Michael Taylor: "Theatre Corner" is brought to you by California Center for the Arts, Escondido; University of Cincinnati, Helen Weinberger Center for Drama and Playwriting; Del Cerro Tax; Backlot Pictures; The Mental Bar; and viewers like you, thank you.

male announcer: Please welcome to the stage your host of "Theatre Corner," Michael Taylor.

♪♪♪ Michael: Welcome to "Theater Corner," I'm your host Michael Taylor.

"Theatre Corner" is an interview series dedicated to promoting diversity and inclusion throughout the national theatre scene.

Tonight we're filming in front of a live audience made up of theatre students at the California Center for the Arts in Escondido, California.

So, silence your cell phones, folks.

You're entering "Theater Corner."

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Michael: Our first guest is the executive artistic director of the Common Ground Theatre, Yolanda Franklin.

Let's welcome her to the stage.

Yolanda Franklin: Hi, everybody.

♪♪♪ Michael: Tell us about Common Ground Theatre, 'cause that's a unique theater.

Yolanda: Yes, actually, actually, Common Ground Theatre is one of the longest-running Black theatre companies in the United States of America.

Common Ground Theatre was founded back in 1964.

There wasn't any place like this that was telling our stories, and so it was founded for that purpose.

It was founded by Black people, for Black people, about Black people's stories, but it doesn't stop there.

Just because we're a Black theatre company doesn't mean that we stop there.

We are all-inclusive, meaning Black people are in the world with other nationalities.

So in our storytelling, that's what you'll see.

Michael: Talk about the biggest challenges of being a small theatre company, especially in San Diego.

I mean, you know, you're not in Atlanta.

Yolanda: Right, right, right.

Well, that's the challenge, Michael.

The challenge is your voice, being able to get in there with the big voice and not think about that, but just letting your light shine.

So the challenge is how do we function when we don't have all the money that everybody else has?

And even for the production that we did, "Sense of Love," bringing a show about Black love, where the whole cast is Black.

The leading actors are not playing a criminal or a maid, but they're actually in very affluent positions in life and marketing that and having people come out to see it.

But the challenge is, I guess, would be funding.

It would be funding and challenges are an opportunity, a lesson to find out what I have in front of me and then to do something about it.

So what we're doing is collaborating with other people, folks.

We won't rest on the quality.

We'll just-- we'll find it.

We'll find it.

We're very resourceful.

Michael: So you won the Craig Noel Critics Award, actually twice, but one is a production that I attended and I was just blown away because it was heavy but, you know, at the same time lifting was "The Ballad of Emmett Till."

Yolanda: Yes.

Michael: And at a theatre that's no longer there, but what was that?

Tell me what that meant for you to get an award for that particular piece.

Yolanda: It meant that our stories matter and people wanna know about our stories.

I'm an advocate for the unheard, the unseen, the person that--the underdog, right?

But I wanna tell stories and I don't want to beat people over the head.

What I wanna show them is that we're all alike, and maybe we've gone through different things, but that particular story, "The Ballad of Emmett Till," to educate people about--a lot of people don't know the story about Emmett Till and how he was this young 12-year-old kid, African American, out of Chicago, and he went down to Mobile, Alabama, to visit some family.

And although his mother warned him about what could happen, and gave him some pointers on not looking people in the eye because that--at that time, you know, it was very racist.

And all he did was he went into a store and whistled at a lady, or he did a whistle, which is very controversial, but they later found him at his uncle's house and they took him out and they killed him.

They slaughtered him, and that started a movement.

He was the person that started the Civil Rights movement back then.

That happened before Rosa Parks.

It started an outrage or just this energy of "that's enough."

It's important to me-- not the war, the war was wonderful because we went up against La Jolla Playhouse, Old Globe.

The war was nice, but it was just that it was acknowledged and recognized and the work for the work, that's what was important to me.

Michael: Let's talk a little bit about the craft.

In my mind, I understand a director's task is to take the vision of the writer and come up with a product that it's as close as possible to that writing.

So how do you approach a project as a director?

Yolanda: It depends on if the playwright is alive or not.

Michael: Okay, yeah.

Yolanda: What I will do, I tell my actors that the script is our Bible.

You know, every word in it, we honor every word.

