Ep. 10 - Andre Cato interview

Featuring an interview with Andre Cato from the play "Tell Hell I Ain't Coming". Guest host: Beautiful Jae. (original airdate: 4/4/18)

Episode Transcript

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The FCB Radio Network where Real Talklives Basis Take two with Alexis Nunn on

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the FCB Radio Network. Hey everyone, you're listening Life to Take two.
I'm beautiful Jay and I'm fulling infor Alexis Nune. I have here with
me Andre Cato, and he's goingto tell us a little about his acting
career and what's new. Hello,Andre, how are you today? I'm
fantastic and charmed, beautiful Jay.Thank you for having me, Thank you

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for being here. So tell mea little about yourself. Well, I
was born Oh, they should havewarned you. I'm kind of part pranks
or parts Okay, so let mesee. I'm from Cleveland, Ohio.

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I grew up in the Glenville neighborhoodand off one hundred and five and Superior,
and I graduated from Garfield Heights HighSchool. It was early on I
had a crazy active imagination. Andthen I got to Garfield and I got
a chance to be in my firstplay in ninth grade and well, I'm
actually I'm really my first play.My first play used to be on my

(01:26):
resume early on as Angel and thethird grade play. And then I saw
some crazy TV show and I waslike, Wow, that angel has the
same lens I had in the thirdgrade play, and I realized that I
was a Nativity. So and fromGarfield Heights, I used to be in
at a great an awesome, amazingmentor teacher friend who I need to get

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in touch with, Phillis san Antonio, and she was coming into not teaching,
but doing drama at at the timeOsicol in high school. Everything was
kind of fresh and she really offeredan opportunity for what they call now non
traditional casting or color blind casting.She was just about loving people. In
fact, her favorite phrase, oneof her favorite things she taught me when
I was younger is andre There's onlytwo kind of people. They're cool people

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and booty parts. She said,the people who were to fight a situation,
so to speak. And so shekind of had that life view when
she was very energetic and fun andI had a great run where I got
to be in shows like The Outsiders, The Sting, My first show coming

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in was Dracula. To give youidea of the kind of in person that
I was and further became, Itook time to go with my German teacher
to try to work on cultivating aGerman accent since I was playing Professor Van
Helsing. I also, when wegot to the costume shore Store, pardon
Me, was very certain about twothings I needed. One. I needed

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that Sherlock home hat with the backin the front bill looking like it's a
whaby hunting season. And I neededa monocle for some reason, It's like
this guy would have a monocle anda pipe. Can't forget the pipe.
And then from there I just kindof had a chance to do a couple

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of theater recitations over at Highland anda hire him College and in the summertime,
I will in the fall during musk. During that time, the Cleveland
Playoffs has something called the Curtain pullershProgram, and that existed way before me,
and actually shortly after my graduation fromhigh school they kind of canceled that
program. But it was a programfor young individuals of anywhere from early school

(03:44):
age to high school to come andlearn the theater arts. And originally I
think they had a component to actuallyallow people to be backstage, which is
where it's got its name called curtainPullers. The ironic thing is that eventually
in my life I'd be on crewat the playhouse and actually have to really
pull curtains and it was in theshow called Dracula. Um So, anyway,
I took all kind of classes andprovisational classes. Being the acting advanced

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acting, I got to study witha Russian theater troope, the International Theater
of Vogograd, Russia. They actuallywere brought over one summer because I did
a bunch of summer stuff um andseventeen of us auditioned to be a part
of that summertime program and got achance to work with this theater troope,
who I still think are the bestactors, at least theatrical actors I've ever

(04:28):
seen in my life are Russian actors. They're very intense. Um, They're
very diligent, and when it's timeto work, they go to work.
And when it's time to play boy, they make the outlaws look like they
drink apple juice. I almost brokemy back and that's another story for another
time dancing with them. Um So. I had a couple of summers at

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all Hire University as well, inthe summer school the arts program. I
believe that program still goes on ifyou can get your children involved in that
highly highly highly hid behind the highlyhighly recommended. They get a chance to
be kind of, you know,liberated from total parental supervision. There are
great um our a's and supervisor theprogram so they don't just run wild.

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And if features every dance I meanI learned. I started with modern dancer
UM and it features piano, classicalvocal training, and drama. Okay,
so yeah, if you get achance, the program was awesome. And
again shout out to Miss san Antonio. She really was one of those blessings
that you didn't even see coming orknow that you needed in your life.

