Latest / Jersey Arts Podcast / Theater Meets Mixed Martial Arts for Hamilton's Okieriete Onaodowan in World Premiere Play

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Theater Meets Mixed Martial Arts for Hamilton's Okieriete Onaodowan in World Premiere Play · Jersey Arts Podcast

• 0:02
  Maddie Orton: Hi, I'm Maddie Orton, and this is the Jersey Arts Podcast.
• 0:06
  Maddie Orton: If you're a fan of Hamilton, he needs no introduction.
• 0:09
  Maddie Orton: Okieriete Onaodowan, also known as Oak to friends and fans, originated the roles of Hercules Mulligan and James Madison in the mega hit Tony Dominating Culture Shifting Musical.
• 0:22
  Maddie Orton: He also played Dean Miller on the TV show Station 19 and leads the new series Damascus, now streaming on Tubi, which the LA Times called a must-watch.
• 0:32
  Maddie Orton: Born and raised in New Jersey, Oak is back in the Garden State at Two River Theater in Red Bank, working on a play called The Monsters, a world premiere and co-production with Manhattan Theater Club.
• 0:43
  Maddie Orton: We talked about his new play, the intersection of theater and sports, how he got his start here in New Jersey, his TV show Damascus, and of course, Hamilton.
• 0:53
  Maddie Orton: Take a listen.
• 0:54
  Maddie Orton: Thank you so much for joining me.
• 1:00
  Maddie Orton: It is lovely to see you always.
• 1:02
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Yes.
• 1:03
  Maddie Orton: So you're in Redbank right now.
• 1:04
  Maddie Orton: Like it's not right right now, but you've been in Redbank.
• 1:07
  Maddie Orton: You're working with Two River Theater in co-production with Manhattan Theater Club on the world premiere of a play called The Monsters.
• 1:14
  Maddie Orton: What's the show about?
• 1:15
  Okieriete Onaodowan: It's a sibling love story.
• 1:17
  Okieriete Onaodowan: That's the tagline, but it's really for siblings, or even if you have cousins that feel like siblings.
• 1:22
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Two estranged siblings kind of find each other years later.
• 1:26
  Okieriete Onaodowan: The older brother, Big, he's an MMA fighter.
• 1:28
  Okieriete Onaodowan: The younger sister has gone through some things that you'll find out in the show.
• 1:32
  Okieriete Onaodowan: And uh she shows up on his doorstep, and the the play just kind of explores them reconnecting, finding each other.
• 1:39
  Okieriete Onaodowan: You find out why they kind of lost contact over the years.
• 1:42
  Okieriete Onaodowan: But it's really about um just the love you have for your family and how it just never goes away.
• 1:47
  Okieriete Onaodowan: And no matter how much time is spent apart, it's it's ever present and it just takes reconnecting to find it again.
• 1:55
  Maddie Orton: That's really nice.
• 1:56
  Okieriete Onaodowan: And like familial love is is the most healing love of all, I think.
• 2:00
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Overall, I think is the message.
• 2:02
  Okieriete Onaodowan: So it's really relatable to everyone and anyone.
• 2:05
  Maddie Orton: And do you have siblings?
• 2:07
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I do, do.
• 2:07
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I have many, I many siblings, uh five sisters.
• 2:10
  Okieriete Onaodowan: So I I get it.
• 2:12
  Maddie Orton: Five sisters, and you are the only brother.
• 2:14
  Maddie Orton: That's fantastic.
• 2:15
  Maddie Orton: What was that like?
• 2:16
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I know nothing else.
• 2:18
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Uh yeah.
• 2:20
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I I've I've learned to listen, it teaches you how to listen intently.
• 2:23
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Sure.
• 2:23
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I think when you have brothers, you can fight out certain things, but when you're only the only boy, you can't necessarily like fight your feelings away, so you have to find a way.
• 2:32
  Okieriete Onaodowan: You have you need the gift of gap, let's say.
• 2:34
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Uh so I'm grateful for that.
• 2:36
  Okieriete Onaodowan: They've they've taught me that.
• 2:38
  Maddie Orton: That's great.
• 2:38
  Maddie Orton: And you play a mixed martial arts fighter.
• 2:42
  Maddie Orton: You've done MMA before, right?
• 2:44
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I've trained.
• 2:44
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Uh, you yeah, I've trained and I've always uh been into some form of martial arts as a way of uh training.
• 2:50
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Actually, during Hamilton, I would train in jujitsu a lot, and then uh I got injured.
• 2:55
  Okieriete Onaodowan: A brown belt kind of jammed my shoulder when I was rolling with him, and that was kind of like the end of it.
• 3:00
  Okieriete Onaodowan: And whatnot, and a passion of mine.
