DIRECTOR'S CUT WITH BYRON C. SAUNDERS
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
Transcript
Greetings and welcome to Conversations on Aging season two.
2
:I'm your host, Kimberly
Gunn with Zoom Catchers.
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: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
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:artists, writers, and actors to
share their aging journeys with us.
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:Today, we're talking with Byron C.
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: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
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:as an independent arts management
consultant, helping artists and
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:arts organizations with grants,
administration, and fund development.
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:Speaker 10: Byron has recently directed
Elders Igniting, Many More Stories
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:to Tell, a ZoomCatchers production,
which is three plays of some of
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:Atlanta's renowned senior playwrights.
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:Miron has served on many Arts
Councils, including the National
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: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
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: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.
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:And then of course, back in the
fifties, if you had a television,
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:it was usually black and white.
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: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
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: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,
since:
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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
derstand here's more drama in:
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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
moment to now, that was:
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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,
in:
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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
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: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
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: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
377
: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,
381
: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.
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:Speaker 8: Okay.
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: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
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:theater, have the communication, people
majoring in communication, film it.
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:We never got to that stage, but when I
graduated from Hampton in 73, I went to
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:BET that was then located in Virginia, and
I pitched It's a Bet for BET television.
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:What they told me was, we don't have the
funds to do local originating program.
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: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
of:
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
to go in::
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
In the United States in: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
in::
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
in: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
st,::
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.
:
01:18:39,932 --> 01:18:44,182
I do want to ask you, now that you have
several decades of experience underneath
:
01:18:44,182 --> 01:18:47,762
you, what would you, what would your
older self tell your younger self?
:
01:18:47,762 --> 01:18:49,120
If you could do that?
:
01:18:49,372 --> 01:18:49,882
Speaker 8: Okay.
:
01:18:49,932 --> 01:18:51,102
I tell it like this.
:
01:18:51,932 --> 01:18:52,802
I have two boys.
:
01:18:54,507 --> 01:19:04,087
When they were coming of age, let's say
10, 12, every year, and it wasn't easy
:
01:19:04,357 --> 01:19:10,487
raising them because their mother and I
fell out of what happens in marriages.
:
01:19:11,037 --> 01:19:14,347
But we raised and put all
of our love into our sons.
:
01:19:15,527 --> 01:19:20,627
And I told him that each year, I said,
if you just stay on the track that
:
01:19:20,627 --> 01:19:25,477
you are right now, and this is them
understanding who I am, and as their
:
01:19:25,477 --> 01:19:29,847
father, having had and continuing
to have a very successful career.
:
01:19:30,402 --> 01:19:34,252
In the arts and everything that I've
done, they've been a witness and I made
:
01:19:34,252 --> 01:19:40,142
sure that they were with me along each
one of those steps on the ladder so that
:
01:19:40,142 --> 01:19:44,312
they can understand it's theirs to have
and to they could do the same things.
:
01:19:44,312 --> 01:19:49,242
And I said, but guess what, sons,
you're way past where I was at your age.
:
01:19:49,752 --> 01:19:52,752
And if you just stay on the track
that you are on right now, you
:
01:19:52,752 --> 01:19:58,002
will far exceed my expectations and
your own expectations of greatness.
:
01:19:58,462 --> 01:20:03,642
It's in you, but you have to
have the courage and the, to
:
01:20:03,652 --> 01:20:07,832
be honest with yourself about
your choice and your passion.
:
01:20:08,242 --> 01:20:10,912
And if you want, you
realize what it is you want.
:
01:20:11,537 --> 01:20:13,467
Like my son wants to be a pilot.
:
01:20:14,057 --> 01:20:18,407
He's building jet planes
for Gulfstream right now.
:
01:20:18,547 --> 01:20:24,007
He's a staff sergeant in the Air
Force National Reserve and he's been
:
01:20:24,017 --> 01:20:26,347
flying since he was 13 years old.
:
01:20:26,427 --> 01:20:28,007
He's got his certificate.
:
01:20:28,027 --> 01:20:31,317
He's been flying gliders and he
wants to be a commercial pilot.
:
01:20:31,787 --> 01:20:35,037
So he's about to start working
with Delta in a week or so.
:
01:20:36,127 --> 01:20:38,267
My youngest son is a chef.
:
01:20:38,267 --> 01:20:41,317
He is a private, personal,
and corporate chef.
:
01:20:41,392 --> 01:20:45,682
And he's been cooking since
he was eight, nine, and ten.