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And my mama too, because shedrove me a lot of places and I
drove her crazy. I actually Iwas. I was told in my tenth
grade year, your grades are notup to part. You will not be
doing the play. I did oneof my famous I'm late missed the Buses,
which was habit. So it wasit was it occurred enough to be

(05:58):
viable. But I got she sawright through me, but auditioned for the
play and somehow someway, I don'tknow why, she permitted me to go
ahead and do that play anyway,all right, so um, and then
I got a chance to move toworking in the film here in Cleveland,
and eventually I kind of bounced aroundtown for a minute and then left to
la very adventurous. Okay, SoI see you're in a new play called

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Tell Hell I Ain't Coming. Canyou tell us a little about that.
Let me tell you a little somethingabout a player events. Um, it's
called tell her Line Coming, Tellher Line Coming. I'll tell her I

(06:46):
Ain't Coming. Is a for thosewho like those stories where people's lives kind
of mix and intersect. It's gota pinchure that And for those folks that
like something where it's kind of anthology. I liken it to a play or
a poetry series called Spoon River Anthology, where it's a book of stories about
people to live in this town calledSpoon River, and it tells all of

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their stories, the tragedies, thehappy, everything like that, right,
and you get to see where theyintersect. This play is kind of like
that, where it's a main charactercalled Bishop all Good who finds himself in
the depths of hell and he hasno idea why, because according to him,
he's followed the commandments. He servedthe Lord with all his heart,
his soul is mind. He's youknow, made sure that he was good

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to his flock and tried to leadthem, and he just don't know why
he's in him. But along hisjourney through and in hell, he finds
himself meeting a number of people andhe discovers that they are in hell and
why they're in hell. And theshocking part is that I'm like a number
of things that are that deal withthe arts, especially filming the theater,

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that deal with the subject matter ofheaven, Hell, God, spirituality.
This doesn't focus on if you're goingto hell and not going to hell because
you serve God in that way,like oh, are you in the church?
This actually starts at home and focusesin on the people that are in
the church that you see every weekPraise the Lord Saints, ain't he good

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all the time? This focuses onthose folks, Hey, brow you doing,
Yeah, I love you, andand looking at the very little things
that they do in their lives thatget them that have gotten them to land
in this place called hell um.And so it's kind of the idea of
a lot of people get in thereand they begin to reflect on what's going
on. And I play a characterby the name of Big Daddy. Okay,

(08:43):
I got a certain embracing that Ican't get away from it. I
hear that that I'm starting to thinkmy name is Big Daddy. Let's only
call me a rehearsal big Daddy.Yet them now big Daddy. Okay,
wow, I see now, Inow I know a big event. When
he said I love it when theycall me big Papa, I love it.

(09:07):
I might go change my name andmy Instagram. Thank you, beautiful
Jake. Um. Big Daddy isa drug lord who has another um.
He has a drug lord. Heactually is a guy who once got hig
of his own supply and because ofthat he made a really that those are

(09:30):
obviously two glaring errors in his life. But he made a grievous misstep in
his life that ended up costing himhis life and a few others. And
so he's coming to terms with umwith his presence in Hill and he was
one that was in the church.Um, when I think about him,
because it's if man, I proceedon him. Okay, I don't want

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anytime. You want me to stopthis something you know, Um. But
when I was at the Outlaws,Darby asking this question and I didn't really
give him a good answer, buthe's like, well, tell me more
about your character and if you havedone any kind of work in theater.
A lot of times some people willcreate a story behind their character. So
with the character of Big Daddy,I didn't want to go into it and

(10:13):
just try to ham it up.And you know, I'm not a d
boy. I don't do drugs.I do have issues in life. We'll
get to them later. Some ofthem are beautiful. Some of them are
beautiful, like Jay, those arethings that cause things that make your boys
stumble. But what I wanted tolook at is I know people, like
a lot of people know people.I know people who are in that life,

(10:33):
some closer than others, and Iknow people on both sides of that
on drug use and drugs selling.Okay, So I thought about those things
and then I made it like this. Big Daddy grew up with his grandmother.
His parents abandoned him. He grewup with his grandmother, who was
cool, but she was a littlebit too cool, and she got in

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a relationship with a guy called D. And D was actually a boy even
though he was an older man,and his drugs actually got into the hands
of someone that Big daddy idolized whenhe was a child, which is his
older brother who's just a couple ofyears older than him, and that messed
his older brother up. His olderbrother's name is Patty, and so he

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kind of takes on that life andhis mentor by this man, which is
a violation of his youth and hispurity and at the same time puts him
in a place to make money.So he kind of has a twisted view
of what it means to actually bea big daddy or aka a big brother
to those that he knows in theneighborhood. And yeah, so and he
aches for his brother's loss, andhe kind of gets more lost in the

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life and the trappings and whatever,whatever, whatever. But he's always trying
to like soothe some of the abusesthat he saw at the child, because
his stepfather was abusive or step grandfatherwas abusive. And of course he is
miserable boat sick about what happened tohis brother as a child, and he
wished there was a better way,but he couldn't see a better way for
himself besides what was in front ofhim, which was the selled up.

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Okay, how is your character likeyou even though he's a walking felon.
He is awesome. He's awesome.How's my character like me? That's actually
a wonderful question. I said Iwas ready for everything, but I wasn't
ready for that. How would Isay big that he is like me?

