This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:39] Grace Aki: Hey, welcome back to Tell Me on a Sunday podcast. I'm so glad that you're back. It's me, Grace Aki, the host of this thing. Uh yeah, it's now been what, like a couple of weeks that we've had the second season of the show out. Obviously, we started off um really different than the normal seasons, but now we're back in the swing of things of having like wonderful storytelling guests, and today is going to blow your mind. I don't know if I want to promise that, but I want to say that this person that I'm interviewing is uh I love her so much. Um it's Aneesh Sheth. She's a singer, an actor, an activist, uh, a director, a producer, also just a very cool person. Uh we kind of talk about like how we met each other and uh we we were seated close to each other at a reading, and I was like, this person and I jive very well, and um I'm so excited for you to hear all about her.

You know her from like Jessica Jones and Difficult People and Twelfth Night and Southern Comfort at the Public. Um, but she's like I just you need her in your life if you don't already have her. I want to talk about everything else in between all of those projects because uh you can look her up if you want to hear more about that stuff but I want you to get to know the real Aneesh and without further ado here it is follow her at Aneesh the actress on Instagram uh highly recommend it either way check it out.

[1:54] Aneesh Sheth: I am so excited to have you on the show because as soon as I met you I was like I just think I really want to be your friend.

[1:54] Grace Aki: Same! Same! It was like fate that we were sitting right there next to each other. I was just so happy. I think you like turned around at some point and it was like kind of like a movie where like the it's like the Beyoncé fan is blowing on your hair. You looked so stunning for this reading. I was like a full beat for a reading. I get it like I come from New Jersey and you were just like I'm here to serve hello. Oh my god you were just I mean you were you were a shining light in that room and I don't know it just felt like that little corner that we had, you know what I mean? And Cheech were just like I don't know it was just it felt like Asian corners it was that's you know that's what I guess so I guess so I didn't even realize that when I said it but like I mean it was great and then I had Scott I think was to my right and then I had Jason to my left and that was that was an interesting dynamic too. It was just it was a weird side of the room right it was like it was it was a very like great mix of folks.

[1:54] Aneesh Sheth: Oh Barson was on our side of the room.

[3:34] Grace Aki: Yes that's oh my gosh. I I saw him in Macbeth right before the shutdown.

[3:38] Aneesh Sheth: Uh-huh.

[3:38] Grace Aki: Oh my God.

[3:40] Aneesh Sheth: So good.

[3:40] Grace Aki: So good. I'm like so good I would see you in anything.

[3:43] Aneesh Sheth: Oh, anything.

[3:43] Grace Aki: I would watch him do anything.

[3:45] Aneesh Sheth: I would like, yeah, anything. I he's he's great. He's great people. That was a huge cast too. I'm just thinking now about that company.

[3:52] Grace Aki: It was a huge company.

[3:56] Aneesh Sheth: Yeah.

[3:57] Grace Aki: Yes.

[3:58] Aneesh Sheth: There was at least 30 of us.

[4:00] Grace Aki: 30 people.

[4:01] Aneesh Sheth: Yeah.

[4:01] Grace Aki: Yeah.

[4:02] Aneesh Sheth: Yeah.

[4:02] Grace Aki: Wow.

[4:03] Aneesh Sheth: Cause it was like all of you guys doing like the six north, like institutional. Anyways, um, I want to start storytelling with you kind of immediately because I I Googled, because I feel like I know you enough, but I didn't know like your past. And so like I'm I'm familiar with how I knew you, which we'll talk about later on screen. And then of course getting to work with you was really, really fabulous. But I was like, you know, I don't know how how you got here and like what your story was. And then I saw this thing about like how you were uh into theater and like you just started performing at age seven, and then uh come to find out that was a lie. Can you tell me a story of like your first times on stage and just being like I'm a starlet, this is my time?

[4:52] Aneesh Sheth: Actually, it's so funny. So uh it was age six. I don't know where this missed source of information that's at the end of the day. Well, Wikipedia is famously credible.

[5:02] Grace Aki: That's true. That is true. You know, maybe Wikipedia is right and I'm wrong. Who knows? Can you imagine? That was so funny? Um, yeah, no, I was I was actually six, and I I started piano around the same time as well. And um, I started doing like community theater in a church basement. And funny enough, I was not a little diva. I was I was like very uncomfortable in my own skin. I, you know, just was very awkward and shy. But you know, my parents put me there to keep me out of trouble and to be entertained, you know. And so I just kind of like grew to love music and love theater very, very much. And then as I started growing older, I started, you know, picking up a different more instruments to play, and I decided to start studying classical music.

And so I studied opera for a really long time. And then when I was uh a junior in high school, my voice teacher was like, Well, you gotta make a decision because I was still doing community theater. And he was like, Do you want to go to school for community theater or do you want to continue your opera training? And I was like, opera's so boring, but I will audition for both. So I auditioned for both programs, and I I was already doing the Manhattan School of Music Pre-College program. Got it. So I was like, I was getting a feel for what my vocal, classical vocal training would be like if I continued it, and I hated it. I hated it. And I got rejected from every single opera program that I applied to.

And in retrospect, to that, like I don't care. Cause in retrospect, I'm like, hmm, I wonder if there was like some racial undertones in that as well, which I didn't think about as like a 17-year-old child.

[6:40] Grace Aki: Well, that's the thing. When you are growing up and you're and hopefully you're beloved by your community for your gifts, right and like who you are, right? There's no there's no secondary like, could it be this? If you're a person of color, if you have like any kind of like non-system white straight something, you know what I mean? Like you're not thinking about it. And like it's it's not the same at all, but I've just like seen little bits of like, uh, uh uh oh. Yeah. Oh, oh it was that. Yeah. That sucks. You think about that when you when you do it. And like, I mean, I don't care because I I ended up getting into the NYU uh musical theater program, uh CAP21, now defunct. Um, yes. It was, I mean, this was what, like something years ago.

Yeah. So I ended up, you know, choosing to go to a musical theater program and was really, really happy there and studied musical theater and I did musical theater for a long time. And then somehow, magically, I don't know, somehow, um, I started getting hired for TV work, which was great. Um, and I slowly have kind of shifted into that lane. And I still have the open for theater, but it theater is like that unattractive ex that pops up every now and then is like I have something to entice you with, let's hang out. And you're like, sure, I'll flirt with you for a little bit. And then you realize like at the end of whatever it is, you're like, why did I do that to myself? You know, I see tweets like this all the time where they're like, Oh, should I like you know, the classic, like you're at the bar, should I call my ex? No, never once have I considered reaching back out to these choices, right? Choices, yeah, choices. She made choices.

[8:24] Aneesh Sheth: Like the idea, because you and I have talked extensively, being like, Well, why am I still on this dick? Like, why am I so still girl? You don't have to tell me, yes. Like, my bias is just like, why can't just like one? Just like one that I like fall in love with. No, it's still gonna be dick. Okay. Yeah. I don't get it. Um, but no, that's I but I know you do. Uh I just, yeah, I guess it's it's so strange that like, you know, after once you get into kind of your career, which I feel like when you're going to NYU, you're part of your career at that point. Yeah, because you're in the New York realm. All these people that like come to New York City after their school, it's like, what? But when you're in New York, you feel a little bit more like uh I feel like I'm already in this business.

