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[0:04] Patrick Oliver Jones: Welcome to the Spotlight Series, an in-depth look at those making a difference in the arts and beyond.

[0:17] Patrick Oliver Jones: Throughout the year, week after week, the actors of Only Make Believe, along with the staff, create and perform interactive and engaging theater in children's hospitals, special education schools, and care facilities.

[0:32] Patrick Oliver Jones: It allows these children with medically fragile conditions to truly be the star of the show.

[0:39] Patrick Oliver Jones: But one night each year is set aside to celebrate the work that they do as well as continue to raise funds for this wonderful organization in their annual gala.

[0:50] Patrick Oliver Jones: And this final episode of the season will take you on the red carpet as I got to speak with some of the presenters and performers like Justin Guarini, Brooke Shields, Jay Harrison G, and more from this special magical night of Only Make Believe on Broadway.

[1:23] Justin Guarini: So you will be hosting this evening. What are you looking forward to tonight? You know what? I'm looking forward to just having some fun. I mean, we get to be on Broadway celebrating an outstanding organization that has helped over a hundred thousand children in need. And then we get to honor some amazing folks. Brooke Shields, among one of them. I mean, she's an absolute icon. I've never met her before, so I'm looking forward to meeting her as well, and just having a great night with some great people coming out for a great organization.

[1:51] Justin Guarini: Yeah, yeah. Now, what is it about theater, about imagination that has inspired you through the years? Oh my goodness. Just the fact that I get to embody different people at different times in history, going through different stuff. But ultimately, I try and find as much of myself in every single character that I play. And so, you know, if I were to play the demon barber of Fleet Street, I've never murdered anybody, and I hope I never do, right? But like I understand like what anger is and shame and rage and all those other things. And so for me, it's just really beautiful experience where I get to find a lot about myself as I find out about the characters I play.

[2:33] Justin Guarini: And as a kid, was that something that you escaped to that you used as far as theater and characters? Well, something for me as a kid, like being on stage and performing. I remember the first time I knew that this was for me. And it was when the Jackson 5 as adults were performing on stage, and the lights, the smoke, the costumes, the dancing, the music. I remember pointing to the stage and saying, I want to do that to myself. And realizing that, like, then oh so many years later, I would be on a stage in front of 30,000 screaming fans on tour, doing that thing that that six-year-old wanted to do, and hopefully inspiring other people to want to do that same thing or whatever their version of that is.

[3:15] Justin Guarini: And when it comes to hosting, obviously, that's more just them than a character. Oh, yeah, for sure. I love hosting. I mean, I've been very fortunate to be the child of a CNN anchor woman and a politician. So I know what it's like to be in front of the cameras and the lights, right? And yet I've been on live red carpets, hosting for the Grammys and the Tonies, and so it's that unknown that I get to kind of be the time cop and make sure that everything goes smoothly, and if something goes off, I gotta fix and tap dance. That's thrilling to me. And to do it for a great cause like tonight is extra fun.

[3:52] Alicia Quarles: Hi, my name is Alicia Quarles, and I believe in make believe. Now, for you, what does theater and imagination mean to you? I mean, it's everything, right? It's theater, it fuels your soul. Being able to be imaginative, just it just refuels you. I think life is so hard, everything is so heavy right now. So you come to the theater and you walk away feeling lighter, feeling better, feeling inspired.

[4:15] Alicia Quarles: And as far as the children, they get to use theater and this imagination. What does it mean to you to be a part of Only Make Believe tonight? Well, I think, especially for children that are so innocent that are going through hardships or illnesses. You know, children, they need everything, they need every resource that we can give them. So Only Make Believe the fact that these professionals with their time and their effort into it to make children's dreams come true. You couldn't ask for anything more.

[4:38] Alicia Quarles: And as far as Only Make Believe to you personally, have you gotten to see or be a part and really see these children in action? Yeah, I have gotten to be a part of it. And last year I presented an award. I'm doing it again this year, the Carl Stefani Award. It's amazing. These are children that, despite all odds, they put that aside, they come in, they put their best face forward, and instead of inspiring them, you leave inspired.

[5:04] Brooke Shields: Hi, my name is Brooke Shields, and I believe in make believe.

[5:10] Patrick Oliver Jones: Hi there, I'm Patrick. I'm with Only Make Believe. Hi, and just so you know, I was with the Adams Family National Tour. And as a cast, we got to see you when you were Morticia.

[5:19] Brooke Shields: Oh, you did. Oh.

[5:20] Brooke Shields: So nice to meet you in person. That was years ago, but it's nice to be here. It's still very fresh in our hearts. Everything we do on Broadway and on tour. And you know, it really touches our hearts to be involved at theater.

[5:33] Patrick Oliver Jones: So you've been on so many sides of performing as a model, as an actress, and so many on stage and screening. Go where they want me, right? What is it that keeps you going through the years?

