Episode

Enough love for the both of us. All right, let's have this cock. This cock. Let's have this cock now. Let's have this cock. Wow. Oh, my goodness. Hi, Freud. Something on your mind? Yeah. You want to have a conversation about? Perhaps. Blush. Let's have this. Real blush. Like even nose red blush. Now. Wow. You should see this. Fanning myself because it's always hot in here. Yeah, okay. So anyway, yes. So yeah, you're right. You should tell them. It sucks sometimes, but you should tell them. And not only, make sure that it's not just you think it, you're feeling it in a little bit. Make sure that it's actually something that's kind of on a good track, you know, because. Well, let's be honest. You don't want to Ted Mosby anybody. No. No. And nobody, if you don't get that joke, I'm sorry. You need to watch How I Met Your Mother. You need to watch How I Met Your Mother because fucking you don't want to Ted Mosby. No. It's just that. It's that simple. So. I don't regret having told you that. Just so you know. I know you don't. I don't regret it. I know you don't. You, it's funny because you talk about that. You always say, remember that time in Starbucks? You don't ever have to say anymore. I know exactly what you mean. You realize we haven't really talked about it since. But we have. In passing. In passing. And what you say is, yeah, that really sucked. That's all you say. Yeah. That really sucked. Now, question to you. Do you find that when you've got a submissive that's really busy with their own personal life and, you know, they're moving a hundred miles an hour, do you find that they're less likely to fall in love than you do somebody who isn't as busy in their own personal life? Or do you find no correlation? I find no correlation whatsoever. Okay. No. My hope would be, though, that. That if they do have a busy life and they have a full life, that maybe that does aid in the kind of the detachment. Yeah. That to me would aid in the detachment. If you're, you know, when you don't have something occupying you all the time, if you're thinking about it all the time, if it's your, you know, your, your whole thought. Well, let me ask you this then. Do you think that it would make any sort of a difference? You have a very full life, crazy, and you're busy all the time. Does that stop you from thinking about me? We came about this 10 different directions. I'm just saying. I'm asking. It's a real. It's a genuine question. I know it's a genuine question. I mean, no. We think we have that conversation all the time. We have conversation all the time. Things got heated up before they got real to a certain degree. And then after this, this meeting, it's, you know, gelling and doing whatever. But no, I mean, I have times when I'm at work and you're not the focus of my day. You know, I've got. Yeah. It's true. Ridiculous. Blasphemy. Sub fail. Sub fail. No, you know, when, when you, when you're as busy as I am and you're doing the things that I do and you've got to have focus on what you're doing or you're going to get run over, you know, you can, you can step yourself back from it a little bit. And I think, I think that's healthy. I think if I wasn't as busy as I am, it would be a lot easier to find myself falling into that trap and being too needy. You know, and so I think some people confuse love with being needy. Dude. Yes. Yeah. Oh yeah. I've been, I've been struggling a lot lately because I'm trying hard as fuck to find a job. And, um, and it's really hard some days because I want to be, I want to be productive. I want to be busy. I want to be that kind of busy because I like being that kind of busy. And I'm always afraid that that's going to translate into neediness when I'm texting, what are you doing? You want to hang out? You want to do something? And always so scared that it's going to get to that, that it's going to get to that point where I, I, my, my entire life becomes you, which there's nothing wrong with that because I love you. I love you. And I just love you. But, you know, at the same time, I don't think that's necessarily attractive in a sub where it's not, you know, we're, you know, of course, I mean, I'm sure it's awesome to have people fawn over you and worship your every fucking move. But I would assume that as a D type, you want a submissive that has the light that has that's productive, that, that, that, you know, does stuff that is an independent person. It's like at that round table. And I'm, I'm, I'm horrible with names. So please forgive me. I'm very, very lovely lady who sat at the head of the table and she's Miss D and she, her, her, her comment was she wants all of her subs to be gainfully employed because it gives them focus outside of her. And I, I, I think that's a good idea. I think that's healthy. I think if you're not gainfully employed or, or busy with other things in your life that it can become very obsessive. And then again, obsession, some people think obsession is love. It, it's, it's a slippery slope. I think, and then I think something like that could definitely impact your submission, you know, because I don't know about you, but to me, it's like, I, I see her and it's like the sun comes out and everything is beautiful and all the colors are much brighter than they were before. And I, I never want that to lose its luster ever. I don't think it will, but I just, you know, and so I, I almost feel like if I had it, like if I had a nine to five or if I had something else going on. That it would preserve that. It would preserve that because it's like, fuck, I can't get, I can't wait to get out of work so I can go and see her. Or you know what? Today I'm going to leave my house super early so I can go and get her some coffee in the morning and be there right, like right before she, yes. So that, that happens right there. I like. There are times that her and I've talked so much and sometimes we'll have that conversation where it's just a flat conversation and I'll get off the phone and I'll have that, that question in my head of, wow, you know, are we losing that, that spark? But it's not. It's just that you've had so much conversation that day that things just become kind of mundane. Yeah. You know? So it's, it's good to have that, that separation now and then. Yeah. Um, good talk. You know, ask Matt, good talk. Uh, we're going to tackle the next really, really hard