Stanley Jackson

WEBVTT
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Okay, I think I got something.
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So nervous.
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Don't be nervous.
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If it's really bad, I'll cut it down.
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We'll get it in one go.
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Ready?
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One, two, three.
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Poster.
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Oh, botta.
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Oh, good, good.
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This segue there.
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Poster and botta.
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Okay.
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Three, two, one.
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Shakespeare.
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I don't know where poster and botta Shakespeare.
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For me, it was like, well, you have Shakespeare.
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The Shakespeare poster.
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That is true.
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That is Shakespeare.
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We didn't cheat.
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No.
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No.
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We got it in two.
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That was great.
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Welcome to Working Class Acts, everybody.
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Cue music.
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There it is.
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Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Working Class Acts Podcast.
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I'm your host, John Metalodi.
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You haven't said it for me.
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I'm here today with an incredible performer and such a lovely human being.
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He was born in New Orleans and raised in Houston.
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Stanley earned his BFA in acting from Howard University and his MA in classical acting from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London.
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His training and his career have taken him to stages around the world, including performances in London and tours in New Zealand.
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Ooh, and Australia.
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Ah, with the acclaimed pop-up Globe Shakespeare Company.
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Very cool.
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Uh in the US, Stanley has bought, has brought, he brought his talent.
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He did not buy it.
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He brought his talent to theaters nationwide, including the Alley Theater, Baltimore Center Stage, A Noise Within Theatre Company, the Wallace Annenberg Center stages, and Ensemble Theater Houston.
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Off Broadway, he appeared in the Refugee Plays at Roundabout Theatre Company.
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His recent work includes the world premiere of Fremont Ave at Arena Stage, the Huntington Theatre Company's production of Tony Stone, and Primary Trust at the Alley Theater.
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In addition to his work on stage, Stanley continues to expand his storytelling into film, television, and new media.
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Always seeking projects that resonate with honesty, humanity, and heart.
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It's Stanley Andrew Jackson, everybody.
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Stanley! Thanks for having me.
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It's good to see you, man.
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Yeah, bro.
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We were just saying it's been 13 years a long time since we've seen each other last.
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Although I've seen you on TV a few times in your in your commercials.
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I love I love seeing you.
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I always point you out to my friends.
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I'm like, I know him.
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Pay the bills.
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Okay.
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Dude, trust me, I just did a commercial shoot like a week and a half ago.
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So nice, congratulations.
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Thanks, but yeah.
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It was it was a lot of fun, actually.
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Yeah, very great fun.
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Yeah, yeah.
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Um, but for for those who don't know, which is maybe most of the people listening, uh, me and Stan Lee met at Bada, yeah, British American Dramatic Academy in Oxford, England.
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Um God, that feels so long ago, 13 years ago.
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Uh it was a Shakespeare program, and it was an incredible experience.
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I I still think of it so fondly.
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And it's so funny.
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Like I like you you were just mentioning like some of the people that we know in common.
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It is wild how many people have been through that program and like the amount of people who know whoever and the world just keeps getting smaller and smaller.
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Yeah, you'd be really surprised.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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I actually uh this summer I worked as a mentor for Bada really with the Howard kids, and I actually went back to London.
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So they're like uh The Globe is doing uh Chadwick Boltzmann playing ages ago called Deep Azure.
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And so what they wanted to do was have some of the Howard kids that were at Bada this summer come and do a workshop at the Globe because the play is set in America, it's set at Howard, really.
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And so they like we're not gonna get to go to um to DC.
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So why not just utilize these kids while we have them here and do a workshop?
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They played the kids, um, and so they needed a mentor.
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Oh my god.
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My grad school Shakespeare teacher is now the dean of Bada.
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Really?
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Whoa! And so he we've always I've always been working with Bada over the years still.
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Yeah, yeah.
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And so yeah, I just was back.
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So I was at Maudlin this summer.
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Oh my god, I miss it so much.
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And I was like, this is crazy to be back.
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Like it it was.
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Is it exactly the same?
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It is, is it?
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I mean, it's hard.
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It's a pretty old spot.
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There are not making a lot of renovations there, but man, yeah, it's like it's a gorgeous, gorgeous campus.
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It's exactly the same.
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Yeah.
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The food is still no bueno.
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And I just was there and I was like, you know, I I sometimes get overly emotional.
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I'm so sentimental.
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I'm like with the kids, and I'm like, oh my god, I guess you don't understand.
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Ten years ago, I was where you were.
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Yeah.
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So it was a great but that's like that's the beauty of it all, you know?
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Like seeing the community expand and grow, and that's that's so awesome.
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It changed my life.
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Oh, yeah.
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It really did.
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And I don't even know if you're one of the people that I like told that I was like, I'm going to grad school in the UK.
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Yeah.
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But I Oh, you hadn't gone to grad school by the time we were doing that.
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No.
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No, okay, I was still in undergrad.
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I was still at Howard, and I had just gotten out of undergrad when we did that.
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Oh, like literally had just graduated.
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Okay, I was a junior I was a I was just finishing my junior year.
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Gotcha, gotcha.
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Going into my senior year, and I was going to apply to like the NYU school.
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I mean the New York schools.
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Yeah, yeah.
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And then I went that summer and it changed my life, and I was like, I'm going to grad school in the UK.
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Yeah, yeah.
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So my senior year I applied, and then the next year I graduated and ended up moving to London.
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Wow.
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Oh my God.
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Yeah.
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That is so wild.
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Yes.
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Well, let's let's take it back to the beginning.
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And then we can get to that because I have so many questions about that.
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Um, because that's an incredible school that you went to.
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Um where were you born?
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Where where'd you grow up?
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Where where did it all begin?
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I was thinking it was in New Orleans, Louisiana.
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Nice.
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Um, third while uptown maybe.
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Um and I was raised in Houston.
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I moved to Houston around the age of 10.
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Okay.
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Um, and so yeah, Houston.
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I mean New Orleans and then Houston.
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Nice.
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What was the move?
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Was it for like your your family's new job or whatever?
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Something like that.
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Yeah, yeah.
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My mom was ready for a change.
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Yeah, so like she didn't feel like we were getting the best education in New Orleans, and also she just wanted something different.
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Sure.
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And so yeah, we moved to Houston.
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Amazing.
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Yeah.
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And when did the proverbial bug bite you?
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You know, that's the interesting, you know.
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I'm a church boy, and so like people be like, when did you start believing?
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I like I've always gone to church, but there were moments when I was like, I'm gonna presume this thing for myself.
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And I think as a kid, my family is filled with storytellers, none professional, none professionally considering themselves to be artists.
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Yeah, but my grandmother, if you come to my house, she will tell you a story, and when she's telling the story, she's transported back.
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Yeah, if it's emotional, her eyes will water, she will physicalize, she'll get up, she'll stand.
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Like she performs.
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I love it.
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But all of us, my cousins, all of us have that same energy.
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Yeah, yeah.
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So I feel like in my family, we've always been performers, and at family gatherings, I would love a dance.
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Yeah.
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A dance moment, you know, like everyone.
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Um, so I feel like as a performer, I've always been a performer since I was a little kid.
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But my relationship to storytelling was starting to be developed in high school.
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Uh I started like uh I well in eighth grade, I saw a production of Much Ado About Nothing at my middle school.
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Yeah, seventh grade, actually.
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Um, and I was like, I had just gotten to this school and I knew that I wanted to be in the arts.
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Yeah.
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But I didn't know what theater arts was, I didn't know what drama was.
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Yeah, yeah.
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And so I I saw the list of all the art programs, and I was like, the only one I know is choir.
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I'm a little church boy.
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All I know is all I know is choir.
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So I was in choir trying to learn how to sing.
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I can hold a note, but it's not my calling.
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Um and then I remember that seventh grade year, I saw some of my friends and classmates do this like very modernized, very country Houston production of Much Ado About Nothing.
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I was like, that's what I want to do.
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Yeah.
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So the next year I like got into the drama class because I knew what it was called.
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Now and then my drama teacher like put me immediately in the advanced advanced class after I did my first monologue.
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And so like when I went to high school, I was like, I'm gonna do this thing.
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This is and I always went to schools that were performing arts, yeah.
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Uh like performing arts and engineering schools.
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Oh, interesting.
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Yeah, yeah.
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Because my mom did it performing arts and engineering.
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They were like together.
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Yeah.
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Oh, that seems so engineering applied technology and the arts.
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Oh, interesting.
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That's the kind of high school I ended up in.
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That's amazing, though.
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I love I love that.
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Um, and so in high school, I like started the theater program in my sophomore year in Houston, uh, and in Texas as a whole, there are like this thing called UIL, Interscholastic League.
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They're like competitions for plays.
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Oh, okay, okay.
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Everything in Texas is a competition in a sport.
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And so uh basically you would every school would have to put on a 45-minute production.
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Okay.
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You would have seven minutes to set up the set, seven minutes to take down the set, and you would have to take a play.
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It could be a two-act play, but you would have to cut the script down, still make it make sense, and you have 45 minutes to do the show.
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Yeah.
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Um, strict rules.
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And so I was playing the lead in the show called Before It Hits Home, playing this like bisexual man who's like married and he has a partner and he has AIDS and then he dies at the end.
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15 like giving like the most tragic arc I've ever heard.
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As a 15-year-old.
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I know.
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And so at the first, the way these competitions go is like you, if you win the first round, you're competing against other schools to the next round.
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So um, at the first round, I remember uh doing this play, and at the end of the play, my character dies from AIDS in the hospital.
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And I remember when the play was over, the curtain was coming down, and I just remember weeping because I could hear the applause.
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And I think it was the first time I realized, oh my god, they're responding because I they believed me taking them on this journey.
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Yeah.
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Um, and I remember crying, and then I had to realize, oh my god, you got seven minutes to help take down this set.
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Which I remember telling my drama streaming.
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The drama strike.
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I remember telling my drama teacher, Rashonda Jones, who is now a Tony Award-winning theater teacher.
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Oh my god, that's amazing.
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Um, I remember telling her, I I'm like taken on the set.
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I'm like, I gotta do this for the rest of my life.
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So that was the that was the moment that I was like, I'm gonna be an actor.
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Yeah.
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I'm really pursue this thing.
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So that's so wow, that is such a beautiful story.
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Yeah.
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Oh my gosh.
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And this was all in high school.
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Well, that's that's amazing.
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It is it is so interesting to me, like hearing other people's uh experiences of like doing high school productions and stuff like that, because like my it's it's like one extreme or the other, where it's like you're doing really intense work like this, or you're doing like Greece Junior or whatever.
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Right, right, right, right.
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It's like there's no middle ground, it feels like both.
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Yeah.
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To be honest.
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So I've I've done we would do a musical every year and we would do with the competition, and even our musicals were competition.
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There's a name called Tuts, Tommy Toon Awards.
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So now that one is national.
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Ummy Toon.
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Yeah, um, but so what like freshman year we did uh Cinderella.
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No, sophomore year we did Cinderella, freshman year we did Annie, Sweet Charity.
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So we would do the same, and then when it was time for the show, there was always the musical and the straight play.
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The straight play was always real.
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We're going hard.
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The year after this one, the one that I just I played a lawyer of a guy who was on death row.
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Oh my god.
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At least you got weren't the guy on death less.
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That would have been intense.
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We're all kids.
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It was called A Lesson Before Dying.
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Oh my god.
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It was actually well-known.
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This is a it's a well-known movie and a well-known play, but I'm like, we're doing this, like, and then we're doing like Dream Girl.
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Yeah.
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Sweet charity.
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So like we're doing Angels in America next.
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Right.
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Yes.
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That's incredible.
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Yeah.
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Um, so you got that, but that's that incredible experience.
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You that's like that moment where you realize you gotta do it.
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Yeah.
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And then so you you go to Howard.
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Did you go there for for acting?
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Did you get yeah?
00:12:39.360 --> 00:12:40.399
I went to Howard for acting.
00:12:40.480 --> 00:12:45.120
Um, my junior year of high school, I was like already thinking about my senior year.
00:12:45.200 --> 00:12:48.960
I was like really focused on where I was going to go to school.
00:12:49.039 --> 00:12:53.360
And I remember looking up schools, and there was a part of me that was like, I wanted to go to HBCU.
00:12:53.679 --> 00:12:56.559
And so I remember Googling HBCUs for drama.
00:12:56.639 --> 00:13:08.399
And I have a lot of moments in my life where I felt like were very, and this is a part of my like faith walk, but like that I feel like are very divine, that I can't explain, and that like kind of were guideposts for my next moves.