[9:11] Grace Aki: Yeah, yeah. And I had, you know, been going to school at Manhattan School of Music, and so I was making connections there. And I just I felt immersed enough that like when I started my musical theater program. I mean, and then when I was 19, I got the opportunity to go to London and workshop Bombay Dreams, and I was just a sophomore in college. So it was literally like I was working professionally already while I was in college, which was a great feeling to be like, I feel great, like I feel positive about a future in this career.

[9:42] Aneesh Sheth: And also like you felt represented, like that's yeah. I mean, it was it was awkward too because I was just I'm 19. I and I I was very sheltered, so like I'm still learning about myself. I'm still learning about the world. I'm still learning about how to even do I had never taken an acting class before I'd gotten to college. All I'd studied was dance and um vocal training, and so I came in, I had to go see an acting coach just for my auditions, just to come up with a monologue because I was like, I don't know what I'm doing. Um, which is so funny because now I'm like I love acting, I love doing it, it's so fun. Um, but yeah, it's it's it's such a beast, you know. You know how it is.

[10:21] Grace Aki: I do, but also but I also can't imagine how it is for you. Like, like everyone's circumstances are so different that I'm like, we can all sit here and be like, no, it's hard. And I'm like, oh, I know it's harder for you. Like, like, there's no fucking question. Like, it's just, yeah, like, I'm not gonna sit here and be like, you and me, right? We get it. Uh, it's because that's always funny to me, like, especially like when you share something. This is not the same, I guess, but like when you share some kind of trauma and someone says the worst words to you that you can ever imagine, which is I've been there, I've been there, and I'm like, I know what you think you're saying, which is like really caring.

Right, but what you're saying is like you've you've been through the exact same thing. And I'm like, I guarantee you haven't, even if it's like worse, even if it's worse, it's like so different, so different, yeah, yeah. So it's like, you know, you want to relate to people, and I I get that part of humanity, but I'm also like, no, you gotta take a seat.

[11:19] Aneesh Sheth: So right, you gotta start listening to each other, you know what I mean? Like, and actually listen, like this that's the storytelling aspect of your podcast, is like it it's so wonderful, right? Cause it's like it's we need to hear people's stories, we need to hear everybody's stories because we don't know, sit down, you know.

[11:39] Grace Aki: Well, you literally just brought it up, so I'm just gonna straight up go into it because I wanna I didn't realize you worked on Bombay Dreams for so long. Can you can you share if you even have the mental space or capacity to to talk about that story? Because I I had no idea. I read something that you kind of put out into the world last year, was it last year? And I was like, people keep using the term brave, but I I do mean it like that is incredibly brave. And like it was. I hate like it just sounds like uh cliche, but it but it that that is exactly what that was. And I was like, oh, oh, people are talking about it. Like people are telling stories about institutions that we like are, you know, we believe. So, anyways, I won't I won't get more into it, but please, if you don't mind sharing that story, I want to hear about it.

[12:30] Aneesh Sheth: I have a very, very, very long history with that show. So I was a sophomore. So I have a good family friend in London. And I think it was like the summer before my sophomore year of college. Um I was in London and he was like, Oh, you know, there's like new show and it's based on like Bollywood movies. It's coming to the West End. You should totally see if you can get seen for it. And I was like, I don't know if they're gonna see New York actors, but like, sure. So I found who out the who the casting director was, and this was like pre really when everything was on the internet, right? So we had a book called The Ross Reports, and like you have to like scroll through and find who was casting what. And then um I saw who I found out through like a news ad that David Grinrod casting was casting for the West End. So I like sent a headshot and resume. They were like black and white back then.

[13:17] Aneesh Sheth: Like it was just it's just very, very old Chinese in the in the before times. Um sent off a headshot and resume, didn't really think about it. And then I it was like, oh goodness. It was a month after September eleventh, I got a call from it's crazy, right out after September 11th, a call from Tara Rubin's office. And they were like, Hey, we're working on this show in the West End, and we'd really like you to come in and just some sing some stuff for us. And I was like, sure. So I went in and I sang "My God, Why" from Mr. Gone, because it was like, okay, this show's range and something that I'm good at, I'll sing it. And they're like, Great, great. Um, can you sing like something else? And I sang something else, and then they gave me a little packet and it had a couple of songs in it.

And they're like, come back like I think Thursday, a couple days later, um, and we'll work on this stuff. And I was like, Great. And they gave me like "Love's Never Easy" was written. And then and um Sweetie's second song in the second act was the same kind of melody, but it was a totally different song at that time. Um so gave me that, and then they gave me another like group number to learn. Um and I came back and I sang a whole bunch of stuff for them. Um was in there for a while, um, working on it, and then I went home and I didn't really think anything of it. And then I was at school one day and I got a call um saying that, hey, like we we wanna send you to London. Like you're they I think they called my parents' house because my parents then called me and left me a message, and they're like, Oh my god, you know, someone called saying that they want to send you to London for this workshop, yada yada yada, because this was all landline times too.

Um, so they ended up flying me to London for like a 36 like super fast trip um to workshop this for a day. And by then they had given me like a rough script that they had, um, and some other material for sweetie. And I was there for like God, a day and a half working on stuff with them. They shuffled me like from the airport to the place, worked, went home, showered, slept, went back the next day, worked, and then went straight to the airport and left. It was a whirlwind process. And then about two weeks later, I got a call saying, like, we're not gonna use you. And I I I was devastated, but I was also like, I'm 19. This is the business. This is the business. Like, I'm 19, like this, I'm sure I will get an opportunity again.

And like Tara's office reached out and we're like, you know, of course, in the event that it comes to Broadway, you're going to be on the short list. And I was like, Okay, great, you know. That's nice to hear. Right. I was like, okay, right. So time goes on. It's like two and a half years later, and then I get a call. I'm a senior now, and um Tara Rubin's office calls me, and they're like, Hey, you know, so it's coming to Broadway, and we really want to know if you could come in and sing some sweetie stuff. And I was like, sure. So I went and I did the stuff again. They're like, great, we want you to do a workshop. And so I was workshopping with three other guys. Um, and it was like a week-long workshop where they, you know, taught us movement and this like working on the material and all of this stuff.

Um, and then we did the presentations on like the last day for like all the producers, and he just got like like 10 minutes to do these presentations we had been working on all week. And and then I never even got a call saying I didn't get it. I found out through a web forum online that somebody had that Sri, who's who's a friend of mine that Sri had been cast, that Sri Ram had been cast. Um, and I was like, okay, well, I guess that's it. So then I reached out to Tara's office like about a week and a half later, and I was like, I just want to stop by, like, I I want to drop off a gift basket. And so I did, and I was just like, and I I just, you know, thank you, because I've like been working with you now for like four years on this show, three years, three and a half years on this show.

And at one point there was also like an interim where they were doing like a mini dance tour. And so they were like, hey, can you come in and do some sweetie stuff for this like mini tour? And I was like, okay. So I mean, sometimes I don't even tell that part of the story, but it's like also like I was just dragged through the mud for a long time with them.

[17:23] Grace Aki: Well, yeah, when you when you add layers to it, it helps put it all into context of like, look at how look at how much I invested of myself.

[17:30] Aneesh Sheth: Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. So then um, you know, and I went to Tara's office and I spoke to the folks that were involved in the process who knew me well, and and I was like, why? Like, what is what is the reasoning? Like, is there if there is something I'm doing wrong, I'm still, I'm gonna graduate in a few weeks. Like, I need to know before I graduate from a real industry professional what it is that I had that I need to work on that would have maybe at least given me the opportunity to be a cover, you know? Like no, nothing was offered to me. And there were they were just kind of like, uh, you know, I I just, you know, it's just the way the business is. And then I thought about it, and the entire week the workshop, I mean, you know me, and you know the way like that I present myself.

