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[0:00] Pauls Macs: Ever wonder what it takes to make a new musical sing? Our mission is to give you an inclusive look behind the scenes. We are interviewing the creatives who are changing musical theater one 11 o'clock number at a time. This is your Backstage Pass. Get your Backstage Pass. Get your Backstage Pass.

[0:44] Pauls Macs: Hello Barnacles! It's Pauls and now it's time for something a little different. So we have with us the president of Theater Barn Records and a very valued colleague, Héctor Flores Jr. And we're going to do something, as I said, a little different. We're going to share with you the Director's Roundtable from New York Theater Barn's A Seat at the Table that just recently occurred. Héctor, do you want to say hello?

[1:11] Héctor Flores Jr.: Hey! Hey, Pauls. Thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here and I'm excited that more people get to hear this conversation. I'm very excited to share this conversation. Let me just tell the Barnacles a little bit about the event. For one night only, five award-winning Broadway directors united to discuss their unique experiences working in a rapidly evolving industry and offer insights into the creative process of incubating new works. Audience members were able to submit questions, making their voices an integral part of the conversation. I was able to ask a question, which was so cool. New York Theater Barn believes that there's a place for all of us at the table of the American theater. That's what these A Seat at the Table events are really about. As I was working with you, it seemed like you had an integral role shaping this evening.

[1:48] Héctor Flores Jr.: Yes, so the A Seat at the Table series started out as a fundraiser for New York Theater Barn. And in addition to being a fundraiser, I wanted us to have a space where we could have uncomfortable conversations comfortably. And that includes talking about things that we know are harsh realities about the business and trying to at least open up the discussion and maybe think about ways that we can make things slightly better. So, it started with a panel on diversity. So, we had people from all areas of the business. So, we had producers, we had directors and choreographers, we had actors, and we had writers, and we had a costume designer. So, it was really interesting to see from everybody's perspective, like how does this thing work?

Since then, we've been able to do a panel on women, a panel for Latinos in the theater, a panel on understudies and swings, and now this panel on directors. So, it was really exciting to get people's perspectives who've been doing this for a very long time and who have been doing this at the highest level to see what they thought about things that we face every day.

[2:44] Pauls Macs: Absolutely. I just have to say that as a director, this is the one I was, I don't want to say most interested in, but the one that I felt the deepest affinity for because I was just so interested to hear the perspectives of these powerhouses. This conversation was just so thrilling to be a part of. And I think it's thrilling for a lot of people because the director is like pretty much the epicenter. They're the artistic vision of this thing and they are essentially the head of each department. So, if you are directing a musical, obviously the costumes department needs to be on board with you. Scenic, sound, music director, like you are like the head honcho. You're the captain of the ship. And I think a lot of people would really value the insight of the director, not only as a member of the creative team, but also as actors and as people who just enjoy theater. These are the minds that are piecing the puzzle together on stage that we get to watch.

[3:39] Héctor Flores Jr.: Absolutely. Also, Broadway directors, notoriously busy. So, it's really hard to track them down and ask them questions. We had a long list of directors that we were really excited to speak to. We have an amazing bunch that we were able to gather. I'm really excited about the people that everyone's going to get to listen to today. But let me tell you, getting them on board, it was hard. Everybody wanted to do it, but not everybody was available. Like as you said, directors, they jump around from show to show and it was like you do a show for four weeks and then you move on to the next. And that means there's a lot of travel involved, so they weren't necessarily in town. But I think we landed on some phenomenal directors, a lot of Tony nominees, Tony Award winner. And collectively, I think they have over a hundred years of experience when you add up all of the years that they've been doing this.

[4:23] Pauls Macs: Yeah. And I just have to say also a very eclectic group of directors, because that's something, I guess this is a tease that in my question I asked about for emerging directors, what really sticks these days? And a lot of them talked about developing their own unique voices. And that was something that I saw very clearly, five unique voices in this conversation. So another reason I'm really excited for people to hear this conversation. Five very unique and bold voices.

[4:48] Héctor Flores Jr.: Very bold. Absolutely. Okay. So you're sitting there at the table with these five theatrical powerhouses. Can you just tell us about the experience of what that was like interviewing them?

[5:03] Pauls Macs: First order of business was don't look and sound stupid. Don't look and sound stupid. Because they are juggernauts and they've been nominated for the highest award. Most of them, some of them winning the highest award that there is for theater. And between all of them, there's over a hundred years worth of experience. So it's also respecting what they've done, knowing what they've done and asking them specific questions to their journeys. And in the middle of it, like I'm sure you feel the same way when you're hosting your podcast, but for us, especially being live and in the room, it was kind of like, okay, well make sure you say the question, right? Say the question, right? Make sure you're listening. Watch the clock. Joe's in the back doing this, you know, his finger up in the air, saying you have to wrap up. It's a lot to manage at the same time, but still to be locked in. So it was fun to flex the multipurpose part of my brain.

[5:48] Héctor Flores Jr.: Yeah. Well, I also felt you were really encouraging to the directors, you know, about getting them to share more.

[5:56] Pauls Macs: Well, without further ado, let's tell the audience who the directors were. So as we do on Backstage Pass, Hector and I are going to read the bios of these directors. Hector, do you want to start us off?

[6:01] Héctor Flores Jr.: All right. Well, first up is Walter Bobby. He is a Tony award-winning director of the Broadway revival of Chicago, the longest running Broadway revival and the longest running musical currently running on Broadway. He's also directed the Broadway musicals, Bright Star and Footloose. And for the latter, he also co-wrote the book.

[6:21] Héctor Flores Jr.: All right. Next, we have five-time Tony nominee Camille A. Brown, who made history as the first black woman since Katharine Dunham to direct and choreograph a Broadway play with four-colored girls who have been considered suicide when the rainbow is enough. She choreographed the Broadway revival of Gypsy, starring Audra McDonald, Porgy and Bess at the Metropolitan Opera, and will direct and choreograph the upcoming Broadway revival of Dreamgirls.

[6:43] Héctor Flores Jr.: JoAnn M. Hunter is an acclaimed Japanese-American director and choreographer whose work spans more than 25 productions across Broadway, the West End, Australia and Asia, including Bad Cinderella, School of Rock and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. She was also instrumental in launching notable world premieres including Beatsville, August Rush and A Sign of the Times.

