Public Works Theater, Steinbeck readings, community conflict resolution

Wally Hilly was the musical director of the Unitarian Church on 8th Street here in Los Angeles for 50 years. And he was the artistic director. And this was during the time when at that church the balcony was full. Because it became a hideout and a refuge and a gathering place for the blacklisted artists of Los Angeles during the 50s. And they would go there and they'd do shows and they would entertain each other as they had been entertaining the entire country but were no longer allowed to put their names on their work. Or in many cases even do their work because they were labeled as communists or fellow travelers. Okay. Wally Hilly published the People's Songbook which is a very popular songbook from that era. One time Wally Hilly was in New York in Harlem with Paul Robeson. And Paul Robeson walked out on the street to Wally behind him. And all of a sudden of course a crowd began to gather and people began to come from all around until the whole street was full of people. And they began to sing. And they began to shout, sing for us, sing for us. And Paul Robeson said, well, how can I? I don't have a piano. And a whole bunch of fellas, three guys, ran up three stories of steps, picked up a piano and carried it back down to the street and set it down next to Paul Robeson. And Wally Hilly sat down and played. And Paul Robeson sang on the streets of Harlem that day. Lee Beck talking about Paul Robeson singing on the streets of Harlem. Welcome to the Comerim 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 live from Skid Row Studios. And I'm in the studio with my co-host Earlene Anthony. Now this week on the Comerim Report, we'll be talking about one of the hidden treasures of Los Angeles theatrical scene that's been in existence for over 40 years here in LA. Public Works Improvisational Theater. And I'm delighted to have with us in the studio the Artistic Director of Public Works Improvisational Theater Company, Lee Beck. And the Director of the Monthly Artistic Program in Tyler. And the voice in the well, Eric Vollmer. And also all the way from New York, Charles Dennis. He's sitting in here. And sitting in for the last part of the show is Miss Mello Desire. Welcome to the Comerim Report. Thank you. Thanks, Mello. Thank you. Now I want to start right off and I want to throw out the question for Lee and our guests. What is improvisational theater? Well, it's a game. I wrote the book. It's something wonderful right away. And it's really comes, it's derived from playing theater games that most of which were invented or accumulated by Viola Spolin. And she has a book called Improvisation for the Theater. It's been published and republished many times. It's very popular with actors. Her son, Paul Sills, took this form, story theater it was called, to Broadway many years ago. I forget what year that might have been. But improvisation comes from people. It's the idea is to play together and to have a focus that's other than how do I look? How am I acting? How do I sound? You know, stuff that puts you in your head. So that you lose contact with being in the moment. And all of these games and all of improv, the idea is to be in the moment. And to say yes to what your fellow players are saying and say yes and then take it to a new level. And so, I don't know. You got anything you want to say about that? Go ahead. Eric? Yes, thanks. Vollman? Eric Voll. Hi there. Hi there. Well, I learned. I learned about Viola Spolin through my history books. She worked for the whole house that Jane Addams started in Chicago to work with new immigrants. And so, I realized her theater methods. She played parlor games with the immigrants. And it was almost like she allowed them the creative space to explore their Americanness, their new identity. And in a non-judgmental and creative manner. Okay. How about that? Well, I wouldn't say she invented it. But, I mean, she coalesced these games into a form that theater people could follow and study. But, you know, people have been doing improv forever. Yeah. Charles, you got anything to add? Well, I can only talk about improvisation because I come out of the downtown New York dance and performance scene. Where improvisation, both with movement and with spoken word, is quite prominent. And there's an event that I co-sponsored called Open Movement. Which is premising about how people can come together with no foreplan. And really be creative together with expressing themselves through spontaneous movement and spontaneous speech and sound. Yeah. How would you contrast that to tradition? Traditional theater and the different kind of challenges? For example, you know, a lot of traditional theater, they would have these series of plays and stuff laid out. How do improvisational theater, holiday season, just you want to promote something for your season coming up? Oh, yes. Well, we have a Steinbeck show. We're paying tribute to California's favorite author. And so, you know, we want to sing up his work where he took the plight of the common man. And he showed the struggles and he showed the triumphs. And I think it has a special resonance now when so many people have been overlooked by everybody. And so he's giving them voice. In improvisational theater. I want to ask you another question about, oh, the Steinbeck piece. Do you have an opportunity to improvise in there or straight from the script? Well, of course, Lee adds all the nuances of performance. And so he brings it to life in his own special way. Mostly the Steinbeck thing is a reader's theater type of