I'm very femme. I'm always like, have my face really done up and my hair done. And I remember distinctly what I was wearing for this this entire workshop, and I was wearing heels, right? Because it's sweetie, it's a trans woman, right? Yeah, yeah. And who better to know what she is like than perhaps a South Asian trans woman, right? It feels a little on the nose. It feels a little well, which is exactly what I was told. So the entire week I was I kept being told, well, don't wear so much makeup. Put your half your hair half up so it looks a little more masculine presenting. Don't wear high heels, wear flat shoes. Oh, because you're too because you're too femme presenting. Yeah, because that's that's too believable. Yes, and they need you to kind of like dial it back so that people remember that you're a trans person.

[19:05] Aneesh Sheth: Do not get me started and that you did, you did. And I love that. I mean, but like, and the worst part about it, like here's here's the the fucking terrible part about it is like that character, sweetie. I don't know if you've seen the show or any people who are listening, if you haven't seen it, sweetie is this character from the jump, is treated and portrayed as a clown. Like, is the comic relief is the one that's always the butt of the jokes, is the one who's always herself being like, oh, I've lived life from both sides. Like just very like transphobic shit. And then the end of her story arc ends in the second act after she sings this like powerful love ballad to the male lead that she's in love with.

She gets dragged and beaten on the beach. No, come on. And then shot in the back. Boys don't damn cry again. And then and then dragged off stage, right? And so, like let's talk about like tropes of portraying trans women of color, first of all. Like how problem more problematic can you get? But then you know, to have it end in this tragic way because could never be accepted, could never be accepted.

[20:14] Grace Aki: Oh, that sucks.

[20:15] Aneesh Sheth: Right. So they wanted somebody that could be clothed on stage as a man in a dress, because that was is the perception of what's funny about trans women is that we're just we're just men in dresses. So it's it was it was, you know, and of course, like this is all hindsight processing, right? Like at the time, I was just hurting that I was I didn't get this job, and like even my my classmates were like, You're gonna be on Broadway when you graduate. Why are you worrying about things, right? Like everybody knew everyone was so invested in my journey because they had seen it through while I was in school. Um, and so then you know, it kind of settled, and I I booked another tour and I went on tour myself with another show, and I came back and I did the day jobs and stuff.

And then I was in line at equity, and this was before the new fancy equity is there. This is when we used to line up on the streets. Yeah. At 6 a.m. in the morning, kids. Okay. Like not me. Not me. There was there was no lounge. It was just you waited outside in a line on 46th Street. Yeah, heading east, like, and just waited in line at six in the morning. And so I remember I was like online and I saw a friend from because I also then, once the show was up and running, I was just at the theater a lot because I had made a lot of friends in the show through the workshop process, and they were all like, You're like an honorary cast member because you know, you should be here, but you're not. Because you've been there.

Because I've been there, right? I had been there at that point for for like four years. It was crazy. So then, you know, 2005, it's the end of fall of 2005, and I get a phone call, and it's like, hey, so Bombay Dreams is going on tour. Oh, no, well, first I was I was out in that equity line and I saw somebody from the casting, did you hear Bombay Dreams is gonna go on tour? And I was like, Oh, great. And he's like, Do you think they'll reach out to you? And I was like, they'll probably reach out to Sri Ram first, and because he's got first rate of refusal, and if he turns it down, they might come to me. But at that point, I'm gonna tell them like, do you want to hire me or do you want me to jump through hoops again?

And so they ended up calling me, and this was like November of uh 2005, and uh they were like, Come in and can you do a bunch of sweetie stuff? And I was like, Do you want me to audition or are you giving me a job? Because I don't know what else I can show you. I've practically done the entire show for you. Tattoo that to my ass. Right. You want me to audition? Are you giving me a job? I was brazen, I was brazen. I was also, I had also met with an agent at Abrams at that time who was just very like unsure about me. When I so I ultimately went in and I sang all the stuff, and right there in the room, they're like, okay, so what's your schedule like? We're we're gonna go on the like rehearsals start on January 26th.

And I was like, Well, you caught me just in time because I'm going to India at the end of the year, and I won't be back till January 25th. So I literally flew back the day before um rehearsal started. And I came back and rehearsal started, and I went on tour with the show for a year, and it it was it was nuts. It was nuts. Um yeah, I there was something else that I was gonna say that I totally forgot now, but no, I don't okay. But I mean, it did have that like brief Broadway stint, yeah, like nine months ago. Yeah, 2004. It was in for like nine months, yeah. It's crazy, it's crazy. Wow, it was it was a wild show. Also, but like I forget, and I think that like recently they did that like off-Broadway thing or something.

They had like a something, and and I was just like, huh. I don't, I'm not hearing anything about this show, which I can't tell is like yeah, just marketing money, or if it's like right, we don't talk about that. Like, I don't know. Yeah, I mean, I've heard some people who are like, oh my god, it needs a revival, and I'm like, does it does it? And then some people who are like, let's just let's just keep it buried because it's it had its moment, and now it's gone, and that's okay, you know, and like not to say that I hated, I loved being with the show, you know what I mean? Obviously, you would not want to be a part of that type of experience if it didn't mean something to you, right? So don't ever take that away from yourself.

Like you you did that, yeah. Yeah, I did that, and I I loved I loved doing that show every night. You know what I mean? Like as problematic as it was, I still loved playing that character and living in that world for the two and a half hours, eight times a week. Oh my god, why do we do this to ourselves? Um yeah, it was it was it was pretty pretty crazy. I I appreciate so much that you the way the way that you vocalize a lot of these experiences are not in a like we need to burn it down kind of way. Just like this is I mean, not that also you could do that if you wanted to, totally. Um like you know, you're you're well within your right. It's not like you need to stay quiet. No, but I just mean that like, you know, having having some type of like uh trajectory of like how it is to be an artist in your space and in like your particular body, like just how how how are you able to keep going?

Like I the whole article that you uh kind of released about uh the public theater, and that that shook me because I was like, I've never I've never seen someone so uh eloquently tell a story about how their experience was at a place that is so beloved, you know, by a lot of people so recently. So I don't know if you feel like sharing that story, but I just because you were just the way you talk about Bombay Dreams. I'm like, I have to I have to talk about this because that story, like I shared it so much, and I even talked about it on Broadway Radio because I was just like, this is I mean, I just want us to all have conversations because I think that's how we grow. It's not like we're trying to like light this place on fire and be like, it's over. Goodbye, Joe's pub. Right. Right. Exactly. Exactly. I I want them to get better, like figure it out. Yeah. So, anyways, yeah.

[26:28] Aneesh Sheth: Yeah. So, and I think like that is the reason why I did it, right? Like, I have no animosity towards the public.

[26:34] Aneesh Sheth: I love everybody in that building that I've worked with, you know, that I'm friends with, that I have worked alongside with, like, you know, top to bottom. And it’s because of my love for that place that I decided that it was important to speak out. And not because I felt slighted, but this was something that was happening repeatedly over and over and over again. And not just happening, but that the conversations around what was happening were not even being allowed. Like it was basically right that it was like keep quiet, right? Don’t say anything, keep quiet. And it literally started, you know, and I as I detail in this my letter, it literally started before I even stepped into the building prior to my very first job with the public, which was Southern Comfort back in 2016.