:
01:20:46,152 --> 01:20:49,972
his moniker is, he's known
as the Kitchen Magician.
:
01:20:50,432 --> 01:20:52,692
Brandon, the Kitchen Magician.
:
01:20:53,012 --> 01:20:58,712
So I'm, you know, this is what you have
to realize about your, not just yourself,
:
01:20:58,912 --> 01:21:04,302
but if you're going to be the best you
that you can be, and if you have kids or
:
01:21:04,302 --> 01:21:10,852
you don't have kids, mentor somebody to
share and pass the baton of the best of
:
01:21:10,852 --> 01:21:16,172
you to be the best of them so they can
be a better person and a better world.
:
01:21:16,412 --> 01:21:20,002
That's how we're going to be able to
overcome all the isms that are out there.
:
01:21:20,062 --> 01:21:20,842
Speaker 7: Absolutely.
:
01:21:21,022 --> 01:21:22,192
Thank you so much for that.
:
01:21:22,972 --> 01:21:24,932
We're getting to the bottom
of this conversation.
:
01:21:24,942 --> 01:21:26,322
Really appreciate you being on.
:
01:21:26,802 --> 01:21:31,522
I do want to ask you though, just to
continue with the topic of, pro aging.
:
01:21:31,732 --> 01:21:34,862
Content because I think the elders
igniting was pro aging content.
:
01:21:35,142 --> 01:21:39,652
What do you see is the Trends for that and
what type of advice would you have for?
:
01:21:39,972 --> 01:21:44,862
producers and other people in the field as
far as producing more content in that vein
:
01:21:46,154 --> 01:21:49,604
Speaker 8: First and foremost
don't be afraid to tell a
:
01:21:49,604 --> 01:21:51,454
story that hasn't been told.
:
01:21:52,644 --> 01:21:55,674
You see, it's interesting to
me as a producer, how many
:
01:21:55,714 --> 01:21:57,294
Superfly stories have we seen?
:
01:21:58,614 --> 01:22:00,734
How many Godfather stories have we seen?
:
01:22:02,443 --> 01:22:09,574
How many stories of fantasy
from an African American
:
01:22:09,574 --> 01:22:10,943
perspective have you seen?
:
01:22:13,564 --> 01:22:17,924
I'm asking that question because
as part of the diaspora, if
:
01:22:17,924 --> 01:22:23,514
you're remaking somebody else's
story, it's really not your story.
:
01:22:24,324 --> 01:22:28,424
It is if you make it your part of
your story, but the creative part
:
01:22:28,454 --> 01:22:31,494
of the imagination, the greatest
nation in the world is right here.
:
01:22:32,154 --> 01:22:35,824
The imagination, not the one
with all the superpowers.
:
01:22:36,064 --> 01:22:38,794
We're talking about what's
up here, what's in here, your
:
01:22:38,804 --> 01:22:41,164
heart, your spirit, your soul.
:
01:22:41,693 --> 01:22:45,914
And if you really want
to make sure your story.
:
01:22:46,094 --> 01:22:51,384
And our story, the village that you
come from's story is put into the
:
01:22:51,443 --> 01:22:56,014
perspective of the universe that it
was supposed to be, then you are,
:
01:22:56,273 --> 01:22:58,314
the one who has to, develop it.
:
01:22:58,454 --> 01:22:59,704
Now that's as a producer.
:
01:22:59,934 --> 01:23:02,154
As a writer, tell the truth.
:
01:23:03,504 --> 01:23:06,434
Even if you're the
producer, produce the truth.
:
01:23:07,454 --> 01:23:13,284
But if you're the writer, tell the
story from the perspective of truth.
:
01:23:14,864 --> 01:23:17,644
My father used to say there's
three sides to every story.
:
01:23:17,724 --> 01:23:20,023
Your side, my side, and the truth.
:
01:23:21,604 --> 01:23:22,204
Tell the truth.
:
01:23:22,954 --> 01:23:26,314
As an actor, then be on stage.
:
01:23:26,374 --> 01:23:30,773
Don't fake the funk, because
everybody's sitting there watching you.
:
01:23:31,004 --> 01:23:32,254
See those seats out there?
:
01:23:32,404 --> 01:23:33,954
See those seats up in the balcony?
:
01:23:34,389 --> 01:23:38,459
They're watching you on stage, and
it may be only you that catches their
:
01:23:38,479 --> 01:23:43,309
eye, and if you're not being true
to the character on the stage that's
:
01:23:43,648 --> 01:23:48,169
in front of them, where we are, they
will know that you're faking it.
