Greetings and welcome back to Conversations on Aging, Season 2, The Artists!

This episode we're talking to Director Byron C. Sanders, no stranger to the Zoomcatchers family!

Byron’s highlights and many credits currently include working as an independent Arts Management Consultant helping artists and arts organizations with grants administration and fund development.

Byron has recently directed Elders Igniting: Many More Stories To Tell, a Zoomcatchers production, featuring 3 one act plays by some of Atlanta’s renowned senior playwrights.

Byron has served on many arts panels including: The National Endowment for the Arts; The New York Foundation for the Arts, The Department of Cultural Affairs/NYC, The Georgia Council for the Arts and The City of Atlanta Department of Cultural Affairs.

In New York City, he was the Executive Director of the Frank Silvera Writers' Workshop (1988-90) and the Workshop, on his watch, won an Obie Award for Playwriting Development.

To watch Elders Igniting: Many More Story To tell:

https://youtu.be/LZfk3iCGhGY

To find out more about us:

www.zoomatchers.us

www.thefsww.org

www.ncblackrep.org

Greetings and welcome to Conversations on Aging season two.

2

I'm your host, Kimberly

Gunn with Zoom Catchers.

3

Thanks so much for watching, sharing

our content and continuing to believe

4

in the power of podcasting to make

positive impacts on our world.

5

This season, we have another lineup

of great guests, many of them

6

artists, writers, and actors to

share their aging journeys with us.

7

Today, we're talking with Byron C.

8

Saunders, director, actor, and

civil rights advocate, and no

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stranger to the ZoomCatchers family.

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Byron's highlights and many

credits currently include working

11

as an independent arts management

consultant, helping artists and

12

arts organizations with grants,

administration, and fund development.

13

Speaker 10: Byron has recently directed

Elders Igniting, Many More Stories

14

to Tell, a ZoomCatchers production,

which is three plays of some of

15

Atlanta's renowned senior playwrights.

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Miron has served on many Arts

Councils, including the National

17

Endowment for the Arts, the New

York Foundation for the Arts, and

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the Georgia Council for the Arts.

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In New York City, he was Executive

Director of the Frank Savera Writers

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Workshop from 1988 to 1990, and the

workshop on his watch won the Obie

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Award for Playwriting Development.

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Kimberly: And so now without

further ado, we're so pleased

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to present and welcome Byron C.

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Saunders to the Zoom

Catchers virtual studio.

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Byron, how are you doing today?

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Byron: I am blessed and divinely favored.

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I'm realizing that I have received

and been beneficial to an anointing.

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Speaker 8: Something that we

all have, God has given us the

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chance to be someone special.

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Everybody is special.

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Every child born has a special gift.

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My gift, as I learned early, was

seeing things from a theatrical view.

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and what I mean by that is like

when you're growing up as an African

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American and I was born in 1950,

okay, so where I'm at that I'm at

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the cusp of television invention so

that my visual concept of, Growing

36

up was principally by way of a box.

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That screen that we see ourselves in.

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And it's so interesting because my heroes

and sheroes at that time of my wonder

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years, as they say, Was Sammy Davis Jr.

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Frank Sinatra.

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if you could imagine being a combination

of Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr.

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And every time they were on television,

I was fascinated by what I was seeing.

43

And then of course, back in the

fifties, if you had a television,

44

it was usually black and white.

45

Color television wasn't that much

of a product of affordability.

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You could barely afford

the black and white TV.

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and of course, we all had the antennas

on top with the, you know, aluminum

48

foil to try to increase the reception.

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But when a black person was on

television, it was cause for celebration.

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Imagine that.

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Me being born in the 50s,

watching television, and seeing

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Sammy Davis Jr., Paul Robeson.

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My first love affair was

with Dorothy Dandridge.

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Oh my god, watching her in the classical

piece of Carmen, Carmen amazing story.

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And then seeing Harry Belafonte.

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Every time there was a black

person on television, I said,

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that's what I want to be.

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I want to be like that.

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Growing up in a household

where my parents, see, I was

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born in Nashville, Tennessee.

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So when we talk about the great migration

of Blacks leaving the South and coming

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to the North, I'm one of those persons.

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I was born in Hubbard

Hospital, which is now Meharry.

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My mother was a graduate of Fisk.

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Her mother was a graduate of Fisk.

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And her mother, my grandmother,

first cousin, was the first and

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seventh president of Liberia.

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So in my DNA, it's all about freedom.

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my father was a graduate of

Tennessee State University.

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So here I am, HBCU born baby, with

a pedigree that I was unaware of

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because I'm too young to realize.

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The history of that kind of linkage

and connections where my grandmother

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was in the same class as W.

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E.

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B.

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Dubois at Fisk University.

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And she sang with the

Fisk Jubilee Singers.

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So here is the legacy.

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Of knowing and being more than just a

byproduct of a plantation, a byproduct

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of a sharecropping family, being given

what Dubois wrote about, the talented

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10th, my parents are the talented

10th, and they moved to Washington, D.

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C., they got into government, they

worked with the federal government, the

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National Security Agency, I'm 74 years

old, I have no idea what my parents did

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for the federal government, working with

the National Security Agency because

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of their top secret security clearance.

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Now, not many people can

claim that, Kimberly, okay?

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So you grow up in a household where you're

like, at our dinner conversations, my

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mother and father says, we will not and

ever will discuss what we do at our job.

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If anybody asks you what we do,

you tell them we, your parents

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work for the defense department.

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That's it.

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Speaker 7: That's it.

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Every time I talk to you, I learn

something new and different about you.

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You know, I just touch on the highlights

of who you are in the introduction

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and now you're whipping out all this.

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I'm like, whoa.

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Speaker 8: and, you know, it is a woe

moment because I'm learning as I age, the

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significance of your family origin, that

tree that you're a part of, and in our

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21st century, now that we're having this

major conversation about race in America,

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which has been for the last 400 years,

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It does not stop.

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I'm inspired today by a doctor,

who gave a commencement speech

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at Clark Atlanta University.

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The couple weeks ago, in which Janice

Lidell, the playwright that I just got

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to working with, Elders Igniting, she's

emeritus at Clark Atlanta University,

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and this is somebody who she mentored

and taught, who gave the commencement

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speech, that was so brilliant,

brilliant, it was like a, a sermon

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from the mount, And to encourage these

young people who came to that place

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of significance to learn to become

something other than somebody's work

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slave, go beyond, to reach for the stars.

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And it was just so inspirational.

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So that when.

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Janice came back to the theater where

we're doing Elders Igniting, which was

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on Frank Silvera Writers Workshop's 50th

Anniversary Reading Series back in March.

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she came in floating on air and I

was like, wow, this is so wonderful.

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and now I understand because this

was a student that she taught.

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Got his doctorate and then elevated to the

next level to bring in the people behind

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her and with him to where they're going

in this journey that we call America.

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that inspiration is inspires you.

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It lights your fire so that when you get

up in the morning and you put your shoes

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on and you get ready to go out and into

the world that you're not going out there

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just with the always woe is me attitude.

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But it's like I've had breakfast of

champions this morning and I'm going out

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there and I'm kicking ass, taking names,

collecting checks, and I'm writing my

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name in the book that says I am legacy.

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Not just a theory, but a truth

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Speaker 7: And this is a great

way to start off this conversation

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because you literally combine

like 10 topics into one statement.

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And I really want to just back

up a little bit and find out.

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I know that you, you know, you gave

your beginnings, your humble beginnings,

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and now we're talking about legacies.

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How did you go from, watching

the big names on the TV to

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actually getting into the arts?

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Speaker 8: Well, I think it starts

with where you, the first PlayStation.

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Think about this.

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A child's first PlayStation

where you learn the dynamics

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of living is in your kitchen.

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Your mother's kitchen.

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That's a PlayStation.

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And so my parents gave me and my sisters

an opportunity to learn, to grow, to

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develop, to become yourself individually,

and then bring that to the table to be

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a part of a village, your community.

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And even though I didn't know

even to this day what they did.

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I do know this, every time there was a

conversation about what was going on.

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In the world around us, they encourage

us to read the newspaper, have a

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conversation, intellectual conversation,

not just about sports, not just

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about girls, not about the party that

you went to, but can you name me,

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the president's current president.

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administration growing

up in Washington, D.

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C.

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That's what we did most people don't

realize Washington is the seat of power

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of the world, and most people don't

even realize in the country that they

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live in what goes on in Washington, D.

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C.

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As government power, not

just now government of money.

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That's New York City.

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But if you're talking about What

is the world thinking and doing?