And I know a lot of directors-- there's some directors who don't look at stage directions, but we do, we do because right now I'm doing-- I'm getting ready to do "The Colored Museum," which is a satire by George C. Wolfe.

And what we do is we go to the table first and we get everyone on the same page, and I bring in a dramaturge.

I bring in a dramaturge who's going to tell me about the history of the piece.

She'll inform my designers of the dress or the mood of the piece and inform me.

I can go in and look at something, but what a dramaturge does is she goes deeper.

Michael: Let's talk about the craft of the actor 'cause you're an actor as well.

Yolanda: Yes.

Michael: And I understand that what you're trying to do as an actor is to achieve a certain level of authenticity, you know, to the point where an audience is watching a play or a film, and they forget that there's an actor, you know, and they're watching a character.

That's talented actor from what I understand.

So, and it requires that one get the actor out of the way.

The actor himself needs to get himself out of the way.

So what's your approach?

Yolanda: Not to judge the character that I'm playing, first and foremost, to find a reason why, to say yes to what they're doing.

I'll give you an example.

I played "Night Mother" with M. Lathy Thompson.

And in that play, I had to kill myself at the end, and I had to inform my mother that I was going to do so by the end of the day, and that I had prepared everything for her.

And I thought, "Oh my gosh, I would never do that.

I would never do that."

I guess what happened for me, I thought, is there a time-- not where I'd wanna kill myself-- but I'd just be so fed up with something that this one thing would be my escape and I have to be happy about that one thing being an escape, and that's how I work it through.

But then at the end, Michael, I will tell you this.

When you get so wrapped up into something, a role, you have to take that thing off.

Michael: Right, right.

Yolanda: Right?

Michael: What advice would you give your 18-year-old self?

Yolanda: Mm, go bigger.

Go bigger.

In life sometimes when you're young, you feel like you have all of these insecurities, and then when you get older, you're wiser.

Sometimes it's the reverse.

Sometimes you're so--you feel like you can do anything.

And that's how I was 18 and in my 20s.

I felt like, oh, if I wanted something, I just went after it and I got it and I did it, and that's how I was.

But I'd say right now, go bigger, go bigger.

Go bigger at what you want because I was playing small-- too small.

And the last thing I would say, at any age, is choose, 'cause we choose everything in life.

We do.

There's a choice.

There's a choice to lay in the bed, there's a choice to get up, there's a choice to go after rolls.

There's a choice to be angry, there's a choice to wipe that off, there's a choice to stand up for yourself, there's a choice to shy away, there's a choice to fight.

Choose, choose what you want and then execute.

Go after it.

Michael: All right.

Yolanda Franklin has spoken.

Thank you so much for coming to "Theatre Corner."

Yolanda: Thank you, Michael.

Michael: I appreciate you.

I appreciate your talent.

Looking forward to the next play.

You know, I'll be there and-- Yolanda: Okay, and I thank you, Michael, I appreciate you.

We really do.

You creating the space for this is so important in the community-- and it really is, and that you take the time, that you take the time and invite us all up here to be on the-- share the stage with you.

Michael: Very nice.

I appreciate that.

All right, Yolanda Franklin, appreciate you.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Our next guest is Louis Brown III, and he is an American producer.

Put your hands together for Louis Brown III.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ An American producer, tell me about some of the projects that you have produced.

Louis Brown III: Yeah, of course.

So I have one my--actually, my first network producing job was this show called "About Last Night" on HBO, which actually was a reboot of the popular game show "Tattletales."

And they rebooted it, but then ended up renaming it to "About Last Night," but I did that one.

I have a project that I produced that was written and developed as a series but then it was-- but purchased--acquired as a feature, so we have to take the footage that we filmed as a series and re-edit it into a feature and it was acquired as a feature.

So that one will actually be coming out later this year, and that's called "Forbidden Fruit."

I did a show for A&E called "Shipping Wars," which was a very interesting project because we are--I'm--at this time, I'm in Austin, Texas, I get out to Austin and we are based in Austin, but the show is filming nationwide, and so that was definitely a struggle.

Usually, it's--you know, everyone's on set and we're on this schedule, on this time zone and so imagine, you know, having a 9 o'clock call with somebody in New York and, you know, or--just the different time zones or someone in LA and I'm two hours ahead and just trying to coordinate all of that.

