LaTanya Richardson Jackson: I'm constantly
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: designing
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: something,
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: somehow, and
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: I know that, so
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: as I
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: would think about
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: or read the
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: text, I
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: could see it.
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: And that
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: meant
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: the job
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: of the
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: set designer
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: had to be
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: close to
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: what was in my
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: brain.
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: And I
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: was successful in that.
Beowulf Boritt: My guideposts in
Beowulf Boritt: any, any production I'm
Beowulf Boritt: doing are the words
Beowulf Boritt: of the author and
Beowulf Boritt: the ideas of the
Beowulf Boritt: director.
Beowulf Boritt: So in this case, I
Beowulf Boritt: had August Wilson's
Beowulf Boritt: play and his wonderful
Beowulf Boritt: words and the story
Beowulf Boritt: he's created in these
Beowulf Boritt: characters.
Beowulf Boritt: And then the things that
Beowulf Boritt: were important to LaTanya
Beowulf Boritt: were the, the, this
Beowulf Boritt: physical presence of
Beowulf Boritt: a ghost that we see
Beowulf Boritt: and that we can touch
Beowulf Boritt: in a way.
Beowulf Boritt: And this house that
Beowulf Boritt: represents the family,
Beowulf Boritt: that has a fissure
Beowulf Boritt: in it, a wound in it
Beowulf Boritt: that closes up and
Beowulf Boritt: is healed in the course
Beowulf Boritt: of the play.
Beowulf Boritt: And what I
Beowulf Boritt: love doing as a set
Beowulf Boritt: designer is is
Beowulf Boritt: transforming space,
Beowulf Boritt: is finding a way to
Beowulf Boritt: create a set that is
Beowulf Boritt: kind of a sculpture
Beowulf Boritt: that is evocative of
Beowulf Boritt: time and place and
Beowulf Boritt: emotion and have
Beowulf Boritt: that change in the
Beowulf Boritt: course of the play,
Beowulf Boritt: and hopefully that
Beowulf Boritt: change then illuminates
Beowulf Boritt: the themes of the play
Beowulf Boritt: that the director and
Beowulf Boritt: the and the playwright
Beowulf Boritt: are trying to express.
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: I have always loved
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: Beowulf's work.
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: So when I talked
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: to him
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: about
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: what,
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: the idea
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: I had, especially
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: about breaking the set
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: and all of that- he
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: was undone
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: that I had so
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: much information.
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: So he said,
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: "you know, directors
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: usually say,
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: how do you see
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: it?" I
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: said, "oh,
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: well, forgive me for
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: that because I'm gonna tell
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: you how I see
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: it. So
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: then you can tell me
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: what you think.
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: But first, let me tell
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: you what I think."
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: And we went on
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: from there.
Beowulf Boritt: LaTanya's sort of,
Beowulf Boritt: her energy and her
Beowulf Boritt: just like saying,
Beowulf Boritt: "what about this? What about this?
Beowulf Boritt: What about this?" was
Beowulf Boritt: was great.
Beowulf Boritt: And as we started
Beowulf Boritt: talking about the piano
Beowulf Boritt: itself, I think, you
Beowulf Boritt: know, we had been talking
Beowulf Boritt: about Kara Walker. So
Beowulf Boritt: at one point I said to her,
Beowulf Boritt: what if we what if
Beowulf Boritt: we talk to Kara Walker
Beowulf Boritt: and see if she wants to
Beowulf Boritt: actually design the
Beowulf Boritt: look of the piano
Beowulf Boritt: for us?
Beowulf Boritt: And I think LaTanya
Beowulf Boritt: thought about it and I,
Beowulf Boritt: jokingly, what she
Beowulf Boritt: said is it might be a little
Beowulf Boritt: too pornographic for
Beowulf Boritt: what we want.
Beowulf Boritt: And but but I took
Beowulf Boritt: her point. And that's
Beowulf Boritt: when she first
Beowulf Boritt: suggested to me this
Beowulf Boritt: Makonde sculpture
Beowulf Boritt: that she owns.
