Latest / The Breakfast Club / Replay: More Than an Actor_ Marcus Callender on Writing, Producing & Being a True Creati (2)

Transcript

Replay: More Than an Actor_ Marcus Callender on Writing, Producing & Being a True Creati (2) · The Breakfast Club

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: All right, y'all, we're going to get back in to
• 0:01
  Speaker 1: part two.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: I'm Lauren LaRosa.
• 0:02
  Speaker 3: This is the latest with Lauren LaRosa, which is your
• 0:05
  Speaker 3: daily dig on all things.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Pop culture, entertainment news, and all of the conversations that
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: shake the room.
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: We've been having a conversation with creator, storyteller, actor, director,
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: and writer Marcus Callender. He played Oliver Power Grant, or
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: you may remember him if you've watched Ghost. Power Book 2,
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: he played Ray Ray. Y'all remember, we lost Raina, baby Raina,
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: because of Ray Ray. Now tap in as we get
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: into the final part of our conversation about how he
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: stuck it out.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: Good, bad, ugly. They say the power actors don't get
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: more jobs, but he stuck it out.
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: And now he is bringing spades to play to life
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: on stage here in New York. And you guys get
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: an exclusive listen of what the inspiration was. So talk
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: to us about why spades? Like, I know you said
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: you walked into a place one time in LA and
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: people were playing spades. You're like, I got to get
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: back to it. But originally, like, why write a play
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: about spades? Like, why is that? This is like your
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: passion project. And also tell us about, you know, briefly,
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: what is the story? What is the log line of
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: the play?
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: What is the story? Okay. Before I tell you that,
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: here's another thing, too, for people to know.
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: When I was putting that reading together last year, my
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: agent dropped it.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: That also happened.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: How does... So what happened... When you say they robbed you, like, how?
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: Because I be watching my money, like....
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: I mean, but I'm also... I.
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: Mean, I'm not a regular series on a network show
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: or a streaming platform show, so my checks maybe not
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: like yours, but I be.
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: No. I'm in all of it. Like, yo, what's up?
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: So while I was getting ready to put this reading together,
• 1:56
  Speaker 4: I woke up from a nap and my agent calls me.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: I'm thinking I.
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: Booked something because that's the only time they call you.
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: He's like, yeah, unfortunately, we're going to have to let
• 2:06
  Speaker 4: you go. Because due to the writer's strike, a lot
• 2:08
  Speaker 4: of things were cut.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, agents were also being fired too.
• 2:11
  Speaker 4: Agents were being fired. The rosters are getting smaller. And
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: I was with a big agency. So I knew it
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: was going to happen. I was like, if I don't
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: book something, they probably going to drop me. Which is
• 2:22
  Speaker 4: really fucked up because I just did three seasons of
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: a show.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: Where y'all getting that money.
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: Y'all so quick to drop me because I'm not working
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: off of a writer's strike.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: That's crazy.
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: But at the same time, I didn't even react crazy.
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: I didn't ask questions. I just said, okay, cool. Because
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: I knew it was all a part of the plan.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: All a part of God's plan.
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: Because I knew that that had to be cleared away
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: in order for me to really dive in.
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: Because now I don't have an agent. Now I don't
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: have any reps. So I'm not.
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: Auditioning for anything. So I have no choice but to
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: focus on this.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: So... It was a blessing in disguise. You know what
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: I mean? But it was also my first time not
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: having reps.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: Well, you said they robbed you. No, no, no, no.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: They dropped me.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: Oh, dropped you. I thought you said they robbed you. No, no, no, no.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: What did they take?
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: No, they dropped me.
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: Okay, I mean, yes.
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: But I also feel like, too, and this is just
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: like 2025 Lauren speaking, I feel like unless your agent
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: is like moving mountains for you.
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: You can kind of low-key figure this shit out with
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: a good manager, good lawyer. Honestly, just good lawyer. Manager
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: if they really with.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: You, with you. But I don't think you need.
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: Like, that's where I'm at right now, too, as, like,
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: talent that is learning to build a team. I'm like,
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: I don't need all these people and all these noises
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: and all these decisions and blah, blah, blah, blah.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: Like, splits. No.
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: Like, I just need one or two good people that's like, yo,
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: we out. Where we got to be? What we got
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: to do?
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: Like, so... It was a blessing in disguise.
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: And I think the world and the industry changed where
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: an agent, you know, for you as a play writer
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: and creator and also talent would be amazing. We won't
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: speak that into existence, but you could do it without it.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: Exactly.
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: Because I think what it, not I think, I know,
• 4:11
  Speaker 4: what it allowed me to do was like really tap
• 4:13
  Speaker 4: into all of these talents that I have.
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: Because I don't consider myself just an actor. When people
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: ask me what I do, I tell them I'm a storyteller.
• 4:22
  Speaker 4: Whether that's acting, directing, writing. You know, so it allowed
• 4:25
  Speaker 4: me to like really dive into that and really own it.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean?
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: Because for a long time it was like, yeah, right. But,
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: you know, but now I'm owning it. You know what
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: I'm saying? No, I'm a playwright.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: I'm a writer. I'm a director. I'm a producer. And
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: I'm an actor.
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: I do all of these things and I think I
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: do it pretty well. So it's like a multi, a
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: multi-hyphenate as they call it. So. It gave me all
• 4:48
  Speaker 4: this time to dive in and I fucking, I committed
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: to it.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean?
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: I put all my money into it because I know,
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: you know, for me, I'm like sitting on.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: This story because it's bigger than the play. So let's
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: get into that.
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 5:04
  Speaker 4: So what inspired me to write this play? I was
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: learning how to play space at the time with some friends.
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: And what I thought was interesting was I was like, yo,
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: I feel like watching.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: The game is more interesting than the game. Because it's
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: just so much drama. It's all this other shit. I said, yo,
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: this would be a dope play.