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That was my, that was my

playscape, my playstation.

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And then to listen to be a witness

to when Kennedy got killed.

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President Kennedy, primary example.

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When he got killed, I was

going to a Catholic school, St.

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Francis D.

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Sales, the oldest Catholic

school in Washington, D.

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C.

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And I was Out in the seventh

grade, I was taken down the flag.

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I come back into the classroom

and the nuns are crying.

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The classroom is in awe and shock.

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And I didn't know what was going on,

but I realized there was something

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very dramatic that just happened.

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And when I found out it was

president Kennedy had been killed.

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The capital of the world was in shock.

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And then my dad and my mother took

me down to the capital to see the

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body lying in state and standing on

Constitution Avenue and watching little

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John John and Carolyn walking behind.

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The case on that's in my mind.

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That's in my spirit and my soul.

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That was the highest drama

that you could experience.

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And then the loss of Martin Luther

King watching in Washington D.

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C.

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Where the riots broke out and

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I'm a senior in high school and

I'm realizing at this moment in

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my Life growth, the theatrics of

what the world is witnessing was

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impacting on me and my family

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That was my bar mitzvah.

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I was 13 years old, 13.

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And I'm growing up in Washington, D.

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C., and then my cousins, my aunts, and

my uncles are coming to Washington, D.

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C.

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to be a part of the March on Washington.

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And my dad took me to the site

of the day that it was happening.

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He said, Son, I know you really want

to go with us, and I would love to have

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you be there with me, father and son.

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But, if anything is to happen to

me or your aunts and uncles, You

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will become the man of the house.

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I need you to stay and protect

your mom and your sisters.

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Now that's high drama.

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That's my bar mitzvah.

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That was the day I became a man because

my father said, I know you want to be with

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me, but you are to protect the family.

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Everything that I do from that

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My journey has been filled with an

experiential moment for every action

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that I've taken and done, every job

that I've had, every theater that I've

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run, every historical society that I've

been, had the privilege of running.

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I've done it because I realized

My DNA is all about freedom.

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The arc of my journey

is all about freedom.

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And if I'm to be honest with the

anointing and the blessing that has

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been given to me to have an uncomprehend

my heritage, my village, my link to

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Liberia as a freed, African American.

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That's a story and a journey.

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That's better than any

movie that I've ever seen.

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Better than any play

that I've ever directed.

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And ultimately, it's because if you

recognize who you are, where you are

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and what you're supposed to be doing

in your life, you have an obligation, a

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moral obligation to follow that journey.

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Engage it.

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Live it, breathe it, talk it,

eat it, sleep it, drink it.

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And if anybody you've met who knows me,

they will always say, Byron is true to

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his word about being nonviolent because

I am a follower of the Prince of Peace.

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Speaker 7: Awesome.

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Speaker 8: That's my heritage.

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Speaker 7: we're here with Byron C.

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Saunders, who is breaking it down for us.

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And thank you so much for joining us

today with Conversations on Aging.

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You know, we say we're never

too young to talk about aging.

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How did you take all of those

experiences and then decide to

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pursue a career in the arts?

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I know you.

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You've been director, act, what, I

mean, there was, I'm sure a plethora

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or a lot of different choices you

could have made, but what was it about

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the arts that really attracted you?

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Speaker 8: Growing up in Washington, D.

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C., everything is free.

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The zoo, the concerts, the

museums, the Smithsonian.

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I spent summers in the

Smithsonian looking, learning.

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Viewing, watching, reading the

Declaration of Independence, going

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to the Smithsonian Institute,

going to the Cochran Art Gallery.

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I was totally surprised when I left DC,

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of Kansas that everything else was 10

years behind where I was growing up.

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It cost to go to a zoo.

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It cost to go to theater.

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It cost to go to the symphony.

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You know, for me, that was just one

of the things that I had access to.

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So my upbringing and my parents

giving us the opportunity

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to go to a parochial school.

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I went to a military academy.

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In Washington, D.

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C.

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St.

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John's Military is now coed, but back

then that was the Vietnam War period.

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So, I mean, it's ultimately,

these were dramatic times.

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And the first play that I ever

did on stage was West Side Story.

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At an all boys Catholic high school

where the girls that came from,

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Immaculata, the other Catholic, school

for girls, there were several in D.

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C., but this was kind of like a sister

school, and we're doing West Side Story.

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Now imagine this, I'm playing

a Puerto Rican, why not?

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It's about, you know, Puerto Ricans

and about, white Anglo Saxon people,

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Europeans, okay, in New York City.

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My dance partner happened to be

the cousin to George Wallace.

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Yes, Alabama's governor, George Wallace.

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My dance partner, she's

playing a Puerto Rican.

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I said to her in the rehearsal one

day, I said, if your uncle ever

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found out you were dancing with me in

this particular production, all hell

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would break loose in your family.

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That's theater right there

and then of course from there

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the next play I did at St.

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John's was, South Pacific.

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You know, and then when

I went to And that's the

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Speaker 7: theater bug bit, right?

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Speaker 8: Oh, the theater bug, the

theater bug bit me, but that's not

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why I went to University of Kansas.

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I went out there to go to pre

law and political science major.

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But when I realized everything in Kansas

was like 10 years behind everything I

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grew up with, I became disenchanted,

even a story like The Wizard of Oz.

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My political science teacher has told us

to read the book by, the guy who wrote

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it, Baum, that, is that it was a study

in, Midwestern politics, and he's right,

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because the story is based in Kansas, and

I realize after being in Kansas for two

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and a half years, and through Kent State,

Jackson State, Being a part of the Black

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Student Union, my first day of college,

my first day of college, Kimberly, at

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University of Kansas, I was sitting in

at a Holiday Inn protesting wages for

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cafeteria workers and the cleanup staff.

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My first day of college.

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I missed my morning classes to participate

in a civil rights disobedient moment.

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And sure enough, the Kansas Bureau

of Investigation , the KBI, came

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in and took everybody's picture.

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So automatically, I was already identified

on that first day of my college career

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in Kansas, of being a, a supporter

of the movement and civil rights.

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Now, what's significant

about Lawrence, Kansas?

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Langston Hughes grew up there.

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Williamson Walker of the

Williamson Walker Comedian Team.

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Walker grew up there.

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There's elements of history in Kansas.

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Lawrence, Kansas, which was a free state.

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My political career got short

changed there because of everything

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that was happening around us.

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Vietnam, Kent State, Jackson State.

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I mean, the current, protests at the

colleges now are very reminiscent

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of what was going on then.

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Been there, done that.

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I no longer wanted to be in Kansas,

so like Dorothy, I clicked my

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heels three times and I said,

there's no place like home.

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There's no place like home.

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I left Kansas, and my godmother

convinced me to get back in school.

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She sent me down to Hampton, where I got

in on the last day of late registration.

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But it was in my junior year at

Kansas that I changed my major from

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political science and corporate law

to speech and drama and theater.

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Because I was unable to be on stage, In

Kansas, mind you, University of Kansas

307

was submitting Indians to play Indians for

the, Kennedy Center American Play Contest.

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I auditioned for it.

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There were no blacks in that

play, no black Indians, no brown

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Indians, not even me, who looked

like, who am part Cherokee, okay?

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So, I didn't get cast.

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But what I did do was learn how to be a

stage manager, learn how to do makeup,

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learn about my face, learn technical

theater, building sets, all of that.

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So that when I transferred to Hampton.

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This is like going from one place

of academia to paradise, where a

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black HBCU was a homecoming for me,

where I was able to realize this

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was where I needed to be to grow.

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to realize if the arts was something

that I wanted to undertake, that

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these were a group of people who I

could feel very comfortable with.

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And ultimately, to this day, there's

some of the folks who have run some of

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the biggest theater companies, worked

at some of the biggest institutions.

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Marjorie Moon, who was my

teacher at Hampton, came out

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of Caramoo House in Cleveland.

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And she actually took us to Caramoo

House as the Hampton players in

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my senior year, for which we did

slave ship at Caramoo House as

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part of a winter break opportunity.

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And realizing at that point,

well, we were in Cleveland.

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It snowed every day.

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But what we realized as seniors when

we came off of this winter break and we

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were going back to Hampton, what were

we gonna do with the rest of our lives?

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This is our senior year.

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So we decided, we the Hampton players,

Mikel Pinckney, Tommy Marks, Don Bryan,

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I mean, The actors and friendships

that were made then, we went into the

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house we were staying in, which was a

beautiful, multi room house, bedrooms,

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where the cast of The Hampton Players,

men and women, stayed, and we went

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into the upper room, literally, in the

upper room of that house, and we had a

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meeting, one evening and we were asking

ourselves, what are we going to do when

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we get back to Hampton and being seniors?