question actually. All right. Sounds good to me. What advice would you give to close friends plus a married couple? The wife is bi and wants a relationship with a woman or with the woman, but the husband doesn't approve. It's a very poly oriented question and we certainly do not profess to be poly experts. Nope. Um, this is a, this is a communication answer. Um, it depends on how the relationship is set up. If the husband and wife have, you know, veto power, then they have veto power. Or if, if it's not an open relationship as of yet, and this is how they're opening it, if one of the two parties isn't okay with opening it, then they're not okay with opening it. Yeah. Um, and if that means that the one person that wants to open it is dissatisfied with the relationship and needs to figure something else out, then that's a different, that's a different question. That's a different answer. But it boils down to if you're going to have a legitimate poly, a legitimate open relationship, everybody has to be on the same page. Everyone has to embrace it. Everyone has to embrace it. Um, and if that means that you're just going out and swinging and just having sex for sex, great. I don't care. But if that means that you're embracing relationships with emotions and love with multiple people, you know, that's a big conversation, big, much bigger than just sex. Yeah. I think that a lot of people are more open to accepting that it's just sex. Some people have difficulty accepting that just sex can be just sex. Yeah. Some people have issues with that. So, um. Cause I think, you know, there, there's that sense of almost feeling threatened. Precisely. You know, that some, that someone is going to be better than you. It is interesting that a man would feel threatened by a woman by bringing a woman as in as a third. Why do you think that is? I just, because I don't understand why they would be threatening. It's a completely different person. I mean, it's a different gender. Why would that threaten you? That's to me, that's no threat. That's, that's. Precisely. So when I was married. Wait, hold on. Wait, I'm not ready to move on. Okay. I guess, I don't know. I'm just trying to understand how, but if it was another dude, that would be threatening? Yeah. Yeah. Cause it's the, it's, you know, it's the same, the same thing. You get something, I get something totally different from you than I would from him. You guys are totally different in every way. But you've, you know, you've got the, the parts are different. And. Lady parts. Um, and, and you fulfill something very different for me. So, you know, girl sex fulfills something very different or even just, you know, girl relationship fulfills something very different from boy relationship. Okay. I'm sorry. I like had to wrap my mind around that. Does that make sense? Yes. Do you see why to me it doesn't make sense? Um, so when I was married, um, I, I, you know, I told my, my husband, Hey, you know, I want to have sex with women. I want to just go have sex with women. That's what I want to do. And he was like, no, then I'm going to have sex with women. I was like, how does that work? He's like, well, if you can have sex with women, then I can have sex with women. I was like, okay, no, see, here's the deal. I'm going to have sex with women. So you can have sex with me. Men. See how that works? And he goes, no. And I was like, okay, that's how it's going to go. If I have sex with women, you can have sex with men. And he's like, well, I don't want to have sex with men. So you can't have sex with women. I was like, okay, that makes everybody happy. Ex-husband want to point out. It's just one of many reasons. so but it's I wouldn't suggest having that conversation because that's not a good open conversation but it's also a good reason to help explain and understand the motivations why does she want to have this relationship with this woman and what is the impact that it's going to have on the husband the truth of the matter is he's probably saying no because of fear because he's afraid and what is he afraid of and how can she talk him through that so he isn't afraid not in a manipulative way but in a true genuine caring I want I want us to be okay how can we be okay because it might I mean it might not even the problem itself might not even be that big right it's just a matter of dissecting it and really getting down to the root of it getting yeah and really making sure that you're open and communicating and talking about it and that there's no you know there's no fear does he want to hear all of the details does he want to know nothing you know does he want to believe they just went out for drinks so so you went out with the waiter I went out with the waiter and um I I knew this was gonna happen I knew this was gonna happen and I was in I had like this total like internal dialogue with myself well do I want to know everything that happens do I want to know if she has sex do I want to know how the sex was do I want details about the sex act do I want to know if he was any good do I want to look what is do I want to know what his penis looked like all of these things all these questions I want to know what his penis look really okay we'll talk about it later but I you know and I really struggled with it but what it came down to is okay if I ask for details again I need to be ready for what I hear precisely you need to be ready for the answer not knowing is worse than knowing uh no I would have to disagree each person is different for me for you for me not knowing is worse because your mind just tears you up it's oh my god what if oh it's far worse for me you know there are instances for me in which that is horrible and I ask for the details simply for the fact that I don't want to terrorize myself with things that probably didn't even happen and that's his point but I think sometimes like it's just a mat like I don't even know how easily this happens but I just like brush it off I just let it go like whatever so she did this okay she may or may not have done this or whatever she may or may not I don't know I don't know I'm gonna let it go but you know I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know but I mean of course in our dynamic it's very different because you're gonna go and fuck whoever the fuck you want to regardless of what the fuck I say but um but I liked that at