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: In anybody's house. In anybody's house. You know what's crazy?
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: Before I left TMZ, we were piloting a podcast for me.
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: And now Nick Cannon has me playing spades.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: But I said to them, I'm like, we should do it. Like,
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: let's just sit down and play spades with people.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: I mean, of course, they didn't really understand it. And
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: my co-host, shout out to Tawanda. She's still there at TMZ.
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: She don't know how to play spades.
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: I don't think she got it either because she's never
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: been at the spades table. But so when I, the
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: name of your play grabbed me, but also when I
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: saw Nick Cannon doing me playing spades, the sit down conversation,
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: I'm like, this is like genius for any black person
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: to live off of or thrive off of because it
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: is entertaining just watching and hearing the game.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: Exactly. So I'm like, yo, this will make a dope play.
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: And I knew that, you know, I was at the
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: time I was starting to dab in writing and stuff
• 6:11
  Speaker 4: like that. So I was like, yo, let me start
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: writing this. And as I said, it just kind of
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: poured out of me, the characters. Because all of the
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: characters in the play are based off of people.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: That I know.
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: So let's talk about the story. So give us the.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: It's very simple.
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: It's about a group of friends that get together on
• 6:27
  Speaker 4: a Friday night in Harlem to play some spades. But
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: on this particular Friday, things go a little left.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: Mm-hmm.
• 6:35
  Speaker 4: As they typically go in a spades game. You got
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: the liquor flowing. You got the weed going. Things kind
• 6:41
  Speaker 4: of go a little left. Mm-hmm. The main character, we
• 6:44
  Speaker 4: got Gil, whose house they're at, Corey, and Andre.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: This is the core friend group.
• 6:50
  Speaker 4: But then Gil invites a new friend to come play
• 6:53
  Speaker 4: who can't play, and she kind of stirs the pot
• 6:57
  Speaker 4: a little bit.
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: The girl, or Corey, is the girl.
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: Okay, so the first time I came to see the
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: play in Dumbo House, I thought that she was Gail Bean.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: It was Gail Bean.
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: Oh, so it was Gail.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: Gail was playing Corrine.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: Okay, all right. Because then when I came in Harlem,
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: I'm like, wait, that wasn't Gail? Am I tripping? Because
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: they resemble each other.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: They kind of do, actually.
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: Okay, so thanks for answering that for me because I
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: thought I was tripping. I'm like, yo, I had just
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: interviewed Gail for BET Talks. And I'm like, I know Gail.
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: I've been watching her. And then I come and I'm like,
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: I was tripping.
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: You probably interviewed her while she was in rehearsal for.
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: I did, which was so crazy. Yeah, which was so
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: crazy because I didn't know. I came to the play
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: because Taylor, shout out to Taylor Maynard, who is one
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: of the producers here on the podcast for the latest
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: with Lauren La Rosa, which is how we met.
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: She just was like, yo, my friend has this play.
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: Come with me.
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: And I told her yes, because I love plays. And
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: then I didn't make it to that. She was like,
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: still just go.
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: Like, just pull up. And I was like, okay, cool.
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: So I came.
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: And when I got there and I saw Gayle, I
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: was like, oh, shoot. But then when I came to
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: the second time, I'm like, did I not see Gayle?
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 8:06
  Speaker 4: No, yeah, Gayle is doing a play right now in L.A.,
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: but I had her for that reading, which was great
• 8:12
  Speaker 4: because she came in last minute.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: She came in last minute.
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: She was reading from the script.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: So that was another stage reading.
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: Got you.
• 8:21
  Speaker 4: And that's another thing, too, I'm realizing through this process, like,
• 8:25
  Speaker 4: there's a lot of, like, theater things that some people
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: don't know about.
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: Yes. Especially in our communities, particularly. And, you know, that's kind.
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: Of a part of, why I'm doing what I'm doing,
• 8:36
  Speaker 4: because I feel like theater is becoming a lost art
• 8:41
  Speaker 4: form in our community, particularly. I feel like everybody wants
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: to be on TV. Everybody wants, you know, the social
• 8:48
  Speaker 4: media stuff. But it's like, no, let's take it back
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: to the stage. Let's take it back to the to
• 8:53
  Speaker 4: to the purest form.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean? Like for me, all my
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: favorite actors coming up can a theater act.
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: And I think people, too, don't understand that, like, stage, live, anything, theater, plays,
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: that's where you get instinct from.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: That's where you get your instinct. That's where you learn
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: how to act.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: On stage.
• 9:11
  Speaker 4: But not only is it getting lost in our community,
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: but I think a part of that has to do
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: with the material that's being produced.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean?
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: I feel like not enough of us are being inspired
• 9:23
  Speaker 4: to say, like, hey, I'm going to write a play.
• 9:26
  Speaker 4: You know, everyone's like, yeah, you know, I wrote this movie,
• 9:28
  Speaker 4: I wrote this screenplay, but Very rarely are you hearing, no,
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: I wrote this play.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying? And to me, I'm going
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: to be real.
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: I feel like a lot of plays right now, I'm
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: going to the theater, everything fucking sucks.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: I'm like falling asleep. You know what I mean?
• 9:42
  Speaker 4: I'm sitting here for two hours and what? You know
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: what I mean?
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: I want to have an experience. You know what I mean?
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: That's the whole point of theater. That was what made
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: it different going to go see a play as opposed
• 9:54
  Speaker 4: to going to see a movie. Right.
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: Because you knew you were going to get an experience.
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: In-person experience.
• 9:58
  Speaker 4: Remember when people were excited to see the actor spit
• 10:01
  Speaker 4: on stage? Like, yo, like I could see the actor
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: spit and like, yo, they, they really in it.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying?