style. So it's not really based in improvisation. Although we've encouraged. We've encouraged the actors to, you know, dramatize the reading so that it sounds more interesting. But these aren't even scripts. I mean, this is works from novels and books, you know. But there's scenes that we thought would be lend itself well to performance. Who is the director? And not performance, but I mean to reading and stuff. Yeah, Eric is he's directing and he's his baby. Okay. How many people involved in the performance? We have 11. And so including a musician who will play Woody Guthrie type folk songs. And so really celebrating the folk. And I have a kind of gentle hand on the wheel because my background is literature. And I have to defer to the actors because they bring years of discipline. And talent to the floor. And so it's more like creating a space for them and letting them play. Like Lee was saying. Can you, Lee, can you give us a little quick capsule history of Public Works? You know, how long it's been around, et cetera. Public Works. Actually, we're, I guess we're celebrating our 40th birthday this year because we were started in 1974. Um. Are founded in 1974 by Marlene Rasnick and Dale and Morris. Um. With some other folks who joined up. Luke Terrence, Luke Johnson, who's still involved in improv movement, dance sort of stuff similar to the kinds of things Charles is interested in. And, um. Um. That was started in 1974 in the church in Ocean Park. Prior to that, there had been a company called the. Synergy Trust, which performed in Silver Lake. At what eventually became the feed store on Hyperion, which I don't even know what it is anymore, but I always thought that was great. And they played and performed quite a bit there. And then they eventually that split up. And then Dale and Marlene started this at the church in Ocean Park, started Public Works. And they played there for many, many years. Uh, they did a weekly live. Improv show on every Friday night. And they had some wonderful pieces and wonderful performers. And that's one of the reasons I want to go back and do a little history of it because so many wonderful people and really great performers and. And, um. And they had both come out of the committee. Uh, they had been in the committee, which this in the Los Angeles version of the committee, which was one of the early improv groups in the West. Mm hmm. And, um. What was the question? Well, let me ask you this. Maybe, um, um, um, Charles, uh, also before we get into, I'm going to touch just a little bit more on, um, how Storyfile evolved. Can you talk about that? Uh huh. Yeah. Well, Storyfile, um, well, it kind of came out of, uh, uh, uh, sort of a resurgence in myself of storytelling. Uh huh. Uh huh. You know, I did, uh, I wrote a play about my days as a fundamentalist evangelist called, um, uh, uh, Confessions of a Pulpiteer. Mm hmm. And so I had a, and, and it was set up in terms of, uh, vignettes kind of, you know, so I had a lot of stories out of that that I could tell. And, um, I got, uh, we, uh, Eric and I and, um, Lionel Rolfe, the writer, we, uh, Lionel had written a book, um, about, um, about the history of storytelling. Uh huh. About the L.A. Times bomb. What's the name of that book? Oh. It's called, uh, um. We'll think of it. Bread and. Bread and Hyacinths. Yeah. Ooh. And, uh, uh, anyway, it's a wonderful story and it was the 10th, or the 100th anniversary of the bombing of the L.A. Times. So we got into, uh, studying that story and, um, I went, uh, to, uh, B Plus, who's a good friend of mine and a, uh, a well-known DJ here in L.A. Yeah. And, uh, asked him, I told him I wanted to involve the young people in the city into this, uh, thing because it was a, I thought, a valuable piece of, uh, Los Angeles history. And I wanted to involve young people in it. And so he recommended that I get a hold of Mike the Poet. Mike Songson, who's with, uh, Channel 28 and who, uh, is quite a good poet and writer. And, uh, Mike had a show at the, uh, uh, Stella Adler Theater, uh, every Monday night. And, uh, so he invited me to come down. Mm-hmm. Tell us about it. So I went down there and, uh, I met a whole bunch of just fantastic young people and a couple old guys like myself who just couldn't let go of it. And, uh, uh, I met Peter Coca and then Peter Coca, uh, and, uh, Mike, um, they started taking me around all. And there's a myriad of, uh, of places where they're doing poetry readings now and storytelling. Mm-hmm. And usually have some musicians involved in the, in the scene. So I started going to these things and, uh, and found we could be. We could be performing every night if we wanted to. And the audiences enjoyed it. And it was fun. And, uh, I decided I would build a repertoire. Mm-hmm. And then, um, um, as I went along by then, uh, I had hooked up with, uh, Art Share. I'd done my play there. And I thought, well, let's start a show. And so, um, I got Jason Jones to make my fantastic flyers for, um, for, uh, uh, the show. And, um, and he and I came up with the word. Uh, the, the name Story File. Mm-hmm. And, um. And now it's every, uh, first Thursday. And we do it the first Thursday of every month at Art Share. Mm-hmm. And it involves poetry, music, and, uh, live music and, and, and some theater and storytelling. Mm-hmm. And, um, and we've, you know, we're expanding it now because we're going to do this piece about, uh, the Steinbeck piece. Mm-hmm. So we're trying to find innovative ways. Mm-hmm. To give, uh, young artists an opportunity. Mm-hmm. To perform and to develop their skills, their writing skills, and so on and so