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Because the average, the average

income for a speech and drama

340

major, majoring in theater or music

or the arts was 2, 500 a year.

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That's 1973.

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2, 500 a year.

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You can't make a living on 2, 500 a year.

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In the arts, how are you going to do that?

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Because everybody else will be

like, well, your parents, my

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parents, my parents friends.

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Well, when you get through with this

theater thing, what are you going to do?

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You know, what's your

real job going to be?

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What we decided in that upper room

was that when we got back to Hampton,

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we were going to create a soap opera.

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A soap opera, a weekly soap opera,

okay, that ran Mondays, Wednesdays,

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and Fridays from 12 noon to one

o'clock and call it Lunchbox Theater.

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Speaker 7: I love it.

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Speaker 8: We made the story

of a family, three different

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families, a well to do family.

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Black family, a middle class

family, and a poor family.

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And these three families met and

in the middle as, whereas the

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opening episode was Jeff bet, Linda

bet, Jerome bet, and Mary bet.

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Now these were based on

friends of my family.

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My mother and father's bridge friends,

they played bridge and pinochle, okay?

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So it modeled a family

after them called the Betts.

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They were called the Bunches,

but we changed the name

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And we entitled It's a Bet.

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And these three families, the opening

storyline was a black male who was

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at Amherst College not happy being

black and at an Ivy League school

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and wanted to transfer to an HBCU.

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So the first episode was involving mail

transferring from Amherst to Hampton.

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And then the storyline took on highlights

from everyday newspaper, but we did it

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because The communications department

was right next door to the theater

370

and the music department was right

on the other side and we decided,

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well, if we're going to do this and

create a profile for creating a black

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soap opera, now this is before Cosby.

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This is before BET.

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We did this, and it succeeded.

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People would come from the lunchroom,

from their dorms, and come to the theater

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where, not on the main stage, but a

little black box space off the main stage

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for which we then, we had built a small

little theater that changed from one home

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to the other of these three families,

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You know, but they all interacted because

they were the brother and the sister,

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but there was all a connection so that

in every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday,

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you could come to the theater, Little

Theater in Hampton and watch It's a Bet.

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Now, what was encouraging was

once we graduated, because

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that was our senior project.

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Speaker 7: Wow.

385

Speaker 8: Okay.

386

And then from the, then the year after

that, not only did it continue, but

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the group that we were working with.

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created a tonight's show concept that was

also put into the little theater as if

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you didn't want to watch the soap opera,

well we have a today's show, a tonight's

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show program that we were interviewing

people on the campus and trying to

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convince the communications department

was at that moment creating its own in

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house cable network along with its radio

station that they were already part of.

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And I said, well, listen, why don't we

get together and have, do this in the

394

theater, have the communication, people

majoring in communication, film it.

395

We never got to that stage, but when I

graduated from Hampton in 73, I went to

396

BET that was then located in Virginia, and

I pitched It's a Bet for BET television.

397

What they told me was, we don't have the

funds to do local originating program.

398

So what they were more interested

in was the talking heads of MTV

399

and music videos and all that,

Which was popular at that time.

400

But if you look at BET today.

401

What are they doing?

402

Tyler Perry, soap opera, specials, show,

I mean, it is like, this was 73, like

403

I said, before BET actually got into,

before they sold it to, Time Warner

404

or whatever bought it, but ultimately,

where were we ahead, far ahead?

405

what's really grown up to be

a major industry right now.

406

When I left Hampton, moved

back to Washington, D.

407

C., and I was doing, I had

auditioned at the Arena Stage.

408

This was a national audition.

409

And Arena Stage, there was, the

Arena Stage and several other theater

410

companies who were sitting in the

audience, watching the auditions.

411

I got offered a contract with

the Arena Stage to be a, intern

412

stage manager, which was good.

413

However, the Folger Shakespeare

Library and Theatre Company offered

414

me a contract to work with the Folger.

415

Now, to me, the ultimate of

stage work is Shakespeare.

416

Classical theater.

417

I took that contract and I was

able to teach Shakespeare in the D.

418

C.

419

public high schools.

420

Where I would take a group of actors,

and I went to Howard and got about

421

three or four actors, and hired them.

422

And we would take Romeo and

Juliet and Macbeth into the D.

423

C.

424

public high schools.

425

And the teachers would tell me,

listen, don't be surprised if they

426

fall asleep on you because they're

not interested in Shakespeare.

427

And I said, that's okay.

428

All I want them to do is watch.

429

And I would go in with my four

actors, no costumes, no props, just

430

the scripts, because the Folger gave

the scripts and the books of West

431

Side Story and Romeo and Juliet,

432

So every D.

433

C.

434

public high school, I would be in

for about a week at a time, teaching

435

Shakespeare, teaching Romeo and Juliet,

with actors from Howard University.

436

in their theater program to be a part

of teaching Shakespeare in the D.

437

C.

438

public high schools.

439

And then I got a chance to work

on the stage that is a replica

440

of the, of the theater in, in

England is where he performed.

441

and I did, inspector

general on that stage.

442

from there I did mime.

443

Yes, I did Marceau Marceau's, the

whole routine of mime, and I worked at

444

the Kennedy Center, on the 12 days of

Christmas, and it was the opera house.

445

So, every time I would step up in my

career, it was one more step higher,

446

another step here, another step there.

447

And then one of my classmates from

Hampton, Elizabeth Williams, the

448

daughter of Hosea Williams, one of

Martin Luther King's twelve associates.

449

Martin called him his Castro.

450

He would be the one to go into a city.

451

He was the John the Baptist that would

go into a city as part of the civil

452

rights movement operative and stir it up

so that when Martin and Andy and Ralph

453

came in, they were the peacemakers.

454

So if you call yourself a Baptist, know

who your origin is, because at that

455

point, then Liz said, Byron, I want you,

I'm inviting you and your wife to come

456

to Atlanta and help me start People's

Survival Theater, working with the

457

Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

458

And I took the journey.

459

This is wife number one.

460

I lived in Hosea's house.

461

I ran with Elizabeth, ran

People's Survival Theater.

462

And then from People's Survival

Theater being there a couple years,

463

the spiritual journey itself was,

codified and validated in A meeting,

464

one Sunday, Hosea had a church service

where he would invite other pastors

465

from around the country, around Atlanta.

466

and that's how I got to work with the King

family and Julian Bond and John Lewis.

467

All these were my friends.

468

All these were personal friends.

469

C.

470

T.

471

Vivian, you know, another personal mentor.

472

Hosea, the bull in the china closet,

as they called him, so when you think

473

about a journey that you're on and

you're realizing from a commitment and

474

a vow that I took in 1968 promising

God, my Lord and Savior, that anything

475

that everything that I would ever do

would be for the freedom of my people.

476

I am a civil rights lawyer.

477

Man, I am part of the movement.

478

I have left my name in the sand, in

the gray, in the dirt, in the halls

479

of where it needs to be because that

commitment has never been shaken.

480

Now, I have to tell you, along the

way, that's not always been accepted.

481

I'm Peck's bad boy, because I'd go to the

city hall meetings, I'd go to the council

482

meetings, and the state legislature, both

in Georgia and in New York, when I finally

483

did go to New York, but I would be the one

to stand up and say, you know something,

484

what is wrong in this system that we

have is that You'll give us a little bit

485

of money to do the art, but you're not

giving us money to build the institution.

486

And imagine when we started people's

survival theater, it was in a

487

furniture store, And in that furniture

store where you could come and

488

get clothes and you get furniture.

489

There was a little space that we carved

out to have a soap opera and we named it.

490

We didn't call it It's a Bet.

491

We took the stories that we did at

Hampton, and we created the new version of

492

that idea and called it The Promised Land.

493

And it ran for ten weeks as a live

soap opera, every Friday and Saturday.

494

And then from there, Because of the

success of it, we got press from the

495

Atlanta Journal Constitution, you know,

we challenged everybody because we were

496

saying, listen, you all are giving all the

money to the Alliance, you're giving it to

497

the Academy Theater, you're giving it to

here, but what you're not giving is money

498

to help sustain and support the African

American community and its entertainment

499

dollars in the Central Business District.

500

So that our little project

that moved from to David T.

501

Howard High School.

502

Now, why is that significant?

503

David T.

504

Howard High School is in the fourth

ward, which is called Buttermill

505

Bottom in Atlanta, Georgia.

506

Who went to that school?

