WEBVTT
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Conversations with no call. Come come, compostions with no Let's
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talk about it, tell me all about it.
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I'm here. I want to know what's on your mind.
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The well needs to hear from.
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You, and I'm so glad to have a conversation to
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read the nation and it's all about him.
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We'll help you.
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To discover innovated ways too posatively James the world, Let's
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talk about let's talk about it.
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Let's talk about co sasions with no cale.
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Greetings, Welcome to conversations with Nicole. I am the coll
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ever with your host, and today I have not one,
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but two.
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Very special guests.
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The first guest is a sister, a mother and actress
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of poets, a playwright, and she's currently portraying Elizabeth Bruce
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in the time travel to Florida seventeen seventy six with
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the Theater with a Mission. Miss Leah Alexis. Welcome, Leah,
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thank you for having my pleasure. My second guest is
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a son, a brother, and uncle, an fsu alum, an educator,
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a designer of festivals, re enactments and classical plays, The
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artistic director and founder of the Theater with the Mission,
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mister Ben Gunter welcome.
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Ben, it's a pleasure to be here. Thanks so much.
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You are welcome.
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So we are geary up for the time travel into
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Florida seventeen seventy six, which is taking place May twenty
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ninth through thirty first at Goodwood Museum in Gardens, sixteen
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hundred Mikosoki Road here in Tallahassee. Ben, please tell us
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what can folks expect from this great event.
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You can expect to get up close and personal, face
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to face with Florida two hundred and fifty years ago.
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It's a great surprise for us to find out that
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most Plriidians were on the side of the king came
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George the Third instead of on the side of the
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patriots George Washington. And they had reasons for that as well.
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So this festival gets us a chance to hear primary
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founding documents, but Declaration of Independence. Patrick Henry's give me
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Liberty or give me Death speech is your news from
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the front lines of the battle during seventeen seventy six.
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And to explore the foods, the dances, the music, the
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animals that all made up the vibrant life in Florida
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two hundred and fifty years ago.
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How exciting, how exciting, and folks can go to theatre
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with themission dot com to get more information and register correctly.
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Absolutely, and we would love it if you visit us.
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Absolutely.
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Now, Leah, you are portraying Elizabeth Bruce in this weekend
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of activities.
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Tell us a little bit about this character.
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Well, she is a revolutionary era Florida character and we're
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currently working through that right now. The newspaper was a
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really big thing back in that day, and so when
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the news would come in from the front lines, this
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is a moment where everyone would gather around and you know,
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find out the current events of what was going on there.
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And so that's what my character will be doing. And
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so we're going to delve more into that. Ben, if
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you want to add anything to that.
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Agree, you've done a really great job with it.
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Yeah, it's interesting that Florida was divided into two Florida's
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in seventeen seventy six, East Florida and West Florida. And
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Elizabeth Bruce comes from West Florida. She's based in Pensacola.
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So people who come to this festival will get to
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meet a wide variety of folks because Florida was made
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up of Native Americans, black people, people from Irish and
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British and Spanish backgrounds, and they'll all be represented.
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Nice Now, Ben, if you don't mind sharing a little
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bit about the Theater with the Mission for those who
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may not be familiar with the organization.
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Thanks, great question.
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But Theater with the Mission started in two thousand and
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eight at Mission San Luis. Mission ended up being part
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of our name, and at that point we were trying
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to build bridges between people who live in our century
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and people who lived in the Spanish mission system in
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seventeen oh three, to try to help people understand what
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was going on inside their minds. Why did folks who
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built a mission burn it down? A Spanish mission burn
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it down to keep it from falling into the hands
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of the British. Ever since then, Theater with the Mission
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has been involved in building bridges between times, languages, and
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cultures so we can all come to understand each other better.
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It's one of the things that theater does best is
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give you the chance to see the world through somebody
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else's eyes. And if we can do that, we can
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build communities together. So that's our mission.
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I love that.
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I think this is such a unique organization in such
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important works. I'm a history lover myself, and to see
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you all play these people from the past gives us
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a greater perspective of kind of the foundation of the
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place that we live, work in play and so Leah
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talk talk to me a little bit, Leah about why
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it's important for you to portray Elizabeth Bruce.
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Well, just like Ben said, I mean, she was actually
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sharing with us during rehearsal that art is able to
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transport people across boundaries of time space and loss of
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culture and so like that's something that I strongly identify with.
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That's why I love storytelling. I love portraying these types
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of characters because our cant help youse see things that
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like no longer there. That's not necessarily in a history
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book per se, But if it is in a history book,
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you can bring that part to life. And so that's
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the value of our and artistic expression, in particular live theater,
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because it's something that you know, you get emotions, you
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get intellectual stimulation, I mean social bridging. It was something
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that I actually also studied back when my time in
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Florida State University, when I was concentrating in social welfare
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and we spoke about these things, how the powerful effective
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art and artistic expression.
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Nice Now, Ben, I mean, this has got to be
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a lot of work from the standpoint of studying these
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folks and really kind of getting to know who they
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were back then. And so talk to me a little
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bit about like how much time goes into the research
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and the really kind of gathering and curating this so
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that the actors can know their roles. And I've witnessed
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you all at the cabin that was done at Cascades
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Park to commemorate the bicentennial of the city of Tallahassee,
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and I mean it's very believable. You are really the crew,
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the chaz really embodies the roles that they're playing.
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So tell me about.
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Kind of how much time it takes to curate all
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of that.
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You're right on the money, Nicole, it does. It takes
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a lot of time and it takes a lot of imagination.