:
01:23:49,249 --> 01:23:53,339
You have much more, obligation
to bring the story's truth to
:
01:23:53,349 --> 01:23:57,419
life by being the truth, and if
you're doing that, Guess what?
:
01:23:57,479 --> 01:24:02,068
It won't matter if you win the academy
or the OB or the Tony or whatever
:
01:24:02,068 --> 01:24:04,889
award that's there because the award is
:
01:24:08,409 --> 01:24:10,898
at the end and the standing ovation.
:
01:24:11,189 --> 01:24:12,359
That's your reward.
:
01:24:12,449 --> 01:24:13,229
And guess what?
:
01:24:13,349 --> 01:24:15,509
You only got one day to
celebrate that victory.
:
01:24:15,509 --> 01:24:18,029
'cause the next day you gotta
be even better than the what
:
01:24:18,029 --> 01:24:19,379
day that you were before.
:
01:24:19,446 --> 01:24:25,136
And if you bring that to the stage as a
producer, actor, director, stage manager.
:
01:24:25,356 --> 01:24:31,066
Costumer, set designer, set builder,
light design, and get, and yeah, get,
:
01:24:31,126 --> 01:24:35,636
I think even AI designer because we
got a lot of stuff on AI right now.
:
01:24:35,925 --> 01:24:38,876
You will realize that it's
still about telling the truth.
:
01:24:39,675 --> 01:24:40,416
Absolutely.
:
01:24:41,175 --> 01:24:45,230
Speaker 7: And then to continue to
talk about truth and, uh, because I
:
01:24:45,230 --> 01:24:47,970
know there's still a lot of seniors
out there that are in the arts,
:
01:24:47,980 --> 01:24:50,830
you know, Many people you know, on
that edge of, should I keep going?
:
01:24:50,830 --> 01:24:51,740
Should I retire?
:
01:24:51,843 --> 01:24:54,473
What advice would you have
for, specifically for seniors
:
01:24:54,473 --> 01:24:55,403
that are still in the arts?
:
01:24:56,113 --> 01:24:59,223
Speaker 8: The seniors that are
still in the arts, the most powerful
:
01:24:59,233 --> 01:25:01,473
weapon in the universe, is love.
:
01:25:02,473 --> 01:25:07,702
We came in with love, and
hopefully you exit with love.
:
01:25:08,393 --> 01:25:11,313
You're being a part of the bigger picture.
:
01:25:11,513 --> 01:25:12,963
You are not the picture.
:
01:25:13,083 --> 01:25:13,753
Okay.
:
01:25:13,952 --> 01:25:17,773
It's not your picture alone And believe
me when you really begin to realize
:
01:25:17,773 --> 01:25:22,393
that as a senior Because you get respect
you give respect and your family will
:
01:25:22,393 --> 01:25:29,577
respect you even more because when
they seek truth and wisdom, they don't
:
01:25:29,577 --> 01:25:34,918
ever go to a baby and say, can you
tell me how to cure what's ailing me?
:
01:25:35,378 --> 01:25:40,998
They go to a person who's lived a life,
someone whose experiences are able to
:
01:25:40,998 --> 01:25:49,098
share with you where the pitfalls are
so that when you do find yourself in a
:
01:25:49,108 --> 01:25:53,288
stumbling block and trying to overcome
it, you're probably able to leap over
:
01:25:53,288 --> 01:25:58,088
it, walk behind it, and kick it off the
side of the road so somebody else won't
:
01:25:58,128 --> 01:26:00,008
fall into the same pit that you did.
:
01:26:00,438 --> 01:26:01,548
So is that your advice to
:
01:26:01,548 --> 01:26:05,461
Speaker 7: the seniors who
are continuing the arts?
:
01:26:05,461 --> 01:26:09,558
Speaker 8: Continuing the arts
because you're not, they shoot
:
01:26:09,568 --> 01:26:11,378
horses, but they don't shoot actors.
:
01:26:11,998 --> 01:26:13,008
You know where actors go?
:
01:26:13,443 --> 01:26:14,503
We do commercials.
:
01:26:14,503 --> 01:26:16,333
Speaker 7: golf courses and
:
01:26:16,333 --> 01:26:20,663
Speaker 8: golf courses and medications
and even you can get paid in New York.
