announcer: "Theatre Corner" is brought to you by The Harold K. Brown Economic Development and Education Foundation, Harold and LaVerne Brown, Rachel Malveaux, Tania Adami, and viewers like you, thank you.

michael taylor: Welcome to "Theatre Corner."

I'm your host, michael taylor.

Tonight's episode honors the remarkable legacy of the late playwright and art advocate Dea Hurston, a transformative figure in San Diego's theater scene for nearly four decades.

She was an underwriter, arts commissioner, community engagement leader, gala planner, and an outspoken voice for creating opportunities for actors, directors, designers, and playwrights of color, and she was a dear friend.

Dea's influence was profound and far reaching.

We will present a 2017 interview with her filmed at Lafontain Bleu at the Westgate Hotel followed by footage from the groundbreaking ceremony of the Dea Hurston New Village Arts Center, the first arts venue named after a Black woman outside of New York City.

With that, silence your cell phones, folks.

You're entering "Theatre Corner."

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ michael: Welcome, Dea Hurston, to "Theatre Corner," we're so happy to have you here.

Dea Hurston: Thank you, michael.

michael: I'm so excited you agreed to to come up here on the show.

We're gonna talk about your plays and we're gonna talk about your involvement in the arts here in San Diego, and we're gonna have fun doing so with our champagne and our scone and afternoon tea set up.

Dea: Well, that's what you promised me, so.

michael: I'm delivering on the agreement.

Thank you so much, Jose.

All right, so let's start off talking about philanthropy.

You and your husband, Osborn, have been longtime philanthropists here in San Diego.

Why is that important to you?

Dea: I think maybe it began with just having access.

My husband grew up in Los Angeles and so as a child he did have access to arts events.

I grew up in a small town in Ohio and there weren't a lot of art events or art venues there to begin with.

But what was around was closed to people of color.

So the only plays that I ever saw growing up were either in church or at school, and I did not see a professional play until I went to college.

So I think it's very important for us that children of color have access, and that's how we started by just sponsoring buses so that children can go to plays.

And then it kind of grew, we really do feel that our artists in this town in San Diego should be able to make a living here, so that's one of our fights.

We continue the fight for inclusion and diversity and we just think this is a great city to be an artist in and we want it to be an even playing field for everyone, and we want especially children of color to have access to the arts because I think we as a people value education and we should, but as a former teacher I feel that education gives you the roots, but the arts are what enables you to soar and dream and create, and that is just as important.

michael: You've served eight years as a San Diego arts commissioner.

What was that experience like?

Dea: It was very exciting.

It is a political position, a lot of people don't realize that, but it is a political position, you're appointed by the mayor, and as I said, I come from a small town of about 20,000 or 30,000 people and to end up as an arts and cultural commissioner for at that time we were the sixth largest city in the country, pretty heavy stuff for this little girl from Ohio.

I really enjoyed it.

I enjoyed it and I think I got a lot done and I think it's very important that there were voices like mine on the commission, yes.

michael: Yeah, let's talk about Dea Hurston, the playwright, yay!

Dea: My new job, yeah.

michael: Your new job, and I'm so happy that you're getting your work and sharing it with the theater loving public.

One particular piece that I had the pleasure of sitting on the reading.

Dea: I'm so happy you were there.

michael: I was so happy I was there because that was fabulous.

This piece I'm talking about is the piece, "I Want To Marry Stevie Wonder."

How about that?

It showed me a different side of you, a side of you with the incredible humor, sense of humor.

I mean, this play is fabulous.

In the opening of the play, one of the main protagonists, Gigi, is reading a list, sort of a how to marry little Stevie Wonder list.

Step one, meet him.

Step two, fall in love.

Step three, get married and live happily ever after.

Dea: Why not?

michael: Tell me a little bit about this play.

Dea: Well, Gigi is very much she was me, that's who I was.

I fell in love with Stevie Wonder when I was 11 or 12, and he first came out with the "Fingertips" part one and part two, and I just thought he was it.

I not only wanted to marry him, I wanted to give my virginity to him, not lose my virginity to him.

I just wanted to hand it over to him.

And every girl I knew my age was in love with Stevie, little Stevie Wonder he was then, and he was fine.

I mean, he was just so good looking, and he was our first kind of pop star.

You know this is before michael Jackson or any of those kind of people.

And we'd never really had anything like that, a young star like that, and I was just crazy about Stevie and I just felt that if he met me and touched me that he would fall in love with me and we would get married on my 18th birthday, and we would buy Nat King Cole's mansion in Beverly Hills, and we would have three little Black blind boys who look just like Stevie, right?

You know, don't ask me why they had to be blind.

I was young, okay?

So but that was the whole thing, and so that's what this play is about.

Just her efforts to get to Stevie so that he can fall in love with her and marry her and they can live happily ever after.

It's just that simple.

michael: It's hilarious, but more interesting that it's kind of based on--it's true to life.