Beowulf Boritt: And what if we had a
Beowulf Boritt: piano that somehow
Beowulf Boritt: was based on a Makonde
Beowulf Boritt: sculpture?
Beowulf Boritt: And because
Beowulf Boritt: that kind of sculpture
Beowulf Boritt: is is kind of an
Beowulf Boritt: open carving of these
Beowulf Boritt: intertwined fingers,
Beowulf Boritt: but you can see through
Beowulf Boritt: it, that is what
Beowulf Boritt: very quickly led me
Beowulf Boritt: to the thought that, oh, well,
Beowulf Boritt: then the piano should be
Beowulf Boritt: something that comes alive.
Beowulf Boritt: There should be light, there
Beowulf Boritt: should be smoke inside
Beowulf Boritt: it, there should be this kind
Beowulf Boritt: of life force that
Beowulf Boritt: begins to emanate
Beowulf Boritt: out of it as it
Beowulf Boritt: comes to life.
Beowulf Boritt: And that afternoon,
Beowulf Boritt: I sent her a picture
Beowulf Boritt: of a bunch of like
Beowulf Boritt: little candles with
Beowulf Boritt: kind of a cutwork
Beowulf Boritt: frame on them that cast
Beowulf Boritt: interesting shadows
Beowulf Boritt: on the room around
Beowulf Boritt: them.
Beowulf Boritt: And I sent that to
Beowulf Boritt: her and said, "this is what the
Beowulf Boritt: piano should do."
Beowulf Boritt: And she, I think,
Beowulf Boritt: she just wrote back, "yes."
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: I remember
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: when I asked you about
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: the scarf
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: for Mama Bernice.
Beowulf Boritt: Yes.
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: And for
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: Charles, who was actually
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: the little boy who
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: was nine years
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: old when, you know, he
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: was taken away
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: and everything. And, and
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: so you came back,
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: I said, "their faces
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: need to be prominent."
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: And there they were,
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: prominent with the
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: scarf on the head.
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: It was that kind of detail
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: that just
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: excited me to
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: no end and the fact
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: that all
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: the story that Sam
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: tells, that Doaker,
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: tells about
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: the
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: funeral for
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: Mama Esther
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: and all that that
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: is actually carved
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: in, and that's why I would say
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: the detail
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: of the 3-D printing
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: I think is
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: much better
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: than what we could have
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: hoped for.
Beowulf Boritt: Anything we would have
Beowulf Boritt: done if we tried to do
Beowulf Boritt: it with, with Styrofoam
Beowulf Boritt: or even wood or
Beowulf Boritt: something. But now
Beowulf Boritt: and over here, we've, we've
Beowulf Boritt: got to get them
Beowulf Boritt: jumping the broom, we've
Beowulf Boritt: got-
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: Mama Esther's funeral.
Beowulf Boritt: Mama Esther's funeral, we've
Beowulf Boritt: got papa boy Charles
Beowulf Boritt: as a baby-
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: Yep.
Beowulf Boritt: And we have them
Beowulf Boritt: being led away.
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: Yep. Taken off
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: of Mr. Nolander's farm.
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: So
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: there's our piano.
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: But
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: thank God it's going
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: to the Smithsonian, so.
Beowulf Boritt: So this we'll have to make
Beowulf Boritt: new for London.
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: Yes.
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: Oh, that's
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: true.
Beowulf Boritt: It's okay, we know how to do it.
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: Yep.
Beowulf Boritt: You know? We know how
Beowulf Boritt: to do it.
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: It's a play
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: that's about
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: family and
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: how we struggle,
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: and yet
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: end up,
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: as long as we're
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: connected, we
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: always have a way
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: of getting through.
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: Berniece, and
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: her brother
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: Boy Willie,
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: are at odds
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: about what
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: should be done with
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: the piano because
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: Berniece wants to hold
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: on to the legacy
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: of the history
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: of the piano by
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: keeping it
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: in its place,
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: tidy and
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: polished.