• 3:06
  Okieriete Onaodowan: But yeah, I've always been interested in I did Rocky the Musical, and when I was doing that, I got really into boxing and started boxing, and I just kind of kept it going.
• 3:14
  Okieriete Onaodowan: So this play kind of marries some things that I love with my profession, which I'm grateful for.
• 3:19
  Maddie Orton: Yeah, I was thinking about that.
• 3:20
  Maddie Orton: Like you are in a very weird intersection of like having done Rocky, doing the monsters, you are like, I guess, one of the go-to actors who can do both theater and actual fighting.
• 3:35
  Maddie Orton: Like you actually can box and actually can do mixed martial arts and jujitsu, right?
• 3:39
  Maddie Orton: Like that's pretty awesome.
• 3:41
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Yeah, it's a it's a lovely thing to have that I'm glad I never have to utilize.
• 3:46
  Maddie Orton: But it's a good niche though.
• 3:48
  Maddie Orton: I like that.
• 3:48
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Yeah, it teaches you discipline too.
• 3:50
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I think in my sports background, too.
• 3:52
  Okieriete Onaodowan: There's a level of discipline, I think, from athletes or athletics or anyone who trains that goes into the arts.
• 3:57
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I think that kind of serves you in a way.
• 4:00
  Okieriete Onaodowan: There's a level of discipline you need in what we do that just stay on task and stay the course and hit it again and hit it again.
• 4:06
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Same thing with rehearsal, run it again, run it again.
• 4:08
  Okieriete Onaodowan: No, the not getting bored and tired of the repetition, I think, is very important in theater.
• 4:13
  Maddie Orton: Yeah, I would think it's also another place where when people say one more time, it never means one more time.
• 4:18
  Maddie Orton: Is that yeah.
• 4:19
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Yeah, definitely.
• 4:21
  Maddie Orton: What sports did you play growing up?
• 4:23
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I played football in in high school.
• 4:25
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Yeah.
• 4:26
  Maddie Orton: How was that?
• 4:28
  Okieriete Onaodowan: It was great.
• 4:28
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I fractured my femur early on, and that's kind of what led me into this career.
• 4:32
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I had a compound fracture in my my my my left leg.
• 4:36
  Okieriete Onaodowan: And because of that, A, it saved me from many concussions later.
• 4:41
  Okieriete Onaodowan: But the only other passion I really had was performing the arts.
• 4:45
  Okieriete Onaodowan: So I was that typical jock of the arts kind of thing, and then the fates kind of made the decision.
• 4:50
  Maddie Orton: I don't know if that's a typical the typical jock of the arts.
• 5:01
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I could be wrong, but I felt like No, I think you're right.
• 5:04
  Maddie Orton: But I think it's one of those things where it's like it's so cool because it like if it happens, it's like one guy in your high school.
• 5:10
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Yeah.
• 5:11
  Maddie Orton: Right?
• 5:11
  Maddie Orton: Like it's not like there are so many.
• 5:13
  Maddie Orton: It's pretty cool.
• 5:15
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Yeah.
• 5:15
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I think so.
• 5:16
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I don't know.
• 5:16
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I hope so.
• 5:18
  Maddie Orton: I was also thinking, too, it's kind of like with the MMA, with the boxing, having never done either, because I I am way too afraid, I would imagine it's a sort of thing where you also have to be similar to working with the scene partner, present and like reading that person's behavior.
• 5:34
  Maddie Orton: Is that true?
• 5:36
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Especially in jujitsu.
• 5:37
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Like, say it's like chess, because when you get to a point where you're almost not even looking at your opponent, you're literally just breathing and feeling.
• 5:45
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Like I can feel what he's doing with his legs, I can feel his arm shifting, I can feel him shifting weight in his hips.
• 5:50
  Okieriete Onaodowan: So that informs me more than necessarily what I see.
• 5:53
  Okieriete Onaodowan: You just get familiar with kind of patterns of physical patterns.
• 5:57
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Like if someone's going for an arm bar, they may shift in that way.
• 6:00
  Okieriete Onaodowan: If someone's going for, I don't know, a kamura, they may shift a certain way.
• 6:04
  Okieriete Onaodowan: If they're trying to sweep you, the better you get at understanding that language.
• 6:08
  Okieriete Onaodowan: And I think it also works in in theater, especially in musical theater.
• 6:12
  Okieriete Onaodowan: When you're doing a show over and over again, you start to sense certain things.
• 6:16
  Okieriete Onaodowan: So uh I think in in especially musical theater, everyone has that moment where something's off and everyone just stops.
• 6:22
  Okieriete Onaodowan: They can't necessarily say what it is, but we're so used to the show going a certain way, and there's a quick course correction.