forth. And, uh, the quality of the show just, uh, just, uh, keeps going up. And it's just really fun. Oh, yeah. People enjoy it. Great show. I recommend that you come and see it, all of you folks out there listening. I'm coming. It's at 8 o'clock on, uh, the first Thursday of every month. The next one will be November the 6th. Mm-hmm. And that'll be, that will also be a Steinbeck reading because we're doing a series of three. Mm-hmm. Steinbeck readings, um, as part of our Puffin grant that we received. All of it from the grapes of the rye. Uh, well, no, not all of it. Yeah. There'll be other segments of it and plus music. Mm-hmm. Okay. Eric can tell you more about it. Yeah. And so, um, Charles, how, uh, can you tell us a little about how you're involved with the project and with, uh, Public Works? Well, I've known, uh, Lee for, well, since 1999 when I came to do a, uh, residency at UCLA. Uh, I was in the LA with, uh, dance and video and we became great friends and, um, uh, I wanted to, to work with him. And so we discussed the idea of my being here to both help him with helping to create some video archives and organize them and edit them and, and, uh, and do that. And as well as offer some of, uh, my workshop performance work. Mm-hmm. Uh, so it was a chance to do both. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. dabbling in some performance but teaching isn't something I'm I'd like to do more teaching I did a lot of it but there the arts and education scene in New York is really kind of dried up a little bit I think at least I worked for a lot of the premier organizations but that the funding's been cut back and it's a it's a lot harder for for artists and programs to get going what was the project about at UCLA when you came out well there was a wonderful program it was called anyway was it brought eight people from around the country who were involved with dance and filmmaking and exploring ways that dance could be captured on camera and all of us were either choreographers or filmmakers who had different approaches I was sort of a run-and-gun documentarian there are people who were like really making crafted pieces but it was a three-month immersion program that was really honing your skills as a filmmaker and as a documentarian and actually it would also resulted in all of us getting funding for various projects and I got funding to direct and produce a feature documentary about the film and I got funding to direct and produce a feature documentary about the history of performance space 122 this innovative theater in New York that I co-founded and it profiled ten artists who came out of that space and so that really took me on a giant leap further as an artist as a filmmaker when before I had been a choreographer and a performance artist and I wasn't so much of a video arts but that's what really launched me sort of on my video trajectory yeah our engineer and the director of the film was John! That's great! That's great! That's great! Andrew, he's finishing up at UCLA now. That's it. Great. Yeah, working in the stations and all that. So we do things from time to time with some of the students up at UCLA. We have a group of several groups up there. Yeah, I was working with the Center for Intercultural Performance and directed by Judy Matoma, I remember. Very innovative program, yeah. Wonderful. Now, Eric, tell us about the voice in the well, how did that start, a little about the name and all of the basic information about that. Sure, Melvin. Well, we started at a place called Creativity 17 years ago in San Monica, and we were devoted to creativity 24-7. And so we had musicians, we had performing artists, and we had poets and songwriters. When it came to having something in common, people would always refer to TV shows like Cheers or Friends. And so the director turned to me and he said, you love literature, why don't we create a program where we celebrate literature and we deepen the pool here so that people start citing Shakespeare or Shakespeare. And so I said, well, I'm going to write a poem that's going to be a little bit more like Bertolt Brecht rather than what Kramer had to say. So the name comes from, I know it's from a poem, and it's the sense that our voices come from the well of our being. And so we make that sacred. And so we started performing. And I had all kinds of people. I had Mexican-American taxi cab drivers, and I had young actresses, ingenues, and studied people. And then, of course, I had known Lee from another incarnation. And so Lee became involved and added greatly to our programs. And so we decided to join forces. Mm-hmm. Now, tell us Steinbeck. What do you think, tell us a little about Steinbeck as an author, as an American icon in literature. I'd love to, Melvin. Yes, sure. So he's born at the turn of the last century and in Salinas in the Central Valley where all the growing goes on. So the blind country? Well, there's one. Well, that's further north. But this is the agricultural belt of the state. And so he was surrounded by agriculture. He wanted to study natural science at Stanford, but he kept dropping out. And so he started devoting him. His mother was an English teacher. And so he learned about storytelling early on. And he began to take jobs with the growers and the fruit pickers. And so. And he really became gifted at being able to articulate the feelings, the emotions, the lives of these people that generally are voiceless. And so starting with Tortilla Flat in 1935, where he told a wonderful story about these paisanos in Monterey. Mm. And. And how they cobbled. And how they brought together a life. And