:
01:26:20,813 --> 01:26:25,503
You could get paid in New York
health care privileges by sharing
:
01:26:25,513 --> 01:26:29,202
your art with their patients.
:
01:26:30,413 --> 01:26:31,263
Imagine that.
:
01:26:32,032 --> 01:26:35,253
You're paying all this out of your
pocket for health care, but you can get
:
01:26:35,253 --> 01:26:40,943
health care in a specific system that
says, if you come and read to these
:
01:26:40,943 --> 01:26:45,653
young kids in the pediatrics ward,
we will trade some health care for
:
01:26:45,653 --> 01:26:48,993
your being able to be a part of this.
:
01:26:49,883 --> 01:26:52,233
Speaker 7: So you hear that all
the actors, is this New York?
:
01:26:52,233 --> 01:26:52,713
You said all that.
:
01:26:52,782 --> 01:26:53,233
Speaker 8: York.
:
01:26:53,343 --> 01:26:58,083
This is literally because at
the point of which there are 8.
:
01:26:58,083 --> 01:27:00,113
5 million people in New
York City, guess what?
:
01:27:00,113 --> 01:27:02,133
There are 8 million of them are actors.
:
01:27:02,663 --> 01:27:04,713
And they're all trying to do
the same thing you're doing.
:
01:27:04,893 --> 01:27:10,753
and the reality is, is that if you are
able to still give to your community.
:
01:27:10,963 --> 01:27:11,393
Guess what?
:
01:27:11,393 --> 01:27:18,952
Your community can give back to you to
appreciate your being wise, for being
:
01:27:18,952 --> 01:27:25,873
able to share and mentor, keeping people
out of the hospital who unfortunately
:
01:27:25,983 --> 01:27:28,223
have made bad health choices.
:
01:27:28,713 --> 01:27:29,213
Or had an
:
01:27:29,357 --> 01:27:30,183
Speaker 7: accident or something.
:
01:27:30,233 --> 01:27:31,443
Speaker 8: had an accident.
:
01:27:31,513 --> 01:27:32,153
That's right.
:
01:27:32,623 --> 01:27:38,613
So, I mean, you, in some ways, If
you're a blessing, be a blessing.
:
01:27:39,873 --> 01:27:41,003
Give somebody a blessing.
:
01:27:42,032 --> 01:27:45,113
Make sure that they, and don't
look for the pat on the back.
:
01:27:46,883 --> 01:27:47,943
That's not why you know, and the
:
01:27:47,943 --> 01:27:49,853
Speaker 7: pat on the back is best
When it just naturally happens.
:
01:27:49,863 --> 01:27:50,403
Exactly.
:
01:27:50,403 --> 01:27:50,875
That's
:
01:27:50,875 --> 01:27:52,291
Speaker 8: been my experience.
:
01:27:52,291 --> 01:27:52,763
Exactly.
:
01:27:52,813 --> 01:27:53,103
Speaker 7: Great.
:
01:27:53,103 --> 01:27:55,923
Speaker 8: working for
the award, good luck.
:
01:27:56,282 --> 01:27:56,753
good luck.
:
01:27:56,763 --> 01:28:02,133
Because even after you receive the award,
it's like, after the success of what
:
01:28:02,133 --> 01:28:08,073
we just created in Atlanta, Two days
later, I got to realize, okay, I gotta,
:
01:28:08,633 --> 01:28:10,503
I gotta show in New York in three weeks.
:
01:28:10,503 --> 01:28:12,273
I gotta get myself ready for this.
:
01:28:12,323 --> 01:28:12,583
And that's
:
01:28:13,193 --> 01:28:15,833
Speaker 7: the perfect segue for
what's coming up next for Vine.
:
01:28:15,833 --> 01:28:18,393
I want to talk about the National Black
Theatre Festival and your next show.
:
01:28:18,803 --> 01:28:19,803
So what's coming up?
:
01:28:20,543 --> 01:28:21,193
Speaker 8: Oh my God.
:
01:28:21,413 --> 01:28:23,063
See, see what I'm saying?
:
01:28:23,103 --> 01:28:26,563
It's like, just when you thought you
could sit back and relax, forget that.
:
01:28:26,833 --> 01:28:29,113
Because the success only spreads.
:
01:28:29,548 --> 01:28:34,398
to the next level in which somebody
says, well, I'm living in Winston Salem.
:
01:28:34,718 --> 01:28:36,958
I'm working with the Frank
Silvera Writers Workshop.
