Interviews with Iman Milner, Isaac Clay, plus live event previews

It's dark in the moon. Are we going to play around this town? And let what I've been saying come true. Let's go. But in Jesus' name, I'm gonna get up If you get off of me, I'll get up If you wanna understand me, I'll get up If you really wanna help me, I'll get up But in Jesus' name, I'm gonna get up The people who are talking to you Are we going to let it ride this time? And if it ever be said, come true Good for nothing, they all figure Just a boyish, grown-ass shitfish jigger Now we gonna stand the battle Oh, yes, I really will decide I'm your brother As you stand in your glory I hope you're mine If I tell a whole story Part of your system I know you think you've come a long way I know you think you've come a long way As I walk the streets, the skin will roll You can see my hands ain't shaking But my body's still shaking My legs ain't trembling I turn the coin and keep it in trash Look up at the street sign It says, said, Julian Look back down and make eye contact with your brother And now I'm feeling like I'm standing So where I should be He looks around a thousand of his friends That raised their crackpipes to the lips And his lips are both teasing Telling me, yeah, I'm getting high I'm feeling good And sister, don't you knock it till you try And now I'm standing here with visions Of crooked politicians And missionaries Darker than blue by Willis and Chante Apatow Positive light ministry A shout out to Willis and Chante's Whose play, whose 10-minute play Kiara and Wendell Was selected for the 10-minute play festivals Coming up this weekend We have a little bit more to say about that Welcome to the Cone Round 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 Coming at you from the Cone Round Report From Skid Row Studios And sitting in for my co-host Is Tyrone Robinson Hey Melvin Hey Tyrone I do have my co-host sitting here Just came in, Miss Earlene Anthony Now call in Denver is 800-893-9562 Listen to us live Or download our show And any past show by googling in Skidrow.la And hit Cone Round Report Now this week on the Cone Round Report We've talked to actress Iman Milner Just recently seen in the Road reproduction of Bronzeville And also in the studio Singer Isaac Clay But first I would like to update you On the prison hunger strike That is protesting Long-term solitary Confinement Which is torture Now prison officials Are grappling with starvation-related Elements among hunger-scracking Prisoners who have refused to eat For nearly six weeks To protest the state's Solitary confinement policies As the hunger strike Enters its 40th day on Friday Dozens of inmates have been sent To hospitals or prisons Infirmaries And officials are bracing for more illness Among the 118 Prisoners who have not eaten Since the strike began The hunger strike Began July the 8th 2013 This is day 43 We will keep you updated Now I'm delighted To have with us in the studio Actress Iman Milner Just recently seen in the Road to Theater Productions of Bronzeville At the Los Angeles Theater Center She's a graduate of the University of Minnesota Guthrie Theater BFA training program Her professional credits Include Sylvia In L.A. Shakespeare's Company Productions of Two Gentlemen of Verona Showtime's House of Lies The hit web series Awkward Black Girls As well as various short films Theater Productions Iman, welcome to the Coon Round Report Thank you for having me, Melvin So glad to have you here Can you tell our listening audience About your background And how did you get off into acting Well, I am from Detroit Originally My father was a playwright A Broadway playwright And my mother is a professional dancer So I guess I kind of fell in between The two of them I grew up backstage As a Broadway baby For the first couple of years And then moved to Detroit As a kid And just I think the first show I did I was eight And it was my dad's show Part of it was that You know, my dad needed Something to do with me While he was doing the show And there was a role For a little girl in it So he gave me a role in it And he gave me the role So that I could spend time with him And then I wouldn't be bothering him During rehearsals And I just got the acting bug from there Which one of the shows was it? It was called Loose Transitions Yeah Or Urban Transitions Loose Blossoms That's what it's called Mm-hmm Yeah Because I must mention That you are the daughter Of the great playwright Ron Milner Who I knew back in Detroit, Michigan When I was with The African Renaissance Theater Company In the 70s Wonderful And that's what I'm going to do today Wonderful And that's what I'm going to do today And that's what I'm going to do today Now you do Do you do any writing too, plays? I do do writing I don't know I have a hard time Calling myself a writer Because of who my father was Yeah But I do write I do write I write short films And I also I own a magazine So I do a lot of journalism Writing Interview writing Feature writing Yeah We want to talk about the magazine too Tell us Have a chance to tell us Everything about that What's the name of the magazine? The magazine is called Edge Magazine Uh-huh And it's at Edge Magazine Site.com So you can check it out there And basically we feature All minorities in entertainment So from sports to film To theater To fashion Style Music Uh-huh A lot of athletes Uh-huh And that Yeah That's it Yeah I know I heard From some of your cast members Hit me back with the email I know they're listening Or they may call in Maybe someone will call in Oh wonderful Yeah Let me ask you this What is your process For learning lines? You know It's weird for me I have never had a problem Memorizing lines I remember Playing a memory game With my dad When I was little It was like a card game And you flip over a card And you flip it back over And then you have to find Where it was And I was always Just really good at it So honestly I mean After a table read And taking it home And reading it through Once or twice That's it I'm