[5:43] Brooke Shields: No, I I'm by nature, I feel so blessed to be able to know that I love what I do. You know, I mean, I fell into it in a way at a very young age, but it's how I came alive. And I'm lucky that it found me. You just never stop wanting to create. And when one door closes, you know, if a movie clip movies closed to you, then go to the theater if you can, and theater and TV, like I'm just not gonna ever let anybody stop me from finding ways to be creative.

[6:17] Brooke Shields: And there's certainly something very special about theater, that live audience that you never know what's gonna happen. I have found such a family and a home. I mean, I've done, I've been in what, six Broadway shows, and you know, starred in them and then went through the West End and done off Broadway, and I just finished the Carlisle, and it's just you know, there's nothing that can replace it. And there is that immediacy and that interaction and the honesty of it, you know, it really, and you have to think on your feet. It's definitely not for the weak, the meek at heart.

[6:51] Patrick Oliver Jones: That's right. Now you'll be receiving the James Hammerstein Award tonight. What does this award mean to you?

[6:56] Brooke Shields: No, it's such an honor. I mean, I feel humbled by it because the real work is done by everybody at Only Make Believe and what they provide and what Dina started and all the volunteers and all those who donate and support allow children to be children. And the escape that is theater and the joy that emanates from being able to pretend and play act is such a gift to be able to give these children.

[7:33] Brooke Shields: And even if for a few moments they get to forget about their predicament or their fear, or and they get to be princesses and they get to be pirates and they get to be superheroes, and what a blessing to be able to give that to them and allow them that freedom to be kids.

[8:07] Patrick Oliver Jones: Only Make Believe in you. To support the ongoing work of Only Make Believe, go to their website at OnlyMakeBelieve.org.

[8:19] Patrick Oliver Jones: All one word. Or just look for the link in the show notes. There you can give money or time or other efforts that will greatly assist this valuable organization. Again, that's OnlyMakeBelieve.org.

[8:35] Patrick Oliver Jones: All right, let's get back to the red carpet with some more highlights from the OMB Gala.

[8:41] Brad Oscar: I'm Brad Oscar doing a little fundraising, and I actually I actually also am credited as director of this evening. Our board member who usually directs he's out in La Jolla with a new play of his. So yeah, so I was tasked with basically just getting everybody on the same page, making sure everybody has what they need. That's basically what you do when you direct a benefit like this. And we've got such an extraordinary group of artists tonight. You know, you just need to get everybody together and then let them do their thing. So I really, yes, I'm very excited. We have again, just all these professionals that come together, both on stage and off stage, to make a night like this happen. And especially because we all know why we're here and what this cause is all about.

[9:22] Natasha Yvette Williams: My name is Natasha Yvette Williams. Make believe is something that not the organization, but it is something that I've been doing my whole life is making believe. So I'm once I found out about the organization that is entrusted with helping children have access to theater and access to programming, regardless of their particular situation, I just jumped right in and was wanting to help and be a part of it.

[9:42] Natasha Yvette Williams: Theater has evolved in me on a daily basis. I have a 12-year-old twins, and in terms of just trying to find the playtime with them, because they're now pulling away. They're like they think they're teenagers now. So to get them out of their rooms and off of their phones, to play games and that kind of thing, that it has evolved in me and that I am now the storyteller to them. I am now the encourager of those dreams and pulling out those things in imagination that we sometimes forget about or suppress.

[10:09] Natasha Yvette Williams: So being a storyteller and being an imaginary tapper is very important to me. And I've used it now in my daily life, in my home life. I grew up in Fayetteville, North Carolina, down a long dirt road, and the nearest house was maybe a mile away. This town was nine miles away. And make believe became my solace for me. It was climbing trees, sitting up in the trees and imagining a whole world that I could be a part of or that I could influence or that I could have love me. So make believe has been a part of my whole life. I think it's vital that we encourage imagination, that we encourage exploring the world within.

[10:46] Natasha Yvette Williams: I'm exploring the world through pages, whether we're reading or just imagining ourselves bigger than just our circumstances. It is very important to make believe and to dream and to have access to that and to see someone else doing that on stage or on the television or however you're experiencing the joy of make-believe. So I think it's vitally important for all of us to grow, not just children, but for adults as well, but especially to encourage that in children, I think is a gift.

[11:15] Alyssa May Gold: Hi, I'm Alyssa, and I believe in make believe. I grew up doing theater and making theater, and it fundamentally informed who I am as a person and how I empathize with other people and how I cope with the world around me, being able to imagine all the other possibilities of what life could be and who I could be. I don't know how you grow up without it. And I think you know, I was a really lucky kid. And I think if you are in a situation where you know life is not what you thought it was gonna be, you deserve theater. You need stories, you need your imagination engaged with and expanded and you know, every kid deserves that.

