>> Stephen: HEY, EVERYBODY, WELCOME BACK.
MY NEXT GUEST IS A TONY AWARD-WINNER YOU KNOW FROM "THE
WIRE," "TREME," AND "JACK RYAN." HE NOW STARS AS WILLY LOMAN IN
THE BROADWAY REVIVAL OF "DEATH OF A SALESMAN."
PLEASE WELCOME WENDELL PIERCE! HEY, WENDELL.
>> THIS GREAT. >> Stephen: NICE TO YOU HAVE
ON, NICE TO MEET MEET YOU FIEJLY.
>> NICE MEETING YOU, THIS IS MY FIRST TIME ON THE A LATE NIGHT
SHOW AND STARTING OUT WITH MY FAVORITE, THE BEST.
>> Stephen: THIS IS SHOULD BE AN EASY TRANSITION FOR TO YOU
LATE NIGHT BECAUSE HERE ARE YOU ON A BROADWAY THEATER, NOT
EVERYBODY HAS THIS FOR A LATE NIGHT SHOW.
AND FANS, LIKE MYSELF HAVE ENJOYED YOU ON JACK RYAN AND THE
WIRE, BUT YOU'RE ALSO A STAGE ACTOR.
>> YES. >> Stephen: 37 YEARS AGO MADE
YOUR BROADWAY DEBUT IN WHAT WAS THE PLAY.
>> THE VOID OF WINTER. IT WAS A VIETNAM PLAY.
IN THAT ERA, VERY CERTIFICATEIOUS.
THE LIGHTS GO DOWN AND THEY'RE READY FOR BROADWAY PLAY.
AND THEN WE WOULD COME IN SHOOTING M-16S.
PEOPLE WENT CRAZY, WE DIDN'T LAST THAT LONG.
>> Stephen: NOW YOU ARE STARRING AS WILLY LOMAN AS INN
DEATH OF A SALESMAN, ONE OF THE GREAT TRAGEDIES OF THE 20th
CENTURY. BUT ARTHUR MILLER.
AND BUT THIS IS ACTUALLY THE FIRST TIME THERE HAS BEEN AN
ALL-BLACK LOMAN FAMILY. >> RIGHT.
>> Stephen: WHAT DOES THE BLACK EXPERIENCE IN AMERICA-- ,
WHAT IS THE BLACK EXPERIENCE IN AMERICA BRING TO THOSE ROLLS AS
WE HAVEN'T SEEN BEFORE? >> ALL OF THE THEMES WE ARE
DOING THE PLAY AS IT IS. NOTHING HAS CHANGED EXCEPT FOR A
FEW SLIGHT THINGS. WE'RE DOING DEATH OF A SALESMAN
AND ALL OF THE SCENES, ALL OF THE CONFLICT THAT WAS ORIGINALLY
IN THE PLAY, THAT IS PART OF THE PLAY, THE CONDEMN NATION OF THE
PURSUIT OF MATERIALISM AND WEALTH AND CAPITALISM AND HOW
YOU CAN LOSE SIGHT OF THAT AS A MAN WHO IS PURSUING THIS SORT OF
DELUSIONAL APPROACH TO SOMETHING THAT HE DOESN'T UNDERSTAND THE
FIRST WEALTH IN LIFE IS THE LOVE OF FAMILY, AND NOT MATERIALISM.
AND IT IS HEIGHTENED THAT UNOBTAINABLE AMERICAN DREAM IS
HEIGHTENED WHEN THERE ARE SO MANY BLACK FAMILIES, ESPECIALLY,
AND IN 19 HOSS, 1949 YOU SEE ALL OF THIS, ALL OF THE INSULTSES
AND VIOLENCE OF MICROAND MACRO AGGRESSIONS THAT ARE PART OF
RACISM. COULD YOU NOT GET ALONG TO EVEN
PURSUE GETTING A HOUSE. COULD YOU NOT BE OBTAINING ANY
OF THE AMERICAN DREAM THAT WAS THERE.&
AND EVERY NIGHT I THINK ABOUT ALL OF THE GENERATIONS OF PEOPLE
WHO MADE A WAY OUT OF NO WAY. AND IN SPITE OF IT ALL, THEY
STILL GAVE HOPE TO THEIR FAMILIES.
AND THAT WAS THE ONE THING THAT WILLY FIGHTED FOR, HE IS
FIGHTING NO MATTER WHAT. IT IS ALL OF THE OBSTACLES THAT
ARE PLACE NDZ FRONT OF HIM. HE STILL FEELS AS THOUGH HE CAN
GIVE HIS FAMILY AND HIS SONS ESPECIALLY SOMETHING AGE LEAVE
BACK A LEGACY. BUT HE DOESN'T REALIZE THAT IF
HE WOULD JUST TAKE THE BLINDERS OFF, THE LEGACY OF LOVE THAT HE
HAS GIVEN HIS FAMILY IS A THING THAT HE SHOULD BE PROUDEST OF.
AND IT IS A THING THAT IS OBTAINABLE AND TANGIBLE AND NOT
JUST THE PURSUIT OF THE ILLUSIONARY AMERICAN DREAM THAT
IS UNOBTAINABLE FOR SO MANY PEOPLE, YOU KNOW, THE CAR OT ON
THE STICK THAT DRAWS YOU IN BUT ULTIMATELY DISAPPOINTS YOU.