[7:04] Héctor Flores Jr.: Next, we have Victoria Collado. She is a Cuban-American director known for immersive, adventurous storytelling across stage, film and digital media. Named Best Director of 2020 by Miami New Times, Collado is well known for her direction of the hit immersive theater piece, The Amparo Experience, which had a sold-out eight-month run and was named Miami's Hottest Ticket by People en Español. On Broadway, she was the assistant director for John Leguizamo's Latin History for Morons.

[7:28] Héctor Flores Jr.: And then we have Marcia Milgrom Dodge, a.k.a. MMD. She is a Tony, Drama Desk and Astaire Award-nominated director and choreographer for her stirring and celebrated Broadway revival of Ragtime. In a career spanning over 46 years, she has established herself as a leading director and choreographer of new works, major New York revivals, international spectacles and groundbreaking regional theater, like her acclaimed production of Beauty and the Beast at ONLY Theatre Center.

[8:01] Héctor Flores Jr.: And finally, I'm going to read your bio, Hector, just so the audience can get a taste of everyone who was at that table. So moderator Hector Flores Jr. is a Puerto Rican-American director, choreographer, performer and president of Theater Barn Records, the theater community's global destination for streaming original musicals in development. Flores has been instrumental in the development of the new musicals Café con Leche, Xena Warrior Musical, Ghost in the Machine, Sueños, our American musical, and Andy Keith and Jean-Michel.

[8:27] Pauls Macs: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hector, it's always a pleasure to speak with you. I'm so thrilled that Barnacles are going to get to experience this very, very special event. All right, Barnacles, enjoy. And now Backstage Pass is proud to present the director's roundtable from New York Theater Barn's Seat at the Table. These recordings were captured live, so don't be afraid to turn the volume way up so you can hear the responses from all the panelists. Enjoy.

[8:52] Héctor Flores Jr.: Thank you so much for being here this evening, everyone. It's a real honor and a genuine privilege to not just share oxygen with you, but actually be in conversation with you. Each of you has helped shape the standard of the industry, and your work has marked important milestones in the history of American theater. I'm deeply grateful to share this space with you, and so let's dive in. I would like to start with dedicating this conversation to someone. So if there's someone in your life that you'd like to dedicate this to, I'd like you to mention their name and why. I'll give you a second. I'll go first. I'm dedicating this to my college academic advisor, Michael Cesar, because it was a conversation in his office that stopped me from changing my major, and if he didn't do that, I wouldn't be here today.

[9:31] Walter Bobbie: I'd like to dedicate this conversation to my father, who passed away in August. He was a retired parole officer and also was a coach in Harlem, and he always connected coaching to my directing, and so I just honor him today.

[9:44] Camille A. Brown: This is for my sister, Carol Jo Lasser, my big sister, who played the guitar and the piano and taught me everything about loving all kinds of music.

[9:59] Marcia Milgrom Dodge: Oh man, I'm just going to keep on crying the whole time. Well, this goes to my mom, who passed away while I was in the middle of tech for a show, so you can imagine that was fun, but she was the light of every room, and she was the reason I loved art. She's the first person I ever took me to the theater, so this one's for her.

[10:22] JoAnn M. Hunter: I have a double dedication. The first one was to my father, who bought me a stereo in the eighth grade for Christmas, and for some reason, the album to Oklahoma, and he had no idea what he was unleashing. He created a monster. Created a monster, and Father Gannon, who was my Jesuit private counselor when I was at university, and I said, I think I'm going to be a priest, and he said, no, you're not going to be a priest. He said, you don't have the calling. I know it when I see it, but you don't have it. You're avoiding something, and to Father Gannon, who's now my passcode on everything, I dedicate the rest of my life.

[11:01] Victoria Collado: I have a double dedication, too. Oh, good. My first dedication is to my very first dance teacher, Nancy Lefebvre de Chico, who passed away this past year, and my second is to my mother, Hiroko Hunter, and for, she's Japanese, for saying this to me, you want to take ballet, Chris? I said, okay. She opened up a phone book like this, and that's how I found, or we found, Nancy Lefebvre de Chico. It was fate. It was fate.

[11:35] Héctor Flores Jr.: All right. Now, I want to start at what feels like the beginning. What was the show, or the theater piece, that got you hooked onto theater? Let's start with Joanne.

[11:42] JoAnn M. Hunter: Of course. On tour. On tour in Rhode Island. Yes, I was 16, 17, 16. My girlfriend, my high school girlfriend, and my other girlfriend, they bought me a ticket for my birthday, and it was playing at the Providence Performing Arts Center. It wasn't called that when I was there, and we went to see it, and I, I mean, I was dancing already. I started dancing when I was 11, but I remember, first of all, such a great musical, and the story, and the idea of wanting something so much. It was, I just went, that's what I want to do. How do I do that? So, that was, of course, fine.

[12:33] Camille A. Brown: I'm going to say Bring in the Noise, Bring in the Funk, and Jelly's Last Jam, and that was an opportunity for me to see black culture in its authenticity, and I was just so moved by what George C. Wolfe is doing, has done, for black people in black theater.

[12:58] Walter Bobbie: Mine was really weird. So, the original Broadway cast recording of Stop the World, I Want to Get Off, Anthony Newley and Leslie Brookes, and my sisters and I, Carol and my sister Paul, and I would run around the house singing, I've been l-u-m-b-e-r-e-d lumbered. We didn't even know what the hell it meant or anything, but we were just, and my parents wouldn't let us go see the show at the Fisher, I grew up in Detroit, Fisher Theater, because there was an abortion in the show, and it's the 60s. So, that show, we should, I maybe need to dust that off, but that was, that was it, and then I auditioned for a summer rep at the University of Michigan the summer before my freshman year, and got into the Roar of the Grease, Paint the Smell of the Crowd. So, it's like a Newley-Brookes bonanza. Like, it was all Newley-Brookes, so they were very helpful to me. I love that.

[13:55] Victoria Collado: Mine were a lot of movie musicals. I feel like I'm so loud right now. I'm like, I'm the loudest Cuban in the room, for sure. There was a lot of movie musicals, and then I went to watch Aida with my

[14:07] Héctor Flores Jr.: Family at the Actors Playhouse in Miami and I was like wait wait wait hold on this is not just for dance recitals like you can get up there you can sing you can dance you can do this whole thing and the lady playing Aida was just like this majestic woman that was just like exploding with light and I was like this is one of the most existential I didn't know what existential was at age but like it just felt like otherworldly and then that's it my life changed. I came to New York for the World's Fair yes I'm that old and I that same weekend I saw my first two Broadway shows I saw a matinee of How to Succeed in Business without really trying I had to like hold myself in my seat I just wanted to leap up on stage and be part of it and that night I saw a revival of the Glass Menagerie with Maureen Stapleton and Piper Laurie and I just thought I'm coming back here I'll go to finish my I changed my major I'm going to college I'll go to graduate school but I'm coming back here to do this and then I did. And that's all there was to it. And that's all there was to it. Snap snap.