least that that there was a conversation afterwards yeah you know what there was there was like this like touching base and just kind of resetting us yeah absolutely and I think which I think that's my that's my job to make sure that we're okay and I think that in a married couple who maybe doesn't have ds I don't know um but I think also in a situation like this where she wants to go to sleep I think it's important to also come back and and reset yep you know and that's kind of their primary that's yeah absolutely I agree wholeheartedly I agree I think that was good I think so too what are the question was there um the next one I don't want to answer it it's kind of a vain question uh so so kitty would like to ask you what you like most about having a sub and what made you want to be a mistress slash dominant so I guess that's a question for me I think it's a fantastic question what do I like what do I like most about having a sub I like that my bed gets made and Nancy sleeps over um I have the service um I love I love taking care of people and if that makes sense although what I'm doing is not necessarily giving a person exactly what they want there's a lot of things that I do like you can attest to this that is what you need and you don't want to do it at all but it's what you need and I do it and you do it because that's that's what you're supposed to do um and I enjoy seeing the fruits of my labor of the benefits that you reap from doing these things that I make you do that you need to do that you don't want to do me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me With affection. And why am I a dominant? Was that the question? No, no, no, no, no, no. The question was... Shit, I gotta go back. Question. What made you want to be a mistress slash dominant? It's like asking you what made you want to be a lesbian. That's just what I am. That's just who I am. I couldn't imagine being anything else. I couldn't... Yeah. I figured you'd answer that. Yeah, I don't... You know, it's like what makes you a submissive? You know, it's just who you are. What makes Beast a switch? It's just who he is. So that you don't feel so vain. What I like most about being a sub is that I get to take these things that I happen to be really good at that are really hard to do for myself and do them. And for other people. Make other people's lives easier. Right. Because that small detail of making your bed, I don't make my own bed. I don't. That makes me feel actually better. I don't make my own bed. But I mean, I have really faulty logic. I totally feel like, well, maybe in the middle of the day I want to take a nap. I just, you know, whatever. This is what I'm done. It's gonna look the same in the morning anyway. I know. I love my bed right there. It's so pretty. It does. And I like... And the pillows are on it. Yeah. And I like doing that. So that it gets that reaction. Yeah. You set the bar a little high on that. I got that yesterday morning because I was the last one downstairs. So last night when we go up over the stairs and she turns the lights on and she looks at me with this just drop, face drop. What? You didn't make the bed? Really? You didn't make my bed? No, I was summoned to the first level. He was. He was summoned. Come down now. Wow. That's crazy. And I sent him a text. I just texted him to come down. But he didn't make the bed. And I was like... Because I love it. You spend the night and my bed's made in the morning. And I fucking love that. And I walk in. I was like, my bed is made. It makes me so happy. And so when we walked in and my bed was just a disheveled mess because it's hot and I like a blanket and I don't like a blanket and I throw it off and I keep it on and... Then I was just like... I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. You didn't make my bed. And I was really kind of disappointed. So when she woke up in the middle of the night and the bed was all disheveled, I snuck around and put it together and I just came back and I'm like, hey, I made the bed. That's true. We did. It wasn't like your bed making. Look over here. Look over here. I made the bed. It's all better now. You forgot about that, right? You know what? I think that's what I like about... Wow. I think that's what I like is that we all have different abilities. We're like an X-Men or some shit. X-Men? Oh, yeah. Yeah. If I were an X-Men, I'd be rogue, just saying. You'd be rogue? Yes. Or the Phoenix. I mean, Jean Grey, but only after she turns into the Phoenix. I'm such a nerd. It's okay. I got all of that. I'm glad. And that's why this works. But there's things that you're going to be able to do for her that I can't do. That I suck at. Putting a hard point over my bed, yes. Yeah. Right. Exactly. What? I don't have any idea. I've already got them picked up. I'm laying there and looking at the ceiling. I'm going, okay, there's the frame. Ten minutes I can do this. I'm like, whatever. How can you do that in ten minutes? I've already got it done. It's done up here. So, you know, I like that. That's what I like is that he and I can fit together. Yeah. Like that. And then give you like, it's like ultra sub. Correct. See, that's what I wanted. Two for one. When we first started this, I made a real effort to reach out to you. Yes. And this kind of may bring us back to the original topic. Yes. But I reached out to you because I didn't want to come in and be, I'm going to, I'm going to. No, it's find a way to fit. Find a way to work together. This is a common goal. Yes. Yes. This is a common goal. You got to find the common goal and the two of you work together. Mm-hmm. And if you can't, then you've got a problem. You know, if it's that, then someone's got to make a decision and then things get ugly and then that just doesn't end well. No. For anybody. No. For nobody. So, no. I mean, and I made a real effort. You know, I reached out to you on Twitter and you and I basically said, okay, interview, go ahead. Yeah. That was awesome. And we did like a four day, you know, I'd get 50 questions a day and you took a little too long to answer. What are you thinking about? I'm really good at pre-screening. Yeah. I was pre-screened like a son of a bitch. Well, I bet it, and I forgot who I said this to, but you know, I think that like, I almost have like this like sense of like, I'm going to protect my mistress. Although my mistress is