← All Of It with Alison Stewart
All Of It with Alison Stewart
‘P-Valley’-Inspired Docuseries ‘Down in the Valley’ Shows the Real South
00:15:28
A new "P-Valley" inspired docuseries from creator Katori Hall and star Nicco Annan shows viewers a real version of the Deep South.
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This is all of It on WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart. Writer Katori Hall's critically acclaimed show P Valley follows the lives of exotic dancers working to survive in the Deep South. The show has inspired a new docu series that looks at the real people who live in that very real world. And in true crossover fashion, the host of the doc, he plays a character on the show. The actor who plays Uncle Clifford in P Valley, Nico Anand, introduces us to black cowboys in Mississippi, a sex educator in Louisiana, queer communities in Texas. And in the first episode, he takes us on a wild ride with dancers who want to be part of an exclusive club that the Diamonds of Memphis. It's not so easy, says Georgia Peach, one of the dancers featured in the show.
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I feel like every dancer have a problem of relationships and men's judging them and even women. They come up inside of her and they be lifting they nose up in the air with us because we dancers and they not but in they back of they mind they wanna be culture.
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A review from the Jacksonville Free Press states Anand's journey from Detroit to the Deep south is more than geographical, it's it's a soulful exploration of cultural identity and heritage. The show is called down the Valley. It's airing now on Fridays weekly on Starz. We're joined now by Katori hall, who is the creator and the showrunner for P Valley. Welcome back to the show.
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E
I am so happy to be back mama.
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And joining Us now is executive producer and host Nico Ana. Nice to meet you.
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C
Nice to meet you as well. What's up, everybody? Come on wnyc.
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B
So, Katori, what inspired you to create a docu series focusing on the Deep South?
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E
Well, you need to be asking Nico that question, because this is really, really hit, baby. Yeah.
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B
All right, Nico, you're up.
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Just to throw in, we often talked about, like, we really, really need to show people that what we doing on P Valley, even though it's fictional, like, it's. Is really, really real. So, Nico, you jump in there and talk about the genesis of this amazing docu series.
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Well, it just definitely came from that, Alison. But because, you know, as an actor, when you're on a show, you have a lot of interactions with your community and the people that watch P Valley from all different races and all different socioeconomic backgrounds from everywhere. But when they meet you in real life, it's kind of like, oh, my God, they have their moments. And I would realize often that there were so many people that would have the reaction of, oh, this show is. It's like another world. It's like, it's the new Game of Thrones. It's a whole nother way, you know, and it is. It is. But I know, coming from the south, that there's a lot of reality in terms of. In the fictional world, you know, So I thought that this was a great opportunity to let the fictional inform the reality and the real inform the fictional, hopefully. So people that may not be as familiar with Southern culture and this, the world of P Valley, they can get an insight and a softer heart because they know that the people are real.
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B
Yeah. Katora. I wanted to get into it, you know, like, there's a lot of preconceived notions about the South. How do you feel that your series gets rid of those notions?
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E
It's interesting. I feel as though by just humanizing these very marginalized people, you know, growing up in the south, you know, I'm a. I'm a Memphis, Tennessee baby, my. Myself. And it's just been such a pleasure to put forth this authentic portrayal, even though it is truly, truly, you know, with the. With the P Valley show, yes, it's fiction, but I definitely feel as though, because of my journalistic background, I always did my research, but I also just have been pulling from my life, like, all these characters that are in the actual TV show, they're, like, true, like, real family members to me. And so to have this docu series out in the world, you know, bringing forth like, these just amazing people who, like, they're walking down the street with us right now. They're not Uncle Clifford, they're not Mercedes, but yet they truly, truly cousins of these fictionalized characters. And so it's just been an honor to be able to make the south real and make the south true for people, because it is so romanticized and also just people don't understand it. They make fun of the South. They make fun of how people speak. They make fun of the fact that, yes, there are some people who still eat squirrel sandwiches, but it is what it is. As Nico's amazing theme song says.