[15:16] Héctor Flores Jr.: Alright Bobby I'd like to Walter Bobby I'd like to stick with you you're a Tony Award winner for let me read what I wrote I'm getting excited the first part I would like to pass the conversation to Tony Award winner Walter Bobby who not only directed the longest revival and second longest-running musical in Broadway history Chicago which is actually playing around the corner at the Ambassador Theatre yes they're running 30 years later but you also directed and co-wrote one of my favorite musicals Footloose you also played nicely nicely Johnson in the iconic 1992 revival of Guys and Dolls and originated the role of Roger in the original production of Grease I'm that old what do you think when you watch revivals today especially pieces that you've worked on?

[16:06] Walter Bobbie: I'm happy that they're being revived you know that means that we created something that is worth re-examining there's some things that I've done that I hope do get revived because there may have been something originally and the timing may have been right or that we didn't foresee we have and I had that wonderful opportunity in Chicago where we saw something inside of this piece that we didn't think had been fully manifest and we had the opportunity to do an homage to Fosse and his legacy without reviving his show and we you know you've all done well certainly Camille have done revivals of important choreographic work and it's a challenge and how do you how do you address that I think here's the thing I think it's important to do it all I think it's important to do original stuff which is very very hard I think it's important to do adaptations I think it's good to do plays and musicals and all that and I've forgotten your question but you did answer it but yeah do I do I like seeing things revive yes I think it's important I've benefited from it as a director and I hope to benefit from it as a writer I think for example Footloose is been done all over the world for almost 30 years it's translated into I don't know 20 some languages and I would like I very much would like it to be revived because it is about it's about conservatism and liberation and the conflict and it's about a father who has lost his son coming back up against a son who's lost his father so I've always found the emotional content attached to all this exuberant score there are five songs you can still walk into the grocery store today and hear playing and I think in some ways it's timely do I want to direct it no but I'm I would love and there's some talk I would like to see that show again because I think it's a show about a lot of well-intentioned people misunderstanding each other and finally finding a way to heal and I think there is no better time to tell that story and it happens to have a smashing score did I answer your yes three times over I loved it oh no it's so good.

[18:43] Camille A. Brown: Does anyone else have anything to add I think we need a revival of in the heights well yes well that's good I'm so in tune with everything right now nobody it did do something I think that what to Walter's point I think that what does it mean to revisit something obviously ragtime that is up now like that is is something that means something today that means very different back then I think watching in the heights today would be something that puts what America is in context right like I think that the vibe like what makes New York special and what makes America special is at the end of the day we're all immigrants whether you like it or not and whatever way it was it happened and I think that revival is like an entry point I just remember being in school and the vibe of like joining together all the theater nerds of singing songs of what was on Broadway but also the songs that have been sung down like you said chorus line and I'm like I mean I remember very naively being like oh I want to sing oh actually I auditioned for cops with dance 10 looks three which do I look like a dance dance it looks three like the role that should be put like the role that it was assigned no but theater allows you to just kind of think beyond yourself and it allows you to I think revivals are an entry point for love I love that and interesting fact in the heights was the first show that was written by Latino about Latino people to actually hit the Broadway stage so everything prior to that Evita West Side Story all written by white people.

[20:26] Héctor Flores Jr.: Next Walter you were in the 10th anniversary production of company at Playwrights Horizons with our board president Sheila Ray Sheila Ray where are you hey and Sheila said revivals show us who we were and new works show us who we are Marcia your Tony nomination for the 2009 iconic revival of ragtime and inspired production of seussical are brilliant examples of actor driven storytelling that feels personal and intimate in your opening night interview of the innovative and reimagined production of beauty and the beast at only theater you said I'm not a replica director how do you approach revivals especially those that haven't aged well for example carousel West Side Story or main?

[21:03] Marcia Milgrom Dodge: Okay well first of all let me just piggyback on the previous question about seeing revivals that you have done and I'm so thrilled for ragtime to be getting the attention it's getting it's one of our great probably the greatest musical of the 20th century by American writers and I was so privileged to wrestle with it and smuggle in deeper meaning where I could and do all the things that I hope gave inspiration to the current company so I applaud that that journey yeah I don't do replicas I even did a fiddler on the roof without the bottle dance but that's a whole nother panel for another day and I got permission from the Robbins estate certain things you know when you want to take something apart and put it back together the you honor the book music and lyrics for sure but the interpretation is what we all do right and to make it meaningful for an audience living and breathing today so when I go dive into classic musicals and figure out the why of it all that's what's front and center and you reference Beauty and the Beast choreographed by my beautiful partner in crime Josh Walden where we honored the book music and lyrics and gave profound new meaning to the word beauty by casting Jade Jones as Belle who is a plus-sized queer non-binary human and our Beast was played by Evan Ruggiero who has one leg lost a leg to cancer when he was 19 so we had a peg-legged beast and a plus-size dark black skinned Belle and it shook the world her performance of home went viral she had they had comments on Instagram from Norway and Australia and Germany and the UK I mean it was just overwhelming to present a fairy tale and give an opportunity to somebody who had never dreamt about being a princess didn't think it was in their toolkit to ever play a princess a Disney princess the day Jade put on the gown and threw their head back and gasped with joy is a day I can't even shaking from that moment it was the most gorgeous gift to go into that musical and dig out new meaning so that's what I do I think of myself as like an excavator you know just keep wrestling with it and I say it with all love and affection the word wrestle to me is is primary and primal in the way that I go about it so main West Side Story and what Carousel I love Carousel score put the put it in a drawer and lock it up and leave it there for a little while till we don't need to hear can a slap feel like a kiss I just don't think so West Side Story you know now we get into the choreographer as dramaturge narrator storyteller book and West Side Story is beautifully integrated I'm not I'm not really that interested in fucking around with I could be persuaded and then main I don't know about me I mean Jerry Herman come on so great I have to dig in now it's not one of my yeah probably not so yeah that would take a big magnifying glass and a Sherpa guide probably to get in there and figure that one out maybe to bring it into the modern century.

