Transcript
Jan Simpson (0:06)
Every play, every musical begins with some writer putting words on a page. Hello, and welcome to Stagecraft, the Broadway radio podcast that talks to playwrights and musical book writers about the shows they've created. My name is Jan Simpson. My guest this week is Charles Randolph Wright, whose diverse career includes producing, performing, directing and writing for film, TV and of course, theater. His work on Broadway has included directing the Musical and Alice Childress Trouble in Mind. But his current gig is as the author of Duke and Royal A Love Story, starring Jay Ellis and Stephanie Knorr that touches on both feminism and American imperialism. It is currently running at the Lucille Lortel Theater, where it has been extended through August 23rd. Hello, Charles Randolph Wright. Welcome to Stagecraft.
Charles Randolph Wright (1:18)
Thank you. Thank you for having me On Stagecraft.
Jan Simpson (1:22)
We usually start these conversations with a brief description of what the show is about. So would you tell listeners who haven't yet had a chance to see it who Duke and Roya are and what their story is about?
Charles Randolph Wright (1:40)
Yes, this is a story, actually, that takes place over about almost a 10 year period. And in 2017, Duke is a hip hop artist who's become the number one artist. And he traveled, travels to Bagram Air Force Base in Kabul, Afghanistan, to perform for the troops, where he encounters an interpreter who is Roya, who translates for the troops for people there on base. And the two of them end up having an unlikely love story. And a story that happens, obviously in the midst of war, that crosses cultures and boundaries and different journeys.
Jan Simpson (2:22)
Where did you get the idea for this play? What's the genesis of it?
Charles Randolph Wright (2:27)
It's so funny because everyone's seeing this, my friends especially, who are you? Where did this come from? I actually first read an article about women, young women in Afghanistan, and it floored me because I had no idea of what they experienced. And you will find out that more in the play. But when I could not get it out of my head. And at that time, this was 12 years ago, 13 years ago, actually, I had a writer's residency at arena stage in D.C. and I said to Molly Smith, who is my theater soulmate who ran Arena Stage, I have this idea and I just, I can't get it out of my head. I want to tell this story. So I started pursuing it and I thought, how can I tell this? At that time, I was trying to travel to Afghanistan because I wanted to be authentic, I wanted to experience it, which I was unable to do. But I remembered an old friend of mine actually taught Shakespeare in Kabul years ago. And I called him and I said, don't do I remember this correctly? And he said, yes. And then I said, I have this idea. I really want to. I have to. I have to exercise whether I actually complete the play or not. I've got to do this story. And he said, oh, I have a young woman for you to meet. And there is a young woman from Afghanistan who was studying in the States. And I went to meet her first in Boston, actually, and we just immediately bonded. She started calling me Baba, which is father. And she became like a daughter to me, which she remains. And so much of the inspiration in this story is based on her world. It's not her specific story. So she really inspired me to tell a story that I never knew, a story that I could not even imagine. And then in the midst of that, through her, through others, I started meeting different Afghans. So different aspects of this story all started coming around. And that's how then it came together. Originally it was called Love in Afghanistan. And that's how I worked on this at Arena Stage, where we did this in the cradle, they call it Arena. And then nothing happened with it. There are only four characters. I thought, oh, we'll do this everywhere. No one would pursue it. I know that Molly. I know that she sent it to other people and no one saw this. And I knew also at that time frame, I often said that this is not the type of story people expect me to write or they expect people of color to write. It doesn't deal with what you normally think and how it does it. And I just placed it on a shelf and didn't know when it would happen. And I guess now a shelf is the icloud, but I didn't know when it was the proverbial self, right? And I didn't know when, where, how it would happen. And. And when I first started writing this, I was actually in tech for Motown, the national tour, and Warren Adams was the co choreographer on Motown was like, what are you doing? Because I was looking up Dari and looking up things and looking at maps and just. And he said, you know, again, who are you? And I said, I'm working on this play. And I let him read the first 20 pages. And he. Literally every year since he came down to see the production that we did every year, he just said, you must do this play. You must do this play. And then in September, I think he called me and said, I want to run with this. And I said, sure. Not ever thinking anything would happen. And the next thing I knew, we had Jay Ellis and Stephanie Nur and John Legend producing and Kerry Washington producing, and people who would not even look at my play before. All these people were talking about this play and how important it was and. And how we must do this and where did. Where did this come from? And so it was a complete dichotomy of. Of the response I did not receive when I first did it and the response now. Of what. Of what the people who were involved in this, how they were responding, and now the audiences, how they have been responding to it. So it's. It's the ultimate lesson in when and how things happen. And also, it's time now even more than it was 10 years ago, because women there have far less rights than they had even 10 years ago. And then I thought it was abysmal. And the rights of everyone, right now, you know, all the rights of all kinds of people and how those rights are taken away, I mean, it's worse than it was then. So this is speaking on a level that's far more than I even knew when I was writing it. How's that for a long answer to your question?