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: Boy Willie
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: wants to
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: make it a part
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: of the American
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: dream by
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: selling it
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: and getting a
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: stake in
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: the American dream,
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: by taking the money
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: and using it
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: to buy farmland
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: so that they can
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: make the money,
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: you know,
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: to turn
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: the piano over
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: into something that
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: is going to perpetuate
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: a lifestyle
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: change
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: for the family.
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: It ends up being
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: a story of
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: who this family
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: actually is
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: and how,
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: against the odds
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: of where
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: they come from,
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: they succeed
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: in life or
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: they continue to
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: succeed
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: in life.
August Wilson: Great experience.
August Wilson: I'm not an actor, but
August Wilson: during one of the
August Wilson: rehearsals, the play,
August Wilson: we lost an actor and
August Wilson: I walked through the
August Wilson: role of the actor for
August Wilson: like three days, and
August Wilson: I got to find out a
August Wilson: lot about the
August Wilson: character, just
August Wilson: portraying him.
August Wilson: So it was a very
August Wilson: valuable, very good
August Wilson: experience for me,
August Wilson: and I thought it
August Wilson: would be nice if I had
August Wilson: the opportunity to walk
August Wilson: through all the roles
August Wilson: in the cast for three
August Wilson: days, and I would really
August Wilson: feel I had a handle
August Wilson: on that.
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: The first thing I
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: wanted to do with
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: the play with
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: The Piano Lesson play itself,
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: was to understand
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: what his intention
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: was in
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: the play. What
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: I thought his
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: intention was,
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: what I saw
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: as a woman.
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: Because we
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: see things differently
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: than men.
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: And that
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: means in
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: understanding
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: as well. So
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: I wanted to know
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: what I thought
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: and could take away
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: from what
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: his actual
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: intention was
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: before I started
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: fussing with what
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: my vision
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: was.
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: So I
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: only tried
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: to
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: support
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: what I thought
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: he was doing, so.
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: That was what I knew
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: was my challenge,
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: to make sure that
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: my vision
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: and my creativity
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: and me wanting
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: to be an
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: auteur of
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: his work
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: didn't get in
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: the way of
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: what his
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: work was actually
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: saying.
Beowulf Boritt: With any set that
Beowulf Boritt: I'm doing, I'd, I
Beowulf Boritt: do tend to think of
Beowulf Boritt: the set as kind of a character,
Beowulf Boritt: how does it, not
Beowulf Boritt: that it's a living thing,
Beowulf Boritt: but it is in its way
Beowulf Boritt: to me and how does
Beowulf Boritt: it interact with the
Beowulf Boritt: actors and as part
Beowulf Boritt: of the story?
Beowulf Boritt: And so one of the
Beowulf Boritt: givens in this, from
Beowulf Boritt: the beginning, was LaTanya
Beowulf Boritt: wanted this, this
Beowulf Boritt: fissure in the house,
Beowulf Boritt: this kind of brokenness
Beowulf Boritt: of this family, in a
Beowulf Boritt: way to show
Beowulf Boritt: the mending of that.
Beowulf Boritt: Then I had the idea
Beowulf Boritt: of, well, what if we see
Beowulf Boritt: the end of a house?
Beowulf Boritt: You're seeing the gable of
Beowulf Boritt: a house, and it's
Beowulf Boritt: it's kind of broken
Beowulf Boritt: into three pieces.
Beowulf Boritt: And you see this
Beowulf Boritt: kind of splintered
Beowulf Boritt: shards of wood and
Beowulf Boritt: the houses is just
Beowulf Boritt: made of beams. It's
Beowulf Boritt: there's no, there's no
Beowulf Boritt: shingles. There's no, nothing,
Beowulf Boritt: there are some windows and
Beowulf Boritt: doors, but it's basically
Beowulf Boritt: an outline of a house
Beowulf Boritt: created in old
Beowulf Boritt: wooden beams.