going to take care of her fucking soul. I'm just telling you, she didn't kick someone's ass if she needed to. Yeah. But you know, I don't know. You inspire this, like, this just like, I'm going to put you in a bubble and I'm going to protect you. I need protection. Is that it? You don't need protection. But, but I don't know. Ooh, that's that look. You love that look. That one, the crock pot. Yeah, that's a crock pot. That's going to hurt later. We only have about like eight minutes left. So if you are, have been listening this whole time and you've been trying to gather the courage to call our numbers, 800-893-9562, 800-893-9562. Or you can tweet us. We'll tweet you this as well. I have a question for you, mistress. Yes, sweetie pie. I love when you do that. Because you call me sweet things, but then it's like, but then like you can turn around and call me really filthy things too. I do, don't I? Yeah. Yes, though. You had a question. How do you, how do you juggle the DS and the kinky and the filthy with all of your, because you have responsibilities outside. What? What? Crazy. And you know, they're pretty demanding responsibilities. Yeah. And, and, and you said it yourself earlier, you, you, you almost have, you have this like caretaking kind of feel. I'm very nurturing. Right. I'm a self-proclaimed nurturing sadist. So that's a lot of work. I have no fucking idea. It's a lot of work. How do you do it? I don't know. How does anybody do it? How does anybody do it? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. How does a single mom work in two jobs do it? How does, you know, it's just to get done. Things become priorities. God bless technology. I, you know, because I can do things via texting and email, et cetera, which keep, keep, you know, various subs, you know, happy and know that they're in my thoughts and that if there's a task to be given, a task can be given. Um. And I, you know, it's a juggle and sometimes I drop balls. Sometimes I drop a lot of balls. Uh, and because that's, I'm human and I, and sometimes I just, I just want a break. Sometimes I do. And you know that you've been there. Yeah. You know, it's like, please, I just don't want to do anything right now. I just don't. I mean, fine. And you come over and we hang out like friends and that's what we do. We hang out like friends and you torture me with Twilight movies. Um. It's beautiful by the way. Yeah. It's, yeah. And that's like, and the truth is in that moment, because I don't have to be the mistress, that's service because you might be wanting to give me some kind of submission, but I don't want, I don't want to take care of somebody else. I don't want to right then. And that is service in my opinion. That's awesome. So that's how I do it. That's pretty cool. Poorly. I do it poorly. Silly. I do it poorly. I just AP'd. Yeah. I totally AP'd. You just AP'd. Oh, my life goes on. It was like last night. You know, you let go and that was nice. You let go and we didn't have that going on last night. Well, it was vanilla date. Yeah, it was vanilla date. It was vanilla date. But it was, you had let go of it and there wasn't that, there wasn't that thing going on. There was just two people having a conversation and it was relaxing and you know, we both got a chance to let our guard down and talk about, okay, how has this gone so far? Right. And you know, I'm trying to feel out where we are and you know, from your point of view, how everything had gone. There wasn't that per se protocol. There was just two people genuinely care about each other and each other's wellbeing, but you're having conversation and you know what I'm talking about. Yeah. The DS overtone kind of takes back seat. Yeah, it was gone. Yeah. It was just put back here and here we are having conversation. We're having dinner and it's like, hey, you know, what is this? What is this sauce on my... Cause my palate isn't very... It's not very refined. Not like mine. So, you know, that's nice and it's not, but not many people get that either. You know, that's part of what I really like about this whole lifestyle thing is compared to, you know, you get to see behind the curtain. Yeah. You know, they're real people. Absolutely. It's not that I'm the dummy. I don't ever do that. I would laugh at myself. It's funny when you try to. Well, cause I laugh. I'm the dummy. I'm the dummy. I'm the dummy. I'm the dummy. I'm the dummy. I'm a domily dom. Silly. Yep. One of the parts about the weekend that has touched me the most was watching you two the other night in the club. And it was real, you guys. You should have seen it. It was just, we're in this open dungeon and everything's going on around us. And it's just like, there's this whole little world where I'm sitting beside mistress and here's Nancy at her feet. Yeah. And Nancy's just lost in this world of magic. You know, she's gone. She's not even with us. She's just got her head rubbing on, on, on mistress's leg. And there's this, this whole thing. And I just sat back and I witnessed it all. And I thought to myself, well, you know, that's really cool. She's lost in that moment. And she was gone somewhere on her own little ride. Yep. It was cool as shit. Right? So I get up and I literally leave the area and it's, Nancy doesn't notice. She's not noticing people around her. She's not, she sees nothing. All she sees is the people around her. And she's like, I'm not going to go. I'm not going to go. I'm not going to go. I'm not going to go. And all she sees is she's sitting on the floor in a club full of people and she's got her head driven into, to, to the thigh of, of her mistress. Until she tried to nuzzle her nose into my crotch like a fucking dog. Wow. That smells so good. That smells so good. So I, I, you know, that's, that was nice. That's what I get for not wearing panties. That's cool. I'm glad you noticed that. I did. I did. And it was really, it was a real connection there. And it's, that to me is the fun part. You see that connection, that, that connect, you know, it's, it's real. Mm-hmm. And, and to see somebody let go and with very little effort, you were gone. Yeah. Mm-hmm. You know, it wasn't that, for me, I can't get there like that. I have to have that, that beating. I have to have that cathartic pounding to get me to, to let go. And for you, it was just a matter of being there at her feet. It was beautiful. You know, and