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: So for me, I was like, yo, I want to,
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: I want to bring that essence back. So that's a
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: part of what I'm doing with the play. I mean,
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: you were there, like the audience is right there. You
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: know what I mean?
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: And your actors play to the audience too, like when
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: they toast, when they cheers, which to be honest with you,
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: if you are at a family get together and space
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: is going down and they get a little crazy, everybody
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: joining in, everybody, they talking about the renegade and they
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: talking about the, you know what I'm saying?
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: So it felt like.
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: That like family get together environment, which was great. question
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: for you so you say every character in the play
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: reminds you of someone or based off of someone that
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: you know right I thought it was interesting because spades
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: is very synonymous almost I mean I don't know do
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: white people play spades Sophie.
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: I've met one white person no.
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: Okay you know what spades is.
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: I'm the one white person who's pretty good at space.
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: I've never, I just thought about this right now and
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: forming this question, I've never even heard a white person
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: even talk about space.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: Exactly.
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: Never heard of space in your life? Okay, she just
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: left Atlanta, okay.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: Okay. Okay. Yes.
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: Oh, girl. Dang, we got to bring Sophie to the play.
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: Oh, absolutely.
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: It would freak her out. Okay, so Spades is us.
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: It's a black thing.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: Right. The lead character, Gil, that you talked about is
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: a gay man in the play.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: I thought that that was, as a creator and a
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: person that writes, I was like, I don't know, because
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: I didn't make it to the end of the play.
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: I was like, I don't know if he did this
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: on purpose, but that instantly drew me in because I
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: was wondering- What role or what conversations do you want
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: people to leave the play having? Because our community sometimes
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: shies away from anybody in any type of community that
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: sexuality-wise they don't accept. So a gay male as the
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: lead of the play, he's very openly gay. The first,
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: not to give the story away, but he's dibbling and
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: dabbling into, you know, the DL conversation right off rip.
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: Off the rip.
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: And I'm... Okay.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: We're trying to talk.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: I didn't get to that part.
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: Oh, okay. So, but see, even with, okay, I did
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: see that part.
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: I didn't think that, because, so in the play, basically,
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: for those who didn't hear the off-camera voice, in the play,
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: there's a point where he's talking about his homegirl's mom.
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: But my gay guy friends will compliment you up and down.
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: They don't want you, though.
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: But they, the gay men are, you know, they're not,
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: there's so much personality and characteristic there that those compliments
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: and the way he was talking about her mother, I
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: just thought it was Her homeboy just complimenting her mom
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: because she fine.
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: I mean, the nuance of that character is that like, yes,
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: he is gay, but like he doesn't consider himself that.
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: To him, he just likes what he likes. You know
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: what I mean? It just happens to be men all
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: the time.
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: Yeah. But he just likes what he likes. So for him,
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: it's like I could pull whoever the fuck I want
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: to pull. Right.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying?
• 13:15
  Speaker 4: So that's what also gives his character that nuance and,
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: you know, that kind of special energy. And it makes
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: his character more specific and not so general.
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: Yes. You know what I mean?
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and he's a very strong person. He resonates very well.
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: You feel like you know him. You have a friend
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: like him. As a straight man writing for his part, though,
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: because that was another thing, too. I'm sitting there and
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: I'm like, you nailed this. I'm like, hold on, wait.
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: I didn't know your sexual preference at the time. In
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: talking to you right now, I still don't know fully
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: all of your sexual preferences.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: I am a straight man, yes. Okay.
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: Thanks for clearing that up.
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: But yeah, now I'm sitting here and I'm thinking, I'm like,
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: as a writer, nailing that character the way that you
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: did as far as like what you wrote for him
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: was so on point as well too.
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: That character is based off of one of my best
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: friends to this day. So, you know, this is somebody
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: I hung out with. So, the characters in the play
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: are about 23 years old.
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: Fresh out of college. Yes. You know, trying to figure
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: it out.
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: So, during that time in my life, you know, him
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: and I would hang out pretty much every day.
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: In Harlem. Where the play takes place is five blocks
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: from the theater.
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: Got you.
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: So, we would hang out all the time and just,
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: you know, all kinds of shit that went down. And
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: he's just an interesting person to me. He actually lives
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: in London now. I love him. So, but.
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: Yeah, he's just this interesting person to me. Like, gay
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: or not, he was just interesting. And his philosophies were interesting. So,
• 14:53
  Speaker 4: you know, I was able to write that character because
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: I've just spent so much time with him.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: And I was able to find... Why was it.
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: Important for you to make him the main.
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: Like, he is the glue to the whole Spades setup.
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: I consider him like the ringmaster. Like, when we had
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: a circus, yeah, I considered him the ringmaster. Because I
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: think he's interesting.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying?
• 15:15
  Speaker 4: And I feel like he may make some people uncomfortable,
• 15:22
  Speaker 4: which I like.
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: But that's what we want when we go to the theater.
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: We want to feel something.
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: But that's why I thought it was genius. That's literally
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: why I'm like... And it's the first thing.
• 15:31
  Speaker 4: When people see the first thing that happens in the play,
• 15:35
  Speaker 4: throws people off.
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: Like, what? You know what I'm saying?
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: He is very much, okay, living his best life.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying? He is.
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: But that's what I'm saying, Bob, because I swear, the
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: first thing I thought of is like, ooh, the aunties
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: going to have a field day with this one when
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: they come because they love to play spades.
• 15:52
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: Certain conversations you just not having with your aunties and uncles.
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: If you are black male, honestly, not even just a male.
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: I have female cousins who are also gay that have
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: had a hard time to explaining things to our family.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: Exactly.
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying?
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: And I think the beautiful thing about his character is
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: that I honestly feel like it for people to come
• 16:14
  Speaker 4: see it who aren't used to like maybe hanging out
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: with people in that crowd or whatever. I think it
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: kind of gives them a different perspective of what that
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: could be or what that could look like.
