul
from these cold sweater rap things.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Christ So wonder welcome black.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
How you doing doing well?
Speaker 2 (20:57):
How are you?
Speaker 1 (20:57):
I'm doing good. I ain't got no complaints at all. So,
as a Tish alum and lifelong student of the craft,
how is your training shape the way you show up
in a rehearsal room or on set?
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (21:11):
You know, I talked a little bit about this, but
I trained at Atlantic Theater Company, and one thing that
Atlantic was all about was time you were on time.
If you were fifteen minutes early to class.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Mmmm hm.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
So I think that that sense of just kind of
responsibility and respect for everyone else who's present in the room.
I still have that, Like you, I'm not gonna be
late if I'm late it's a you know, something is happening.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
So yeah, that's a huge part, which is less about.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
The training and more just about like how to be
the person that you are in your head. But then yeah,
and in terms of training, you know, there are so
many things that I still do even before, for like
habits and rituals that I carry over even from high school.
Like my character development form is still from high school.
(22:09):
So yeah, that work I just never I never stopped doing.
I always wan. I enjoy it a lot. I am
super process oriented. Give me book to read, I will
read it, you know. So there's a there's kind of
a heavy pre production series for me that usually involves books, documentaries, music,
(22:32):
sometimes museum visits if it's relevant. But yeah, I'm pretty
I'm pretty heavy on the research.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Yeah, you know, I think I heard somewhere where you
call it yourself a preparation nerd. Do I have that right?
Why a preparation nerd?
Speaker 2 (22:49):
I think because I'm like, also such a historian. I
always love history.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
I know that, and I'm a Maryland girl, so I
know how powerful, how powerfully place influences who you become.
And at the core of it, I think the realist
thing is I grew up really hating being misunderstood, like
(23:23):
often feeling deeply misunderstood and really hating it, you know,
in adulthood. In maturity, I don't I only need to
be understood by like five people, you know, which is
really liberating and lovely. But that childhood level of protectiveness
that I felt over myself really extends to my characters.
(23:47):
And that is why, you know, Kayla Watts is from Detroit.
It's why Nolah Darling is from Brooklyn, but she went
to so certain schools and her parents are her parents,
so she doesn't sound quite like Shamika sounds.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
And she's good, right right, you know.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
It's you know, I really kind of get into the
nooks and crannies of you know, where someone comes from,
because it's really important. It was really important for me
growing up that people fully understood me.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Mm hmm. How how do you what's what's a routine
or a mindset or a philosophy that you tell yourself
to keep that center now of not being misunderstood? Because
I understand a little bit about that, So yeah, talk
to me a little bit about that.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
I think now I'm a little closer to knowing that
there are definitely people who will misunderstand you because they
want to. So I have a little more trust that.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
I like that the people that.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
Really identify with me and with the characters I play
are the people who are meant to identify with me
and the characters I play. And I have more trust
that if something hits me on a soul level, that
there will be someone you know, and that the quantity
of that someone is not my business, meaning there's no
(25:20):
hierarchy for me. Like if I'm working on a play
which has a very finite amount of people who are
able to bear witness to that thing, that's no smaller
for me than working on the scale of something like
Jurassic where you know, so many people around the world
have seen it, Like, there's no there's no like, I
(25:40):
don't have a preference over it. Like my objective as
an artist is to is to really reach is to
really reach people in a real way.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
You know.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
I don't like to be in things that people can
wash their dishes too. I like to be moved, so
to do the moving too.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Yes, I love that. Why Why is that ministry, for
lack of a better word, but a good word, why
is that ministry important to you of reaching so many
people through your work.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
I just think it's a matter of uh, it's a
little bit of a projection, you know. I I enjoy
my life like my life is richer when I'm super
present in it and I'm not you know, distracted or
scattered or you know, pulled across too many things. And
(26:37):
I just I think it's just such a rich way
to live, you know. And so when I'm experiencing something,
and I think that's just how art is meant to
be experienced. You know, we're if you're in a theater,
whether it's a movie theater or a theater, you know,
there's nothing like a collective gasp. There's nothing like the
(27:00):
moment where the entire audience feels like they can take
a breath together, you know.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
And it's just it's emblematic, truly.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
There's so many studies in the last couple of years
that really explore the depth of the power of community,
how healing it is, how much it is integral to
our longevity, you know, like literally how long when we
live on this planet is tied to you know, how
much community we have in our lives, and.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
By feeding with more than just food exactly.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
Yes, absolutely, So it's so it's that it's you know,
it's it's less about, oh, I want to be seen.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
It's less about oh.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
You know I and and has everything to do with,
you know, creating and being a part of things that
I feel like are substantive, even if it's fun, even
if it's entertaining.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
You know, I worked on this.
Speaker 3 (28:01):
I worked on an EP, this horror movie called Imaginary,
which is kind of a bit of a trojan horse.
It's like a horror movie, but really it's about childhood trauma, okay,
in what we haven't or haven't you know, have or
have not faced? Yeah, and how those things will come
back to haunt you if you don't deal with it.
Speaker 4 (28:22):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Yeah, I mean, I mean, this conversation has been so good,
so insightful. With with Furlough's Paradise, it deals with some
heavy layered family dynamics and emotional truths. How do you
personally tap into that kind of depth in your performance?