pretty much off book Uh-huh And when I audition When I have sides I can get them down In an hour or two So it's really I don't know What it is It's just I don't really have A process for it I know that I'm lucky In that way I know a lot of people Have a problem With learning lines But I just never have had A problem with it So I don't have a process Now what's your process For developing your character? When you first Get a script Do you start The first thing you do Is what? You read it through Or what? Yeah I read it through a lot I mean I'm classically trained So I think For me a lot of times The words are The way into the character For me So I try to read As much as I can And do it To determine What's said about my character So I read a lot Of the other lines Things that are said about me Things that are said to me And then things that I say And try to From there Start to put together A character bio Just a background story On my character Who they are Where they come from Why they say The things they say Why they do The things they do So I try to go in And connect any dots That are left You know Kind of trailing out there From the script And then from there I go into the body And the voice And if it's If any of those things Are mentioned in the script I try to match them up But if they're not Then I determine Based on what I've looked at Who this person is And how they walk And how they sound And all that type of stuff Now you're dealing In both film and theater How do you contrast the two? Is it Your approach the same With both film A film script And a stage play? Yeah I mean the approach Is the same I think that The process of letting it go Is different Because in theater You have such You have to Take up so much space You know You have the whole stage Then you have the Whole audience And you have all their bodies And all of their heat And everything right there And it's One of those things Where all You get immediate confirmation If you're doing well If you're not But then with film It's very small You know Everything has to be All that external work Has to be happening But you're only showing This small amount These little bitty things So I think that's what I'm doing That's the difference Is that In theater You have to kind of Bring that external work But you kind of let it go And you play On the internal parts The body The this The that And with film You're marrying So much of that together Because You're working in this Really small space And people have to be able To see all these Little minute details So you have to make sure Those details are Are there For them to see Okay Now what advice Would you give young Actors trying to Break into the business? I think the biggest thing I guess two things This is one thing That I didn't really understand Until I moved to L.A. From school But I remember One of my acting teachers Just always say Find Find a hobby Find something else That's not this That can keep you Kind of sane And That can make you Happy In the times When you're not working Because what happens Is that Once you're out of school You know Where you're guaranteed Parts And you're guaranteed Work And you're guaranteed You're always being creative And you're taking classes You kind of have to adjust To the fact That it's not like that You become more of a Professional auditioner Than you do Professional actor So you gotta find ways To keep yourself Creative So Even if it's Finding other talents Other things That you're good at And Using some of those Things to Open up doors for you And what you really Want to be doing Which for me Was the magazine I met a lot of people Through the magazine That I probably Wouldn't have met Otherwise So I'm able To reach out to them To help me With certain projects Or you know Bounce ideas off of them And I didn't know them I wouldn't have known them Without the magazine So I would say that Like find something That's interesting Even if it's just Working out Or you know Kickboxing Or something Like something that You can always come back to Where your mind Doesn't always have to be On acting Because That's tiring It can be very tiring And you don't want anything To Cut into Your creative process Because you're Tired or depressed Or You're not Talking to a room Whenever you have An opportunity Giving your 100% to it Because Someone else Wants that opportunity And you have it So Yeah I think Just always honoring it And treating it With respect By being prepared And doing your work And getting training You know It's not It's not as easy As it looks What's the biggest Challenge for African American Female actresses Is it Different from Just a regular Actress out here The same challenge Or I think the biggest Challenge is that There's just not Enough stories You know I think that People's problems With certain films Like The Help Or The Butler I don't think They would exist If there were just More stories being told So I think that What it does Is it creates This idea This kind of Desperation Of like Every single thing I have to go in for Or whatever Because there's just Not enough And then we're all Fighting for this Not enough So You don't get to have A lot of times That camaraderie Between actresses of color Because it's Like There's only Two or three roles That come out That we can actually play That are actually Written for Women of color Now you may be able To break some barriers And go in for characters Who aren't written For women of color And book it Great But The roles that are out there That are written for us Are so small So you go into this room And you're fighting Not just as a black woman But as an Asian American woman A Latin American woman Like all of us We're all fighting For these Ethnic roles And So yeah There's not There's not enough stories So There's not enough Out there So you're You feel limited But I think right now With the internet And you know Web series And all those type of things People are starting To create their own work Which is kind of cool And You can shoot a short film And you