[11:57] Alyssa May Gold: And I actually I don't think the world gets by without it. There are people who make believe, and then there are people who get to see what other people are making believe, and we all actually need each other, but stories are everything. I saw Cats on Broadway that I remember really distinctly seeing the humans as cats crawling around. And I went home and I tied a scarf around my waist and I ran around my house like I was a cat. You know, just getting it that's what I mean about like it transformed the way that I see I saw the world because I got to see this other perspective of humans and animals and what a trash pile looks like around you. Like that's the cat's playground. So it totally transformed the way that I saw the world.

[12:40] Caesar Samayoa: Hi, my name is Caesar Samayoa, and I believe in make believe. Well, you know, the only reason I'm in theater was because of outreach programs. And then when I discovered that there was a program that goes into hospitals helping children with disabilities through the arts through theater, I couldn't be more inspired by a program more than something like this. I do believe that the arts kind of change people's lives and to be able to go into communities where it's a little bit more difficult to have it as part of our everyday lives and to really introduce the arts is just kind of a life mission of mine.

[13:13] Caesar Samayoa: It has inspired me to really reach out to communities that I haven't been a part of because theater is such an inclusive industry. Right now I'm doing a show called How to Dance in Ohio, which really focuses on autistic men and women that are changed by a dance. And this feels very much in line with what this organization does too. It is an amazing synergy happening with it right now. It's the first time in history that autistic characters are being played by autistic actors in a Broadway show, and we have autistic members in every department backstage at our theater right now with How to Dance in Ohio.

[13:54] Caesar Samayoa: And right now we're only in tech rehearsals. I can't wait to get in front of the audience and to see how much this show is going to grow and also how much the show will affect the men and women that come to see it. It's a big moment of inclusivity in our industry.

[14:09] Ellen Adair: For me, uh, I could only speak for myself, and it showed me that my life could be limitless, right? That the characters that I portray can change people's lives, the stories that we tell. And to be able to inspire even one uh young boy or girl in that way is really a dream. Hi, my name is Ellen Adair, and I believe in make-believe. I mean, I think that we're all born with an incredible imaginative capability, and I think that it's very important that we get to exercise those parts of ourselves that like we don't get to be. I think they are and continue to be the parts, the sort of imaginative parts of adults as well as for children. And so I think that obviously um bringing that to kids is super important because that's really the language that they speak.

In case there are kids who feel like they're not getting the same opportunity to be children, or they're not getting the same opportunities to run around or to exercise as I was saying their imaginative capability. I think to bring something like the shows that Only Make Believe does to those kids is particularly important and particularly like meaningful. One of my best friends in the world, Brooke Haney, is a member of Only Make Believe, and so I have heard for many years like how rewarding of an experience it is for them to get to bring just fun stories to these kids. And so I was very excited to get to be a part of the festivities.

[14:28] A. J. Shively: Hi, my name is AJ Shively, and I think it's so important to spread the power of theater, especially to kids so young who need it so so badly. Um I didn't really feel like I came into myself as a person until I found theater, um, until I started seeing plays. Um I just think it's uh an essential part of being in community together, sharing stories. It's I think it's important work. Yeah, um it's play, imagination is play, and joy and fun, and hope is imagination, right? Um I think I think being able to flex those muscles and uh taking yourself out of where you happen to be in the moment uh is uh a very important thing. Well, I think kids are nothing but imagination. I think you know, world is possibility, they haven't experienced anything yet. Um and I think one of the beauties of being a child is is releasing into that imagination at play again, the uh abandon. You know, I think it's something we as adults can learn and try to remember.

[15:42] Melinda Doolittle: Hi, my name is Melinda Doolittle, and I believe in make-believe. Well, I'm an only child. I have many imaginary friends, and I spend a lot of time just kind of in my mind, you know, and it is something that has really helped me get to the next level of everything. I normally dream it first before it happens, and so I think it's so important to like be able to see it first, and then you can get there, you know, and I think that part is a part that sometimes we leave out as adults. We forget to see it first, you know, we're like, oh, it looks it looks bad. But if you can use your imagination and get there, I wish we could learn from the kids actually. Listen, um I love children and anything that betters the life of children and encourages them, teaches them to imagine and take those imaginations even further. And the way that Only Make Believe is interactive with kids and really encourages them to kind of think outside of the box. I think that it's absolutely beautiful. So I'm excited to be here.

[16:50] J. Harrison Ghee: Hi, my name is Jay Harrison G, and I believe in make-believe. Well, Jay, it is good to see you again. It's good to see you. Now, what is on the agenda for tonight? Tonight we're celebrating so much. Only Make Believe. And I've been doing that my entire life. So I'm happy to be here to support this organization doing incredible work, um, giving arts and healing and joy and peace to so many people. Um, it's easy to show up on a night like this. Now, you've been imagining over at Sumlicket Hot for a few months now. What has it meant to you in your own personal life? Oh, it's meant everything to be representation for so many people. Stage door moments where so many trans and non-binary and queer people are like, thank you for allowing me to be seen on a Broadway stage.

