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- [00:05]
Tamsen Fadal
Welcome to the Broadway show Uncut. I'm Tamsen Fadal, and this week we're talking about Purpose, the new play from Brandon Jacobs Jenkins, which won the Pulitzer and the Tony Award for best new play. You'll hear from one of the producers and stars of Purpose, Glen Davis, coming up in just a few. But first, I had a chance to have a really great conversation with another one of the stars of the play, latonya Richardson Jackson.
- [00:33]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
Well, we're going to just dive right in.
- [00:35]
Phylicia Rashad
We can start with that if you want to start with metaphor.
- [00:39]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
So I'm so thrilled. You know, I heard this play described when you were on the View as the perfectly written play, and you really had a lot to say about that.
- [00:49]
Phylicia Rashad
It is a perfectly written play by Brandon Jacobs Jenkins. He is a phenomenal writer, totally prolific, and incredibly genius as an actor. Well, first of all, as a director, this is the kind of piece that I think Phylicia would not give up the reins to, because when I first heard that, was asked to do the piece, I said, oh, do they want me to direct it and let Felicia be in it?
- [01:18]
Glen Davis
And they were like, no, and don't.
- [01:19]
Phylicia Rashad
Say that to her. I was like, well, I can see her playing Claudine because I read and I said, are you sure? Either way. Yeah, either way, I'm attached to this. But he. It is something that you're just drawn to, that you never really even think about getting. It used to be a dream, you know, most actors just want a job, so you just get that. And sometimes you get that dream. And this is the dream.
- [01:46]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
Oh, I love to hear that. I mean, I want to talk about all the different pivots that you've had. But collaborating with her on this and working with her, what has that been like?
- [01:55]
Phylicia Rashad
It's great because, you know, women have a certain language that I think is easier for us to access than it is with men. Even though we can sort of control the narrative when we're talking to them. I think guys, I think. But that's different here. You are able more quickly to access a way of understanding what. What inside of a scene you're really going for than with guys. I think they have a point of view. They're so succinct in directing, which is why I think they have just cornered the market all the time and been the directors all the time, because they are math people, so they can put the pieces together quickly, blah, blah, blah. But I think that the women. And with Felicia, we have a different emotional level that enthuses A part that makes it just a little bit weightier than clock, clock, clock. I love the clarity of men, though, because they go clock, clock, clock. So it's. It's. It's mixing that and working with her was just incredible.
- [03:04]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
I love that because I agree with you. I think that women, like, when they click, they click in there, and then. Then it comes in a different direction. You see, something else comes out of it in a very special way. What is it like as part of the cast? I know the cast becomes family all the time, and it. It really is family on the stage.
- [03:18]
Glen Davis
Obviously, but offstage as well, off stage.
- [03:21]
Phylicia Rashad
All the way around. This is. And I have worked with some incredible people. Trust me. I mean, absolutely the best. But this cast came together quickly. Well, for Kara Young and I, because we were the two who were not in the original Steppenwolf production in Chicago, but they were so inviting to us. And it's something that we. We do a circle every night and, you know, where we join hands and sort of lean into each other. But we have created such a chain, a bond that you can almost. If one piece is out, we know it. You know what I mean? This is a phenomenal company, and I'm just so grateful to be a part of it. With Harry Lennox and Glen Davis and John Michael hall and Alana Arenas, and, of course, the incredible Karion.
- [04:11]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
Yeah. How did this come across your desk?
- [04:14]
Phylicia Rashad
You know what I told you I was having. You know, we've had other conversations. So I said, I told you I was. I had that body scan thing. And so I had a surgery. I. What is it? Oh, God. See which one? The word stones. Gallbladder.
- [04:32]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
Gallbladder. Okay, gallbladder. We got it.
- [04:34]
Phylicia Rashad
They found those. So I did that. Next thing I know, I got a call that said, why don't you do this play? Blah, blah, blah. And my doctor was like, saying, well, I don't know about you doing the play because you got these gallstones. What are we gonna do about them? I said, go, take them out. Cause I'm gonna do this play. Once I read the, you know, the script they sent, I said, oh, no, I'm doing this, but I can't. He said, but you're asympt. We don't even know how long they've been there. You just want to elect. I said, I'm electing to do this surgery. So we did the surgery. I told them, yes. And then I had talked to my doctor. I said, okay, this rehearsal starts on January 21st. He said, that's the two week mark of having the surgery. He said, we have to do, you know, that'll be your comeback. Talk to me. I said, we'll do it by zoom.