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And Leah was talking about that. So we've been researching
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Florida during the American Revolution for two years now, ever
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since we celebrated Tallahassee's bi centennial, because we thought, oh,
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what's the next big milestone America to fifty loads and
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loads of people are helping. We've had two teams of
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Undergraduate Research Opportunity students that you AREOP program at SSU
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help us to look at specific biographies for specific characters
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of people who lived in Florida two hundred and fifty
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years ago. We've had a class from the Osher Lifelong
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Learning Institute, the Ali Institute at FSU help us look
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at feuding families in Florida during the American Revolution. And
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we've been consulting with Florida Historical Society in the Tallahassee
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Historical Society and authors like George Kotlik and Kathleen Duval,
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both of whom are going to be in town for
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this festival. Kathleen Duval coming from Chapelton of North Carolina,
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George Kotleck coming from Jacksonville about.
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The histories that they've written.
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So it is a big job to try to get
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the best documentation that we can get. It's really exciting
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when we find something that breaks the story open. One
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of our undergraduate research researchers at FSU found a letter
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from the Governor of British East Florida, Patrick Tonan, to
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the British lord who is in charge of all the
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colonies in North America talking about establishing a militia in St.
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Augustine to descend Florida from invasion by the Patriots. It
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talks specifically at about recruiting black soldiers for this militia.
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And this is really exciting to us because in West Florida,
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in Pensacola, they never could pass the militia law because
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people who were in flavors there couldn't get over their
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fear of having black people holding rifles. But in East
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Florida that happened, and in Spanish Louisiana that happened. So
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it's really interesting to find the details of this history
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and then to bring them.
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To life absolutely.
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Now, you know, I'm glad you mentioned black people's roles
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during this time because, as lee Ya mentioned, you know,
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some things may not have been put in the history books,
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all right, especially outside of slavery for black folks in America.
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And so.
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Either Lee or Ben, I'm gonna leave this open question
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open to either one of you, but you know, talk
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to me about.
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How it's how it's shaped you and I.
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Actually I would like to hear both from both of
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you individually on this to hear about how black people
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shape law, democracy and thought in Florida during these early times.
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And Leah, let's start with you.
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Yes, thank you so much. I'll much to say me first, please.
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So I love the work that Ben has done along
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with his staff ideas also someone who helps out with
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the research, and it's just extremely empowering. I love that
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he chooses characters that are powerful innocence, They had influence,
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they had the ability to shape the law in terms
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of like their proximity to the people who did that,
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and so I appreciate. I mean, one of my characters
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was ana Ji Kingsley, who was a Singleese woman who
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actually ended up being married to Zepha and Niah Kingsley
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when she was brought to Florida, and she was actually
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the one who ran his plantation. She was, you know,
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over the staves and things of that nature, and she
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was handling it like she was really you know, doing
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a good job with that in terms of like the
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business side of it, the administration side of it. And
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so to find out those kinds of details, we did
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a thing called Landfill and there were different characters. They're
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black males that were powerful, influential people that had land
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to sell. So you know, we have a nice history
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in terms of like, you know, black people in Florida
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and just you know in general overall, in terms of
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like our economic and social standing in the in the
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you know, in the grand scheme of things, how we
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carried ourselves and how we were able to conduct business
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and acquire land and things of that nature, things of value.
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So you know, I feel intellectually stimulated. I've grown in
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that way in terms of my knowledge for things that
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I was not taught in school.
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So I'm grateful of that experience.
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Awesome, awesome, And Ben, what's your thoughts on it?
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Well?
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Having people like Leah bring characters like Anigi Kingsley to
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life gives me a more rounded, a bigger and sharper
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picture of the world.
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Uh.
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I know, people who have vision migraines when the when
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the headache comes on, it actually expresses it in the
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fact that you can see less and less. History sometimes
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has a has a migraine headache when it comes to
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people like black folks, to people like Native folks, to
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people like regular middle class or redneck. We just don't
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find out about crackers and other people who make a
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huge amount of the population and it's not my story.
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What I can find that the historians tell. And then
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when somebody like Leah steps inside it and makes it
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come to life, it's like that.
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Migraine goes away.
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That field of vision opens up and I can hear
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a richer story. I can see more dimensions, and the
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world becomes better populated.
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Very well, said Ben.
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So. I want to pause right here. We're gonna take
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a break, but when we come back, I want to
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hear more about the time travel into Florida seventeen seventy six,
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but also hear a little bit more about both of you.
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So stay tuned for more conversations. Greetings, it's the Cole
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Evet of Conversations with the Cold, inviting you to my
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live interactive conversations on Mondays and Wednesdays at eight thirty
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pm on the Conversations with the Cold Facebook page and
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YouTube channel. Again that's Mindset Monday and Wellness Wednesday at
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eight thirty pm on the Conversations with the Cold Facebook
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page and YouTube channel, where we are connecting the community
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through conversations.
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Hey ladies, it's back as what women Want. Join TJ
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from ninety six point one Jane along with special guys
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ninety six point one's conversations with along with John Quail
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and DJ speed Racer, Saturday June thirteen. What Women Want
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return your day to escape your everyday routine, Explore your
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own personal style, renew your soul and paper yourself. It's
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the event you loved the North Florida fair Ground with
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the best experson finance, fashion, home, the court, careers, health
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and more. That's sixteenth annual. What Women Want at Women's
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ex Bo Saturday June thirteen, Free tall attendees at the
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North Florida Facground spashed by Warner Hyundai Warner kid tylahassee
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Women's Magazine, the Capital City Chamber of Commerce. To become
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a vendor, please call dot Ely at eight five zero
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two zero one, three thousand and five. What Women Want
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Coming Saturday June thirteen to the North Florida Fackground. Your
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data escaped, your everyday routine, Explore your own personal style.
