[Music] Hello everyone, I'm Earl Arms and welcome to the September edition of Black Novo As promised on this edition, we'll talk with some of the Olympic athletes who attended the 25th anniversary of the Milwaukee Fellowship Open.

We'll tell you about the upcoming award and celebration for Michael Schultz, one of Milwaukeee's most acclaimed film and television directors.

And we'll visit Byron Strippling, the Milwaukee Symphony's principal pops conductor, as he shares his musical talent with some local students.

But we begin with another student, Silver Anderson from Golden Meer High School.

Earlier this summer, she represented the Milwaukee rep in the next narrative monologue competition in Harlem's famed Apollo Theater.

She brought home the gold with the monologue Shame by Cheryl West.

I shouldn't have seen it.

She should have closed the dang door.

My teacher had just talked about it.

How does shame show up in your life?

Later at breakfast, I tell her, "Girl, you don't need so much cereal."

She answers by throwing some at me.

It's disgusting watching her eat.

Shoveling sugar smacks in her mouth, barely pausing to breathe.

Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, sugar, sugar, sugar.

I wanted to yell, maybe even slap her.

I saw you.

I saw you this morning.

As much as I try not to see you, I can't help but see you.

We catch the bus and as usual, I run ahead, hoping against hope that no one will see me with her.

I mutter the usual to the bus driver.

Wait, she's coming.

I sit way in the back laughing with my friends, even joining in when they laugh at her.

Maybe I laugh the loudest.

Fourth period, I see her in the school hallway, her shirt button about to pop, wearing those stupid leggings that make her look like some nasty over stuffed sausage.

I hear them all laughing, snickering, calling her names.

Blubber butt, bugger bear, fat lord ass.

She passes me.

Her eyes plead and her mouth greasy as always whispers, "I am your sister.

Help me."

And I pretend not to hear walk past trying not to see.

I remember that moment so vividly when they pull me out of class to tell me that she cut herself.

Razor slashes up her whole arm and all the way down those sausage thighs.

And they tell me how the janitor had to use a crowbar to open the stall door to pry her out.

That night, racked with grief, our mother screams at me, "Why didn't you say so?"

And I stutter, trying to come up with an answer.

And I think about what I tried to unsee.

My sister in the bathroom that morning, stripped of all her clothes, trying to weigh herself on one leg.

A hippopotamus trying to strike a ballerina pose.

That's what I thought before.

I thought she's going to break the scale.

My mother looks at me, tears rolling down her face, a look I will never be able to unsee.

I'm so ashamed of you.

And here she is now.

Silver Anderson joins us now along with Zach Woods, the Milwaukee Rep's associate director of education.

Thank you both for joining us.

Uh Silver, you were talking about a funny story that came with winning, right?

So, uh go ahead and tell us about that.

Yeah.

So, after we all finished our monologues, um they had us go back up to the green room and then we came back down and they had like the checks that they were giving all of the all of the the winners um like on the like table that was out there and the person that went before me, she was standing in front of me cuz we were in order cuz cuz theatrics and whatnot, but she saw my name on the the first place one and then she looked at me and she didn't tell me.

She was just like, I'm going to chill.

And then we came in, we sat down and then all of the all of the people got their things and then he got to the or the announcer got to the the first place like check and they're they were like this big and he was trying to hold it to his chest but I was also sitting towards the back or like basically almost behind him and I was like I'm not going to peek.

I'm not going to peek.

I'm not going to peek.

I peaked and I go everything's fine.

Everything's fine.

Just just pretend Oh my god.

Yay.

I I I was still like obviously very happy, but I had to like suppress it immediately and then go back to normal because it was for sure cuz my mother was also sitting in the audience because she was like, I'm going to fly to New York to support you.

And I was like, great.

So, I was like, I I can't I I have I have to wait.

I have to wait.

It's going to be fine.

But yeah, that was that was my funny story.

I just think it's funny every time because it's like that was pretty funny.

But uh on a more serious note, just talking about the monologue, just talk about your motivation behind it and really how you got into uh acting.

Yeah.

Um I the next narrative monologue competition.

Very very fun thing to say in words.