Speaker 2 (28:43):
For better or worse? It is more challenge for me
to tap out of that depth than it is into
that depth.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
Yeah, for better or worse, just the same as I
feel like so much of our you know, Black folks
birthright is humor in our capacity to subvert our pain.
You know, I don't undermine or underestimate, you know, how
much we carry, how much.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
We carry in our bodies.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
It's like again, so many studies have shown like, you know,
what is just a part of us and what is
in our DNA?
Speaker 2 (29:17):
And I think, because I don't.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
Suppress my emotions in life, I probably have more readily
available access to it. But I you know, my my
challenge is putting a cap on it even in the performance,
you know, like even in the work, practicing the kind
(29:41):
of restraint required so that the audience isn't just overwhelmed
with you know.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
How do you tap out? So when you have to
go back to being Dewanda, how do you tap out?
Speaker 3 (30:02):
I've gotten a lot better at it, the older I've gotten,
And it looks like so many different things. Sometimes I
go for a run, Sometimes I watch it comedy. Sometimes
I just walk my dog.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
This process is so wildly taxing on the body.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
Like there's a lot of physical movement, but it's not
the movement that's wearing my back out. You know. I
like to carry my family on my shoulders, so I've
had to get massages, like I've had to get like
really deep tissue massages to continue to you know, kind
of exercise shade out of me. But I it's like
(30:41):
a real It's such an interesting thing because it becomes
a beautiful burden anyway, you know, partially because it's fictional,
it's not actually mine and keeping the wherewithal and you
know that's somewhere in the back like once you once
I finished the play. Every time we run the show,
(31:01):
you know, I'm like, okay, you know, Casey and I
have this ritual of just like we just literally like
touch each other's hearts. That's nice, bring us back into presence.
So yeah, many things, all the tools.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
I love a tool key, all right, come on now
with the.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
Tool kid.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
Dropping.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
I love color hoodies.
Speaker 4 (31:28):
While I'm like soundtracks, eight tracks, they get it back
to health. These that's a flashback.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
I lay.
Speaker 4 (31:33):
They have fashion on the streets like Beverly Hell pass
for got everyone dripping clean.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
That can't help but.
Speaker 4 (31:39):
Feel the fox. It's a full of soul from these
coachwet the rat things.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
Christen, You've been very outspoken about a topic that's very
close to my heart as well. And that's colorism and
representation in Hollywood. You and I could have a whole
show on just that alone. How does this play and
your presence in it speak to those ongoing conversations.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
Oh, my goodness, that's a great question.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
It is definitely an ongoing conversation speaking of finding humor
and things to you know, do my best to do
exactly that. I've also gotten really for better or worse,
great at and I always have been. I feel I
feel like I've always had the ability to be like,
(32:28):
this is what you're looking for, and I noticed what
you're looking for.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
You You're not gonna.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
Cast me, So honestly, I think it really just becomes
more a matter of, you know, depersonalizing, having the knowledge
and allowing the wisdom and the truth of you know,
just the presence and the overwhelming persistence of white supremacy
(32:55):
to not personally and you know, I just have the
confident it's for better or worse. But I just have
the confidence to know like that, you know, you're missing out.
That's not just for me, that's for you know, so
many performers in Hollywood who don't quote unquote past the
paperbag test. It's like, man you are missing out on
(33:19):
so many performers, you know, and often it is it's like, oh,
you don't even realize you're doing it. Like that's how
overwhelming unconscious bias it really takes. I mean, it really
takes creatives, director, directors, you know, producers, folks on the
(33:40):
ground to even call it out, to say it out
loud and to go like, no, I need this, this
is what I'm looking for.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
But yeah, Christie, I don't take it personally. There's a number.
Speaker 3 (33:55):
I have a whole list of things that I would
qualify as like Hollywood not my business.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
And that is that It's honest, Wanda.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
Did you find it more prevalent with men or women?
Speaker 2 (34:11):
Both? And here's an opposite.
Speaker 3 (34:14):
I mean, you know, my husband is Cuban Behamian in Jamaican, uh,
and he reads as he looks mixed race. And I
usually find with black men he has a harder time
being cast like they're usually looking for, you know, when
they're like, oh and I say black man, I don't
mean a black man.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
Yeah, yeah, you know.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
So he he has a really hard time often and
then you know, I I don't I feel like I've
played a like romantic interest you know, like a like
one of those traditional kind.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
Of to the male lead leading ladies.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
Maybe once, like I think I did it in Fatherhood,
which was so beautiful because it was like me Deborah Arende,
and like, you know, it's just the whole that whole
cast was just like so gorgeous and chocolity and goodness.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
But yeah, it is very rare.
Speaker 3 (35:10):
It is still still just painfully rare. It's just automatically
with women, and you automatically go like fair equals feminine.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
M Yeah, And there have been studies that have been
done to prove that that that's how people equal color
to femininity. Like I said, we could talk about this
all day.