507

African Americans.

508

And what we were able to do, because

they had this big gymnasium for, where

509

theater and basketball and everything,

but we took over the ROTC building

510

and turned it into a black box theater

where we did The Promised Land.

511

Now, The Promised Land became such a hit

that WPCH, which is easy listening music,

512

as you get on the elevator, you know,

you got that nice music playing for you.

513

And W I I N.

514

Sister Stations at WPCH was a

country western, radio station.

515

Warren Cromartie worked at the station.

516

He was one of their DJs, black guy.

517

And he said, he came to us

and he says, Would you all be

518

interested in doing radio drama?

519

Hello!

520

Not only were we interested, but he

said, There's one thing, you can't

521

come into the studio during the daytime

because they don't want you here.

522

You have to come in at midnight.

523

We came in at midnight.

524

Now, mind you, we're still in the midst

of doing the soap opera every Friday,

525

we're ten weeks in, of doing the soap

opera, and about the sixth or seventh

526

week is when we got the offer, which

meant that we had to recalibrate the

527

opening to tape radio drama for midnight.

528

to like four in the morning.

529

We would the WPCA studio, come back to

work at SCLC in our day jobs, which could

530

be as working with the People's Crusader

newspaper, that was Hosea's newspaper

531

for the Civil Rights Movement, Metro

Atlanta Southern Christian Leadership

532

Conference, and then have to go to work

from nine to five, and then from in the

533

evening on that Monday, after, you know,

taping your show, get ready for the next.

534

episode in the soap opera as live

theater because we were writing it on

535

Mondays and Tuesdays and rehearsing

it Wednesdays and Thursdays and

536

then doing it Fridays and Saturdays.

537

We even had commercials

from local businesses.

538

that we would put in.

539

And it was like the magic of doing

the theater concept this idea.

540

How do we talk to our people?

541

How do we continue to tell the stories

about us as a people in this land?

542

Because Atlanta, as we know, is the seat

of the civil rights movement, which is

543

one of the reasons why I went because

I wanted to experience it firsthand.

544

I wanted to know who Yoki King was.

545

I wanted to know Martin's family.

546

I didn't get a chance to meet Martin.

547

Obviously, he was killed in 1968.

548

But Coretta All the kids, Dexter,

even Alveda, they were all my friends

549

I

550

worked with them.

551

So my whole concept of being able to

communicate to the community, for which

552

I loved and give my faith and hopes and

dreams to was being embellished right

553

there in a pocket of a cultural heaven.

554

So that when I left People's Survival

Theatre, my next journey was to Just

555

Us Theatre, which happened to be the

largest Black theatre company in town,

556

run by Theatre of the Stars, which was,

a white organization, the Broadway show

557

circuit, that every time a show closed

on Broadway with the Nederlanders or the

558

Shuberts, Tots, Theatre of the Stars,

would bring it to Atlanta, bring it into

559

the Civic Center or to the Fox Theatre,

and then Running a black theater company

560

for which there was an upheaval there.

561

And then, I was offered the

position as general manager.

562

Then I offered the position

as executive director.

563

And then ultimately, because of the

dynamics of what we were able to create.

564

and succeed as probably

being the third largest black

565

theater company in the country.

566

I had over 2, 200 subscribers.

567

The mayor's wife, both Andy

and Maynard's wife, were all co

568

chairs, were all honorary chairs

of my Just Us Theater task force.

569

So I had the, Crème de la Crème of

Atlanta supporting the theater company.

570

The biggest problem with all of that

support, because I mean, I produced and

571

presented Timbuktu with Eartha Kitt.

572

I had the opportunity to work with the

best of the best through the League

573

of Regional Theater concept with

LORT, because when the shows came to

574

Atlanta under Theater of the Stars,

I was their production coordinator.

575

as my mentor, Chris Manish, used to

tell me, he said, Byron, when they

576

get off the plane and you meet them at

Hartsfield Airport, you say, welcome to

577

Atlanta, payday is on Thursday, because

that's the way the industry works.

578

You have to have a reputation that

people respect, bringing in the stars,

579

and everybody's a star, but there's

some who are bigger than others.

580

But you still create

and respect everyone's.

581

I made that as part of the M.

582

O.

583

for Just Us Theater so that when

I first came on board, I directed

584

Hughes Tambourines to Glory.

585

We didn't pay anybody, but what I

told them was, I said, listen, we

586

don't pay you yet, but here's what

I will command of your presence.

587

I will start on time.

588

I will end on time.

589

And all I ask is that you come

when you bring your talent to

590

the table, work with me on that.

591

Then when we began to pay the actors,

because we had, an agreement with Actors

592

Equity as a, artist program, letter

of agreement and then I could hire the

593

equity actor to work with the non equity

actor in Atlanta and we paid and I would

594

tell them in the first day of rehearsal,

listen, this is contract signing day.

595

We start on time.

596

We end on time.

597

We pay on time.

598

But if you start to, abuse

that, you don't want to see me.

599

Any time during the first week except

on Saturday when I'm asked my director

600

to show me the show that I paid

for to help present to my audience.

601

That's when I would come

to the first run through.

602

And I wouldn't know if my

show was real, but it were.

603

But I told, I would tell the actors,

I said, now if you see me come in, any

604

time between Monday and Friday, I've

been handing out pink slips, don't make

605

me do that because I don't want to,

and I had to do it a couple of times,

606

but you have to establish the esprit

de corps of a professional concept that

607

will translate to the actor who has been

treated like dirt in most opportunities,

608

Speaker 7: which

609

Speaker 8: is sad because we only play

the maids, the butlers and whatever.

610

Speaker 7: Right.

611

Speaker 8: and in the state of Georgia,

which is a right to work state, that

612

makes it even more difficult because we're

talking about cheap labor overcome that.

613

Yes.

614

Speaker 7: And we're here with Byron C.

615

Saunders.

616

We're talking about all

kinds of things, cheap labor.

617

The civil rights movement

and so much more.

618

Thank you so much for being on

really learning so much about you.

619

And I did want to ask you, cause

you, I know you've acted and you

620

obviously are a director, how you

made that transition or how did you

621

decide to also get into directing?

622

you have directed, you did

elders igniting with us.

623

So we're going to talk a

little bit more about that.

624

But how did you decide to, would you say

that that's your focus directing now?

625

Speaker 8: Producing.

626

I love, see the three things.

627

Now, going back to Hampton, I'm going

to tell you how I actually started.

628

I was in Ti-Jean and his brothers.

629

I was in several productions

in which I was the star.

630

I loved it.

631

But there was one show that I actually

wanted to do, which was Tambourines to

632

Glory where I could play Buddy Lomax.

633

Buddy Lomax is the devil.

634

Okay, his opening monologue is like, you

have to read Langston Hughes to realize

635

what a genius he was because here's this

character, Buddy Lomax, in Tambourines

636

to Glory, who's actually the devil trying

to tempt these two women who are starting

637

a storefront church, and of course, the

idea is how does he tempt them, how does

638

he persuade them to do wrong, and then of

course he gets his comeuppance at the end.

639

Well, I'm on stage auditioning.

640

Marjorie Moon was going to

play the lead character.

641

So I'm like, Oh my God, I want to

be on stage with Marjorie Moon.

642

She's my instructor and Mikel Pikney,

who was my roommate, who's now just

643

retired two weeks ago as a emeritus.

644

a full professor, Dr.

645

Mikkel Pikni at the University of

Florida, who happened to be the youngest

646

director to direct on Broadway when he

directed Innocent Black with Melba Moore.

647

On Broadway.

648

He's the youngest, okay?

649

My roommate from college.

650

And so here I am at Hampton

auditioning on stage, and before

651

I could even say the first line.

652

Mikell in the back of the

house says, Byron, can you, I

653

want to talk to you for a sec.

654

Can you come off stage?

655

And I'm thinking, Oh my

God, here's my moment.

656

He's going to tell me I got the part.

657

And he says, I really need

you to be my stage manager.

658

Crestfallen, broken hearted.

659

My one chance to be the star of

a show but he asked me the most

660

important part of that was, I

need you to be my stage manager.

661

And from that moment on, and I reminded

him of this story many, many years later.

662

It's because of you that

I'm not on stage anymore.

663

But basically because of the relationships

that I created and had with those folks at

664

Hampton, not only gave me the opportunity

to be on stage, but also to produce.

665

To be a part of what makes the play the

play, selling the tickets, doing the

666

press, actually sweeping the stage, you

know, I mean, and as a stage manager,

667

you wear every hat, and then once the

director is through with the show, it's

668

your show, you're in charge, so I didn't

lose status, I gained status and respect.