00:13:08.799 --> 00:13:22.320
So I remember being on my uh on on the computer looking up HBCUs for theater arts, and I remember being on Howard's page, and then I remember my drama teacher calling me, and she was like, Hey, I know you're looking for schools.
00:13:22.399 --> 00:13:23.840
Um, you should consider Howard.
00:13:23.919 --> 00:13:28.080
I'm at the National Black Theater Festival, and these Howard humans are winning all of these awards.
00:13:28.639 --> 00:13:33.519
And I happened to be on the Howard page, and I was like, Miss Jones, I'm on the Howard's page.
00:13:33.600 --> 00:13:37.679
I I think I'm just gonna apply to Howard, and that's I only applied to Howard.
00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:38.559
Oh whoa.
00:13:39.120 --> 00:13:44.639
Yeah, I I I didn't choose to apply to any other school because I felt it was the right place.
00:13:44.799 --> 00:13:44.960
Yeah.
00:13:45.120 --> 00:13:46.399
I didn't tell my mama that not.
00:13:47.679 --> 00:13:49.039
You're like, yeah, I applied to like 15.
00:13:49.120 --> 00:13:49.360
I don't know.
00:13:51.440 --> 00:13:53.840
I I only auditioned and I only applied to Howard.
00:13:54.000 --> 00:13:54.480
Wow.
00:13:54.639 --> 00:13:59.919
Um, and then I I I I got it, and I actually don't know what I would have done if I didn't get it.
00:14:00.399 --> 00:14:02.000
You would have had to wait a year.
00:14:03.600 --> 00:14:05.360
Um but that's amazing.
00:14:05.440 --> 00:14:08.320
How was your time at that incredibly historic school?
00:14:08.559 --> 00:14:12.080
Yeah, Howard defined who I am as an artist, I believe.
00:14:12.320 --> 00:14:18.240
I think it really gave me an identity um for knowing how to create as a black artist in a black body.
00:14:18.320 --> 00:14:18.639
Yeah.
00:14:18.799 --> 00:14:21.279
Um, and it helped me to know more about who I was.
00:14:21.440 --> 00:14:25.279
I I I don't I I I came up from my upbringing where there was an I felt very ignorant.
00:14:25.440 --> 00:14:25.600
Yeah.
00:14:25.840 --> 00:14:31.759
So I'm in the from being from the South, there was a lot of things I just didn't know, even just about like black history, about who I am.
00:14:31.840 --> 00:14:45.360
And so I I always credit Howard for like shaping me to be the artist that I am and helping me to like just know how to live and be and find freedom in my own body and to always show up um from my own body, my own heart, my own mind.
00:14:45.440 --> 00:14:49.519
Um, and then in that I can mold and shape shift into anything else.
00:14:49.679 --> 00:14:50.000
Yeah.
00:14:50.240 --> 00:14:51.360
Oh, that's beautiful, dude.
00:14:51.440 --> 00:14:51.519
Yeah.
00:14:51.840 --> 00:14:53.039
And so you go to Howard.
00:14:53.840 --> 00:14:55.039
Do you return?
00:14:55.600 --> 00:14:57.360
Wait, where did you go after Howard?
00:14:57.440 --> 00:15:01.519
Because you you just told me recently, or just today, that you that you're new to New York City.
00:15:01.600 --> 00:15:03.840
For some reason, I thought you lived here for years.
00:15:04.159 --> 00:15:04.399
Oh, no.
00:15:04.720 --> 00:15:05.759
Um I I don't know why.
00:15:05.919 --> 00:15:12.799
But you did you go to the West Coast after that or or No, so I mean, so junior year at Howard, I went to Bada.
00:15:12.960 --> 00:15:13.840
That summer I went to Bada.
00:15:14.080 --> 00:15:14.799
Oh, of course, yes.
00:15:14.960 --> 00:15:23.440
Um, and then at Bada, I had a similar experience to called you, you were on the website.
00:15:24.480 --> 00:15:25.840
I mean, it was a little different.
00:15:26.080 --> 00:15:29.919
I remember working on like text for class.
00:15:30.080 --> 00:15:30.240
Yeah.
00:15:30.399 --> 00:15:32.720
I think I'm my my senior partner was Catherine.
00:15:32.799 --> 00:15:34.000
Um Catherine.
00:15:34.159 --> 00:15:34.559
Yeah.
00:15:34.879 --> 00:15:37.120
God, I haven't seen some of them in so long.
00:15:37.440 --> 00:15:37.840
It's wild.
00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:38.960
I just see them on social media.
00:15:39.200 --> 00:15:39.519
I know.
00:15:39.600 --> 00:15:43.039
She she she's doing great, it seems like she's got a whole production company now.
00:15:43.200 --> 00:15:43.840
Yeah, it's great.
00:15:44.080 --> 00:15:49.840
Um, and so I remember I remember working on some text, and I remember feeling this like impulse.
00:15:49.919 --> 00:15:52.559
And I think this is all connected to the summer and how it was changing me.
00:15:52.720 --> 00:15:52.799
Yeah.
00:15:53.120 --> 00:15:56.799
But I remember feeling this deep impulse of like, I need to go to school in the UK.
00:15:56.879 --> 00:16:04.399
And so I remember I made these choices and I called I I believe that they're spiritual, but also somebody could be like, brother, you was just crazy.
00:16:04.559 --> 00:16:06.159
Um he's only applied to one place?
00:16:06.320 --> 00:16:07.360
Yes, he has to go here.
00:16:08.960 --> 00:16:15.519
Um, but I I remember looking at our pamphlet, and my voice teacher that summer, I I think his name was Robert something, I don't remember.
00:16:15.840 --> 00:16:17.200
But he went to Central.
00:16:17.440 --> 00:16:18.000
Oh, wow.
00:16:18.080 --> 00:16:23.039
Oh so I knew little, but I remember walking around a lot.
00:16:23.120 --> 00:16:29.919
You know, I told um at the time I told the Dean, Ian Woolrich, I told Dean uh Ian that like, Ian, I'm gonna apply to school.
00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:32.480
I'm gonna apply to school and um to in the UK.
00:16:32.559 --> 00:16:39.039
And yeah, I my senior year at Howard, I applied to Central, and that's the only school I applied for for grad school, and I got it.
00:16:39.679 --> 00:16:44.559
Honestly, you you have some sort of radar for like it, you know what's gonna happen.
00:16:44.720 --> 00:16:45.679
You're seeing the future.
00:16:45.919 --> 00:16:51.600
Uh and I don't know if I want to say seeing the future, but I because I don't want to, but that's a lot of pressure.
00:16:51.759 --> 00:16:54.480
Um because if that I would hope I see more money in my life.
00:16:55.279 --> 00:16:57.759
I was just gonna say, I'm like, I'm gonna ask you for some investment advice.
00:16:58.159 --> 00:17:01.120
Listen, I don't need that for my damn self.
00:17:02.480 --> 00:17:09.200
But um, yeah, and I've even my apartment in London for school, Ian was my guantor.
00:17:09.440 --> 00:17:09.839
Really?
00:17:10.079 --> 00:17:10.640
Yeah, like that.
00:17:10.720 --> 00:17:11.599
Wow, that was very sweet.
00:17:13.279 --> 00:17:14.079
Oh, that's lovely.
00:17:14.319 --> 00:17:18.480
Um, but yeah, so I went to school in London and I was in London for a year and a half.
00:17:18.640 --> 00:17:18.880
Okay.
00:17:18.960 --> 00:17:20.559
Um the program was a one-year master's program.
00:17:20.799 --> 00:17:21.200
Oh, interesting.
00:17:21.440 --> 00:17:22.880
Studying classical theater specifically.
00:17:23.119 --> 00:17:23.440
Right.
00:17:23.680 --> 00:17:28.880
Um, really intense, really rigorous, four modules, a lot happening in a short amount of time.
00:17:29.039 --> 00:17:33.519
Um, and then I was like unsure of what was next because I always felt spirit-led.
00:17:33.680 --> 00:17:34.720
And I was like, what am I doing?
00:17:34.799 --> 00:17:38.079
I was like broke, I was homeless, I was living on a classmate's couch.
00:17:38.160 --> 00:17:40.480
Um, and I was like, what am I gonna do next?
00:17:40.640 --> 00:17:50.720
And uh my Shakespeare teacher at the time, he uh had partnered with a friend who was starting this theater company in New Zealand called the Pop-Up Shakespeare Company.
00:17:50.880 --> 00:18:03.359
Wow, and it was called the Pop-Up Globe Shakespeare Company, and the whole idea was that he was reading a Shakespeare book to his daughter, uh, and it was a pop-up book, and the globe popped out, and she was like, Daddy, I want to go there.
00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:04.240
And he had this idea.
00:18:04.400 --> 00:18:08.799
He was like, Oh, well, we can't just go to London right now because we're in New Zealand.
00:18:08.960 --> 00:18:16.000
But what if I have this idea of building a building a replica of the globe and taking it to places that people won't be able to access the globe?
00:18:16.240 --> 00:18:16.480
Whoa.
00:18:17.119 --> 00:18:23.680
And so he like mortgaged his house, he like put his house up for mortgage and took everything he had, and he followed this idea.
00:18:23.839 --> 00:18:28.720
My Shakespeare teacher from Central happened to be a friend of his, so he was like, Hey, will you direct one of these shows?
00:18:28.799 --> 00:18:29.839
Let's do two shows and rep.
00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:30.079
Yeah.
00:18:30.240 --> 00:18:34.319
So my Shakespeare teacher was directed, Romeo and Juliet, and he got me and one of my classmates to audition.
00:18:34.400 --> 00:18:36.640
And so I was like, I auditioned.
00:18:36.720 --> 00:18:44.640
I had also been up for something else while I was in London, like the Tempest in Ireland, and I was really grappling as living on this friend's couch, yeah.
00:18:44.799 --> 00:18:47.359
I was really grappling with like where I was gonna go.
00:18:47.519 --> 00:18:52.400
Yeah, you know, because I'm just like this little black boy in this foreign space, just following where my spirit is.
00:18:52.799 --> 00:18:53.440
Yeah, yeah.
00:18:53.839 --> 00:19:03.759
And so I like wrestled what I consider I wrestled with God one night emotionally, trying to figure out what, and then the next morning I woke up with peace about moving to New Zealand on a one-way ticket.
00:19:03.920 --> 00:19:04.559
You just knew it, yeah.
00:19:04.720 --> 00:19:06.720
And so I moved to New Zealand on a one-way ticket.
00:19:06.880 --> 00:19:07.440
Whoa.
00:19:07.680 --> 00:19:10.640
Um, and then a couple weeks after that, that's when I booked the Super Bowl.
00:19:10.799 --> 00:19:11.920
I booked a Super Bowl commercial.
00:19:12.079 --> 00:19:14.559
I saw that one and I went, good for Stanley.
00:19:14.720 --> 00:19:16.559
I'm like, that's a paycheck, I'm sure.
00:19:16.799 --> 00:19:19.440
Honestly, yeah, I wish I knew how to steward money better.
00:19:20.319 --> 00:19:25.440
If I really could see in the future, I would have saved because I would have seen the moments I was gonna be broke.
00:19:26.160 --> 00:19:28.319
So I had to say, I can't see in the future.
00:19:28.559 --> 00:19:29.519
Oh my god.
00:19:29.839 --> 00:19:41.359
But um, yeah, and so I I moved to New Zealand on a one-way ticket, and I just was like, I'm just I I think the real surrender was like, I'm just gonna take take the next step that I'm feeling had to make.
00:19:41.440 --> 00:19:44.240
And that's kind of where my how my it's still, I'm still in that space.
00:19:44.480 --> 00:19:46.079
Now I have a wife, so it's a little different.
00:19:46.160 --> 00:19:49.759
It's like, oh, she's like, brother, you just taking steps with this, you know.
00:19:49.839 --> 00:19:51.039
And I'm like, I know.
00:19:51.279 --> 00:19:52.720
You just gotta trust the journey.
00:19:52.880 --> 00:19:55.279
You gotta trust that the next step will be there, correct?
00:19:55.440 --> 00:19:58.000
As I'm like, oh Lord, please let the next step be there, guys.
00:19:58.079 --> 00:19:59.759
Please let the next it's just real.
00:20:00.240 --> 00:20:01.039
That's the real thing.
00:20:01.200 --> 00:20:05.359
I mean, that's that's that's the artist's way, it feels like, you know.
00:20:46.400 --> 00:20:48.000
I worked with the company the first season.
00:20:48.080 --> 00:20:50.240
We did Romeo and Juliet and 12th night in rep.
00:20:50.560 --> 00:20:51.120
Oh, nice.