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: Because his character's hilarious. He's fucking hilarious. You know what
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: I mean?
• 16:27
  Speaker 4: So to have that and then to have the character Corey,
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: who is a best friend of his.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: They grew up in D.C. together. So they have that rapport.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: And then you got Andre. Andre is, you know... God
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: bless him.
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: Andre is one of the characters in the play, y'all.
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: I was sitting there and I'm like, I'm so glad
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: that I met people like Andre when I was 16
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: and not at 33 because he is just out here
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: just doing whatever.
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: Comes his way.
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: So Andre is based off of me.
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: Oh, God. Lord, you got yourself together now?
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, this is my younger days.
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 17:01
  Speaker 4: This is me in my younger days. But yeah, the
• 17:03
  Speaker 4: character is based off of me. You know, yeah, the
• 17:07
  Speaker 4: character is based off of me. The character Corey is
• 17:09
  Speaker 4: based off of an ex of mine, a couple of
• 17:12
  Speaker 4: exes of mine kind of in one. The character Nefertiti,
• 17:16
  Speaker 4: who's the friend that comes in and stirs the pot,
• 17:18
  Speaker 4: she's based off of somebody who I used to date.
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: Is the situation... I don't even know how to ask this.
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: How are the situations based off of real situations, too?
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: Yes. I really.
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: In the play?
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: The virginity thing....
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: We can take that out.
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, take that out. I don't want to give away
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: the play.
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: Y'all got to go see the play. So knowing that
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: this is all based off of like real life things,
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: I mean, it felt real, but it adds to it.
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: Have any of these people seen the play? Like the
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: people that you've based it off of, have they seen
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: the play and reactions, especially the ex-girlfriends?
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: No, my ex-girlfriend has not seen the play.
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: Is this the ex-girlfriend that's also on TV right now?
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: No.
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 18:01
  Speaker 4: No, but I'm sure she'd be triggered by it if
• 18:03
  Speaker 4: she saw it too. But, no, they have not seen
• 18:07
  Speaker 4: the play, nor do I think they want to see
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: the play. I mean, the ex that it's based off of,
• 18:11
  Speaker 4: she still, still does not fuck with.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: Me to this day.
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: Wow.
• 18:16
  Speaker 4: So, you know, I don't think she's going to see
• 18:18
  Speaker 4: the play. At least not this production. Maybe another production.
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: The show your ex is on isn't Bel Air because
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: Bel Air is only in season four. I've been trying
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: to figure this out. I'm going to keep thinking while
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: you talk. I just had to look that up. How
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: many seasons of Bel Air?
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure you probably watch it. You seem like
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: you might watch it. So, yeah.
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: Yeah, Andre's based off of myself. Nefertiti's based off of
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: someone I met in L.A. That's another thing, too. And
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: that's a part of the journey in writing it. When
• 18:47
  Speaker 4: I first wrote Nefertiti, I didn't spend that much time
• 18:49
  Speaker 4: in L.A. So I wasn't as familiar with L.A. culture
• 18:53
  Speaker 4: and people like that. So when I was living in L.A.,
• 18:55
  Speaker 4: I was able to develop that character more.
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean?
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: I remember meeting somebody out in L.A. and I was like,
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: as soon as I saw her, I was like, that's.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: A Nefertiti right there. That's the Nefertiti right there. So,
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: you know, that kind of.
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: Dating her kind of added some details and stuff like
• 19:14
  Speaker 4: that to the role.
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: And why is the drink of choice? Can I?
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: Wait.
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: Hennessy?
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: It's two. It's Hennessy and it's Taylorport.
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: And it's Taylorport, yeah.
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: Because we didn't have a run with Cosmigos in the community.
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: Patron had us in a chokehold. Ciroc, but maybe you
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: can't do it. Ciroc boys, you're not allowed to beat
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: them no more. Like, is there a creative answer to
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: that question or did you just pick those because that's
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: what niggas be doing?
• 19:41
  Speaker 4: I feel like Hennessy is such a staple in the
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: black community.
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: When you pull that Henny out, you know what time
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: it is. You know what I'm saying?
• 19:48
  Speaker 4: Like, you know what time it is. And then Taylorport,
• 19:51
  Speaker 4: I feel like is another staple in our community.
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: It's having a run right now with XO.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: Really?
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: Oh, all summer they've been doing Taylorport and XO. Taylorport
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: is back.
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: Yo, Taylorport.
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: Yo.
• 20:02
  Speaker 4: But it's, you know, it's known to be this cheap,
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: delicious wine. It tastes like juice, but that shit will
• 20:07
  Speaker 4: fuck you.
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying?
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: So, and I think it also plays, I use that
• 20:13
  Speaker 4: because it plays to like her age.
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: She's young. She don't know any.
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: Refined wines or anything like that. But she's bougie enough
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: to be like, I don't drink Henny.
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying?
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: It's a certain type of girl. Exactly.
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: So in the play, without giving it away, in the
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: spades game, you know, you have your drinks going, your
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: food going, and those were the drinks of choice, which
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: they leaned a lot on as tools in the play.
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: So I was wondering, like, is that a creative thing
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: or just because that's what we be doing? So, you know,
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: thanks for that.
• 20:42
  Speaker 4: In earlier versions, it was Moscato. Because I feel like
• 20:46
  Speaker 4: Moscato is another cheap.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: Wine. But I was like, let me do the Taylor Port.
• 20:53
  Speaker 4: Because I've had Taylor Port, and I know that shit
• 20:57
  Speaker 4: will fuck you up.
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: Go ahead. No, go ahead.
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: When people come and see the play, when it's done,
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: and it's over, and they walk away, and they in
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: their cars, and they lit because they didn't have a
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: good time there.
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: Y'all a good time. What conversation do you want them
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: to have?