Dea: It is, most of the things I write I use literary license if I'm basing them on a true story, but this is about 99% actual fact, which makes it even more fun I think.

michael: What is Osborn--I'm curious what is your husband Osborn--what does he think about this story being in a theatrical setting?

Dea: I think he enjoys it, I think he likes it and in the story, as in true life, in real life, Osborn was the one that made my dream come true, and I was able to meet Stevie Wonder because of Osborn, so he should love it.

Okay, what's not to like, yeah.

michael: Right, right.

And so the reading that I attended, you actually won a prize for this play.

It's coming out with a splash.

Dea: It was my first submission to a contest and I won third place at Scripteasers, so that was very, very exciting and the reading was exciting and the actors were just amazing.

I thought, what did you think?

michael: Oh yes, they were.

You brought in some wonderful San Diego-- local San Diego artists and Delicia.

Dea: Delicia came.

michael: You brought out Delicia.

Dea: Delicia Turner Sonnenberg, yes, she did stage direction for us, you know.

I mean, it's great when you have somebody of that caliber doing stage direction for you, you know.

michael: My goodness, so that was close to being a stage production almost, I mean.

Dea: It looked very polished, didn't it?

Yeah, and they had just met that night so.

michael: And so to win a prize, there's nothing better than getting that little reinforcement, you know.

Because when you, I understand you put something together, it's your art, it's your creation, you're just not sure, you know how it's gonna be accepted there, how it'll turn out, but it's great to get that feedback, like that.

Dea: And I won some money too.

So I'm a paid writer, it's official.

michael: You are a paid playwright.

I love it, this is awesome.

So we gotta find a stage, we have to find a theater for this piece.

Dea: It's gonna happen, it's gonna happen.

It's gonna happen, yeah.

We're gonna make sure.

michael: It does surprise me how everybody has responded to this piece or the response to this piece because it's not a serious piece, you know, it's fluff, but it just seems to make people smile and it just seems to make people remember when they were young or their first crush, and that puts a smile on your face, so yeah.

michael: And that is why theater matters.

Dea: It does, isn't it?

michael: Right there, and so there's another piece you've completed, "In Sickness and In Health."

Dea: Yeah, I had a reading on that piece in June.

michael: Okay, that was at the-- Dea: That was at the Ann Theater, yeah, and that was in conjunction with a playwrights project.

michael: Okay, and this one just happens to be based on perhaps true to life ideas.

Dea: Not according to my husband.

No, no, he wants to make sure that everybody knows that the husband character is not him, so no.

michael: So now you gotta tell us a little bit about this play, "In Sickness and In Health."

Dea: Well, you know, that's part of the marriage vows right?

And I'm actually writing pieces for each of the marriage vows like that, you know, in richer and poor, that type of thing, so this one is in sickness and in health and it deals with a couple that's been together for many, many years, and they're just dealing with aging and the little problems that come up as you age, and they deal with it with a lot of humor and I'm gonna--I would say they deal with it with humor and sex, but there's probably more talking about sex than there is actual sex, okay.

But they're a lovely couple and they say things to each other that are quite humorous but they don't mean them to be humorous or funny, and I think that's the beauty of them.

michael: I do understand it's very difficult.

It's a challenge to be funny in writing.

And you just pull it off masterfully.

Dea: I do not write to be funny though.

I don't write jokes, I don't try to be funny when I write.

It just turns out that these characters are humorous people, yeah.

michael: Maybe there's a lesson here, perhaps life isn't to be taken so serious, perhaps.

Dea: I think that in hard times if you can find humor, you've won half the battle, right?

Yeah, because times are hard, times things do get difficult and it's a constant in life, right?

So I remember my father saying it's not what happens to you, it's how you deal with it right?

So, I think that this couple deals with it in a very healthy way.

Although it may not seem like it on the surface, but they do, yeah.

michael: Well, so I understand that you've come full circle and you've realized just how important writing was, I was wondering if you could elaborate on that just a bit.

Dea: I started writing again, because in 2007 I had a very bad accident.

It caused me to have some severe problems.

I could no longer retain information when I read.

I had a difficult time comprehending information that I read and that was very difficult for me because I love to read, and not being able to do it or remember what I read, boy, it was hard, it was very, very difficult, but I found out that I could write.

And I had been a writer when I was younger, but then after marriage and kids and you know, you stop doing that, and so I decided that I would just start writing because I could remember what--if I read what I wrote, I could remember it.

And that just kind of opened up a door for me because those next three years were extremely difficult.

This was a way to bring joy into my life and I found out that I really liked what I was writing, and then when I started to show other people, they did too, and that really helped me create a new life for for myself because I could not and would not have the same life I had before the accident, but I have a different life now, but it's good, it's great, and the writing helped me to create this new life I have.

michael: Wow, that is wonderful, and we're gonna be the beneficiaries of this.