Beowulf Boritt: And that, that
Beowulf Boritt: sprang a little bit
Beowulf Boritt: from this sort of
Beowulf Boritt: Kara Walker staircase
Beowulf Boritt: we'd been looking at, as
Beowulf Boritt: kind of a central pillar
Beowulf Boritt: of the house, but it
Beowulf Boritt: also allowed me, by
Beowulf Boritt: abstracting it a bit
Beowulf Boritt: and sort of stripping
Beowulf Boritt: it back to its skeleton, it
Beowulf Boritt: was the skeleton of
Beowulf Boritt: a house, so it's kind of
Beowulf Boritt: the literally the
Beowulf Boritt: bones of the place
Beowulf Boritt: these people live.
Beowulf Boritt: But, in my mind, it
Beowulf Boritt: was also kind of the
Beowulf Boritt: railroad ties of the
Beowulf Boritt: boxcar where
Beowulf Boritt: Papa Boy Charles burned
Beowulf Boritt: to death, and that
Beowulf Boritt: led us into this
Beowulf Boritt: exorcism moment
Beowulf Boritt: where suddenly you
Beowulf Boritt: start seeing smoke
Beowulf Boritt: and fire licking through
Beowulf Boritt: the floor planks of the
Beowulf Boritt: house, so the house
Beowulf Boritt: actually kind of becomes
Beowulf Boritt: a boxcar in an
Beowulf Boritt: abstract way.
Beowulf Boritt: And then in an even
Beowulf Boritt: bigger sense, it's kind
Beowulf Boritt: of the slave ship that,
Beowulf Boritt: that would have brought
Beowulf Boritt: their ancestors to
Beowulf Boritt: America. It is this
Beowulf Boritt: kind of upside down
Beowulf Boritt: hull of a slave ship,
Beowulf Boritt: this kind of blackened
Beowulf Boritt: skeleton of wood
Beowulf Boritt: that is a cage around
Beowulf Boritt: them.
Beowulf Boritt: And it's, it's
Beowulf Boritt: something that I always strive
Beowulf Boritt: to do and to varying
Beowulf Boritt: degrees, that it
Beowulf Boritt: works or it doesn't work
Beowulf Boritt: in shows. But if the
Beowulf Boritt: set is able to be
Beowulf Boritt: abstract so that it
Beowulf Boritt: is kind of a house,
Beowulf Boritt: but it's kind of a boxcar
Beowulf Boritt: and it's kind of a slave
Beowulf Boritt: ship,
Beowulf Boritt: it, it leaves more
Beowulf Boritt: room for the audience,
Beowulf Boritt: I think.. Hal Prince
Beowulf Boritt: always used to say to
Beowulf Boritt: me that he leaves a
Beowulf Boritt: lot of black space
Beowulf Boritt: on stage, a lot of empty
Beowulf Boritt: space, a lot of room
Beowulf Boritt: for the audience's
Beowulf Boritt: imagination.
Beowulf Boritt: And that makes the
Beowulf Boritt: audience become complicit
Beowulf Boritt: with the story you're telling
Beowulf Boritt: because they start filling
Beowulf Boritt: in the blanks.
Beowulf Boritt: And I mean, this, of
Beowulf Boritt: course, is the Hill District,
Beowulf Boritt: but that's just a curtain, and
Beowulf Boritt: that goes away very
Beowulf Boritt: quickly.
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: But it returns
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: during Act
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: Two.
Beowulf Boritt: During intermission, yes.
Beowulf Boritt: Yep.
Beowulf Boritt: But I also feel like we
Beowulf Boritt: talked a lot about
Beowulf Boritt: like, you know, how big
Beowulf Boritt: is this house?
Beowulf Boritt: And it's a kitchen and
Beowulf Boritt: a living room that are kind
Beowulf Boritt: of combined into one
Beowulf Boritt: space.