• 21:15
  Speaker 4: I mean, one, I want them, you know, I want
• 21:18
  Speaker 4: the experience of being there and seeing the show. I
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: want that to kind of resonate with them. Because to me,
• 21:24
  Speaker 4: I feel like I'm bringing back what theater used to
• 21:26
  Speaker 4: feel like. They used to feel like going to the theater.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean? You got an experience.
• 21:32
  Speaker 4: And like, I remember back in the day, like going
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: to like something underground or like off-Broadway was like, that's
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: where the real work and the magic was happening.
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: So for me, it's like I'm bringing people up to Harlem.
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean?
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: Yo, we not even on Broadway with it. We up
• 21:46
  Speaker 4: on 125th, right in the heart of it. And it's
• 21:48
  Speaker 4: not like a tradition. It's not a theater, technically. It's
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: just this really dope space that we use and created
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: this story out of.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying? So people come in and like,
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: the play's happening here? Yes, it is. You know what
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: I'm saying?
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: So to me, it's like I want them to leave
• 22:06
  Speaker 4: with that experience. I hope that, you know, they can
• 22:10
  Speaker 4: relate to somebody in this play. I feel like there's
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: at least one character in this play you can relate to.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying?
• 22:15
  Speaker 4: And yeah, and I hope it inspires people to want
• 22:18
  Speaker 4: to write their own play.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: I want people to be inspired. You know what I'm saying?
• 22:22
  Speaker 4: I want people to realize, and I also want people,
• 22:25
  Speaker 4: black people specifically, to understand like, yo, we don't have
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: to wait on them to make stuff. We can make
• 22:31
  Speaker 4: the shit ourselves.
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: Based off of things we literally just do all day
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: long in real life anyway.
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: Exactly. You know what I mean?
• 22:36
  Speaker 4: Like, Shout out to my team and, like, everybody that's
• 22:39
  Speaker 4: working with me on this. Like, these are all people
• 22:41
  Speaker 4: I love, all people that, you know, like, I couldn't
• 22:44
  Speaker 4: do this without them. You know what I'm saying?
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: And it takes a village, as they say. Teamwork makes
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: the dream work.
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: And then talk about, you know, just you talk about
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: taking a village. So we did all of the kind
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: of like the context of your backstory. How has everything
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: that you've been through, the people that you've met, come
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: into this moment of spades right now? Because like I said,
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: I walked in the first one and I'm like, that's
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: Gal Bean.
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: Like, you know what I'm saying? And that's a big
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: name to have attached to a play. You're a big
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: name as well.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: But you know what I mean?
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: Face recognition, you instantly like, you know, and that helps
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: to put your project in certain conversations.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: Absolutely.
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: Because she has fans.
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: Exactly. I mean, shout out to Gal. Thank you.
• 23:31
  Speaker 4: I mean, the story about how that came, she wasn't
• 23:33
  Speaker 4: who I had originally for that reading.
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: The girl I had originally had to pull out, and
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: she kind of pulled out last minute. So I was
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: in a pickle.
• 23:42
  Speaker 4: But, you know, I hit up a friend of mine
• 23:45
  Speaker 4: in the industry who has worked with Gayle. I said, look,
• 23:50
  Speaker 4: I think Gayle would be good for this role.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: I think she lives in New York from what I
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: see on her Instagram. You mind reaching out to her?
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying?
• 23:59
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: And she reached out.
• 24:00
  Speaker 4: I mean, the person I called to reach out to her,
• 24:05
  Speaker 4: she makes things happen.
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: Got you.
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: Because people have a lot of respect for her, as
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: do I. So I knew hitting her up to hit
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: up Gayle was just going to expedite the process.
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: You called Tasha Smith?
• 24:14
  Speaker 4: No. Oh. Tasha need to come see the play. I
• 24:17
  Speaker 4: met Tasha a few months ago. She need to come
• 24:19
  Speaker 4: see the play. She would love it.
• 24:20
  Speaker 3: Tasha Smith was, which is so random, because we didn't
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: even really know each other like that. It was just like,
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: you know, you meet good people in passing. When I
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: was trying to figure out leaving L.A., I randomly called her.
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: She didn't answer, but she texted me and was like, hey,
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: everything okay? And I texted her and said, I'm about
• 24:35
  Speaker 3: to quit my job and move from L.A. I just
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: wanted to get some advice from somebody that's actually working
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: and doing all the things I want to do. And
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: she sent me a voice note, and that voice note
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: had me crying, and the next day I quit my
• 24:45
  Speaker 3: job and moved here.
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: You see, but you took the lead. Yeah. You took
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: the lead.
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: But I'm saying she's a person that, like, I mention
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: that because I know that, like, Gayle did Harlem and,
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: you know, Tasha Smith is working on, well, was working
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: with Harlem and all the things. But you talk about
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: getting her to that play. Like, she's the type that
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: will come out to that play, talk about that play.
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: And that's one of the things that I love about
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: what you're doing and the reason why I'm like, all right,
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: I might can only come for, like, 30, 40 minutes,
• 25:12
  Speaker 3: but I'm going to come. It takes me an hour
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: to get there, but I'm going to come because I
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: want to support it. It's because I understand that What
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: we're doing right now, that's how people find out about it.
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: That's how your play gets to wherever theaters you want
• 25:24
  Speaker 3: it to go. Gets the eyes, gets the financial support.
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: It does take community.
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: You've had your resources, but we got to be like
• 25:31
  Speaker 3: the Tasha Smiths of the world who will pick up
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: the phone and call.
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: We'll come out. We'll talk about it. That's so big
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: for me.
• 25:39
  Speaker 3: And I think what you do, y'all need it because
• 25:42
  Speaker 3: theater is, it's not the thing that people like run
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: to yell about.
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: Exactly.