(12:22):
He can be a big personality.He has a lot of interference that leave
him diminish some point, sometimes frozenlike a baby. He's made some mistakes,
as I have. I feel likein my life I'm made mistakes to
where I wish i could go backthat I feel like cut across people and
maybe symptom on a different paths andthey needed to be on inspired out of
control. And I'm often remorsel forthose choices, some of them big and

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small. But he means well fromthe bottom of his heart, and he
often thinks that he's doing the rightthing, even when he's going in the
right direction or going the wrong wayabout it. So he genuinely cares about
the people in this community in hisown way. Okay, is it easier
to be a character on stage oryourself? My characters ain't got child support,

(13:09):
so um, it's a weird thing. People do it for a lot
of reasons. I don't know whyI do it. I know people that
do it to say they want toescape. I just always liked playing and
telling stories and being a little bitweird. So I guess being on stage
at times gives me an element ofrelief and creativity that allows me to deal

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with being off stage. Okay,I don't know if to answer your question
exactly, yes, that that did. Um. When did you first start
performing? Wow? I first startedperforming when I was around first or second

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grade, some of those little thingsyou do when I like safety shows and
little, you know, performances thatyou do for school Christmas pageants like anythin
Um. I really actually was oneof those people that I always took everything
into the teenth degree. There wasa girl because that he's like really crazy
in times of I guess whatever inthe bottom of the mouth, and I
would chase this one go around likeI was Dracula. Whenever I played something

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you're supposedly pretending, I always wentall the way in. Okay, you're
listening live to take to will beright back after this. This is Darby
or the King Pinn Morrow. Iwant you to check out my new song
Unconditional featuring Dan Smith. I'm notadmitting I know that I'm my heart is
crazy, comes trying to deal withit. I take it back because it's

(14:39):
in complicating. It was simple.We are looking for something mustad and get
Unconditional now on iTunes, Amazon,Spotify, Title and all of the major
digital outlets from FCB. Welcome backto Take two. This is beautiful Jay

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filling in for Alexis Nun again.We're speaking with Andre Cato. Describe your
acting style. Wow, I mighthave to steal that question. Describe my
acting style. Um, it's veryinteresting because I came I, like I

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said, I studied under some Russianpeople and they use people talk a lot
about method, but all the methodstuff I learned I learned from Americans.
And then improvisational classes actually teach youto almost like set a foundation, but
then leave it so it expands.And I don't even know what kind of
substance to think of it matches that, but it's so it gives you,

(16:00):
oh yes, yeah, like foamand so, and to be absorbant so
you can be observant. Those thingshave led me to I would say,
I'm kind of intense, but filmhas taught me how to like kind of
calm down. A little because youhave to be quiet for it, as
opposed to theater, where you haveto be big. And I would also
say that I am wow, thisis tough. I'm trying to think of

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my technique. I build story.I kind of go off and be an
imaginary and be expansive and get crazywith it, and then I bring it
back in. I feel like ifmy acting was painting, it would be
a mixture of Salvador Dolli and JohnMichelle Bosciott, who are also my favorite

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artists. So something that really appearsto be very close to real but then
can be stretched and warped and takeyou on the very imaginative journey that's intense,
and then something that is actually quiteabstract. Okay, but when you
look close to the details, you'relike, wow, how do you come
up with that? So I'm abstractyet intense and surrealistic. Very good,

(17:15):
very good. Okay. When yousuffer a setback, I just want to
if you don't mind it, Ijust want to thank you because I've never
had to think about this before untilnow. You're teaching me something about life,
art and myself. That's what I'mhere for. That's what I'm about
interviewing for real, when you suffera setback, how does that emotionally affect

(17:40):
you and your work? Baby,baby, baby, I'll tell you.
I will tell you. Um.Something about me I had to learn is
that when I was about i'd say, I think it was five or six
years old. I had already beentaught to read by my mother and like

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talkt to write something when you're goingto school. But I was a little
bit not to put my home.But I was kind of considered to be
advanced whatever. And I remember thatI would hear stories about how I was
a child and what I would do. I would finish my work for anybody
else, and then I would getso restless that I would rip up my
work and throw it away. Andas I developed in life, I found

(18:29):
that sometimes that can be my approachto problem solving, is going to rip
it up that or I faced acouple of personal traumas, like when my
son's mother left and I remember Iwas in the living room eating, having
pizza boxes around me, not showering, and I even neglected to kind of
go to my job. So Ihad to actually begin to learn, and
honestly, it's kind of a morerecent process, I've had to learn that

(18:51):
when I'm facing something to shake itoff because I'm deeply, utterly emotional.
I'm very kind of sympathetic and EmPATHthat other peoples stuff. So I take
that stuff onto that has something todo with me necessarily, but that then
becomes my problem of not managing mytime and energy and stuff like that.
So I've had to learn to akind of recently begin to learn when to
say no, what directions to pourmy energy into, and also what to

(19:15):
kind of let be what I letaffect me and how I let it affect
me and how long I let itaffect me. And part of that's just
been like different mentors and different peopleI have in my life that are friends
and family, different speakers I liketo check out, Like um Elliot Holtz
is a YouTube guy. I reallylike the way that he comes with some
game for men and women, buta lot of his game aim aimed that