- [05:20]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
I'll be in the theater.
- [05:22]
Phylicia Rashad
I'll be at the theater. And we did.
- [05:23]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
I love that.
- [05:24]
Phylicia Rashad
And we did. And it's been and incredible. I said, because somehow God has dropped this in my lap and my purpose is to be there, and it has not been a lie. So I. I am just grateful to even say this is how it came. I talked. Felicia called. My agents called first. Then Phylicia called. You know, I have called her Phylicia forever, and that is not her name. Her name is Phylicia. But I'm Southern. She's Southern. Anyway, Felicia called and I said, yes.
- [05:55]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
I love that. I love that determination, too. That's pretty amazing.
- [05:59]
Phylicia Rashad
It's. What.
- [06:00]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
It's beyond.
- [06:01]
Phylicia Rashad
I'm trying to teach that to you younger people.
- [06:03]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
I know.
- [06:03]
Phylicia Rashad
I'm like, I'm like, look, you have to first put it in your brain that your body is going to respond that way. And I have. I told my doctor, he, oh, God. And I had the surgery the day of the fire. And the fire had not, you know, it was a small fire. And by the time we finished, he said, here's the good news. You can go home. Because this was the best surgery. He said, trust me, this was the best. You can go home. Bad news is you're under evacuation warning.
- [06:30]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
Oh, no. Wow.
- [06:34]
Phylicia Rashad
So I'm like, dealing with all of that. And he said, but don't stress. Really, don't stress because your body needs to heal. And I'm like, don't stress.
- [06:42]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
Don't stress. Little did we know what was happening.
- [06:44]
Phylicia Rashad
120 something, 30 page script. I said, oh, man. I hadn't intended to learn some of these lines, which let me just say for Brandon Jacob Jenkins, you should not. Because every day, once I got here, every day, the lines changed.
- [06:59]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
I have to talk to you about these lines. Like when I, as an audience member, when I sit and watch, I'm like, how? How? Like some days I can't remember my own name. So that's what I'm saying.
- [07:08]
Phylicia Rashad
And I kept telling them, okay, I'm the senior citizen 75 here. I can't. I don't know. This is like, for me, like. And I just trusted God. I said, okay, Lord, you got me here. I guess you go put these in my. You know, I said, I can't even remember their names. Let al you know what this line is. And so for a long time, because he didn't lock the script until the Saturday before we opened on a Monday. So there were plenty times then I had forgotten, you know, because the rehearsal was so intense. When I found out we only had three and a half, I said, wait. I didn't ask enough questions before I said yes to this.
- [07:44]
Glen Davis
I went through surgery.
- [07:45]
Phylicia Rashad
Wait, yes.
- [07:46]
Glen Davis
Surgery.
- [07:47]
Phylicia Rashad
This, this. I'm like, okay, I'm going to trust you, Phylicia. I'm gonna trust you. And these people whom I don't know, I'm gonna trust them. I only knew Kyra. I said, I'm gonna trust all of you. Okay, here we go. And every day, the lines will change. I said, but you all are young, so I have no sympathy for you. I want all the sympathy in the room to go to me. And the help. Kyra used to help me with my lines. She'd say, okay, we go. You know, our whole script, you just do the lines, you know, blah. And then the next day, they would change. So you're out there on the set a lot of nights saying, is this the old line?
- [08:19]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
Oh, my gosh. I didn't even think. I don't even think like that.
- [08:22]
Phylicia Rashad
Yeah. That's why I was really kind of upset that the critics had been in, because no one thinks about. Most actors don't think about when the critics come, but they come during preview, and it's different when you got a dead playwright.
- [08:34]
Glen Davis
You know, I was thinking about that.
- [08:37]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
Right.
- [08:38]
Phylicia Rashad
But if the lines are constantly changing, it's like, is it fair? Is it fair for you to judge us on something that we're not sure about?
- [08:46]
Charlie Cooper
Right.
- [08:47]
Phylicia Rashad
Cause you're not sure that you might.
- [08:48]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
Have learned that morning, that you might.
- [08:50]
Phylicia Rashad
Have learned that day. Because during previews, you rehearse in the day and do the show at night.