can enter Into festivals on your own You don't need Anyone to help you You can get some traction On the internet And you can take it from there So I would say The hardest thing Yeah Is that there's just Not enough opportunities And so it leaves you Trying to Yeah You're either Sitting at home Waiting for the phone to ring Which I don't Suggest Or you're getting Friends And you're making Projects And you're You're doing things You're learning how to Produce You're learning how to Direct You're buying cameras And equipment So that you can make Things happen You know For yourself Have you seen The butler yet? I did I saw it on When it was Friday I think Oh yeah What are your thoughts On you? I mean I think that I think it's a good story I think it's a good story It's an interesting story But again I just think that Because there's not Enough stories Told That we get stuck Having to tell The same Range There's like a certain Range of stories That we're stuck Having to tell Unfortunately And Although I think The actors Did a Did a good job I think that It'd be great to see Some of those same actors Be able to tell Some other types of stories Now do you think The dynamics of the story Would have changed If You know The butler If they Would have If they had two stories Sons If they had had a daughter That was in the mix also I don't know I don't know that it I don't know that it Would have mattered As much as I thought the only Dynamic missing Was that it could have been Perhaps done by people Who are less recognizable I think sometimes No matter even if you are Just a film fan Like I am And you understand That this person's Playing a character That it changes The situation When you're looking at Oprah And you're looking at You know There's people Who are so well known And I don't think That always serves the story I think sometimes It takes away from the story Yeah Okay So yeah How long You did some research Over there I really like your website Oh thank you Yeah I'm in miller.com I highly recommend people To take a look at it I built that website By myself That's very good I did It's very good Yeah Thank you Tell us a little bit About your experiences In the UK Yeah Oh yeah I went to London For a semester And some change And it was actually Really amazing I think that part of the reason Why we're seeing So many British actors Come over here And do so well Is because of the way They train They train very In that detailed manner That I was talking about With film So every single Part of their Of your body Becomes the character And I think I don't think that Sometimes we get that here But I think In America I think we kind of Do a very We learn Like Stanislavski And Meisner And all those things But I think the way They teach it They For one They always Hook it to the language Always And I think that's Just amazing Because I think what it does Is that it creates a need For the language That you're saying And that's who we are As human beings Like when you're talking When you're trying To get something Across to someone You're having a conversation Even if it's a Everyday You know Conversation about sports Or whatever There's a need there To make your point You know And I think that That's what they teach you Every single thing There's a need When you pick up something Why are you picking it up You're not just Having a drink of water Why How does your character do that How do they take the water The top off the water bottle It's very specific You know I take the top off the water bottle A certain way Because my hands are small Because this is how I saw my mom do it Because whatever And you have to fill in Every single Little thing And I think That that training Is really amazing So no I had a really great time It was my first time It was my first time In Europe At all And because I got I got a lot of free time Because we would go to classes And then we would have These breaks Which I think is great too Even there With their students You know You go To high school And that's kind of Considered university That's considered college And your college Really is experience in life Like you go there And a lot of them Are traveling around the world That's their college Because they really believe That experience And life Is a better teacher Than sitting in a classroom Sometimes And I think It makes for a well Rounded artist as well Because you get to see So much of the world And so you get to bring That to your work So I I really enjoyed it I took classes At the Globe Which is Shakespeare's Globe That was great To be able to work In a space like that Because your Instrument has to be So Trained To be in that space Otherwise no one Can hear you Like it's Literally it's a huge space With an open ceiling So I mean If anything If a loud bird Comes across That ceiling You can't They can't hear you Unless you're really Really hooked up And you can't be Really hooked up Unless you're really You know Invested in what's Going on on stage So that was interesting We did a lot of mask work We did a lot of Dialect work And yeah But I think the best part About that experience Was getting to see The other parts I was living in London But I got to see Italy I got to see Spain I got to see France Like I got to see All these different places That I had never been And I think it made me A more Yeah a more well Rounded person Oh beautiful Beautiful Beautiful Okay Okay Okay Okay Okay Okay Okay Okay Okay Okay Okay Okay Okay Okay Okay Okay Okay Okay Okay Can you tell us what is your participation this weekend? What are you doing? I work with the woman who spearheaded this event, Samantha Siora. We work together on a performance troupe called Les Sirens. And we're going to be performing tonight at midnight. We have kind of like a circus burlesque variety show. Very sexy, very dramatic, kind of creepy. Yeah. So what kind of artistic background? First of all, where is your home and how did you get off into performing? I was born and raised in New York City. And I went to a performing arts high school