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boys that are coming of age andmen that are finding their way et the
hip hop Preacher and even Evan Carmichaeluses these different videos to surmise different people
stuff and Ted Talks and the Bible. Because one thing I realized in the
Bible is that many times there areseasons they talk about and a lot of
time seasons for stuff like mourning fortydays and forty nights. So that tells

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me that I shouldn't myself to getstuck. But I used to allow myself
to get stuck, or if Igot if, I found myself doing something
I didn't think was effective in life, and it will give. These are
things that I'm actually learning and tryingto manage and master now I became aware
of them. Now I'm trying towork them in my life and manage him.
If I fall down. You know, everybody says get up seven times
or whatever, so that's important,which I've been able to do. Sometimes

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I'm almost at the tin count,but I do get up. But I
learned from listening to an interview wheresomeone had fat Joe and he said that
he was going in he had beentraining and getting real fitting. They're like,
oh, man, you're doing good. What do you do the holiday
seasons? He said, Look,I just take time to celebrate. And
you know, I don't penalize myselfand punish myself and beat myself down for
when I mess up. What Ido is I immediately get back up and

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get back at what my routine is. And so those kind of thoughts,
maybe think okay, instead of gettingstuck and sitting on the side of the
road, you know, either pushthe car or get out and start walking
andre And that's what I try todo now. But I have actually foiled
myself, to be honest with you, and I don't recommend this at home.
Don't try to at home by gettingstuck and standing still and trying to

(21:07):
overthink it and not just get todoing it, or by being like,
you know what're throwing up my handsor feeling because sometimes in order to be
an artist, you have to thinkdifferently, and sometimes you do kind of
think in a way that has youa few steps that had to where everybody
else is at, even when peopleyou got to deal with currently. And
so I have to always figure out, much like acting, I have to

(21:27):
figure out how to be here andnow and not lost in space in the
future or not anchored and drowning inthe deep for my past. It's a
struggle, but I'm working on.Will pray for me, y'all, We'll
pray for you. What's the biggestaudience you have had to perform in front
of I got a guy out inLA When I got there, I kind

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of ended up homeless. That's along story. I had too much time
for I went with some friends.I thought that they were down for me.
One friend in particular, I kindof have funded our trip out there.
She had the whip, the coolwhip. I sold my whip and
I paid for everything going down there, right, And she had a boyfriend
and he had all his friends,and they were dancers and dancer one of
these, etceter etcetera. They hadtheir own agenda. For some reason.
He did not like me at thetime. We're okay, he didn't they're

(22:18):
not even together anymore. He didnot like me to time. He can't
stay with us, and I endedup like solo. And at one point
I end up in a shelter inWest Hollywood, and I met a dude
from here actually, of all places, named Paul Goodwin, who now lives
in Florida as a pastor. That'smy dude, very funny cat. I
think he would have been a greatvoice over artist, among other things.
So we had gone down to umSilver Lake and there was some kind of

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festival in the Silver Lake neighborhood.Of La, which would be kind of
the equivalent of like Ohio City.Okay, so we had gone down to
Silver Lake and there was some kindof festival going on and there was like
just droves of people all around,walking here and there and everywhere, and
so they had some kind of talentcompetition and we decided to beatboxing wrap and

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that was probably for better or worse. That's probably the biggest audience now being
inside of facility, the old theaterand Garfield Heights actually coming up, believe
it or not, was actually seatedsomething like five hundred people or more,
and so we've actually sewed out thedownstairs part of that. Before. Were
you nervous? I am definitely.Back then I used to really get nervous.

(23:29):
I still get that energy, butI've kind of learned how to manage
it. And there's only like there'slike calm before the storm, and then
the energy starts kind of rolling inas you get towards the stage, and
there's this little pinch where it's likeboom, oh my gosh, you know,
because you want to do well andyou care about what you're doing,
and then I just somehow, almostlike Judo, I've learned to like roll
out energy into me to where themoment isn't as exasperating, just get nervous

(23:56):
with people just looking at me likethe faces. Well, I got a
little tip for you, Like Itold them, I was going to tell
the people that were following me onthe Facebook love before this, one of
my teachers said, whenever a coupleof things. One, you're never as
good as they say you are,or you're never as bad as they say
you are, And you have toconsider the source of who's saying this.

(24:17):
Somebody comes to a show and theysee me, of course it's all relatives
to their taste and their experience,right, But then I also have to
look at within being kind of havingwhat kind of taste do they have,
and then what kind of experience andinsight do they have to really what I'm
doing and how I should be doingit. So that's one good and bad,
right, And then the other thingis that whenever you you're auditioning,

(24:37):
whenever you step in front of acrowd or whatever, people have taken their
time and or their money out oftheir lives to be a part of this,
even auditioning. So when you comeinto the room or you step on
stage, you've been given instant credibility. Everybody looks at you as an expert,
and they already think that you cando whatever you came there to do.
And so essentially the victory is oursto lose. We've been we've already