• 6:27
  Okieriete Onaodowan: You have to quickly assess is it their leg, especially with dancers?
• 6:30
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Are they injured?
• 6:31
  Okieriete Onaodowan: What's going on?
• 6:31
  Okieriete Onaodowan: It's their arm.
• 6:32
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Everyone very quickly is like, all right, how do we get him off?
• 6:35
  Okieriete Onaodowan: How do we shift it to his right side if it if it's their left arm?
• 6:38
  Okieriete Onaodowan: But there's a a lot of you have to really understand how the body moves, and with your scene partner, it's the same same.
• 6:44
  Okieriete Onaodowan: It's just me and Anye, uh Mizelle, she's the other actress.
• 6:47
  Okieriete Onaodowan: We're doing a lot of physicality.
• 6:48
  Okieriete Onaodowan: So if she's injured, there's I I've gotta be able to sense it in course correct in in kind of real time, um, which will not happen.
• 6:56
  Okieriete Onaodowan: We will be healthy and no injuries.
• 6:58
  Maddie Orton: That's great.
• 6:58
  Maddie Orton: Yes, I'm knocking wood right now.
• 7:00
  Maddie Orton: Speaking about musical theater, can we talk about Hamilton for a second?
• 7:09
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Oh, yeah.
• 7:10
  Maddie Orton: Okay.
• 7:10
  Maddie Orton: So, first of all, congratulations on 10 years of Hamilton.
• 7:12
  Maddie Orton: That is incredible.
• 7:14
  Okieriete Onaodowan: It is.
• 7:14
  Okieriete Onaodowan: It's a it's been incredible to see how affected people still are by the show.
• 7:21
  Okieriete Onaodowan: At least for me, that was the most shocking and inspiring thing to see that all these years later, people are still very much so excited about going to see the thing that we did.
• 7:32
  Okieriete Onaodowan: It's not like a revamping.
• 7:33
  Okieriete Onaodowan: You know what I'm saying?
• 7:34
  Okieriete Onaodowan: It's like, no, it's literally what we did 10 years ago, but it resonates still with uh with so many fans.
• 7:40
  Okieriete Onaodowan: That's incredibly humbling.
• 7:41
  Maddie Orton: Yeah, it's funny you should say that because I I watched the Tony's performance from June where the cast reunited into that incredible mashup performance, and I felt like crying, which feels like a really weird thing to say because I was not in the original cast of Hamilton.
• 7:58
  Maddie Orton: It is, and I it was funny because I I was thinking, why do I feel so emotionally connected to this show?
• 8:07
  Maddie Orton: And I did see the show and I loved the show, but I realized that I listened to the cast recording, on which you are excellent, by the way.
• 8:18
  Maddie Orton: I appreciate it, over and over and over.
• 8:20
  Maddie Orton: And I feel like I've taken that journey with these characters and to see the original cast come together just felt so beautiful.
• 8:28
  Maddie Orton: And I was wondering if there are so many people like me who do feel so emotionally connected to the show.
• 8:34
  Maddie Orton: What was that experience like for you to realize that you are on this just very weird roller coaster of being on a massive cultural phenomenon, which I mean, for Broadway happens what, like every 20 years, maybe?
• 8:50
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Yeah.
• 8:50
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Um, it's an it's incredible because of the love we have for each other.
• 8:55
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Like what made it a great experience was because we loved each other so much for all of us to be back in the room again.
• 9:01
  Okieriete Onaodowan: That's very rare when you do something like this.
• 9:04
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Normally someone falls off or someone is recast, or if they try to get the cast back together, someone's missing, or God forbid, you know, someone is passed on.
• 9:12
  Okieriete Onaodowan: You see that with reunions and whatnot.
• 9:14
  Okieriete Onaodowan: But it was just incredible to have everyone in the room again, like it was then.
• 9:20
  Okieriete Onaodowan: That rehearsal room, that's what made it special, and because we we really genuinely love each other, you know, it's not like all right, man, we gotta get back in the room and do this thing, and like hopefully we get paid.
• 9:30
  Okieriete Onaodowan: You know what I mean?
• 9:30
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Like that changes the experience.
• 9:32
  Okieriete Onaodowan: It was just kind of like, How are you doing?
• 9:34
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Some people have kids, like everyone is grown.
• 9:36
  Okieriete Onaodowan: So it's like, yeah, we're all back in it doing the thing again.
• 9:41
  Okieriete Onaodowan: That is what is is is so special and amazing, and it's one of those things that you can't really um I think it's just the genuine love that you can't market that, you can't falsely create that, you can't, you know, and I think that's what people are reacting to, not to get too like woo-woo, but just general true energy, like the energy of putting a certain group of people together again and not swapping out a piece.