when I was 15. I studied drama, theater. And then when I got out of high school, I started auditioning for film. I started working in films in New York. And I did that for about four years. And then I was in college at the same time doing both. And then when I graduated... I decided to come out to L.A. and seek my career as an artist. So you're planning on an actress in film? You're going to produce, write, or what? Well, it looks like to get a career in film, you really have to be in production these days. Or maybe it was always like that. But I'm really learning in L.A. more than anywhere else what it means to create your own projects. And working with Samantha has been a lot about that. About making your own stuff happen. Mm-hmm. Wow. Great. Now, how did... Can you explain exactly what you will be performing tonight? Sure. So we have a Lyra set at the beginning of the show, which I will be performing. Lyra is a very classical circus apparatus. It's a metal hoop that's suspended in the air. So I dance on that for about five minutes. Then we transition into some fire dancing and grind core, which is a kind of dance... It's very contemporary. It's a kind of invention. Dancing with metal sheets on your costume. And you take a power grinder, which is a power tool. And you grind the power tool on the metal. And it makes sparks. Mm-hmm. So, yeah, that's basically what we're doing. So when that happens, will the lights, will they be in the dark? Yeah, it's got to be in the dark for you to really get the effect of the sparks. Okay, we're looking forward to it. Tell us your name again. Your organization. Your contact information for those that want to get you to perform. Layla Liliana Garo is my name. Check me out on IMDB. Layla with an I. Garo, G-A-R-O. I'm also on Facebook. And, yeah, those are the two places that are best to find me. Okay. Thank you very much. This is Melvin Ishmael Johnson with the Qumran Report. Okay, this is Melvin Ishmael. This is Melvin Ishmael Johnson with the Qumran Report. And I'm over here at the Vortex, and they're doing this fundraising event. And who am I speaking with here? Hi, my name is Andrea. I'm from L.A. Mm-hmm. Andrea, I saw some of your work is great. Can you tell us a little about your background, where you're from, how you get off into art? Sure. I'm from L.A., and I was born in Cerritos, California. Yeah. And grew up in a fairly privileged childhood. I was able to learn all different types of arts and musics and all sort of different artistic and language traditions. And I credit my parents for being able to provide that environment for me. So I was able to start painting and creating art from a very young age. Now, how do you describe your particular type of art? I would say it's a blend of a lot of my favorite passions. It's very heavily figurative and slightly abstract. I like to do digital, and I'm into data visualization. So I'm interested in creating an artistic visual language to describe the mixture of different layers of reality, the physical layers as well as the information and emotional layers that we usually can't see. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So how did you get involved with the event over here with Samantha? You ever work with them before? I heard about this event through Friends of Friends, and I'm always open to different opportunities to live paint, just to get involved with creative events, and I just contacted the organizer. Mm-hmm. Okay. Now, for those who would like to get in touch with you, your contact information, what is the website? I have a website. It's my name, Andrea, A-N-D-R-E-A, and then T-S-E-N-G.com. Once again, that's A-N-D-R-E-A-T-S-E-N-G.com. That's my website with more of my work. Okay. One more question I want to ask you. Do you have any art shows coming up in the future where you're displaying your work? The next upcoming one is the Art of the Art Festival. Oh, that's a great one. I'm excited to see that. I'm excited to see that. I'm excited to see that. I'm excited to see that. I'm excited to see that. I'm excited to see that. I'm excited to see that. Do you have any art shows coming up in the future where you're displaying your work? The next upcoming one is the Burning Man Festival in Nevada. And after that, it's completely open. I'll be around probably. Okay. Thank you, Andrea. Andrea, this is Melvin Ishmael Johnson with the Qumran Report. Okay. We're back in the studio with Imam. Imam, how did you first get involved with the Robey Theatre Company? My godfather, Glenn Turman, he's another actor. When I first got out here, he was like, you should really hook up with a theater so that you can kind of have a place to work in between. And I was like, okay. And he gave me a list of theaters and I came in for a band audition. And he brought me in for readings. Like, you know, new scripts they were working on. And yeah, and the first production I actually did with the Robey was Bronzeville when they took it up to Manzanar. And I had never done the show. Everybody who was working on the show had already been in it and it was my first time. And we went up there for, I think, like a week and did the show and came back. And it was a pretty good experience. I really enjoyed myself and I enjoyed the show. But yeah, that's how it is. How did you get into the show? How did you get into the show? I was in the show. I was in the show. I was in the show. I was in the show. I was in the show. I was in the show. I was in the show. I was in the show. I was in the show. I was in the show. I was in the show. I was in the show. I was in the show. I was in the show. I was in the show. I was in the show. I was in the show. I was in the show. I was in the show. I was in the show. I was in the show. I was in the show. I was in the show. I was in the show. I was in the show. I was in the show. I was in the show. I was in the show. I was in the show. I was in the show. I was in the show. I was in the show. I was in the show. I was in the show. I was in the show. but I think he