IT IS TIMELESS BECAUSE YOU GO THROUGH THAT NOW, THAT GULF
BETWEEN THES HAVE AND HAVE-NOTS. AND HOW SO MAIN PEOPLE ARE
PUSHED ASIDE AND NOT GIVEN AN OPPORTUNITY TO STREULY FULFILL
THEIR ENTIRE HUMANITY, AT THE EXPENSE OF THE FEW TO GIVE THOSE
FEW RICH FOLKS SOME EASE SO MANY PEOPLE ARE EXTENDED, AND ARE
EXPENDABLE. AND THAT WAS THE CONDEMN NATION
AND THE CAUTIONARY TALE THAT ARTHUR MILL CERTIFICATE WRITING
T SAUL HEIGHTENED WHEN THIS AFRICAN-AMERICAN FAMILY, BECAUSE
WE UNDERSTAND THAT SO MUCH OF IT WAS INSTITUTIONALIZED WITH
SEGREGATION AND JIM CROW, I'M FROM NEW ORLEANS, SO YOU KNOW
EVEN WHEN I WAS GROWING UP IN THE '60S AND 70S THERE WERE JUST
VESTAGES OF THAT IN SEGREGATED SOUTH AT THAT TIME, SEGREGATED
AMERICA, YOU COULDN'T EVEN GO TO A PARK, A GREEN SPACE IN NEW
ORLEANS EXCEPT ONE DAY OUT OF THE WEEK.
NEGRO DAY, AND IT WAS ADVOCACIES OF ALL OF THESE AMERICANS WHO
SAID OUR VALUES ARE SO MUCH BETTER AND SO MUCH MORE.
AND THAT IS WHAT ARTHUR MILLER REALLY HEIGHTENS.
DO NOT CRUSH THIS AMERICAN FAMILY WITH THIS IDEA OF THE
UNON THIBLE DREAM AND LET THIS BE THE CANARY IN THE MINE THAT
WE WON'T LOSE THIS WONDERFUL COUNTRY WE HAVE.
(APPLAUSE) >> WE ONLY HAVE A MOMENT MORE
HERE. BUT MI GOING TO ASK YOU A BIG
QUESTION. >> OKAY.
>> Stephen: AND THAT IS ABOUT TRAGEDY ITSELF.
WHAT DO YOU THINK, WHAT DO YOU THINK TRAGEDY, IS IT TRULY A
TRAGIC STORY BUT ONE THAT IS EMOTIONALLY CATH ARTIC LIKE A
GOOD TRAGEDY SHOULD BE? WHAT DO YOU THINK THE PURPOSE OF
TRAJEE IS IN OUR LIVES, PEOPLE UNDERSTAND WHY THEY GO TO A
COMEDY, WHY DO THEY GO TO A TRAGEDY.
>> AS I SAID BEFORE, IT IS THE CAUTIONARY TALE, THERE BUT BY
THE GRACE OF GOD THERE GO I. DON'T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKES OF
HUBRIS THAT A MAN LIKE WILLIE MAKES, THAT IS WHY WE GATHER IN
A THEATER, WE TOSS AND TURN AND REFLECT OUR OWN LIVES, OUR
TRIUMPHS, YOU KNOW, OUR DISAPPOINTMENTS, WHERE WE HOPE
TO GO. WE GATHER LIKE THIS, SO WE
COLLECTIVELY CAN REFLECT ON WHO WE ARE, WHERE WE ARE GOING, WHAT
ARE OUR VALUES, STEPHEN. AND THEN COLLECTIVELY DECIDE
WHAT THEY ARE AND THEN LEAVE THIS THEATER AND GO THROUGH
THOSE DOORS AND TRY TO ACT ON THEM.
AND THAT IS WHAT TRAGEDY IS ABOUT.
THIS IS WHAT THE HUMAN CONDITION IS AND IF YOU MAKE THESE
CHOICES, IT CAN DESTROY YOUR LIFE.
SO LEARN FROM THAT. LET'S THIS BE A CAUTIONARY TALE
SO YOU CAN DO BETTER. AND IT IS SO EMBLEMATIC OF WHAT
THIS PLAY WAS AND THE EXPERIENCE I HAVE PERSONALLY.
BECAUSE MY FATHER, 97 YEARS OLD, WAS AT THE OPENING LAST NIGHT,
RIGHT (APPLAUSE)
THIS AFRICAN-AMERICAN MAN WHO SAW, LOVED HIS COUNTRY WHEN THE
COUNTRY DIDN'T LOVE HIM BACK. BUT STILL SAID TO US, YOU CAN'T
GET LOST IN AMERICA. LITERALLY AND FIGURATIVELY, GO
OUT AND DO WHATEVER YOU CAN TO FULFILL YOUR DREAM.
AND LAST NIGHT HE CAME TO NEW YORK AROUND THE TIME THIS PLAY
WAS WRITTEN. AND THE CHOICE HE MADE INSTEAD
OF WHAT WILLY MADE WHICH WAS A TRAGIC CHOICE ON WILLIE'S POINT,
MY FATHER CHOSE TO COME HOME AND THE ONE PROMISE HE MADE TO HIS
SONS IS I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU. AND HE GAVE ME LOVE AND HE GAVE
ME TIME. AND THAT ALLOWED ME TO FLY.
>> SO LOVELY TO TALK TO YOU, THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE.
>> DEATH OF A SALESMAN IS ON BROADWAY NOW AT THE HUDSON
THEATER, WENDELL PIERCE, EVERYBODY.
WE'LL BE RIGHT BACK.