it was right in the midst of the Depression. So people appreciate it. These guys were very resourceful. And so they people could learn from their story how to survive. And and then he went on to of Mice and Men. And and so we'll we'll be highlighting of Mice and Men as well. And that's a great piece. Yeah. Masterpiece. Yeah. That one. That term, what you call it, paisan? Paisan. Yeah. Because that's the. That's the. That you hear that a lot now that with Pisces or something like that, they used to use that. Is that the origin of that term? Uh-uh. When they was talking about a lot of the immigrants that came over? Something like that? Well, it's I think it's Italian. Yeah. Yeah. Italian. Italian. Mm-hmm. So it's a wine drinker. But yeah, now it's used pejoratively. Mm-hmm. But he took it up. And these guys, they, you know, they were just good fellows. And. They were drinking wine. And they were drinking wine. Mm-hmm. So what do you think is his best work? If you have to, or your favorite Steinbeck. Well, Grapes of Wrath really towers over everything else. Over Mice and Men? Over that? Well, of course, Mice and Men, more people are familiar with that because it's shorter. Yeah. And it's easier to read in high school. But he really climbed the mountain for Grapes of Wrath. Mm-hmm. And he had been observing the plight of the Okies who were coming in droves to California hoping that they could survive. Mm-hmm. Because they've been in the midst of those dust storms. And so he went to a model camp that Franklin Roosevelt supported in Arvin outside of Bakersfield where he found the New Deal really in full effect. Mm-hmm. There was a guy there that took these people that were desperate and he gave them their dignity back. Mm-hmm. And so that's where Steinbeck was introduced by Will Gere from the Theatrical Botanical. Mm-hmm. He introduced him to Woody Guthrie there at Arvin. Mm-hmm. And then I know Henry Fonda was in that famous movie as a young man, right? Yeah, 1939. Way back. Yeah. Okay, look. Let's take a little short break for our community calendar. We're going to come back, do another little section, and then we're going to talk a little more and then do some live readings. Okay. Thank you. This is the community calendar for upcoming events. Tuesday, November 11th, 2014 is Veterans Day. And at 1 p.m., the Full Scope Veterans Project will be celebrating Veterans Day. They will be presenting a short program honoring veterans. A short statement. A short stage play titled, Here in Wendell. It's about a veteran's dealing with his life after he returned home. We'll have special guest speakers, veteran Irene Cruz and veteran Teresa Varn. Light refreshments will be served. The location is the Lake Street Community Center, 227 North Lake Street, Los Angeles, California. This is near the corner of Beverly and Alvarado. Thank you. Contact information for this event is 213-479-1764. Saturday, November 15th, 2014, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., the third annual downtown Los Angeles Stand Down. This is for military veterans. It will be presented. They'll serve breakfast and lunch. And you'll get information about medical services, housing, shelter, and more. There will be entertainment and much, much more. The location of the Stand Down is the vortex, 2341 East Olympic Boulevard, Los Angeles, California. And this is near the corner of Santa Fe and Olympic. Contact information is the Veterans Project, 310-478-3711 or 626-730-1200. And this is the Stand Down. The Stand Down is a virtual event. It will be presented by the Veterans Project, 2341 East Olympic Boulevard, Los Angeles, California. Contact information is the Veterans Project, 310-478-3711 or 626-730-1200. And this is the Stand Down. The Stand Down is a virtual event. It will be presented by the Veterans Project, 2341 East Olympic Boulevard, Los Angeles, California. And this is the Stand Down. The Stand Down is a virtual event. It will be presented by the Veterans Project, 2341 East Olympic Boulevard, Los Angeles, California. And this is the Stand Down. The Stand Down is a virtual event. It will be presented by the Veterans Project, 2341 East Olympic Boulevard, Los Angeles, California. And this is the Stand Down. The Stand Down is a virtual event. It will be presented by the Veterans Project, 2341 East Olympic Boulevard, Los Angeles, California. And this is the Stand Down. The Stand Down is a virtual event. It will be presented by the Veterans Project, 2341 East Olympic Boulevard, Los Angeles, California. And this is the Stand Down. The Stand Down is a virtual event. Central Avenue in Los Angeles, where the Duke, the Count, Dorothy Danrich, and Lena Horne perform your favorite songs. The place is the Magnificent Dunbar Hotel. And for contact information on this great event, 213-489-7402. Leverly Simon, the playwright of the Magnificent Dunbar, and some of the actors will be our special guests on the Qumran Report, Monday, November the 17th, 2014. Also on November the 3rd and November the 10th on the Qumran Report, we will do some short readings of Bloods. This is about African-American experience in the Vietnam War, and Judy Bowman is the producer of this project. A new section of the Qumran Report. Veterans Advocacy Connection will be on Monday, November the 10th, 2014 at 8 p.m. Veteran Irene Cruz and Veteran Teresa Varn will be talking about veteran resources and much, much more helpful information for veterans. If you have a community event that you would like announced on our show, please send the information to DramaStage1 at yahoo.com, attention Earlene Anthony. And