- [08:57]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
Oh, my gosh.
- [08:58]
Phylicia Rashad
But now everybody. You do break out in sweats and like, oh, God, is that the line? But I invite everyone to come now.
- [09:07]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
Good. Well, I.
- [09:08]
Phylicia Rashad
Cause it's baked.
- [09:09]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
I know. They have. And it is baked.
- [09:11]
Phylicia Rashad
It's baked.
- [09:12]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
How are you feeling about audience response? Because it just has to be.
- [09:14]
Phylicia Rashad
Audience is incredible. They are. They're so good. They're so entertaining.
- [09:18]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
Well, the cast is incredible. The show is incredible. The writing is incredible. You're incredible.
- [09:22]
Phylicia Rashad
No, listen. Thank you. This is the convergence of three great ideas. The playwright, the writer, and the cast. So. And then the audience comes in and provides a different dynamic for you. They're like the sounding board of everything that you have to give out, and they Give it back to you. You know what I mean? You can feel the weight in the room.
- [09:41]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
Eight shows a week that you show up, that's a lot. I mean, it's a lot at any time in life, but, like, eight shows a week?
- [09:49]
Phylicia Rashad
Yeah.
- [09:49]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
Two today. I know, I know. I already want you to know I apolog and advanced you, but I always think about that because I think, like, showing up for that is a lot, like, just of your body and your mind and your thinking and then doing press and annoying people asking you, doing interviews.
- [10:08]
Phylicia Rashad
But no, no, that's not annoying because it helps the show. And that's part of the training of what we do. Knowing what this whole complete package is, what we sign on for it is.
- [10:19]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
I know. Well, thank you. Thank you for it. But it does bring you back to your purpose and why you're here. Right. And what you want to do and what you want to give out.
- [10:29]
Phylicia Rashad
I think that, you know, during that. During the initial, we did the press in the beginning, I said, you know, this could be the one for me that I just, you know, I'm done. This is my swan song for acting. It really could be, because first of all, I remember my body, still remembers the toll that it took for me to get to this point. I'm like, oh. And then eight shows, I'm like, yeah, that's why I just want to direct. It's just why I want to direct, because I love directing, and I think that I should have been doing it sooner than I, you know, professionally than I did. But this. I can't figure out what could be better than this, than this, unless he writes another one. Because I felt like that about appropriate.
- [11:14]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
Right, right.
- [11:15]
Phylicia Rashad
He wrote appropriate. And I was sitting there saying, this is a very talented young man, not knowing at all that I would ever get the chance to work on a piece of his.
- [11:25]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
That's incredible.
- [11:26]
Phylicia Rashad
Yeah, it is.
- [11:27]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
That's incredible. When you look around and you've got the cast around you, and I'm sure there's, like, so many lessons you learn from each other with an, you know, intergenerational cast. You've got young people in the cast. Is that. Is that interesting to watch? Technique and what you learn?
- [11:41]
Phylicia Rashad
Let me tell you, you know, But.
- [11:42]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
I love Harry Lennox.
- [11:45]
Phylicia Rashad
I'm fascinated by them all. I'm fascinated that the fact that John Michael Hawkins stand there from the beginning of the play, that's almost three hours, and is there the entire time that he just is talking, I'm like, this is amazing to me. And Kara Harry I depend on because Harry is sure. He's sure footed, he's stable, you know, so you can guarantee that, you know, he's gonna be there. Glenn, I watched because he's like this bouncing rabbit, just like, well, what is he gonna do tonight? He's just brilliant. He's just a brilliant guy. And I look at them all and Alana is so steady. That Steppenwolf Company is something. You know what I mean? And they're all Steppenwolf. They're just something. But one night, because I was watching Kara, we were in a scene, I was like sitting there. And you do sometimes, because Brandon even asked, he said, I wonder what actors think when you're like having to do your line and you're trying to stay a character. I said, you do what everybody else is doing. I said, but unfortunately, actors cannot afford to watch the play. I was watching the play. I sat down, I said, oh, wow, look at her. Oh, she is going after this. Oh, this is like, oh, amazing. Oh, look how she just said that. I am just in awe of her. Oh, And I heard Harry say familia. And I said, oh, shit, it's. I mean, shoot. Excuse me. It's my line. Oh, I'm not watching it. I'm familiar. No, no, I feel familiar about. And I could see her. Glad that's. I said, I was watching you. You can't do that. You can't watch the people and you can't do a grocery list when you're waiting on your line because you will go up every.