• 10:06
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I think that is just something that I can't I can't even explain and didn't realize until we're on the room.
• 10:13
  Okieriete Onaodowan: We're like, oh yeah, this is this is something special.
• 10:15
  Okieriete Onaodowan: It's the same voices you've heard then, the same tones, the same everything.
• 10:19
  Okieriete Onaodowan: And it's it's rare.
• 10:20
  Okieriete Onaodowan: It's very rare and special.
• 10:22
  Maddie Orton: I think you can feel that for sure.
• 10:24
  Maddie Orton: I think it's like a like a larger manifestation of an overtone when you're in choir almost where all these voices come and you feel that extra layer of yeah, energy, something like that.
• 10:37
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Yeah, it's like a band.
• 10:38
  Okieriete Onaodowan: It's like you can get replacement singers, but like everyone's voice is its own unique barcode, it's its own unique signature.
• 10:45
  Okieriete Onaodowan: So that blend is literally based on the voices you get.
• 10:48
  Okieriete Onaodowan: You see cover bands, they change the lead singer, they sound like them, but it's a different, everyone's voice is different.
• 10:53
  Okieriete Onaodowan: So if you get all those pieces back together, then you're like, oh, that's the sound I know from the record.
• 10:58
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Yeah.
• 10:59
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Because it is the sound from the record.
• 11:00
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Like it literally is.
• 11:01
  Okieriete Onaodowan: It's all of the same voices.
• 11:03
  Maddie Orton: Was there a moment where you realized, oh, this is different?
• 11:09
  Maddie Orton: Not so much the show itself, but just the cultural impact of this show.
• 11:13
  Maddie Orton: I mean, like, did you go from being working New York actor to being somebody where on the street you're spotted by a stranger and they go, Oh my god, Hercules Mulligan?
• 11:22
  Maddie Orton: Does that must be so weird?
• 11:24
  Maddie Orton: When did that happen for you?
• 11:26
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I mean, it it really happened after more so after Disney Plus.
• 11:31
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Okay.
• 11:31
  Okieriete Onaodowan: After it came out on Disney Plus, at least for me, I noticed that way more because COVID was one.
• 11:37
  Okieriete Onaodowan: A lot of people would be at home watching it over and over again because of the kids, so they're watching it.
• 11:43
  Okieriete Onaodowan: So I've been on set for different things.
• 11:45
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I shot this show called Damascus, and I was working with Martin Lawrence.
• 11:48
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Uh huh.
• 11:49
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Martin Lawrence was like, hey man, I need to get a picture with you from my daughter because you know she loves it.
• 11:53
  Okieriete Onaodowan: She loves, you know, she loves Hamilton, loves Hercules Mulligan.
• 11:58
  Okieriete Onaodowan: So it's moments like that where I'm like, oh, this is some, this is something else.
• 12:02
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Because people I admire, their children made them watch it like 20 times.
• 12:07
  Okieriete Onaodowan: They're just stuck at home with nothing to do.
• 12:09
  Okieriete Onaodowan: So they're watching it over and over and over and over again, you know, like when we were kids, how we watched Aladdin over and over again, or Little Mermaid, or you know, how you'd watch that VHS, like that is we were that for a whole generation of children.
• 12:23
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Um, and now their parents are walking around singing under the sea because their kid wanted to watch Little Mermaid like you know, 300 times.
• 12:30
  Okieriete Onaodowan: So that that that was a moment, and then really at the 10 year, that's when I realized, man, it really got people through some stuff.
• 12:38
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I got a lot of fan mail from folks saying, like, you know, the show helped them.
• 12:42
  Okieriete Onaodowan: But again, 10 years later, just to see people like people love Hercules Mulligan, you know, get back up again.
• 12:48
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Many people said something about that, you know, a credit to Lynn as well.
• 12:52
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Um, and the energy that I felt from that character, people were like moved by it.
• 12:58
  Okieriete Onaodowan: And that is the most impressed, that's the most humbling thing to me.
• 13:01
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Not that it was a hit, not that people love it because it made them want to turn up, but it's like I put that record on on dark times.
• 13:08
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Like that is as an artist, it's like that's what you want.
• 13:11
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I love that.
• 13:12
  Okieriete Onaodowan: You know, you want to help people, at least I think as an artist, you make art because you want to help people process, get over things, overcome things, be inspired by stuff.
• 13:21
  Okieriete Onaodowan: So that's the biggest blessing for me from this project is that it's inspired people, helped people through things, it keeps people going.
• 13:28
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Um, and it's a fun time, great.
• 13:30
  Okieriete Onaodowan: But that aspect is what makes me really proud of it.