[25:10] JoAnn M. Hunter: Joanne you are one of the most decorated Broadway icons with over 20 Broadway credits yes including revivals of kiss me Kate guys and dolls damn Yankees Chicago where you put Bebe Neuwirth back into the show and one of your first professional gigs was the revival tour of West Side Story that was supposed to end up being the next revival but the bond wasn't there so then the oh the tour was disbanded no you didn't I research and your new work credits include on Broadway Bad Cinderella School of Rock disaster the wedding singer all shook up and showgun just to name a few what is the difference in your approach when you're handling a revival as opposed to a new work?

[26:00] JoAnn M. Hunter: I mean not unlike what Marsha said I my opinion when there's a revival right in a reason why there's revivals are revived because there's something to look at which I thought that was so beautifully said by Walter Bobby who we did guys and dolls together okay anyway and he was my director in Chicago anyway okay you know what a revival already has a skeleton already has a house built right and you can kind of redecorate it maybe where a new piece is blank it's a blank piece of paper which is so scary to me but so exciting because I'm always like I I suck I can't do it I don't know what I'm talking about and being able to delve in with your with your writers and try to figure figure out how the story is being told what what's missing what do we need what works beautifully all of those little nuances that with the revival you do to a certain degree but but there is a house that's that's been built you have a structure which is great they're both difficult but I my preference is to do something new that I've never seen that I have no I can't do any research on except for what the context of the piece entails you know that and figuring out who these people are I I love it more than I ever anticipated I love working in the studio that's my answering the question yes okay okay you forget after you talk so much I I love it in fact I love it so much that I never want it to end I never wanted to go into production and rehearsal and open even though that's where hopefully you're gonna make some money but I I find it so fulfilling so scary but to come to be able to come home and not have to be judged on it as of yet and I know we're like we're not judged we all do we all do we all have opinions just we all do and there's that safety I was called a rehearsal room a hug it's it should feel like this right there's safety this is where you should feel the safest to create and experiment and make ginormous mistakes.

[28:15] Camille A. Brown: So that's why I like doing new things because of that discovery and that literally me saying to myself every day I don't know what I'm doing, but then you still get up the next day and do it, and then you go back I don't know what I'm doing, and then you still get up and do it again. Does anyone else have anything to add in your approach to revivals versus new work? I'll just say that a director once said to me go to a place of not knowing and allow yourself to live there and something will emerge and generally it does. Yeah, if you just release all that judgment you can't do anything you suck right? Oh, it's so good. It's so good. You like you have these you know yeah. Yes, yeah, yes, and no on your shoulder, and then if you just sort of release it.

Yeah, I think you're saying. I don't know is that I mean I said. I don't know I all right I don't have an answer right now. Yeah, you know what let me think on that and it feels so good to be able to confess going I don't have the answer. I'm gonna figure it out though. I love that and I'm not embarrassed to say that. It's only when you go home and all those horrible you know creep in but then you get up. I love when there's that moment in rehearsal where you're like. I don't know but let's figure it out together. Let's let's play. And I think it does something to actors and performers where they feel like they have some agency like it's not I think that there's various approaches to directing, but I love when an actor feels like they are in it with you as opposed to just tell me what to do which I'm pretty sure most of us don't work with tell me what to do people.

But I think that that sort of invitation is why we do theater. I think that's why you know if we knew everything all the time then that'd be boring and then revivals would suck, but I think that that curiosity of where we are invites us to open up. I love that idea, and I think it's really important to stay creative and have a flex not just a flexible body, but a flexible mind in the rehearsal room.

[30:18] Héctor Flores Jr.: We have some students from the American Academy for Dramatic Arts if you're here and make some noise. And one of the things that I try to implore on them when we're in class is that they should be ready to make choices in the room and to have a perspective and to have an idea of where this person is coming from. Is there anything that you can give them as far as advice and what you're looking for in an artist to work with?

[30:54] Walter Bobbie: So I think the difference between a new work is that it's new. No one has seen it before you have the ability to create a new memory in the space. A revival most people know it so you're going against. It's almost like you can't fear a revival you almost have to look it in the face and go I see you. You see me now. Let's do this together, and so I think the challenge is how do you give people all the feels and make them have the memory of loving that musical and remembering why you love that revival, but also having giving them something new to think about. So I this is my fifth revival and the second one that I'm directing and I'm doing a directing and choreographing Dreamgirls the Broadway revival, and I thank you. Thank you, and I'm really honored to have the opportunity to tell that story from a black female lens. So what does that do to the work? So and that's what I'd like to say about revival. I'm here for it.

[32:12] JoAnn M. Hunter: What advice would you give to students who are looking to work with any one of you? What are you looking for when you're working with actors in the room not unlike what you said? You know I always say to what in if I'm in an audition room or rehearsal room I'll say I just want to go. I don't want my back to you. I always say you would not go to someone's home you know that they invite you to dinner, and you don't come empty-handed. I mean you shouldn't you come with some flowers or side dish or some bottle of wine, and I go when you walk into a rehearsal or audition you should come in the room with a point of view because nothing is more exciting for me is you know you're if I'm choreographing something blah.

You know blah blah blah. You know have a synopsis this is the idea and then you watch these actors these dancers come to the plate with an idea with a point of view who this is and it is so thrilling to see that because also it begets more ideas. It makes my job easier because they come you know you know what I mean. And so you you're able to immediately work with people that are so pliable that are open so that makes you I think it makes you open and more pliable that you just kind of have that banter back and forth you oh my god that you know what way better idea way better than me. Let's do something. Oh, I let's riff off of that or so. That's what I say don't be afraid to make giant choices and don't be afraid to make a mistake because mistakes are there to learn from.

[33:53] Walter Bobbie: I keep hearing Tom Hanks say this so I'll just quote it because it's from the great Dan Sullivan be on time know your lines have an idea. Walk in the room at 10 o'clock be ready to work at 10 o'clock have an idea don't get stuck on the idea. Mmm, because sometimes what happens and it's sometimes like you watch someone get blocked themselves like they're like oh I thought of this this way like this is how I saw it and then there's another human on the other side playing up against them and then you're watching like them hit themselves, and you're like alright. Just play it might evolve. It might be the kernel to a bigger idea. It might be something that you know is like a popcorn and then it goes book and then oh now we have something amazing to play with so I think I would just add don't get stuck.