(25:02):
certified, and then you just gottatake it like, Hey, I'm a
human being, I'm not a machine. I might make some mistakes. How
can I make those mistakes work forme in the moment? And then if
I go back and look at howathletes do, look at the game film
in my mind, how can Imake it better? Remember again that one
mistake if you do drop the ballfor whatever reason, it's just that moment.
Do you like, how do youtake the criticism? Um, well,

(25:27):
I'm not gonna do it here.But I have been known to step
up on the mic once or twice. And I remember I've been known to,
you know, get into the worldof rapping and seeing. So I
remember I made a record when timesome friends of mine at my friend's basement
studio, and I played it formy sister and she was like, you

(25:48):
don't sound right. And my sister, who loves me and supports me in
every way, was giving me herhonest opinion. And then I got friends
like Darby like you beat sweat,and so what I'm so grateful to them
for that is that they gave methe power to be like WHOA, it
doesn't really matter what anybody else says. And plus my friends will tell you

(26:11):
I'm a little bit cocky and probablywith a little tad like kind of I
can become flipping. So I thinkI got that defensive mechanism too, to
be like ah whatever. And thenif somebody really says something that actually has
value to it, and it's astrong critique where this's my life or not,
and if I don't want to hearit, I ultimately want the truth,

(26:32):
even if I don't want the truth, like I really don't want to
be hitting the gut with the truth. But I realized that that shot is
going to be the best. Yes, And so you get in your feelings
I have, and then I getout of my feelings and I step back
and I look at what they said, and if it's got something that has
value, I figure out how Ican execute and grow to become better.
This is beautiful, Jay, andyou're listening to take two. Do not

(26:53):
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(27:15):
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legal advice. Welcome back to taketwo. This is beautiful Ja, and

(27:48):
with me again I have andre ktwo. What rowth have you played in
that deeply affected you personally, perhapseven changed you in a permanent matter.
Oh my bad, Well that toomuch. That's a fantastic question. Um.

(28:14):
So as a person that is abeliever in Christ and of the Bible,
um, I will say this thatmany years of my life, I
like kind of came up as ayoung child, and I was very eager
and interested in the things of theBible. But I did not realize that

(28:37):
already in my mind and my heartand soul that I had like certain and
not even in adequacies, but certainshortcomings and short certain I would even say
the Bible will say perversions, youknow, um to where my heart was
not really in line with the waythat the word is. And for most
of my adulthood I've kind of beenback and forth on and all defense,

(29:00):
very deep and remorse from repentant andalso very eager and excited and intrigued by
it. And at other times it'svery like kind of dismisses of it or
just putting it on the shuffle andit collect dust. Right before this play,
I began to really be thinking about, man, how am I gonna
get this together? I'm not evergoing to get together. And a couple

(29:22):
of things happen. One I realizethat we are very much so powerful and
Christ abuse you with the strength andthe abilities actually grow and strong and be
better. But sometimes, like theother things we were talking about before,
it happens and handling ever sings inlife, it becomes very comfortable to do
what you've always done, as opposedto stepping out and being being where you

(29:42):
could be, where you should be, or where you where you really could
be. And I've experienced this actuallyprofessionally too, where it was like I
didn't want to be the only onein my family to like be on that
path and like feel like I wasalone. I didn't want to necess to
be the next thing, the onlyperson professionally to excel and be like I
was alone. And and with walkingin Christ, I kind of feel like
sometimes it can be a very lonelywalk, in particular to be a person

(30:04):
that's trying to be upright in anyway in society right now. I mean,
I believe in what I believe,but if you're trying to be upright,
or you're trying to be some pointthe somewhat virtuous or have integrity,
it can be struggled. But Ithought about the fact of how long will
I let the things of my fathersand forefathers burdened me? And then if
I don't interceed for those things,they will burden my son, But not

(30:25):
only my son. I consider thechildren my household to be my nieces,
my nephews. And I also didn'tconsider about the neighborhood that I would like
to be a part of helping tosalvage or the community or the world right.
And so of course obviously I haveto be the kind of person like
our leader James Washington last night.You don't want to be a fan of
Christ. You want to be afriend of Christ. I mean, I
want to be before his face atall times. So I'm in the midst

(30:48):
of a role that I got agreat friend of mine by the name of
Wesley Washington. He was a wonderfulmusician and artists and just a real true
renaissance man and gentleman. Had awife called Dianna Shaw who Washington who recently
passed away. Shout out to theirfamily and pressure of their family. And
so it was at her funeral thatI saw a gentleman that I was in

(31:12):
a play with some years ago namedJames Washington, and they were doing the
funeral procession. I couldn't say anyto him, but it wasn't the right
moment. But he was at therepass and let's say what's up, James,
what's going on with you? He'slike, hey, man, what's
up? And as he told mein the story, he said, I
was waiting for you to say whatam I up to? And said what
you went up to is like Igot a little company. It's a you
know, and that's cool, He'slike, and we just happened to have

(31:33):
a roll open and I know youcan do it. So even right now
up to the very eleventh hour,it's like got me thinking more and more
about daily just breath by breath andbeat by beat, how can I become
actually that dude, not just thedude that says he's about it, but
actually even when no one's looking insideand O, I'm really about it and