669

Then, once I left Hampton and came from D.

670

C.

671

to Atlanta.

672

That's when I realized some of the

things that I could direct because I had

673

proven myself at the Folger, doing and

working with the Shakespeare, company.

674

Proved myself doing Mime

with, Arcasus Productions.

675

Proved myself doing dinner theater.

676

I did dinner theater work.

677

I played Man of La Mancha

where I was the Monsignor.

678

I did Camelot where I was King Pelenoa.

679

I did shows that were literally, the

broadway type of shows, musicals.

680

I was a triple threat.

681

And then because of the success

of Atlanta, I was then offered to

682

be a member of the Georgia Film

Commission by Joe Frank Harris.

683

So for seven years, Lou Walker and

Georgia Allen and I were the black

684

faces that helped lay the foundation

for what Atlanta and Georgia has

685

become the Hollywood of the South.

686

I'm so proud of that

because we opened the door.

687

We took the door off the hinges and

because of that and our experience and

688

what we brought to the table my directing

acumen kept increasing because I was

689

directing shows for just us three.

690

theater and producing shows for the

theater company and selling the tickets

691

and doing the box office and doing all the

things that were necessary to perfect the

692

art and the business of show business and

then succeeding beyond all expectations.

693

Because at that point, what drove me

out of Atlanta was, I got blackballed

694

for challenging status quo, for

literally standing up and saying your

695

programs and the way you disseminate

funds to our cultural community

696

is a violation of contract law.

697

Not about the art, about a violation

of contract law for a set aside program

698

for women and minority owned business.

699

Did you know in this country that

every dollar spent in the public

700

sector has a caveat attached to it that

says that they must subcontract with

701

women and minority owned businesses?

702

And if you are an arts organization that

has not been given the access to that, you

703

can understand why there is no more Just

Us Theater, why there is no more Jumanji

704

productions, why NEC is teetering on the

brink of disaster all the time because

705

we can't get access to the institutional

support that's guaranteed by contract law,

706

because the arts have never been mandated

to follow that procedure of justice.

707

a set aside program and ultimately that's

the demise of so many of our really

708

good professional theater companies

because they've never given access to

709

institutional development and I would

be, I challenged that and Atlanta did not

710

respect it and so I left Atlanta to run.

711

The Frank Silvera Writers Workshop.

712

Speaker 7: And you know what?

713

And that's the perfect segue.

714

That's the perfect segue.

715

That was literally the Frank

Silvera Writers Workshop.

716

How

717

Speaker 8: are you going to

718

Speaker 7: That's how it happened.

719

that's our connection.

720

That's how we connect.

721

And, you've worked with us, you've been

working with us for several months now.

722

We really appreciate your support.

723

You've helped us with, Directing Elders

Igniting, many more stories to tell

724

and also behind the scenes you've

helped us with moderation and getting

725

ourselves set up to continue to fly.

726

So tell us more about how did

you get involved with the Frank

727

Silveira Writers Workshop?

728

Speaker 8: Well, it all

happened at Coca Cola.

729

Now, Dito, how did you get here?

730

Well, it was the 57

Chevy that I got there.

731

You know, that's the old

joke from Vaudeville.

732

But anyway, in my last year, I left my own

theater company, Just Us, and it happened

733

because my mentor came to me one day

after I had liberated the theater company,

734

Just Us, from Theater of the Stars, and,

and we were doing 222, and I wanted to

735

get Marla Gibbs to come to be a guest.

736

She wasn't available.

737

She had reservations about coming

to Atlanta at that time because she

738

was working on several projects.

739

I had Mikel Pinkney directed.

740

he went to take somebody, from New York.

741

can't think of her name right now,

but she was in Chicago, the Broadway,

742

Fosse, Chicago, Carol Woods, and hired

her to play the lead role, which was

743

Marla Gibbs role, my mentor, Chris

Mannis, called me up while we were, in

744

rehearsal, about to go into rehearsal.

745

And he says, Byron, I got

good news and I got bad news.

746

I said, well, great, because that's

the kind of relationship we have.

747

He said, the good news is, I just signed

Savion Glover to do Tap Dance Kid.

748

I said, wonderful.

749

I said, congratulations.

750

of course, my antenna is up at

that point because I'm thinking,

751

wow, I'm the black theater company,

that should be the show that I buy.

752

But of course, I don't have the liquidity

that Theater of the Stars had because,

753

and the relationship with the Schubert's

and the Nederlanders and, and the such.

754

And I say, well, what's the bad news?

755

He said, well, the bad news is,

is we're going to play on the same

756

date as your show, Now, mind you.

757

Just Us Theater was one of several

black theaters in Atlanta, Georgia.

758

We had New Cosmos with Walter Dallas.

759

We had Proposition was Walter Dallas.

760

New Cosmos, Eddie Billups and Joan Lewis.

761

And, I mean, Just Us and Jumanji.

762

But you know one thing that we

had all agreed upon as African

763

American arts organizations?

764

We would never play a show on the

same date your show was running.

765

We refuse to be the split of the

diaspora of the economic wealth of

766

the African American community for its

entertainment dollars and disposable

767

income to be choosing one over the other.

768

But not the white theaters.

769

They got to realizing that because

Just Us was succeeding, Oh, now we're

770

going to start doing black theater

plays during Black History Month.

771

Or I can go and bring in the Alvin Haley.

772

When, obviously, if Byron had a chance

and had the money to buy these shows,

773

wouldn't it be right for him and Just

Us to be the producers of these shows?

774

Absolutely.

775

And so I began to challenge all of this.

776

ultimately, because I was challenging

the status quo is when that became a

777

reality check for me, and I realized

if I'm going to succeed, I need more

778

than just crumbs from the table.

779

The central business district in

every city that has a major African

780

American community needs to have its

performing arts arena in that area.

781

Peachtree Street, from Five

Points to North Avenue.

782

Or Fox, where the Fox is, the

Lions Theater, that's the corridor.

783

I was on that block with my

shows in a 714 seat opera house.

784

And then they began to usurp my right

to these, my own cultural communities,

785

arts excellence, by buying it and

keeping me from getting access to it.

786

You cannot sustain running an organization

of several hundred thousand dollars

787

every year that you got erased from zero.

788

We're out an endowment.

789

Everybody else has an endowment.

790

The Alliance Theater has an endowment.

791

So if their years go bad,

their endowment saves them.

792

But if we go bad, we're in the hole for

another trying to stay alive and not

793

having the access to funds to help secure

a growing institution and principally

794

because the violation of contract law

set up by the federal government and co

795

signed by every state in this country.

796

So, if you're wondering why you do not

have a major cultural arts community

797

center in your central business district,

it's because there's been contract

798

violations all up and down and it

ain't got nothing to do with your art.

799

It's about political capital and

respect of the arts community's dollar.

800

So I've left.

801

My last job was with Coca Cola

bottling company where I needed to

802

make some money to keep sustaining my

condominium and my wife and whatever

803

And, and you know what I was doing?

804

I was riding on the trucks with the

delivery people who you go buy a

805

gasoline station and see all those

coca cola products out on there.

806

Trust me, that's what I was doing.

807

And little me, that 125, 130 pound

guy, these guys are stevedores.

808

who take a full case of Cokes and toss it

from one side of the room to the other,

809

and you're supposed to catch that and

then stack it up in the gasoline station.

810

By the end of the first day, I had

black and blue marks all up and down my

811

chest from trying to catch the stuff.

812

And I said, I can't do this.

813

I can't do this.

814

And so I saw Silvera Writer's

Workshop was looking for a director.

815

Karen Baxter had been the director.

816

And I interviewed for the

position, and I got it.

817

interestingly enough, my sister who

was in Dallas was working with Girl

818

Scouts down there, but Girl Scouts

USA brought her to New York to work

819

with the corporate organization.

820

Now this is very important because when

I tell you about my family of excellence,

821

my sister, is one of, in 2005 is one

822

a Nobel Peace Prize based on conflict

resolution She was one who was nominated.

823

Of course she didn't win, but she

was working at Girl Scouts USA.

824

She helped to co design the current

signature piece of Girl Scouts, a logo.

825

So we got to New York, principally

at the same time, we said,

826

well, let's be roommates.

827

And then for the two years that I was

there, one of the things that impacted

828

me was working at Frank Silvera Writer's

Workshop, which was on 125th Street, St.

829

Nicholas, right off of St.

830

Nicholas, in a tennis shoe store

above the tennis shoe store.