I think the important thing for all of us whether we're especially if you're auditioning as an actor and as a director. I want you to solve my problem. I'm not sitting there judging. Oh, she's too tall. She's too short. He should lose 10 pounds. Did she have a fear none of that? I want you to solve my problem. I want you to solve my problem in some ways that often surprises me.

[35:02] Camille A. Brown: I mean, I'm in the most unlikely person to play nicely nicely who is classically cast as a large tenor all of whom hated me in 1992 when I got when Jerry Zaks put me in in guys and dolls. In fact, I called the casting key, and I said does Jerry know I'm coming in and they said no Jerry wants you to come in. I mean we'd known each other since Greece, and I'd worked with him several times since but he saw a way once he cast Ernie Cibella, he saw a way that he wanted to reinvent that part, and it was very very difficult. That's a great. You know because all of that expectation was there is they changed my costume or various walk-in with salami sandwiches the eating or we got rid of all of that stuff.

I was encumbered with all the classic things that are attached to who did originally the great who was the original? Yeah, Sam. Oh, I'm yeah. Anyway, but the thing is when you go into the room bring yourself and bring an idea and if you're gonna make a mistake make a big one. Reveal yourself. I don't know what I want until it shows up. I'll tell the casting director yes, this that the other but people come in the way Nina Ariana did with Venus and fur. I don't know if you've ever any of you saw that but we did with a whole bunch of stars and all this stuff and then Nina came in and she owned it. She just revealed to us what this part could possibly be and she went from being a graduate of NYU and six months later.

She won the Tony. But she came in prepared and she surprised us and we had been reading a bunch of stars. But Nina came in and solved the problem and we weren't ready for it. I mean we were completely ready for it and we said we have to hire her. There is no way we cannot present this new talent to the New York Theatre Company. It would be criminal to hire someone who might sell some tickets and not let this woman reveal herself to the New York Theatre. So be willing to take a risk. Be willing to solve the problem for the director and don't be afraid to make a mistake.

[37:30] Héctor Flores Jr.: Of all people Salvador Dali said be mindful of mistakes. They are always of a spiritual nature. That's profound. Don't walk out of an audition looking for a new spiritual unfolding solve it before you go in we all come out. We have plenty of history have plenty of scars and we've learned all the time we go along. But don't learn from your mistakes. Learn for your boldness. Learn from your willingness to go in and play the fat man.

[38:07] Victoria Collado: Vicky your Broadway debut with Latin history for morons. You've also done a lot of work with Espanol and you've directed the audience immersive production of Amparo which was a hit in Miami and told the story about and told the history of Havana Club Rum. You're also a film and TV director with numerous credits including a web series called love asterix. And for the years you've exemplified a tenacious advocacy and fought for representation for Cubans and Latinos in new works. Why do you fight so hard for new works and why are they important?

[38:38] Victoria Collado: It's a necessity I wish like I think that I got into theater thinking I would direct like Legally Blonde which one day I will you know that I would live in the world of comedy and and all of that and what I ended up finding was that quite often our voices I'm saying things that we all know our voices aren't represented. They're not and it's not just that they're not represented. It's how they're represented like how are you telling that story and I got really sick at one point of like the only place for Latino stories as if you're a struggling immigrant coming to there's like we have joy we live lives. We're a family. So a lot of the work that I do yes, it's part of the narrative because that's how a Latino or a Cuban exists in the United States of America.

You know, I had to come from somewhere to get here and then you know, but there's so much more to what our culture is and so on and so forth. I fight so hard for it because we have to expand I remember I was working on a show it was caught it was had a different title at the time, but it was a show called the Cubans and it was about this Cuban family who have just lost a son? It's not so much. It's about all the the things that a Cuban family carries with them like what it meant to leave everything behind start over again what it means to start over again with focus on like must survive and I'm sure that's happened to other people but Cubans tend to be like we don't talk about it. We don't talk about the bus nothing happened.

We're here. I'm Eddie got moving forward. So like, you know like my dad came at 30 on a boat with on a shrimp boat with a bunch of other people during the Mariel boatlift look it up there was a hundred and twenty thousand people that came through that and then had to hit the ground running and moving and there's stories that I'm still uncovering as I go. So in that particular play I was fascinated with what the playwright was doing because the first act was very TV sitcom like it was like kitchen sink drama and then the second act which was very like American and then the second act was like this like full-on like Cuban like explosion of like Q like oh my god, I do feel who wrote I do feel anyway, it's a Cuban writer.

It's and it's I'm stuck on it but anyway it was like a total shift not of just language but a shift of like how the play was dramatized and we did a workshop of it up here. It was fun because we had done a workshop in Miami which if you want an audience that doesn't give an F about anything go to Miami because they're not impressed by anything. We had done a workshop up here and everybody was like wow representation and then we're in Miami and they're like whatever that's my house. So like they're like so not impressed like the things that like you're in New York and you're like breathing. They're like yeah. Yeah, whatever I have better things to do. So it's a it's a wonderful testing ground.

I highly recommend that and I remember we were doing it up here and we got some feedback from a producer and the producer was like he said brown people on stage is radical enough and it was not a white person to be very clear like it was it was someone from my own culture and I'm sure that there was an intention of like, hey, we've been fighting to get on stage. Just just get on stage and nail being on stage. But to me, I'm like, I'm an overachiever. I can't just be on stage. I gotta I gotta do something on stage and it kind of broke my heart because we were like it was still asking us and the play and me and the writer and the actors to fit inside the box that was palatable.

[42:22] Héctor Flores Jr.: And the thing that New Work does, and why we have to keep pushing it, both on the film end, which is why I even went into film, I would have lived in theatre the whole time, but it's because how we view narrative, and how we, like, we can't just keep boxing people in. So every time you do something, you crack it open, and you start saying, like, hey, how about we talk, do this narrative this way? Like, I love what you were saying about the revival. It's like, let's switch the perspective, like, just look at it from this angle. What does it mean to look at it from this perspective? It allows us to actually have more empathy. So that was a long way. Wow, we love to talk. But I think that's, like, it's representation, but it's deeper than that.