- [13:34]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
I love that, though.
- [13:35]
Glen Davis
But I always wondered that.
- [13:36]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
So thank you.
- [13:37]
Phylicia Rashad
You have to stay focused. You have to stay focused because the minute you pull yourself out, you're out.
- [13:43]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
You're right, right.
- [13:44]
Phylicia Rashad
You're out.
- [13:44]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
Oh, that's great. For people who are not familiar with the play. Can you just wrap it up and explain it?
- [13:51]
Phylicia Rashad
It's a story of a family, of the legacy of someone who had worked very hard in the civil rights movement. A father who is away and left the mothering, the nurturing, the building of the family primarily to the mother, but a family whose nucleus was intact. So he would come home on Sundays because he would tell everyone wherever he was, he had to be home on Sunday to be with his family. But that still did not avoid the idea of tearing of the tears that this family, the hit that this family had to take by his being away. And there were different things that happened to the two boys, which I have. The mother and I have two boys. There are different things that happened to them that he just was not privy to because he had set it in his mind. Of all the things that we do as parents anyway, of the greatness that we want to pour into our kids, the things that we want to give them that we never had. And you do that and then you go like this and say, okay. And it doesn't work out that way. And it didn't quite work out the way he thought, but he also was not hands on. So it's a legacy play. And it ends up being finding out who the people who our children are too, and how they're going to be who they are. And we have to respect that.
- [15:18]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
Do you feel like you learn lessons anytime you do a play like this or a show or a script?
- [15:23]
Phylicia Rashad
I think actors are some of the most gifted people on the earth because we have to learn in order to portray what it is. This unnatural thing that we end up doing, which is very unnatural. Embodying the completeness of someone else in its totality is a learning curve. You. You have to learn it. And so we end up doing that. So I've learned a lot with these young people. I learned from a lot from young people. Anyway, so. Yeah, I hope I answered that.
- [15:58]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
You did directing. Are we gonna see you direct some more?
- [16:02]
Phylicia Rashad
I hope so, yeah. I. I'm actually doing. Oh, God. See, can't remember the name. Raucousness. Pearl Cleek's new play in California at the Geffen Theatre.
- [16:13]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
Oh, wonderful.
- [16:14]
Phylicia Rashad
A year from May. And I'm also working on. I did a workshop with Whoopi Goldberg and Phylicia Rashad last spring, and we're hoping to do that play in the fall.
- [16:28]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
Oh, I would love that. That's great. That'd be really, really exciting. What do you love about directing versus being on the stage?
- [16:34]
Phylicia Rashad
I really am a control person. Not a control freak, but just a person who likes to move the chess pieces around. And I love all of it. I love the lighting, I love the sound. I love the minutia of little things like pictures and things and what a set looks like. I love the lighting. And so the totality of bringing all that together, I just. It fulfills me.
- [16:59]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
That's great. That's the place we should be right.
- [17:01]
Phylicia Rashad
Now, is being fulfilled in a world of madness.
- [17:05]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
In a world of a lot of madness. If you can have anything that fulfills you, that's the right place to be. I saw you on the View, and I saw your husband there being a fan, supporting from the side.
- [17:17]
Glen Davis
He was big.
- [17:18]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
He was doing the best he could.
- [17:21]
Phylicia Rashad
He was trying not to be in the way, but he did put himself in the way. He came with me.
- [17:27]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
He did.
- [17:28]
Phylicia Rashad
See, I'm going with you. I'm like, okay, come along, my dear. I very rarely go with him, but come, come.
- [17:36]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
What has that been like? That's been how many years? 50. 55. 55 years. You're just children. At the time.
- [17:45]
Phylicia Rashad
We were children. We were very much children. But, you know, I knew him. I know her. I don't know what he knew, but I knew. I said, oh, I can live with this guy. Because, you know, I think you. You kind of know.
- [17:59]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
I think you do, too.
- [18:00]
Phylicia Rashad
Yeah.
- [18:01]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
What's that like looking back and looking through the years? I think it's pretty spectacular to.
- [18:05]
Phylicia Rashad
It is. And with our daughter, it has really been that thing because she is such a boss. And it was like, where'd she get that from? Exactly. But it was a plan.