the call-in number for the show is 800-893-9562. Now back to our host. Okay, thank you, Ms. Earlene Anthony. Yeah, I was waiting on a call. I was supposed to come in from, from, do we have a caller on the line yet? Yeah, yeah. Hey, hey, Willis, Willis, how you doing? I didn't know whether I had you there. I'm not. Now, what we're going to do, we're going to introduce a new little short five, ten minute section of the Qumran Report. It's called the Anti-Violence Situation Coping Group, which is a group that we deal with in terms of conflict resolution. And the goal of this group is to really impact violent and potential violent situation before they escalate into violence. And keep in mind that violence can be in the form of, verbal bullying, verbal abuse, et cetera, like that. Most people, when they think of violence, they think of physical violence. Now, what we want to do here in this little section, first time we introducing the Anti-Violence Situation Coping Group, I have, are two sectors in which I, I know, and I think both, and that's Ms. Mello over here on one side, Willis and Shante. Shante there? She's not with me, but she was supposed to call in. Oh, okay. Okay, Willis. And then on the other side, and now both of you have projects that I think can really, really help the community. And it's so important for us to work together for the sake of the community, which is based upon respect, honesty, communications. So let's, let's get started with how to, we're going to communicate here. And then we're going to go and, four steps. I'm going to, Willis, you know, you're going to talk about what happened. And then Ms. Mello is going to respond. And then the third step is how can we work it out, you know, and then the final comments from it. We just touch up on it lightly, generally to this. So Willis, let's start off with you in that first step, telling us what happened. Well, I just feel like Ms. Mello needed some help. And she called, I believe, Gayser. Well, she had my number, but I believe Gayser gave her my number to say that I could set up the audio and stuff. And she gave me a call when I said that I was busy. She kind of talked about how blacks and Mexicans can't get ahead because we don't help one another. And so basically what I did is, I thought about it and I rearranged my schedule to accommodate what she was doing. But I told her that I could not stay because I did have a very busy weekend, a very busy day. So we drove from Riverside, Shontay and myself, we drove from Riverside there. We had to pay to park. And we went, we got there a half hour early. And, you know, we were there. We were there. We were there. And, you know, there ready to do whatever it was we needed to do. And with that attitude, you know, and we got there and there wasn't much to do. There wasn't, the stage was already set up. There was no audio for me to put together. And I just felt that I was deceived. And that's just how I felt about it. And, you know, I also hear Shontay is on too, but keep going with it. Okay. I just felt deceived because, I mean, I live in Riverside, gas isn't cheap. My time is, you know, very valuable. And I made that known to her. But we hung a few pictures and did some stuff. Now, I give her props just like I did on the show. I thought it was a wonderful thing. It was well organized, well put together. And I just walked away from there feeling deceived. Okay. I mean, that's the way I feel about it. Okay. And then we got Shontay on the line. You want to chime in too, Shontay? And then Ms. Mellor would respond. Okay. I didn't hear her response. Oh, no. She's going to respond after you respond. Yeah. Can you speak up? Yeah. Respond concerning what I didn't hear. Willis was just explaining what happened over at the convention center. And then Ms. Mellor was going to respond. Did you want to chime in? Anything what Willis said? I don't know if you could hear Willis. Yeah. I couldn't hear Willis. I didn't hear anything. Okay. Willis could just, can you have Willis say it again? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Well. No. Well. He just laid it out. You know what? Let me have Ms. Mellor respond. And then you can pick up on it. Ms. Mellor. Okay. Yeah. That's okay. Yes. It was a large event. And I did need a lot of help. So when I made at least 80 phone calls between September 20th to October 20th. That's okay. to October 10th. And when I did ask for help, the audio and the stage, to my knowledge, was not going to be set up. And until I got there, the stage was set up. So that was great. But it was good to see them. And I told them over and over again, I did appreciate you coming. I was actually shocked because I did not expect them coming. So I did appreciate a lot for them coming. But what disturbed me afterwards is the fact that you felt deception afterwards. And that made me feel bad because I never would recruit or ask for help only to deceive the person in a fashion. That's not my nature. But as a believer, there was other ways to go about it and come to me directly if there was any issues. As in Matthew 18, 15, I don't know if you have a Bible with you, but it states that if your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along with you so that the matter may be established as a testimony for witnesses. And if they still refuse to listen, go tell the church. And then if they still refuse to listen, then treat them as a pagan or tax collector. This is a little hard. But what the Lord was saying at that point, if there's conflict, especially with believers, because we have to have a standard of love and compassion