At the end of the day, it's about what it means to go to the root of a person, and have those roots meet. If you didn't know, trees talk to each other, and the roots reach to each other. And that's what, essentially what you're doing. You're just growing your root until it meets another one, and you go, and oxytocin goes. Does anyone else have anything else to add as to why you would fight for new work? Because I just did a reading of a piece called The Ballad of Mulan. And it's basically, the idea is, what happens, or how did Mulan become the Mulan that Disney knows? And there were two lovely actresses, we just finished on this past Friday, and these two actresses came up to one of the authors and myself and said, they played these two mother characters and both of them were so thankful.

And they said, thank you for writing something that is not projected as many people see Asian women, you know, and Asian mothers of a certain type. Like, this takes place during the Northern and Southern Dynasty in China. And so, long time ago. But the idea that they're still human, and it was so, I didn't write it, but it was so eye-opening. Because I, you know, I'm half Japanese, so I just, yeah, of course we have many aspects of who we are, and, you know, and I'm not just what you perceive, or possibly a white community might perceive. And it was so beautiful, because one of our writers is a Caucasian, right? And a male. And it was so beautiful for them to say that to him. And for these actresses to feel so completely well-rounded.

They're a full human being. There's many aspects to all of us. We all breathe, eat, sleep, bleed, you know, the same. Or maybe not the same, sleeping-wise, or eating-wise. But this is a new piece, and that new piece allowed that to happen, and allowed for these two actresses to feel that way. And I thought, wow, that was, I just happened to step into the conversation. They were talking to me, and they said that, and I just thought it was so beautiful. And it made me feel proud to be a part of this new development. But I love this. I mean, the idea of a full-rounded human being. We all have so many different aspects of ourselves, right? I think it's what makes us connect as humans. I think my business partner always says, the more specific—shout out to Vanessa.

Shout out to Vanessa Garcia, my better half. She always says, she's like, you get specific not to get universal, you get to get more specific. And in that specificity is where somebody else is like, oh, I'll reach, I'll touch that. And I remember when I was in Williamstown, where Stars Are Born by Harrison. Oh my God, why am I forgetting everybody's names today? Because you're being put on the spot. But I remember I was an AD on that show, and Saheem Ali was directing it. And I was watching, Joshua Boone was on it. It was actually like a really, I was like, why am I sitting here? This is amazing. But I remember—

[46:20] Camille A. Brown: That's how I feel today. I feel like that too. And I'm like, this is legend. But I think I was watching that, and it was the first time that that realization of like, no, I am not exactly like this character, but I see the pieces of me inside of this person, because they were so specific about themselves. They weren't trying to fit any box. They weren't trying to please me or anybody else. They were just being truthfully authentic to themselves. And I think that that's, this is why we do what we do. You're here.

[46:50] Héctor Flores Jr.: Camille. Hi. Your Broadway tenure has been mostly revivals, including the iconic revival of Gypsy, starring Audra McDonald, A Streetcar Named Desire, Once On This Island, and congratulations on your upcoming revival of Dreamgirls. Your new work credits include Choir Boy and For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enough, which oddly enough was its first time on Broadway, but was considered a revival. That production made you the first black woman to direct and choreograph a Broadway show in over 65 years.

[47:22] Camille A. Brown: Thank you.

[47:25] Héctor Flores Jr.: Yes. The first and only other black woman to do this was Katherine Denham, who directed and choreographed her company at the Broadway Theater in November of 1955. With only six Broadway credits, you've earned five Tony nominations, which is almost one Tony nomination per production, if you weren't doing the math. In interviews, you said, I always try to make whatever work I do very Camille. Have you ever found yourself in a circumstance where the powers that be have tried to censor your work or ask you to make yourself more palatable? And how do you handle that?

[48:07] Camille A. Brown: No.

[48:12] Héctor Flores Jr.: Which is a full sentence.

[48:13] Camille A. Brown: Yeah. I've never been asked to change. I think I'm thankful to know that I believe when people ask me to do things, they know what I do and what I stand for. So there's no explanation that has to happen. And I'm coming in there for a very specific reason. So I've never had that challenge. And I think regardless of whether I've had work on Broadway or the Met, I never change. And that's the thing that I always wanted, is that you may change rooms, but don't change who you are. It's almost like the Broadway show, you have to give as much of that energy as you would do at a performance in a park. What is the source of truth? I'm constantly on that journey and asking that question of what is truth, not only in the work, but also what is truth within ourselves and how do we put ourselves in that?

[49:24] Héctor Flores Jr.: Yeah. Thank you.

[49:25] All: Thank you.

[49:26] Héctor Flores Jr.: Have any of you ever dealt with being censored or asked to be more palatable?

[49:32] Marcia Milgrom Dodge: You've got something.

[49:38] Camille A. Brown: Well, I mean, I already said it. The brown people on stage is radical enough. And I think, yeah, that one was like a... And it's not by the people that I thought.

[49:46] Héctor Flores Jr.: Which is the most heartbreaking.

[49:51] Marcia Milgrom Dodge: I mean, we all get notes. And sometimes you have to... But there's a difference between, hey, step to the right so you're on four, so you're in the light. And hey, can you make this less Latino?

[50:07] Héctor Flores Jr.: No, never.

[50:08] Marcia Milgrom Dodge: No.

[50:11] Héctor Flores Jr.: I've never been asked to make this less Latino.

[50:14] Marcia Milgrom Dodge: Let's get that out of the way. In fact, I was very proud.

[50:20] Héctor Flores Jr.: Good for you.

[50:21] Marcia Milgrom Dodge: Yes. But this has become very controversial and very tested in recent decades. And as I said, I'm old. But when I did Out of This World at Encores in 1997. And you have to remember, I'm a student of Joe Papp. So all the issues that are now become so very, very focused in terms of sexuality, gender, race, casting, all of that stuff, it's turned into a very important conversation. And it is easier to do it in classic theater than it is to do in narrative theater. You can't do a white production of Eight Misbehave and it doesn't make any sense. And you can't do a white production of Raising in the Sun. And the reverse is also true. But where we have the... And I didn't even... Here's the thing.

I didn't even think about it. But when we did Out of This World, Andrea Martin was married to Ken Page. Ernie Sabella was LaChanze's uncle. We had some Hawaiian... We... But we didn't even... Jay Bender and I didn't even think about it. There was a purity about it because we had all been tutored by Joe Papp who made it our job to think that way.

[51:43] Héctor Flores Jr.: And...