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Nico.
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It'S putting a human face to that stigma for real.
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When you were on the show, what's something that surprised you? You said, you know, the people, you feel the people. But there must have been something that.
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C
Was surprising in the docu series while we were filming that, you know. Well, one of the things that surprised me was definitely that people oftentimes can forget and put the distance between actors and themselves, not even realizing, oh, you know this. Oh, you come from this world. That's why I resonate with it so well. You know, that was definitely a true thing. I also was surprised how. And this is sad to say, Allison, but it was so. It was so sad sometimes for me to realize, oh, people forgot how brilliant we are, how beautiful the south can be and how rich it is just in culture and an experience. And it was another reason why, like, this is why we need to create the show, to remind people, hey, this is a beautiful place. It's a very rich place. It could be very different from Danbury, Connecticut. It's very different from Arizona, but it is just as rich, if not more.
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B
My guests are Katori hall and Nico Anand. We're talking about down in the Valley. It's a docu series airing on Fridays, weekly on Stars. I wanna talk about when people. One of the people who you really get into their lives. It's Sharonda Parker. You go to Louisiana, and she's known for empowering others to have safe and pleasurable sex lives. And even though the religious folk look down on her. Tell us a little bit about Sharonda Parker and your first impressions of her.
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C
I thought that Sharonda was just a very empowered woman. I thought she was. She reminds me of, like, a lot of my cousins and women that are in my life that have gone on their own journey of finding themselves. And I salute her because she also just in her journey, she never lost herself, you know, or even when you do, sometimes you put Yourself back together. You know, it was really empowering to see her journey going from a store owner and a physical in the brick and mortar of her store. And also the reality of being a teacher. She, you know, was working in the education system. And so she used her skill set as teaching to then like, hey, I need to, like, bypass that and make a little extra money, you know, because oftentimes our educators are not, you know, paid in the most in a way that's truly livable, you know. And so her going to that space, all of her, how do you say, like, her vices worked for her. She was able to turn. Turn them around for sure for good. And started doing these sex education workshops and stuff like that for the community. And then when I got to find out her reason, her why, what got her behind that, that was also something that was just so for me as a person, me as a gay man, it was. It was a reminder of another period of time because we find out, you know, her father was an open gay man back in the 80s, and him being so ostracized by his openness and also by his diagnoses of HIV at the time when there was no medication, you know, like, there is now. You know, now she's very much so like, hey, community, there's prep out here. There's different, many different ways. There's sex education that we can implement before any infection comes and any diagnoses. So I just found her to be just like Wonder Woman. She was like a champion, you know, of sorts. And I just like that. It may be different, but it is just real. And also, she loves God. And I just thought that that was just everything.
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Well, let's take a listen from the series. We're going to listen to Sharonda Parker from Baton Rouge. And she was talking about how her. Her store wasn't necessarily welcome initially. Let's take a listen.
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But I've had people mail letters to the store, basically saying that what I was doing was not of God and that I wouldn't be successful. I know that the moment I walk out of my door, I'm judged. I am queen whore, I run the house of hoes, I am Jezebel.
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C
Who says this stuff to you?
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These are what the community says. So it doesn't matter that I have being a great wife, a great mother, a great woman in the community, advocate for health care. None of that matters when you sell sex.
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First of all, good host follow up. Appreciate that.
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Thank you. You know, a brother does know a little something something.
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Katori, tell Us how she. How she deals with the community, the community that is not there for her. But she finds herself. I think she finds herself in another church, doesn't she?
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Oh, yes, the woman's The. She finds. The fact that she, you know, finds a home, a church home, is just really beautiful and just really kind of so reflective of the South. Like, doesn't matter whether you are a saint in a sinner. There are, you know, spaces and places that you can always, you know, land at. And the fact that she landed at this woman's church remind me of her. Her name, Nico. The.
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The pastor.