Speaker 4 (35:36):
Dropping I love color hoodies while I'm like sound tracks,
eight tracks they get it back to health. These that's
a flashback. I may have fashion on these streets like
Beverly Hell pass for got everyone dripping clean that you
can't help but feel the fox. It's a full of
soul from these cold sweat, the rat beings, grease.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
It's the wonder welcome black.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
Yes. So if a young Dewanda, just discovering her love
of acting could sit front row at Furlough's Paradise what
do you think she'd say to you after the show?
What would little Dewanda come up and.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
Say to you? First of all, why are you trying
to make me emotional today?
Speaker 1 (36:18):
I'm just doing my job and having a good time
doing it.
Speaker 3 (36:23):
This play and so many respects, feels like such a homecoming,
you know, and the way that it's constructed to I
think outside of Los Angeles, because there's a there's a
specific reference to Los Angeles, anyone from any city, any
(36:46):
suburb can really see themselves in these cousins. And you know,
I read this play and I felt like I was
just transported back to Baltimore. So that specific question, you know,
it is very easy.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
For me to.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
Know how fifteen year old Duanda starring as Prospero in
The Tempest.
Speaker 3 (37:19):
Interesting in a summer production of The Tempest, you know,
would feel so.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
Deeply seen and affirmed and represented. You know.
Speaker 3 (37:43):
Our marketing director asked me for names for our opening night,
and I normally when someone's like asking for that kind
of stuff, I'm like, it takes a lot of time
to do those kind of things right, to like put
together list and get the emails, the whole bit. And
I took the time really to do it, because I
just wanted to populate our opening performance with people who
(38:08):
I knew would feel the way about this play that
I feel about this play. That would those that would
feel deeply loved on, you know, that would come and
feel the relief that work like this is being done
and being supported. You know. Not only is this production,
(38:33):
you know, the second time this play is being produced,
but I mean it.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
Is a production.
Speaker 3 (38:40):
Like and I don't know, I think anyone any black
folk who's like works in the theater knows that very
often our shows get the smallest budget.
Speaker 2 (38:52):
Not for those paradise Okay, we have toys and tools.
Speaker 3 (39:00):
Yeah, so yeah, I'm I just can't wait, really, I
can't wait books to come and bear witness to the show.
Speaker 1 (39:08):
Yeah, de Wanda Wise, where can everybody see the show
and find out more about you on social media?
Speaker 2 (39:15):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (39:15):
Okay, So Furlough's Paradise You start at the Geffen on
April sixteenth. The show officially opens April twenty fourth through
May eighteenth, Wednesday through Sundays, and I'm at Dowando Wise
both on Instagram.
Speaker 2 (39:31):
We'll see how for long and well?
Speaker 1 (39:35):
All right, amen to that. I'm right there with you
de wander Wise. This has been an absolute pleasure. Thank
you so much for your time. I really enjoyed this
conversation me too.
Speaker 2 (39:47):
Thank you. Keith.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
Be sure to follow me Keith Underwood at mister Keith
elle Underwood on IG You can also follow me on
FB at Keith elle Underwood. And you know you gotta
follow Black in the green Room at Black in the
green Room across all platforms. Until next time, this has
been Black in the green Room
You are black in the green room with me, your host,
Keith Underwood, and this is your spot for real talk
about entertainment with the entertainers, creatives and show viz professionals.
Today's guest is a very definition of creative range and intention.
From lighting up the screen as Nola Darling and Spike Lee,
(00:21):
She's got a habit to her breakout role. She's had
many of them, y'all, in Jurassic World, Dominion to deeply
rooted indie work, and now back on stage. Nowanda Wise
does it all with clarity, purpose and power. Her latest
project is the stage play Furlough's Paradise at the Gift
and Playhouse, a bold, beautiful dive into family healing and
(00:42):
the stories we carry. And she's here to take us
behind the curtain to Wanda Wise, Welcome to the room.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
I feel like I should just take that recording of
your intro and just play it anytime I need an introduction.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
That was great.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
I appreciate that, Thank you, thank you so much. Let's
see here, let's what you know for those Paradise. I
had the pleasure of interviewing your creative team, and I
would like to hear you talk more about them as well.
But tell me what can audiences expect from this production.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
I think kind of implicit in the implicit in the title,
and kind of when you go on the website, you
know of the Geffen, you know you're gonna come and
be deeply moved.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
I also think that something.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
That I love about the play, that I love about myself,
that I love about black people is we find humor
even in the most dark and dire circumstances. True, so
it's also very funny.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
With all of the darkness and comedy. Well, tell me
a little bit about it, just a little bit, because
I know you can't give us too too much.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
That's true without spoilers.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
I mean, I think anyone who kind of came of
age or grew up in the nineties, or who's super
familiar with nineties reference says, we'll really appreciate the show
because it kind of chock full of those In many ways,
there's it's kind of like the play in many ways is.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Steeped in nostalgia but not stuck.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
You know, there is an expanse of time where we're
playing with you know, where these characters came from, but
also where they see themselves where they envision themselves going. So, yeah,
it's been a dream. It's been a dream constructing their dreams.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Yeah, tell me a little bit about your character.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
My character Shade, she is on furlough from prison. She's
in the middle of a fourteen year sentence. Uh, and
she is on furlough to attend her mother's funeral.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
So, like I said, it's a heavy premise. Yeah, yeah,
it is.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Yeah, what do you think you know? You said that
Black folks, we always find a way to laugh at
even in the most dire situations. Where do you think
that comes from?