• 13:38
  Maddie Orton: You brought up Damascus, which is a very cool premise and has gotten some terrific reviews.
• 13:44
  Maddie Orton: Do you do you want to tell people a little bit what the TV show is about?
• 13:47
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Well, Damascus is a half-hour television show that I shot.
• 13:51
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I mentioned Martin Lawrence is in it with me, and and Janet Hubbard is in it as well, the original Aunt Viv.
• 13:57
  Okieriete Onaodowan: And it's basically about a young man who is trying to process his place in life by going through experimental altered reality therapy, where he kind of experiences himself in alternate reality, alternate versions of himself to try to sort out kind of what his purpose is, um, which I think is really relatable to a lot of people.
• 14:17
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I think it's uh really necessary for a lot of young men, just to young black men, but young men in general, to say, like, go see a therapist if you're not processing stuff, talk to somebody.
• 14:27
  Okieriete Onaodowan: It's okay to say, I have no idea, and I'm trying to figure it out.
• 14:31
  Okieriete Onaodowan: That's great.
• 14:32
  Okieriete Onaodowan: And uh the response I've been getting from a lot of people is they feel that is what resonates with them.
• 14:37
  Okieriete Onaodowan: They're like, Man, just seeing someone who just is just trying to sort it out and really uncovering things and exploring things and uh being vulnerable, I think, is is really important now more than ever.
• 14:50
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I think there's a high rise in uh an archaic toxic masculinity.
• 14:55
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I think it's important to kind of promote the idea of no, you do not have it all figured out.
• 15:00
  Okieriete Onaodowan: It's okay to ask for help.
• 15:02
  Maddie Orton: I love the idea of being able to experience different timelines to sort of work through work through somebody's life and figure out, you know, what what would have been the best thing for me?
• 15:15
  Maddie Orton: What is the right path?
• 15:16
  Maddie Orton: Do you think you would do that if you had the opportunity?
• 15:19
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Is that a healthy thing or do you think we I definitely would.
• 15:22
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I read all the comments, so I'm a glutton for data.
• 15:25
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I read comments and everything.
• 15:26
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I'm just kind of like, really?
• 15:27
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Not too weird.
• 15:28
  Okieriete Onaodowan: What did you say?
• 15:29
  Okieriete Onaodowan: And then I look up their page and I was like, oh, like I like I would totally explore it all.
• 15:34
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I think uh knowledge is power.
• 15:36
  Okieriete Onaodowan: The trick is, you know, working on yourself enough that you can actively and in a healthy way hang on to all of that knowledge.
• 15:45
  Okieriete Onaodowan: You know, a battery will short circuit if it's not built to hold all the energy coming in, so it's just like fortify your battery and then take in all the energy that you can, and then you can use it for whatever you want.
• 15:57
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Um, but uh I I think I would.
• 15:58
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I think it would be a slippery slope.
• 16:00
  Okieriete Onaodowan: But I think in a version, artists and specifically actors were kind of built for that.
• 16:06
  Maddie Orton: That is true.
• 16:10
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I allow myself to daydream and say, like, well, uh yeah, what if I was in a world where there's an alternate reality and I was out of shape and I really wanted the da-da-da-da-da.
• 16:19
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Or what if I was an MMA fighter and I had an estranged sister who came and found me?
• 16:23
  Okieriete Onaodowan: You know, like we we do that already.
• 16:27
  Okieriete Onaodowan: And we hold that space to be like, oh, this is my what I would feel like in that situation, because you have to believe it for the audience to believe it.
• 16:35
  Okieriete Onaodowan: So I think I totally would embark on alternate realities and versions of myself to see and understand like myself fully.
• 16:44
  Maddie Orton: Are you saying that you read the comments like people are saying this is what I would do or I wouldn't do this, or this is a good idea?
• 16:49
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Oh, I'm just saying I'm a mascist.
• 16:50
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I read the comments for everything.
• 16:51
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I know some people are like, I'm never reading comments for stuff online.
• 16:54
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Yeah, like if I'm on Instagram or something, the first thing I was like, what are what is all the madness?
• 16:59
  Okieriete Onaodowan: What are people saying?
• 17:00
  Maddie Orton: And so people talk about Damascus and they say, like, this is a good idea or not a good idea.
• 17:03
  Maddie Orton: Yeah, yeah.
• 17:04
  Okieriete Onaodowan: For Damascus, the comments are great.
• 17:06
  Okieriete Onaodowan: It's just love.
• 17:06
  Okieriete Onaodowan: People are happy about it, they really want a season two.
• 17:09
  Okieriete Onaodowan: They're they're wondering, well, you know, is it coming?
• 17:11
  Okieriete Onaodowan: What's happening with the show?