We got an email, and at that time, I’m sure we’ll circle back to this. I was going through a divorce. And so I was packing up my house, my two three-bedroom house in Washington State, and packing my life to come move back to New York. And I was planning on moving back to New York anyway, and I was really hoping that I was gonna get this job when I was going through the callback process. So I was very blessed that the universe was like, here, yeah, fucking have this job, you know. Yeah, I totally lost track of what I was saying. Oh, the public, right? So before I’d even come into rehearsal, um, I got we got an email, a company email from I think it was the director of something, director of programming, Maria Guyanis, but I forget exactly what her title was.

I thought it was Associate Artistic Driver, but that’s not exactly what it was. But basically, we got an email saying that there was a public letter to the public from a trans person who was criticizing the show, which was the theme of Southern Comfort is about a chosen family of trans folks living in rural Georgia, and it is a cast of five trans characters and one cis character. And three out of the five trans characters were played by cis people. Cis people, yeah, yeah. And so they held an open, because after much criticism of everyone being played by cis people in prior workshops, they opened up calls for two of the roles. Only two, only two though. Um for the two for two of the trans tracks, but very specifically like only Carly and only Jackson.

No, not Jackson. What is this the other character's name? I don’t know. It’s been like six years. I don’t remember. Um so uh yeah, we I went in, I did the callbacks, whatever, and I we get this email saying like, do not respond to this letter. You are not allowed to respond to this letter. We have an in-house staff that is going to respond when it’s appropriate with the appropriate response, but you are not allowed to say anything. And to me, it was like a bunch of cis people are telling, telling me to be silent. Me, the trans person, not to respond to the criticism of transphobia in a show that I’m in. How am I not supposed to speak up? How are you telling me to keep quiet? Right. But because it was my first show at the public, because I was coming back to New York and I did not, I had a new agent.

I did not want to screw up my career, right? We are told just shut up and do the job. And so I did. And it was also you’re trying to feed yourself. I mean, like, let’s be real. Like I’m trying to pay that rent. Yep. I would like a coffee once a week, please. Yes. You know, I mean, it’s so layered. I think that people really get on their high horse that don’t live in this arena a lot of times where they’re like, why didn’t you say something? And it’s like, do you know I have bills? I have bills to pay. I needed to put a roof over my head. I was I was getting a divorce, right? Like up until then, I had a security blanket of um an army husband. Yeah, you know, the government was giving us a check every week, you know.

So it was like, it was easy to pursue an acting career when I knew I had a subsidized lifestyle, you know, right? And so going from that to like also just like realizing that I was technically restarting my career in New York after being away for six years, you know. I was like, I have to just say yes, I have to just shut up and do the job. You’re re-establishing yourself in a place where you felt like you already established yourself. You worked so hard. Yeah, and then when you leave it, like I know some people, so many people that like go on tour and they’re like, I’ve got to like reinvent myself to come back. And it’s so sad. Uh so, anyways, yeah. Yeah, no, it’s just so that it was started with that, right?

And then, you know, the rehearsal process was whatever. I got very, very sick as previews started happening because I was just being pushed. And during one of the previews, I don’t know if you saw the show, but the core of the show, there’s one scene, and it my character is the new girlfriend of the son of the chosen family. And so I don’t show up into the show until about 40 minutes, 37 minutes into the first act, um, when they’ve already established the rest of the family. So the core, the heart of the show is this first scene once my character enters the stage, because it’s like everyone is finally there together for once, and all these dynamics are happening, and it’s like this explosive scene over like Snicker Pudding, and it’s a beautiful, beautiful scene.

And the show itself is a very, very beautiful show, um, albeit problematic, you know. And they were toying with all the different things that they could do with the scene to see how far they could push it, see, you know, to keep it realistic or whatever. And there was this conversation about like me commenting on the other trans woman who was played by a cis man’s appearance and particularly her figure. And I was protesting, I was like, trans women would not do that to another trans woman. Like I would never comment on another woman’s body, trans or not. Like I would just never come. That is not my place. That’s not in your constitution. It is not in my right. No, right? And I said, and it’s not even in the constitution of this character because this character is being developed like me, right?

Like she’s so vibrant, she’s so loving, she’s so warm. Like that’s very much me. And I don’t like there’s nothing in this character in this entire script that would lend itself to justify why she would say this. Yeah. It was fought that they wanted to keep it and they wanted to keep it in. I was not being heard. So we ended up taking a 10, and I was sitting in the audience and I was really, you know, visibly upset. And my cis mate white male castmate came up to me and we were very close, and he, you know, was comforting me. And he was just, you know, do you do you want me to say something? Do you want me to say something? I was like, no. I like, I mean, I’ve said what I said and they want to shoot it down.

So I go away, I go to the bathroom, I come back and we’re gonna start up again. And the director comes over to me and says, Hey, I just want to let you know that uh we’re we’re gonna cut it, we’re gonna cut it, we’re not gonna do it. And to me, immediately I thought, well, you didn’t want to cut it when I said something, and I know that my castmate went and talked to you, and now you want to cut it. And so it just felt like I, you know, between the letter before rehearsal even started and then like hearing this about like I’m only being heard when my concerns are going through a cis white male, just felt very much like very invalidating to my experience, right? So I ended up getting sick, I was out for five days, they shut down the show, then the show reopened again, and then it was fine.

And I did my job. We got a New York Times critic’s pick, I got rave reviews, like I did my job because I’m a goddamn professional and my train. So good. Let’s be clear, you are so good. Thank you. But yeah, thank you. Of course, yeah, because I’m a professional and I do my job, right? And it’s like if I am, if I am taken care of, if I know I’m in a safe space, if I’m taking care of, if I can focus on my job and not the extra stuff that’s happening around me, like having to defend my own value as a trans woman of color in the space, and mind you, I was the only person of color, the only person of color. So it was an incredibly white room. But yeah, so I’m so glad that you shared that because I think that it happens so often in a room and people don’t know how to deal with it or react.

[35:08] Grace Aki: Yeah.

[35:08] Aneesh Sheth: So I yeah, if people are gonna have these conversations, maybe they’re helpful.

[35:13] Grace Aki: Yeah.

[35:14] Aneesh Sheth: And I mean it just kept happening, right? Because then after Southern Comfort, I got hired for 12th Night, and then I got which I was again the only trans person, only trans person.

[35:23] Grace Aki: Was that the one that’s in the park?

[35:25] Aneesh Sheth: That was not in the park. It was no, it was not the musical, it was the mobile.

[35:28] Grace Aki: Oh, okay.

[35:28] Aneesh Sheth: Yeah.

[35:30] Grace Aki: Oh, oh, gotcha, gotcha, gotcha.

[35:31] Aneesh Sheth: Yeah. Um, and then after that, I did Masculinity Max, which was a problematic process on its own, right? Because I think as I say in my letter too, right? It’s like the public wanted to sensationalize on identity without actually giving the safe space to create folk of those identities, right? So it was just very problematic in the from like the rehearsal room all the way through production. Um then um, and then I got cast in uh my first summer show, which was virtual last year, uh Richard the Second, and it was oh god, it was like two days after George Floyd was murdered.

[36:11] Grace Aki: And I remember this.

[36:14] Aneesh Sheth: Yeah, yeah.

[36:15] Grace Aki: Who all was doing that with you?

