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Transcript

Feminists Around the World: Ava Xiao-Lin Rigelhaupt · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: I'm welcome to stuff I never told you, production I
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: heard you.
• 0:18
  Speaker 3: And welcome to another activist around the world. And today
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: we are looking at the works of Ava Shaolin, Regal
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: Hopt who you know. I'm very excited because I love
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: the theater and we're talking Broadway. Annie, how many have
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: you actually gone.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: To New York to see Broadway shows?
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: You have? Right?
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  Speaker 1: How many have you seen.
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  Speaker 2: In New York?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah?
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  Speaker 1: Five or six? Five or six? Nice favorite? I guess
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: I think I can think a guess, Timilton.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I did see the I actually saw the American
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  Speaker 2: Idiot green Day Broadway show.
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  Speaker 3: This is so funny to me because I have yet
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  Speaker 3: to go to any shows Broadway, which I haven't but
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: a few times if we've been to New York, there's
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  Speaker 3: not been shows that I've wanted to go see because
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: I'm very selective and I'm old school and.
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  Speaker 1: What I like.
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  Speaker 3: But I think it's funny because you who do not
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  Speaker 3: like musicals or have said you don't like musicals, have
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  Speaker 3: seen a lot of musicals.
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  Speaker 1: I sure do love musicals, but.
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  Speaker 4: It's almost always like like you know, green Day, that
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  Speaker 4: was just pretty much the music day Hamilton doesn't stop
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  Speaker 4: for dialogue, so I'm not scared about when they'll start
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  Speaker 4: singing again, which is my real thing.
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  Speaker 2: And then a bunch of the other ones like, no,
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  Speaker 2: it's if they stop and they're talking and then they
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  Speaker 2: start singing again.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know when it's coming.
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  Speaker 3: Really, because I'm like, that's why I'm confused, as Hamilton
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  Speaker 3: is a musical musical and people usually don't like the
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  Speaker 3: singing part.
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  Speaker 1: Oh no, it's to me.
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  Speaker 2: It's just I don't and the song is going to
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  Speaker 2: start again. And then I saw, like, I saw Daniel
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  Speaker 2: Radclff's play because I like Bigga Radcliffs. It was I
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: saw that one, and I saw the recent one.
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  Speaker 1: Win Money or whatever whatever. It was a recent one. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: I think he's been another one more recently.
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  Speaker 2: This was a while ago.
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  Speaker 3: Okay, Okay, okay, this is this is why I laugh
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  Speaker 3: because I'm like, okay, you know what. I appreciate the level.
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  Speaker 3: It is a very specific dislike of it within the musical,
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  Speaker 3: which is interesting. It like it's just a nervous nervous
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  Speaker 3: That's okay, because I have friends who hate musicals because
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  Speaker 3: they just hate that they break out in song and
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  Speaker 3: just in general, they have to sing through life, not
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  Speaker 3: like why do you have to sing it?
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  Speaker 1: I'm like why not? Like I don't understand.
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  Speaker 3: Also wanted to shout out my niece Gracie, who just
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  Speaker 3: fundraised and produced and directed a show here in Atlanta
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: next to Normal, which people probably know it. It was
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  Speaker 3: pretty much sold out for a three day run.
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  Speaker 1: Really proud of her.
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  Speaker 3: Really great topic, kind of along the lines of what
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: we're talking about. Yeah, Crazy, I know, right, I gave
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  Speaker 3: a little money. I didn't get go show see the show,
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: but I was like, ah, so proud of you. My
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: mom and my sister her mother were very proud of
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  Speaker 3: her and gloded and for them to say, like, because
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  Speaker 3: it's a pretty heavy topic.
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  Speaker 1: One, so shout out to my niece Crazy. She's not
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  Speaker 1: gonna listen to this, but shout out to her anyway. Again.
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  Speaker 3: So for our Broadway nerds, we are talking about Regal
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  Speaker 3: Hop's work, which includes How to Dance in Ohio. The
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: play centers around seven young people with autism and how
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  Speaker 3: they navigate preparing for a spring formal dance at their school,
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  Speaker 3: and the play features seven actors with autism and Rego
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  Speaker 3: hopt was on as the first ever creative consultant with
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  Speaker 3: autism for the groundbreaking show on Broadway. So she broke
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  Speaker 3: some barriers there and I'd love to see it. But
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  Speaker 3: of course this isn't the only work she has been
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  Speaker 3: credited with. But before we start there, we do want
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  Speaker 3: to talk a little bit more about her. But as
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  Speaker 3: a Chinese jew Wish adoptee with autism who grew up
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  Speaker 3: in Columbus, Ohio, which by the way, was a coincidence
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  Speaker 3: with the play, raised by a single mother. And this
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  Speaker 3: is from her LinkedIn. She writes, Hello, I'm a writer, consultant,
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  Speaker 3: public speaker, and actress as a Chinese Jewish autistic, transracial adoptee.