allows you to figure it out for yourself which is nice. We want to shout out to Aaron too. Aaron Jennings. He was supposed to be here. Couldn't make it tonight. We want to do a show on Aaron too. Hope you're listening to us Aaron. Hi Aaron. Hi Aaron. Now what are your thoughts on your role in Bronzeville? I love Princess just because she I think she has this really naive and beautiful quality. She doesn't see the world in this I guess kind of I don't know. I have a word in my head and it won't come out but she just has this very naive and open quality to see in the world. She really believes that if people are good then that's it. That's good enough and anything else facing her and the world at large can be overcome by people just being good and getting past stuff. Things like race and you know culture and all those things and I think that even today someone like that would be hard to come by. She has not at all been touched by that life and that time period and racial tensions or anything of that sort and she should be because she's coming from the south but she just believes that people are good and she believes in love and yeah goodness. I don't know. But I think that she has I think she's a lot smarter than she gets credit for from the rest of the family. I think she's very much a woman and she knows like she knows more about life than they think she does. But I think that she chooses to have an outlook that's very positive and very that surpasses her circumstances which I think is admirable. And that's one thing that I really really like about her. Well it is. You know I was looking at the program today and I said I'm going to go to the! I heard that your grandmother who's also named after her great grandmother who's mama Jean is. So I think that's just a part of it but no no they never mentioned that they call her princess. They never call her Jean. And you guys have a great nucleus um um um um um liked it yeah um oh did you see it before no no no no the the thing that that you were speaking about the difference between film and and theater the the way the theater was set up at the roby um it was very up close and personal there was no room for mistakes right and and you really played off the character so well thank you yeah um what what did you do anything special to prepare for this role um besides what you already mentioned about picking up you know and scripting and blocking and so on but did you anything in particular to to get that that naive little girl um come forward i don't know i honestly know i think honestly the big thing for me was getting her voice because i have a like rust like kind of husky raspy voice and i don't think it fits for her necessarily um so i wanted her to have like this like quality of being like a southern belle kind of and they treat her like a princess so i kind of like based her character off of like a disney princess kind of like where she has this like very ups like she stands very straight and she kind of floats when she walks and she's very princessy you know and she reads book books and she always has books around and so i kind of thought of like belle from beauty and the beast where she's very sweet and very you know she's a princess she really is and they've treated her like that and even if you even though she kind of rages against that which i tried to show like when she has her feelings for henry and this scene where her mother tells her that she can't be with her i'm i tried to make it where she she changed there's a shift in her which is a little bit more snappy and she's a little less princessy and floaty but she's very stern and things that she says and things that she does she's very defiant to her to her parents so i tried to create this kind of dichotomy between her being this innocent princess very standing up straight type of southern girl to her being very much a woman and saying no this is what i want and you don't get to you don't get to tell me what i can do for the rest of my life i thought it was going to be different here so that's what i did i just kind of i played around with that and i tried to make it so that she didn't have a modern attitude against her parents but that it was really still set in in a respect i thought that the writers did a good job of writing in scenes where she would snap off and her parents would get back in her and she just wouldn't talk for the entire rest of the scene because she knows her place you know she's never going to be disrespectful but i thought there were also great moments where they had her speaking up you know for herself in that second act especially so yeah and two excellent playwrights uh tm tanya tanyama and uh aaron wolf or earlene you saw the play too did you have a question for your mom i love the play thank you i was sitting right there in mama jane's garden and every once in a while a piece of mama jane's garden would get on our feet and our feet would get in her garden but it was a real intimate um story um when we moved into mama jane's garden we moved into mama jane's garden when we moved into mama jane's garden when we moved into mama jane's garden when we moved into mama jane's garden when we moved into mama jane's garden when we moved into mama jane's garden when we moved into mama jane's garden when we moved into mama jane's garden when we moved into mama jane's garden when we moved into mama jane's garden when we moved into mama jane's garden when we moved into mama jane's garden when we moved into mama jane's garden when we moved into mama jane's garden when we moved So don't change your voice. I love it. It may not have fit for princess, but most women have this high-pitched voice, and it just irritates me to no end. So whatever you did to get your voice like it is, you know, low and kind of deep like that, whatever. I was just born with a raspy voice. That's great. That's great. Because that high-pitched voice just drives me. It's like your nails on the chalkboard. Thank you. All right. Okay, what we're going to do right