It's so lovely and I just, I really am excited, I can't wait to see this on stage.

So, I really wanna get to the main course here, this is quite a lovely setup they put in front of us and we're gonna drink some champagne, and I wanna thank you so much for coming here to appear on "Theatre Corner."

With great excitement I'm waiting for Dea Hurston's pieces to hit the stage, I'm telling you right now, sister.

Dea: Thank you, thank you, thank you for doing this.

I mean, not just for me but what you're doing for San Diego and our theater community, this is fantastic, and I wish you much success on this, because it's great.

michael: Thank you so much, thank you so much.

Okay well, I think we have some quail eggs waiting for us right here, and thank you so much and good luck to you in a beautiful playwright career that you're launching, and I can't wait to see where it goes.

Cheers, all right, very good.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Kristianne Kurner: Here we are, in the midst of construction of the Dea Hurston New Village Arts Center.

It's a very exciting time right now, it's a very active site, behind me where we are putting all of the pieces together to be able to reopen our cultural gathering space in the heart of Carlsbad village.

It's been a really exciting process, to watch everything start to come together.

The box office walls are going up, the framing of the bar service area is in place, the restroom walls are happening, and we're getting ready to build out the education center.

So we have so many exciting things happening and we can't wait to reopen, be ready for everybody.

So the plan is to do our soft opening of the Dea Hurston New Village Arts Center in December of 2022.

We will reopen with Dea Hurston's fantastic holiday musical "1222 Oceanfront: A Black Family Christmas," and then we'll have the grand reopening with the sign and all of that is done in February of 2023, and join us here in the space.

You're gonna be welcome to do that, and we're gonna have so many more ways that the community can come in and have adventurous artistic experiences here at the Dea Hurston New Village Art Center.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Kristianne: You know, it's interesting because, traditionally, oftentimes when you're naming a building, you're naming it in honor of the person who gave the most money, and that is important.

We can't do what we do without funds.

We're still fundraising by the way, so feel free.

But when I was talking to our staff, and Ray and I were talking about what does that mean to have a name on your building?

What does that mean to the community?

What does that mean to the people around you?

And we thought, well, whose name should be on New Village Arts building?

And there was one person, there was one person who we knew right away that needed to have the name on this building, and that is Dea Hurston.

Not only is Dea an inspiring playwright, we will reopen the space with her "1222 Oceanfront: A Black Family Christmas."

We all know she's one of our favorite people in our lives, because you care so much about everybody that you come into contact with and you make everybody feel important and special and heard, and that's such a gift.

So thank you, I'm not gonna cry.

She has served the arts in San Diego for over 30 years, often as the first and only Black woman in the room.

She made space for everyone after her.

And I think in the San Diego theater community, we've taken that for advantage for far too long because we're so used to Dea being there for everything, and it was hard.

The work you did was hard, but the space that you made for everybody else to come after you is huge, and it will continue because of the work that you're doing.

Dea: Yeah, I'm just trying not to ugly cry right now, 'cause I don't know how to pretty cry, so.

Also, I don't really have a speech because the mayor took my speech.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for that.

No, I wrote three speeches and none of them were right, and I Googled what's a proper speech to give when a building is named in your honor.

And Google said, "I don't know."

It is overwhelming to be honored for the work that I've done as a volunteer.

This is about my 35 years of volunteering in this community, not my career as a teacher or the other million jobs that I had, but this is about my volunteerism in this community, and it's not always what we do that earns money that is valuable to someone else.

If we don't have money, if we have time and if we have talent and if we can make things happen, there's great value in that.

Volunteerism can change things, and volunteers with a vision can really make things happen.

So thank you so much for, honoring my unpaid service to this community.

It's so exciting to think about what this building will be and who will come to this building, that artists will meet here, they'll create here, they'll be able to see a show here, take a class here, hear a lecture here, see visual and performing arts, it will be welcome to everyone.

And that is something that wasn't open to me as a child, and that's kind of what started my journey.

But it's gonna be a great place for the community, and it is going to be the community, and I'm so excited about this building and I'm so excited about KK's vision and so I just really like to thank her for everything.

Again, thank you everyone, KK said, "Yeah, Dea, it's gonna be small.

There'll be about 20 people here.

Don't worry about it."

So it's so fun to see all of you, I think I know just about everybody.

Thank you, and I can't wait to see you in December when we open back up and KK is buying the drinks, yay!

Kristianne: A lot of these groundbreakings, they take a shovel and pretend to be shoveling up the dirt.

We're not gonna do that, we're gonna take a sledgehammer.

And we're going to celebrate releasing the old and bringing in the new.

Dea: One, two, three.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Dea: Oh, look at that.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Dea: One, two, three.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Dea: Okay, let's do that again.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ announcer: Support for this program comes from the KPBS Explore local Content Fund, supporting new ideas and programs for San Diego.