- [18:19]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
Yeah, it was a plan. I like that.
- [18:22]
Phylicia Rashad
And unlike what happened in Purpose with what Solomon, who Harry Lennox plays, what he thought was the plan. That didn't work out. Our plan did. We made a plan because we thought we were quite the revolutionaries. And we said, okay, what is the most revolutionary thing a black person can do? And we said, keep the nucleus of the family together. Stay together, and if you have a child, try to give that child what you think is the righteous road in life, how to navigate that. And we did. And we busted our butts. Let me just tell you, because there were plenty days I was like, could you just go away? Just go away? You know, you go through all of these things. We laugh about it now, he and I. He said. He said, yeah, I remember all of that because now we're so comfortable. And it's a good thing, right? And like I said, our daughter has five Emmy nominations and one win. So we're like, she's a boss.
- [19:24]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
She is a boss. And I know where it comes from. And I know where it comes from, which is the very, very nice.
- [19:29]
Phylicia Rashad
But she's a nice person. That's the other part. So God gave. God gave her that.
- [19:34]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
That's the important part. As a woman watching you watching all this. We talked before camera started rolling about, you know, menopause and how you go through this next season of your life. I mean, I think of more of it as a season. Looking forward to this next part. Do you feel different than you did when you were on stage when you were, you know, 30 years old versus now? Like, I know who I am now. It's I went through the. This tumultuous, crazy time, and on the other side of it feels very different.
- [19:59]
Phylicia Rashad
It feels different because you're in the same head space. You're still in the same brain. The body has changed, though, so it's not as agile as it was when you could bounce around the stage because you can't. Like the bunny bounce. Yeah, like Glenn. So I watch him. I said, you can't do that stuff anymore. But it moves differently. But there's something about having been on, going through children's theater like I did. I was on the stage at 14, and going through that has made me so comfortable. Like cameras. I'm not as comfortable around cameras, but as soon as you put me on the stage, I feel like I'm at home. So there's no fear of that. The energy shifts when I'm on the stage. So. Except that now, because my body has changed and my energy level and I'm older, it's a different kind of wiseness that I feel on the stage that has come to seat with me. But before, it was an abandon of wildness that was just crazy. Like, let me try this, let me try that. Because you're that kind of fluid. So it is different, but somehow it matures the way you have matured. I do.
- [21:25]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
You can sit with it and you know who you are, and you can stand there in your place. Thank you so much.
- [21:31]
Phylicia Rashad
No, thank you.
- [21:31]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
It's wonderful talking to you.
- [21:33]
Phylicia Rashad
You're wonderful.
- [21:36]
Tamsen Fadal
And let's keep talking about it. Charlie Cooper caught up with Purpose star and producer Glen Davis for a quick chat as they walked to the Helen Hayes Theater.
- [21:49]
Glen Davis
All right, Glenn, we are so excited to be here chatting with you about Purpose. And to be completely honest, just the name itself is deep in and of itself, and we'll get to that. But we're literally, what steps away from Times Square. We're in New York. All of this kind of kicked off in Chicago, though. Tell me a little bit about how it's felt different for you so far.
- [22:11]
Charlie Cooper
Well, in Chicago, that audience is. I know it very well. They come in to see. I curate a season as artistic director for that particular audience. So I sort of know the temperature of what they're looking for, what they get excited about. Historically, what has been like a stepping of play. You think of things like Downstate, you think of things like August, Osage County, True West. Over the years, I sort of have, I would think, my finger on the pulse of what they're looking for here in New York. The world comes Here. And so it's a different thing altogether because this is essentially a commercial venture. Whereas, you know, when I'm in Chicago, it's a regional theater. And I know that audience really well. So I love it. It's a huge challenge to try to program something that can eventually transfer to a market like New York, which is, you know, center of the universe, it feels like. But it's a very different proposition altogether. But I love them just the same.
- [23:06]
Phylicia Rashad
I love that.
- [23:07]
Glen Davis
Well, I'm walking you to work. Thank you for letting me do that. We're headed to the Haze, which, by the way, I just feel like is the perfect theater for this particular play. Because it feels so intimate. And you guys are really bringing people into that family, essentially. And that American story, that black American story. Tell me a little bit about what it feels like to perform in this particular space and kind of get those live, raw, real reactions from the audience every night.