of Christ's word, that we would talk about it. And I'm not a hard person to talk to. So to feel that you felt any disappointment or deception or anything bad, I would love to know about it. Because my focus is these inner city youths, the children out in the street, the gangbangers who need an opportunity other than basketball, other than football. They want to be exposed to performing arts. So the convention center was a platform for us to do just that. And I appreciated all the help that everybody gave. But afterwards, the way that it was told, how you felt, it should have gone to me directly. That way we can talk about it and squash any miscommunication. Okay. This is what I wanted to say. And then everybody, I'm going to go back to the final comments, because their whole purpose is to establish communication among these different groups that's trying to do something good for the community so they won't get diverted and end up doing absolutely nothing for the community and stuff like that. So I think Ms. Mello kind of hit on it in terms of what we want to try to do in the future is to establish better means of communication among each and every one of them. Because I think we discussed that scripture on Willis' show last week also in relationship to that. So look, we wind it down, just spend a couple more minutes on this. But what I would like to do is to, I think you mentioned the best way that we can work this out is to be able to establish a clear means of communication. Okay. So I think that's what I wanted to say. And then everybody, I'm going to go back to the final comments, but I think that's what I wanted to say. And then everybody, I'm going to go back to the final comments, of communication. So when something come up, you feel free and you feel comfortable in sitting down and working it out, talking to a person. So let's get a final little quick comment from each one of you. I really appreciate you calling in. And let's start with Willis. A final quick comment, and then Shante, and then Ms. Mello, and then we'll close it off. We got about a minute and a half. Okay. What I'd like to say, and I don't mean to be harsh, but I've been in the ministry for quite some time. And some people, they talk a good game, but when it comes down to it, it's not the same game. They're not living the same game that they're talking. I felt deceived, but what you were doing with the two actors, the actors and actresses from that movie, placing them on the floor and then walking on them, it's a mentality that I don't feel that somebody's preaching about helping black people. I wouldn't do that to anybody. And so that kind of went along with the deception part. And I just didn't feel, if I spoke to you, I didn't feel that it would resolve anything because of your attitude in that direction. It didn't like your very... I don't know. I don't know about those people. And I'll let Shante have a little say if she has anything to say. Shante? I think Willis and I both have the same viewpoint concerning that issue and just how things seemed to play out while we were there. But I mean, I definitely agree with what he said, Melvin, at our radio show on how to resolve those conflicts and the scripture that she used. And I agree with that. I just... I think we were both voicing our opinions on how we felt concerning the event. Okay. And now, Ms. Melvin, a quick look. The actors they're talking about was Idris Elba and Taraj P. Hinton from the movie No Good Deed, which is about a black serial killer. It's not about the actors and whether they're A-list. It's the personage of that movie. We have to put something out positive. And that's what I was talking about as far as using that as a floor map. Let me... Let me say this. Let me say this. We talked about that movie on the radio show. Yeah. And we mentioned what it was about and everything. But we have a different kind of take on how to resolve the thing. Let me say this. Because the most important thing, and then we'll close it off. The most important thing is to create a communication so you guys can sit down and feel free about talking this out and working this out. I was hoping sometime Ms. Melvin might be able to come in on your show or something like that. Oh, they don't want me on the show, so it's already done. Hold up. Hold up. Hold up. We're not going there. Hold up. Let me finish this up now. You know, because what we're trying to do is to create a communication where you can talk and clarify these things because we could spend a whole show talking about this. So we're picking up. Later. Willis, thank you for calling in. And Shante, thank you for calling in. Thank you, Ms. Melvin. This is just the first step in terms of creating an atmosphere where you guys can sit down and work out, get all of this, because I believe it can be worked out. It must be worked out. You know, you want to work out for the good of the community. You want to work where you can work together. See where you can work together. I mean, it's all about the community. It's not about each one of these particular organizations. It's about positive light, so to speak. Positive. Let me leave it here, and then we'll pick up on some closing comments at the end. So thank you, Ms. Melvin. Thank you, Willis, for calling in. All right. Take care, Melvin. Yeah. Thank you, Shante. And hopefully we open up just a little means of where we can communicate. We'll touch on some closing comments. But let's get back into our guest we had over here. I thought it was important to get this in, because, you know, before we get into reading out some of