most of the, that's really all I want. Yeah. It's, but that, that was, that was one of my highlights of the weekend watching that. That was just beautiful. That's cool. Thank you. And that made me really happy. You look so cute. It was, oh my God, you guys, you're even. And then over in the other corner, you're getting to watch Master Fauna teach this Navi how to flog somebody. I mean, what a cool experience, guys. It was cute. If you've never been to a public dungeon, that was, that was hot as shit, right? It was really cool. You're watching people do their thing and it's like flogging 101 over there in the corner, you know, and this, this young girl is learning to flog her boyfriend and it's very, okay, now you can't hit him here. And this isn't. You see her light up like a flower, you know, and that was, you learn and I'm a people watcher. I like that shit. Yeah. It was pretty cool. It was, it was very, very, very cool to watch that. And then it got really high cause they were both flogging him at the same time. It was great. It's true. We're just about out of time. Already. Wow. 58 minutes, man. It flies. It's fucking nuts. It does. Thanks for having me in guys. Thank you. Thank you for coming. Yeah. I'm flying out. And you'll come again and then we'll have another amazing weekend. Oh, I'll come again and again. Yeah. Yeah. You really, really? Anyway. Yeah. I'm tired. You, you look all tuckered out. I am. It's weird. Anyway, I'm in a weird, weird headspace right now. Next week. Next. Is it confirmed? No, it's not confirmed. Okay. Nevermind. Then we're not going to talk about it. But you know, I follow us on the Twitter. I'm Insidious Muse. I'm a fan of you. I'm a fan of you. I'm a fan of you. I'm a fan of you. I'm a fan of you. I'm a fan of you. And I'm Service Slut. Service Slut. He's peeping Eric till he changes it because that's a weird name. And it's at the underscore. Cheater McCheater. Cheater McCheater. It's at the underscore love underscore bite. Like our Facebook page. Yes. And so, and if you do that, then we'll be updating what we'll be doing next Sunday. Absolutely. That's it. Have a good week. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. at Skid Row Studios at Skid Row Studios. Maybe. Tune into the Love Bite where all your kinky desires come true. Sundays, 3 to 4 p.m. Pacific Time at skidrowstudios.com. Tune into the Adamo podcast every Tuesday night at 8 p.m. Pacific Time at skidrowstudios.com. Adamo. Adamo. Aaron, how long have you been running? Tune into Sexy Time Talk from 9 to 10 p.m. Pacific Time on Wednesday nights here on skidrowstudios.com. Thank you for calling the Tustin Costco food court. This is Mike. How can I help you? Yes, I would like to order 1,000 pizzas and I'd like to pay for them with from the boogers in your mouth. You're listening to Skid Row Studios. You're listening to Skid Row Studios. Now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now Thank you. Thank you. Thursday, August the 9th, 2012, at the Exchange located at 114 West 5th Street, downtown Los Angeles. Welcome to the Qumran Report. May the peace and blessings of the life-giving creative spirit be upon you and upon your family. My name is Melvin Ishmael Johnson, and I'm in the studio with my co-host, Earlene Anthony. This week, we will be talking about the state of African-American theater with Judith Bowman, Pauletta James, and the cast of her play, A Dove for Lizette Malvo. I'd like to welcome you to the Qumran Report. Hello. Thank you. Thank you. Now, before we get into our discussion of the state of African-American theater, I'm delighted to have with us in the studio the author of the play, A Dove for Lizette Malvo, Pauletta James, and also the stage manager and the cast. Now, this play will be performed this Sunday, August the 12th, 2012, at the Nassau Play Reading Series at the Exchange located at 114 West 5th Street at 3 o'clock. Let's talk a little about each one of you and a little about your background and how you got into the theater. Let's start with you, Pauletta. Hi. I started my desire, my love for theater by just going to theater. But I think the play that really got me started was the Haitian plays that were produced by the Roby Theater Company here in Los Angeles. Ben Guillory and Danny Glover are the co-founders of the Roby Theater. And I had never seen theater like that before. And I wanted to do it. I didn't know how to do it, but I knew I wanted to do it. So I started reading books and doing everything. I could to try to teach myself because I didn't know where to go to school to acquire this kind of knowledge. I was, you know, employed. So I wasn't the type of student that could become a traditional student. So I went through a lot of self-teaching. And I believe it was Hurricane Katrina that affected me so much so deeply that I started to write. And I didn't really know what I was writing. But I just. All these characters started coming to me. So I started writing them down. And I was already a member of the Theater West. It's a theater company in North Hollywood. It's been around since the 1930s. And so in that acting class, my teacher started reading my writings. And she said, you should make a play out of this. This is really good. But I didn't really know if it had any value. But I continued to write nonetheless. And she wanted to produce. And then another student who was involved in my class knew Peter Flood, who was a New York producer. And he was teaching a class at the Odyssey Theater in West Los Angeles. So I was going there on Tuesday nights bringing my play, you know, characters that was writing. And then we were in pre-production. And I got a lot of actors from Robie Theater and from Town Street Theater. And Nancy Bellamy Davis, who's a founder of Town Street. And Nancy Bellamy Davis, who's a founder of Town Street Theater, was one of my actresses. And she's a personal friend of Ben Guillory at the Robie. She got him on the phone and said, you know, you need to look at this work. You know, my student has written. So Ben called me on the phone and said, mail it to him. I mailed it to him. I was so excited. I mailed it to him. No email. Yeah. You know how Ben is. So I mailed it to Ben. And he invited me down to the Robie Theater. And he microwaved a complete dinner for me. And Nancy. And we sat and ate a microwave dinner, which was really good. But we