Um the the they have a compendium too now as we learned at the competition this year.

um with a bunch of monologues in them written by a bunch of different black playwrits, which is also very cool and very awesome because we need work and we need new work by black people because we like to say a lot of stuff and we like to tell stories too.

Um I chose my piece from the first one because that's the one we had access to.

Um this is my second year participating in the competition and I won this year which was really great.

Uh but I think I was between a couple but I chose this one because I wanted to stretch myself as an actor.

Um, I'm not a mean person as my character was.

She was still learning and like growing as a human being in this piece, which is what we discovered that it was about, but I did want to stretch myself or find something that I don't normally do, which is like mean girl who's also grieving and going through something.

So, you can't just hate the character the whole time.

Got to have a little bit of depth, a little depth, a little bit of complexity.

And then, as far as acting goes, I've been acting since I was in I want to say first or second grade.

Um, my first show I think was either The Whiz or Peggy the Pint-Sized Pirate and I and I played a pilot a p a parrot named Polly.

Yes.

Um, just great some it was on because of course Polly the parrot.

What else would you call your parrot?

Um, but it was a great time and then I've just I've loved storytelling since I was very young.

Like ever since I could start writing stories, I was like I'm gonna do that.

I'm gonna write a book now.

So much fun.

I haven't written one but I have a lot of things in my brain and I have a lot of docs that still need to get finished.

But yeah, I really like acting.

Um, I was just in a production of Romeo and Juliet at First Stage, so it's a very fun time.

I enjoy the theater quite a bit clearly.

But no, I enjoy it.

Zach, though, this is a rigorous pro rigorous process for uh these students and these uh actors.

So talk about that and how uh Silver got to be a winner and the process as a whole.

Yeah, it's a rigorous process, but it's also a really fun process and a rewarding process, right?

So this competition was started by True Colors Theater in Atlanta, Georgia.

And like Silver said, their goal was to uh sort of amplify the voices of contemporary black playwrights.

They commissioned a bunch of monologues into this compendium.

So when students start in the program, they pick one of the monologues from this compendium.

Uh they begin in the fall with us.

We offer a variety of free workshops.

Students can drop in at Milwaukee Rep.

That's going to begin this year in late October.

Monday nights beginning the 20th and we'll sort of alternate every other Monday.

You can drop in between 4:30 and 6:30, work with professional teaching artists on picking a monologue and then getting some coaching.

After that, uh students have to audition in a round of preliminaries.

Uh and then we go down to a round of semi-finals and ultimately uh that cohort gets some training that leads them up to the regional competition where we pick two students uh that then go on to compete nationally in New York City at the Apollo Theater.

Nice, nice, nice.

And you conquered all of that, Silver.

Wow.

So uh got to be proud of yourself.

What's next for you?

Um I start school soon.

We're doing well, First Stage.

I'm in First Stage Young Company, which is their like teen college prep acting program.

Um, and I'm in Rose of Treason, which is a new show because the Violence of Hope are doing a residency in the area.

So, I'm in that show is Professor Huber.

I think that is what the character's name is.

So, you can catch me down there.

Uh, yeah, that's where you should find me because that'd be really fun and really cool.

I love it.

You're going to go far.

So, Silver, thank you.

Zach, thank you as well.

Of course.

Thank you.

[Music] It was the best of times.

They were the best of friends.

They made the best of memories.

Why don't you go somewhere?

Your place of mine.

Those cool cool days.

[ __ ] High.

That's a clip from [ __ ] High, a film celebrating his 50th anniversary this year.

The film was directed by Milwaukee native Michael Schultz, who has a long and distinguished career in film and television.

His notable works include Car Wash, The Last Dragon, Which Way Is Up, Chicago Hope, The Practice, and Blackish.

This weekend, Milwaukee Film will host several screenings of his films and will honor him with the first Michael Schultz Award.

Robin Erlick, the communications and public relations coordinator for Milwaukee Film, joins us to discuss the celebration.

Welcome to Black Noval.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for having me.

I'm excited to be here.

Thank you.

So tell us about Michael Schultz and his career.

Yeah, so he's an extremely prolific filmmaker who happens to be from right here in Milwaukee.

He went to Riverside High School.

He attended Marquette University, so he's very familiar.

He's a Milwaukee native.

Um, and he also made like an unbelievable amount of super influential films throughout his career, which is ongoing.