(31:55):
at certain things that you know,um, for me, I could be
transparent, like certain things like fornicationand once upon a time, even a
couple of times adultery, like tosteer clear those things. Certain things like
letting certain wounds fester to the pointdid they become a very transgressive kind of
anger, like letting those fall bythe wayside. It takes work and effort.
There's ways to unpack, like Italked about before, but it takes

(32:20):
the dedication that I'm gonna do this. And so I've just decided even something
as simple as reading my Bible ona daily basis, which I was gonna
do, and I began in twentyseventeen, like around October and which is
my birthday, and a few timesI fell off of it, but I
tried to recently be on it,and I found myself, I have a
conversation with you, I have conversationwith somebody else. And like one of
my friends a couple of weeks ago, was having some issues with his lady

(32:40):
and her indiscretions, and so wewere thinking about the Book of Josea,
when which jose is a prophet.He was told to be married and stay
married to this woman who was basicallya modern day the thought right. She
was like everybody, And that isto seek about the way that Christ views

(33:01):
and deals with the Church. Eventhough we are not really worthy, he
continues to come and purchase us andransom us from our pimps and bring us
back into which our advices and Satanand brings us back to Him. And
so I'm just trying to make surein the world that we live in that's
going mad and expressing clearly the revelationsis true, in my opinion, and
in a time where people need moreand the time where I need more,

(33:22):
and I know my son needs morefrom me, and so I'm just trying
to come to terms of that.And this play actually has made me look
those kind of things square in theeye on a daily basis. I'm not
saying I'm vanquished all my phoes,but I'm saying that I'm looking at it
scoring in the eye. I'm thinking, Okay, this is really not a
game. And to me, Hellis a real place. But even if

(33:44):
you don't think it's a real place, you're going through real things in life
right now, the person listening tome or the people listening to us,
and I would just like to encourageyou to come out and see it because
it doesn't hurt anything, but tobe introspective. And that's another thing that
helps being a good artist. Isthis good to listen to going in the
world and watch the going on aroundyou. But it's someone We have to
take time to get quiet and bestill and listen to our heart, and

(34:07):
then that will allow us to hearthat rhythm that resonates through us that's actually
part of the universe, which isthe most high created, and then we
can hear his heart. So I'mtrying to get in his veins so he
can be in my veins, soI can be different. So when I
infuse somebody's life, they can bedifferent and better and more improved. To
a man. Now, what's thebiggest challenge taken on this role. Well,

(34:36):
I'll tell you what. I havea pretty good memory. Um,
you know, I gotta sleep atme and out use on machine more so,
it's kind of it's kind of struggling, but what's one to time?
A stellar memory and very good forgetting lines very quickly. So when I
got to when I got to thepeople that there have been a couple of
guys that have had this role andthey dropped out of it for whatever reason.
So I had basically a very shorttime to get off book and get

(34:57):
up to speed. Everybody's already movingin there. They built a rhythm up
and they're kind of doing their thing, and I'm having them play catch up
to them, which is wonderful.They're great. They're very welcoming and very
warm casts. It's like being inbeing invited to a family reunion or barbecue
or something like that. And I'mgrateful for that. My director is very
patient with me, My producer workswith me. When every else is working
on their parts. I'm off tothe side working on my part, and

(35:19):
I put in some time working onmy but making feeling confident to be off
book because sometimes only takes you onetime to get into something like I've lost
lines before and you can question yourselfand kind of have that doubt, and
so getting up to speeding it upbook and feeling like I'm actually making and
helping to create and allow myself tobe out the way so a character can

(35:40):
be birthed. So when you cometo see the show, you're actually not
seeing me do a caricature, butyou feel like you're watching things on full
and maybe even seeing yourself for someoneyou know. Okay, everyone. The
show dates are Friday April six,two eighteen at APM at John Carroll University.
Saturday April seven, two eighteen,three pm at Onyx Building, Saturday

(36:04):
April seven, twenty eighteen at eightpm two two zero zero South Green Road.
Sunday April eighth, two eighteen aapm, University Heights, Ohio.
Ticket prices in advance our twenty fivethirty at the door. So please,
I encourage everyone to go see thisplay. Tell Hill I ain't coming,
and no we are not coming.You're listening to take two. We'll be

(36:25):
right back. Attention, Cleveland.I want each and every one of you
to get up and get out andhelp me welcome a new vibe. Caribbean
Vibes Bar and Grill, located atseven one four Saint Clair av start your
weekly vibes off the right way,ladies. Make sure you come out for
a man Crushed Monday, where wehave Hennessy and Patron specials all night,
Tito Tuesdays with two dollars Tito Specials. Fellas we got WCW Wing Night with

(36:50):
a live band, two dollars,Quavo shots and lots of women. Then
Thursday, Thirsty Thursdays reggae all night, dar Temples DJ. Just play six
dollars Hennis he's in a live band. Flashback hip hop. Friday Happy Hour
from four to eight two dollars Domestics, two dollars Tito's, six dollars Hennessy's
and eight dollars Patrons. Then wegot Smooth Saturday with raising reggae six dollars