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  Speaker 3: I shared my lived experience in a way that's easily
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  Speaker 3: understandable and entertaining for a wide audience. I can write
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  Speaker 3: and have lit my expertise for newer typical and newer
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  Speaker 3: diverse characters. So I just loved her introduction. I think
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  Speaker 3: she goes by XL rigalhopt or Ava XL and you
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  Speaker 3: can look up her LinkedIn.
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  Speaker 1: She has her information. We should really have her on
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  Speaker 1: the show, to be honest.
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  Speaker 3: But again, we look at these people, we're like, oh wow,
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  Speaker 3: and then realize later that we would love them on
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  Speaker 3: the show, so put a pin in that going on.
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  Speaker 3: In an interview with hollyod Reporter, she talks about her
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  Speaker 3: experiences growing up and another quote from her from that
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  Speaker 3: Hollywood Reporter article, my life was filled with infusion and
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: loneliness and frustration. In middle school, I was a perpetual outcast,
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  Speaker 3: like an alien that no one knew how to talk to.
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  Speaker 3: My classmates gradually stopped interacting with me. But at home,
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  Speaker 3: my mom, creative and quirky in her own right, embraced
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: my idiosyncrasies. Nevertheless, it still felt like there was an
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  Speaker 3: impenetrable gap in our communication. And it was during her
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  Speaker 3: senior year in high school that someone noted that she
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  Speaker 3: may be neud divergent and encouraged her to get an
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  Speaker 3: evaluation for possible autism. And it was just before her
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  Speaker 3: beginnings at Sarah Lawrence she began to understand and researched
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: her diagnosis. So it did come back that yes, she
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  Speaker 3: was autistic and trying to navigate this new world was
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  Speaker 3: different for her, but she was able to get some
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  Speaker 3: help in perspective in the theater world in her sophomore
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  Speaker 3: I believe junior year of college. So here's what she
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  Speaker 3: told The Hollywood Reporter. The summer after my sophomore year,
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  Speaker 3: I landed in internship with Trinity Rep, Rhode Island's Tony
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  Speaker 3: Award winning theater. There, I worked on sincerity friendly performances
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  Speaker 3: and established relationships.
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  Speaker 1: With local autistic artists.
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  Speaker 3: This experience led to a leap of faith and an
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  Speaker 3: unexpected gap year enhancing their accessibility initiatives. While scary autistic
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: people typically don't like change, this was a formative year,
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  Speaker 3: my first foray into accessible theater. It was also the
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  Speaker 3: first time I had autistic friends. Our group wrote down
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  Speaker 3: stigmas culminating in a professional performance at the Provincetown, Tennessee
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  Speaker 3: Williams Theater Festival. And perhaps more importantly, it was the
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  Speaker 3: first time I felt fully accepted and supported in the theater.
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  Speaker 1: I love that, and.
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  Speaker 3: As a theater kid myself, that says so much. Because
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  Speaker 3: we were a group, we were a mesh that came
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  Speaker 3: from every different.
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  Speaker 1: Lake, socio, whatever stance you came in with.
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  Speaker 3: Garrett's like a popular kids, Jacques, the nerds, the outcasts,
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  Speaker 3: we were all came together and it was beautiful.
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  Speaker 1: It felt like we were in our own little world.
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  Speaker 1: Outside of the high.
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  Speaker 3: School, which was so yeah, you know what I mean,
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  Speaker 3: m h. And of course this was just the beginning
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: of her walk in theater life. After graduating college, she
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: applied and worked with Disability Belongs, a program for people
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  Speaker 3: with disabilities in the entertainment world. So a bit about
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: them from their site respectability dot org. They write, the
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  Speaker 3: Disability Belongs Entertainment Lab is for disabled creatives working in development,
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  Speaker 3: production and our post production and careers as writers, directors, producers, cinematographers, animators,
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: and other production roles. So they've been around since twenty
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  Speaker 3: nineteen helping to create supportive networks and hosting labs that
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  Speaker 3: allows for collaboration, feedback, and mentorship. And one step further,
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  Speaker 3: they quote connect disabled creatives to studio executives and other
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  Speaker 3: decision makers who will provide mentorship, leading and higher employment
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  Speaker 3: rates among the talent pipeline of alumni. I actually really
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  Speaker 3: love that because we know a lot of adulthood is
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: about the people. You know, I wouldn't be here if
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: it weren't for you in Caroline, so you know, you
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  Speaker 3: gotta know some people sometimes. And soon Riegelhopt was able
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  Speaker 3: to connect with decision makers that would lead her into
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  Speaker 3: the entertainment industry. Through Disability Belongs, She's been able to
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  Speaker 3: consult on many major projects, including being able to write
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  Speaker 3: for television shows and different networks. And again this eventually
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  Speaker 3: led her to working with the Broadway hit How To
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  Speaker 3: Dance in Ohio. So again back to that Hollywood Reporter article,
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  Speaker 3: she writes, my job was to ensure authentic, autistic representation
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  Speaker 3: and accessibility in all aspects of production, both internally and externally.