our live comments, let me just ask one question that I asked last week when I had some artists in here. How important it is for artists to use their talents to impact community issues? All right. Well, I think it's... It's very important. And that's the mission of Public Works, is to present socially relevant plays or productions and engage the audience in thinking things through and kind of throwing the spark of issues that everybody should work out. Because drama is... The Greeks believed they created drama. That's it. That contrast is the essence of vision. And we see by virtue of light and dark and height and width and vertical and horizontal. So they didn't believe that any one person could embody the entire truth of a situation. So they would draw a circle, an agon, and they would have a pro-agonist and an antagonist. And they would be presenting... Well, they'd be arguing. But the idea was a living truth emerged for the audience. And I think that's really what... When drama is being really effective, it conveys a living truth that neither one nor the other fully put together. They put the whole together. Well, Lee, let me ask you this. Because I've seen so many community organizations, theater companies. They almost... It's like churches in a way. You know how churches go. They have a conflict in another church. Jump off over here and see. Next thing you know, you got 50 churches in the same block. Well, there's sectarianism in theater too. How do you handle when conflict appears? We usually duke it out. You do it. No, I mean, you know, you have to, you know, be there for the work, not for your ego, you know. And keep from getting distracted. Yeah. Well, it's hard. It's hard to do. It's hard to do. It really is. And you always have personalities and some conflict. But when you're casting a group of people to work together like that, you want to try to get people that are capable of working together and who are capable of communicating pretty well already. And I don't know. It's a crapshoot sometimes. You've experienced some of that also? Oh, yeah. You know, in any kind of a group, whether it's a church, a political. organization or a theater company, you're going to have these human disagreements and arguments and stuff. And they have to be talked out sometimes. They have to be dealt with on some level. Sometimes it's very, very hard. Sometimes you just can't. And people, it affects the work that you're trying to do. What's your thoughts? Well, I was just going to share that, you know, it's wise to pick good collaborators and people of like mind and spirit. And sometimes, you know, sometimes you take it. You look at it too quickly and you don't really know if someone is as deep in their heart on some issue as you are. But if you can pick those collaborators who are of that similar spirit, then you stand a better chance of success, I think. Okay. Let's do this reading. We're going to come back and get some more of those comments around. Can you do the setting for the reading we're getting ready to hear? Yeah, I'd be happy to. So the story is about a family named the Joes. And basically, they lose their farm and they have to get in their Model T Ford and come along Route 66 to California. And they've got all these advertisements that it's the land of milk and honey. But so, of course, like the automobile is like the most important thing they have. And so the scene we've chosen is to demonstrate that Steinbeck was very good at creating sympathetic characters. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. And he was also very good at creating evil characters that tested the metal of the main characters. And so we've chosen a very outspoken used car salesman. And that's the scene that we brought. Okay. And there's a prelude. Yeah. Ready? Sure. I'll read. Yeah. In the towns, on the edges of the towns, in fields, in vacant lots, the used car yard, The wrecker's yards. The garages with blazing signs. Used cars. Good used cars. Cheap transportation. Three trailers. 27 Ford. Clean. Checked cars. Guaranteed cars. Free radio. Car with 100 gallons of gas free. Come in and look. Used cars. No overhead. Those son of a bitches over there ain't buying. Every yard gets them. They're lookers. Spend all their time looking. Don't want to buy no cars. Take up your time. Don't give a damn about your time. Over there. Them two people. No, with the kids. Get them in a car. Start them at 200 and work down. They look good for one and a quarter. Get them rolling. Get them out in a jalopy. Sock it to them. They took our time. Owners with rolled up sleeves. Salesman. Neat. Deadly. Small intent eyes. Watch it for weaknesses. Watch the woman's face. If the woman likes it, we can screw the old man. Start them off on that cat. Then you can work them down to that 26 Buick. If you start on the Buick, they'll go for the Ford. Roll up your sleeves and get to work. This ain't gonna last forever. Show them that. Show them that. Oh, show them that. Show them that Nash while I get the slow leak pumped up on that 25 Dodge. Cars lined up. Noses forward. Rusty noses. Flat tires. Parked close together. Like to get in to see that one? Sure. No trouble. I'll pull her out of the line. Get them under obligation. Make them take your time. Don't let them forget they're taking your time. People are nice mostly. They hate to put you out. Make them put you out. Then sock it to them. Flags red and white. White and blue all along the curb. Used cars. Good used cars. Today's bargain? Up on the platform. Never sell it. Makes folks come in though. If we sold that bargain at that price, we'd hardly make it. We'd hardly make it. We'd hardly make it. We'd hardly make it. We'd hardly make it. We'd hardly make it. We'd hardly make it. We'd hardly make it. Tell them it's just sold. And take out that yard battery before you make delivery. Put in that dumb sale. Christ, what they want for six bits. Roll up your sleeves. Pitch in. This ain't gonna last. If I had enough jalopies, I'd retire in six months. Looking for a car? What'd you have in mind? See anything that tracks you? I'm dry. How about a little snort of good stuff? Come on. Why your wife's looking at that LaSalle? You don't want no LaSalle. Bearing's a shot. Use too much oil. Got a Lincoln 24. There's a car. Run forever. Make her into a truck. Limp flags in the afternoon sun. Today's bargain? 