[36:16] Aneesh Sheth: I recognize some other people.

[36:18] Aneesh Sheth: I mean, like, yeah, Felicia Rashad was in it, Andre Holland was in it.

[36:22] Aneesh Sheth: Um there was there was a lot of cool people in it.

[36:26] Grace Aki: Um, so we were there was a lot of us who expressed before the first rehearsal whether or not that the show even needed to happen at all, right?

[36:37] Aneesh Sheth: Like, who the fuck cares?

[36:39] Grace Aki: Um about Shakespeare right now.

[36:41] Aneesh Sheth: Do you know what I mean?

[36:42] Grace Aki: Like with

[36:44] Aneesh Sheth: Oh, I know exactly what you mean.

[36:44] Grace Aki: Right.

[36:44] Aneesh Sheth: I had tons of friends that were doing virtual programming that uh the it was scheduled to do the week after, and I was like, I don’t, I don’t know how anybody has the crap to be like, you know what?

[36:53] Grace Aki: Yeah, so I can’t imagine.

[36:56] Aneesh Sheth: So a lot of us address that to company management to the public, saying that, you know, perhaps the time and money going into that would be better relocated somewhere more useful right now. Um, and they were like, Well, what’s gonna happen is we’re gonna meet for the first rehearsal, and the first part of rehearsal, everyone is going to be able to just express how they’re feeling right now. We’re just gonna talk. And I was like, okay. And I hope that that enough is like them to be like, yeah, we really shouldn’t do the show. Um, it was a it was a big company. There was like 20 something of us, I think, maybe 30. Um, and all of us, you know, shared how we were feeling. A lot of folks were also like, I don’t know if I should be here.

I don’t know if this is right that we should be doing this right now. Um, and when it was my turn to spoke up, I said, you know, I just feel I feel complicit, right? When I accept a job that once again has cast me in a very marginalized way, because it does end up resonating outside of this room, the way that you once again I’m the only trans person in the room. And it it just you just start more you remarginalizing people over and over again when you cast them in certain things.

[38:13] Aneesh Sheth: And I I address the fact that I was a brown maid to yet again a white queen. And I had played that as Mariah to Olivia in 12th Night, and here I was playing the maid’s woman in Richard the Second. Um, and you know, I was upset because it was also like my fourth or fifth, you know, and in countless readings I had done with the public, you know, feeling like no matter how much I showed them I can do, I still wasn’t getting the opportunity to do bigger things with them, right? It was still in like these very like marginalized ways, like you’re gonna play a brown maid in one scene to a and that’s it, right? In like a three hour play. I was like, you know, I’m capable of doing more. Why? Right. So there was an HR meeting that was called, and I I kind of addressed everything.

I was like, look, this isn’t just about this. This is about like the the marginalization of trans folks from my and my point friends that have worked here my entire five years that I’ve been in with this company. Like I and I, and they’re like, okay, great. They took a record of it, they addressed it, you know, the emails back and forth, and then that was it. And then nothing happened. Like, we record it. Goodbye. Goodbye. Right. And it gets filed away somewhere, and that was it. And I knew that I wanted to speak about it on my own at some point. And I think for me, it was like, you know, there’s never a good time, but when is it going to be therapeutic for me to speak up about this? And when is it going to be important enough for me to speak about this?

[39:52] Aneesh Sheth: And so then when Karen Olivo put out their statement against Scott Rudin and leaving Moulin Rouge, that was very inspirational to me. You know, the work that Jamie Sapiro and Marjon Broadway and those folks that they're doing is like very inspirational to me. That I realized that like I needed, I have a story that is important that needs to be heard. And I also have, as a person who's just very motherly in general, I have a very protective instinct to be like, no fucking way is any other trans person gonna walk through those doors and experience what I experienced without knowing what it was actually like for me. And so I sat down to write this letter and I had to make sure that, you know, it didn't come from a place of like feeling wounded artistically or it might have wounded my self-worth, right?

Like it was something that I had to process and deal with and heal on my own, but it had to be about, no, this is the way that we continue to marginalize trans folks when they come through these doors and continually put their best efforts forward only to not receive back the things that they're putting in, you know what I mean? Continually after years and years of hard work, what is it gonna take? And finally, once that letter was out there, I started getting responses, do you know what I mean? I started getting responses from the folks I wish had spoken to me about it a year and a half before I'd released that letter, who should have had a conversation with me a year and a half before that letter was released.

[41:24] Aneesh Sheth: Yeah, I think, or nine months, a year, whatever. But like, I think that this, I hope if there's a couple of good things to come out of a horrible thing, but I go, perhaps people are sitting down to not just like, I'm listening, I'm taking information, air quotes, and then they go about their lives, right? Instead of like sitting down and being like, how can I make sure that doesn't happen to other people? Because if it doesn't affect me, it must affect somebody, like, you know what I mean? Like it's the whole racist, anti-racist thing. It's like you can't just like not say the n-word and be like, I'm doing my job.

[42:03] Grace Aki: Right, right.

[42:03] Aneesh Sheth: Like it takes so much more work, right? And it takes so much work on all of us, right? Like a lot of critic, I got criticism for that letter. I got criticism from folks who were like, why did you even say that? Why did you say this stuff? And I was like, if you have questions, turn your booty around and walk down to 425th Lafayette. Like those are where you need to direct your questions. Because everything, why is it at me? Like everything that you want to know is in that letter. You can read the letter and your questions will be answered. And it just, a lot of the criticisms were just like very unexpected. Because I, why wouldn't we speak out against abuse that we're enduring in this industry?

Why wouldn't we want to make these spaces safer for the people that are coming out of these conservatory programs, which need major reformation as well, right? Like they need major, major overhauls, right? So this, how do we prepare the next generation behind us and the generation behind them to really be able to not only enter spaces that may not be safe for them, but to be able to assert themselves in ways to be able to have conversations and make them even safer. And like I said, like the responses I got, I wish I had gotten a year before instead of after releasing this letter.

[43:18] Aneesh Sheth: But all of it comes from places of love because you love the arts, because you love performing.

[43:25] Grace Aki: Yeah.

[43:25] Aneesh Sheth: So it's not like, hey. It's literally, it's literally because you love it so much.

[43:30] Grace Aki: Right, right.

[43:30] Aneesh Sheth: And you know, and that's an institution that I love.

[43:32] Grace Aki: Right, right.

[43:33] Aneesh Sheth: And I love the public, right? Like the majority of my career over the past five, six years has been at the public. I go back time and time again to do a show there. So it's like some of my best friends in my life are folks that I met at the public, right? Like that institution has a very big place in my heart and in my life, which is why I chose to speak out, because I knew that if I didn't, I was going to be so bitter about it. I knew that I would never want to walk in those doors again, and I may not get the chance to again, and that's also okay with me. I knew that writing the letter because it was important enough for me to be like, even if I don't get the chance to walk into those doors again, somebody behind me who is is going to feel a little safer because I spoke up. And that's what's important to me.

[44:16] Grace Aki: That's hey, we love to see it. Also, I love seeing your little pup behind you perking up a little bit throughout our conversation.

[44:25] Aneesh Sheth: I'm just like, hey, uh, last year, I don't know if you're familiar, but we were in a pandemic, and were we?

[44:32] Grace Aki: We're still here.

[44:33] Aneesh Sheth: Um, and that's okay. But you were doing all of these like cooking lives. Like, do you remember this? Because I forgot about those.