now, we're going to come back around for some closing comments because I still have a couple more questions, things I want to talk about. But I'd like to turn it over to Tyrone Robinson for the next segment of our show. I don't know if you still call it Voices from the Aether. Of course. All right, Tyrone Robinson. Thank you, Melvin. If it's 15 minutes to 9, then it's once again time to take that curve in the road less traveled and come to the Voices from the Aether. Tonight's in-studio guest, is actor, singer, writer, and poet, Mr. Isaac Clay. Mr. Clay is going to sing a cappella for us tonight. A cappella has a bit of an Italian history. And he's going to sing for us, Members Only, by Bobby Bluebland-Well. Don't need no money to qualify. Don't bring your checkbook, bring your broken heart. Cause it's Members Only tonight. Say you lost your woman. Say you lost your man. You got a lot of problems all in your life. Well, they're throwing a party over the broken heart. You're a broken hearted y'all. And it's Members Only tonight. Go tell mama, why don't you go tell your daddy. Red or yellow, black or white. Throwing a party, oh, for those sad and lonely y'all. And it's Members Only tonight. You're a broken hearted y'all. You're a broken hearted y'all. You're a broken hearted y'all. You're a broken hearted y'all. Tonight, yes, it's Members Only, tonight. Thank you, Isaac. Members Only. Thank you, Isaac. I ran into you, the train, after not seeing you for about a year. When I saw you, my mind immediately went to the character, Willie, from your one man show, Heaven Can't Wait, No More. It's No More. No More. Okay. we gotta be bonnically correct ironically correct okay his motivation was his higher power what's your motivation isaac um it's interesting and they would say a higher power because um you know i'm very grateful to be here tonight very grateful but that that phrase i never used that phrase higher power i i just say jesus and uh when i was um about three years old maybe i wasn't even that old i know this is gonna sound unbelievable i think i was two years old and i lived in le mans gardens in memphis tennessee and back in those days a lot of people had those fans with a cover of the fan would be missing and the blades be going around you know what i'm talking about yeah and uh we had one of those fans and i'm two years old running around that fan and i but i but i know god said to me don't get too close to that fan and i understood that two years old god was saying don't i was pretending it was a microphone i was trying myself singing and then when you got your door open you got your door open you got your door open you got your door open you got your door open you got your door open you got your door open you got your door open you got your door open you got your door open you got your door open you got your door open you got your door open you got your door open you got your door open you got your door open you got your door open you got your door open you got your door open you got your door open you got your door open you got your door open you got your door open you got your door open you got your door open I was offended. And she said, look at your portrait. I looked at all my portraits. It was all about God. So then I got out to California. I came out here in the touring company at the Broadway Musical Raisin because God had spoke to me in Chicago before the show even came to town. He said, you're getting ready to go on the road for one year in the touring company at the Broadway Musical Raisin, and you're going to buy 10 suits. The show, I started saying goodbye to people before I even auditioned. The show came to town. I auditioned. I got a part. I went on the road, about 10 suits, just like God said. And God started giving me all this poetry. And a friend of mine, she went to the Wilshire Ebell Theater and told the man, I want to rent this theater because this guy got a play. I didn't have no play. I had a few poems, and she didn't have no money. And the man thought she was crazy. So he said, well, lady, it'll be so much money to rent this place. She said, well, I ain't got no money, but Jesus sent me. And the man said, well, if Jesus sent you, uh-uh. Uh, let me show you something. He said, I got IOUs from Marvin Gaye, from the Ink Spots. These are all people who said they were going to pay me. They didn't pay me. She said, well, all I know is Jesus sent me. He said, okay, get back here Saturday with a $200 deposit, and I'll give him a date. Then she went to the print shop. She told the man at the print shop Jesus sent her to get some tickets, but she didn't have no money. And the man said, well, if Jesus sent you, I know I'll get my money. So he gave her a ticket. She didn't have a quarter in her pocket. He went and sold $160 worth of tickets. Then we needed $40 more. I went to a place. I sang a song. It was called Spirit Song. The lady gave us $40. Did the play at the Wilshire EBL Theater. Got a standing ovation. And one lady got up and ran out of the theater at the end of the play, and she told us that she saw Jesus there that night. And he told me to continue to do the play. So I changed the name from Stages and Phases of Blackness to Heaven Can't Wait No More. Okay. I've been doing it ever since. This character, Willie, is the character that's really me in disguise, I guess. Gotcha. Gotcha. Thank you. Thank you. Now, you said you were going to read for us tonight the 21st century. Look at the Ten Commandments. Oh. Oh. Oh, he has to go to his bag. It's just right there. It's right there. Okay, he's going to run to his bag. Okay. I thought we was going to hear the Paul Robeson piece, the classic Paul Robeson piece since we was talking about Paul Robeson. Old Man River. Yeah. You guys think I only know one song, huh? No. Yeah. Yeah, but that's what we're talking about tonight. That's one of the best ones. Well, whatever you guys want me to do. Yeah. Well, he has a song called What Would I Do Without My Music? It's an old Elvis Presley tune. Oh, yeah. Okay. Okay. I'm going to keep... How much time we got here? We're running. Okay. Very briefly. Very briefly. I heard this song one night. I was at a place called The Hungry Tiger. I don't know if y'all ever heard of The Hungry Tiger. Good seafood. They don't have them anymore. But anyway, this guy... Pete and Sherry had a duet. And when Sherry sat down for a minute, Pete sang this song. I said, oh, my goodness. That's the most incredible song I've ever heard in my life. So I said, Pete, please give me a copy of that song. He said, on my break, I'll Xerox it for you. So he gave it to me. I was working at the Bonaventure Hotel. Some people broke into my locker and stole the song. And I prayed. I said, God, I really want a copy of that song. Because I had changed the words to What Would I Do Without My Jesus. I have two copies. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. This guy who wrote the song, I talked to him on the phone. He said, go to April Blackwood Publishing Company, Century City. They'll send you a copy of the song. I had a dream. In my dream, I went to the mailbox, and the song was in a brown envelope. I called April Blackwood Publishing Company and said, I just got cast in Poor Game Best with Clifton Davis at San Bernardino Civic Light Opera. I don't have time to come pick it up. They sent it to me in the mail in a brown envelope. And this is the song. Oh, and God showed me in a dream. I was going around the world singing this song, and people were getting healed. Let us hear. Yeah, let's hear this song. Sometimes I stumble home at night Discouraged Dragging my better dreams behind Wondering if the battle's worth the fighting And why so many people's eyes are blind But as I disappear into my music And the song grows deep inside my soul I know if God wants me to use it The striving's more important than the goal And I think, what would I do without my music? What would I do without my music? What would I do without my music? To make it right When everything seems wrong And as I lose my worries in my music Dreams start rebuilding, strong and high And I know, though I may not be winning I'm a long, long way from losing If I try and I think What would I do without my music? Somebody tell me What would I do without my song? What would I do without my music To lift me up when all my dreams are gone? To give me hope So I can carry on Thank you, Isaac. All right. All right. Okay, do you have any upcoming performances? If someone wanted to get a hold of you, how can they, Isaac? Isaac Clay, my email. I'm not up on the fan system, Twitter and Facebook yet. Isaacclay1 at yahoo.com. And once again, Isaacclay1 at yahoo.com. Or you can call me on my cell phone, 323-301-0582. 323-301-0582. Okay, thank you for visiting with us this month, Isaac. Voices from the Ether will be back Monday, September the 16th, featuring Vicki Robinson. Now back to our host, Melvin Ishmael Johnson. Okay, thank you, Tyrone. I just want to mention that last Saturday, August the 17th, was the birthday of Marcus Garvey, Black nationalist, pioneer Black nationalist leader who was born on August the 17th, 1887. And he passed June the 10th, 1940. Now, I want to get back to you, Mom. I got a couple more questions that I want to ask you right quick. First, I want to ask you, what are your thoughts on the state of African American theater today? You know, honestly, I think that it has regressed very significantly. I think that, you know, it started to become this kind of watered-down thing where people are trying to get on. I guess, or take the Tyler Perry route and make these plays that they think a lot of people will come to, and then they'll be able to flip it into films. And it's kind of, I think it takes away from the stage, no pun intended, that you have when you have theater. People come. They come to hear a play. They come to see it. They know how long it's going to take. And I think it should be good. I think you do a disservice when it's bad. So, I think right now African American theater is in dire need of telling true stories and not telling our stories. For the sake of other people to enjoy them. But telling our stories because our stories just need to be told. And I think that right now it's a lot of our stories being told for the enjoyment of other cultures. And I think that's great. I hope that our stories do touch them. But I think that shouldn't be the first and foremost concern. So. What do you think about the need for national African American theater? We had one in the 30s with the Federal Theater Project. Yeah, I mean, I think that need is there. I think that there's so many young actors who are trained and have nowhere to go. Where people appreciate being trained young African American actors and actresses. So, I think that having something like that would give people something to work towards. You know, I went to school at the Guthrie Theater, which is in Minneapolis. And it's one of those big regional theaters that people want to work at. And I think it would be great if we had something like that. Mm-hmm. Now, just a couple more things. What are your thoughts on the George Zimmerman trailer? On Martin Verde. Since it's impacted your generation so much. Yeah, I think that is one of the most disappointing things that has ever happened in my generation. I think it was such a slap in the face to us. Because I think our generation really rallied behind that. I think because it was, it could be any of us. It could be our brothers. It could be us. It's like, you know, I wear hoodies all the time. Like, that's what I wear. It's a part of my thing. And I'm from Detroit. So I have a lot of cousins and brothers and uncles or whatever who dress like that. So I would hate to believe that someone could profile them, stalk them, and murder them. And be set free. And given back the weapon that they used to murder them. And for there to be no real reason. And for people to look at a life. And one, decide that it's not worth living or fighting for. And then for two, to