00:20:51.279 --> 00:20:59.279
Um, and uh the the the gig was like six months, and I was like, after it finished, I had this like it was my first ever like professional gig post-school.
00:20:59.440 --> 00:20:59.759
Yeah.
00:20:59.920 --> 00:21:04.480
Um, other than like undergrad professional gig that I did like a summer thing in DC.
00:21:04.880 --> 00:21:08.720
Um and so I was like, okay, uh, what do I do?
00:21:08.880 --> 00:21:18.880
I'm just in New Zealand, I have a visa for two years, so I got a job at a cafe and learned how to make coffee, and then I knew the theater was gonna, it was fairly, it was really successful.
00:21:19.039 --> 00:21:19.360
Yeah.
00:21:19.600 --> 00:21:23.200
And so it the Southern Hemisphere had never had anything like it.
00:21:23.440 --> 00:21:24.320
Oh, that's so cool.
00:21:24.560 --> 00:21:26.000
And so it kind of blew up quickly.
00:21:26.080 --> 00:21:30.400
And so the second season with the company, I knew I was bought in with the company, they love me, I love it.
00:21:30.560 --> 00:21:31.279
Yeah, of course.
00:21:31.519 --> 00:21:35.759
Um, and so the second season, it was bought by Live Nation.
00:21:36.400 --> 00:21:36.880
Really?
00:21:37.120 --> 00:21:39.440
Yeah, and so like now there was more money.
00:21:39.920 --> 00:21:40.400
Jesus.
00:21:40.640 --> 00:21:41.519
Yeah, there was more money.
00:21:41.600 --> 00:21:47.680
So then the second season we were gonna do a season in New Zealand, and then it was gonna have a season in Melbourne, Australia.
00:21:47.840 --> 00:21:48.400
Oh my god.
00:21:48.880 --> 00:21:56.160
And so um, yeah, second year they like expanded it instead of just doing two productions, there was four productions and there was two companies.
00:21:56.240 --> 00:21:58.320
So there were two companies doing two shows in rep.
00:21:58.720 --> 00:22:09.279
Um, and so I was in Henry the Fifth and uh As You Like It and As You Like It, I played Seal It and As You Like It Because there was an all-male company and then there was uh like a male and female company.
00:22:09.519 --> 00:22:10.000
Gotcha, gotcha.
00:22:11.519 --> 00:22:12.480
This is pre-summer things.
00:22:12.800 --> 00:22:13.200
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:22:13.920 --> 00:22:17.759
They were doing they were doing like a traditional sort of style of yeah, sure, sure, sure.
00:22:18.080 --> 00:22:25.039
Where yeah, and so um yeah, I I I did the second season and then I was like really aching to go home.
00:22:25.200 --> 00:22:25.360
Yeah.
00:22:25.519 --> 00:22:36.080
And I was just like, I I now surrendered to the journey, but uh God, like I I wanna be working in America, and this is not helping my American career.
00:22:36.560 --> 00:22:38.560
Like no one knows what Work I'm doing here.
00:22:38.640 --> 00:22:41.920
Yeah, I'm getting even though it's amazing work you're getting to do.
00:22:42.160 --> 00:22:43.680
But it's I I totally get that.
00:22:43.920 --> 00:22:44.240
Yeah.
00:22:44.400 --> 00:22:52.640
And so um I did the season in New Zealand and then I did the bit the stint in um Melbourne, Australia, and then February 2018 I moved back to America.
00:22:52.800 --> 00:22:57.840
So I had been gone from America from September 2014 to February 2018.
00:22:58.160 --> 00:23:00.000
So I had just moved back to America.
00:23:00.560 --> 00:23:01.920
You were out for four years.
00:23:02.160 --> 00:23:02.480
Wow.
00:23:03.680 --> 00:23:05.360
I've come back, I had come back maybe two or three times.
00:23:06.400 --> 00:23:08.800
Holidays, my sister graduated from high school.
00:23:09.120 --> 00:23:11.840
But yeah, I'd been I'd been away for a while.
00:23:12.080 --> 00:23:20.800
And so yeah, I moved back February 2018 and then I lived in Houston with my mom with the goal of like, I'm gonna be here three months and I'm moving to LA or New York.
00:23:21.039 --> 00:23:23.200
I was there for a year and a half, sure.
00:23:23.759 --> 00:23:28.480
Um, and really fell in love and discovered uh the Houston theater scene.
00:23:28.640 --> 00:23:29.279
Oh, great.
00:23:29.519 --> 00:23:48.800
Um, because I came back like, I'm not trying to work in the Houston theater scene, I've been working all over the world, and then was immediately humbled and like broke, and my mom was just like, I'm just sitting on the bed, my mom's not pressuring me to do anything, and she knows I'm depressed because I've like finished this sort of world tour and so yeah, she was just like, Why don't you just like try to work here?
00:23:48.960 --> 00:23:58.320
Yeah, I I went to an audition and started to build community, book some gigs, worked at the theaters in Houston, and then I was like, after a year and a half, I was like ready to move forward and move on.
00:23:58.480 --> 00:24:03.519
And um then I moved to LA September 2019.
00:24:04.560 --> 00:24:06.080
Um and I stayed in LA.
00:24:06.400 --> 00:24:07.519
We all know it's coming.
00:24:08.640 --> 00:24:10.400
We live in the future now.
00:24:11.519 --> 00:24:17.680
Yeah, you know, because the heart and the hope had been like I've been doing so much theater, I would love to do more TV and film.
00:24:17.840 --> 00:24:18.320
Of course.
00:24:18.560 --> 00:24:21.759
And so I moved to LA and I have an agent this whole time.
00:24:21.920 --> 00:24:25.600
Like, I had an agent in London, and then I left my London agent once I moved to New Zealand.
00:24:25.759 --> 00:24:30.160
In New Zealand, I got a I was working with people who had like great New Zealand agents, so then I got a New Zealand agent.
00:24:30.320 --> 00:24:30.640
Oh wow.
00:24:30.720 --> 00:24:34.400
Um, and then my New Zealand agent, once I moved back to America, got me an LA agent.
00:24:34.640 --> 00:24:35.039
Wow.
00:24:35.600 --> 00:24:38.800
Grateful favor, I'm so grateful at the time.
00:24:38.960 --> 00:24:39.519
Yeah, of course.
00:24:39.680 --> 00:24:48.160
Um, and so even while I was in Houston, I still had an agent in LA, and I remember we had been talking, I had been auditioning for all the things, all TV shows, still just in Houston.
00:24:48.560 --> 00:25:02.320
And I remember uh August of that year, I was like fidgeting ready, like, what is the am I gonna and then I remember the LA agent calling me and being like, hey, where are you gonna be in the fall and the spring, the fall of this year and the spring of next year?
00:25:02.400 --> 00:25:08.720
And I was like, I don't know, but since you're calling me, I think I think you might be telling me where I'm gonna be in the fall.
00:25:10.720 --> 00:25:11.759
What was it for?
00:25:12.080 --> 00:25:16.880
It wasn't for he was just curious because he knew stuff was happening in the city.
00:25:17.200 --> 00:25:17.759
Yeah.
00:25:18.160 --> 00:25:21.759
Because after that call, in a month I moved to LA.
00:25:21.920 --> 00:25:23.360
I didn't have a car, I bought a car.
00:25:23.600 --> 00:25:24.880
I thought you were gonna say you walked.
00:25:25.680 --> 00:25:27.039
I walked the whole way there.
00:25:28.080 --> 00:25:29.920
This is a hell of a journey.
00:25:30.160 --> 00:25:38.160
But yeah, in a month, I bought a car, packed all my stuff, wow, and I moved to LA in September 2019 with like a dollar and a dream.
00:25:39.519 --> 00:25:40.240
And so I'm there.
00:25:40.320 --> 00:25:44.400
I'm living on my best friend's couch for uh from high school from undergrad.
00:25:44.560 --> 00:25:44.800
Nice.
00:25:44.960 --> 00:25:52.080
Um, I was living on her couch, and yeah, I was there, and then you know, I'd February 2020.
00:25:52.560 --> 00:25:54.000
I had just moved there.
00:25:54.160 --> 00:26:02.640
I still did a couple gigs over Christmas in Houston, but I was like, I gotta stop working in Houston because if I keep coming back, they'll they'll think that I'm just always gonna jump in.
00:26:02.720 --> 00:26:03.200
You're gonna be there.
00:26:03.279 --> 00:26:03.759
Yeah, sure, sure.
00:26:04.000 --> 00:26:06.080
So I was like, I'm gonna do this last gig and that's it.
00:26:06.320 --> 00:26:11.200
Um, and I'd come back to LA and then I had some really dope auditions.
00:26:11.279 --> 00:26:16.000
And they were, I remember auditioning for this pilot for NBC, and I was like, oh my god, I really like this script.
00:26:16.080 --> 00:26:17.519
You know, sometimes you're doing it because you want the opportunity.
00:26:17.600 --> 00:26:17.920
You want the cards.
00:26:18.160 --> 00:26:18.640
Of course, of course.
00:26:18.800 --> 00:26:19.200
And then there are times.
00:26:19.519 --> 00:26:22.000
And then sometimes you get a script and you're just like, I actually like this.
00:26:22.160 --> 00:26:23.120
I don't feel right for this.
00:26:23.440 --> 00:26:26.560
And so I was in LA and I was like trying to get this LA agent.
00:26:26.640 --> 00:26:28.320
I was like, hey, can you get me in the room?
00:26:28.720 --> 00:26:30.720
And they were like, oh no, we don't think we can.
00:26:30.800 --> 00:26:33.600
Oh, now the audition, I was still with my New Zealand agent.
00:26:33.680 --> 00:26:35.360
So I had the New Zealand and LA agent at the same time.
00:26:35.519 --> 00:26:35.759
Oh, great.
00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:38.160
The audition actually came from my New Zealand agent.
00:26:38.320 --> 00:26:38.960
Oh, interesting.
00:26:39.120 --> 00:26:42.080
Yeah, when you learn that they're cast all this stuff all worldwide.
00:26:42.800 --> 00:26:43.279
It don't really matter.
00:26:43.600 --> 00:26:44.640
Whoever gets going first.
00:26:44.880 --> 00:26:46.400
They were like, just get them in there.
00:26:46.560 --> 00:26:49.519
So I was like, I'm just gonna really try to send in a really good tape.
00:26:49.680 --> 00:26:52.400
So sent my tape in to my New Zealand agent.
00:26:52.560 --> 00:26:52.800
Uh-huh.
00:26:52.960 --> 00:26:54.880
New Zealand agent sent it to Australian cast and director.
00:26:55.039 --> 00:26:58.240
Australian cast director sent it to NBC, and then I had a producer session.
00:26:58.480 --> 00:26:59.200
Fantastic.
00:26:59.360 --> 00:27:03.120
And then I did the producer session, and then like I made it to screen test.
00:27:03.759 --> 00:27:05.920
And I'm like, it's happening.
00:27:07.200 --> 00:27:09.279
Spoil this I didn't get the job.
00:27:09.440 --> 00:27:10.240
I didn't get the job.
00:27:10.480 --> 00:27:12.080
But I was like, this is a great opportunity.
00:27:12.240 --> 00:27:15.519
Now my LA agent values me in some sort of way.
00:27:15.680 --> 00:27:17.840
You know, always looking for words from these people.
00:27:18.080 --> 00:27:24.160
Um but like showing that, like, hey, had you like pushed me for this, like you saw what I just did.
00:27:24.320 --> 00:27:24.640
Correct.
00:27:24.800 --> 00:27:25.600
I got all the way there.
00:27:25.759 --> 00:27:26.000
Correct.
00:27:26.240 --> 00:27:26.880
Almost all the way there.
00:27:26.960 --> 00:27:27.600
Just close.
00:27:27.840 --> 00:27:28.400
What was it for?
00:27:28.560 --> 00:27:30.720
Do you if you don't mind it's okay if you don't want to.
00:27:30.960 --> 00:27:31.440
Wait, what was that?
00:27:31.519 --> 00:27:33.440
The thing is, I don't even know if I remember the name of the show.
00:27:33.519 --> 00:27:34.080
At the time, it didn't.
00:27:34.320 --> 00:27:34.800
Did they have a name?
00:27:34.880 --> 00:27:35.440
They didn't have a name in the show.
00:27:36.080 --> 00:27:39.360
But it's it's it's come out like a couple years after the pandemic.
00:27:39.519 --> 00:27:41.200
I just Grand Crew.
00:27:41.600 --> 00:27:42.400
Grand Crew, okay.