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Man, I just feel like it's our birth right, you know,
I just I do. I feel like it's a birthright.
I think part of it is just a matter of
generations of conditioning. It's it's it's just one of the
most beautiful instincts, truly. I just I think about my
own family and our capacity to move forward and also just.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Not just to look back on an event with a sense.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Of perspective and humor, but to be in it, you know,
and have that ability.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
You know.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
I something just happened in my family this weekend, like
someone's hospitalized and the first day right like the first
couple of hours are super scary, and then the I
promise you, by like hour five, we're joking about what
that family member was requesting, you know what I mean,
because black folks don't eat hospital food, so she's putting
(03:54):
a request.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
For food immediately. So yeah, you know, I just I
just think that's who we are.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
I think it definitely, absolutely, especially for Black Americans, comes
from a history of enslavement, in our capacity to subvert
our experiences, you know, and to take something that was
meant for our harm and turn it into something beautiful.
You know, the potential, our ability to take the scraps
(04:25):
and turn it into a main course. You know. I
just think we're magic, and I think this play is
emblematic of that magic.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Yes, and you would be right. And to wander wise,
what do we do after a funeral?
Speaker 3 (04:39):
We party, that's right, We eat really well. If we
don't eat really well, we talk about it, you know
what I mean. We have very strong feelings about it,
you know. And I mean even in the midst that's
a part of the play too, that's and I don't
feel like that's a spoiler, but just the idea of how,
(05:00):
oh we celebrate a life, like what it means to usher,
you know, our loved ones into a homecoming, creating a
service that's specific and celebratory and actually represents who they are.
You know, that that imbues them with that sense of
like humanity, you know, that doesn't deifies them, but allows
(05:20):
them to be.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
You know. It's it's like how do you capture that?
Speaker 3 (05:24):
You know? And you find these cousins really grappling with
that challenge of like how do you capture the magnificence
of a life?
Speaker 2 (05:32):
You know? And a couple of paragraphs, but yeah, we
we eat and we party.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Dropping.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
I love color hoodies while I'm like sound tracks, eight
tracks they get it back to health. These that's a flashback.
I lay they have fashion on the streets like Beverly's
hell pass form. Got everyone driving clean.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
That can't help but.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
Feel the fops. It's a full of soul from these coach.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Do wand to welcome black Thank you, You're very welcome.
So transitioning from major film sets like Jurassic World Dominion
back to life theater must be a big shift. How
do you navigate these different performance levels?
Speaker 3 (06:21):
It's a welcome shift, I will say, you know, my
I think anyone who responds to my work feels the
level of detail. And so for me, it doesn't matter
if it's about dinosaurs or if it's on the stage,
they get the same amount and degree of loving care
and thought.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
That's an actor.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Oh, it's just I don't know any other way to
be like, if I don't care, it's it's very clear.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
And I'm not being cast in the thing.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
You said. If you're just not invested, it's not going
to happen anywhere.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
It shows, it shows.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Yeah, So in that respect, you know, not much changes.
I think what really what really changes is the process.
There's just nothing like the process of theater.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
It is the most.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Kind of massaging into the muscle, like you will never
be more directed almost that As an actor, I am
kind of steered and ushered honestly to be really real
with you on in film and TV. Largely, I just
kind of do my own thing, you know, and it's
really great. But I you know, I relish the experience
(07:29):
to Nache is brilliant. She's an extraordinary director. She's very
specific and it's just deeply satisfying work. And I will
say I feel like in the theaters where I feel
like I get to be inspired. Often when I'm giving
(07:50):
an offering of a performance in film and TV. It's
I find that it's like inspiring for other people, but
I'm not necessarily getting something that makes me go oh yeah, yes,
like yes, yes I want to try that, or like
you know it. Just it's the process that probably makes
me feel the most understood and where I get to
(08:10):
stretch and grow because someone's asking something of me that
maybe you know, I didn't see for myself.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Yes, tell me a little bit about more about Tanache
and her style and her approach, and then also about
your wonderful author of the play.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
So to nasehe is an artist that I've known for years.
I actually met her, I think for the first time
maybe in.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Twenty twelve, I want to say.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
And my introduction to her was as an actor, so
I knew her as an actor first. And I think
that little Mustard Seed is essential because she gets into
the work the way that an actor would like her
lens into work, into the character, into their motivations, into
(08:57):
why they move when they move. It never it's never
coming from a lot.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
I just wanted. I thought it would look cool, you know.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
You get a director and it's like they're very form
over function, so they're very into like, oh, this is
the tableau I want to create, But then they can't
help you figure out what you're why, Like why am
I moving there just because you said so? Like you know,
so she's really coming from an exploration that is deeply
character centric and psychological and antipological. She's just very thoughtful
(09:28):
and funny. I like working with funny people, and it's
not it's hilarious, you know, and it's it's been really
funny and fun watching her manage everything that you have
to manage, you know, for production and.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Ak Pain.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Speak on it.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Ak Pain is.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Our Generations August Wilson, Laurien Hansbury.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
And Tazaki. You know she is going to be.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Widely produced. They are soulful, they are deeply intuitive.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
You know.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
When I first read this play, it felt like looking
through my own family's photo album. And I feel like
that is the mark of a truly remarkable playwright. Like
I feel so extraordinarily honored and blessed. You know, when
(10:46):
you get to work with someone at the very beginning
of their career, it's very special.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
There's no.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
For an actor too there's really if you train in
theater and you're like one of those like really nerdy performers,
knowing you're going to be in the play, like knowing
your name is going to be right listed as you know,
one of the earliest actors to perform.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
In that role. I mean it is.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
You know, my husband's an actor to Alano and I
talk about it all the time. We've both been very
fortunate to originate a number of roles in our careers
in the theater, and I just I just feel so
very honored.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Yeah, And what's really good for you as a performer
when you have an author that brings that to the
table as a familiar lens for you that you're looking through,
and that familiar lens gives you something to draw from
as a performer.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Absolutely, and it shows up too in every facet of production.