[51:43] Marcia Milgrom Dodge: But when I think of the debates that I've been pulled into and I've never had... I've never had an issue with any of that or... You could just go over all the shows I've cast. It's true. I've never even thought about it. But it has become a topic. And there are a lot of things that I have had experience with that then emerge as a topic. For example, I could never direct Venus and Fir without an army of... What's it? Sensitivity training people in the room. We rehearsed Venus and Fir in a room the size of the stage. We allowed no one in the room except the stage manager and the writer and me. It was the safest space that I've ever been in. And I am so thankful for that experience because it was a trust act when we were dealing not with issues of just S&M, but where does the power rest in this room?

And is the power in control or is the power in surrender? All these big themes. And I talked to some people who were in the life and I said, are we getting this right? And they said, yes, we're getting it right because no matter what you've heard, there's only so much I know about S&M.

[53:06] Héctor Flores Jr.: But...

[53:10] Marcia Milgrom Dodge: How do I do you know? No, no, no. But it's been because I'm old, it has been interesting for me to watch the conversation, being a student of Joe Papp, to watch the conversation reach such attention and the need for such conversation and movement. When back when I was coming into the theater in the 70s and the 80s, it was kind of inevitable. And it's fascinating to me that that has emerged as such a dynamic and necessary part of the conversation.

[53:47] Héctor Flores Jr.: Yes, go ahead.

[53:48] Camille A. Brown: No, and I was going to say, and because I've come from that, I was, I really had a hard time when I was doing the Steve Martin, Edie Burkell piece called, what was the name of that play?

[54:04] Marcia Milgrom Dodge: Bright Star.

[54:05] Camille A. Brown: And people were, we were a bit assaulted because there wasn't a multiracial cast, which I've never been accused of. But it was about people in the South in the 20s and the 40s. And to have changed the casting, we would have had to written a different show. It was bad enough there was, that there was a marriage with an out of wedlock child and there was issues. Anyway, so I've, what am I talking about? I've just been so much in the middle of the conversation for so long. And I think it's important, but we must be mindful of when we're being proactive and when we're being inaccurate. Because I think, and that's why with classic plays, it's easier to cast everybody as Joe Papp taught us to do 50 years ago.

And now we're at a point where we want to give voice to certain things, which is very, very different. What you're talking about, it's very different than what I'm talking about. I wasn't giving voice by having LaChanze and Ernie Sabella be related. I was just doing what Joe Papp told us to do. The conversation has been happening for a very long time. I think more people are listening now and are being held accountable.

[55:31] Héctor Flores Jr.: I'm not on social media, but—

[55:33] Marcia Milgrom Dodge: Good for you.

[55:34] Héctor Flores Jr.: No, no, no, no. You're in a healthy place.

[55:40] Camille A. Brown: I got a lot of questions.

[55:43] Héctor Flores Jr.: So this was during the rehearsal period. And sometimes I would walk, you know, the Faithful Rehearsal Studios block on 8th Avenue, and I would run into people and they would say, oh, so you're doing Gypsy. I can't see that.

[56:01] Marcia Milgrom Dodge: Oh, that seems like a stretch for you.

[56:05] Héctor Flores Jr.: Rude.

[56:06] Marcia Milgrom Dodge: Wow.

[56:06] Héctor Flores Jr.: Yeah.

[56:07] Marcia Milgrom Dodge: On 8th Avenue.

[56:13] Camille A. Brown: Yes, but I think it's people, it's like sometimes, yes, sometimes you get put in, all the time, you get put in a box and people, just because you do one thing, it automatically means for them that you don't do the other thing.

[56:30] Camille A. Brown: And then when we consider our education, and I'm going back speaking as a dancer, the education is much better now, but back when I was growing up, it was more about the European aesthetic. And so I had to do my own work as a black artist, as a black woman, to dig into my culture. So if you're telling me that it looks odd that I do a port de bras or I do point, why? Because that's what I was taught in academia. How would I not know how to do a tombe, pas de bourrée, glissade, fouetté? How would I not know? You know, because I was trained in that. You speak the French. No, but you know, it's like in doing what I'm doing, I'm making a choice to hold the African diaspora in my hands. And so it was really interesting to see what people thought I could do and thought I could not do.

And I just told myself, don't feel like you have to defend yourself. Don't have to say, well, this is why I'm doing it. And I believe. And I said, just be patient and let the work speak for itself. And I think a lot of times the work is the most honest, targeted answer that you can give anyone.

[57:50] Héctor Flores Jr.: Let the work speak for itself. I love that. A very big component of that. I have a question from Pauls Macs. Pauls Macs is one of the creators of our Backstage Pass podcast. So if you want to hear about new works being created with artists, you can hear that wherever you listen to your podcast. Thank you, Broadway Podcast Network. And Pauls asks, for emerging directors trying to build a career right now, what do you think actually moves the needle forward?

[58:17] Marcia Milgrom Dodge: I just had one thing, and this speaks to direction in choreography, too. It's the question of do you want to be an imitator or do you want to be an original? And sometimes to originate and to be yourself is really hard work. And sometimes it's easy to fall into the influences and the inspiration. And we are all influenced and we are all inspired. But the hard work is to get, and I think you referenced this, about getting specific. And the one thing that you cannot take as an imitator is someone's specificity and someone's lived experience. So I'm from Queens. My mom is a retired social worker. My dad, as I said, was a retired social worker, retired parole officer. My dad was from Harlem. My mom was from Queens.

My mom loves musical theater. My dad taught salsa on the side. Now we got to figure all that out, and that's a lived experience. And earlier when you were reading, you said that I described my work as Camille. And it's because it's like, yes, I can say it's inspired by tap, modern, jazz, African. You know, I can list the things, but it's who I am.

[59:41] JoAnn M. Hunter: The amalgamation of the things.

[59:43] Marcia Milgrom Dodge: Yes, it's the amalgamation. So it's not turning myself and changing into one. It's like, what is the idea? What is the thought? What is the source? And when you can find your source, no one can take that away from you.

[59:55] Héctor Flores Jr.: We've got one last question. What responsibility do you believe directors have in addressing systemic inequalities in theater, including those related to race, gender, disability, or other marginalized communities? And how do you put that into practice?

[1:00:14] Walter Bobbie: I did it. I mean, I'm doing it. Over and over. And I think the Beauty and the Beast was a huge revelation for everybody working on it, and for the audience who came to see it. So I will constantly be trying to do that whenever I can to give diversity a voice on stage and behind the scenes. I know Walter talked about finding your group and going with them on the journey, but I also think that today our group needs to expand because 15, 20 years ago, my group were a lot of white people. And I am very excited and lucky to get to work with a more diverse group of set designers, costume designers, lighting designers, sound designers, video designers, puppet designers, all of the creatives are teaching me more whenever I open the door wider to bring in new voices.