00:27:43.039 --> 00:27:46.880
It followed like four black guys in their relationship to wine and them doing life together.
00:27:47.120 --> 00:27:47.360
Oh, fuck.
00:27:47.440 --> 00:27:48.000
It was a sit cool.
00:27:48.240 --> 00:27:48.480
Interesting.
00:27:48.720 --> 00:27:49.840
Loved it, enjoyed it.
00:27:50.080 --> 00:27:54.960
The all them brothers were older brothers who were playing younger, and I do not look their age.
00:27:55.120 --> 00:27:55.519
Yeah, sure.
00:27:55.840 --> 00:27:57.039
Regardless, I was grateful for the opportunity.
00:27:57.279 --> 00:27:59.680
And it was right into my my wheelhouse, I felt.
00:27:59.759 --> 00:28:00.160
Yeah.
00:28:00.400 --> 00:28:03.920
Um, and so I was like, oh, this is gonna give me more auditions.
00:28:04.000 --> 00:28:04.480
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:28:04.720 --> 00:28:07.840
And it's once I like got the note, the next week it did.
00:28:08.080 --> 00:28:08.560
Oh, nice.
00:28:08.640 --> 00:28:10.640
And then two weeks later the pandemic happened.
00:28:12.720 --> 00:28:17.759
And so, you know, and then we all ran inside.
00:28:18.640 --> 00:28:26.160
It just like the momentum started, and then it was just like uh here goes the collective world traumatizing and and uh depression.
00:28:26.560 --> 00:28:32.640
Yeah, honestly, and then just a total reshape of how auditioning happens now in this industry.
00:28:32.880 --> 00:28:33.039
Yeah.
00:28:33.200 --> 00:28:36.640
I mean, everything you see the hooks on my wall over here for myself tape.
00:28:37.120 --> 00:28:42.880
Yes, I have listen, we have a two-bedroom in my our office, is an office, a workout room, and an audition.
00:28:43.360 --> 00:28:43.519
Love it.
00:28:43.920 --> 00:28:44.160
I love it.
00:28:44.320 --> 00:28:45.279
It's all the things.
00:28:45.440 --> 00:28:50.960
Um, but yeah, that I was so happy because I was deciding between New York and LA.
00:28:51.039 --> 00:28:53.600
So when an agent called me, I chose LA.
00:28:53.680 --> 00:28:53.920
Yeah.
00:28:54.160 --> 00:28:56.240
As I have always done in that story.
00:28:56.400 --> 00:28:57.600
I'm like, what's the thing?
00:28:57.680 --> 00:29:00.320
And then I something propels me to make a decision.
00:29:00.480 --> 00:29:02.800
But I'm so happy that I did the pandemic in LA.
00:29:02.880 --> 00:29:03.120
Yeah.
00:29:03.279 --> 00:29:05.039
I needed to do the pandemic in LA.
00:29:05.120 --> 00:29:08.320
I needed space, I needed green grass, I needed the sun.
00:29:08.480 --> 00:29:10.160
I how have you moved.
00:29:10.800 --> 00:29:11.920
I wish I had been there.
00:29:12.240 --> 00:29:15.440
I would love to interview you about how you made it through.
00:29:15.600 --> 00:29:21.680
Uh I was going through grad school at the time too, and it was it was a really wild experience.
00:29:21.920 --> 00:29:25.200
Maybe I should just like dedicate an episode to just like that whole experience.
00:29:25.279 --> 00:29:28.960
It's because it was I genuinely I wouldn't trade it for anything though.
00:29:29.279 --> 00:29:40.320
It because the thing I constantly say about my time during there was when we first got thrust into it, because it like happened, it started like at the start of our spring break.
00:29:40.560 --> 00:29:47.680
So we had a week where it was like, you gotta be inside, this'll be over in a week anyway, so it'll be fine.
00:29:47.759 --> 00:29:50.240
And so we were all just like, all right, well, we were on vacation anyway.
00:29:50.320 --> 00:29:54.240
I wasn't gonna go fucking anywhere because like I'm like, I just wanted to lay at home.
00:29:54.400 --> 00:29:57.200
And then obviously it lasted for a few years.
00:29:57.600 --> 00:29:58.160
What year were you?
00:29:58.240 --> 00:29:58.560
What was that?
00:29:58.720 --> 00:29:59.840
What year were you at NYU?
00:30:00.080 --> 00:30:00.720
My first year.
00:30:01.200 --> 00:30:08.480
So it was my second semester, my first year, and when we first got thrust into indoors, it was terrible.
00:30:08.640 --> 00:30:12.000
Like there was just no, and like nobody could prepare for this.
00:30:12.160 --> 00:30:19.440
Nobody knew like that we were gonna have to like do everything at home over Zoom, this thing we just learned about.
00:30:19.840 --> 00:30:20.320
Right.
00:30:21.120 --> 00:30:24.880
Um, so the fur that the end of that year was very difficult.
00:30:25.200 --> 00:30:33.360
Um, there were were some instances that were amazing, like uh Brandon Dearden uh was uh one of our our teachers.
00:30:33.440 --> 00:30:36.400
One I think he just started at NYU, if I remember correctly.
00:30:36.560 --> 00:30:47.039
Him and Crystal were like adjunct professors, and they did this amazing uh um course on August Wilson that was like engaging and informative.
00:30:47.120 --> 00:30:50.480
I like I was learning more about Wilson than I had ever had before.
00:30:50.800 --> 00:30:53.039
Um, and they made it engaging through Zoom.
00:30:53.120 --> 00:31:01.920
And like to this day, I'm just like, I'm so grateful for that experience because like they somehow cracked some sort of code on how to like teach through this and also perform.
00:31:02.480 --> 00:31:06.480
Um and and that's to you know, to the other teachers there.
00:31:06.640 --> 00:31:11.360
They if any of you are watching, um, you also did a wonderful job as well.
00:31:11.440 --> 00:31:17.519
It was really freaking difficult what you had to go through, uh what we all had to go through to like get learning done.
00:31:17.680 --> 00:31:26.560
Um, but then by the second year we were hybrid, it was like some in-person, some not, and then third year we were back pretty much fully in person, uh, but there were still some protocols in place.
00:31:26.720 --> 00:31:37.360
Uh, but we got to do our final year production, which was great, and got to do like I got to be in Gloria, which is Brendan Jacob Jenkins, and it's like it I think is a modern masterpiece.
00:31:37.600 --> 00:31:38.880
It's so fucking good.
00:31:39.120 --> 00:31:41.120
Um, so I was very grateful for that.
00:31:41.360 --> 00:31:49.680
And uh yeah, oh, and all this to say too, like I the reason I wouldn't trade it for anything is because a couple of things.
00:31:49.840 --> 00:31:52.320
I've said this before, but I'm gonna keep repeating it.
00:31:52.640 --> 00:31:58.800
Is when you're working in the theater, your job is almost always working with restrictions.
00:31:59.680 --> 00:32:06.320
Like whether it's budgetary or like the space or what have you, you're you learn to work with the restrictions.
00:32:06.480 --> 00:32:06.880
Absolutely.
00:32:07.120 --> 00:32:09.600
We had to wear masks, we had to be six feet apart.
00:32:09.759 --> 00:32:10.960
That was the restriction.
00:32:11.120 --> 00:32:16.160
It was really fucking hard to work with, but like we made it work and figure it out.
00:32:16.400 --> 00:32:20.240
You know, it it really unlocked this notion of this is really funny.
00:32:20.320 --> 00:32:26.080
One of my my old roommates, Dylan, used to say, Who knew we were we were all ugly from the eyes down?
00:32:26.400 --> 00:32:28.880
You know that was the thing that makes us ugly.
00:32:30.400 --> 00:32:30.880
Ugly.
00:32:31.120 --> 00:32:34.800
But uh, all that to say, like, there's so much information on the face.
00:32:35.039 --> 00:32:35.600
Of course, yeah.
00:32:35.759 --> 00:32:39.200
Um, the eyes give a lot, but the mouth and the rest of the face do too.
00:32:39.360 --> 00:32:39.519
Yeah.
00:32:39.680 --> 00:32:44.880
And so it was like when we finally were able to take off the masks, it was like an explosion of information.
00:32:45.120 --> 00:32:49.920
And being able to work that way was like there was something really like I'd never take it for granted.
00:32:50.240 --> 00:32:50.560
Yeah, exactly.
00:32:51.039 --> 00:32:53.120
You value all of a person more.
00:32:53.519 --> 00:32:54.400
Yes, yeah, yeah.
00:32:54.640 --> 00:32:57.920
Absolutely, like all the little things going on in the face, behaviors.
00:32:58.000 --> 00:33:01.600
You just I feel like we like picked up on that more as a result.
00:33:01.759 --> 00:33:05.440
And the other was because we were on Zoom so much, I got used to being in front of a camera.
00:33:05.680 --> 00:33:06.080
Of course.
00:33:06.240 --> 00:33:14.320
And it was like that was something that was like always in my head because film and television is something that I've also wanted to be getting more into.
00:33:14.480 --> 00:33:14.800
Yeah.
00:33:14.960 --> 00:33:20.480
Um, but uh for whatever reason, haven't been able to like really dive into that market.
00:33:20.640 --> 00:33:22.480
I'm more of a theater performer.
00:33:22.640 --> 00:33:22.960
Yeah.
00:33:23.200 --> 00:33:26.880
Um but yeah, I'm I'm so grateful for that and wouldn't change it for anything.
00:33:27.120 --> 00:33:27.840
Yeah, I get it.
00:33:28.000 --> 00:33:28.400
I get it.
00:33:28.480 --> 00:33:30.240
I I always am so curious.
00:33:30.400 --> 00:33:33.120
I had a friend who was in Juilliard at the time as well.
00:33:33.600 --> 00:33:33.759
Who?
00:33:33.840 --> 00:33:35.120
Who was Nedra Snipes?
00:33:35.200 --> 00:33:35.840
Oh, okay, I don't know.
00:33:36.400 --> 00:33:44.000
Um, but um, and I just remember being alongside of her in the midst of the journey, and I was just like, I'm just always so curious.
00:33:44.720 --> 00:34:02.800
But also, I think it's really beautiful what you like discovered in the midst of that, and like how Brandon and Crystal were able to like find ways to like unlock things in y'all, and then also, you know, just valuing who we are, and then the ingenuity of a creative, like we have we we're we we make something out of nothing.
00:34:02.960 --> 00:34:03.680
That is what we do.
00:34:03.920 --> 00:34:04.720
Yeah, that is our job.
00:34:05.039 --> 00:34:17.519
That is the job, and that's what I loved about Howard is like it did not have all the things, all the facilities, but we learn to create, yeah, and to make honest humanity, pictures of humanity that would reach people in any way with whatever we had.
00:34:17.679 --> 00:34:18.960
So I I I love that.
00:34:19.119 --> 00:34:20.079
I love I love that too.
00:34:20.320 --> 00:34:20.800
Oh my god.
00:34:20.960 --> 00:34:26.960
Yeah, so I was I was I was in the um the the throws of LA in the midst of that.
00:34:27.440 --> 00:34:28.159
Oh my god.
00:34:28.320 --> 00:34:32.960
And you but that must have been nice to be like like in a like sunshine state.
00:34:33.199 --> 00:34:34.719
It was actually is it the sunshine state?
00:34:34.800 --> 00:34:35.440
What state is that?
00:34:35.519 --> 00:34:35.840
I don't know.
00:34:36.079 --> 00:34:36.800
Oh, I think that's Florida.
00:34:36.880 --> 00:34:37.360
Is that Florida?
00:34:37.519 --> 00:34:38.400
Oh maybe I don't know.
00:34:38.559 --> 00:34:39.920
Anyway, it was warm over there.
00:34:40.159 --> 00:34:42.480
It was so you had some nice weather going on.
00:34:42.719 --> 00:34:44.159
The sun, like, it was really great.
00:34:44.320 --> 00:34:45.360
Honestly, I loved it.
00:34:45.519 --> 00:34:50.320
Uh I it was the best intro into Los Angeles.
00:34:50.480 --> 00:34:50.639
Yeah.
00:34:50.960 --> 00:34:51.119
Really?
00:34:51.840 --> 00:34:52.079
That's so.
00:34:52.480 --> 00:35:02.960
I mean, not as an artist, not as an actor, not as a person who has a desire, not not as a person who desires to do TV and film.
00:35:03.200 --> 00:35:05.200
Because there was no TV and film.
00:35:05.440 --> 00:35:07.119
Nothing was happening.
00:35:07.599 --> 00:35:08.800
Um my gosh.