Beowulf Boritt: And we've got this big
Beowulf Boritt: farmhouse table that
Beowulf Boritt: a family can gather
Beowulf Boritt: around that they brought
Beowulf Boritt: up with them from the
Beowulf Boritt: south,
Beowulf Boritt: but also that allows
Beowulf Boritt: for a staging around
Beowulf Boritt: it. I think that, I
Beowulf Boritt: think even as we started,
Beowulf Boritt: you had in your mind
Beowulf Boritt: a lot of how you
Beowulf Boritt: wanted to play out
Beowulf Boritt: certain scenes around
Beowulf Boritt: the table and how
Beowulf Boritt: many people you wanted
Beowulf Boritt: to be able to sit around
Beowulf Boritt: it.
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: And the transitory
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: nature of the furniture,.
Beowulf Boritt: Yeah.
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: Nothing matched.
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: And then it was like
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: pieces that
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: came about,
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: you know, at different stages
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: of their lives.
Beowulf Boritt: Yeah, some of it
Beowulf Boritt: they brought with them, some
Beowulf Boritt: of it they found,
Beowulf Boritt: but that it was all sort
Beowulf Boritt: of nice.
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: Oh no, it
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: was nice.
Beowulf Boritt: They've made, they've made
Beowulf Boritt: like a nice home.
Beowulf Boritt: But it's not, they
Beowulf Boritt: didn't go to JCPenney
Beowulf Boritt: and buy it all.
Beowulf Boritt: The two of us kind
Beowulf Boritt: of coming together to
Beowulf Boritt: create the world of
Beowulf Boritt: this was exciting,
Beowulf Boritt: because, I you know,
Beowulf Boritt: I think I brought the
Beowulf Boritt: know-how of how do
Beowulf Boritt: we do this stripped down
Beowulf Boritt: thing that can contort
Beowulf Boritt: and create the,
Beowulf Boritt: the world that she's
Beowulf Boritt: after, but
Beowulf Boritt: she's the one who grew
Beowulf Boritt: up in something closer
Beowulf Boritt: to this world. And she
Beowulf Boritt: you know, often she
Beowulf Boritt: would say, "well, my grandmother
Beowulf Boritt: wouldn't have had something like
Beowulf Boritt: that, what about this?"
Beowulf Boritt: There was a funny week
Beowulf Boritt: where I felt like we
Beowulf Boritt: were literally trying
Beowulf Boritt: to find her grandmother's
Beowulf Boritt: china to the point
Beowulf Boritt: that, like this
Beowulf Boritt: plate with pink
Beowulf Boritt: roses on it was not
Beowulf Boritt: correct. And this
Beowulf Boritt: pink with this plate
Beowulf Boritt: with pink roses wasn't
Beowulf Boritt: correct, but we finally
Beowulf Boritt: found this plate with pink
Beowulf Boritt: roses, and that was
Beowulf Boritt: correct.
Beowulf Boritt: And I you know, and
Beowulf Boritt: she had described
Beowulf Boritt: what she was after,
Beowulf Boritt: the sort of, you
Beowulf Boritt: know, 1920s, 30s,
Beowulf Boritt: China.
Beowulf Boritt: But, but we didn't
Beowulf Boritt: have a picture of it. We
Beowulf Boritt: were just kind of shooting
Beowulf Boritt: the dark, trying to find
Beowulf Boritt: some antique china
Beowulf Boritt: that would work. But we did
Beowulf Boritt: find it in the end.
Beowulf Boritt: But what that gave
Beowulf Boritt: us was this authenticity
Beowulf Boritt: to it in a way that,
Beowulf Boritt: you know, was not
Beowulf Boritt: part of my lived experience,
Beowulf Boritt: so I wouldn't have been able
Beowulf Boritt: to do it.
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: My soul
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: was on
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: fire when
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: I saw that set
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: and once
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: I saw the people
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: in it, I've
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: always liked dollhouses
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: and put in people
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: in the dollhouses.
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: I said, "I
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: want to see the little colored
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: people inside
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: this house of color."
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: So that's
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: going to be an issue
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: for me in terms
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: of what they have
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: on. I don't
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: want them bland.
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: I don't want
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: the grays
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: and the darkness
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: of the mood.