:
01:28:37,148 --> 01:28:40,998
They are a critical part of the
44th anniversary of the Black,
:
01:28:41,438 --> 01:28:45,008
International Black Theater
Festival in which Garland Sr.
:
01:28:45,028 --> 01:28:49,238
created the opportunity that's
followed up by Garland Jr.
:
01:28:49,428 --> 01:28:52,648
to do a play reading
series at the festival.
:
01:28:52,788 --> 01:28:59,678
So I'm excited about the 50th anniversary
of the International Frank Silvera
:
01:28:59,678 --> 01:29:04,878
Writers Workshop to work with the 44th
anniversary of the International Black
:
01:29:04,898 --> 01:29:08,688
tre Festival in Winston Salem::
01:29:08,958 --> 01:29:13,848
Be there or be square because
this year is holy ground.
:
01:29:14,278 --> 01:29:19,888
This is what the International Black
Theatre Festival has defined itself,
:
01:29:20,128 --> 01:29:21,998
not just because it's international.
:
01:29:22,198 --> 01:29:24,538
And look at what the Frank
Silvera Writings Workshop has
:
01:29:24,538 --> 01:29:26,318
done for its 50th anniversary.
:
01:29:26,628 --> 01:29:34,833
Our selections of plays have been
About the global community, the plays
:
01:29:34,833 --> 01:29:41,053
themselves, the technology that's being
used, the green screen projections, that
:
01:29:41,063 --> 01:29:42,963
wonderful theater that I'm sitting in.
:
01:29:43,253 --> 01:29:44,713
Thank you wherever I am.
:
01:29:44,713 --> 01:29:46,043
I am ready for my close up.
:
01:29:46,383 --> 01:29:46,893
Are you ready
:
01:29:46,893 --> 01:29:47,393
Speaker 7: for your close up?
:
01:29:48,863 --> 01:29:49,293
Speaker 8: Yeah.
:
01:29:51,153 --> 01:29:55,363
But here's where this comes
in as truth and reality.
:
01:29:56,093 --> 01:29:57,223
Come to Winston Salem.
:
01:29:57,673 --> 01:30:00,523
Be a part of the
celebration of our culture.
:
01:30:01,233 --> 01:30:05,973
It is, as I said, they identified
Winston Salem as holy ground.
:
01:30:06,493 --> 01:30:10,813
Now, not every city can declare
themselves that, and that's most unusual.
:
01:30:10,813 --> 01:30:12,343
I was at the branding ceremony.
:
01:30:12,653 --> 01:30:17,793
for the International Black Theatre
Festival based because of the North
:
01:30:17,793 --> 01:30:22,733
Carolina Black Repertory Theatre Company,
which is the sponsor of the Black Theatre
:
01:30:22,733 --> 01:30:28,163
Festival, for which Frank Silver Writer's
Workshop is a partner in that festival.
:
01:30:28,433 --> 01:30:34,693
And so celebrating black theatre, not
just from the past, but its future.
:
01:30:34,952 --> 01:30:37,323
And that's what the workshop
is all about right now.
:
01:30:37,532 --> 01:30:42,663
Looking into the globe and
saying, Oh, tell me the future.
:
01:30:42,663 --> 01:30:46,093
Show me the bright lights
of wisdom and truth.
:
01:30:46,373 --> 01:30:49,202
And it's in what we're
doing like right now.
:
01:30:49,202 --> 01:30:51,503
Zoom catchers you don't
even have to do that.
:
01:30:51,513 --> 01:30:52,833
You can QR code it.
:
01:30:53,193 --> 01:31:00,282
Just go to the F F V F S W W dot org.
:
01:31:00,843 --> 01:31:01,623
And guess what?
:
01:31:01,863 --> 01:31:04,883
You're going to be led right to that
place where you can make that donation.
:
01:31:04,983 --> 01:31:05,713
Make it real.
:
01:31:06,443 --> 01:31:11,723
Please understand this is how we're going
to be able to keep our institutions alive.
:
01:31:12,193 --> 01:31:15,452
Keep it from being roadkill because
they don't want us to succeed.
:
01:31:15,713 --> 01:31:17,353
Make no mistake about it.
:
01:31:17,753 --> 01:31:20,683
Every theater company in this
country is using the, the, the money.
:
01:31:20,913 --> 01:31:24,353
Profile for which we helped
to establish and it works.
:
01:31:24,952 --> 01:31:27,653
So don't let them be the
only one that you support.