00:35:09.280 --> 00:35:13.360
But it was a great opportunity for me to like really rediscover.
00:35:13.599 --> 00:35:14.800
Like, wait, but who are you?
00:35:14.960 --> 00:35:15.200
Yeah.
00:35:15.440 --> 00:35:17.360
You are more than what you do.
00:35:17.519 --> 00:35:18.000
Yeah.
00:35:18.240 --> 00:35:22.800
And you know, that's always really hard to remember and think about.
00:35:23.119 --> 00:35:24.960
I still have to remind myself of that.
00:35:25.119 --> 00:35:25.360
Yeah.
00:35:25.920 --> 00:35:30.159
Like, I am more than what my gifting.
00:35:30.480 --> 00:35:30.800
You know.
00:35:31.280 --> 00:35:33.680
Like I me being present is enough.
00:35:34.079 --> 00:35:34.800
Yes, yes.
00:35:35.119 --> 00:35:40.240
You know, and so I mean, I utilize that time to like, I got really invested in a church in LA.
00:35:40.639 --> 00:35:41.200
Fantastic.
00:35:41.440 --> 00:35:46.880
Um, because that's always a place where I first built community um and found great friends.
00:35:47.200 --> 00:35:49.200
And I met my wife in 2020.
00:35:49.680 --> 00:35:50.240
In LA?
00:35:50.480 --> 00:35:50.800
Ah.
00:35:51.519 --> 00:35:52.639
It's all for a reason.
00:35:52.800 --> 00:35:53.200
Yeah.
00:35:53.519 --> 00:35:54.320
In 2020.
00:35:54.480 --> 00:35:57.200
In twenty October 2020 is when I met my current wife.
00:35:58.159 --> 00:36:04.320
Um, we had a we we I'd met a we had a mutual friend that I had just met months prior.
00:36:04.480 --> 00:36:08.240
Um, through a friend from Houston who was like, Hey, I have a friend who needs friends in in LA.
00:36:08.320 --> 00:36:09.280
And I was like, Okay, cool.
00:36:09.440 --> 00:36:10.079
I got friends.
00:36:10.159 --> 00:36:11.119
I already have friends.
00:36:11.440 --> 00:36:13.200
It took me no time to make friends in LA.
00:36:13.519 --> 00:36:15.200
But I was like, okay, I got friends, but that's okay.
00:36:15.280 --> 00:36:16.240
Let me, I'll I'll go have a friend.
00:36:16.400 --> 00:36:17.920
Like, I guess I'll go meet my future wife.
00:36:18.240 --> 00:36:19.039
Well, no, it wasn't her.
00:36:19.200 --> 00:36:19.680
Oh, it wasn't her.
00:36:19.840 --> 00:36:20.639
It was our mutual friend.
00:36:21.280 --> 00:36:23.360
It was a mutual friend that I was that that's now.
00:36:23.680 --> 00:36:24.800
Well, that was our mutual friend.
00:36:24.880 --> 00:36:28.000
Anyway, but yeah, I had coffee with her and I was like, okay, cool, cool, cool.
00:36:28.159 --> 00:36:33.599
And so she invited me to a dinner on the beach um because we had all been in love with it.
00:36:34.000 --> 00:36:34.159
Yeah.
00:36:34.240 --> 00:36:35.599
And she was like, I we've all been inside.
00:36:35.840 --> 00:36:39.840
I'm inviting, you know, friends who like love God and our creatives to this like beach dinner.
00:36:39.920 --> 00:36:47.440
And so, like, I was shop rocked up to the beach dinner, and then there was this girl there, and I was like, What is going on with my heart?
00:36:48.400 --> 00:36:50.880
I have been single and fine for a long time.
00:36:52.559 --> 00:36:53.840
What is happening?
00:36:54.639 --> 00:37:01.760
And so, I mean, the story goes, and if you're not gonna like this, baby, but I know the thing is, you're gonna watch this.
00:37:04.400 --> 00:37:10.079
But you know, I rocked up to the beach, and it was a very multicultural beach, you know, thing.
00:37:10.159 --> 00:37:12.400
And so I was like, Well, I'm not just gonna try this.
00:37:12.800 --> 00:37:18.559
It felt like there was two black people sitting together, and I was like, What I'm not gonna do is just go sit next to the black people.
00:37:18.720 --> 00:37:23.200
Um, and so I was like, There was these two girls, um, and I was like, I'm gonna sit over here.
00:37:23.440 --> 00:37:25.920
And then she was like, There's some space over here.
00:37:26.079 --> 00:37:30.639
And I was like, immediately I was like, dang, girl, if you want it, I'll come over there and sit next to you.
00:37:30.800 --> 00:37:33.280
I didn't say this, but this is what goes on in my brain.
00:37:33.599 --> 00:37:34.159
Sure, sure.
00:37:34.320 --> 00:37:48.639
Um, but that's like the order, like, so I, you know, I always attest, like, I don't, you know, I don't know, I don't see the future because I could have never seen that when I chose to move to LA, but I've always found that following my instincts and where my spirit is being led has led me to like really great things.
00:37:48.800 --> 00:37:53.119
And my wife is like my biggest thing that I take from my season in LA.
00:37:53.599 --> 00:37:54.400
That's lovely, dude.
00:37:54.639 --> 00:37:56.000
You know, finding my person.
00:37:56.480 --> 00:38:01.119
Um, but yeah, and the rest of LA was just like, you know, really being with her.
00:38:01.360 --> 00:38:05.440
And I um I became a resident artist at a theater company.
00:38:05.680 --> 00:38:08.559
Amazing, a classical theater company called A Noise Within Theater Company.
00:38:08.720 --> 00:38:09.280
Fantastic.
00:38:09.599 --> 00:38:22.800
Um, I'm kind of now like as a uh uh a guest artist with them now, but I'd been a resident artist for a while and I did like four productions with them, worked at a church and yeah, just like enjoyed the LA world for four years.
00:38:23.039 --> 00:38:23.280
Yeah.
00:38:23.599 --> 00:38:28.000
Um, and then I just moved here September 2023.
00:38:28.320 --> 00:38:28.639
Wow.
00:38:28.800 --> 00:38:28.960
Yeah.
00:38:29.200 --> 00:38:32.000
What and what was the what was the impetus to move here now?
00:38:32.320 --> 00:38:45.119
Uh so my wife and I had been together for a while at the time, and so she was getting her PhD in communications from University of North Carolina, and the only reason she happened to be in LA was because it was her first year of her program and it was on Zoom.
00:38:45.680 --> 00:38:49.360
Oh she would have been in North Carolina if the pandemic didn't happen.
00:38:49.599 --> 00:38:50.079
Whoa.
00:38:50.559 --> 00:38:51.119
Fate.
00:38:52.320 --> 00:38:52.800
Fate?
00:38:53.680 --> 00:38:53.920
Lisa.
00:38:54.559 --> 00:38:56.240
I ain't trying to evangelize, but I'm just saying.
00:38:58.559 --> 00:39:05.920
Um but yeah, so the second year, yeah, the second year of her program, she did, she did have to go to North Carolina.
00:39:06.000 --> 00:39:07.440
So we did long distance for two years.
00:39:07.680 --> 00:39:08.720
Ooh, that can be that can be hard.
00:39:08.960 --> 00:39:09.440
It was really tough.
00:39:09.519 --> 00:39:16.240
Yeah, it was really tough, but we made a commitment of like we it it was tough, but it also like really increased our form of communication.
00:39:16.400 --> 00:39:16.559
Yeah.
00:39:16.800 --> 00:39:25.440
We were forced to like communicate everything, yeah, schedules, money, all the things because we had we had we chose to commit to each other.
00:39:25.840 --> 00:39:29.760
Um, and then uh one of us would travel once a month to see the other one.
00:39:29.840 --> 00:39:33.280
And once I became a resident artist at a theater company, she was doing more of the traveling.
00:39:34.159 --> 00:39:42.559
Um but then she had gotten an opportunity to apply for a fellowship in New York um at the Botanical Gardens in the Bronx.
00:39:42.880 --> 00:39:48.079
Um, and so when the fellowship opportunity arose, I was like, we're moving to New York.
00:39:49.440 --> 00:39:51.119
And so she hadn't even applied.
00:39:51.280 --> 00:39:54.159
She just told me, she just told me it existed.
00:39:54.559 --> 00:39:58.800
And and a little bit of trust me, only apply to this one and you'll get it.
00:39:59.360 --> 00:39:59.840
Trust me.
00:40:00.240 --> 00:40:00.400
No.
00:40:00.800 --> 00:40:07.039
Her we actually have this conversation still to this day because her and I have different relationships with this kind of stuff.
00:40:07.360 --> 00:40:09.519
She's like, does she apply to a lot of things?
00:40:09.680 --> 00:40:10.159
Yeah.
00:40:11.519 --> 00:40:12.639
So she's trust me.
00:40:12.800 --> 00:40:19.200
I'm applying for a lot of things, and you know, there were times when she would get the green light, and there were a lot of times I didn't as well know.
00:40:19.440 --> 00:40:19.840
Yeah, yeah.
00:40:20.079 --> 00:40:24.880
Um, but the context was that a month prior, I had been sick of working at the church.
00:40:25.039 --> 00:40:27.519
Just men working in ministry was really challenging on me.
00:40:28.079 --> 00:40:29.440
And I just felt very stagnant.
00:40:29.519 --> 00:40:31.119
I was just like, I just want to be creative.
00:40:31.200 --> 00:40:36.400
And I was at the theater company, but I I move around a lot as my story lets you know.
00:40:36.639 --> 00:40:39.440
And so like I get a little bit like, okay, what's happening?
00:40:39.680 --> 00:40:42.960
You know, and like I wasn't finding favor in TV and film.
00:40:43.039 --> 00:40:47.920
My momentum had left, and I felt like I was like a sitting duck on that um the agent's books at the time.
00:40:48.000 --> 00:40:48.320
Yeah.
00:40:48.480 --> 00:40:58.880
Um, and so a month prior, I had done like a retreat with the folks at the church, and uh they were asking what's our one-year plan, five-year plan, one year, two-year, and five-year plans.
00:40:58.960 --> 00:41:04.880
And so I was like, Well, in a year, I want to get engaged, I want to get married, and I always say I want to be a serious regular on TV show.
00:41:05.039 --> 00:41:07.360
That hasn't changed, and I'm still believing, you know.
00:41:07.440 --> 00:41:10.720
So if you're watching, you know, we're both looking at the camera.
00:41:10.960 --> 00:41:12.960
Hey, hey, hey, all the cameras.
00:41:13.119 --> 00:41:13.680
All the cameras.
00:41:13.760 --> 00:41:14.720
Do you see the cameras?
00:41:15.680 --> 00:41:18.639
And so, and I also said, I don't see myself working at this church.
00:41:19.280 --> 00:41:22.960
So that was a month before she told me about the so when the fellowship.
00:41:23.039 --> 00:41:25.920
So when she told me about the fellowship, I was like, and I had I see it.
00:41:26.320 --> 00:41:29.680
Well, I had to take that out of my the honesty of my heart.
00:41:29.840 --> 00:41:31.440
Yeah, just exhausted at that rate.
00:41:31.760 --> 00:41:35.599
Yeah, and so when she said that, I was like, this is what's gonna happen next.
00:41:35.680 --> 00:41:41.840
And I had shared then I shared what I'd said at the retreat, and so yeah, she ended up getting the fellowship.
00:41:42.240 --> 00:41:42.880
Yeah.
00:41:43.119 --> 00:41:47.920
Um, and I proposed in March of 2023.
00:41:48.559 --> 00:41:50.880
We got married July 2023.
00:41:50.960 --> 00:42:16.390
We moved to New York, September 2023.
00:42:16.630 --> 00:42:17.750
Oh, hey, that was pretty fast.
00:42:17.990 --> 00:42:23.750
Wait, 2020, March, January, March, April, May, June, so March, three months to like fast.
00:42:24.550 --> 00:42:26.789
We had been together since October 2020.
00:42:27.030 --> 00:42:27.750
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:42:27.910 --> 00:42:33.750
But um But I mean, like from engagement to wedding, like that must have been a lot to put together, or or maybe not.
00:42:33.829 --> 00:42:34.150
I don't know.
00:42:34.309 --> 00:42:35.829
We're both not married.
00:42:37.670 --> 00:42:44.630
We both we consider ourselves to be type B C D with high level A qualities.
00:42:45.430 --> 00:42:48.710
We don't like being tape able to if we need to.
00:42:48.789 --> 00:42:50.390
And so like we planned our own wedding.
00:42:50.550 --> 00:42:51.349
I love it.