- [23:35]
Charlie Cooper
Yeah. When we were thinking about theaters for a purpose, we wanted something that was very similar to the theater in Chicago. So at Steppenwolf, we have a 500 and call it 550 seat theater. And this is about the same in terms of the width and the size and the point of view for the audience. And so we wanted to come maintain that intimacy. You know, there are other theaters on Broadway we could have gone with that, have a lot more seats, but we lose something in terms of the transfer of the feeling that the audience gets when they sit in there and they feel like they're in that home with that family. So we didn't want to lose that. So this is. I'd seen a lot of shows at the Hays over the years. I've seen some good number of family dramas. So I thought this was the perfect space for theater to perform in. It is a dream because it's. The audience is literally right there.
- [24:26]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
Right.
- [24:27]
Charlie Cooper
And so you don't have to, you know, I mean, we all have vocal training and all that, but you don't have to strain for people to hear you.
- [24:33]
Glen Davis
So, yeah, it really feels like you're on. Well, it felt like the audience was on, like a couch within the living room. I really felt like I was there. So I love the show's name, Purpose. I have to ask you, as I'm walking you to work, you have this dream job in the show Purpose as junior playing this incredible and incredibly layered role. But I want to ask you, what was one job in your life that pushed you to your purpose?
- [25:03]
Charlie Cooper
Wow. You went with a deep question. Well, I think you Know, as I told you before, I'm an artistic director at Steppenwolf, and I think, you know, I come from. I'm from Chicago. I started out taking my first class at Steppenwolf with Austin Pendleton as my first teacher. I remember sitting in on rehearsals of One fool of the Fruit Loose Nest, starring Gary Sinise and Amy Morton and Kate Todd Freeman, years and years ago. So by the time I became an ensemble member in 2017 and then artistic director in 2021, it felt like I was right in line with my purpose. It felt full circle. So to be leading the company that, you know, started, you know, that I started with from the outset feels quite in line with my life's journey. So I feel. I feel incredibly grateful and humbled by it. But, yeah, to lead a play from page to stage, like Purpose with Brandon Jacobs Jenkins, and then bring it all the way to New York, it feels like I'm in the pocket in terms of my own personal purpose. Yeah.
- [26:12]
Glen Davis
Can you kind of take us into that artistic director role? Because I. I can imagine that. I mean, we kind of talked about the fact that, like, there's the aspect of being an actor, but then there's the aspect of being an artistic director. And I don't know that a lot of people can imagine what that is like for this particular show.
- [26:30]
Charlie Cooper
Yeah, Well, I have a co artist, director, Audrey Francis, who I share that. Those responsibilities with. And together we decided we had several workshops of purpose. And we sat back and we thought to ourselves, this play might be the great next great American play. And so when we had 40 pages, we thought, if he can land the plane. We said that a bunch of times. I've said it to Brandon. If he could land a plane, this could be something special. And so to sit in that position at Steppenwolf, which is my home theater and the place I'm from, and to be able to make calls like that, and then it end up in this beautiful space here on Broadway, just steps away from Times Square, is the best case scenario for a Steppenwolf play. We're standing here not far from where August of Sage county premiered all those years ago in the 2000s. And we feel, you know, grateful that this is the second play that has started at Chicago, started at step one for Chicago, you know, come to New York, won the Pulitzer, been nominated for a Tony, all the things. So I feel like the path was paved for us early on, myself and Audrey, and we're just here to make good.
- [27:48]
Glen Davis
That's so beautiful. And congrats on all of those. But I want to talk a little bit about working with like, Phylicia Rashad, a complete icon. What was that experience?
- [27:56]
Charlie Cooper
Like a dream. We call her the Queen. We call her the Queen to her face. We call her the Queen when she's not around. She is brilliant, obviously. She is a Tony Award winner herself. She is an Emmy nominated actress. She has done everything in this business that one can do. And to have her say yes to this play when it was just 40 pages and then come in and use her brilliance and her dynamic artistry to infuse us all us actors with. With a mission, with a purpose was the greatest gift. And so whether she's giving you a note about something to do with your character or pulling you to the side and asking you to go deeper, whispering something into your ear, it's all a dream scenario for me. Been watching for years on television, in movies, on stage, and now to be directed by a master. The top of her game. It was. She was the perfect person for this job. I think Brandon would say that. Every cast member would say that. And I'm incredibly grateful to her that she said yes. She had worked with Stepmo before, so she knew our ethos.