831

That's where the workshop existed.

832

Three flights of steps up.

833

We had a coal burning stove in the office.

834

It could seat maybe 40 people in the

small space that we had for the readings.

835

But what I realized was that

where were all the dynamic Black

836

theater productions originating?

837

And they originated at the Frank Silvera

Writers Workshop, which made it iconic.

838

So my Running Just Us Theater, 714 seat

opera house, thank you for that lovely

839

visual that you're giving behind me,

because I love an opera house, you know,

840

with the box seats and the elegance, to

running a workshop with 40 seats above

841

a tennis shoe store, but creating and

continuing to produce The African American

842

theatrical classics that I, as a theater

producer, would come to New York to

843

purchase to bring back to Atlanta where I

was able to meet and work with Ozzie and

844

Ruby and Anthony Chisholm and, they were

there on those Mondays for those readings.

845

And that became another rationale

of my, Understanding the blessing

846

that I've been given to run

an organization, we succeeded.

847

We won an Obie award on, on my

watch for playwriting development.

848

And so I, I take that with me and because

it's not because we were doing anything.

849

extra is the fact that finally the

organization itself, the institution,

850

the Frank Silvera Writers Workshop, had

established itself to be acknowledged by

851

Obie Award, to be acknowledged by the,

the Broadway community, to understand that

852

every show that was in one of those major

theaters in the city, off Broadway, on

853

Broadway, off, off Broadway, came through

the Frank Silvera Writers Workshop.

854

And so it was an honor.

855

to have met and worked on

behalf with Garland Sr.

856

And then creating a relationship

outside of the theater with

857

Garland with mutual respect.

858

So, when I left, I left the

workshop to run the Queens

859

Historical Society, creating and

protecting the history of the 2.

860

5 million people of the borough

of Queens, New York City.

861

I'm the only African American male or

female who's ever run a major historical

862

society in the city of New York.

863

And I take that with honor and pride

because I knew nothing of New York's

864

history and so working with them, I was

able to be on the board of directors

865

of the Louis Armstrong House Museum.

866

I was able to be on the board of the,

Louis Latimer House who created the

867

carbon filament and helped to sustain

it and refurbish it and winning

868

and receiving applause from the

preservation community because of the

869

work that I was doing at the workshop.

870

And then.

871

Or at the, Historical Society, but

it was proving that it wasn't about

872

working and succeeding in a black

organization, but succeeding because

873

of what I was able to accomplish as an

arts administrator and understanding the

874

dynamics of the arts business to this day.

875

Every step, every job, everything that

I've ever had in my journey of my 50

876

plus years of being in the business,

I've always attempted to bring my

877

cultural, commitment to my people

to a level of creating even for the

878

historical society, making sure that

it's archival collection was taking

879

African American history stories and

putting it into the archival collection.

880

Because when we talk about.

881

Book banning.

882

And you really want to know why there's

no story about your culture in the books

883

is because when they write the books,

they go to the historical societies to get

884

the information that's in their archival

collection to then put it into a book.

885

But if your story is not in that

collection, you don't even get recognized.

886

Speaker 7: And we're here

with Byron C Saunders.

887

We're covering a lot of ground race,

the arts, all kinds of great stuff.

888

Thank you so much for being here

and for telling us your story.

889

I do want to talk about, the workshop

and the work that you, you've

890

done with us and continue to do.

891

your latest work was

with, Elders Igniting.

892

Many more stories to tell.

893

since the, workshop has gone

virtual, we've been able to,

894

reach a global audiences.

895

So tell us more about, your work

with Elders Igniting and, give our,

896

our listeners those plot lines.

897

Speaker 8: The plot

lines and they're thick.

898

Trust me, the plot lines are so thick.

899

even I'm amazed at how.

900

All of it has come together

and speaking with Dr.

901

Lidell this morning and acknowledging

how the journey actually began to elders.

902

Janice Lydell, Dr.

903

Lydell, Clark Atlanta

University, brilliant writer.

904

Now, mind you, I have to

say this about the theater

905

company I ran, Just Us Theater.

906

Pearl Clegg, the writer, Pearl Clegg,

was my playwright in residence.

907

And just us.

908

I directed all of her

shows, not Kenny Leon.

909

I directed those shows and gave,

gave her the status of being

910

recognized, which is great for

Janice Lydell, living in Atlanta,

911

Clark University, English professor.

912

came to me, several years ago, and I, and

I don't even know how we, actually met.

913

I, at this point, it's about, we did,

The Talk at the Billie Holiday Theater.

914

I think that was the first

play that she introduced me to.

915

And what she wrote was a story about,

How do we tell our children and our

916

sons and daughters about racism?

917

The talk.

918

You know what I'm talking about.

919

That talk.

920

That's right.

921

That talk about racism in our country.

922

And of course, being a writer from

Atlanta, her whole concept of the

923

storyline based in Atlanta was Almost

similarly, more about Atlanta's politics

924

and its own story and how the people of

Atlanta, both the poor, the wealthy, and

925

the middle class, were all and continue to

be all a part of this civil rights story.

926

And so she wrote it and we did it at

the Billie Holiday Theater as part of

927

the reading series and we had it filmed.

928

And it was unique, that the relationship

with both the workshop was ongoing

929

because by then, the eight years, nine

years that I ran either the workshop or

930

the historical society, I actually moved

back to Atlanta and then came back to New

931

York to run, the White Farmhouse Museum.

932

And it was in that time period, my

second, trip back to New York, that

933

I began to work with, Garland Jr.

934

because, as I remember, when Garland Sr.

935

was failing in health, it

really was painful for him.

936

Because I had befriended and

became a good friend to Garland Sr.

937

And I remember, I'll never forget this,

because I remember we had a, Harlem

938

Arts, Alliance meeting at, Riverside

Church where I was box office manager.

939

And I saw Garland Sr.

940

come in and he was so bent over.

941

And I knew he was in pain.

942

I knew this was, it was something

really physically and anything else in

943

his world was calling attention to me.

944

And I asked him, is he okay?

945

And I made sure he got in and

then I immediately called his son.

946

I said, Garland, your dad needs you.

947

I'm a believer in

institutional development.

948

I'm a believer in making sure that our,

uh, Established institutions can sustain

949

themselves and, and because of my personal

commitment to that ethics in my own M.

950

O., that I felt a moral

responsibility to the legacy of an

951

institution that I was a part of.

952

To see its own, to see its origins,

to work, have had the party.

953

at Gretchen Cryers where, Morgan

Freeman and Alfred Ury come to the

954

party working with James Briggs

Murray and the board of directors.

955

I came to, appreciate the effort that

they have been given for the years that

956

this institution has sustained itself.

957

So it was very easy for me to get

on the phone annually, literally,

958

about every January, February, and

have a conversation with Garland Jr.

959

and say, what are you, what is

the workshop doing this year?

960

How can I be of assistance?

961

Let me know what we can do.

962

I got a couple shows I'd like to

bring to this workshop series.

963

That was fine, but along the way,

journey to help the institution

964

sustain and survive itself.

965

So when Janice Lidell, Dr.

966

Lidell, asked me to get involved with her

project, the talk, I immediately said,

967

well, Garland, how do we get a chance to

do this for the workshops, reading series?

968

and he shared with me that we could

put it in and we actually did it

969

the weekend of, Martin Luther King

celebration at the Billie Holiday

970

Theater, the reading of The Talk.

971

And we filmed it.

972

And realizing at that point,

my relationship with Dr.

973

Lydell.

974

had succeeded and exceeded her

expectations, having had her play,

975

Who Will Sing for Lena about the

Lena Baker story, the first woman

976

to, and only woman, black woman to be

electrocuted in the state of Georgia

977

for having killed her white boss, her

employer, because he tried to rape her.

978

And she was later exonerated, but

Janice's show was, like, convincing

979

me her work was just as important, as

Pearl Clegg's, and on the same level.

980

And so from there, our relationship

grew because I was her dramaturg,

981

I was her director, and I was using

all the elements, that I learned.

982

From the Obie award winning,

playwriting development company

983

called Frank Silvera Writers Workshop.

984

And then I realized that because

of my relationship was to bring

985

it to the table and continue, to

be a consultant for the workshop.

986

Kind of, An advisor to see it grow

and really making sure that Garland

987

knew he had somebody on the East Coast

while he was on the West Coast that was

988

working with him and on behalf for him.

989

and of course, When, it was really,

magnificent that when Garland Sr.

990

did pass and we had his going

home celebration in New York, the

991

opportunity to share some of these

stories with everybody who knew

992

Garland Sr., but perhaps did not know

the journey of the workshop itself.