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We're doing your soul and paper yourself. That's sixteenth annual
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What Women Want Women's ex Bo Saturday June thirteen. Don't
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miss it.
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Join me Nicole Everett each and every Sunday at eight
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thirty am for conversations with Nicole on ninety six point
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one Jams. Welcome back to conversations with Nicole. If you
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are just joining us, I am talking with miss Leah Alexis,
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who is portraying E. Lizabeth Bruce with the Theatre with
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the Mission in their Time Travel into Florida seventeen seventy six,
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and mister Ben Gunter, who is the artistic director and
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founder of Theatre with a Mission. And again that Time
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Travel into Florida seventeen seventy six is taking place May
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twenty ninth through thirty first at Goodwood Museum in Gardens
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sixteen hundred Mikosooki Road, Tallahassee, Florida. And the event is
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a free event.
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Is that correct?
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Then that's really correct.
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We're going to take We're going to take your time,
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which is the most valuable thing you have.
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But it's time travel, so you'll get a return on
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your investment.
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I love that.
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And so again, what what are some of the activities
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that you mentioned before the break about some speeches and
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that sort of thing, But what are some of the
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more specific activities that people can participate in?
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Thanks for asking that we're a theater company.
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So this festival has a story now, You're welcome to
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drop in at any point during the story, but if
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you're there for the whole thing, you'll see the story
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of a birthday party for King George the Third that
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starts on Friday night and doesn't end until Sunday afternoon.
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That birthday party, it's a party. It's got cake and
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ice cream. Of course, like any good birthday party. The
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ice cream was one of George Washington's favorite desserts, so
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King George can have some too. They'll be they'll be
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music music from the time period for a high class,
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high class classical music for country music as well. They'll
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be dances. You'll have a chance to learn how to
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do the same kind of dances that George Washington did
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and King George did. You'll learn from experts. You'll be
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able to watch the Atlanta Historic Dance Team come in
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from Atlanta and show you in historic costume minuet that
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were done on battlefields. Because when people went to war
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in seventeen seventy six, they had parties when they weren't
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on the battlefield. So if you think of a birthday
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party and think of all the things that go into
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a birthday party, cake and ice cream, presence. You'll have
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a chance to make presents, presents for yourself or other people, hats,
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mob caps, cockades that people would wear.
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This is a.
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Birthday party, and it's going to have all the elements
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of a birthday party in it.
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Nice.
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Now, are there any specific activities for the youth?
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There are yes.
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For little kids, they're going to be petting food. We've
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got people coming from Saint Francis Wildlife bringing owls and possums.
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People coming from the Tallahassee Museum bringing some wild animals
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as well. Redemptive Love Farms is going to be bringing
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animals you can get up close to and pet, and
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so will Sandyland Farms. With Sandyland, you'll actually be able
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to see a miniature horse. For older kids, there'll be
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a chance to drill with the militia. You can fling
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a dowel over your shoulder and learn how to protect
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Florida from invaders and keep Florida free. For kids of
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any age, there'll be the excitement of watching riders ride
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in on horses gallop gallop gallops from the front with
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news about battles that have just been decided. And then
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we'll get to hear whether the Loyalists one or whether
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the Patriots one and what that means for Florida in
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that moment, nice.
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Well sounds like a good time.
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This three day birthday party for King George the Third,
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so the entire community is invited to come out and
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be a part of that. Now, Leah, your son also
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is an actor, this being, and from what I understand,
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he's playing the role of Patrick Henry.
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Is that correct?
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Yes, that is right. I am so proud of him.
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He's you know, I've been acting for a while and so,
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you know, it's just been fun. My acting has kind
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of involved music as well, so I've just been kind
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of incorporating him in my you know, artistic endeavors, and
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so he's willingly come along and he's doing a great job.
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I'm so proud of him. Anybody could do a google
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Searchency what Patrick Henry may have looked like. But I
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this goes back again to our previous conversation. I appreciate Ben,
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you know, not dagnating the art and saying no, it
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has to be somebody like this or you know, he's
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given free artistic expression in that way. And so my
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son has you know, stepped in and he's just I mean,
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he's a fiery little man and that has really put
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some effort an expression in the words of you know,
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Patrick Henry. And so I'm really excited for people to
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see him perform that and you know, experience what he
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brings to that role.
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Nice. Nice and he how old your son?
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It's fifteen tenth grade, so yeah, he's developing.
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Nice and he does.
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A wonderful give me liberty or give me the Yeah.
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Yeah.
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I think we found out as we started working on
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Patrick Henry, is that Florida really owns this speech. Patrick
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Henry never wrote it down and it got reconstructed later
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by William Wirt, who became a really important settler of Florida.
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So there's a particular a reason for.
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People from Tallahassee, from Leon County, from Florida to come
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out and take ownership of give me liberty or give
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me death.
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Wow.
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Interesting, Well, it again sounds like it's going to be
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a great time and all the best to your son,
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Patrick or your son Leah. Uh and in his portrayal
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of Patrick Henry rather all right, so I want to
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shift our gears to what I call my quick fire round.
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And this is just a few questions for you both
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to answer quickly about yourselves already. Okay, wonderful, all right,
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So Leah will start with you. If you weren't doing
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this work in terms of acting and being a playwright, poet,
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that sort of thing, what else would you be doing?
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You know, honestly, I would really still be doing something
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is very STiMi, because I feel like this is just
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who I am, this is my call, this is like
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what brings me life. I would be doing something similar
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in terms of acting, maybe in sort of like you know,
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a teaching format, but I mean I've been acting and
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writing and just you know, in the performing arts in
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general for as long as I can remember to include music.