• 25:46
  Speaker 4: I mean, cause also too, it's like, as I said,
• 25:48
  Speaker 4: I think it's another example of like people are more
• 25:51
  Speaker 4: concerned with the glitz and the glam, you know, folks
• 25:54
  Speaker 4: want to be on Broadway and all this other shit.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: That's cool. But what's the work that's being produced?
• 26:00
  Speaker 4: I'm sitting in these plays and I'm like, yo, this
• 26:02
  Speaker 4: is whack. On top of that, I'm tired of seeing
• 26:04
  Speaker 4: the same actors all the time. Why can't we get
• 26:07
  Speaker 4: new faces?
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying?
• 26:09
  Speaker 4: There's other people who are just as hungry, who are
• 26:11
  Speaker 4: just as talented, if not more. They just need the opportunity.
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying?
• 26:15
  Speaker 4: That was something I did. That was something I was
• 26:18
  Speaker 4: very conscious about in casting this. I wanted brand new faces.
• 26:22
  Speaker 4: I don't want to see the same motherfuckers all the time.
• 26:25
  Speaker 4: These are all people I know because I'm in the
• 26:27
  Speaker 4: industry with them. I'm tired of seeing y'all. I want
• 26:31
  Speaker 4: new faces to help bring this story to life.
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying?
• 26:34
  Speaker 4: Because instead of people coming in and being like, oh,
• 26:37
  Speaker 4: that's so-and-so, I want people, oh, that's Gil.
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: Oh, that's Kourt. You know what I mean?
• 26:41
  Speaker 4: Because to me, I feel like that helps the character resonate.
• 26:44
  Speaker 4: even more yeah you know what i'm saying so you
• 26:47
  Speaker 4: know for me it's just kind of like i we
• 26:49
  Speaker 4: just need like we need to shake things up a
• 26:53
  Speaker 4: bit right now because it's too stale it's too stale
• 26:56
  Speaker 4: everybody just wants the accolade but what's the product what's
• 27:00
  Speaker 4: the story that you're telling what's the experience that we're
• 27:03
  Speaker 4: getting you know what i mean besides hey i was
• 27:06
  Speaker 4: there and so and so from so and so was
• 27:09
  Speaker 4: in it and i took a picture with them but
• 27:10
  Speaker 4: what's the story what was the play about I don't remember.
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: I fell asleep. You know what I'm saying? If I'm
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: coming to the theater, tell me a story. Move me.
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean? Something.
• 27:20
  Speaker 4: So I want to bring that back. And I want
• 27:25
  Speaker 4: to travel with this. New York is not the one
• 27:27
  Speaker 4: and only stop. I want to take this all over
• 27:30
  Speaker 4: the country.
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: Take it to Atlanta. Sophie said Atlanta.
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: Oh, I know they're going to eat it up in Atlanta.
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: Look, Sophie told us. Oh. Oh, they're going to eat
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: it up. No, Sophie, we know.
• 27:44
  Speaker 4: I had some people audition from Atlanta, send audition tapes
• 27:47
  Speaker 4: from Atlanta.
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: I mean, but that's a black mecca, so that's like
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: a duh. You know what I'm saying?
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: Atlanta, D.C.
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: D.C., Chocolate City. Chicago would do well.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: Chicago would eat it up, too.
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: I went to Chicago recently, and I was like, this
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: is Atlanta. Like, it's so black.
• 28:02
  Speaker 4: Really?
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: I was in the Soho House in Chicago, and it
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: was all black people. And, like, I was.
• 28:09
  Speaker 3: Because you hear the complete... Not that you don't hear
• 28:12
  Speaker 3: that black people are in Chicago, but you only hear
• 28:13
  Speaker 3: about the bad things happening with black people when it
• 28:16
  Speaker 3: comes to Chicago, at least on a media level for
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: me and what I do. So when I went there
• 28:20
  Speaker 3: and I'm seeing all these black people in the Soho
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: house and, you know, it's just vibes and people are
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: happy and, you know, they're... I was just like, yes. Like,
• 28:28
  Speaker 3: it felt like I was in Atlanta. It felt like
• 28:30
  Speaker 3: I was in Atlanta where you walk outside and, like,
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: black is royalty.
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: I'll tell you where my dream city is.
• 28:39
  Speaker 4: New Orleans.
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: Oh, yes.
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: I would love.
• 28:43
  Speaker 4: New Orleans is my favorite city in the world.
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: I would love to bring this play to New Orleans.
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: They would heat it up.
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: I think it'll happen.
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: Because, you know, New Orleans doesn't have a theater scene
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: like that.
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: Which is crazy to me.
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: Which blows my mind.
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, all of their, like, the band, like, front line
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: stuff that they do. They got the music. And the costuming.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: You know what it is?
• 29:03
  Speaker 4: It's because New Orleans is a theatrical experience in itself.
• 29:07
  Speaker 4: Just being in the city, the food. So.
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: New Orleans is my.
• 29:11
  Speaker 4: Dream city because, you know, as I said, like, they
• 29:14
  Speaker 4: don't have a theater scene out there.
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: And I think this place specifically, they will, oh, they
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: will eat it up.
• 29:19
  Speaker 4: On top of that, what, you know, what we want
• 29:23
  Speaker 4: to do is, like, every city we go to, we
• 29:25
  Speaker 4: want to, like, cater to, like, that city.
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean? So, like, you know how
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: we have the Sunday brunches here?
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 29:30
  Speaker 4: You know, we'll do that in New Orleans and say, like,
• 29:33
  Speaker 4: we'll have, you know, we'll bring in a band, you know,
• 29:35
  Speaker 4: because they're big on that.
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: Second line and all of that type of stuff. And
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: imagine the food in New Orleans.
• 29:40
  Speaker 4: Orleans.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: Imagine the food in New Orleans. You know what I'm saying?
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: So what do you need to make that happen?
• 29:46
  Speaker 4: Money.
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: Money.