993

And so when it came down to

Janice and I working together.

994

On, several other projects that

she's asked me to be her dramaturg.

995

I said, sure.

996

I love working with you.

997

So then she calls me up, what, a year ago.

998

And she says, well, what would you think

about a show about senior citizens?

999

I said, Janice, go ahead and write it.

01:06:20,404 --> 01:06:21,045

Just write it.

01:06:21,154 --> 01:06:22,145

you had me at hello.

01:06:22,145 --> 01:06:24,005

I'm your dramaturg, so I will work in it.

01:06:24,745 --> 01:06:28,645

She had somebody that she wanted

local to direct it, and he wasn't

01:06:28,645 --> 01:06:32,225

able to direct it, or didn't want to

direct it, for whatever the cause was.

01:06:32,235 --> 01:06:34,135

So she pitched it back to me.

01:06:34,135 --> 01:06:35,535

I said, Janice, I've been waiting for you.

01:06:35,535 --> 01:06:36,865

Why didn't you ask me the first time?

01:06:37,175 --> 01:06:40,015

So, you know, but the challenge was this.

01:06:41,085 --> 01:06:42,635

Three one act plays.

01:06:43,565 --> 01:06:50,605

A farce written in the style of, Comedie

d'Art by Carlton Millett and his wife.

01:06:50,654 --> 01:06:55,395

Carlton and his wife Barbara were, when

I first met them, the co chairs of the

01:06:55,395 --> 01:06:58,965

Spelman College, Spelman University.

01:06:59,295 --> 01:07:00,125

drama department.

01:07:00,375 --> 01:07:04,191

They were the ones who taught Sam

Jackson and LaTanya Richardson, who,

01:07:04,191 --> 01:07:09,211

by the way, were two of the actors in

Atlanta, along with Bill Dunn and several

01:07:09,211 --> 01:07:11,561

others, who started Just Us Theater.

01:07:11,791 --> 01:07:17,201

So my relationship With Sam and

LaTanya and Bill Nunn had already been

01:07:17,201 --> 01:07:18,791

established because we're all friends.

01:07:19,271 --> 01:07:26,241

And so, when Janice said, Byron, about

this new piece, I said, okay, I can do it.

01:07:26,641 --> 01:07:32,241

And I realized not just that Carlton

and Barbara Millett's show was one

01:07:32,241 --> 01:07:34,661

that was really exceptionally written.

01:07:34,894 --> 01:07:38,574

commanded and demanded artists

who could understand it.

01:07:38,624 --> 01:07:43,794

And then to write, the second piece

that she had in this three show

01:07:43,794 --> 01:07:46,864

series, was written by Jamil El Shahir.

01:07:47,684 --> 01:07:51,689

Interestingly enough, Jamil When my kids

were young, I'm not talking about seven,

01:07:51,689 --> 01:07:54,049

eight, nine, ten, played with his son.

01:07:54,389 --> 01:07:57,999

Okay, now my boys are 27 and 25 now.

01:07:57,999 --> 01:08:01,709

So we're talking about a

relationship that goes way back.

01:08:02,019 --> 01:08:07,829

And he wrote a piece called Dying

Well, which is so exceptional about

01:08:08,139 --> 01:08:14,189

that moment where transitioning If

you get to be a certain age, and

01:08:14,199 --> 01:08:19,229

I'm sure in our communities, many

of us have had to be caregivers.

01:08:19,849 --> 01:08:21,319

Now what does that really mean?

01:08:21,618 --> 01:08:28,349

You're, stop being yourself to give care

to an elder or someone in your family

01:08:28,589 --> 01:08:32,529

who has entrusted you with their lives.

01:08:33,068 --> 01:08:35,524

And, each one of my artists.

01:08:36,115 --> 01:08:39,875

In that particular piece, three

characters, as was the other one,

01:08:39,875 --> 01:08:45,585

but they each had recently had

a, caregiving situation in which

01:08:45,585 --> 01:08:49,475

they saw and helped to transition.

01:08:49,524 --> 01:08:54,675

my own mother in law, succumbed, six weeks

before her 98th birthday, but my wife

01:08:54,675 --> 01:09:01,295

and I were her caregivers, my wife for 10

years and me for four years learning how

01:09:01,365 --> 01:09:08,575

to handle a very, sensitive situation,

issue in every family, being a caregiver.

01:09:09,225 --> 01:09:15,205

That's what that story is about and about

transitioning and how we as families and

01:09:15,205 --> 01:09:21,965

members of the family can accept or assist

the transition from one life to the next.

01:09:24,175 --> 01:09:25,925

And then the last piece written by Dr.

01:09:25,925 --> 01:09:28,194

Janice Lidell was Senior Prom.

01:09:28,505 --> 01:09:31,694

And when she asked me about Senior

Prom the first time, I said,

01:09:31,705 --> 01:09:33,375

Janice, ooh, I like that idea.

01:09:33,535 --> 01:09:37,145

A Senior Prom for those seniors who

didn't get a chance to go to their Senior

01:09:37,145 --> 01:09:42,170

Prom because they were, you know, Unable

01:09:42,170 --> 01:09:46,910

civil rights movement and the base of

the story was a woman who is 77 years

01:09:46,910 --> 01:09:54,770

old, who lived in Birmingham, Alabama,

the most segregated, hated town city.

01:09:54,940 --> 01:10:02,050

children's march began on May the third.

01:10:02,180 --> 01:10:06,615

The same Birmingham, where the church

bombing was that fall in September.

01:10:07,184 --> 01:10:11,485

Write a story about a woman who didn't

get a chance to go to her senior

01:10:11,485 --> 01:10:17,315

prom because the white establishment

canceled all of those activities for

01:10:17,315 --> 01:10:21,715

the black community because they were

involved in the civil rights movement.

01:10:21,934 --> 01:10:26,575

Y'all remember Bull Connor, y'all remember

the dogs, and if you haven't seen it, go

01:10:26,575 --> 01:10:30,565

back and watch Eyes on the Prize because

that's exactly the story right there.

01:10:30,715 --> 01:10:37,625

Now imagine, that was my visual

01:10:38,140 --> 01:10:44,710

And ABC, CBS and NBC, because we only had

three television stations back then where

01:10:44,710 --> 01:10:48,280

they were showing me a 13 year old child.

01:10:48,695 --> 01:10:56,805

young man who was watching that moment

where Children were marching and they sick

01:10:56,825 --> 01:11:00,434

the dogs on them, sprayed them with hoses.

01:11:00,615 --> 01:11:01,215

Why?

01:11:01,295 --> 01:11:07,595

Because they wanted to have equal

initiatives, equal education,

01:11:07,855 --> 01:11:11,045

voting rights, Imagine they left

their schools during the day.

01:11:11,745 --> 01:11:17,085

To participate in a civil rights march

that became the iconic visual on TV

01:11:17,085 --> 01:11:23,805

because in her story, that's the story

01:11:23,805 --> 01:11:29,015

she's telling about why she didn't go to

her senior prom and how it was canceled

01:11:29,015 --> 01:11:33,684

and how the other white communities

were celebrating their, their, their

01:11:34,184 --> 01:11:36,455

being able to go to a prom and such.

01:11:36,755 --> 01:11:37,265

So.

01:11:37,475 --> 01:11:41,745

Then the story is the 77 year old

woman, now living in Atlanta, Georgia,

01:11:41,915 --> 01:11:47,210

is taking care of her grandkids, who

are 32 and 28, who were Parents were

01:11:47,210 --> 01:11:50,070

tragically killed in a car accident,

and she helped to raise them.

01:11:50,790 --> 01:11:53,290

But she's giving them a

chance to tell them the story.

01:11:53,790 --> 01:11:58,290

That we sometimes, in our community,

a story of a civil rights story

01:11:58,550 --> 01:12:04,790

that we sometimes refuse to tell

over and over because of the pain.

01:12:04,980 --> 01:12:10,650

It's like right now, today is May

01:12:13,620 --> 01:12:15,160

Why is that an important year?

01:12:15,620 --> 01:12:19,960

Because that was the year the Tulsa

Race Riots took place, where Black

01:12:19,960 --> 01:12:26,660

Wall Street was literally destroyed

by white supremacists and racism.

01:12:26,860 --> 01:12:30,550

They dropped bombs on the black

community, which was the richest

01:12:30,550 --> 01:12:32,880

black community in this country!