00:42:53.910 --> 00:42:56.230
This is yes, no, and sometimes why.
00:42:56.390 --> 00:42:59.990
This is where I ask a bunch of yes and no questions to Stanley here.
00:43:00.070 --> 00:43:03.349
And then every so often, when my interest is peaked, I'll ask why.
00:43:03.510 --> 00:43:04.390
And he'll answer.
00:43:04.710 --> 00:43:05.590
So let's get to it.
00:43:05.829 --> 00:43:09.590
Oh, and these questions are sourced from teambuilding.com.
00:43:09.910 --> 00:43:11.910
Nice! Thank you, teambuilding.com.
00:43:12.870 --> 00:43:13.990
If you still exist.
00:43:14.870 --> 00:43:16.550
Without you, we wouldn't.
00:43:17.030 --> 00:43:18.070
Wouldn't be a team.
00:43:18.309 --> 00:43:20.390
This team wouldn't get built.
00:43:21.190 --> 00:43:22.789
All right, Sir Stanley.
00:43:22.950 --> 00:43:23.430
You ready?
00:43:23.510 --> 00:43:23.910
Mm-hmm.
00:43:23.990 --> 00:43:24.789
Here we go.
00:43:25.990 --> 00:43:26.870
Do you vote?
00:43:27.110 --> 00:43:27.430
Yes.
00:43:27.670 --> 00:43:28.950
Have you ever been grounded?
00:43:29.190 --> 00:43:29.590
Yes.
00:43:29.750 --> 00:43:30.470
Do you drive?
00:43:30.710 --> 00:43:31.030
Yes.
00:43:31.190 --> 00:43:31.910
Do you live alone?
00:43:32.150 --> 00:43:32.390
No.
00:43:32.550 --> 00:43:33.190
Are you married?
00:43:33.349 --> 00:43:33.670
Yes.
00:43:33.910 --> 00:43:34.950
Do you have kids?
00:43:35.349 --> 00:43:36.550
Well, sometimes.
00:43:36.789 --> 00:43:37.590
Oh, why?
00:43:39.269 --> 00:43:39.590
No.
00:43:40.390 --> 00:43:42.150
My wife is gonna be so nervous.
00:43:42.710 --> 00:43:43.670
Do you have pets?
00:43:43.910 --> 00:43:44.230
No.
00:43:44.550 --> 00:43:45.190
Why?
00:43:45.510 --> 00:43:47.430
Uh because I live in New York.
00:43:47.590 --> 00:43:47.829
Yeah.
00:43:48.390 --> 00:43:50.630
You know, like my wife wants a dog.
00:43:51.030 --> 00:43:53.349
She wants a dog, she's gonna want to, her family has a dog.
00:43:53.430 --> 00:43:54.070
I've had a dog.
00:43:54.150 --> 00:43:55.269
I'm not anti-pet.
00:43:56.870 --> 00:43:57.349
The pet people.
00:43:58.230 --> 00:44:00.470
Can you squash these rumors that you're anti-pet right now?
00:44:00.710 --> 00:44:02.789
I just want everybody to know I have nothing against pets.
00:44:02.870 --> 00:44:03.990
Pets actually love me.
00:44:04.230 --> 00:44:05.269
I love them from a distance.
00:44:05.349 --> 00:44:09.829
It's like kids at the moment, I do have baby fever, but kids at the moment, I love them.
00:44:09.990 --> 00:44:11.030
I'm a great uncle.
00:44:11.190 --> 00:44:13.829
Right now, I I could take care of your kids, I can watch them for one night.
00:44:13.990 --> 00:44:15.510
But then I want to give them back to you.
00:44:15.670 --> 00:44:17.349
So same with the pets.
00:44:17.590 --> 00:44:19.030
And so, like, I don't know.
00:44:19.269 --> 00:44:22.309
We will when we move, we're gonna move back to LA one day.
00:44:22.470 --> 00:44:22.789
Uh-huh.
00:44:23.190 --> 00:44:25.670
But when we move, we when we have more space.
00:44:25.829 --> 00:44:26.309
I can't.
00:44:26.470 --> 00:44:27.829
In my New York apartment, I can't.
00:44:28.150 --> 00:44:28.550
Trust me.
00:44:28.710 --> 00:44:29.030
I get it.
00:44:29.190 --> 00:44:34.150
I I I used to be a dog walker for many years, and uh, it's it's tough.
00:44:34.309 --> 00:44:38.550
Like, like the the some dog like a smaller dog, I get it, I get it.
00:44:38.710 --> 00:44:41.349
Like they're less, there's a less energy that needs to get out.
00:44:41.430 --> 00:44:48.630
But man, I've walked a lot of pit bulls in this city, yeah, and I don't I don't know, and I love pit bulls, they are the sweetest dogs in the world.
00:44:49.110 --> 00:44:53.670
But man, they've got a lot of strength and energy, and they just need some wide open spaces, you know.
00:44:54.070 --> 00:44:55.349
I just don't know how people do it.
00:44:55.670 --> 00:44:57.829
No, they just walk on the ground, it's dirty.
00:44:58.309 --> 00:45:00.789
And I see the people who got the cute, and I don't have the budget for.
00:45:01.590 --> 00:45:02.230
That's a child.
00:45:02.789 --> 00:45:04.150
I don't have the budget for the cute shoes.
00:45:04.230 --> 00:45:04.470
I know.
00:45:04.710 --> 00:45:05.750
That live shoes.
00:45:06.070 --> 00:45:07.829
You know the people that have the little moodies.
00:45:07.990 --> 00:45:10.870
Yeah, I'm like, cool, so that they can take them off and they get in the house.
00:45:11.269 --> 00:45:12.230
I don't have the desire.
00:45:12.470 --> 00:45:14.070
Fair enough, fair enough.
00:45:14.710 --> 00:45:16.150
Do you work full time?
00:45:20.710 --> 00:45:21.030
No.
00:45:21.670 --> 00:45:22.870
Do you like your job?
00:45:23.269 --> 00:45:23.670
Yes.
00:45:23.910 --> 00:45:25.110
Do you have a second job?
00:45:25.430 --> 00:45:26.070
Yes.
00:45:27.269 --> 00:45:28.230
Are you afraid of the dark?
00:45:28.470 --> 00:45:30.870
I almost asked why, but then I was like, eh, fuck it.
00:45:31.110 --> 00:45:32.230
I think I've asked that before.
00:45:32.390 --> 00:45:32.550
No.
00:45:32.710 --> 00:45:33.910
Are you not afraid of the dark?
00:45:33.990 --> 00:45:34.230
No.
00:45:34.550 --> 00:45:35.030
Why?
00:45:35.750 --> 00:45:36.390
Uh.
00:45:38.150 --> 00:45:39.990
Well, now you got me really thinking about the dark.
00:45:40.309 --> 00:45:41.829
I'm gonna make you scare the dark.
00:45:41.990 --> 00:45:42.789
Well, well, no.
00:45:42.870 --> 00:45:44.390
I'm like, well, hold on now.
00:45:45.269 --> 00:45:48.630
If I walked in here and you didn't have no lights on.
00:45:49.269 --> 00:45:55.990
If the door opened and it was pitch black in here and you didn't see me, we wouldn't do be doing this interview.
00:45:56.230 --> 00:46:00.789
I feel like if I was in a horror movie, it would have to be like scary movies.
00:46:00.870 --> 00:46:01.110
Yeah.
00:46:01.349 --> 00:46:03.030
Like sort of like parodying in the movie.
00:46:03.349 --> 00:46:04.070
I'm unserious.
00:46:04.150 --> 00:46:04.230
Yeah.
00:46:04.470 --> 00:46:07.590
Because if I walked in here and then the door opened, I'd be like, John.
00:46:09.190 --> 00:46:09.750
You in there?
00:46:09.910 --> 00:46:10.870
John, why are you in there?
00:46:11.030 --> 00:46:11.590
I'm country.
00:46:11.750 --> 00:46:13.110
I'm a little conjured in the spirits.
00:46:13.190 --> 00:46:14.230
And I'd be like, John, what?
00:46:14.390 --> 00:46:15.990
John, what is you got going on here?
00:46:16.390 --> 00:46:18.870
And I'm a I'm gonna talk to you until you showed up.
00:46:18.950 --> 00:46:21.430
I'd be like, all right now, John, I'm not gonna keep walking in.
00:46:21.750 --> 00:46:22.390
I'm covered in the city.
00:46:22.710 --> 00:46:23.590
I don't know if I'm afraid.
00:46:24.789 --> 00:46:27.349
But I my wife is afraid, but I'll be trying to scare her.
00:46:27.510 --> 00:46:29.430
She's afraid of the dark.
00:46:29.750 --> 00:46:30.550
Love that.
00:46:31.030 --> 00:46:32.390
Do you like spiders?
00:46:32.710 --> 00:46:33.030
No.
00:46:33.990 --> 00:46:35.590
Do you know how to swim?
00:46:36.070 --> 00:46:36.550
Kinda.
00:46:39.030 --> 00:46:39.590
Why?
00:46:39.829 --> 00:46:40.550
Well, you know.
00:46:40.789 --> 00:46:41.750
Or what's going on there?
00:46:41.910 --> 00:46:42.870
Maybe more than why.
00:46:43.030 --> 00:46:49.829
Well, you know, well, you know, they said, not even to go stereotypical, but like I don't have no one ever was like, hey, let's teach you how to swim.
00:46:49.990 --> 00:46:50.470
Sure, sure.
00:46:50.550 --> 00:46:52.150
My mama was like, boy, you don't know how to swim.
00:46:52.230 --> 00:46:54.950
And it's just like, well, damn, sis, did you ever try to teach me?
00:46:55.910 --> 00:46:57.829
You don't know until I'm talking.
00:46:58.150 --> 00:46:59.990
But I do think I can swim.
00:47:00.150 --> 00:47:03.829
Like I've I've been in, I've been in, you know, larger pools of water.
00:47:04.470 --> 00:47:05.510
I would think in New Zealand.
00:47:05.829 --> 00:47:07.670
In New Zealand, like my New Zealand best friends.
00:47:08.390 --> 00:47:12.950
Yeah, like, and I've been out, you know, and then I've been like, oh, let me just get back to the rocks.
00:47:13.990 --> 00:47:15.990
Ah, good old dry land.
00:47:16.789 --> 00:47:21.590
You know, like I don't have a I don't have a huge amount of confidence, but I always say, like, I could survive.
00:47:21.750 --> 00:47:22.309
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:47:22.470 --> 00:47:23.269
But that's in theory.
00:47:23.430 --> 00:47:24.710
I'd love that's on your resume.
00:47:24.789 --> 00:47:25.990
You're like someone who's a dancer.
00:47:26.230 --> 00:47:26.950
Do you move?
00:47:27.110 --> 00:47:28.150
Uh are you a swimmer?
00:47:28.470 --> 00:47:29.590
I survive.
00:47:31.269 --> 00:47:32.070
Fantastic.
00:47:32.230 --> 00:47:33.030
That was round one.
00:47:33.190 --> 00:47:33.829
How you feeling?
00:47:34.070 --> 00:47:35.030
Yeah, I feel good.
00:47:35.349 --> 00:47:36.230
I got enjoyed.
00:47:36.390 --> 00:47:36.630
I'm good.
00:47:36.710 --> 00:47:37.030
I'm good.
00:47:37.110 --> 00:47:37.670
I'm glad.
00:47:37.910 --> 00:47:38.390
Round two.
00:47:38.550 --> 00:47:39.670
Oh, something I didn't mention.
00:47:39.750 --> 00:47:44.390
They get the answer or the questions can get progressively harder as they go along.
00:47:44.630 --> 00:47:45.590
You'll understand what I mean.
00:47:45.750 --> 00:47:45.910
Okay.
00:47:47.190 --> 00:47:49.269
I almost started with a really silly one.
00:47:49.430 --> 00:47:50.309
Wait, actually, I want to know.
00:47:50.470 --> 00:47:51.750
Are you a twin or a triplet?
00:47:51.990 --> 00:47:52.309
No.
00:47:52.630 --> 00:47:52.950
Okay.
00:47:53.750 --> 00:47:55.030
Those rumors are squashed too.
00:47:55.190 --> 00:47:57.269
It'd be given hell if there was multiple of me.
00:47:57.430 --> 00:47:58.870
I'm already a lot.
00:48:00.309 --> 00:48:03.030
Can you recite pi to more than 10 digits?
00:48:03.349 --> 00:48:04.870
3.14.
00:48:05.349 --> 00:48:06.070
That's all I got.