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: Exactly. Simple as that.
• 29:50
  Speaker 3: So how can the people, you know, our community here
• 29:52
  Speaker 3: at the Latest with Lauren La Rosa is called the
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: Low Riders. On the audio side, we have 5 million
• 29:57
  Speaker 3: people listening That was like a few months ago, so
• 29:59
  Speaker 3: we're probably well over that. The visual side, we're here.
• 30:03
  Speaker 3: This is new, our home and our studio. So to
• 30:06
  Speaker 3: all the people listening, anyone watching, how? What do we do?
• 30:10
  Speaker 4: Well, I mean, for one, if you're in New York,
• 30:12
  Speaker 4: if you are in New York City, come see the play.
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: Just first and foremost. Just come see the play.
• 30:18
  Speaker 4: Come experience it so that at least you know what
• 30:21
  Speaker 4: you're putting your dollars into and then you can relate
• 30:25
  Speaker 4: to what we're talking about.
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: We have a donation link if people want to donate.
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: Please drop your link.
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: But I think, first and foremost, I just want people
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: to come see it.
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: Got you.
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: Come see it. Come experience it. You know what I mean?
• 30:38
  Speaker 4: Because I think that'll help with moving people to want
• 30:41
  Speaker 4: to do it. Because then also, too, I get it.
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: The economy is real effed up right now. It's fucked up.
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: But we need joy, too, though.
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: We need joy.
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: And that's another great thing. We do need joy.
• 30:49
  Speaker 4: And that's why Sunday brunches are my favorite days because
• 30:51
  Speaker 4: it's just pure.
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: Family, you know what I mean?
• 30:55
  Speaker 4: You come in, we have a different DJ every week.
• 30:58
  Speaker 4: His aunt has been our food caterer. She's been killing
• 31:01
  Speaker 4: it with the food.
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: Do they eat in the space that we were in?
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: Hell yeah. On what? There's no tables. No, there's... Oh, okay.
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: On the second floor, we got tables set up and everything.
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: Got you, okay. You can eat. It's a.
• 31:13
  Speaker 4: a 420 friendly space. So, you know, you can get
• 31:16
  Speaker 4: your smoke on too. You know what I'm saying?
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: We have drinks. You know what I mean? Everything is,
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: everything that you need to have a good.
• 31:22
  Speaker 4: Time is provided for you. Shout out to our host, Sarah. Sarah,
• 31:25
  Speaker 4: you know, kind of keeps the vibes going. She's really dope.
• 31:28
  Speaker 4: And it's just a good time. And then you get
• 31:30
  Speaker 4: to watch a play after.
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean?
• 31:32
  Speaker 4: And then after the play, if you want to chill
• 31:33
  Speaker 4: and play space some more, you can do that too.
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean? It's just a.
• 31:37
  Speaker 4: Good time where you can just come and commune and
• 31:39
  Speaker 4: just You know, it could be a nice little date
• 31:42
  Speaker 4: night little situation or a nice little, yo.
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: Come find you a, you know, come find.
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: A little situation. They need a website.
• 31:49
  Speaker 3: They need a website and they need an Instagram. So
• 31:51
  Speaker 3: how can they come to, where do they get the
• 31:53
  Speaker 3: tickets to come see the play?
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: Go to our Instagram at Spades the Play.
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: All common spelling?
• 31:59
  Speaker 4: Huh?
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: All regular spelling.
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: All regular spelling. Spades the Play.
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 32:03
  Speaker 4: It is, our ticket link is in the bio and
• 32:06
  Speaker 4: they can find it there. And yeah, you know, we're
• 32:08
  Speaker 4: still building. We're still building. We are in the beginning stages,
• 32:13
  Speaker 4: but this is going to grow. You know what I'm saying?
• 32:16
  Speaker 4: Because also, too, another beautiful thing is that this is literally.
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: The only thing of its kind. There's no other play
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: that revolves around a game of spades.
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: I love this for you.
• 32:26
  Speaker 3: I'm trying to look up your ticket link so you
• 32:28
  Speaker 3: can share it because on the audio side, you got
• 32:31
  Speaker 3: people that might not be Instagram savvy.
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: So I want to make sure they can get to you.
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: We're selling our tickets through Posh. It's an app. for
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: like events and stuff like that.
• 32:41
  Speaker 4: So if you have the app Posh, you can find
• 32:44
  Speaker 4: us there, Spades to Play.
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: Same way. If you Google Spades to Play, there's nothing else.
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: Got you. Got you.
• 32:51
  Speaker 3: And we'll, in the, so for everybody, you know, listening, watching, whatever,
• 32:56
  Speaker 3: we'll have the link visually if you're watching. But if
• 32:58
  Speaker 3: you're listening, we'll make sure that we put the link.
• 33:01
  Speaker 3: I'll have it on my, like, Instagram. And then we'll
• 33:04
  Speaker 3: also try and make sure that we put it in
• 33:06
  Speaker 3: the description. I don't know if it's clickable there from
• 33:08
  Speaker 3: that though. But if it is, I don't mind doing
• 33:09
  Speaker 3: that for you either so that people can be able to.
• 33:12
  Speaker 3: But if you're listening, I'm going to do this just
• 33:13
  Speaker 3: in case we can't link it. If you're listening, Spades
• 33:17
  Speaker 3: the Play on Instagram, all common spelling. But you guys
• 33:20
  Speaker 3: follow me on Instagram as well. I'm Lauren LaRosa everywhere.
• 33:23
  Speaker 3: And y'all know I'll be posting this and tagging and
• 33:26
  Speaker 3: all the things so that you guys can find this play.
• 33:29
  Speaker 3: Definitely go out and see it. Definitely bring a friend.