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Like I mentioned before, I mostly wrap, but I mean,
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singing lessons are definitely on the table. But I have
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a passion project that I've been shipping away at for
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quite some time in between my military career, school, being
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a mother, you know, most other responsibilities and things I enjoy,
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like acting with theory with a mission. So my military
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career coming to a close, I'm retiring and I look
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forward to thank you for your support, and I just
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put forward to the next chapter and bringing that passion
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project to fruition, so incorporating the youth and you know,
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teaching certain principles and things of that nature.
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Nice.
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Now, Ben, I'm kind of scared to ask you what
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you be doing because it seems like you do a
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whole lot. But if you were doing this work, Ben,
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what would you be doing?
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I think I'd be sitting down at the piano, working
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on a piano or arrangement. Like Leah, I really enjoy music.
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I enjoy the way it takes me places and it's
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very absorbing. I'm glad that we've got lots and lots
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of music coming up at the festival, and I'd probably
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be working on some music.
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Okay, very good, Ben. Place on your bucket list that
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you'd like to travel to.
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I want to go to Spain, especially Barcelona.
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Nice why.
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It's got wonderful architecture, it's got phenomenal food, and it's
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a part of Spain.
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I haven't gotten to visit yet.
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Okay, sounds good, Leah. If you could have a conversation,
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share a meal with any historical person, who would that be?
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I would say, and this is my core belief now,
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so some people may not believe this, but I have
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to say Jesus Christ. And I say that because you know,
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I believe that he's the divine son of God. I
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believe that.
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He is God in the flesh.
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And so to experience him a live in person, you know,
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like many of the people in his day did, to
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be able to ask questions, to be able to just
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chat get his insight on things of that nature, That's
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what I would want to do. Like just you know,
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it's different to you know, have an experience with someone
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that you're not seeing, you know some you know, long distance,
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you know, anything like that, and it's completely different spirits
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to have that in person.
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So I definitely have to say Jesus.
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Nice all right? Then same question?
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Oh my well, Leah already took one.
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Sweet, I'll go.
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Okay, So who would I sit down with? You know,
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I would really sit down with.
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My dad who's passed away, and I've got all kinds
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of questions i'd like to ask him. Now I live
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in the house he was born in and we didn't
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lose any keys, that wouldn't be the question, but I'd
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love to know more about his life.
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Nice, Okay, very good, Leah. What advice would you give
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your younger self? What would you tell young Leah ooh.
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I would say, take the risk, say the thing, be
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bold and step out on faith, and step out on
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the things that you believe, all right, and you know,
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believe in yourself aside from what anybody else has to
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say about you.
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Love it And best advice given or received.
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So best to advice received, because I do try to
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listen to advice. I think the best revice the advice
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I've received came from my mother, and that would leave
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them wanting more.
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I like that.
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I tend to over embroider, which probably I'm doing right
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now answering this question. This advice reminds me that's enough, Okay, leave.
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Them wanted more? Like that? All right?
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Final question, what do you consider to be your greater work?
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Which would be sort of like the equivalent of your superpower,
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And we'll start with you Leah.
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Well, I would say encouragement, speaking life into someone. I
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believe words are so powerful and you could talk someone
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literally off a edge, off a cliff. So I've seen,
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you know, my words be able to you know, bring
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somebody back from you know, thinking of thoughts of suicide
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and you know, just you know, being depressed and talking
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life and to them as seeing their face just right
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up and their life turn around. So definitely worth of encouragement,
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being an encourager.
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Beautiful. Then same question.
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I'm so glad we're on the radio and people are listening,
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because I would say my superpower is listening powerful way
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of getting into the world. And I love a quote
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I think it came from M. Scott Peck saying listening
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requires us setting aside of self and that's the way
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we build good relationships with each other, probably the way
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we build a good relationship with God, certainly the way
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we can build a better world by setting aside part
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of ourselves, listening to other people and finding out how
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we can work together.
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Your superpowers are after my own hearts, listening and encouragement.
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Beautiful. Thank you both for sharing that.
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Okay, So I want to give you both opportunities to
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give close the remarks and tell the folks how they
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can connect with Theodore with a mission. And again, Ben,
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I'm gonna have you close out with promoting the event,
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so we'll start with you.
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Leah, all right, I am excited about this event to
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come up. I do you know, just invite everyone to
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come and just you know, get a taste of Florida's
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history from a perspective that you may not have been
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familiar with before. I am Leah Alexis the stylist on Instagram.
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You can find me there at the Stylus zero seven
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and Yeah, I look forward to seeing everyone there.
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Yeah, live theater happens because there's a live audience. So
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everybody who comes to this festival is going to be
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active in making it what it is. So come on,
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let's make a celebration that goes down in history for
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America two fifty. This is a once in a lifetime
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opportunity to put your mark on American history. To visit
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theater with Amission dot com. You can google it, you
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can search it in any search engine you want. To
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click on the register and come make history with us.
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Love it, Yes, Theatre with Themission dot Com.
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So excited for this event.
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Thank you both for taking time to talk with me today,
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for having us You're welcome, and thank you all for
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tuning in to conversations with Nicole. Where we are connecting
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the community through conversations on ninety six point one jams
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Conversations with no call. Come come, compostions with no Let's
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talk about it, tell me all about it.
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I'm here. I want to know what's on your mind.
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The well needs to hear from.
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You, and I'm so glad to have a conversation to
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read the nation and it's all about him.
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We'll help you.
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To discover innovated ways too posatively James the world, Let's
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talk about let's talk about it.
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Let's talk about co sasions with no cale.
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Greetings, Welcome to conversations with Nicole. I am the coll
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ever with your host, and today I have not one,
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but two.
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Very special guests.