Also did--also have this project that I did with Facebook Watch, with Taraji P. Henson called "Peace of Mind with Taraji."

And I was very proud of that show because it spoke on mental health, particularly in the Black community, which is something that prior, you know, it really was not spoken about.

And you know, if you have a problem, you just kind of sweep it under the rug or keep it in the family, but to publicly discuss it or even to privately see a therapist or, you know, a counselor, that was--you were deemed as, like, crazy or something if you went to see a therapist.

And so to kind of go from that dynamic to now having a show with such a huge star attached to it and to be able to speak on some of those things.

So we were able to bring different guests on different therapists, psychologists, people, you know, dealing with grief, depression, anxiety, just all different types of mental health issues, and we were able to talk about a lot of those issues.

So that's a project that I think I'm most proud of in terms of the things that I've worked on, simply because it was quite frankly of all the projects that I've worked on was the one that actually had the goal of helping people, and so--more so than just being entertainment.

And so, yeah, those are some of the few that I'm proud of for sure.

Michael: Let's take a look of that "About Last Night."

Louis: Yeah, of course.

Ayesha Curry: I'm Ayesha Curry.

Stephen Curry: And I'm Stephen Curry.

Ayesha: And this is "About Last Night."

male: Oh, I told y'all we're coming to win it.

Stephen: So an amazing night full of competition and getting to know each other a little bit better.

male: This is couples therapy.

This is not a game show.

Stephen: We gonna learn a lot today.

Ayesha: If you had a warning label attached to you, what would it most likely say?

female: He always has an erection.

male: Josh, why don't you stand up?

Ayesha: There's a new show, "The Mass Stripper," who's more likely to win?

male: Me 'cause I used to be a stripper.

female: He'll tight and right.

male: Oh, dang.

male: I regret my answer.

Ayesha: Show us your final show-stopping mood.

female: I knew you wore a-- female: I feel like we're winning, but we're losing at the same time.

Stephen: Come on now.

male: Who walks around naked more?

Stephen: Where am I at when you're walking around naked?

Stephen: Yeah, that was exciting.

Michael: Exciting.

Stephen: Yeah, we had a lot of fun on that set.

We shot that at the H.Club in Hollywood.

And I remember when I first got the call from one of my mentors who was an executive on the show, he brought me onto it as one of his producers, and it was my first network producing job.

You know, I had produced independently before, but it's with my friends and things like that.

So to now be in a position where I'm actually been, you know, seen and taken seriously as a producer was definitely a big deal for me.

But yeah, that was a lot of fun, man.

That was a lot of fun.

We had a great time on that show.

Michael: And I know Hollywood's a bit funky in a lot of ways.

How have you found, you know, easy or difficult to navigate all of that as a Black man in Hollywood, as a producer?

Stephen: Yeah, it's been a challenge for sure.

I think the biggest things for me is having such a solid foundation, such a solid home foundation, and you know, just kind of the way that I was raised and, you know, the work that my mom and dad put into, you know, making sure that my morals were solid, also just finding a tribe once I got out here.

They essentially became my family away from home.

You know, I'm born in Texas, grew up in Seattle, Washington, and so most of my family are still in one of those two states.

And so coming out here, I have a few, like, cousins and uncles and things like that, but in terms of the core family, none of that is here.

So I definitely--it was definitely important for me to find a group of people who I love and trust and who keeps me grounded and, you know, we're able to hold each other accountable.

There's really this iron sharpens iron thing with our group, and so it really motivates us to just keep going and to stay grounded and humble.

But even just, like, navigating the industry itself, also just having mentors that I trust and who have been phenomenal mentors to me and, you know, just being able to give me advice whenever I needed it or, you know, not necessarily telling me what to do, but just giving me advice and letting me make my own decisions and, you know, "Hey, maybe you should think--" I think that's what it is, giving me a different perspective on things that I may have thought I had figured out.

And it's like, "From my experience, you know, this could happen, maybe think about this."

And I think that that definitely has been, you know, such a foundation for me when it comes to just navigating the industry, trying to figure out what crap to avoid and, you know, all of that.

It definitely helps having that support system 'cause it definitely can become a lot, especially when so much rests on your shoulders.

Michael: As a producer, are you able to affect the diversity on a project?

Stephen: Oh, yeah.