(37:12):
to rock flavors all night. Malesmust be thirty and females twenty five,
So make sure you come out toCaribbean Vibes, located at seven one four
Saint Clair As, Cleveland, Ohio. Welcome back to Take two. I'm

(37:34):
Beautiful Jay and I'm feeling in forAlexis nine I still have with me andre
K two and also joining us.It's the wonderful. Yeah, Jack,
you've been doing a good job today. I really appreciate the feeling work and
showing showing everybody them skills. Youknow what I'm saying. I appreciated in

(37:58):
social she liked this question you upin here? He cool? Right right,
hey cool? Hey? Um.All I want to know is because
I missed, I missed some ofthe interview. Did she ask you about
that crazy hair? You? Areyou hearing? You know? I just

(38:20):
want to give a shout out tomy number one fan. He's almost to
stand it becomes so obsessed. DavidMorrow gonna be coming under my tube and
come into the compound drinking green juicesand letting his hair nap up like I
feel like. I feel like there'sa bird in there somewhere. Stupid.

(38:49):
I'll take all take I'll take abird. There's no bugs in there.
People think that, But excuse me, gentlemen. I would like to get
back to my question ordering the court. Hey do you do you Let's get
it. Let's get it. Gotus all the way together, real quick,
real quick. What has been yourgreatest accomplishment as an actor. H

(39:14):
Wow, that's a great question.I wasn't even trying to be funning question.
Wow, I don't know me.Ask us. Can we go to
the next question and double back tothat. You need a little bit of
time, I need a moment.What attracted you to begin a career in

(39:39):
acting? Um? It found me. I was young. Even as a
little kid, I thought, Iused to watch The Friends. You kind
of influenced by your your your influencedby what's around you. So my mom
was always kind of playful and encouragingus to play um and I was very
good at that. I mean Itook everything to the umteenth's degree. If

(40:01):
we were playing ninjas, I waslike, oh, let's take this old
pocket thing for glasses I used tohave in the eighties and take some of
these threads from our bed. Sheto make a grappling hook out of it.
And he was always like always,always in character, without even knowing
what that was. I used toactually take tapes and use different automatic toys

(40:22):
and some of that for sound effectsand do different voices and make my brother
and sister join in and make theselike episodic series. And I just kind
of found it to be a placethat was free and also, I won't
say effortless, but it just cameto me. It just it made sense.
I understood it. It was aplace where I definitely felt confident.

(40:44):
I didn't feel like I was.It just made sense. It just was
effortless, and it just kind ofI was always one of those to play.
I thought I wanted to be alawyer when I watched La Law.
And then I went to my littlesixth grade mock trial in history class and
I had found suit and my granddaddy'scloset and I came in and I had
a surprise witness that nobody knew about, and it was just I want to

(41:08):
be a lawyer. You know youdon't. Over time I realized, oh,
I want to be everything. Iwant to be an actor. Okay,
have you progressed in your acting careeras you expected? No? And
yes and so no um, becauseearly on I kind of failed to I

(41:34):
had a friend of one's asking,oh, man, what do you think
you'd be famous? I was like, oh, I'm not easily, And
that was very kind of glib andthrown away. I didn't actually lay out
a game plan in a blueprint toget there. So a lot of things
I've done have been intermittent. There'sbeen certain distractions that I let come into
my fold, different people and sometimeseven different situations, occurring debt that I

(41:54):
need to pay down, hanging outand getting with the wrong women thinking that
they or Bay or you know,the missus or whatever, and those things
came trying to take you off yourpath, and different things with different people.
That's what I allowed to happen tome. But all the while,
I never quit. So while Ididn't, I mean, I've been on
to LA. I'm accomplished some thingsthat I didn't think I would accomplish,
um and seeing things that I hadnot expected to see necessarily. But the

(42:20):
thing that happened is by keeping movingforward, you live life. And again
I get back to that point aboutbeing observant and having experiences like dealing with
this old cadre right here, eventake thinking about how you're gonna take his
blade out and cut my hair,and he already got an escape route because
he was a Belle bondsman for what'shis boy the popo talking about mister David

(42:49):
Morrow, Papa um. So thething is that all that time, I've
gotten a chance to a be hungrybecause it's not something I've always gotten to
do as much as I wanted todo it. So when I get opportunity,
i'm very like, I'm very chargedup by it. I've gotten a
chance to see more things and getto know more people and be in different
situations, and that has allowed meto bring those things into this you know,

(43:15):
one thing about this role, andI'm playing without it being too much.
They're in hell and they're dealing withspiritual forces. There's been moments in
my life where I've had encounters assuch, and so I'm actually able to
bring that into my you know.So life has made me. I've not
done as much work because i'd likeI've not made as much money as i'd
like or maybe hope to make.And I'm not sure if I made the