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The first guest is a sister, a mother and actress
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of poets, a playwright, and she's currently portraying Elizabeth Bruce
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in the time travel to Florida seventeen seventy six with
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the Theater with a Mission. Miss Leah Alexis. Welcome, Leah,
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thank you for having my pleasure. My second guest is
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a son, a brother, and uncle, an fsu alum, an educator,
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a designer of festivals, re enactments and classical plays, The
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artistic director and founder of the Theater with the Mission,
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mister Ben Gunter welcome.
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Ben, it's a pleasure to be here. Thanks so much.
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You are welcome.
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So we are geary up for the time travel into
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Florida seventeen seventy six, which is taking place May twenty
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ninth through thirty first at Goodwood Museum in Gardens, sixteen
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hundred Mikosoki Road here in Tallahassee. Ben, please tell us
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what can folks expect from this great event.
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You can expect to get up close and personal, face
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to face with Florida two hundred and fifty years ago.
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It's a great surprise for us to find out that
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most Plriidians were on the side of the king came
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George the Third instead of on the side of the
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patriots George Washington. And they had reasons for that as well.
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So this festival gets us a chance to hear primary
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founding documents, but Declaration of Independence. Patrick Henry's give me
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Liberty or give me Death speech is your news from
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the front lines of the battle during seventeen seventy six.
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And to explore the foods, the dances, the music, the
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animals that all made up the vibrant life in Florida
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two hundred and fifty years ago.
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How exciting, how exciting, and folks can go to theatre
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with themission dot com to get more information and register correctly.
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Absolutely, and we would love it if you visit us.
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Absolutely.
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Now, Leah, you are portraying Elizabeth Bruce in this weekend
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of activities.
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Tell us a little bit about this character.
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Well, she is a revolutionary era Florida character and we're
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currently working through that right now. The newspaper was a
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really big thing back in that day, and so when
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the news would come in from the front lines, this
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is a moment where everyone would gather around and you know,
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find out the current events of what was going on there.
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And so that's what my character will be doing. And
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so we're going to delve more into that. Ben, if
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you want to add anything to that.
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Agree, you've done a really great job with it.
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Yeah, it's interesting that Florida was divided into two Florida's
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in seventeen seventy six, East Florida and West Florida. And
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Elizabeth Bruce comes from West Florida. She's based in Pensacola.
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So people who come to this festival will get to
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meet a wide variety of folks because Florida was made
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up of Native Americans, black people, people from Irish and
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British and Spanish backgrounds, and they'll all be represented.
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Nice Now, Ben, if you don't mind sharing a little
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bit about the Theater with the Mission for those who
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may not be familiar with the organization.
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Thanks, great question.
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But Theater with the Mission started in two thousand and
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eight at Mission San Luis. Mission ended up being part
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of our name, and at that point we were trying
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to build bridges between people who live in our century
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and people who lived in the Spanish mission system in
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seventeen oh three, to try to help people understand what
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was going on inside their minds. Why did folks who
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built a mission burn it down? A Spanish mission burn
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it down to keep it from falling into the hands
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of the British. Ever since then, Theater with the Mission
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has been involved in building bridges between times, languages, and
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cultures so we can all come to understand each other better.
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It's one of the things that theater does best is
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give you the chance to see the world through somebody
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else's eyes. And if we can do that, we can
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build communities together. So that's our mission.
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I love that.
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I think this is such a unique organization in such
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important works. I'm a history lover myself, and to see
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you all play these people from the past gives us
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a greater perspective of kind of the foundation of the
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place that we live, work in play and so Leah
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talk talk to me a little bit, Leah about why
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it's important for you to portray Elizabeth Bruce.
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Well, just like Ben said, I mean, she was actually
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sharing with us during rehearsal that art is able to
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transport people across boundaries of time space and loss of
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culture and so like that's something that I strongly identify with.
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That's why I love storytelling. I love portraying these types
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of characters because our cant help youse see things that
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like no longer there. That's not necessarily in a history
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book per se, But if it is in a history book,
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you can bring that part to life. And so that's
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the value of our and artistic expression, in particular live theater,
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because it's something that you know, you get emotions, you
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get intellectual stimulation, I mean social bridging. It was something
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that I actually also studied back when my time in
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Florida State University, when I was concentrating in social welfare
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and we spoke about these things, how the powerful effective
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art and artistic expression.
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Nice Now, Ben, I mean, this has got to be
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a lot of work from the standpoint of studying these
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folks and really kind of getting to know who they
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were back then. And so talk to me a little
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bit about like how much time goes into the research
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and the really kind of gathering and curating this so
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that the actors can know their roles. And I've witnessed
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you all at the cabin that was done at Cascades
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Park to commemorate the bicentennial of the city of Tallahassee,
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and I mean it's very believable. You are really the crew,
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the chaz really embodies the roles that they're playing.
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So tell me about.
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Kind of how much time it takes to curate all
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of that.
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You're right on the money, Nicole, it does. It takes
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a lot of time and it takes a lot of imagination.
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And Leah was talking about that. So we've been researching
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Florida during the American Revolution for two years now, ever
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since we celebrated Tallahassee's bi centennial, because we thought, oh,
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what's the next big milestone America to fifty loads and
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loads of people are helping. We've had two teams of
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Undergraduate Research Opportunity students that you AREOP program at SSU
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help us to look at specific biographies for specific characters
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of people who lived in Florida two hundred and fifty
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years ago. We've had a class from the Osher Lifelong
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Learning Institute, the Ali Institute at FSU help us look
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at feuding families in Florida during the American Revolution. And
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we've been consulting with Florida Historical Society in the Tallahassee
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Historical Society and authors like George Kotlik and Kathleen Duval,
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both of whom are going to be in town for
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this festival. Kathleen Duval coming from Chapelton of North Carolina,
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George Kotleck coming from Jacksonville about.