decide it's not worth protecting. I just, I was very, very like affected by it. It took me like four or five days to not be affected. I was very angry and I was very hurt. And for someone who I don't know at all, I felt a grave sense of, like we failed his family and failed him. And I just, I think that it's just another reminder of how far we still have to go. Okay. Okay. Now what are some of the projects that you're working on now? What are you working on? I am working on a cartoon actually. I taught myself how to animate. And so I have a cartoon about a female rap artist that I'm looking for. A producer for, backers for it. And I'm thinking about taking it to Kickstarter. I'm not sure yet. But I've animated three episodes. And I have a full season of her and her happenings in Los Angeles. And yeah. There's never been an animated show created by an African American woman. And there really haven't been that many African American characters on animated shows either. Except the Boondocks. But they didn't really have that many female characters on it. No. No. Right. So I am doing an animated show. I have a short film that I wrote with a friend of mine. And we're getting ready to shoot that. And then I have a feature film that I'm working on with a friend of mine from college. About two actors who decide to go to jail. Two. Two. Have free room and board while they work on a project. Orange is the New Black. I like that. Basically, right. I like that. I don't like that Orange is the New Black came out before. Because we've been working on this for a long time. But it's not in the same vein. She had to go to jail. These two are choosing to go. And they use it as a way to kind of save money. Save money. Okay. Okay. So what kind of shout out you would like to say to your Bronzeville cast? Your family over there. Yeah. Yeah. I love my Bronzeville. I love my Bronzeville cast. Especially, you know, people I worked with for both performances. Like Dwayne and Cece and Jeff and Dana. Dana. Hi, Dana. I love Dana. They, you know, they really, they supported me. Especially the first time I did it. I had never done it. And they supported me. They brought me in. And they let me work and make mistakes and all those things. And then this time they kind of let me take Princess in a new direction. There were so many things I didn't want to bring that. Mm-hmm. Last performance in. And they didn't expect me to, which was nice. They weren't like, well, I like that thing you did last time. They kind of let me find new things. And then for the new people who came in, Kelly and Aaron, like they, they came in and they just, they were amazing. They really helped so much bring it all together. So thank you. That's always good to have a cast that's supportive and, you know. Okay. Any contact information for those who want to get in contact with you, ask you questions? I have a website. It's Iman. I. M as in Michael. A. N as in Nancy. N as in Nancy. Milner. M as in Michael. I. L as in Larry. N as in Nancy. E. R. Dot com. That's my website. And there's a contact portion on there that comes right to my email account. So if you want to email me through there, there, you can do that. Facebook, I'm just Iman Milner. And Twitter, I am best new actress. So at best new actress is my Twitter. And then Instagram. Yeah. People are on Instagram. My name is Iman and Milner. Same thing. So everything is pretty much the same except Twitter. But you can type in my name, Iman Milner, in Twitter and best new actress will come up too. You can find her. Thank you. Iman Milner. Thank you. Hey. Enjoy this event. Tyrone, you want to have a closing comment? One of the things you say on your website is you're a world changer. Yes. In brief, world changer. Yeah. I just believe that if you use the talents that you've been given and you use them the right way and it's not just a matter of time. It's about you, that you can change the world. Because I think if you can change people in it, that you can change the world. Because if I inspire one person to do better work or if I inspire one person to follow their dreams, then they're going to inspire the next person. So I believe things like that are a domino effect. And so I don't think you have to be feeding orphans. I think that's great. But I think if your thing is your talent and you use that the way you're supposed to and you use it, you know, you put a message in your work and you reach out. You talk to people and you come and you do things like this and you talk openly about what you're good at and things that you feel and you talk about issues like the Zimmerman verdict and you just use what you have, then you make a difference. And so to me, that's what I always try to think about when I'm doing anything is that somebody needs to see it. Somebody needs to hear it. And so, yeah, that's what I think it is. Thank you. Okay. And I just want to mention we had Isaac on here on Paul Rosen's birthday and he sang a beautiful, beautiful song. Old Man River. Okay. I would just like to offer our condolence to the family of blues musician Artwork Jamal who passed a little over last week ago, a little over a week ago, and last September, Drama Stage Coombran and the Coombran Report produced his blues concert at the Exchange. So Artwork Jamal, rest in peace. Yes. Next week on the Coombran Report, we will have Lynn Manning, Artistic Director of the Watts Village Theater. I would like to extend a special thanks to Iman Milner, Isaac Clay, and my co-host for today, Tyrone Robinson, and also sitting in, my regular co-host, Earlene Anthony. Now, please listen to past shows of the Coombran Report on iTunes, Facebook, Stitcher, and skitrow.la. Thank you for tuning in to the Coombran Report. And from your host, Melvin Ishmael Johnson, may the peace and blessings of the life-giving creative spirit be upon you and upon your family. I leave you with the song that opened the show, Darker Than Blue by Willis and Shante. Okay. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right.