(43:36):
impact that I would hope i'll havemade. And maybe I'll get a chance
to do that more. But whatI have done by being consistently some pressing
forward, I've had the time togrow and see things and those things that
really would make you better. Andso now I can swing farther and hit
the ball deeper with less effort.Right, what's the last thing you do

(44:00):
before you step out on stage?Just for the record, my dad,
Damon that you've been talking about,said comb his hair. I just wanted
to make sure that got on themic. So now go ahead and continue
on worry about another man's hair.You grew up playing with Barbie. Um,

(44:30):
what you said? What was thequestion? What was the question?
Oh? What's the last thing youdo before you step out on stage?
I'm lately actually I started this thing. I never did this before exactly,
but I actually kind of like visualizewhat I'm gonna do on stage, and

(44:54):
I also take time to kind ofbreathe to some deep breathing zone out,
and I think about my character's actualhistory before I go on stage. I
got a question for you, andI don't know if you ask us already
forgive me, but do you doany kind of like studying or like monitoring
people that are similar to your characterto kind of get into the zone Like

(45:15):
are you one of those actors thatdo that? M Yeah, I actually
am one of the extras like youdo. Coming up as a child,
they would like certain classes. Iused to take a class over on coventry
and they would have us to goout and especially Coventry back in the day
with bananas, with the different flavorsof people that I was over there and

(45:37):
just watch people. And they say, Okay, watch the people and see
what they do, and then grabsomebody that's you, you know that you
think is interesting, and maybe ifthey're in the store, just kind of
follow them a little not closer stock, but like really observe them and see
how they move, how they talk, how they think. So I did
graph that in early on. Ido create a story from my person and

(45:57):
for this particular role, believe itor not, I've been going to rehearse,
listening to the clips, listening tolike a lot of dope boy music,
believe it or not, on theway into rehearsal, to get into
a certain psyche. And I dohave like friends of a family that I
know that I've been in this world, so I draw from those things.
I kind of create a composite areal and my imagination. Okay, that
makes sense. Um, what wasthe other question that we skipped from?

(46:19):
You said, what's the most impactful? No, it was I didn't want
to free has been? What hasbeen your greatest accomplishment? As an actor.

(46:42):
I know how you said you wasa backup in Friday after next it's
to two losses. One might beconsidered to be major and one might be
considered to become a minor. Um. I got a chance to get signed
to an agency called the Talent Groupwhen I first got back to Cleveland,
and I never booked anything, butall I did was audition. But out
of that I got stronger and more. I got more comfortable with auditioning.

(47:06):
I know, I don't personally likecold reading, to be honest with you,
and I don't think I necessarily thatgreat at it. Still I'm much
better than now. But I justgot comfortable auditioning and comfortable walking into the
room and not thinking twice about beingin the room, and that gave me
the freedom to actually make better choicesand be at ease. And then the
other thing was when I was younger, I had a chance of audition for
a Spike Lee movie that I wasat the time. As far as talent

(47:32):
and emotion, I was definitely verywell equipped, but as far as knowing
how to use my tools and employmy talent and even having the exposure to
some of what the movie equals clockers. I did not really know how to
read, and I didn't know howto read for the camera, so I
one hundred scent failed. But fromthat actually again learned to how to go

(47:53):
deeper, and eventually I got intosome film classes and in front of some
cameras and got more comfort with this. Okay, one last question, do
you plan on making any plays ofyour own? Oh, that's an interesting
conversation I was just having with afriend. I know she coming with the

(48:14):
fire with the fire at this point, all the stories that I would like
to tell personally, I think I'mI've been thinking about putting them in the
format of of screenplays and tell aplays, so stuff for the web,
for TV, for film. Um, I would like to actually do a

(48:37):
sketch comedy show that and I wouldlike to do that in the format where
some of us prerecorded and some ofit's live. But at this point,
yeah, as far as the storiesthat I would like to tell, I
don't know. I mean about meor just stories I want to tell period.
Right now, I'm being with allof those at this point as things
for stagents for screen and bittory ina small screen. But I might get

(48:58):
around to it. Lord Willen neverknow. Okay, everyone, I mean,
I'm I'm in here, like Imean, I understand who runs this
place. But Jackie is running thisshow beautiful. Jay is running this show
beautiful. So I'm I'm like,hey, I'm following your league. Okay.

(49:21):
Well everyone, you have been listeninglive to take two. I'm your
host. Well I'm not your host, but I'm filling in for your host
Alexis none. I'm beautiful Jay andwe have talked to andre K two.
Thank you for being here and lettingus interview you. You are great.
Thank you for having me again.I like the fact that it felt very

(49:43):
home and comfortable. You're R andD, very beautiful, thank you,
very cozy environment. And then thesewho against came in and turned into a
tribunal. I was about to say, who let him in here? I
love this place. It's very muchfamily and and oh my god, I

(50:04):
was just talking to Darby earlier aboutmy hot cousin. I so that's your
girl day fifth removed. All right, everyone, that's the show piece pizza.
Thank you very much. The FCBRadio Network first class broadcasting worldwide,