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The histories that they've written.
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So it is a big job to try to get
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the best documentation that we can get. It's really exciting
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when we find something that breaks the story open. One
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of our undergraduate research researchers at FSU found a letter
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from the Governor of British East Florida, Patrick Tonan, to
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the British lord who is in charge of all the
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colonies in North America talking about establishing a militia in St.
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Augustine to descend Florida from invasion by the Patriots. It
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talks specifically at about recruiting black soldiers for this militia.
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And this is really exciting to us because in West Florida,
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in Pensacola, they never could pass the militia law because
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people who were in flavors there couldn't get over their
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fear of having black people holding rifles. But in East
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Florida that happened, and in Spanish Louisiana that happened. So
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it's really interesting to find the details of this history
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and then to bring them.
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To life absolutely.
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Now, you know, I'm glad you mentioned black people's roles
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during this time because, as lee Ya mentioned, you know,
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some things may not have been put in the history books,
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all right, especially outside of slavery for black folks in America.
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And so.
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Either Lee or Ben, I'm gonna leave this open question
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open to either one of you, but you know, talk
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to me about.
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How it's how it's shaped you and I.
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Actually I would like to hear both from both of
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you individually on this to hear about how black people
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shape law, democracy and thought in Florida during these early times.
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And Leah, let's start with you.
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Yes, thank you so much. I'll much to say me first, please.
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So I love the work that Ben has done along
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with his staff ideas also someone who helps out with
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the research, and it's just extremely empowering. I love that
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he chooses characters that are powerful innocence, They had influence,
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they had the ability to shape the law in terms
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of like their proximity to the people who did that,
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and so I appreciate. I mean, one of my characters
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was ana Ji Kingsley, who was a Singleese woman who
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actually ended up being married to Zepha and Niah Kingsley
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when she was brought to Florida, and she was actually
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the one who ran his plantation. She was, you know,
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over the staves and things of that nature, and she
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was handling it like she was really you know, doing
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a good job with that in terms of like the
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business side of it, the administration side of it. And
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so to find out those kinds of details, we did
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a thing called Landfill and there were different characters. They're
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black males that were powerful, influential people that had land
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to sell. So you know, we have a nice history
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in terms of like, you know, black people in Florida
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and just you know in general overall, in terms of
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like our economic and social standing in the in the
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you know, in the grand scheme of things, how we
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carried ourselves and how we were able to conduct business
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and acquire land and things of that nature, things of value.
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So you know, I feel intellectually stimulated. I've grown in
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that way in terms of my knowledge for things that
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I was not taught in school.
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So I'm grateful of that experience.
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Awesome, awesome, And Ben, what's your thoughts on it?
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Well?
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Having people like Leah bring characters like Anigi Kingsley to
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life gives me a more rounded, a bigger and sharper
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picture of the world.
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Uh.
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I know, people who have vision migraines when the when
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the headache comes on, it actually expresses it in the
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fact that you can see less and less. History sometimes
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has a has a migraine headache when it comes to
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people like black folks, to people like Native folks, to
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people like regular middle class or redneck. We just don't
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find out about crackers and other people who make a
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huge amount of the population and it's not my story.
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What I can find that the historians tell. And then
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when somebody like Leah steps inside it and makes it
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come to life, it's like that.
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Migraine goes away.
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That field of vision opens up and I can hear
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a richer story. I can see more dimensions, and the
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world becomes better populated.
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Very well, said Ben.
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So. I want to pause right here. We're gonna take
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a break, but when we come back, I want to
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hear more about the time travel into Florida seventeen seventy six,
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but also hear a little bit more about both of you.
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So stay tuned for more conversations. Greetings, it's the Cole
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Evet of Conversations with the Cold, inviting you to my
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live interactive conversations on Mondays and Wednesdays at eight thirty
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pm on the Conversations with the Cold Facebook page and
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YouTube channel. Again that's Mindset Monday and Wellness Wednesday at
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eight thirty pm on the Conversations with the Cold Facebook
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page and YouTube channel, where we are connecting the community
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through conversations.
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Hey ladies, it's back as what women Want. Join TJ
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from ninety six point one Jane along with special guys
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ninety six point one's conversations with along with John Quail
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and DJ speed Racer, Saturday June thirteen. What Women Want
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return your day to escape your everyday routine, Explore your
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own personal style, renew your soul and paper yourself. It's
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the event you loved the North Florida fair Ground with
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the best experson finance, fashion, home, the court, careers, health
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and more. That's sixteenth annual. What Women Want at Women's
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ex Bo Saturday June thirteen, Free tall attendees at the
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North Florida Facground spashed by Warner Hyundai Warner kid tylahassee
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Women's Magazine, the Capital City Chamber of Commerce. To become
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a vendor, please call dot Ely at eight five zero
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two zero one, three thousand and five. What Women Want
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Coming Saturday June thirteen to the North Florida Fackground. Your
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data escaped, your everyday routine, Explore your own personal style.
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We're doing your soul and paper yourself. That's sixteenth annual
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What Women Want Women's ex Bo Saturday June thirteen. Don't
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miss it.
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Join me Nicole Everett each and every Sunday at eight
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thirty am for conversations with Nicole on ninety six point
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one Jams. Welcome back to conversations with Nicole. If you
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are just joining us, I am talking with miss Leah Alexis,
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who is portraying E. Lizabeth Bruce with the Theatre with
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the Mission in their Time Travel into Florida seventeen seventy six,
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and mister Ben Gunter, who is the artistic director and
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founder of Theatre with a Mission. And again that Time
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Travel into Florida seventeen seventy six is taking place May
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twenty ninth through thirty first at Goodwood Museum in Gardens
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sixteen hundred Mikosooki Road, Tallahassee, Florida. And the event is
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a free event.