:
01:31:28,423 --> 01:31:28,933
Speaker 9: Continue
:
01:31:28,933 --> 01:31:30,952
Speaker 8: to support the
Frank Silvera Writers Workshop.
:
01:31:31,153 --> 01:31:33,793
Continue to support Garland Jr.
:
01:31:34,303 --> 01:31:39,973
and continue to support Kimberly Gunn
with Zoom Catchers because they're
:
01:31:39,973 --> 01:31:43,735
the ones who are helping to move
this ball forward where somebody
:
01:31:43,735 --> 01:31:49,318
like me who was a part of the engine
before is still a part of the engine.
:
01:31:49,318 --> 01:31:50,633
We're just retooling it.
:
01:31:51,173 --> 01:31:52,463
Thank you for taking the time.
:
01:31:52,493 --> 01:31:54,163
I saw you, you right there.
:
01:31:54,313 --> 01:31:56,633
Yes, you were the one who
just picked up that phone.
:
01:31:56,893 --> 01:32:02,250
I know you're on your computer
say the F s w w dot or links will
:
01:32:02,593 --> 01:32:03,553
Speaker 7: be in the description.
:
01:32:04,113 --> 01:32:05,960
Speaker 8: Of course it will be, You
:
01:32:05,960 --> 01:32:07,832
Speaker 7: got to
:
01:32:08,112 --> 01:32:09,612
Speaker 8: do it with
fun in your heart too.
:
01:32:09,892 --> 01:32:12,382
Passion is what you're going
to bring here, but you better
:
01:32:12,382 --> 01:32:14,112
enjoy what you're viewing.
:
01:32:14,332 --> 01:32:18,002
Because if you're not having fun
and you don't enjoy it, that's okay.
:
01:32:18,612 --> 01:32:20,192
Find something else that will.
:
01:32:20,282 --> 01:32:25,382
But I guarantee if you lock into this
and what Zoom Catchers is doing and
:
01:32:25,382 --> 01:32:30,432
what the Frank Silvera Writers Workshop
And all the other companies and good
:
01:32:30,432 --> 01:32:32,052
hearted people that are out there.
:
01:32:32,482 --> 01:32:34,512
There are more of us than the others.
:
01:32:34,902 --> 01:32:36,312
So let's get together.
:
01:32:36,541 --> 01:32:37,442
Let's do this.
:
01:32:37,602 --> 01:32:38,362
Speaker 7: Let's do it together.
:
01:32:38,372 --> 01:32:41,612
And remind me, what are the dates for
the National Black Theatre Festival?
:
01:32:41,612 --> 01:32:41,682
I
:
01:32:41,682 --> 01:32:43,822
Speaker 8: The last week of
July, first week of August.
:
01:32:44,142 --> 01:32:44,322
Great.
:
01:32:44,322 --> 01:32:45,362
It's all of one week.
:
01:32:45,902 --> 01:32:46,142
Speaker 7: Great,
:
01:32:46,192 --> 01:32:49,242
Speaker 8: There's a real Wakanda,
and it's called Wisdom Salem.
:
01:32:50,122 --> 01:32:50,822
Speaker 7: Get your tickets.
:
01:32:51,252 --> 01:32:51,922
Get there.
:
01:32:52,468 --> 01:32:56,468
This year, the Garland Senior Writers
Workshop, the series they'll be
:
01:32:56,468 --> 01:32:57,978
hosting, I think it's over 30 plays.
:
01:32:57,978 --> 01:33:00,488
So there'll be a lot of great
new works you can go check out.
:
01:33:00,548 --> 01:33:01,327
You can meet.
:
01:33:01,573 --> 01:33:02,383
Garland Jr.
:
01:33:02,383 --> 01:33:03,593
and Byron, they'll be there.
:
01:33:03,653 --> 01:33:04,743
Hopefully I'll be there too.
:
01:33:05,333 --> 01:33:06,050
You better be.
:
01:33:06,083 --> 01:33:06,693
I'll say that.
:
01:33:06,702 --> 01:33:08,313
We're getting to the bottom
of this conversation.
:
01:33:08,313 --> 01:33:11,743
But before we head out, I do want to ask
you just what you like to do for fun.
:
01:33:11,743 --> 01:33:12,723
I know you love to cook.
:
01:33:12,723 --> 01:33:15,083
I know that's something we've
got several things in common.
:
01:33:15,083 --> 01:33:16,133
tell us more about some.
:
01:33:16,378 --> 01:33:17,648
Things you like to do for fun.