• 17:13
  Okieriete Onaodowan: And the comments are are just saying like they really appreciate seeing this character go on this journey.
• 17:19
  Maddie Orton: Yeah, it's cool.
• 17:20
  Okieriete Onaodowan: And I think a lot of people right now would love to dip into an alternate reality to see what the world is like if it were different, to see what how they would react to things uh uh differently, and uh are just seeking guidance on like what am I supposed to do?
• 17:34
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Yeah, how am I supposed to be?
• 17:37
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Let's find out.
• 17:38
  Maddie Orton: That's cool.
• 17:39
  Maddie Orton: And you mentioned that you're working with some very cool people in this project, but what if it was just Martin Lawrence?
• 17:44
  Maddie Orton: Like, did you grow up watching Martin Lawrence?
• 17:47
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Yeah, I grew up watching Martin, and I love Bad Boys, and all of his stand-ups are classic and a deaf comedy jam.
• 17:53
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I would watch, and he was a host for the longest time.
• 17:56
  Okieriete Onaodowan: And uh he was just great and gracious.
• 17:58
  Okieriete Onaodowan: He dove right in, uh, no ego at all.
• 18:01
  Okieriete Onaodowan: He's like, let's figure it out.
• 18:02
  Okieriete Onaodowan: He would let me play, you know, a couple times.
• 18:05
  Okieriete Onaodowan: He'd be like, Hey man, you're funny.
• 18:06
  Okieriete Onaodowan: You're funny, you you're funny, kid.
• 18:09
  Maddie Orton: And I'm like, I feel like I could die happy if somebody like Martin Lawrence was like, You're funny.
• 18:14
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I think it's great.
• 18:14
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I just I just want the show to take off so we can have interviews and that can be spread out to the world.
• 18:19
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Yeah, but he was great, and and Janet was awesome, again, gracious, she's a legend, and they both were just kind of like, let's play, let's let's find the scene, let's figure it out, and very collaborative, which you don't always find sometimes with with you know living legends, you know, sometimes there's ego, but neither of them had that.
• 18:38
  Okieriete Onaodowan: They really just wanted to make the best version of the show that they could.
• 18:42
  Maddie Orton: I would think between Hamilton and Damascus and all the work you've done at this point, that you have met a lot of Living Legends.
• 18:50
  Maddie Orton: Do you ever get starstruck or are you cool with it?
• 18:55
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I'm pretty cool with it because I'm meeting them in the context of like what I do.
• 19:00
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Like I love this.
• 19:01
  Okieriete Onaodowan: So the only time was like maybe after like Hamilton, if someone's hanging out, you know, Dave Chappelle, love Dave Chappelle.
• 19:10
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Oh my gosh.
• 19:10
  Okieriete Onaodowan: But even then, it's still like, oh, I just like this is home for me.
• 19:14
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Like I'm on stage, this is where I'm like I belong, this is where I feel most comfortable.
• 19:19
  Okieriete Onaodowan: So um, not not not not so much.
• 19:22
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I'm I'm I've tried to just recognize every person I admire as just a person, you know, and it starts with your parents, they're just people.
• 19:33
  Maddie Orton: That's a hard lesson, too.
• 19:34
  Okieriete Onaodowan: It's a tough one, you know, and that you still digest.
• 19:37
  Okieriete Onaodowan: But early on, I was just kind of like, you know, are my parents are people and they did the best they could, and no one bats a thousand.
• 19:45
  Okieriete Onaodowan: And I really try to carry that with any other human being.
• 19:47
  Okieriete Onaodowan: There's nothing a human being in this world, there's nothing they can do that you can't do.
• 19:52
  Okieriete Onaodowan: But like Damascus, you just there's a reality where you had the same circumstances that allowed you to do that.
• 20:03
  Maddie Orton: You were a young artist in New Jersey.
• 20:06
  Maddie Orton: Tell me about how you got involved in theater growing up and where you're from.
• 20:10
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Uh yeah, I'm from New Jersey.
• 20:12
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Originally from uh I graduated from West Orange High School, but born and raised in Newark.
• 20:16
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Uh, shout out to East Orange uh for toughening me up.
• 20:19
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Yeah, uh, I know you from Rutgers University.
• 20:23
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Are you rah-rah?
• 20:24
  Okieriete Onaodowan: That's right.
• 20:24
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Ra-rah, where I was kicked out of Rutgers.
• 20:26
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Did not graduate from New York.
• 20:29
  Maddie Orton: And no one ever heard from you again.
• 20:30
  Okieriete Onaodowan: No one ever heard from me again, you know.
• 20:33
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Uh it's college or bust kids.
• 20:36
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Uh, but yeah, that's that's the background.
• 20:38
  Okieriete Onaodowan: It's very meteoric rise.