You know, you you when you get to we got
to the stage and you know, the linoleum floor made
me emotional. You know, the magnets on the refrigerator are familiar.
The records just there's there's so much detail and thought
(12:11):
and you can tell that everyone, every single artisan who's
working on this play was really inspired by the script.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Itself.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
M Yeah, your portrayal of Nolah Darling was groundbreaking. How
has the role influenced your approach to characters since then?
Especially on stage?
Speaker 3 (12:31):
I feel like I think, you know, that was my
first time leading a show specifically, and Spike is extraordinarily empowering.
So I think the level of ownership that I continue
to take and have, you know, over my work and
(12:51):
over my characters just naturally and organically translates to everything
I do. I mean, I came into this process far
more more open and flexible than I normally do, but
I was still you know, Casey my you know, my
my playmate on stage, it's two hander shout out to
Casey Rogers.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
To Casey Rogers.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
She said it from the start, she was like, you know,
I mean you came in knowing who sha day. So
I think that that sense of like just deep knowing
kind of soul knowing, like really knowing how she moves,
how she sounds, that I think I got naturally. I
(13:36):
probably had it for sure before She's got to have it.
But the process of, you know, being a series lead
on a TV show will give you that sense of
leadership and ownership and confidence.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
I think as a performer, Harry.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
That Yeah, were you were you that liberated before She's
got to Have It? Or did She's got to have
it liberate you?
Speaker 2 (14:00):
I think it was, yes, An. I feel like every
role I play just continues to open me up more
and more.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
I think by the time we were shooting She's got
to Have It in twenty sixteen, and I still had
a certain kind of like fight and desperation and hunger
and all of that really went into Nola Darling in
many ways, that kind of ferocity, that kind of you know, insatiability, and.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
You know, yeah, I mean it's so funny.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
It goes in the title, right, it's called She's got
to Have It because she really had this kind of
you know, Nola in many ways was really ravenous. And
I think, you know, as I've gone along for sure,
for sure, Spike saw that early fight in me, and
it has evolved, I think into something new.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
It's evolved into just.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
To like knowing, like I think I have greater ease now,
I have a lot more trust, you know, so my
roles will naturally shift and evolve and change with as
I do.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Mm hmm, yeah, I love that. What what does it
mean to you too. For this this She's got to
Have It was a legacy piece. So how did you
feel coming into it, you know, knowing that.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Yeah, it was always a balance of honoring you know,
what existed already. And for me that was more a
matter of the style of the show because it was
a stylis show. You know, there's a difference between doing
like She's got to Have It in Breaking the Fourth Wall,
and you know, even the voice of Nola was you
(15:44):
know almost it was almost a narrator sound like it's
not how I do want to sound right, right, So
there was so much that I was mindful of about,
you know, what I wanted to honor in the original
and how to ex cute organically like Spike style, like
all the things that he does with the camera and
(16:05):
all the really cool iconic you know what I mean shots,
And then in many ways, you know, I was bringing
it into the new millennial and so I just had
a responsibility to represent what it means to be, you know,
a black woman. Now, Like there was one moment we
got into it, me and Spike, Me and Spike love
to get into it, but we had moment where we
(16:26):
got into it in season one because he really wanted
this feat where she's being cat called for her to
fight back a little more, and I was like, but
women don't do that now.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
It's not safe, right right.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Women might have been able to do that in the eighties,
you know, and not be punched in the face, but
that's just not where we're at today unfortunately, you know,
So there would be moments like that where I would
have to, you.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Know, give a little pushback.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Yeah. If Spike were to do a stage work, would
you be involved?
Speaker 2 (16:59):
Spike loves theater.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
First of all, I don't know if anybody knew this,
but you know, I mean.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
It has to be somewhere, right.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
But originally Spike wanted She's got to have it to
be me and the cast of Hamilton. Not even joking
like he wanted it to be me and the cast
of Hamilton. It was supposed to be Anthony Ramos, And
then I think he wanted Leslie Odom.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
And w Diggs. He saw Hamilton.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
He I don't know if there is a person who
has seen Hamilton more than Spike has seen Hamilton.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
So Spike wants to do some theater. The brother knows
theaters I would be there.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
That's a little bit of insightful tea. I appreciate that.