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  Speaker 3: What does that mean? It means working with the writer
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  Speaker 3: and composer to ensure the script has authentic characters and
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  Speaker 3: proper disability language to having unsentsed soap in the bathrooms.
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  Speaker 3: It means creating a space where everyone is welcome, acknowledged,
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  Speaker 3: and celebrated and can thrive. Our work was groundbreaking. The
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  Speaker 3: Drama Desk Committee gave us a special award for autistic representation,
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  Speaker 3: and another gift was seeing the standing ovations and long
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  Speaker 3: lines at the stage door with autistic fans, their families
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  Speaker 3: and friends, thrilled and overwhelmed to finally see themselves on
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  Speaker 3: a Broadway stage. Again very important, and she talked about
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  Speaker 3: how accessibility is so important for audience members as well.
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  Speaker 3: In a roundtable to talk with creatives with a disability
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  Speaker 3: in theater for the Americantheater dot Org and she says
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  Speaker 3: this why how are today is in Ohio, god autistic
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  Speaker 3: audience is many nights, not just certain nights. It's probably
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: because of our show's topic, but also because we got
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  Speaker 3: the word out you're welcome here. This show and our
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: audience accessibility offerings were made with you in mind. This
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  Speaker 3: culture shift takes work, but the first step is just
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  Speaker 3: to start a dialogue with the disability community to ask
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  Speaker 3: what can we as a theater person artist do to
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  Speaker 3: be more accessible because we want you in our audience,
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: which is obviously what we're talking about. Often, you can't
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  Speaker 3: do this without people on hand that truly understand the
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: experience and what people are going through with those lived
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  Speaker 3: experiences right. And she talks even more about how the
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: director made sure they knew that the show wasn't just
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: art or just a play, but a quote piece of
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: activism and how she is really taking that heart, noting
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: that having people with disabilities being at the center of
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: the projects, including for actors, writers and others in the field,
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: be the people who truly know these stories and again
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  Speaker 3: lived these lives. She says this in the direct Talk
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  Speaker 3: podcast quote, the autism community and the disability community want
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: to remind people that whenever you make something about us,
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  Speaker 3: it should be with us, you know, as writers, producers, consultants,
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  Speaker 3: so that we can share our true lived experience and
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  Speaker 3: it can be a better show. And again, she has
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: been busy working with PBS as a writer and creator,
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: recently working on a show called Carl the Collector, which
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  Speaker 3: centers the show on a raccoon with autism named Carl,
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: and the animation.
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  Speaker 1: Is super cute, super super cute.
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  Speaker 3: I think it got canceled recently, but we know PBS
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: has its own thing going on right now, so there's
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: a lot, but you should definitely go and look those up.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: Again.
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  Speaker 3: He and his friends, Carl and his friends and families
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  Speaker 3: share their lives together, learning more about each other and
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  Speaker 3: many life lessons together, helping everyone to learn to better
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: understand each other and how to care and empathize with
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  Speaker 3: one another. She talks about one specific episode that she
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: helped in because the raccoon couldn't show empathy when something happened,
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: but had to explain why because the way that they
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: communicate could not you know, be immediate. So it was
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: a beautiful episode that she really really related to obviously
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: and was really excited about being featured. She also wrote
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: a short film following a trans Rachel adoptees experience during
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: Chinese New Year, which I am very interested in and
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: I have to look this up and I'm excited to
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: see more of her work. Yeah, we probably should have
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: her on the show have a conversation about theater world
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: and such.
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  Speaker 2: Right, yes, oh my goodness, you you would get to
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: nerd out.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: It couldn't be amazing. I would sit back and watch it.
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: I think you would nerd out about some things too.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: I have a feeling. I have a feelingly I would
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: love it. Either way, it would be great.
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: Well, hopefully we can make that happen in the future,
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: but in the meantime, listeners, if you have any suggestions
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: for this topic, if you have any thoughts about musicals.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: Please hello my favorite le miss, come talk to me.
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's you.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: You can write to us.
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: You can email us at Hello at stuff whenever build
• 12:47
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• 12:48
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• 12:51
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• 12:53
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• 12:55
  Speaker 2: Thanks as always too our super duced Christina axecutive producer,
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: my Ander Triger, Joey, thank you and thanks to you
• 13:00
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