• 20:39
  Okieriete Onaodowan: You know, I worked in the fringe festivals, did every random downtown show you could think of, and did the first national of American idiot detour.
• 20:46
  Okieriete Onaodowan: That's the first Broadway debut, didn't have a line, understudied everybody, Serena de Bergerac with Jamie Lloyd.
• 20:52
  Okieriete Onaodowan: That's how I know Jamie Lloyd.
• 20:53
  Okieriete Onaodowan: We've known each other for a very long time.
• 20:55
  Okieriete Onaodowan: So it was very boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop to rock and the musical, to Hamilton, to like all of it has just been just working hard and and and always chasing what moves me as an artist.
• 21:07
  Maddie Orton: How did you find theater originally?
• 21:09
  Maddie Orton: Like, what was your first moment where you were like, I think I want to do this, or the first show that you got to do?
• 21:14
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Oh, the first play I ever did was Bye bye Birdie in Middle School.
• 21:17
  Maddie Orton: Oh, stop it.
• 21:18
  Maddie Orton: I did bye bye birdie in middle school.
• 21:20
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I was one of the bodyguards.
• 21:22
  Maddie Orton: You were what?
• 21:23
  Maddie Orton: And one of the bodyguards of the sorry, you you did not have lines in your stop it.
• 21:32
  Okieriete Onaodowan: No, I never really did.
• 21:33
  Okieriete Onaodowan: No.
• 21:34
  Maddie Orton: That's wild.
• 21:35
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Yeah, in high school, it's uh I was kind of like the jag of all trades.
• 21:39
  Okieriete Onaodowan: So in high school, the theater director Sandy Van Dyke, she would be like, I would just plug in.
• 21:45
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I work crew, I would work backstage, do stage crew, and then on stage she'd be like, I need someone here, or I need someone to do this.
• 21:52
  Okieriete Onaodowan: And I would just kind of like plug in.
• 21:55
  Okieriete Onaodowan: So that kind of started my whole character actor.
• 21:59
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I think some would consider me me trying to be many different characters.
• 22:03
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Most of the roles I play are very different from each other, which I like, and I try to keep that going.
• 22:08
  Okieriete Onaodowan: They're all just wild, wildly different.
• 22:10
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Um, but that's where it started.
• 22:12
  Maddie Orton: How did you go from stage crew to being put in there to saying, actually, I like being on stage?
• 22:17
  Maddie Orton: What was the show that did that for you?
• 22:19
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I was really in football when I got injured.
• 22:21
  Maddie Orton: So well you were like, This is my fallback.
• 22:24
  Maddie Orton: I think I'll just go to Broadway.
• 22:26
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I wanted to play ball.
• 22:27
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I was an inside linebacker, and in in my brain, like that's what I was gonna do.
• 22:31
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Right.
• 22:31
  Okieriete Onaodowan: The coaches were kind of like, I never played pop horn or anything, so I really started in high school, and the coach was like, Yeah, you know, we we want to teach you everything and learn everything, and you'll be really great.
• 22:40
  Okieriete Onaodowan: And then when I uh I got injured, that kind of shifted.
• 22:43
  Okieriete Onaodowan: It shifted all of it.
• 22:45
  Okieriete Onaodowan: And I was like, I couldn't walk for six months.
• 22:47
  Okieriete Onaodowan: I just had to physically I was not able to be as athletic as I wanted to, so it was like, Well, what am I gonna do now?
• 22:53
  Okieriete Onaodowan: And the only other passion I really had was well, not only passion, but the only place that would take me really was was theater.
• 22:59
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Like academia I wasn't really strong in, and and that's the only place that I felt home.
• 23:03
  Okieriete Onaodowan: And there's a level of performance in sports that you get also in theater, you know.
• 23:08
  Okieriete Onaodowan: There's a camaraderie in sports that you also have in theater.
• 23:11
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Like when that ball is snapped on the field, it's just this the dudes, the 12 dudes that are with you.
• 23:16
  Okieriete Onaodowan: It's like we gotta figure this out.
• 23:18
  Okieriete Onaodowan: And in theater, same thing.
• 23:19
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Lights up, it's like it's just us on this stage.
• 23:21
  Okieriete Onaodowan: If something goes wrong, we gotta have each other's back.
• 23:23
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Still hundreds of people watching you.
• 23:26
  Okieriete Onaodowan: So there are a lot of similarities there that I'm realizing now.
• 23:29
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Unbeknownst to me.
• 23:31
  Maddie Orton: You mentioned your theater teacher.
• 23:33
  Maddie Orton: Was she a big part of your sort of artistic awakening?
• 23:37
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Oh, huge, huge.
• 23:38
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Yeah, Sandra Van Dyke, she was huge.