00:48:08.070 --> 00:48:08.630
That's three.
00:48:09.110 --> 00:48:09.269
Six?
00:48:09.349 --> 00:48:09.750
That's pretty good.
00:48:09.910 --> 00:48:10.630
3.146?
00:48:10.870 --> 00:48:11.430
Is it nine?
00:48:11.670 --> 00:48:12.550
Oh, you beats me.
00:48:12.630 --> 00:48:12.870
I don't know.
00:48:13.110 --> 00:48:14.150
Oh, so now I can make it up.
00:48:14.390 --> 00:48:15.110
You should put like some.
00:48:15.590 --> 00:48:18.789
I should have it listed, even though this page would be infinite.
00:48:20.630 --> 00:48:24.230
3.146975432.
00:48:24.470 --> 00:48:25.030
Is that real?
00:48:25.269 --> 00:48:25.750
I don't know.
00:48:25.910 --> 00:48:26.470
That was a guess.
00:48:26.789 --> 00:48:27.110
You could have.
00:48:27.750 --> 00:48:28.870
This is an actor right now.
00:48:29.670 --> 00:48:30.230
Here we go.
00:48:30.470 --> 00:48:32.309
Can you make a dolphin noise?
00:48:33.750 --> 00:48:34.470
I don't know.
00:48:34.950 --> 00:48:36.070
I needed to hear it.
00:48:36.230 --> 00:48:37.269
That's not, I know.
00:48:37.430 --> 00:48:37.910
I don't know.
00:48:38.150 --> 00:48:39.590
Do you believe in ghosts?
00:48:39.829 --> 00:48:42.789
The Holy Ghost! Oh, Jesus!
00:48:45.910 --> 00:48:46.789
I love it.
00:48:46.950 --> 00:48:48.150
Have you ever been in a band?
00:48:48.309 --> 00:48:48.630
No.
00:48:48.789 --> 00:48:50.230
Have you ever taken a road trip?
00:48:50.470 --> 00:48:51.030
Yes.
00:48:51.349 --> 00:48:53.349
Have you ever gotten a speeding ticket?
00:48:53.590 --> 00:48:54.230
Yes.
00:48:54.550 --> 00:48:55.110
Why?
00:48:55.349 --> 00:48:57.670
Do you have like a specific thing that happened?
00:48:58.309 --> 00:48:59.910
Well, I was guilty.
00:49:00.309 --> 00:49:04.070
Yeah, uh, I have one specific one that oh, I just told my mom about this.
00:49:04.230 --> 00:49:06.390
Okay, so this one's safe to tell.
00:49:06.550 --> 00:49:07.190
It is.
00:49:07.670 --> 00:49:09.510
Because yeah, I've got stories.
00:49:09.750 --> 00:49:12.390
Um, I had just moved back to Houston.
00:49:12.870 --> 00:49:21.910
My mom was letting me use her car, and I remember I was just trying to hustle, and I was uh I was I took like an extra gig in Austin, Texas.
00:49:22.070 --> 00:49:29.510
And so I I took my mom's car, which wasn't in the best shape, very old, from Houston uh to Austin, Texas.
00:49:29.670 --> 00:49:34.550
The car broke down right before I like had arrived at the place.
00:49:35.269 --> 00:49:42.870
Uh and so I like pushed it to park in someone's driveway, and I went in to do the extra gig.
00:49:43.110 --> 00:49:48.309
And then on the I realized that night, like, oh, I can't get back to Houston.
00:49:48.390 --> 00:49:57.110
So I ended up telling my mom, and she was like, just take a mega bus back with us, me her and her boyfriend, and we'll go back tomorrow and put a new transmission in there.
00:49:57.269 --> 00:49:57.510
Sure.
00:49:57.750 --> 00:50:00.550
Um, and so they came the next day.
00:50:00.630 --> 00:50:03.670
We went back to Austin, they got the transmission, and then we were in separate cars.
00:50:03.750 --> 00:50:09.829
And so driving back, I was speeding out of them, and my mom was just like, What are you doing?
00:50:09.910 --> 00:50:10.710
Why are you driving so fast?
00:50:10.870 --> 00:50:12.150
And I was like, Mom, I'm fine.
00:50:13.269 --> 00:50:22.470
I had gotten at least like 10 to 15, I mean, maybe 10 to 20 minutes ahead of them, and a cop came out of nowhere, drove behind me, pulled me over.
00:50:22.710 --> 00:50:25.910
Oh no, and I was just like, I don't want mom to see.
00:50:25.990 --> 00:50:26.710
I don't want my mom to see.
00:50:26.789 --> 00:50:30.070
So I'm just like, anything he needed, I just gave him everything very fast, very quick.
00:50:30.309 --> 00:50:31.829
Uh just got the ticket.
00:50:31.910 --> 00:50:35.910
He was like, You're going 90 in the 75, 90, probably 92 in the 75.
00:50:36.230 --> 00:50:37.030
Oh my god.
00:50:37.829 --> 00:50:47.750
And I um I was I got the ticket, driving back out, and my mom gets behind me really soon.
00:50:47.829 --> 00:50:49.269
And then all of a sudden she's calling me.
00:50:49.349 --> 00:50:50.710
She's like, Why are you swerving?
00:50:50.950 --> 00:50:52.230
She didn't see me get the ticket.
00:50:52.390 --> 00:50:55.829
She thought I was swerving, but I was coming from off of the sides, the path.
00:50:56.309 --> 00:51:02.390
And so she was like, All right, well, just pull over to the the gas station.
00:51:02.470 --> 00:51:03.829
Um, we need to get some gas.
00:51:03.990 --> 00:51:04.789
And I was like, okay.
00:51:04.950 --> 00:51:06.150
Then she was like, give me the keys.
00:51:06.230 --> 00:51:06.789
I'm driving.
00:51:06.870 --> 00:51:09.030
You're swerving, and I just want to make sure you're okay.
00:51:09.269 --> 00:51:16.470
Um, I just want to make sure you're okay, and I don't have and I was just like, so I had recently just started going to therapy, and I was learning how to like navigate.
00:51:16.550 --> 00:51:18.150
Being I had been away for eight years.
00:51:18.390 --> 00:51:18.550
Sure.
00:51:19.349 --> 00:51:20.950
Live at home with my mother again.
00:51:21.269 --> 00:51:29.990
And so my little inner child came out, and I like, when she took the keys, I like got in the back seat and I like put my knees on it on heart.
00:51:30.390 --> 00:51:31.510
And then rump.
00:51:31.910 --> 00:51:38.150
Yes, and then like I'm processing as my therapist has taught me about like, why am I feeling like this?
00:51:38.309 --> 00:51:38.470
Sure.
00:51:39.349 --> 00:51:41.190
And then I have this like deep, beautiful revelation.
00:51:41.269 --> 00:51:44.550
I'm like, oh, I am a son who wants to be trusted.
00:51:44.630 --> 00:51:47.190
Now I'm having a therapy session, a reminder of a therapy session with you.
00:51:47.430 --> 00:51:51.829
But I was like, I'm a son who wants to be trusted, and she's a mother who wants to protect her son.
00:51:51.990 --> 00:51:54.470
Yeah, both are both are valid basically.
00:51:54.789 --> 00:51:55.829
Both are valid and valuable.
00:51:56.150 --> 00:51:57.110
We're still at the gas station.
00:51:57.190 --> 00:51:58.390
I get out of the back seat.
00:51:58.550 --> 00:52:00.230
I'm a quick to apologize person.
00:52:00.390 --> 00:52:01.590
My wife will tell you I will apologize.
00:52:01.910 --> 00:52:02.150
Yeah, yeah.
00:52:02.470 --> 00:52:26.309
I get out of the back seat, and then I get in the front seat, and we're driving, and then I it's quiet because she knows I'm in my feelings, and so I'm like, hey Ma, I I think I realize that you're just a mother who wants to take care of her son, and I think I'm just a son who's felt very sheltered, and I just want to be trusted, and I think both are okay, you know, and that was really it.
00:52:26.390 --> 00:52:30.950
And then she like pulled over again and gave me the keys and let me drive the car.
00:52:31.190 --> 00:52:31.910
That's so sweet.
00:52:32.150 --> 00:52:34.230
No, she didn't know until 10 years later.
00:52:35.750 --> 00:52:45.190
No, that wasn't 10 years, but like it was like it was like no more than two years ago that I was like, Mama, well, you thought I was swerving, I just got a ticket.
00:52:47.190 --> 00:52:48.550
So we had this like really big.
00:52:49.030 --> 00:52:50.150
She didn't know, she really didn't know.
00:52:50.309 --> 00:52:51.110
She really didn't know.
00:52:51.269 --> 00:52:52.789
She thought I was falling asleep.
00:52:53.030 --> 00:52:54.070
It was nighttime.
00:52:54.309 --> 00:52:57.670
Oh, and it was later in the evening.
00:52:57.829 --> 00:52:58.150
Yeah.
00:52:58.390 --> 00:52:59.829
So it was dark.
00:53:00.150 --> 00:53:01.910
But she didn't know to be.
00:53:02.070 --> 00:53:02.710
That's a good mom, though.
00:53:02.789 --> 00:53:03.910
Oh, yeah, she's a great mom's mom.
00:53:03.990 --> 00:53:04.390
I love her deep.
00:53:04.630 --> 00:53:05.110
That's a great mom.
00:53:05.269 --> 00:53:06.230
Love you, mother.
00:53:07.349 --> 00:53:09.269
Do you speak more than one language?
00:53:09.430 --> 00:53:10.070
Uh no.
00:53:11.269 --> 00:53:13.590
Do you know why the sky is blue?
00:53:14.070 --> 00:53:14.390
No.
00:53:14.950 --> 00:53:17.030
Do you have a favorite dinosaur?
00:53:17.510 --> 00:53:17.829
No.
00:53:20.550 --> 00:53:22.550
Have you ever lived in another country?
00:53:22.789 --> 00:53:23.430
Yes.
00:53:24.309 --> 00:53:25.829
Uh oh god, I'm jumping around.
00:53:25.910 --> 00:53:27.269
Wait, let me give you one last good one.
00:53:27.430 --> 00:53:29.510
Oh, have you ever done stand-up comedy?
00:53:29.990 --> 00:53:30.309
No.
00:53:30.950 --> 00:53:31.510
Why?
00:53:32.470 --> 00:53:32.950
Fear.
00:53:33.110 --> 00:53:34.470
But I have been having a desire.
00:53:34.950 --> 00:53:35.190
Fear?
00:53:35.430 --> 00:53:36.150
Yeah, fear.
00:53:36.309 --> 00:53:37.190
And insecurity.
00:53:37.510 --> 00:53:37.910
It's scary.
00:53:38.150 --> 00:53:38.550
I tried it.
00:53:39.030 --> 00:53:39.349
I tried it.
00:53:39.829 --> 00:53:39.990
Really?
00:53:40.070 --> 00:53:40.150
Yeah.
00:53:40.390 --> 00:53:41.269
How was the experience?
00:53:41.510 --> 00:53:42.070
It went well.
00:53:42.470 --> 00:53:44.150
So I did it for like a free play.
00:53:44.309 --> 00:53:52.550
So at NYU, we do like a free play where it's like it's a segment or a section of learning where you can put on anything you want, anything you you want to do.
00:53:52.710 --> 00:53:58.550
And so I did like a one-man show with like music and stand-up and stuff, and it was terrifying.
00:53:59.110 --> 00:54:00.309
It was so difficult.
00:54:00.630 --> 00:54:02.390
It's because there's no one to fall back on.
00:54:02.470 --> 00:54:05.030
If you forget something, it's like just figure it out.
00:54:05.349 --> 00:54:05.510
Yeah.
00:54:05.750 --> 00:54:06.150
It's wild.
00:54:06.470 --> 00:54:07.269
It's deeply personal.
00:54:07.510 --> 00:54:07.670
Yeah.
00:54:08.150 --> 00:54:11.430
It's an art form, and I love that art form so much.
00:54:11.590 --> 00:54:16.150
Like I think I think stand-ups are like pastors to me.
00:54:16.230 --> 00:54:21.110
Like they I I I kind of like they're the oracles of the time who say particularly now.
00:54:21.430 --> 00:54:21.670
Correct.
00:54:21.750 --> 00:54:21.910
Yeah.
00:54:22.150 --> 00:54:27.510
They say the things that society needs to be said no matter how hard sometimes to have the conversations.
00:54:27.670 --> 00:54:35.349
I don't I don't think we actually need to always agree, or like, you know, but I think they bring up things that we should talk about.
00:54:35.430 --> 00:54:35.590
Yeah.