I mean, it really starts behind the camera.

You know, I think the-- especially, as a producer usually-- you know, obviously, you'll have a say so on, like, who your talent is, but it really starts-- you do your crew, you build your crew up before anything else.

And so it really helps having diversity there as well, and then of course, with your talent, it's really how characters are written.

Obviously, if you're doing a scripted show, it's really just building your characters to be as dynamic and as diverse as possible.

If you have a situation where let's say you're doing a, like, a period piece and you have to have a room full of a particular race, obviously you can't really get around it that way.

And so at that point, it really does come down to the crew, like, how diverse is your crew?

Do you have women on your set?

Do you have--you know, it is just all of that.

It's just being intentional in making sure that not everyone is-- not only making sure that everyone is represented but that everyone is heard and appreciated as well.

I think that that's a really big-- I think the diversity doesn't stop at having people on set, is making sure that they feel included as well and that's a really big thing, especially for me.

Anybody who's ever worked on one of my sets knows like how big that is for me, not only for my cast but for my crew as well.

Michael: Let's take a question or two from the audience.

male: So you mentioned a series that you produce that ended up getting interest and you turned it into a feature.

So I was just wondering, like, how does it feel to have something that you're passionate about, like, that you see one way and have to switch it in order to please, you know, a network or someone who's gonna put more money and more, I don't know, I guess, clout behind you?

Stephen: It's tough.

I won't lie.

It is tough, especially when something is your baby, like, when you have invested so much time and energy into this one thing and I think any artist can attest, like, when it's your work, you're super sensitive about it.

And so it was--it wasn't the easiest decision to make, but it also was not a hard decision to make at this-- like, I don't know if I'm explaining that right.

It was not an easy call, but it was the most obvious call.

And for me it was-- I've--of course, I've produced a crap ton of shows at this point, but-- well, I've worked on a crap ton of shows, but it-- this particular project was the first one where it was something that I wrote and created myself.

Usually, if I'm hired as a producer, it's for a network or for a studio or for a production company and they're bringing me on as a producer.

So it's a little bit different when it's something that you spent days and weeks and months and literally years writing and working on.

And before we had the meeting with Paramount, it was for us.

We already had that conversation like, "What if they want it as a feature?"

Like, is this something that we're willing to do, and this was hours of conversation and trying to figure out, like, if this is something that we're gonna be okay with.

And ultimately we decided, you know, if that's the route that they want to go, then we'll go that route.

Have the meeting that's set, like, later that day and that was the exact question they asked.

And we were, like, we knew it was coming, and so we at least had an opportunity to prepare ourselves for it a little bit.

Yeah, wasn't the easiest choice to make just because we saw so much of the vision as a series, and even, of course, how we wrote it with the finale episode.

There was, you know, cliff hangers and things to entice people to come back for the second season that we now have to figure out how to make work as a feature.

So we had the initial meeting, they said, you know, "Can you guys give us a feature?"

We said, "Yeah."

They said, "How soon can you get us a feature?"

We said, "Give us two months, we'll--" 'cause everything at that point was already edited into episodes.

We already had the episodes edited, like, you know, and so at that point, we then had to go back and re-edit everything into a feature.

But then that required us to restructure, you know, the story and take some scenes out which some scenes that we took out were some of my favorite scenes, but it just didn't make sense in the feature.

And so, you know, I definitely had to--we're married to ideas.

I have to divorce some of those ideas in order to make it work.

But ultimately I'm--you know, I couldn't be prouder at how it turned out, and you know, there's always that level of-- there's always that level of "eh," but I think by the time we saw the final film, I was like, "Oh yeah, that's it right there."

So yeah, I'm excited about it.

male: Yeah, thank you.

Michael: Well, thank you, brother.

Stephen: Of course.

Thank you.

Michael: I wish you much continued success and thank you so much for hanging out with a brother at "Theater Corner."

Stephen: Yes, sir.

It's been a pleasure.

Michael: All right, I wanna pay attention and look at your projects that's coming up soon.

Stephen: Of course.

All right.

[audience applauding] Michael: Thank you for joining us for another episode of "Theater Corner" and we'll see you next time.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ female announcer: Support for this program comes from KPBS Explore Local Content fund, supporting new ideas and programs for San Diego.

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