Because it's easier when you have a shorthand with people to go, yeah, I know, you're already thinking that thing that we did that time, that thing, but I'm having new conversations now, which is so exciting and expanding me and helping me grow. So I think that we have to put that into practice as directors to expand everything that's going on behind the scenes as well as on stage.

[1:01:42] Camille A. Brown: Mentorship, great. Do they still have that program at SDC?

[1:01:46] Marcia Milgrom Dodge: We do. We still do. It's expanded now. The Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation, I was the very first observer. It is now, I know, I'm that old. It's a great program. And they have observers and fellowships and shadowing. So there's three sort of levels of participation that you can do. And you go to the SDCF website and look under professional development programming. And I've turned a lot of observers into assistants as they come through the program.

[1:02:29] JoAnn M. Hunter: See, because when you're, well, like Camila Joanne or I were in a Broadway show, you learn so much. I've learned so much from all the great directors I've worked with. This one and the Drama League, if you can become a Drama League fellow. A lot of Broadway directors have Drama League in their resumes. It is a tenacious, aggressive, assertive journey. You have to take it, say yes to the frat boy plays and say yes to get the experience of doing the work and developing your craft and figuring out what your Camila is, what your who you are, right? Who you are and what you want to say in the work that you do.

[1:03:16] Marcia Milgrom Dodge: Manny Azenberg during Ragtime said to me, theaters where you get your politics, your religion, your social consciousness. And with Ragtime we had it, yes. Yes, we were doing it all. So it was a really great connection to that producer who was my rabbi basically on that production to help me navigate the commercial trappings, I will say, on how to bring the show from Avaloshalom to Kennedy Center.

[1:03:50] Walter Bobbie: My answer is going to be gently vague because of situations, but...

[1:03:56] Camille A. Brown: They don't have to be.

[1:03:59] Walter Bobbie: The tea is hot. This is not for this responsibility that I'm talking about. It's not necessarily for the public or how we cast. It actually goes to the responsibility of sometimes helping educate or bringing to light or wake us up to somebody that is more in charge than say the director, meaning a producer or an artistic director.

[1:04:30] Walter Bobbie: Anyway, something, I'm going to be very vague. Please, my apologies, but something happened. I had these dancers on stage and this person came up to me during the Zitz probe and said, you know, I'm worried about that, what that looks like. And I said, what do you mean? God, this is going to be really hard to say. And I had this moment where I had two Asian, I had two Asian dancers and one Caucasian dancer doing, and the moment is they're supposed to be flirting with this actor, this character, right? And this person, fuck, sorry, oh, I swear, sorry, sorry. We're adults, it's okay. You know, said, well, you know, what does that look like? You know, you have two Asian girls doing this. And I was like, you do know I'm Japanese.

[1:05:17] Walter Bobbie: Yeah, but, you know, it looks like they are being hookers or something. They're not flirting. Anyway, I was so taken aback by this comment. And I had to go home. Actually, first I said, I need to go up to these women. And I said to them, can I ask you, do you feel weird that I've staged that this way? And I did, no, we're not, we're not hookers. I mean, and these are two Asian young girls saying this, young women. Anyway, I went home, it was really, and I have thick skin. I've been around a long time. I have had a lot of stuff happen. I've, you know, when there were no Asians anywhere near the theater and I don't get caught up easily because I know life experience and I know people are learning.

Anyway, I was really, I actually called my agent and I thought, which I don't do. I'm not a baby. I don't, like I said, I have thick skin, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, the next day I talked to the intimacy lady. I said, can I talk to you after? And she said, sure. And so I talked to her and she's like, absolutely. That was inappropriate, not right. Anyway, so I went up to this person in charge and spoke my mind. And I was trying to be like, because, you know, I mean, I'm very level-headed, but I'm half Irish too, so sometimes that Irish. I said to this person, I said, and this person was kind of not arguing, not being confrontational by no means at all. But, you know, they were talking back and forth to me and I was like, you are projecting what you think everybody else thinks.

[1:07:12] Walter Bobbie: I just told you that. That you think Asian people or Asian women, if they're doing something, are. I was like, you're projecting that biased racism. And I mean, I didn't point like that, but I'm like, no, I'm feisty right now. And this person was really, and I said, I had to say that out loud to you. And I said, all good, but just so you understand, no one else feels that way. And especially the people that actually look like this don't feel that way. So you're projecting what you think other.

[1:07:47] Camille A. Brown: It feels like a performative wokeness.

[1:07:49] Walter Bobbie: And I came back and the musical director, I'm not going to give any names away because you might guess, and he said, I saw what just went down. And he was like, how do you feel? I said, I'm okay. And I don't like confrontation. But I felt as, I felt that was my responsibility to actually say something. And maybe they understood, maybe they, I don't know. But I've had a lot of issues, not issues, I shouldn't say that, experiences in life where things were said to me. And I didn't always speak up. And I thought, you know what? It's my responsibility also for these cast members, for the whole piece. And so that's what I take, or that would be my answer to what are some of the responsibilities of someone that does run the room, that is in charge, that you can say something, even though you might be the captain of the ship, but there are people who pay for the ship.

[1:08:53] Héctor Flores Jr.: Yeah, that's real. That you do, and it's okay to say something, especially when you're like, no. You're speaking for everybody, but you're not. You're projecting.

[1:09:03] Camille A. Brown: And what do you think?

[1:09:05] Camille A. Brown: Very hard question, being part of an underrepresented group. And I think... I think it's especially difficult when the art form that we work in was not made in our image.

[1:09:17] Walter Bobbie: Right. I think simply existing is the work.

[1:09:21] Camille A. Brown: It feels like an act of rebellion. Yes, it's the responsibility to show up every day and have young girls that see themselves inside of you. I didn't know if I was able to direct and choreograph until I read about Catherine Dunham. And so, because she did it, I have a responsibility to do it. So that's the work, and that's the exhaustion, being the only one in the room, being the only black person in the room, being the only black woman in the room. That's where all of that responsibility comes from.

[1:09:55] Héctor Flores Jr.: All right, well, can we give one last round of applause to our directors for all of their insight? Thank you all for being here tonight.

[1:10:20] Héctor Flores Jr.: Like, subscribe, and share.