sat and ate microwave food. And he offered me a seat at the Robie Theater's playwright program. And so I became a member maybe three years ago. And so I've been writing and writing. So I'm like, you know, learning how to become a playwright and writing a play. And it's sort of like with this play, Adept for Lisette Malveaux. It was another kind of, I took this, I just enrolled in a class. I didn't know anything about the theater program at Southwest College. I just decided to take a class. I'd been taking a lot of science classes because I'm interested in nursing as well. And I took a class because microbiology wasn't offered that semester. So I said, well, what the heck? I'll just take this class with Professor Al Colbert. I didn't know anything about him. I didn't know anything about the program. But, you know, I know some acting teachers. Teachers and theater teachers are pretty tough. So I was a little concerned about what type of personality he may have. And then when I got into the program, I thought, okay, he's pretty nice. And so I wrote this class, I wrote a play, you know, for an assignment. And he liked it, but he didn't tell me he was going to submit it to a theater competition in Texas. And he submitted it and it won. And I think it was, I'm not sure how many. It came in third place. It was a 10-minute play. He felt it would have done much better because it was in a competition with other playwrights. And these plays were like full-length plays. Maybe like, you know, one and a half to two-hour long plays. So my little 10-minute play was up against these plays that, you know, were, you know, hour and a half to two-hour long. And he felt if it had been longer, it probably would have done much better. My characters had been more developed, the story more developed. But I was happy with third place. Okay. All right. How about you, Armani? Tell us a little about yourself and how did you get off into theater? Well, I'm a sophomore at Los Angeles Southwest College. And I plan to transfer to a four-year institution. And I got into theater. My uncle, he's an AD for the show Chuck. And we, and we decided, and he decided that I would be good in doing background acting. So I went. I went into Central Casting and I've been working there ever since. And I appeared in shows like Chuck, Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Bold and the Beautiful, 90210, just doing background acting. And after that, I just loved the setting. So I'm like, this is where I need to be. And so then I got involved in the theater program at Southwest. I met Mr. Coward as well. And we ended up traveling to Dallas, Texas. To compete in the NATSA program. And it's the National Association of Dramatic Speech and Arts Competition. And we took home six out of nine awards. And we are just a community college. And we are going up against big universities like Albany State, Jackson State, when they're, all their theater programs. And that's all they do. That's wonderful. Yeah. I was very excited after that. Okay. And. I was on a game show as well. Was a game show winner. Let's make a deal with Wayne Brady. And I just love to travel, act, model, dance. Okay. How about you, Amber? I'm always somewhere in somebody's play or dance studio. I started in dance, contemporary ballet for about 17 years. And then I just wanted to further it and go behind the scenes a little bit. So I went to L.A. Film School in the year 2011. And as well as the stretch with that, I liked the back scenes of editing or script supervising. I just liked the backhand of that filmmaking process. And then I wanted to step out of my shy box and go into acting. And so I started the theater in 2012. And I also as well went to Dallas, Texas and enjoyed that for the first time. I. I just experienced something I never thought was actually possible for African-Americans. And it was all African, mostly all African-Americans. And it was a great experience to go there. So I just want to continue that and just. Okay. Inspire. All right. Wonderful. Ty. Well, as for me personally, I wasn't interested in theater until I started to attend Southwest College. And I enrolled in a theater class where I participated in this play called Free. And that's where I realized I had like this hidden talent for acting. Yeah. But no, seriously, considering my shyness, I never thought I could like get in front of an audience. But once you're up there, it's like a whole nother world. And you can just like transform into a totally different person. So it was pretty fun for me. And I got a lot of feedback. And it was like good feedback. So I was like, oh, okay, well, I could do this. And basically, there I have it. So I've been in it ever since then. Oh, wonderful. How about you, Lamar? Well, it all started in elementary for me. I went to St. Raphael Catholic School. And I took a, well, not I took a music class, but I had a music class. And, you know, as a child, you perform these Christmas performances and stuff like that. So, you know, my teacher, he's like, okay, who can do such and such? So, you know, I'm like, all right, I can do it. And he's like, yeah, man, that's great. You need to go on stage with this. I'm like, all right. So I go on stage and, you know, everybody loved it. I ended up doing James Brown, Little Michael Jackson, Big Michael Jackson. And, you know, all the parents would say, oh, yeah, you're great. And all that got to my head. I'm like, yeah. I'm like, yeah, I'm going to stick with this. But, you know, I ended up leaving the school sixth grade. And I have. I haven't done anything until, like, I say 11th grade. So I stopped performing. I stopped dancing. I stopped doing a lot of things. So I ended up going to 32nd USC Mass Magnet. And this history class, AP history class, they had a project where you make a film about the 18th Amendment prohibition. So some of the students was like, all right, Lamar, we want you to be a part of this project. We want you to be the pimp. So I'm like, what? I could do that. Okay. So we made this film. It's, you know, just a little school project. But I've never done acting before or anything like that. And when I did it, I just had this love for it automatic. It wasn't even my project, but I stayed up all night editing and everything for this. And I'm even coaching people. Like, no, act normal. Act like this. You know what I'm saying? I've