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Is that correct?
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Then that's really correct.
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We're going to take We're going to take your time,
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which is the most valuable thing you have.
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But it's time travel, so you'll get a return on
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your investment.
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I love that.
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And so again, what what are some of the activities
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that you mentioned before the break about some speeches and
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that sort of thing, But what are some of the
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more specific activities that people can participate in?
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Thanks for asking that we're a theater company.
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So this festival has a story now, You're welcome to
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drop in at any point during the story, but if
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you're there for the whole thing, you'll see the story
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of a birthday party for King George the Third that
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starts on Friday night and doesn't end until Sunday afternoon.
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That birthday party, it's a party. It's got cake and
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ice cream. Of course, like any good birthday party. The
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ice cream was one of George Washington's favorite desserts, so
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King George can have some too. They'll be they'll be
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music music from the time period for a high class,
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high class classical music for country music as well. They'll
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be dances. You'll have a chance to learn how to
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do the same kind of dances that George Washington did
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and King George did. You'll learn from experts. You'll be
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able to watch the Atlanta Historic Dance Team come in
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from Atlanta and show you in historic costume minuet that
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were done on battlefields. Because when people went to war
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in seventeen seventy six, they had parties when they weren't
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on the battlefield. So if you think of a birthday
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party and think of all the things that go into
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a birthday party, cake and ice cream, presence. You'll have
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a chance to make presents, presents for yourself or other people, hats,
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mob caps, cockades that people would wear.
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This is a.
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Birthday party, and it's going to have all the elements
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of a birthday party in it.
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Nice.
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Now, are there any specific activities for the youth?
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There are yes.
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For little kids, they're going to be petting food. We've
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got people coming from Saint Francis Wildlife bringing owls and possums.
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People coming from the Tallahassee Museum bringing some wild animals
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as well. Redemptive Love Farms is going to be bringing
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animals you can get up close to and pet, and
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so will Sandyland Farms. With Sandyland, you'll actually be able
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to see a miniature horse. For older kids, there'll be
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a chance to drill with the militia. You can fling
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a dowel over your shoulder and learn how to protect
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Florida from invaders and keep Florida free. For kids of
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any age, there'll be the excitement of watching riders ride
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in on horses gallop gallop gallops from the front with
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news about battles that have just been decided. And then
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we'll get to hear whether the Loyalists one or whether
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the Patriots one and what that means for Florida in
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that moment, nice.
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Well sounds like a good time.
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This three day birthday party for King George the Third,
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so the entire community is invited to come out and
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be a part of that. Now, Leah, your son also
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is an actor, this being, and from what I understand,
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he's playing the role of Patrick Henry.
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Is that correct?
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Yes, that is right. I am so proud of him.
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He's you know, I've been acting for a while and so,
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you know, it's just been fun. My acting has kind
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of involved music as well, so I've just been kind
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of incorporating him in my you know, artistic endeavors, and
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so he's willingly come along and he's doing a great job.
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I'm so proud of him. Anybody could do a google
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Searchency what Patrick Henry may have looked like. But I
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this goes back again to our previous conversation. I appreciate Ben,
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you know, not dagnating the art and saying no, it
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has to be somebody like this or you know, he's
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given free artistic expression in that way. And so my
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son has you know, stepped in and he's just I mean,
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he's a fiery little man and that has really put
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some effort an expression in the words of you know,
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Patrick Henry. And so I'm really excited for people to
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see him perform that and you know, experience what he
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brings to that role.
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Nice. Nice and he how old your son?
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It's fifteen tenth grade, so yeah, he's developing.
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Nice and he does.
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A wonderful give me liberty or give me the Yeah.
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Yeah.
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I think we found out as we started working on
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Patrick Henry, is that Florida really owns this speech. Patrick
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Henry never wrote it down and it got reconstructed later
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by William Wirt, who became a really important settler of Florida.
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So there's a particular a reason for.
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People from Tallahassee, from Leon County, from Florida to come
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out and take ownership of give me liberty or give
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me death.
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Wow.
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Interesting, Well, it again sounds like it's going to be
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a great time and all the best to your son,
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Patrick or your son Leah. Uh and in his portrayal
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of Patrick Henry rather all right, so I want to
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shift our gears to what I call my quick fire round.
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And this is just a few questions for you both
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to answer quickly about yourselves already. Okay, wonderful, all right,
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So Leah will start with you. If you weren't doing
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this work in terms of acting and being a playwright, poet,
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that sort of thing, what else would you be doing?
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You know, honestly, I would really still be doing something
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is very STiMi, because I feel like this is just
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who I am, this is my call, this is like
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what brings me life. I would be doing something similar
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in terms of acting, maybe in sort of like you know,
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a teaching format, but I mean I've been acting and
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writing and just you know, in the performing arts in
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general for as long as I can remember to include music.
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Like I mentioned before, I mostly wrap, but I mean,
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singing lessons are definitely on the table. But I have
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a passion project that I've been shipping away at for
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quite some time in between my military career, school, being
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a mother, you know, most other responsibilities and things I enjoy,
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like acting with theory with a mission. So my military
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career coming to a close, I'm retiring and I look
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forward to thank you for your support, and I just
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put forward to the next chapter and bringing that passion
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project to fruition, so incorporating the youth and you know,
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teaching certain principles and things of that nature.
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Nice.
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00:25:01.119 --> 00:25:03.079
Now, Ben, I'm kind of scared to ask you what
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you be doing because it seems like you do a
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whole lot. But if you were doing this work, Ben,
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what would you be doing?