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Yeah, pastor.
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The pastor of her church. Bridget Sty is her name. And she, too, has gone through her own journey of being a saint and a sinner as well. And.
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Yeah, and this just her particular story, the fact that, you know, allegedly she herself was, you know, charged with arson, you know, trying to, you know, she's. You know, her story of like, oh, I was just going through a moment, and I was burning candles, but then, you know, the insurance company was like, oh, my God, this woman trying to get some money. And yet, you know, she went through her kind of casting a stone moment where people, you know, left her church in droves. But Sharonda, having been a woman who was put, kind of put on the crucifix, you know, stuck by her and stayed with her. And so just that pastor story and her story, the fact that you can find a church that operates in the gray and embraces, you know, the sinner just as much as the saint.
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In the third episode of down the Valley, you visit a place in Dallas, Texas, where members of the LGBTQ community go. They feel comfortable, they enjoy themselves. How does the black LGBTQ culture coexist with Southern black culture in the South, Nico, when you think about how they coexist?
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Well, I think that coexistence is something that has been around since the beginning of time. I think a lot of times things may not be spoken on, but they exist, and that's a true Southern thing, for sure. You know, a lot of things in the culture are not spoken about, and that's the importance of a show like down in the Valley to bring that light to that community. Because there are a lot of people who are suffering. There are a lot of people who don't have an outlet, may not know a way. And I think that when people that may be outside of the community, Allison, I think that that's when they have an opportunity to see inside and see how much alike that they may be with those that they may have ostracized or deemed other for whatever reason. You know, these are people that this is an opportunity. When you go out at night, you can go to Marty's just like many other clubs, and you can just have fun. They have some catfish in the back, you know, some hush puppies and some french fries and some good music, dancing, you know, and it's just a time to be able to let down your hair, you know, kick off the dust off your cowboy boots and. And dance and twerk and fly, because you don't have that same type of freedom throughout the course of your normal day.
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E
And let me tell you something. I really wish I had a Sharonda Parker growing up and just becoming a vague, you know, period of your life when you. You come into yourself as a woman. The fact that she, you know, holds this space of sexual freedom and also just learning there's a lot of people who don't know about their bodies, don't know about, you know, orgasming, and have access to that knowledge is so powerful and sexually empowering. But it also, you know, women specifically oftentimes don't get that knowledge just because we. We oftentimes are made to feel as though we. We just have to be objects of pleasure but not get the pleasuring. Feel as though her parties, her workshops really create this bridge to knowledge and sexual freedom for all these women and a lot of men who decide to participate.
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B
Nico, we got about a minute, but I'm gonna give it to you to tell us what you hope the series. What you hope the series will bring to people.
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I hope that the series brings a big old hug from. To people. You know what I mean? You don't know your. Some people don't know, especially in 2024, some people don't know your neighbor right next door, let alone those that may be 15 miles away or five states over. There's a lot of discourse in our country. I think that this show is an opportunity for us to really link arms and come together with people that may not be so different from you.
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B
All right? You can just, like, watch them all in one row. They're all good. They're all good.
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C
And you can stream on the Starz app and all of that, you know, watch linearly. I love that when y' all watch linearly on a linear platform every week.
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B
That's true.
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C
You know, Friday replay on Sundays, you know. And then, you know, you can also step on over to P. Valley as well and see that as we cooking it up for season three.
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Come on, Nico. Come on, Nico.
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My guest hall. Nico. Anon down in the valley. It's on. Stars. Thank you so much.
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Thank you. Love you, nyc.
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I'm Ira Flato, host of Science Friday. For over 30 years, our team has been reporting high quality news about science, technology and medicine. News you won't get anywhere else. And now that political news is 24 7, our audience is turning to us to know about the really important stuff that in their lives. Cancer, climate change, genetic engineering, childhood diseases. Our sponsors know the value of science and health news. For more sponsorship information, visit sponsorship. Wnyc. Org.