00:54:35.829 --> 00:54:38.070
That sometimes society is afraid to talk about.
00:54:38.150 --> 00:54:38.390
Yeah.
00:54:38.630 --> 00:54:41.269
And I also find stand-up to be deeply personal.
00:54:42.150 --> 00:54:49.670
And yeah, I have I've been saying that I just like want to write a five-minute set and just like just try it.
00:54:50.789 --> 00:54:51.349
You should do it.
00:54:51.670 --> 00:54:51.990
I will.
00:54:52.070 --> 00:54:53.190
I really believe I will.
00:54:53.349 --> 00:54:57.110
If you do an open mic, I will come and I will laugh at anything you say.
00:54:58.950 --> 00:55:06.390
Just really mean jokes about the time, and I'm like, I will deeply die because I've been like, damn, he's really trying to support me.
00:55:06.630 --> 00:55:07.430
God damn.
00:55:08.070 --> 00:55:11.190
Um but yeah, I have I have such a deep desire to do it.
00:55:11.269 --> 00:55:13.269
And I will, I I really believe I will do it.
00:55:13.349 --> 00:55:18.390
I one day I was in the shower and I like I had a I was like, this is my stand-up.
00:55:18.550 --> 00:55:19.590
And I don't remember what it is.
00:55:19.670 --> 00:55:20.230
It's in my notes.
00:55:20.309 --> 00:55:21.430
I started writing it in my notes.
00:55:21.510 --> 00:55:22.950
I was like, I need to talk about this.
00:55:23.030 --> 00:55:25.590
Oh, it was I think it was probably like wife stuff.
00:55:27.670 --> 00:55:30.070
Your wife is gonna love this episode.
00:55:30.309 --> 00:55:35.750
I was like, she knows I love her, so I'm like, I always talk about her and talk trash, good, badly, all the things.
00:55:35.910 --> 00:55:36.230
I love it.
00:55:36.470 --> 00:55:39.349
But I was like, yeah, I can't remember what it was.
00:55:39.510 --> 00:55:42.230
Oh, it's from my notes, but um, yeah, I'm gonna try it.
00:55:42.309 --> 00:55:42.950
I'm gonna try it.
00:55:43.030 --> 00:55:43.910
I love it, I love it.
00:55:44.070 --> 00:55:45.190
That's the end of round two.
00:55:45.510 --> 00:55:46.309
Nice, all right.
00:55:46.550 --> 00:55:47.269
Round three.
00:55:47.349 --> 00:55:49.670
These ones are kind of existential and weird.
00:55:50.950 --> 00:55:51.590
Ready?
00:55:51.750 --> 00:55:52.150
Mm-hmm.
00:55:52.550 --> 00:55:55.430
Would you fake your own death to save your family?
00:55:56.710 --> 00:55:57.510
Damn.
00:55:57.910 --> 00:55:58.230
No.
00:55:59.430 --> 00:56:02.789
You wouldn't fake your own death to save your family.
00:56:03.030 --> 00:56:05.269
I guess it doesn't say what we're saving them from.
00:56:05.910 --> 00:56:06.390
Yeah.
00:56:07.349 --> 00:56:08.710
From death themselves.
00:56:09.349 --> 00:56:09.670
Fake.
00:56:09.910 --> 00:56:11.990
Well, I guess if I'm gonna fake it, I'm gonna still be alive.
00:56:12.070 --> 00:56:12.950
So yes.
00:56:13.430 --> 00:56:15.510
But they have to believe you're dead.
00:56:16.070 --> 00:56:17.030
Oh god.
00:56:20.710 --> 00:56:21.910
That was such an impact.
00:56:22.230 --> 00:56:24.789
That was a really that was a really big one from the start.
00:56:24.870 --> 00:56:26.470
Let me do one uh one of the other ones.
00:56:26.630 --> 00:56:29.510
Uh if you could have certain memories erased, would you do it?
00:56:29.670 --> 00:56:31.590
Like that question I just asked.
00:56:31.910 --> 00:56:32.230
No.
00:56:32.550 --> 00:56:32.870
No.
00:56:33.110 --> 00:56:34.950
I think experiences shape the person.
00:56:35.110 --> 00:56:40.550
I absolutely I have so many some really bad shit that has happened to me, but I like I wouldn't change it.
00:56:40.630 --> 00:56:45.990
I have the heart I have for my life, for humans, for spirituality because of those experiences.
00:56:46.070 --> 00:56:47.030
So I wouldn't change that.
00:56:47.269 --> 00:56:47.990
I love that answer.
00:56:48.150 --> 00:56:48.789
Beautiful.
00:56:49.030 --> 00:56:53.829
If you could bring a loved one back to life, but they would have no memory of you, would you do it?
00:56:54.150 --> 00:56:54.470
No.
00:56:54.710 --> 00:56:57.510
Yeah, that I don't think I've ever asked that one before.
00:56:57.750 --> 00:56:59.430
I think I've always sort of missed that one.
00:56:59.670 --> 00:57:03.510
And I just think I just I think things happen as they're supposed to happen.
00:57:03.590 --> 00:57:17.750
So I I'm I'm I I don't know if I'm kind of morbid and or or like uh I recognize that like we're on earth for a specific amount of time and like we're just passengers, and so I I respect that.
00:57:18.070 --> 00:57:20.870
Totally, you know, but I understand human attachment to humans.
00:57:21.269 --> 00:57:22.470
Oh, of course, of course.
00:57:23.829 --> 00:57:26.470
But it's also like it bringing them back and they don't remember you.
00:57:27.030 --> 00:57:27.590
What would be the point?
00:57:27.670 --> 00:57:31.349
Yeah, you know, what would be like 51st date of 500?
00:57:31.590 --> 00:57:32.070
Is it 500?
00:57:32.550 --> 00:57:33.430
No, it's 50, you got it.
00:57:34.230 --> 00:57:35.510
500 days of summer days.
00:57:36.950 --> 00:57:37.670
I just see five.
00:57:37.990 --> 00:57:39.510
That's a mashup I want to see.
00:57:39.750 --> 00:57:45.510
Um if you could gain magical powers but lose one of your five senses, would you do it?
00:57:45.670 --> 00:57:49.430
And also what would what would you trade?
00:57:50.950 --> 00:57:51.750
This is a good one, actually.
00:57:51.910 --> 00:57:53.030
Yeah, if I could gain magic no.
00:57:53.430 --> 00:57:56.950
Oh, some people have actually had clever choices for this one.
00:57:57.269 --> 00:57:57.590
Right.
00:57:57.750 --> 00:57:59.829
Not not to put pressure on you, to make it clever.
00:58:02.070 --> 00:58:05.430
Um, okay, if I what sense what sense would I give up?
00:58:05.510 --> 00:58:06.789
And what would my power be?
00:58:06.950 --> 00:58:07.349
Mm-hmm.
00:58:09.269 --> 00:58:11.190
Yeah, that's boring.
00:58:11.510 --> 00:58:16.150
Sorry, my first thought I was like, well, super the first thing that came to me was superhero strength.
00:58:16.230 --> 00:58:18.789
And then I was like, but I would take away touch.
00:58:20.150 --> 00:58:25.349
You would never know if you were like holding anything or uh then nothing wouldn't yeah, yeah.
00:58:25.670 --> 00:58:26.150
Yeah.
00:58:26.390 --> 00:58:33.990
The other thought I had was about like losing my senses, but being able to have like a deeper spiritual insight.
00:58:34.070 --> 00:58:38.789
So I didn't I wouldn't need my eyes to see people or things.
00:58:39.030 --> 00:58:39.990
I would know.
00:58:40.390 --> 00:58:40.710
Whoa.
00:58:40.870 --> 00:58:47.269
Kind of like how I knew to go to Howard, and I knew I sent in the one application for all these.
00:58:49.510 --> 00:58:50.309
Oh, that would be great.
00:58:50.390 --> 00:58:51.590
You can help so many people.
00:58:51.750 --> 00:58:52.470
Yeah, absolutely.
00:58:52.630 --> 00:58:55.670
You can't you should be like, apply here, apply there.
00:58:55.910 --> 00:59:00.710
Well, yeah, I mean, uh I I okay, so like the any power, now I'm going to get deep.
00:59:00.870 --> 00:59:02.950
But any power I would have, I would want it to help people.
00:59:03.110 --> 00:59:03.590
Sure, sure.
00:59:03.750 --> 00:59:11.190
And so I think the idea of like spiritual inside would also help people like in moments of like deep agony, hope, help, give them hope to see themselves through.
00:59:11.510 --> 00:59:11.750
Yeah.
00:59:11.990 --> 00:59:14.630
Which I hope I still do today, which is the inside I have.
00:59:14.950 --> 00:59:16.390
You you have that superpower, Stanley.
00:59:16.789 --> 00:59:17.110
I do.
00:59:17.590 --> 00:59:20.630
If you won the lottery, would you still continue working?
00:59:20.950 --> 00:59:21.590
Yes.
00:59:23.430 --> 00:59:24.470
I I yes.
00:59:24.950 --> 00:59:25.750
Well what would you do?
00:59:25.910 --> 00:59:26.630
Here's a better question.
00:59:26.789 --> 00:59:28.950
What would you do if you won the lottery?
00:59:29.190 --> 00:59:31.110
Well, I mean, I did just start a production company.
00:59:31.269 --> 00:59:33.510
Now they're like crazy like billions.
00:59:33.750 --> 00:59:34.309
They're huge.
00:59:34.470 --> 00:59:37.269
Um, I did just start a production company called Gold Mines Productions.
00:59:37.510 --> 00:59:38.070
Fantastic.
00:59:38.309 --> 01:00:01.030
Um, and I would really like um beyond things that feel philanthropic right now because the production company is a newer thing, like I am having so many people that I'm connected with send me scripts, and just like I'm connected to so many creative humans who have these ideas, and I feel like a lot of times we're like waiting for the industry to approve us a find our work and they're trying to figure out who they are, and they don't know who they are.
01:00:01.110 --> 01:00:02.150
The world doesn't know who it is.
01:00:02.550 --> 01:00:13.590
And so yeah, I even the people whose scripts I have, I'm like, I just want to do this with you and for you because I I love I I love like making people's dreams come true.
01:00:13.829 --> 01:00:20.470
Yeah, you know, I think that's the beauty of being an actor, like when you can like see someone's words on a page and like bring it to life.
01:00:20.630 --> 01:00:28.070
And so in any in every area of my life, I love like whether it's like serving a church, whether it's doing event coordination, like I'm like somebody had an idea.
01:00:28.230 --> 01:00:30.230
I love being the handsome feet of those ideas.
01:00:30.390 --> 01:00:36.789
Yeah, uh, whether it's as an artist, whether it's as producer, director, all the like I I I I genu it brings me so much.
01:00:37.269 --> 01:00:38.070
I love to hear that.
01:00:38.230 --> 01:00:38.550
Yeah.
01:00:38.789 --> 01:00:42.630
So Stanley, I think this is the end of the interview.
01:00:43.349 --> 01:00:48.470
This flew by, but I I am so happy we got to reconnect.
01:00:48.789 --> 01:00:49.110
That's beautiful.
01:00:49.269 --> 01:00:51.349
You're in New York now, so we can actually hang out.
01:00:51.590 --> 01:00:51.990
Yes.
01:00:52.230 --> 01:00:53.829
Um, anything you want to promote?
01:00:53.990 --> 01:01:01.590
Anything like going on at the moment that you want to uh well, Gold Mines Productions is producing its first short, which I'm really excited about.
01:01:01.750 --> 01:01:10.470
Um and then also uh the show that I will premiere in uh DC called Fremont Ave uh is also having a stint in LA.
01:01:10.789 --> 01:01:17.190
Well South Coast Rep, which is in uh it's uh in orange like Orange County area um April May.
01:01:17.269 --> 01:01:24.309
So if you're in Los Angeles or Orange County area, April, May, well, really May, um, come see Fremont Ave.
01:01:24.789 --> 01:01:25.430
Fantastic!
01:01:25.670 --> 01:01:28.150
Yeah, oh Stanley, so good to see you, dude.
01:01:28.230 --> 01:01:28.390
Thanks.
01:01:28.630 --> 01:01:29.269
This was so much fun.
01:01:29.430 --> 01:01:30.470
It's so good to see you too, bro.
01:01:31.269 --> 01:01:32.070
All right, y'all.
01:01:32.150 --> 01:01:34.630
That's this week's episode of Working Class Acts.
01:01:34.789 --> 01:01:36.150
We'll see you next week.
01:01:36.470 --> 01:01:36.789
Bye.