never done this before. I've never done this before. I've never done this in my life. So, you know, it was a great feeling doing that. And then I didn't know what to do after that. You know, I'm about to graduate out of high school. And I'm like, well, what's the closest college? Southwest was the closest. So I'm like, all right, what's my major? I guess I just do theater, right? I go to Southwest and I take a beginner's acting class. So this is my first beginning. This is my first acting class, period. So I go there and Mr. Alco. You know, I made him. And I didn't know nobody. So I kept it myself. But when it was time to go up there and perform for a grade, because, you know, I'm getting graded. So I had to go up and do something. And I performed the monologue from A Time to Kill, Matthew McConaughey. The last scene in the courtroom, I did that scene. And he was like, wow. I got an A on that assignment. And he was like, look, I want your email, your number. Everything I can get. So I could contact you. So I gave it to him. And then he contacted me to do a show. And I've been doing shows ever since. And because of him, I'm now a new member of Town Street Idol. I mean, not Town Street Idol. We just, I'm sorry, I just did a show last night. TST. So Town Street Theater. And, you know, I've been doing that. All right. Thank you, Lamar. Okay. Okay. Now, we've been coming to you. We're going to talk about Judy. And we're going to talk about Judy. And we're going to talk about Judy. And we're going to talk about Judy. And we're going to talk about Judy. But let's continue with the play. Pauletta, can you tell them what is the play about? Well, the play, Adagio for Lisette Malveaux, is a play that I wrote sort of out of my pain from my mother's death. My mother was diagnosed with stage 3B lung cancer approximately a year and a half ago, almost two years ago. And I became her caretaker. I was not just her daughter, but I became like a hospice nurse. And as a result, you know, dealing with the death of a parent, you have a lot of emotions. And some things are not resolved. And some things are just sort of like, you know, you're walking around and it's oozing out of you. And I decided to start writing. And I had taken one class, playwriting class. I already had been taking classes at Robeson. We theater. So I knew a little bit about how to write a play, how a play should be written. And so I took a lot of those skills with me over to Southwest College. And I was in a class with Professor Bullock, who's Professor Cowart is the chairperson of the Humanities Department. And theater is under that department. And so she said I wrote the play because it's like, like Lamar was a part of an assignment. And I wrote it. It was like 25 pages, like 10-minute play. It's not supposed to be. It's supposed to be 25 pages. But, you know, I had to get it out. You know, I had a lot of emotions. So I just wrote and wrote and wrote. And she said, I really like it, but it's too long. I want 10 minutes. And she was, you know, adamant about that. So the day before it was due, I saw her. We had a Professor Cowart, when you meet him, he always has a show going. There's always something the students are doing. And so I attended the production of something the students were doing from Southwest College on a Sunday. Okay. And she was there and she nicely threatened me. You better have it, that 10-minute play on my desk tomorrow morning. And I looked at her, shook my head and smiled. And now I'm like, oh, my God, I don't want to do this. I don't want to write this play because it means I have to deal with the cancer. I have to deal with my mother's death. I have to deal with all of that. But, okay, you know, I don't like a bad grade. You know, I went to Catholic school for 12 years and I'm scared of nuns. And I'm still afraid of nuns and being in trouble. Was it discipline? No. No, it was called policy or death. Okay. Is this the same play as the Lisette? Basically, yes, it's the same play. And only thing is I just wrote it. I just lengthened it. I added more to it because the original play is only 10 minutes. So you can't really put everything that you want in it. This play with Adephra Lisette Malveaux, I bring in more spirituality. I bring in some things about the New Orleans culture because that's my father's family is from New Orleans. So I have a lot of some of the New Orleans culture. I grew up in South Central and Watts. So I bring into that and I talk a little bit about the Vietnam War. Okay. So I brought a lot more into this play than I had in my 10-minute play. Okay. We're going to come back in a little while and hear a reading from the play. Now, we'll be coming back to the reading from the play. First, I want to bring in our other in-studio guest, Judy Bowman, and get into a roundtable discussion of the state of Africa. Judy, you're the director of the African American Theater. But, Judy, at first, can you tell us a little about yourself and your background? How are you doing, Judy? I'm good, thanks. Well, my background is not in the theater. I'm probably the only one here that hasn't been on the stage other than maybe sweeping the stage off after a production. But I do love the theater. I love the black theater because it helps connect me with cultural roots. So for the last six or seven years, I've been working with the Robey Theater Company. Ben Guillory, some of the playwrights, helping to produce the plays and write the grant applications to make sure that the plays go up on the stage. So I love, as some of the other people have said, I love doing the things that make theater happen. And so far, I'm happy to do that. Now, Judy, how would you define African American theater? Well, I think African American theater, to me... It does come out of the black arts movement. I think of theater as being kind of a revolutionary act. I love that attitude of black theater back in the 60s, the 70s. I think nowadays, black theater just happens to be maybe theater that is about black families or black issues. I know that there's some conversation sometimes about who has the right to write a story about black lives. Black history. Robey actually produced a play by a white playwright about that issue. The issue was someone had written a play, and the play won a big prize. And they were calling the playwright to come to New York and get the