:
01:33:18,327 --> 01:33:21,288
Speaker 8: Okay, I love sports.
:
01:33:21,948 --> 01:33:24,368
I try to play all the sports
I could possibly play.
:
01:33:24,878 --> 01:33:29,738
Football, I learned, was one of my
first sports that I learned how to
:
01:33:29,738 --> 01:33:32,978
play because my dad played football
in high school and a little bit
:
01:33:32,978 --> 01:33:34,758
in college, at Tennessee State.
:
01:33:35,093 --> 01:33:38,952
but, I was too small to match
the poundage and the weight of
:
01:33:38,952 --> 01:33:40,513
these guys for like 300 pounds.
:
01:33:40,513 --> 01:33:43,793
I'm still 135 at my,
at my fighting weight.
:
01:33:44,032 --> 01:33:44,532
Okay.
:
01:33:44,723 --> 01:33:45,823
so I do love sports.
:
01:33:45,823 --> 01:33:46,693
I love golf.
:
01:33:47,278 --> 01:33:52,248
Bowling, football, basketball, not so
much cause I couldn't shoot that well,
:
01:33:52,248 --> 01:33:54,118
but I love to play the game anyway.
:
01:33:54,407 --> 01:33:57,308
tennis, I wanted to hit it
over the net, over the fence.
:
01:33:57,318 --> 01:34:02,468
So I'm not so sure I'm ready for
pickleball, although my wife and
:
01:34:02,468 --> 01:34:06,688
I have a pickleball set and we
haven't tried that yet, but why not?
:
01:34:06,918 --> 01:34:07,368
What the heck?
:
01:34:08,978 --> 01:34:10,188
Speaker 7: So, you know.
:
01:34:10,388 --> 01:34:11,157
I know, I know it's trending.
:
01:34:11,648 --> 01:34:12,588
I haven't tried it either.
:
01:34:12,588 --> 01:34:13,758
It's trending, it's trending.
:
01:34:14,237 --> 01:34:14,808
But you
:
01:34:14,808 --> 01:34:16,358
Speaker 8: know, I do love to cook.
:
01:34:16,558 --> 01:34:17,648
I love good food.
:
01:34:17,768 --> 01:34:19,327
I love to dance.
:
01:34:19,628 --> 01:34:21,268
I love hand dancing.
:
01:34:21,268 --> 01:34:22,737
I love ballroom dancing.
:
01:34:22,758 --> 01:34:25,358
I love the art of the art.
:
01:34:25,698 --> 01:34:27,008
and then of course theater.
:
01:34:27,448 --> 01:34:30,428
That's my profession,
but I love a good story.
:
01:34:30,978 --> 01:34:36,428
I love to hear a good story woven
and told and given life on stage and
:
01:34:36,428 --> 01:34:38,598
screen and pictures and whatever.
:
01:34:38,888 --> 01:34:42,907
and then of course, The best job
I've ever had, the one that really
:
01:34:42,907 --> 01:34:47,368
is, the one that I love the most
is being a father to my two sons.
:
01:34:48,168 --> 01:34:48,188
Speaker 9: The
:
01:34:48,188 --> 01:34:51,827
Speaker 8: love that I, I've
been able to share with them
:
01:34:51,878 --> 01:34:53,907
and being a grandparent now.
:
01:34:54,298 --> 01:34:58,558
and watching them grow and
enjoying the beauty of life.
:
01:34:58,558 --> 01:35:03,538
And I love flowers, the God's
infinite beauty design in
:
01:35:03,538 --> 01:35:06,068
floral arrangements is just
:
01:35:07,168 --> 01:35:07,918
Speaker 7: remarkable.
:
01:35:08,398 --> 01:35:08,898
It is.
:
01:35:10,638 --> 01:35:11,358
so much for that.
:
01:35:11,358 --> 01:35:12,618
And we've been here with Byron C.
:
01:35:12,628 --> 01:35:13,077
Saunders.
:
01:35:13,157 --> 01:35:14,737
We've covered a lot of ground.
:
01:35:15,088 --> 01:35:20,418
Really appreciate you sharing your, your
life, your the details of your journey.
:
01:35:20,428 --> 01:35:23,732
It's been quite a long journey, quite
a storied journey that you've had.
:
01:35:23,732 --> 01:35:25,112
And we really, really appreciate it.
:
01:35:25,233 --> 01:35:28,625
You being on and I know you got a
production coming up in the Big Apple.