[44:44] Aneesh Sheth: Oh, I didn't because there was somebody was talking last night. I won't say who it was, uh, Robbie Roselle was talking about Alice Ripley being absolutely unhinged on her like Instagram lives being like, 'This is how you fold underwear.' And like, it wasn't. That's not what you were doing. But I will say, like, you, I don't remember if you were making bread or what, but there was one time I was watching you, and I was just like, this is so comforting. I was in my kitchen, I was like making rice crispy cheese, and you were just like, oh man, I kind of fucked up the bowl thing here. And I was like, we are really all in this together.

[45:23] Aneesh Sheth: We are all in this together.

[45:26] Grace Aki: I forgot about that.

[45:27] Aneesh Sheth: Yeah, I used to love doing those. It was great. I loved having those like insights to people's like, well, I mean, here we are. What else am I gonna do? Let me just cook on live right now. It was great, but also that was when you started Gilmore Girls. And I just had to ask you about it because I we've kind of fallen off. I don't know what season you're at. I don't know if you finish. I don't know what your arc was. I just quickly can you tell me a story of your journey watching Gilmore Girls because I feel like it's important.

[45:58] Aneesh Sheth: I was warned before I started that it gets a little funky as the seasons go on, and that I should just skip from like season three to the end, the last season. Season three is the sweet spot. So I don't know what season I left off on, but she's at Yale.

[46:19] Grace Aki: Uh-huh.

[46:20] Aneesh Sheth: And um, is she dating Logan?

[46:25] Grace Aki: I don't think so.

[46:26] Aneesh Sheth: So I don't because I don't know who Logan is, so I didn't get that far. The naked guy who was running around in the dorms.

[46:32] Grace Aki: Yes.

[46:33] Aneesh Sheth: That episode was the last one. Marty.

[46:35] Grace Aki: Marty.

[46:35] Aneesh Sheth: Okay, great. Marty famously was in, uh, I did not realize this carry off Broadway. Um, anecdote, yes. Wow. Um, which I was just like, why is that the thing that, um, theatrically, uh, okay? Um, but yeah, like I just love rewatching Gilmore Girls for one of my best friends, Cara. Like, she like my sister, truly, she will watch that on loop. She doesn't watch TV, but she watches it like it's like comfort food every single day. And for some reason, still loves Jess. And I'm just like, Jess is the problem.

[47:06] Grace Aki: Jess is the problem.

[47:09] Aneesh Sheth: But we are all attracted to Jess, which is also the problem.

[47:14] Grace Aki: Yeah, yes.

[47:15] Aneesh Sheth: You were, I think you were sitting, but you're like Zaddy, and I was just like, I mean, yeah, yeah.

[47:20] Grace Aki: It stops tough.

[47:21] Aneesh Sheth: He's so hot.

[47:22] Grace Aki: He's so hot.

[47:22] Aneesh Sheth: And I'm like, I know if I say yes to you, it's just gonna be a bad scene, but I don't want to say no.

[47:30] Grace Aki: No.

[47:31] Aneesh Sheth: Can I tell you a story about that particular band? I was at an NBC event. Actually, it was no, it was an entertainment weekly party, which sounds like I'm name dropping, but I'm just trying to give you context at like there's no reason for me to run into this individual.

[47:45] Grace Aki: Okay.

[47:45] Aneesh Sheth: Um, like there's no reason. Um, but he was promoting This Is Us, um, Milo, Vinta Meglia. Um, and he, I couldn't believe that he was in the same space as me because famously, um, I mean, many a many an evening watching him on the screen, and that's where I'll leave it. But um, truly, like he was there and he had like some facial hair, and I was just like, you aren't the Jess that I grew up with, but you are a real person. Um, and I got in the elevator to go down to do an improv show two streets over because I still had, uh, like a musical improv show that I was doing that night, even though I was like in a full outfit for this entertainment weekly party. I was like, but I'm still committed to my art. So I was like, I get in the elevator to go to this thing, and he gets in the elevator with me. Like I was in the corner and it was just me and him, and I went, oh, oh God. Like I was so nervous. And he goes, um, uh, can I ask you what your middle name is?

[48:47] Grace Aki: And I said, because I was like, am I about to cuddle with this man? Like, what's about to happen?

[48:54] Aneesh Sheth: I would have been in my pants.

[48:55] Aneesh Sheth: I was literally, no, I was there with my boyfriend, but my boyfriend was not in the elevator, and I was alone, and I was like, this is my chance. Um, and I don't know why this was the like instigator for the conversation. He was like, what, uh, can I ask what your middle name is? And I was like, um, yeah, it's Aki, because that is my like general middle name. Now I use it as my last name. Yeah, last names have given me trouble for the past like, uh, 20 plus years of my life. So I'm just like, I like my first and middle name. It's that's me. And um, so I was like, oh, it's Aki. And he was like, what is that? What is that? Uh, like origin. And I was like, oh, it's Japanese, it actually means autumn, but it was like, uh, my great grandmother's first name or whatever.

And he was like, oh, one of my buddies is having a kid soon, and so I keep asking everybody their middle names because we're all like texting like cool middle names that we're finding out about people. This was just such a fun interaction, and I was like, yeah, okay. And he goes, oh, but what's your, what's your what's your first name? And I was like, oh, Grace. He was like, of course it's Grace. And I'm like, oh, sorry, you are saying all the right things. Oh, but also like, isn't it funny that like we give men the bare minimum? He's like just being nice, and we're just like, you are like I am fully dripping. Like he noticed me, like the bare minute, right? I'm the only person in the elevator. If he didn't talk to me, like, and because I think he also saw me like quaking.

[50:18] Grace Aki: Yeah.

[50:18] Aneesh Sheth: Um, we started to get out of the elevator, and he was like, why are you here? And I was just like, oh, because my my boyfriend was like, uh, doing a show, and um he was like, he was like, oh, very cool. Like, oh, he's he's doing that thing with like Josh Radner, da-da-da. Um, like I'll have to text him, and I was like, you can text me. I I'll take all his messages. Yeah, I was like, I am the press secretary and all this. Um, but he was just so kind and just walked me out into the street, and he had his like bodyguard with him too. Ended up being like downstairs, and he was like, can I can I walk you down to the corner? Like, are you are you going somewhere? Because there were ruling people trying to get his like photo and like autograph because you'd people had figured out that like this was an event that people were at.

And I'm like, I am literally nobody. Um, but what a sweet, strange interaction with somebody that I had built with in my mind because we have so many like people that we meet in our lives that like you had built up, right? And then you're like, oh, I wish I hadn't met you.

[51:20] Grace Aki: Yeah, oh yeah.

[51:24] Aneesh Sheth: I had really built this person up, and then they absolutely disappointed me.

[51:28] Grace Aki: Oh, yeah.

[51:29] Aneesh Sheth: I mean, there's this Bollywood actor who I won't name Sai Felly Khan, who I was obsessed with growing up, and he was shooting a Bollywood movie here in New York. Um, and they were shooting a scene in Union Square, and I was coming out of the gym, okay? I get how I look when I come out of the gym. And I was like, I just like he was just hanging out by himself on the side by like where that like canopy is the the the whatever they call it, um, where the train comes up just by himself. There was like no one around, no PAs. I was like, this is my chance. This is my chance. So I went over to him. This is my chance. I was like, hey, can I can I get your autograph? And he was literally like, and it was like, oh, the face you are making right now is absolutely like you could not be bothered.