• 23:40
  Okieriete Onaodowan: She really brought a professional element to our high school that was not there before.
• 23:44
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Taking us to competitions, making sure we understood um the discipline needed, you know, in terms of like, you know, rehearsal, rehearsal, rehearsal, always have your lines down.
• 23:54
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Like you just have to work on work on it.
• 23:56
  Okieriete Onaodowan: She got a lot of flack, but she didn't believe in seniority.
• 23:59
  Okieriete Onaodowan: She was just kind of like, whoever's great gets it.
• 24:02
  Okieriete Onaodowan: If you're a freshman, you're great, you get the role.
• 24:03
  Okieriete Onaodowan: If you're senior, you're not great, you're not getting it.
• 24:06
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Because you she really wanted to build the best show and really taught discipline, like serious discipline.
• 24:12
  Okieriete Onaodowan: And because of her, uh, I I really that is what allowed me to have the work ethic I needed, I think, to be successful in this industry.
• 24:21
  Maddie Orton: Yeah, I know that you are now paying it forward and you're helping with kids who love theater.
• 24:26
  Maddie Orton: Tell me a little bit about that.
• 24:28
  Okieriete Onaodowan: So American Young Voices, someone reached out to me.
• 24:31
  Okieriete Onaodowan: It's uh an amazing uh organization.
• 24:33
  Okieriete Onaodowan: What they do is they go to schools all over the world and all over New Jersey, but they're focusing specifically in Newark.
• 24:40
  Okieriete Onaodowan: And since I was born in Newark, someone reached out to me and I and I went, I saw a show that they did, and I was so inspired.
• 24:45
  Okieriete Onaodowan: And they get, I think it's middle school, elementary school, and middle school kids, maybe like two or three thousand.
• 24:50
  Okieriete Onaodowan: They go to many different high schools, they give them music to learn, and then they have a concert.
• 24:55
  Okieriete Onaodowan: So the kids have an experience of performing at the prudential center, you know, being backstage, getting what it what that experience is like, and all the parents for free are invited.
• 25:04
  Okieriete Onaodowan: They bust all the kids in, they provide all the kids with meals and so on and so forth.
• 25:07
  Okieriete Onaodowan: The parents can can they all sit down and watch their kids like on stage perform, and they normally have like guest singers come in, and it's it's it's it's really incredible.
• 25:17
  Okieriete Onaodowan: And uh after I saw the show, I said, Man, I would I would love to be involved.
• 25:20
  Okieriete Onaodowan: So I'm working with them on like a fundraiser to help raise money to help support the kids, support the buses and the food and and all the things they need to facilitate on December 8th.
• 25:31
  Maddie Orton: And people can look up American Young Voices if they want to learn more about that.
• 25:34
  Maddie Orton: Yeah, very cool.
• 25:35
  Maddie Orton: Uh Oak, you're the best.
• 25:36
  Maddie Orton: Thanks so much for making the time.
• 25:38
  Maddie Orton: I appreciate it.
• 25:39
  Maddie Orton: And and great luck with the monsters.
• 25:40
  Maddie Orton: Sounds like an amazing show.
• 25:42
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Yeah, Monsters at Two River Theater with a co pro with MCT.
• 25:46
  Okieriete Onaodowan: So come check us out, bring your siblings and have a good cry.
• 25:50
  Maddie Orton: Thanks for being here.
• 25:51
  Okieriete Onaodowan: Thanks for having me.
• 25:53
  Maddie Orton: Thanks to Oak for joining me.
• 25:55
  Maddie Orton: The Monsters runs from November 5th through the 23rd at Two River Theater.
• 26:00
  Maddie Orton: For more information, visit TwoRiverTheater.org.
• 26:02
  Maddie Orton: That's theater with an ER.
• 26:04
  Maddie Orton: If you liked this episode, be sure to give us a review, subscribe, and tell your friends.
• 26:09
  Maddie Orton: A transcript of this podcast, as well as links to related content and more about the arts in New Jersey, can be found on jerseyarts.com.
• 26:17
  Maddie Orton: The Jersey Arts Podcast is presented by Art Pride New Jersey, advancing a state of creativity since 1986.
• 26:24
  Maddie Orton: The show is co-founded by and currently supported by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.
• 26:29
  Maddie Orton: This episode was hosted, produced, and edited by yours truly, Maddie Orton.
• 26:34
  Maddie Orton: Executive producers are Jim Atkinson and Isaac Serna Diez.
• 26:38
  Maddie Orton: Special thanks to Oak and Two River Theater.
• 26:40
  Maddie Orton: I'm Maddie Orton for the Jersey Arts Podcast.
• 26:42
  Maddie Orton: Thanks for listening.