prize. And it turned out that the playwright was actually a young 34, 35-year-old white guy. And so the conflict in the play was, you know, how could you deceive us? You wrote this play, and you pretended like you were a black woman. It was a slave narrative kind of deal. And so the conflict was about that issue. Who has the right to tell our stories? And I'm not sure that there's a right or wrong answer. Just a personal answer. For me, black theater is theater that moves us in a certain way. Moves us as a community. Moves us as an ethnic group a certain way. Helps us remember our stories. So I like to think of black theater as that kind of... Little help that we have as individuals to learn more about our stories. Let me ask you this. What would you say the state of African-American theater in Los Angeles? Well, you know, we can look at a cup half full or half empty. You know, we are where we are. And so I admire the theater companies that are... Doing black theater. There's some theaters, some large theaters, that just happen to do black work every once in a while. People like the 365-day plays that came a few years ago. You know, those plays were being produced all around the city. I think it woke people up to think about the fact that there were 365 stories to be told. And probably if somebody did that again, there'd be another 365. So I work with a theater group that is dedicated to black experience. The global black experience is what they are interested in telling stories about and encouraging playwrights to write about. So I admire those kinds of theaters. I, you know, I go to other work around the city that happens to have black work being produced, but that's not their mission. So for me, you know, any theater company that's got that as part of their mission, I admire that and, you know, work hard to make sure that that happens. And we try to talk about a few things in our workshop, Drama Stage. We try to do what we call the RATE concept, where we feel that theater should be a relevant, affordable theater experience. And one of the things that I'm talking to a lot of people in the community is that they feel that some theaters, it's out of their price range when they get up to $30, $40, $50. What do you want to comment on that? Anybody else can chime in also on the affordability of theater, African-American theater for the rest of the African-American community. I think that's really has had an impact. You know, our economic situation is not one where I think, you know, people can just afford to buy. You know, you can't afford to buy a $50 ticket or a $100 ticket. I think that sometimes, I know it costs a lot of money sometimes to produce certain productions, but I don't think that, you know, all theater has to be that costly. And I think, you know, there's been sometimes some opportunities, even with the Roby Theater Company, like on Thursday nights, tickets are $10. And I've gone to several of those productions and the whole theater, you know, it's full to capacity. There's even... They would have to even put chairs in the aisle way because there were so many people. So I think that a lot of times, a lot of... You know, I've gone to a lot of theater productions and there weren't even enough people to even turn the lights on. And I know a lot of that had to... Not so much with the quality of the play, but it was just too, you know, expensive. Well, I like that thing about the Thursday night. The Thursday night. Yeah, it gives people an opportunity. They normally wouldn't be able to come or maybe pay... Pay what you can. I've gone to theaters where you have that, where it's basically like a donation or whatever you can afford to give, that would be enough. I think, you know, that's another alternative. But, you know, to start charging people $50, $60, $70, that's a little much, especially in today's times. Let's talk a little about the possibility of linking African-American theater all over the country, to link them together in all these big cities. Like Detroit and Chicago, New York have great African-American theater companies, but it seems like they're not linked to each other. Now, at this time, I want to read something about Theophilus Lewis, who is a very important but little-known figure in the history of African-American theater. He was born in 1891. He died in 1974. Theophilus Lewis was a drama critic of the Harlem Renaissance era. Lewis was passionate about the theater and thought that it should reflect the values of the black culture. Lewis reviewed plays and discussed the importance of black culture in his column. He wrote about black theater productions and voiced his concerns regarding the portrayal of blacks in black theater and how white playwrights portrayed blacks. Many early plays. Theárius Lewis, when he was 14, was reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject reject to reflect the serious perspective of the life of blacks in the culture. He blamed the playwrights for not using the considerable talents of the few black actors in a more productive manner. Lewis thought that with the development of a national African-American theater company, many of the stereotypes would disappear. It was his perception that an African-American theater would be different in terms of material and audience, and plays would be based upon the experience and culture of African-Americans. He hoped that such works would establish the worth of the African-American playwright. So let's talk about the possibility of a national African-American theater company. We had one in the 30s with the Federal Theater Project for a while. It lasted about four years until they decided to destroy it. They thought it was too many communists, the writers and stuff that was involved with it. But what would it take? What are your thoughts on a national African-American theater company? I know as a playwright, it would really be beneficial because my play, Policy of Death, also went directly to the Washington, D.C. Black Theater Festival in June. Because it won in Texas, it was automatically sent to that theater festival. And that was really good. You know, that those two theater companies, the two organizations were linked together. You know, and so as a playwright, it gave my play even more exposure. And, but unfortunately, it's not going to go any further than the Washington, D.C. Because if that...