He like not bothered. Like, I don't even think he looked. Do you know what I mean? Like it was just so automatic. Um, it was it was very awkward because it was just like, okay, and like I get it, right? Like, of course, we like work in show business, we get it, but also, there's a line of being rude, and that was just really rude.

[52:40] Grace Aki: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[52:41] Aneesh Sheth: Maybe he's having a bad day.

[52:42] Grace Aki: Oh, I just, yeah, but we all have to learn like how to be tactful and kind because this might be your one interaction with somebody. You never know. Like, that's how I feel about stage doors. People often are just like, yeah, it's part of the job, it's part of the job, or they don't want to do it. And I'm like, yeah, that's your prerogative. It's a safety thing as well. Like, I can't imagine how that must feel every night. But I also go, like, maybe one of those people standing outside literally saved up for a year to fly to see you.

[53:11] Aneesh Sheth: Yeah.

[53:12] Grace Aki: To see you.

[53:13] Aneesh Sheth: To see you specifically.

[53:15] Grace Aki: Yep.

[53:15] Aneesh Sheth: Yes.

[53:16] Aneesh Sheth: And so me and Bernadette Peters when I was 18 years old. And so I just, but like, uh, I mean, I didn't, I didn't like see her after the show. Uh, but at that production of uh a little night music, half wait, she started to do Sin and the Clowns, and a phone went off. I feel like the orchestra's like going, going, and then you hear, and she goes, I'll wait. And then literally the audience starts clapping because this was before the patty of it all.

[53:47] Grace Aki: Yeah.

[53:47] Aneesh Sheth: And then the person you can hear them power down their phone. And then she goes, Okay, let's start again. And then they like and then they start to do sin, and I mean it's the biggest number from that yes. And I was like, okay, that was that was literally the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Like she handled it so queen status. I'll wait.

[54:10] Aneesh Sheth: Laura, I saw Laura Benanti in um My Fair Lady last year, the year before, whatever. Yeah, yeah. And someone's um right before the rain in Spain, whatever the name of that song is. Umone's phone went off, and she broke character and she was like, Can you please turn your phone off? I'm gonna wait for you. Like, and she was like, Yes, and this is my real voice. It was it was and then of course people clapped, right? Like that's become an industry standard now.

[54:35] Grace Aki: It's insane.

[54:36] Aneesh Sheth: I remember the days when there were no cell phones in the theater because you couldn't bring a phone with you.

[54:41] Grace Aki: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[54:42] Aneesh Sheth: You did not have a phone.

[54:44] Aneesh Sheth: You did not have a phone, right? Truly. Um, I I want to uh get to the end of our time together because you are you see me, you're out of town, like you're doing a thing. Can you tell me what you're up to? Are you are you back home?

[54:59] Aneesh Sheth: I'm home now. I'm home now. Yeah. It's it's a virtual thing. I mean, the the creative team is up at the O'Neill Center. Um, but the cast is the cast is all virtual. I'm working on Amy Joe Johnson's Hatchation. It's a new musical.

[55:10] Grace Aki: Oh very cool.

[55:11] Aneesh Sheth: It's very, very cool. Um, it's really contemporary. Um uh contemporary take on uh the story of Carrie Nation, who was kind of like the leader of the uh temperance movement.

[55:25] Aneesh Sheth: Um interesting. Leading prohibition and throughout, you know, widespread America started in Kansas. And so it's a very, very interesting, interesting uh uh show. And we've been workshopping it this week, and then we have a presentation next Tuesday. So and it's very interesting. I've been avoiding doing musicals on Zoom all year. I've just been doing plays, but uh, we're attempting to do a couple songs on Zoom.

[55:49] Aneesh Sheth: So they had me pre-record a song um and a couple other folks are pre recording songs. So we'll see how it goes when they plug it in, you know, to the to the feed or whatever they're gonna do on Tuesday during the reading. We'll see how that goes.

[56:02] Grace Aki: That's really cool. No, I I can't imagine doing a musical on Zoom right now. Like every time I've seen people do I'm like, I don't know. Like the ratatouille thing. I was just like, guys, what are you doing?

[56:12] Aneesh Sheth: And now you're nominated for an award. Okay.

[56:15] Grace Aki: Um, yeah, so kudos to you. I know you're you're busy, you're booked and busy because you're fabulous.

[56:21] Aneesh Sheth: It's so sweet.

[56:22] Grace Aki: But this is the end part of the show where we play kind of a game called Short Story.

[56:27] Aneesh Sheth: Okay.

[56:27] Grace Aki: And um basically, I will give you a word, you'll give me a word, and I can I can storytell first, or you can do storytelling first. Um, but basically we give each other a word as a prompt. So, like I could say like salamander, but you could tell me a story not about a salamander, and that's totally fine. But it's just to get you started on something, being like, Oh, I have a story about this, but you only get two minutes.

[56:48] Grace Aki: So I can give you a word first, you can give me a word first, whatever you want.

[56:53] Aneesh Sheth: Um, um give me your word first.

[56:56] Grace Aki: I'll I'll take this challenge.

[56:58] Aneesh Sheth: Okay. I feel like this is a bit of a a bit of a gimme, but um, I have a word for you. Okay, it is water bottle, and your time starts now.

[57:12] Aneesh Sheth: Water bottle, and I've got two minutes, right? Okay, so everybody, if you don't know, Grace and I met during a workshop of a Drew Gasbrini and Alex Brightman's show. It's kind of a funny story based on the book by Ned Vizzini. Um, I have been involved with the show for a couple of years, done a couple of developmental things with them, and so they decided to put this workshop together, and I was very happy to be part of it.

[57:33] Aneesh Sheth: And we had a company of like 30 of us. Um, and we're the way the room was set up was these two rows, and Grace and I were right in front of one another, or even next to each other, I think at one point. And she had this ginormous, and when I say ginormous water bottle, I think it is twice the size of your head. It's it's it is huge. It says it's a gallon on the Amazon website. It is certainly not a gallon.

[58:03] Aneesh Sheth: It is like maybe five gallons. It's huge. It's huge. It feels like it's bigger than one of the gallons that you get at the supermarket. And little Grace is just picking this giant thing up and drinking this entire the contents of this entire water bottle through this whole workshop. And so much so in spite just like keep yourself hydrated, keep yourself hydrated. So much so inspired me to buy my own ginormous water bottle that I now have as well that I call my workshop bottle because it is the bottle that I bring to all my workshops.

[58:43] Aneesh Sheth: Because I forced myself to drink, I have to drink that much water when you're doing workshops. You know what I mean? You have to just keep yourself hydrated.

[58:49] Grace Aki: Yeah, and you only get so many equity breaks.

[58:52] Aneesh Sheth: Um you you got it in within under uh two minutes, which I appreciate, but I will go grab just for just for frame of reference for the world. I was like, I just it's hard to put people on the spot of like the short story, and I was like, no, we have a short a short story about that because I literally will never forget getting the um because you were like, no, but like send me the link. And I was like, no, I will. And then you were like, no, but like I will buy it. I will buy it.

[59:20] Aneesh Sheth: And I swear to you, I got reached out to you by like Amazon Influencer Program for that. And I was just like, I don't know if I would like want to influence people to buy from Amazon, but but it is, I mean, truly, I have many sold uh for oh yeah, sheer uh visibility, yes, visibility matters, representation matters, and representation of gallon water bottles matters.