So having worked with so many visionaries like Spike Lee,
Ava de Verne and beyond, what wisdom from those collaborators
do you carry with you and to new work like this?
Speaker 2 (18:00):
I carried the work ethic.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
I find that my style. I'm like a very you know,
vigorous performer. I believe in deep preparation, Like I'm not
kind of actor who shows up to work without, you know,
being ready to do the job. And I think so
much of that is like is dwindling, you know, for
(18:22):
millennials and gen z. I wish there was a little
more rigor in a little more like discipline, you know,
like I feel like the the I feel like Angela Bassett.
You're never going you know, you're not gonna catch her
out here. You're not going to catch Viola off, you
know what I mean. So I think, you know, when
(18:43):
you work with icons like that and folks who are
are true, uh just game changers, just trailblazers in the industry,
you get a sense of what it took to get there,
you know, and there's a certain like drive, and I
think working with them, you get like.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Spike's energy is out of this world. You're not outworking
Spike Lee.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
You're not outworking Spike Lee. Okay, So, so you mentioned
all of these fantastic women who came before you and
what their legacies have meant to you, and especially on
how you know people read you out in the streets.
Is that important for you looking back on the generations
that are now coming up behind you.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
I mentor a lot, you know. I mentor you know,
early career actors quite a bit.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
And I always have, Like even when I.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
Was in my early twenties, I was like mentoring, you know,
just kind of at the very least sharing the wisdom
you know, that I had at the time. And I
do think it's really important, and I think it's important
for so many reasons, like the not the least among
them is because you really do have to take care
of yourself and pace yourself as a performer, you know,
(19:58):
and in these industry is that you know historically have
not been safe for us.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
I could be harmful in many ways, you know.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
So, so much of my advice is not even really
artistic advice. It's more about how to continue to care
for yourself and advocate for yourself and navigate and negotiate
all the things that we're required to to continue to
have careers in this industry.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Dropping.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
I love color hoodies while I'm like sound tracks. Eight
tracks they get it back to health. These that's a flashback.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
I lay they have fashion on these streets like Beverly's.
Speaker 4 (20:40):
Help passed for got everyone driving clean that you can't
help but feel the fops. It's a full of soul
from these cold sweater rap things.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Christ So wonder welcome black.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
How you doing doing well?
Speaker 2 (20:57):
How are you?
Speaker 1 (20:57):
I'm doing good. I ain't got no complaints at all. So,
as a Tish alum and lifelong student of the craft,
how is your training shape the way you show up
in a rehearsal room or on set?
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (21:11):
You know, I talked a little bit about this, but
I trained at Atlantic Theater Company, and one thing that
Atlantic was all about was time you were on time.
If you were fifteen minutes early to class.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Mmmm hm.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
So I think that that sense of just kind of
responsibility and respect for everyone else who's present in the room.
I still have that, Like you, I'm not gonna be
late if I'm late it's a you know, something is happening.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
So yeah, that's a huge part, which is less about.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
The training and more just about like how to be
the person that you are in your head. But then yeah,
and in terms of training, you know, there are so
many things that I still do even before, for like
habits and rituals that I carry over even from high school.
Like my character development form is still from high school.
(22:09):
So yeah, that work I just never I never stopped doing.
I always wan. I enjoy it a lot. I am
super process oriented. Give me book to read, I will
read it, you know. So there's a there's kind of
a heavy pre production series for me that usually involves books, documentaries, music,
(22:32):
sometimes museum visits if it's relevant. But yeah, I'm pretty
I'm pretty heavy on the research.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Yeah, you know, I think I heard somewhere where you
call it yourself a preparation nerd. Do I have that right?
Why a preparation nerd?
Speaker 2 (22:49):
I think because I'm like, also such a historian. I
always love history.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
I know that, and I'm a Maryland girl, so I
know how powerful, how powerfully place influences who you become.
And at the core of it, I think the realist
thing is I grew up really hating being misunderstood, like
(23:23):
often feeling deeply misunderstood and really hating it, you know,
in adulthood. In maturity, I don't I only need to
be understood by like five people, you know, which is
really liberating and lovely. But that childhood level of protectiveness
that I felt over myself really extends to my characters.
(23:47):
And that is why, you know, Kayla Watts is from Detroit.