29 Ford pickup. Runs good. What do you want for 50 bucks? A Zephyr? A Zephyr? A Zephyr? A Zephyr? A Zephyr? A Zephyr? A Zephyr? A Zephyr? A Zephyr? A Zephyr? A Zephyr? A Zephyr? A Zephyr? A Zephyr? All right, Joe. You soften them up and shoot them in here. I'll close them. Or I'll deal them or I'll kill them. Don't send in no bums. I want deals. Yes, sir. Step in. You got a buy there. Yes, sir. At 80 bucks, you got a buy. I can't go no higher than 50. The fella outside says 50. 50? 50? Why, he's nuts. Paid 78.50 for that. That little number. Joe, you crazy fool, are you trying to bust us? Have to can that guy. I might take 60. Now look here, mister. I ain't got all day. There's a dumb bunny looking at that Chrysler. Find out if he got any jack in his jeans. Some of these farm boys is sneaky. Soften them up and roll them into me, Joe. You're doing good. Sure. That's where we sold it. Guarantee? We guaranteed it to be an automobile. We didn't guarantee to wet nurse it. Now listen here. You bought a car and now you're squawking. I don't give a damn if you don't make the payments. We ain't got your paper. We turned that over to the finance company. They'll get after you, not us. We don't hold no paper. Yeah, well you just get tough. And I'll call a cop. No. did not switch the tires. Run him out of here, Joe. He bought a car and now he ain't satisfied. How'd you think if I bought a stake at that half and tried to bring it back? We're running a business, not a charity, Ward. Can you imagine that guy, Joe? Say, look at there. Got an elk's tooth. Run over there and let him glance over that 36 Pontiac. Yeah. Soften him up, Joe. Jesus, I wish I had a thousand jalopies. Get him ready to deal and I'll close him. Going to California. Ah, here's just what you need. Look shot, but there's thousands of miles in there. Lined up side by side. Good used cars. Bargains. Clean. Runs good. Okay, that's from Steinbeck. The Steinbeck piece. Okay, good. Now we winding down. We just got a few little seconds. Give a quick closing comments. We like to tell the dates of our show. Yeah, go ahead. Go, Eric. All right. So our first show is this Thursday, October 30th at Caitlin and Erica's Galleries. It's in University Park, just north of USC. And it's at 2316 and a half. South Union Avenue in Los Angeles. 90007. And great cast. And the next one that Lee will be hosting at Art Share. That'll be November the 6th at Art Share. Eric will be co-hosting with me for sure. And and then the The next one will be on the 13th, and that'll be Voice in the Well. And I'll be down at the War Zawah restaurant. Art Share is at 803. East 4th. East 4th Place. 801. 801, I'm sorry. 801 East 4th Place. Okay. Okay. And we will have enough time for Ms. Mellor to do a poem. And, Charles, you're going to be out here. You'll be out here for two weeks, and we might keep you out here in L.A. because, hey, by the time December and January come in that East Coast, it's going to be cold back there. Well, if people want to come and participate in an event I'm doing Saturday at Art Share, it's called Swirl. And it's meant to be a participatory movement performance piece based on sort of the idea of the energy of tropical storms and spiral patterns and whirling, like the whirling. And it's a way for participants to sort of tap into a vortex of community energy. And so I invite people to join us Saturday at 7 p.m. And we'll be playing together, and it's participatory. Okay. Yeah. Now I want to go to Ms. Mellor's going to do a poem for us. Yes. It's called I Have a Dream. Whoa. That sounds familiar. Yes. Not the original, but new one. Okay. I have a dream that one day Locke and many high schools in our poor neighborhoods will provide dictionaries so we can learn new words. I have a dream that my favorite color red is not banned because it represents the bloods. I have a dream that I can wear my favorite blue shirt without it representing the Crips. I have a dream that the sheriff's department would be peacemakers instead of disturbing the peace. I have a dream that people would care more about kids than they do about dogs. More parks and housing for us than hotel and dog parks. I have a dream. I have a dream that can no longer be if it's not you and me. Okay. That sounds like something that Lee would be doing. Great. Okay. I would like to thank my guests here. You know, I think we had a very enjoyable. A time. And I'd like to extend a special thanks to Lee Beck, Eric Ballmer, Charles Dennis, Miss Mello over there on the line. Willis and Willis Ward, Shante Duncan, my co-host here, Miss Earlene Anthony. Thank you for tuning in to the Coon Rhyme Report. And from your host, Melvin Ishmael Johnson and my co-host, Earlene Anthony, may the peace and blessings of the life-giving creative spirit be upon you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.