[59:40] Grace Aki: Yes, yes, and I have passed that on. Like people have seen me use it in workshops and have been inspired to buy their own ginormous water bottle. So it's it's a true, it's like tradition to pass this on now. There's gonna be a plaque in Duffy Square one day with your name on it, being like donated for all the water bottles.

[1:00:03] Aneesh Sheth: I I use it in my solo show just uh for water purposes, but I didn't realize like because I because I need water when I'm performing, right? As I do like an hour-long show. And one time I was doing it recently, and I I took like a chug of the thing because there wasn't it, you know, I had to like uh tip it, and it got such a laugh, and I was just like, oh shit, I've got to keep this in the show.

[1:00:24] Aneesh Sheth: Like now it's like a part of it. Like now it's a prop, which is annoying because I'm like, how much water do I keep in it for the best laugh? Like whatever. It's so stupid.

[1:00:32] Grace Aki: It has to be planned now.

[1:00:35] Aneesh Sheth: Yeah, I'm like, oh, when do I take the chug? Like, uh, but yeah, anyways, and then don't get thirsty before that big because like now it's ruined.

[1:00:43] Grace Aki: And it's ruined.

[1:00:44] Aneesh Sheth: Stupid, so stupid. See, and if we were on Broadway, you would just have a stage manager who would replace it with the appropriate level at the time that you were supposed to take that shot, right? You wouldn't even have to worry about that, but we're not on Broadway.

[1:00:54] Grace Aki: We're not on Broadway and your girls not equity.

[1:00:59] Aneesh Sheth: Um, all right, so you're welcome to remember everybody's like passing the sheet around like a normal workshop, and they were like, oh, there's an equity sheet. And I was like, oh.

[1:01:08] Grace Aki: Not me, not me, friend.

[1:01:10] Aneesh Sheth: Um, okay, so if you have a word for me, we will get into it. And um, you ready?

[1:01:16] Grace Aki: Yes.

[1:01:18] Aneesh Sheth: Okay.

[1:01:18] Aneesh Sheth: Train car.

[1:01:20] Grace Aki: Oh, train car makes me think of like um, I don't know if you're familiar with the boxcar children book series.

[1:01:26] Aneesh Sheth: Not really.

[1:01:27] Grace Aki: Um, it it's a book series for children, and I never read it. So it's not that I I would always see the covers. Like kids would like bring it, you know, when the there's like the babysitters club book series, and then there was like the boxcar children. I would see kids like reading all of those book series, and I would go, how the hell are you gonna commit to people like that?

[1:01:48] Grace Aki: Like, I can't. I I'll get like one book in, and I'm like, I'm glad I know their story. Next story. Like, I don't need to follow Clarissa through the boxcars. And I don't remember, were they nomadic grew up? Like, I was I was living in the working in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Um, I remember meeting it, they were like, these are the train people. And I was like, hold the fuck up. Do you do I need to reread these books?

[1:02:12] Grace Aki: Are they trained people? Or were they just like living in a boxcar? And now I'm like, oh my god, was I being like anti-people that are, you know, without um a residence right now? Like, was I like that classist as a child, not wanting to read about like what why was I not gravitating towards it? So I have a lot of guilt. Um train train car makes me think of all the books that I'm like, I owe I I they deserved better from me, as if these are real children being like this was my story, and you slept on it.

[1:02:42] Grace Aki: I was out here reading holes so I could know the Shia LaBeouf rip movie better. You know what I mean? Like it's just oh my god. I'm gonna have to look up the boxcar books now. I'm gonna have to look them up now. This was a whole marketing campaign for me to bring up the boxcar children.

[1:03:01] Aneesh Sheth: So funny.

[1:03:02] Grace Aki: That's so funny. Oh my god.

[1:03:05] Aneesh Sheth: Yeah.

[1:03:05] Grace Aki: It's embarrassing. Busy reading holes.

[1:03:08] Aneesh Sheth: I was too busy.

[1:03:09] Grace Aki: Fake reading, probably. I was like, I'm familiar with the Earth a Kit film.

[1:03:15] Aneesh Sheth: Okay, Henry Winkler, Shia LaBouffe.

[1:03:18] Grace Aki: But anyways, that's really funny. I need to Google that because I didn't know. Um you're such a delight. I had planned to talk to you for half an hour. Look at us.

[1:03:26] Aneesh Sheth: I'm so sorry. I took so much of your time.

[1:03:28] Grace Aki: Shut up. No, I just meant like I I've been trying to go, like, oh, I should go shorter on my episodes.

[1:03:33] Aneesh Sheth: Yeah.

[1:03:34] Grace Aki: But I end up, no, this is storytelling, and I want you to be able to fully uh talk about whatever you're wanting to talk about. Um, but thank you for letting me ask about things that are kind of cucaloocu. But you have beautiful stories, and every time I see your gorgeous headshot pop up on any kind of press release, I'm like, good for her. Good for her.

[1:03:51] Aneesh Sheth: Like, as if I'm somehow involved in your story. I'm just like, yeah, no, she, yeah, absolutely, yeah.

[1:03:59] Aneesh Sheth: You are involved in my story. You are. Thank you for that amazing support, always. I will always remember that whenever I do something. Because you know, it's always an ebb and flow of this business of feeling like you've got self-worth or you don't.

[1:04:14] Grace Aki: So knowing that that's true.

[1:04:17] Aneesh Sheth: That's true. Because I'm like, it it costs me nothing. It takes nothing away from my experience. I think so much so often, especially as women, we go, like, well, if I, you know, boost this person up, it takes away from my and I'm like, what are we doing? Why are we why are we gatekeeping our love for each other? Creepy.

[1:04:36] Grace Aki: Um, so I just again, it costs me nothing. It's the bare minimum. You're an incredible person and performer, and I can't wait to hopefully like work with you again. But you're you're fantastic, and I'm so excited for all the things that you do coming up. Of course, we're gonna promote the fact that like everyone needs to follow you on all socials because um, the way the way even the other day when you were like calling out that Bo Burnham lyric, I was like, my ears are bleeding because I was listening to the the On Loop.

[1:05:03] Aneesh Sheth: And I I always laugh at that part, and I was like, I was like, such a good call.

[1:05:11] Grace Aki: Um thankful that I don't have a white girl's Instagram. Thankful. Thankful.

[1:05:15] Grace Aki: Thank you for listening to Tell Me on a Sunday podcast. This has been a That's Good A Media Production. I want to give a special shout out to my Patreon subscribers. That's Triple Threats and Beyond. Daniel, Joe, Abigail, Matt, Caitlin, Carson and Marissa, Joe F, Priscilla, Rick and Margaret, Molly, and Norman, Mackie, Violet, and Michael.

[1:05:34] Grace Aki: Merch is gonna be released through my Etsy shop. If you don't already follow that, that's at Grace Aki Made It on Instagram, but also you can find it on Etsy, Grace Aki Made It. Uh lots of podcast related merch, I guess. And by lots, I mean probably one or two to start. And uh all of my other artwork is available on there too. I mean, as artists, we do a million things.

[1:05:52] Grace Aki: We're multi hyphenates. You can still listen to me weekly on Broadway radio. That's usually Tuesdays through Thursdays. You can get your Broadway news every single day. Presented by me, Matt, Ashley, sometimes James Marino. It's really good. Highly recommend that you listen to it. Uh thank you guys again for joining me on this journey of storytelling. I hope to see you next week. Otherwise, stay safe. Love you.