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I think I'd be sitting down at the piano, working
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on a piano or arrangement. Like Leah, I really enjoy music.
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I enjoy the way it takes me places and it's
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very absorbing. I'm glad that we've got lots and lots
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of music coming up at the festival, and I'd probably
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be working on some music.
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Okay, very good, Ben. Place on your bucket list that
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you'd like to travel to.
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I want to go to Spain, especially Barcelona.
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Nice why.
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It's got wonderful architecture, it's got phenomenal food, and it's
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a part of Spain.
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I haven't gotten to visit yet.
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Okay, sounds good, Leah. If you could have a conversation,
414
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share a meal with any historical person, who would that be?
415
00:26:03.839 --> 00:26:07.039
I would say, and this is my core belief now,
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so some people may not believe this, but I have
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to say Jesus Christ. And I say that because you know,
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I believe that he's the divine son of God. I
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believe that.
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He is God in the flesh.
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And so to experience him a live in person, you know,
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like many of the people in his day did, to
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be able to ask questions, to be able to just
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chat get his insight on things of that nature, That's
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what I would want to do. Like just you know,
426
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it's different to you know, have an experience with someone
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that you're not seeing, you know some you know, long distance,
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00:26:44.759 --> 00:26:47.440
you know, anything like that, and it's completely different spirits
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to have that in person.
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So I definitely have to say Jesus.
431
00:26:51.680 --> 00:26:53.640
Nice all right? Then same question?
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Oh my well, Leah already took one.
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00:27:00.160 --> 00:27:01.359
Sweet, I'll go.
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00:27:02.960 --> 00:27:06.319
Okay, So who would I sit down with? You know,
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00:27:08.079 --> 00:27:09.559
I would really sit down with.
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00:27:09.440 --> 00:27:12.880
My dad who's passed away, and I've got all kinds
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of questions i'd like to ask him. Now I live
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in the house he was born in and we didn't
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00:27:19.920 --> 00:27:22.839
lose any keys, that wouldn't be the question, but I'd
440
00:27:22.920 --> 00:27:24.799
love to know more about his life.
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00:27:25.160 --> 00:27:29.079
Nice, Okay, very good, Leah. What advice would you give
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your younger self? What would you tell young Leah ooh.
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I would say, take the risk, say the thing, be
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bold and step out on faith, and step out on
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the things that you believe, all right, and you know,
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believe in yourself aside from what anybody else has to
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say about you.
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Love it And best advice given or received.
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So best to advice received, because I do try to
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listen to advice. I think the best revice the advice
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I've received came from my mother, and that would leave
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them wanting more.
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I like that.
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I tend to over embroider, which probably I'm doing right
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00:28:18.880 --> 00:28:26.000
now answering this question. This advice reminds me that's enough, Okay, leave.
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Them wanted more? Like that? All right?
457
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Final question, what do you consider to be your greater work?
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Which would be sort of like the equivalent of your superpower,
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And we'll start with you Leah.
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Well, I would say encouragement, speaking life into someone. I
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believe words are so powerful and you could talk someone
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00:28:47.640 --> 00:28:50.640
literally off a edge, off a cliff. So I've seen,
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00:28:50.960 --> 00:28:53.400
you know, my words be able to you know, bring
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somebody back from you know, thinking of thoughts of suicide
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and you know, just you know, being depressed and talking
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00:28:59.799 --> 00:29:02.480
life and to them as seeing their face just right
467
00:29:02.640 --> 00:29:06.920
up and their life turn around. So definitely worth of encouragement,
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being an encourager.
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00:29:08.279 --> 00:29:10.279
Beautiful. Then same question.
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00:29:11.920 --> 00:29:14.839
I'm so glad we're on the radio and people are listening,
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because I would say my superpower is listening powerful way
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of getting into the world. And I love a quote
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I think it came from M. Scott Peck saying listening
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requires us setting aside of self and that's the way
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00:29:34.640 --> 00:29:38.599
we build good relationships with each other, probably the way
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we build a good relationship with God, certainly the way
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we can build a better world by setting aside part
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of ourselves, listening to other people and finding out how
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we can work together.
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Your superpowers are after my own hearts, listening and encouragement.
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Beautiful. Thank you both for sharing that.
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Okay, So I want to give you both opportunities to
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give close the remarks and tell the folks how they
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can connect with Theodore with a mission. And again, Ben,
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I'm gonna have you close out with promoting the event,
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so we'll start with you.
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Leah, all right, I am excited about this event to
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come up. I do you know, just invite everyone to
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come and just you know, get a taste of Florida's
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history from a perspective that you may not have been
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familiar with before. I am Leah Alexis the stylist on Instagram.
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You can find me there at the Stylus zero seven
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and Yeah, I look forward to seeing everyone there.
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00:30:44.200 --> 00:30:51.039
Yeah, live theater happens because there's a live audience. So
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everybody who comes to this festival is going to be
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active in making it what it is. So come on,
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let's make a celebration that goes down in history for
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America two fifty. This is a once in a lifetime
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opportunity to put your mark on American history. To visit
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00:31:09.480 --> 00:31:13.680
theater with Amission dot com. You can google it, you
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00:31:13.759 --> 00:31:17.279
can search it in any search engine you want. To
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00:31:17.319 --> 00:31:22.160
click on the register and come make history with us.
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Love it, Yes, Theatre with Themission dot Com.
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So excited for this event.
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Thank you both for taking time to talk with me today,
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for having us You're welcome, and thank you all for
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00:31:34.960 --> 00:31:38.279
tuning in to conversations with Nicole. Where we are connecting
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the community through conversations on ninety six point one jams