- [29:08]
Phylicia Rashad
Love that.
- [29:08]
Charlie Cooper
So when she came to Chicago again, she had directed with us before. She had been in August, Osage county here on Broadway. So she knew the company intimately. And so she brought that ethos, that philosophy with her and it was. It was perfection all the way around.
- [29:22]
Glen Davis
It's so interesting hearing you talk about these 40 pages because I feel like the premise of the show is so deep and so wide. It touches on everything from queerness to mental health to all of the things and things that are a lot of the times not necessarily talked about in the black community. Can you kind of touch on that and how I guess the story just was like, so relatable to you and how it kind of brought you in.
- [29:45]
Charlie Cooper
Yeah, I've one of my. Well, my producing partner and best friend in the world, Terrell, Alvin McCraney, he often says he makes the. Our ambition is to make the intimate epic. Right. And I think there's something about the specificity of what Brandon has created, the detail with which he's drawn these characters in these circumstances, this family that is so specific and outlined so well that when you come to it, whether these, whether these people look like you or not, you relate to the experience. You relate to the social experiment. That is a nuclear family. Right. Because everyone has one. No one's as perfect. You know, there is Dysfunction in everybody's family, whether you're white, black or anything in between. No matter what demographic comes in to see this play, they always walk away. I hear people come to me often and say, I saw my mother, I saw my father, I saw my aunt, my sister, my brother, my kid. And that right there is the thing that he's touched upon that's sort of tantamount to his genius. He is at once a beautiful linguist, right? His facility with language is one of the best I've ever seen. But then also his. His sense of storytelling, his sense of dramatic action, the sort of hypersensitivity that he has around family structure and what that means to be a person in a particular type of family. And as you mentioned, he touches upon so many different topics in the course of this epic drama that everyone walks away from feeling something deeply. No one comes to this play and is unbothered emotionally. You come and you say, I went for a ride and I came out on the other side, hopefully in some way, even a small, small way, with a shift, a change, you know? So I love that about his work.
- [31:47]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
Love that.
- [31:48]
Glen Davis
So as a black creative, as a black actor, what's it like to have people like Oprah, Whoopi, icons in the black community, watching on stage change?
- [31:56]
Charlie Cooper
It's fantastic. There is no greater compliment than someone coming to the show saying that what you did was worthwhile, what you did was impactful, than someone of that pedigree, like you said, along with Oprah and Whoopi and Gail. So many people have come. Robert Townsend, you know, Pauletta Washington, people who you. You dream of working with, people you've revered for so long. Everybody has come to this show. And really, Ava DuVernay, Regina King, they come and they say beautiful things about the show and the performances. I mean, we tied, as you know, for most nominations in the acting categories for any show ever. And that's hugely meaningful because this is, like you said, these are black artists. And many times and historically, we haven't felt that we were seen. We were given opportunities. And here, this is an all black creative teams in terms of director, writer, actors on stage. And to be lauded in this way with the Pulitzer Prize, with Tony nominations for all the actors, for Brandon, it's been. It's a beautiful scenario. When I first sat down and thought what this could look like with Brandon and Phylicia, I would have never dreamed that we'd be here today. So, I mean, it might have been a hope, but there's no way you can call this shot. So a lot of people are giving me credit, but I just say the brilliance of Brandon Jacobs Jenkins is why we're all here. August Wilson used to say, where were you when there was nothing on the page? And so I. I look at Brandon, I say, you created something that's gonna last the test of time, because this is an epic drama that is touching everyone who comes into this room to see it.
- [33:53]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
Absolutely.
- [33:54]
Glen Davis
Well, Glen, listen, you are so humble. You worked so hard. You killed it in this show.
- [33:58]
Phylicia Rashad
Thank you.
- [33:58]
Glen Davis
And we thank you for this moment. And listen, you have a show to go do, so break a leg.
- [34:02]
Charlie Cooper
Yeah. Thank you so much.
- [34:03]
Latonya Richardson Jackson
I appreciate it. Thank you.
- [34:06]
Tamsen Fadal
To read more about purpose and pick up tickets, head over to broadway.com. until next time, I'm Tamsen Fadal, and this is the Broadway show uncut.