It's why Nolah Darling is from Brooklyn, but she went
to so certain schools and her parents are her parents,
so she doesn't sound quite like Shamika sounds.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
And she's good, right right, you know.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
It's you know, I really kind of get into the
nooks and crannies of you know, where someone comes from,
because it's really important. It was really important for me
growing up that people fully understood me.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Mm hmm. How how do you what's what's a routine
or a mindset or a philosophy that you tell yourself
to keep that center now of not being misunderstood? Because
I understand a little bit about that, So yeah, talk
to me a little bit about that.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
I think now I'm a little closer to knowing that
there are definitely people who will misunderstand you because they
want to. So I have a little more trust that.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
I like that the people that.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
Really identify with me and with the characters I play
are the people who are meant to identify with me
and the characters I play. And I have more trust
that if something hits me on a soul level, that
there will be someone you know, and that the quantity
of that someone is not my business, meaning there's no
(25:20):
hierarchy for me. Like if I'm working on a play
which has a very finite amount of people who are
able to bear witness to that thing, that's no smaller
for me than working on the scale of something like
Jurassic where you know, so many people around the world
have seen it, Like, there's no there's no like, I
(25:40):
don't have a preference over it. Like my objective as
an artist is to is to really reach is to
really reach people in a real way.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
You know.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
I don't like to be in things that people can
wash their dishes too. I like to be moved, so
to do the moving too.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Yes, I love that. Why Why is that ministry, for
lack of a better word, but a good word, why
is that ministry important to you of reaching so many
people through your work.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
I just think it's a matter of uh, it's a
little bit of a projection, you know. I I enjoy
my life like my life is richer when I'm super
present in it and I'm not you know, distracted or
scattered or you know, pulled across too many things. And
(26:37):
I just I think it's just such a rich way
to live, you know. And so when I'm experiencing something,
and I think that's just how art is meant to
be experienced. You know, we're if you're in a theater,
whether it's a movie theater or a theater, you know,
there's nothing like a collective gasp. There's nothing like the
(27:00):
moment where the entire audience feels like they can take
a breath together, you know.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
And it's just it's emblematic, truly.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
There's so many studies in the last couple of years
that really explore the depth of the power of community,
how healing it is, how much it is integral to
our longevity, you know, like literally how long when we
live on this planet is tied to you know, how
much community we have in our lives, and.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
By feeding with more than just food exactly.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
Yes, absolutely, So it's so it's that it's you know,
it's it's less about, oh, I want to be seen.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
It's less about oh.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
You know I and and has everything to do with,
you know, creating and being a part of things that
I feel like are substantive, even if it's fun, even
if it's entertaining.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
You know, I worked on this.
Speaker 3 (28:01):
I worked on an EP, this horror movie called Imaginary,
which is kind of a bit of a trojan horse.
It's like a horror movie, but really it's about childhood trauma, okay,
in what we haven't or haven't you know, have or
have not faced? Yeah, and how those things will come
back to haunt you if you don't deal with it.
Speaker 4 (28:22):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Yeah, I mean, I mean, this conversation has been so good,
so insightful. With with Furlough's Paradise, it deals with some
heavy layered family dynamics and emotional truths. How do you
personally tap into that kind of depth in your performance?
Speaker 2 (28:43):
For better or worse? It is more challenge for me
to tap out of that depth than it is into
that depth.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
Yeah, for better or worse, just the same as I
feel like so much of our you know, Black folks
birthright is humor in our capacity to subvert our pain.
You know, I don't undermine or underestimate, you know, how
much we carry, how much.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
We carry in our bodies.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
It's like again, so many studies have shown like, you know,
what is just a part of us and what is
in our DNA?
Speaker 2 (29:17):
And I think, because I don't.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
Suppress my emotions in life, I probably have more readily
available access to it. But I you know, my my
challenge is putting a cap on it even in the performance,
you know, like even in the work, practicing the kind
(29:41):
of restraint required so that the audience isn't just overwhelmed
with you know.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
How do you tap out? So when you have to
go back to being Dewanda, how do you tap out?
Speaker 3 (30:02):
I've gotten a lot better at it, the older I've gotten,
And it looks like so many different things. Sometimes I
go for a run, Sometimes I watch it comedy. Sometimes
I just walk my dog.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
This process is so wildly taxing on the body.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
Like there's a lot of physical movement, but it's not
the movement that's wearing my back out. You know. I
like to carry my family on my shoulders, so I've
had to get massages, like I've had to get like
really deep tissue massages to continue to you know, kind
of exercise shade out of me. But I it's like
(30:41):
a real It's such an interesting thing because it becomes
a beautiful burden anyway, you know, partially because it's fictional,
it's not actually mine and keeping the wherewithal and you
know that's somewhere in the back like once you once
I finished the play. Every time we run the show,
(31:01):
you know, I'm like, okay, you know, Casey and I
have this ritual of just like we just literally like
touch each other's hearts. That's nice, bring us back into presence.
So yeah, many things, all the tools.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
I love a tool key, all right, come on now
with the.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
Tool kid.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
Dropping.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
I love color hoodies.
Speaker 4 (31:28):
While I'm like soundtracks, eight tracks, they get it back
to health. These that's a flashback.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
I lay.
Speaker 4 (31:33):
They have fashion on the streets like Beverly Hell pass
for got everyone dripping clean.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
That can't help but.
Speaker 4 (31:39):
Feel the fox. It's a full of soul from these
coachwet the rat things.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
Christen, You've been very outspoken about a topic that's very
close to my heart as well. And that's colorism and
representation in Hollywood. You and I could have a whole
show on just that alone. How does this play and
your presence in it speak to those ongoing conversations.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
Oh, my goodness, that's a great question.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
It is definitely an ongoing conversation speaking of finding humor
and things to you know, do my best to do
exactly that. I've also gotten really for better or worse,
great at and I always have been. I feel I
feel like I've always had the ability to be like,
(32:28):
this is what you're looking for, and I noticed what
you're looking for.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
You You're not gonna.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
Cast me, So honestly, I think it really just becomes
more a matter of, you know, depersonalizing, having the knowledge
and allowing the wisdom and the truth of you know,
just the presence and the overwhelming persistence of white supremacy
(32:55):
to not personally and you know, I just have the
confident it's for better or worse. But I just have
the confidence to know like that, you know, you're missing out.
