call and response podcast

Give five hurrahs and twelve hip-hips for Kevin Curtis! We dive into his experience (and the optics of) playing LeFou in Beauty in the Beast, his first two TV appearances on Pose and Younger, and how his Grandma inspired him to start performing.

We chat with actor-playwright Eboni Booth about feeling isolated as the only black woman in a space, transitioning from actor to Juilliard playwright fellow, and making her Off-Broadway playwriting debut with Paris, currently playing at Atlantic Stage 2. Get tickets to Paris here: https://atlantictheater.org/production/paris/

We talk with award-winning actor-producer-writer-creative Eric Lockley about creating work that is meaningful, winning Apollo Theater Amateur Night (THRICE), and uplifting voices with The Movement Theatre Company and Harlem 9.

Kick off the new decade with a double-dose of Capricorn energy in this very special episode as Felicia lives out her fan-girl dreams with Ain’t No Mo’s Jordan E. Cooper! We chat with the award-winning playwright and actor about creating theatre as a kid in Texas, writing for television, and providing a hopeful space for black theatregoers. Plus, an exclusive performance of Ain’t No Mo’s powerful “...

It's call and response's final episode of 2019 and the DECADE (but don’t worry, there’s more episodes for season 4 ahead!). We talk with musical storyteller Zeniba Now about her experience with Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal’s BARS Workshop at the Public Theater, the differences between the West and East coast, and her mystical epic The Loophole.

After a chance meeting outside of Broadway Dance Center, we chat with James Roberts IV about finding his way back to performance after majoring in marketing, creating his own content, and reenergizing yourself as an artist.

We chat with ART/NY’s Director of Operations and TedxBroadway alum Jim Joseph about his journey to theatre, the rewards and challenges of working in arts administration, and NFL’s Rooney Rule that inspired his TedxBroadway talk.

Before you go and dig those holes, listen to our latest episode as we chat with actor-entrepreneur Khleo Thomas about working on the iconic Disney movie Holes, transitioning to telling stories through music, and evolving into a multi-faceted identity.

We chat with Jasmine Cephas Jones about her favorite Hamilton memories, her childhood in the downtown theatre scene, and the lessons she learned returning to the stage in the musical adaptation of Cyrano, currently playing Off-Broadway.

We talk with Michael Benjamin Washington about transitioning from Texas to New York City, preserving black and queer history through his writing, and finding specificity for the 28 characters he plays in the revival of Anna Deavere Smith’s Fires in the Mirror, currently playing at Signature Theatre.

We chat with Marchánt Davis about the importance of finding abundance as an artist, the magic created in the Ain’t No Mo’ rehearsal room, and the dramaturgy for his role in The Great Society, currently running at Lincoln Center Theater.

Ready for some Big Virgo Energy?! We talk with director Miranda Haymon about investigating conclusions in the rehearsal room, operating in all-white spaces, and promoting Diversity with a capital “D.”

We talk with Susan Stroman Award-winning director and creator Whitney White about finding rhythms within scripts, code-switching within predominantly white spaces, and discovering the dynamics within for all the women who thought they were Mad, currently running at Soho Rep. Also check out the other show Whitney recently directed, Our Dear Dead Drug Lord, currently running at Second Stage.

The Phantom of the Opera is here! We talk with Derrick Davis, the titular star of Phantom’s national tour about the cosmic journey to fulfill his Phantom destiny, the nuances of playing Carousel's Billy Bigelow as a black man, and the importance of sharing truthful stories of black experiences.  

Let us be glad and let us be grateful, because we are BACK for season four, y’all! For our premiere episode, we talk with Brittney Johnson about the nuances of making history as Wicked’s first black Glinda, the freedom in not limiting yourself, and the importance of finding a character's essence.

And like that, another call and response season is complete! For the season three finale, we talk with two-time Pulitzer Prize winner (and one of Felicia’s personal heroes) Lynn Nottage about approaching every play in a new way, ignoring the restrictions put on black women writers, and tapping into her musical roots for her current project, Secret Life of Bees, at Atlantic Theater.

For season three’s penultimate episode we talk with Jelani Alladin about originating the role of Kristoff in Frozen on Broadway, exploring identity through writing, and acknowledging an artist’s superpower to change the world.

We talk with Glory about finding her way to stand-up comedy (and back again), embracing moments of failure, and pushing back against racism and sexism in the comedy industry through her shows Strawberry Milk and Pretty Funny Friends.

We talk with award-winning writer Chisa Hutchinson about fighting assumptions, working as Lynn Nottage’s assistant, and exploring her sense of duality in her new Audible-commissioned play Proof of Love, currently running at Minetta Lane.

Get ready for a full-circle moment that was eight years in the making! We chat with NYU Tisch New Studio on Broadway’s Founding Director and professor (who is also a full-time director!) Kent Gash about navigating between academia and the professional theatre world, creating a safe space for students in higher education, and examining (and humanizing) the world of incarceration.

This week, we chat our first director guest! Saheem Ali discusses what excites him when reading a script, why immigrating to America changed his perspective on theatre, and how a trip to London—and a production of Grease—changed his life. You can read Saheem's essay about Grease in the New York Times here:  https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/15/theater/grease-in-a-nairobi-high-school-saheem-ali-on-hi...

We talk with Tiffany Denise Hobbs about acting in Donald Glover’s Atlanta on FX and Sara Bareilles’ Waitress on Broadway, overcoming the feeling of being an outsider as the only black student in ballet class, and accessing your ancestral home through art.

We chat with Lyric Danae about navigating the differences between dance genres—from Alvin Ailey’s Horton technique to pop musical Oscar at the Crown, performing on the Boston Celtics dance team, and finding home wherever you go.

Get ready, 'cause here she comes! We sit down with Obie winner and MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant recipient Dominique Morisseau to discuss being a student of playwriting, proactively diversifying audiences, and making her Broadway debut with Ain't Too Proud - The Life and Times of the Temptations.

We talk (and laugh…a lot) with Mean Girls’ Rick Younger about how he discovered comedy (shout-out to Peanut), the genius and work ethic of comedians, and the insider scoop on his audition experience for the Tina Fey Broadway musical.