• 33:31
  Speaker 3: Definitely tell a friend. I've enjoyed the conversation. I know
• 33:34
  Speaker 3: one of my favorite things to do as, you know,
• 33:37
  Speaker 3: a podcaster, because we're podcasters now, y'all, is have conversations
• 33:42
  Speaker 3: that I enjoy. And, like, I've been able to do
• 33:43
  Speaker 3: that through this show. I've been blessed to be able
• 33:45
  Speaker 3: to do that. And I've thoroughly enjoyed this conversation and
• 33:47
  Speaker 3: hearing your journey. And I'm proud that you kept going.
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Are you happy now?
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: I mean, yeah. I mean, look, there's been a lot
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: of moments where it was like, yo, what am I doing?
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: what am I doing? You know, God, like, what are
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: you doing to me right now?
• 34:00
  Speaker 4: Yeah. But, you know, it's just that resilience to, like,
• 34:04
  Speaker 4: keep going no matter what.
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: Because, you know, you're going to be faced with obstacles.
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: That's life. But that's the test.
• 34:10
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 34:10
  Speaker 4: Can you make it, you know what I mean? Like,
• 34:12
  Speaker 4: are you going to let so-and-so stop you from making
• 34:15
  Speaker 4: it happen?
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean?
• 34:16
  Speaker 4: And every time I persevered, it's come through for me.
• 34:19
  Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying? So I already know big
• 34:22
  Speaker 4: things are going to happen from this.
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: I don't know what.
• 34:24
  Speaker 4: But I just know this is something that I was
• 34:28
  Speaker 4: put here to do.
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean? And that's another thing, too.
• 34:31
  Speaker 4: In that journey I told you about, I found it
• 34:34
  Speaker 4: allowed me to discover my purpose.
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: Got you.
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying?
• 34:37
  Speaker 4: Okay, I'm not just Marcus the actor anymore. Telling people
• 34:40
  Speaker 4: I'm an actor is so boring to me.
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: Because it's like I do way more than that. Yeah,
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: acting is my first love and all of that. And
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: I could do that. It ain't going nowhere.
• 34:51
  Speaker 4: But I also do these other things. And I have
• 34:53
  Speaker 4: a lot to offer. But sometimes you have to put
• 34:56
  Speaker 4: yourself out on front street in order for people to
• 34:59
  Speaker 4: realize that, as opposed to waiting for someone to tell
• 35:01
  Speaker 4: you that. Because these folks ain't going to tell you that.
• 35:04
  Speaker 4: They just worried about, hey, can you audition for this thing?
• 35:06
  Speaker 4: You know, we want the 10%.
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean? You got to bet on yourself.
• 35:12
  Speaker 4: You got to bet on yourself. If you know that
• 35:14
  Speaker 4: you have more to offer to the world, you have
• 35:16
  Speaker 4: to bet on yourself. Because no one's going to want
• 35:19
  Speaker 4: it more than you.
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: I agree. Well, look. Hello, writers.
• 35:23
  Speaker 3: I tell you guys, every single episode, y'all could be
• 35:25
  Speaker 3: anywhere with anybody having these conversations.
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: And listen, y'all choose to be here every single episode.
• 35:30
  Speaker 3: So I am extremely excited that you guys got to
• 35:33
  Speaker 3: experience what I've been able to experience in seeing Spades
• 35:36
  Speaker 3: to play and hearing from the creator, Marcus Callender.
• 35:40
  Speaker 4: Also, too, I'm an ambassador of this company called UFO Rolls.
• 35:45
  Speaker 4: It's a rolling paper company. And what makes their product
• 35:49
  Speaker 4: unique as well that the rolling paper kits come with
• 35:52
  Speaker 4: a built-in grinder.
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: Come on now. I think it's in here.
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: I don't know nothing about much, but he's very excited
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: about it.
• 36:02
  Speaker 4: So this is the paper right here. You know, you
• 36:07
  Speaker 4: got your papers. You got your filters.
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: But then on the inside, there's a little mini grinder
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: right there. So, like, on the go, you can take
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: your weed.
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: Oh, you still got to do it, like.
• 36:19
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: You still won't get under your nails, though. But, look,
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: it's better than nothing.
• 36:25
  Speaker 2: Oh, it's a grater.
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: Because I know grinders, you normally, like, twist them.
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: Sometimes you'll be out, and you're like, damn, like.
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying?
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: To watch you carry.
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: And it comes with that. And then we have a grinder.
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: We do have a grinder.
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: An additional one. Okay.
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: That's pretty special, too.
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: Got you.
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: It's shaped like a UFO.
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: Got you. Okay.
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: This is our grinder.
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: Love that.
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: Got like a little UFO shape to it.
• 36:50
  Speaker 4: So for all my marijuana connoisseurs out there, look in
• 36:53
  Speaker 4: the UFO roll.
• 36:54
  Speaker 3: You can copy your product and then you can come
• 36:56
  Speaker 3: and watch it play because it's 420 friendly and you
• 36:58
  Speaker 3: can use the product.
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: With the show. We got product galore at the show.
• 37:01
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 37:01
  Speaker 3: Well, y'all, make sure y'all pull up, check out Space
• 37:04
  Speaker 3: to Play, created, directed by Marcus Callender.
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for joining us.
• 37:09
  Speaker 3: This has been an amazing conversation, and congratulations.
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: And when you are winning all of the awards and
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: all the things, okay, don't forget us over here.
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: I ain't gonna forget.
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: We're gonna call y'all back for another interview. Don't forget.
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: I know I'm a little all over the place, but
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: we new, but we here. It's the latest with Lauren
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: La Rosa, the podcast. I'll see you guys in our
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: next episode. Thank y'all for joining me.
• 37:29
  Speaker 3: This has been a live conversation with actor, storyteller, creative
• 37:34
  Speaker 3: Marcus Callender. I'm Lauren LaRosa. This is The Latest with
• 37:37
  Speaker 3: Lauren LaRosa signing out.