Um, I've had so many youth say they've never felt more represented, and that means the world to me. And Only Make Believe is servicing their own community with people and children that don't often get to play act the way that we do. Yeah. Why do you think it's so important that they get this? It's wonderful to inspire imagination. It is so healing for everyone, and I hope to be able to encourage that in people more and more. So again, it's all the more reason to show up on nights like this, to give freely and to really inspire and encourage freedom and joy. And your connection with this is Brad Oscar. That's how you found out about it, who we all love. Oh my god, that man has taught me so much on and off stage. I've learned how to love more purely, more freely, more unguarded by just knowing that human.

[19:27] Patrick Oliver Jones: For video highlights of performances during the gala and pictures as well. Check out the spotlight series on Instagram at win me spotlight. That's W-I-N-M-I spotlight, all one word. As I mentioned earlier, Brooke Shields received the James Hammerstein Award that evening. And here is longtime friend and Broadway icon Orfe presenting her with the award.

[19:56] Orfe: Good evening, everybody. How's everybody doing? So it is obviously really fantastic for me to be back here at the Only Make Believe Gala, one of my favorite events of the year. And tonight, it is my great pleasure to present the 2023 James Hammerstein Award to this most deserving honoree, the fabulous Brooke Shields. This award is in honor of theater director and producer James Hammerstein, the son of legendary musical theater lyricist Oscar Hammerstein, and late husband of Only Make Believe's founder, Dina Hammerstein. It is given to those who support and propel the arts forward. And as we all know, Brooke has shown through many mediums that she is a true artist. Now, her career began at only 11 months of age when she was selected as the Ivory Snow Baby.

And she has not stopped working since. As a model, Brooke has graced the covers of countless magazines. As an actress, she's had critical acclaim in many films and television shows, even starring in two of her own long-running and popular TV series, Suddenly Susan, and Lipstick Jungle. Now she has starred right here on Broadway six times. Yeah, who indeed. Most notably in Wonderful Town. And just completed a sold-out one-woman show at the Carlisle, receiving glowing rave reviews. Didn't you see that? She is a best-selling author, mom, a philanthropist, and has a degree in French literature from Princeton. Oh, come on, Brooke, Haggett is showing off. We couldn't laugh. Now, however, and this is very important, even after all of the many accolades, she has said publicly that she is most proud of her work opposite me.

Yeah, I agree. Yeah. As she admits that her true claim to fame was when we appeared together in the very serious two-hander in what today would be a piece surely to go viral, the very famous lazy boy commercial entitled Tomato Bubs. Thank you. Thank you, thank you. Now she said she felt she could retire after that, and who could blame her? But seriously, outside of her professional career, Brooke continues to be a strong advocate for women's issues and keeping the arts alive. It is my absolute honor to present the 2023 James Hammerstein Award to my dear dear friend and tequila buddy. The incomparable, glorious, magnificent, my dear Brooke Shields.

[23:43] Brooke Shields: Imagination, interaction, inspiration, joy, laughter, play, empowerment, hope. These are the words that just pierce my heart when I think of a child not automatically being exposed to those words. To be able to feel them in their lives daily. A synonym for theater is play acting. That's what we actors do, really. We do it for others, yes, but it's also a blessing that we get to be able to do it for ourselves. To be happy and to feel engaged and to feel like we matter. I personally found a real home and a family through theater. And I will forever be thankful that I was welcomed with such open arms and support. Brad or Faye, I consider them my family. This is what Only Make Believe stands for, and what it does so beautifully.

Only Make Believe opens its arms and its heart to the most deserving. It alleviates tensions and allows the kids to shine by providing escape, humor, healthy distraction, magic happens. Smiles happen, joy happens. But I'm just a tiny part of what Only Make Believe does and what all of you do in supporting it. I just hope that I can continue to give conduit to the great work and the tireless devotion that the team at Only Make Believe so beautifully give. And when they can walk up flank or be a princess or be a gladiator or a superhero or whatever it is that is that they get to experience and feel in the joy of theater, it warms your heart to see the joy in their sweet, sweet eyes. So it's really thanks to Dina and the entire team and all of you who work at Only Make Believe and all of you who donate and all of you who continue to support this most impactful and necessary organization.

Only Make Believe is winning. And it's going to keep winning and it's going to keep growing. It's going to keep impacting the lives of these children, the staff of these hospitals, the families of these children who only want their children to find joy and feel happy. It is really because of all of your the innocent children who so desperately need relief and so deserve it. So they don't have to be deprived of what childhood is supposed to feel like.