That's not just for me, that's for you know, so
many performers in Hollywood who don't quote unquote past the
paperbag test. It's like, man you are missing out on
(33:19):
so many performers, you know, and often it is it's like, oh,
you don't even realize you're doing it. Like that's how
overwhelming unconscious bias it really takes. I mean, it really
takes creatives, director, directors, you know, producers, folks on the
(33:40):
ground to even call it out, to say it out
loud and to go like, no, I need this, this
is what I'm looking for.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
But yeah, Christie, I don't take it personally. There's a number.
Speaker 3 (33:55):
I have a whole list of things that I would
qualify as like Hollywood not my business.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
And that is that It's honest, Wanda.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
Did you find it more prevalent with men or women?
Speaker 2 (34:11):
Both? And here's an opposite.
Speaker 3 (34:14):
I mean, you know, my husband is Cuban Behamian in Jamaican, uh,
and he reads as he looks mixed race. And I
usually find with black men he has a harder time
being cast like they're usually looking for, you know, when
they're like, oh and I say black man, I don't
mean a black man.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
Yeah, yeah, you know.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
So he he has a really hard time often and
then you know, I I don't I feel like I've
played a like romantic interest you know, like a like
one of those traditional kind.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
Of to the male lead leading ladies.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
Maybe once, like I think I did it in Fatherhood,
which was so beautiful because it was like me Deborah Arende,
and like, you know, it's just the whole that whole
cast was just like so gorgeous and chocolity and goodness.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
But yeah, it is very rare.
Speaker 3 (35:10):
It is still still just painfully rare. It's just automatically
with women, and you automatically go like fair equals feminine.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
M Yeah, And there have been studies that have been
done to prove that that that's how people equal color
to femininity. Like I said, we could talk about this
all day.
Speaker 4 (35:36):
Dropping I love color hoodies while I'm like sound tracks,
eight tracks they get it back to health. These that's
a flashback. I may have fashion on these streets like
Beverly Hell pass for got everyone dripping clean that you
can't help but feel the fox. It's a full of
soul from these cold sweat, the rat beings, grease.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
It's the wonder welcome black.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
Yes. So if a young Dewanda, just discovering her love
of acting could sit front row at Furlough's Paradise what
do you think she'd say to you after the show?
What would little Dewanda come up and.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
Say to you? First of all, why are you trying
to make me emotional today?
Speaker 1 (36:18):
I'm just doing my job and having a good time
doing it.
Speaker 3 (36:23):
This play and so many respects, feels like such a homecoming,
you know, and the way that it's constructed to I
think outside of Los Angeles, because there's a there's a
specific reference to Los Angeles, anyone from any city, any
(36:46):
suburb can really see themselves in these cousins. And you know,
I read this play and I felt like I was
just transported back to Baltimore. So that specific question, you know,
it is very easy.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
For me to.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
Know how fifteen year old Duanda starring as Prospero in
The Tempest.
Speaker 3 (37:19):
Interesting in a summer production of The Tempest, you know,
would feel so.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
Deeply seen and affirmed and represented. You know.
Speaker 3 (37:43):
Our marketing director asked me for names for our opening night,
and I normally when someone's like asking for that kind
of stuff, I'm like, it takes a lot of time
to do those kind of things right, to like put
together list and get the emails, the whole bit. And
I took the time really to do it, because I
just wanted to populate our opening performance with people who
(38:08):
I knew would feel the way about this play that
I feel about this play. That would those that would
feel deeply loved on, you know, that would come and
feel the relief that work like this is being done
and being supported. You know. Not only is this production,
(38:33):
you know, the second time this play is being produced,
but I mean it.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
Is a production.
Speaker 3 (38:40):
Like and I don't know, I think anyone any black
folk who's like works in the theater knows that very
often our shows get the smallest budget.
Speaker 2 (38:52):
Not for those paradise Okay, we have toys and tools.
Speaker 3 (39:00):
Yeah, so yeah, I'm I just can't wait, really, I
can't wait books to come and bear witness to the show.
Speaker 1 (39:08):
Yeah, de Wanda Wise, where can everybody see the show
and find out more about you on social media?
Speaker 2 (39:15):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (39:15):
Okay, So Furlough's Paradise You start at the Geffen on
April sixteenth. The show officially opens April twenty fourth through
May eighteenth, Wednesday through Sundays, and I'm at Dowando Wise
both on Instagram.
Speaker 2 (39:31):
We'll see how for long and well?
Speaker 1 (39:35):
All right, amen to that. I'm right there with you
de wander Wise. This has been an absolute pleasure. Thank
you so much for your time. I really enjoyed this
conversation me too.
Speaker 2 (39:47):
Thank you. Keith.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
Be sure to follow me Keith Underwood at mister Keith
elle Underwood on IG You can also follow me on
FB at Keith elle Underwood. And you know you gotta
follow Black in the green Room at Black in the
green Room across all platforms. Until next time, this has
been Black in the green Room
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