:
01:35:28,625 --> 01:35:29,725
So tell us, tell us about that.
:
01:35:29,725 --> 01:35:30,295
Before we head out,
:
01:35:30,684 --> 01:35:31,195
Speaker 8: oh yes.
:
01:35:31,575 --> 01:35:36,165
You know, there's a line in Godfather
3 that's just, that's significant
:
01:35:36,165 --> 01:35:37,455
and I'm sure every actor knows this.
:
01:35:37,475 --> 01:35:41,325
Every time I try to escape, they
just keep pulling me back in.
:
01:35:41,325 --> 01:35:42,355
The long goodbye.
:
01:35:43,070 --> 01:35:43,520
Right, right.
:
01:35:43,520 --> 01:35:51,394
So Superheroes and Other Men written
by Jeff Oppenheim, produced by Alibé
:
01:35:51,394 --> 01:35:59,409
Hamaker and Sweet24K, and Veronica
Caicedo, of, Teatro Circular, which
:
01:35:59,409 --> 01:36:03,869
is in the east, side of New York,
in the village, right next to La
:
01:36:03,898 --> 01:36:06,023
Mama, June 12th through the 16th.
:
01:36:06,074 --> 01:36:07,144
I'll be there on the 10th.
:
01:36:07,554 --> 01:36:11,224
It's a one man show about the
rites of passage of a young man
:
01:36:11,594 --> 01:36:14,254
to, from childhood to fatherhood.
:
01:36:16,204 --> 01:36:19,914
And once we get to that bottom line,
and at the end of the story, the
:
01:36:19,914 --> 01:36:26,134
triumph of realizing the birth of
his own child, he finds the truth.
:
01:36:26,949 --> 01:36:28,739
The superhero in himself.
:
01:36:29,148 --> 01:36:29,989
It's beautiful.
:
01:36:30,109 --> 01:36:31,429
It's a beautiful story.
:
01:36:32,443 --> 01:36:32,564
Great.
:
01:36:32,844 --> 01:36:34,704
It's another part of the Byron C.
:
01:36:34,724 --> 01:36:36,704
Saunders journey and experience.
:
01:36:37,044 --> 01:36:37,924
Another chapter, huh?
:
01:36:38,314 --> 01:36:39,424
Another chapter.
:
01:36:40,124 --> 01:36:42,924
It seems like the book is still
being written, thank goodness.
:
01:36:43,184 --> 01:36:46,534
And I really appreciate
everybody who's watching.
:
01:36:46,734 --> 01:36:47,884
been a part of the journey.
:
01:36:47,994 --> 01:36:52,474
Thank you for, being a part of my
spiritual journey and my political
:
01:36:52,474 --> 01:36:54,154
and professional journey as well.
:
01:36:54,443 --> 01:36:57,103
And I'm awfully glad to be
able to share it with you,
:
01:36:57,353 --> 01:36:59,504
today and for tomorrow as well.
:
01:36:59,684 --> 01:37:00,134
So thank you.
:
01:37:00,974 --> 01:37:01,484
Speaker 7: Thank you.
:
01:37:01,494 --> 01:37:03,224
Thank you so much for being here.
:
01:37:03,773 --> 01:37:05,294
We're going to close out.
:
01:37:05,294 --> 01:37:07,294
I really appreciate you taking the time.
:
01:37:07,314 --> 01:37:07,914
I know you're busy.
:
01:37:07,914 --> 01:37:11,174
You have a lot going on, but there's
obviously a lot to talk about.
:
01:37:11,824 --> 01:37:12,154
Yes, it is.
:
01:37:12,154 --> 01:37:15,193
A lot, covered a lot of materials Winston
:
01:37:15,193 --> 01:37:20,523
Speaker 8: Salem, Winston Salem, don't
forget, July, the last week of July,
:
01:37:20,523 --> 01:37:24,214
first week of August, you know, be
there or be square because, this is an
:
01:37:24,214 --> 01:37:28,244
important year for truth to be revealed
to all of us and around the world.
:
01:37:28,714 --> 01:37:29,273
Absolutely.
:
01:37:29,284 --> 01:37:30,394
That's a big part of the story.
:
01:37:30,864 --> 01:37:31,534
Speaker 7: Absolutely.
:
01:37:31,864 --> 01:37:35,474
Thank you so much again, Byron
Saunders, and we'll see you next time.
:
01:37:36,344 --> 01:37:36,874
Speaker 8: Thank you.