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: I just wanted a
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: light in
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: who this
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: community of people
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: really, really
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: are. We never
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: see this side, this
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: side of
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: vibrancy
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: through the
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: horror
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: that they have to live
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: through.
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: There's something
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: that's not
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: quite finished about
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: that ending
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: for me. So
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: it's
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: like, well,
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: how, how
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: in the dialog
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: itself,
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: do we treat
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: what we think
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: has occurred
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: or what, what
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: is it that we want
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: the takeaway
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: to be,
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: of what
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: happened between
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: them?
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: And it was
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: the house, close the house.
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: The house heals,
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: they heal.
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: They can
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: - at least
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: they've got détente
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: At least, you
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: know, they come to
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: a point
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: where they
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: can be at peace
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: with each other.
Beowulf Boritt: But I feel like that was
Beowulf Boritt: from, from the very beginning,
Beowulf Boritt: that was, that was
Beowulf Boritt: sort of your approach
Beowulf Boritt: to the show. And so
Beowulf Boritt: I was you know, I
Beowulf Boritt: had to figure out how
Beowulf Boritt: are we going to do that?
Beowulf Boritt: How do we make that
Beowulf Boritt: work, you know, in a
Beowulf Boritt: way that we can stage all the
Beowulf Boritt: rest of the show?
Beowulf Boritt: And, you know, it
Beowulf Boritt: feels like a very
Beowulf Boritt: simple gesture. I think
Beowulf Boritt: the thing feels so
Beowulf Boritt: solid that I'm not
Beowulf Boritt: sure the audience sees
Beowulf Boritt: it coming, I think
Beowulf Boritt: they just think this
Beowulf Boritt: thing is here. And
Beowulf Boritt: then when all of a sudden it
Beowulf Boritt: starts moving at the
Beowulf Boritt: end, it's quite a shock.
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: And they get it. That's why
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: I think they applaud so
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: much because they,
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: they get it
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: that this entire
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: time
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: they've been trying
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: to like,
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: you know, magnets
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: that were, you
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: know, the
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: same,
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: trying to get
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: together. How did
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: they finally
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: come to a point
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: where they are
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: healed
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: enough to be together?
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: Because it's a constant
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: fight the entire
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: time, the entire
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: play
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: back and forth, back
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: and forth with them.
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: I'm just still
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: enjoying being
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: a part of
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: the actual legacy
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: of, saying, you
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: know.
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: I've directed
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: an August
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: Wilson play.
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: I grapple
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: with that.
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: I haven't had time
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: to think about what
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: it all means.
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: I'm just
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: enjoying
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: each moment
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: as it comes
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: because it's so
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: much. It's
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: so full, and
LaTanya Richardson Jackson: it's a lot.
Beowulf Boritt: At its best, what we
Beowulf Boritt: do kind of opens up
Beowulf Boritt: a new world to somebody.
Beowulf Boritt: You go in and see a play,
Beowulf Boritt: and you're seeing the world
Beowulf Boritt: through the eyes of those
Beowulf Boritt: characters, through the eyes
Beowulf Boritt: of that production.
Beowulf Boritt: And it's a world that you
Beowulf Boritt: maybe didn't know before,
Beowulf Boritt: and it's allowing
Beowulf Boritt: you to, to live in
Beowulf Boritt: it, in a time and a
Beowulf Boritt: place in a world and
Beowulf Boritt: a character that is
Beowulf Boritt: not you.
Beowulf Boritt: And so the whole process
Beowulf Boritt: was kind of that for
Beowulf Boritt: me, that I, you
Beowulf Boritt: know, this partnership
Beowulf Boritt: with LaTanya and
Beowulf Boritt: trying to bring
Beowulf Boritt: August Wilson's play
Beowulf Boritt: to life gate allowed
Beowulf Boritt: me to kind of walk
Beowulf Boritt: in someone else's shoes
Beowulf Boritt: for, for a few
Beowulf Boritt: months and see a
Beowulf Boritt: different world and
Beowulf Boritt: you know that's,
Beowulf Boritt: that's exciting and
Beowulf Boritt: it's fun, frankly.