01:12:34,120 --> 01:12:34,640

01:12:36,325 --> 01:12:41,075

And if that story is not resonating in

your history classes right now, it's a

01:12:41,585 --> 01:12:47,705

God unforgiven shame that you have not

learned about that particular incident,

01:12:47,934 --> 01:12:54,490

because that's when our hopes, our dreams

of a society, a world, Where we could grow

01:12:54,490 --> 01:12:57,840

up and learn and live and be respected.

01:12:57,970 --> 01:13:01,370

The richest black community in

this country was not New York city.

01:13:01,380 --> 01:13:03,350

Harlem was not Washington, DC.

01:13:03,550 --> 01:13:06,270

It was in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

01:13:06,480 --> 01:13:07,059

Why?

01:13:07,620 --> 01:13:13,340

Oh, you know, about flowers of the moon

or whatever the story is about the Osage

01:13:13,480 --> 01:13:17,640

Indians, same story because oil, oil.

01:13:18,325 --> 01:13:22,775

was on the grounds, under the grounds

where our black community was living.

01:13:22,925 --> 01:13:27,415

And if you know the Trail of Tears story,

where did they leave my Cherokee Nation

01:13:27,415 --> 01:13:33,475

people, me, part Cherokee, driven from

the East Coast in Carolina to relocate

01:13:33,525 --> 01:13:39,745

to Oklahoma, and where they gave those

African people, moving in that direction,

01:13:39,955 --> 01:13:43,434

gave them smallpox infected blankets.

01:13:45,300 --> 01:13:47,110

Y'all need to know these stories.

01:13:47,350 --> 01:13:51,030

This is why, why do we need to

write a new Disney story when

01:13:51,040 --> 01:13:52,600

we have our own stories to tell?

01:13:52,750 --> 01:13:56,430

And if you don't know these stories,

it's the reason why I, as an

01:13:56,450 --> 01:14:00,950

arts administrator, an artist, a

director, a dramaturg, have made

01:14:00,950 --> 01:14:06,160

that commitment to make sure our

stories are told and given respect.

01:14:06,400 --> 01:14:09,430

we did it as live theater

in Atlanta, Georgia.

01:14:09,610 --> 01:14:14,780

And the workshop gave us the

opportunity to showcase three stories.

01:14:15,245 --> 01:14:19,905

the leading agency for reader's

theater in this country, is

01:14:20,105 --> 01:14:23,305

Frank Silveira Writers Workshop.

01:14:23,934 --> 01:14:25,434

This is why it's important.

01:14:25,445 --> 01:14:31,695

So my work with the workshop as now as

a consultant and advisor to bring us and

01:14:31,695 --> 01:14:38,915

rebrand us into the 21st century because

institutionally, we have to keep making

01:14:38,915 --> 01:14:44,015

sure our own institutions are telling

our stories, not depending on other

01:14:44,285 --> 01:14:49,038

organizations, which might do a good job,

the origin of the story starts with us.

01:14:49,818 --> 01:14:50,398

Speaker 9: And if not

01:14:50,448 --> 01:14:54,618

Speaker 8: us, who else is

going to tell our story, but us?

01:14:55,038 --> 01:14:59,617

And this is why, yes, why it's so

important and why the success of what

01:14:59,617 --> 01:15:05,687

we were able to accomplish is that

opportunity to do the workshop, reading,

01:15:07,027 --> 01:15:11,090

and I would tell Janice every time we

posted, Put in the workshop's logo,

01:15:11,390 --> 01:15:20,070

put in the logo of the theater company,

because we built, person by person, to

01:15:20,090 --> 01:15:23,390

fill a house of a hundred plus seats.

01:15:25,135 --> 01:15:25,945

every show.

01:15:26,945 --> 01:15:28,075

We succeeded.

01:15:28,335 --> 01:15:30,215

We didn't have marketing dollars.

01:15:30,765 --> 01:15:33,355

We had Frank Silvera Writer's Workshop.

01:15:33,915 --> 01:15:35,805

We didn't have PR dollars.

01:15:36,565 --> 01:15:39,005

We had Frank Silvera Writer's Workshop.

01:15:39,525 --> 01:15:46,495

We had zoom catchers allowing us to do

these three productions for an audience

01:15:46,695 --> 01:15:52,890

to see as Garland senior would say

to show How to do from page to the

01:15:52,890 --> 01:15:55,720

stage and we proved it would work.

01:15:55,940 --> 01:16:01,900

Not only that, we had

capacity houses every night.

01:16:02,280 --> 01:16:06,500

We averaged more than a hundred

people, which is amazing.

01:16:06,730 --> 01:16:08,660

And we got congratulations for that.

01:16:08,740 --> 01:16:10,800

We got no reviews, I said to Janice.

01:16:11,300 --> 01:16:14,380

There's a story in the Atlanta

daily where hopefully this

01:16:14,380 --> 01:16:15,610

week, but it's after the show.

01:16:15,940 --> 01:16:22,220

you as a producer, Janice, brought three

shows into the Atlanta Arts Exchange,

01:16:22,340 --> 01:16:28,059

which was a converted elementary school

to a cultural arts center run by African

01:16:28,059 --> 01:16:32,723

Americans, Alice Lovelace and Iban

Dooley, who I've known for 40 years.

01:16:33,420 --> 01:16:39,010

So my coming back home to Atlanta

was to work in a facility of friends

01:16:39,010 --> 01:16:44,750

that I've known and we packed the

house, each of those three shows.

01:16:45,790 --> 01:16:49,360

And we all, we were planning

for about 100 people per show.

01:16:49,480 --> 01:16:52,410

We were over average, over a

hundred people for each night.

01:16:52,440 --> 01:16:54,040

We had 150 people the first show.

01:16:54,445 --> 01:16:57,125

Speaker 7: and we also had, the

virtual reading was well attended

01:16:57,355 --> 01:16:59,175

and the link exactly description.

01:16:59,175 --> 01:17:03,005

You can watch the video was

really, a great reading and, hats

01:17:03,005 --> 01:17:05,845

off to everyone who participated

in that and congratulations

01:17:05,845 --> 01:17:06,945

for all the success with that.

01:17:06,945 --> 01:17:10,415

And hopefully we'll, get a chance to

see it again somewhere on the stage.

01:17:10,865 --> 01:17:11,351

Uh,

01:17:12,231 --> 01:17:13,251

Speaker 8: we did have it filmed.

01:17:14,141 --> 01:17:18,121

I had industry people at the

theater who came to see the show.

01:17:18,401 --> 01:17:21,550

My connections being on the

film commission for seven years,

01:17:21,930 --> 01:17:22,940

I can't ask for much more.

01:17:23,980 --> 01:17:27,790

You can't, if you're going

to open the door, my friends,

01:17:28,720 --> 01:17:30,530

knock the door off the hinges.

01:17:31,519 --> 01:17:33,769

Speaker 7: And provide

opportunities for people coming up.

01:17:34,489 --> 01:17:35,269

Speaker 8: Exactly.

01:17:35,329 --> 01:17:39,898

The box office, the set, the

lighting, the, capacity to work with

01:17:39,909 --> 01:17:41,309

the Frank Silvera Writers Workshop.

01:17:41,529 --> 01:17:42,969

I mean literally.

01:17:43,549 --> 01:17:50,068

Realize our community commands and

demands the respect and the excellence

01:17:50,229 --> 01:17:52,209

that you get from any place else.

01:17:52,859 --> 01:17:56,499

You don't have to be Disney,

you don't have to be Pixar, you

01:17:56,499 --> 01:18:01,499

don't have to be George Lucas or

Spielberg, but you can be yourself.

01:18:01,999 --> 01:18:06,549

You can be yourself and bring your

game, bring your A game to the table

01:18:06,659 --> 01:18:12,099

and I guarantee you, you will rise

above every expectation and even exceed

01:18:12,099 --> 01:18:14,059

it because you did it the right way.

01:18:14,234 --> 01:18:14,644

Way.

01:18:15,114 --> 01:18:17,874

Don't sell your soul

for 30 pieces of silver.

01:18:18,404 --> 01:18:24,484

Do it because your people, our

people, need you as a griot to keep

01:18:24,484 --> 01:18:29,294

telling our story and be honest

and be, tell the truth because

01:18:29,754 --> 01:18:32,164

Unless you do it, nobody else will.

01:18:32,412 --> 01:18:33,462

Speaker 7: Thank you so much for that.

01:18:34,041 --> 01:18:34,902

Take note, everyone.

01:18:34,902 --> 01:18:36,122

We're here with Byron C Saunders.

01:18:36,142 --> 01:18:39,612

We're talking about all kinds of things

in the arts, conversations on aging.