He's 86 years old and he's still making films and directing television and um so we're just super excited that he's going to be coming to the Oriental Theater and we get to honor him with a lot of tribute events and screenings of his work.

The Michael Schultz Award, what is that about?

Yeah, so the Michael Schultz Award is something that kind of came about because of a local filmmaker, Ruben Whitmore.

He came to Milwaukee Film with this idea to honor um Michael Schultz because he hasn't gotten his flowers necessarily.

And um our executive director Susan Karns was like, "That's an incredible idea.

What can we do to make this happen?"

So together um with a board of adviserss, they concocted this idea for an annual award in his honor named the Michael Schultz Award.

and it celebrates every year a luminary black filmmaker.

Um the first year we decided why not give it to the man we named after uh the award the award after.

So we're giving it to Michael Schultz but the award will be ongoing celebrating the work of incredible black filmmakers.

Um some Milwaukee based not always.

We're going to see where the award takes us but this is the first one.

What three films will you show this week?

Yeah.

So, um, tomorrow, Friday the 12th, we are going to be screening The Last Dragon, which is a film he made in 1985.

It's a become a cult classic, kind of a martial arts '8s film.

Um, super fun.

And then on the 13th, this Saturday, we're screening Car Wash at 300 p.m., which is a super fun comedy, and Michael Schultz will be in attendance, and he'll do a nice Q&A after the screening.

And then at 7:30 p.m.

that same day, Saturday the 13th, we'll finish off with his film [ __ ] High, which is it having its 50th anniversary.

And um preceding the screening, there will be an awards ceremony where which is open to the public.

We'll give Michael Schultz's award and there will be an extended Q&A before the screening of Koolie High.

What makes Koulie High such a classic?

Oh my gosh.

Um, it's just I feel like it's it's grown to be a film that goes beyond just the name.

I feel like it's a title that everyone's familiar with.

And um, even people who aren't necessarily familiar with Michael Schultz, like I feel like [ __ ] High, it's done so much for the comedy genre in general.

and then also um creating space for uh black filmmakers.

And I believe it was um the film that was the first film to be nominated for an award at um Can Film Festival by an African-American filmmaker.

So, it was historic, influential, and it paved the way for a lot of filmmakers afterwards.

Now, I understand that, you know, people may not know him by name, but he's had several stars in his some of his films.

Can you talk about those?

Yeah, he um kind of helped launch the careers of Denzel Washington.

Um he worked extensively with Richard Prior, Samuel L. Jackson.

A lot of these folks who have become um you know, huge stars and names that we talk about all the time have Michael Schultz to thank for becoming who they are.

Awesome.

Awesome.

So, how can people get tickets?

Yeah, so um everything is available to find online at mkfilm.org.

There's a whole page that lists all of the Michael Schultz events and screenings.

That's mkilm.org/michults.

We kept it easy.

Um and you can go to the box office at the Oriental Theater or the Downer Theater.

You can always get tickets in person there or online.

All right.

Well, thank you.

Yeah, thank you so much.

At the Pettit Center in Milwaukee, where numerous winter Olympians have trained, it was the summer Olympians of track and field who were there to support the Milwaukee fellows.

They included three-time gold medal winner Jackie Joer Kurtie, one of the most decorated and revered Olympic athletes of all time.

I am one that believe that if you do the work, the money will come, but you cannot put self before anything.

And two United States medal winners from the 1968 summer Olympics in Mexico City, Tommy Smith and John Carlos, both known for their black power salute during the medal ceremony.

We had the privilege of sitting down with Smith and Carlos who explained how their desire for equity and justice for black people manifested on that Olympic podium.

Smith, who was once known as the world's fastest man, found that educating younger generations could go beyond sharing words.

It became a reality to me that I am somebody.

Now, how am I going to help those behind me who had the same feelings that I did about the educational process and big families and not having and not being able to talk or communicate.

So, that's fine.

Mine bringing up was very elementary in my thought process.

But you've got to start before you can continue.

And once you continue, you have to continue.

you're continuing to help those behind you who had the same problem as you did.

Cuz my problem I I can ascertain that it was like a lot of problem that young black men like me had back in the day.

But I had nobody out front for me to look up to and uh classify myself as somebody.

For Carlos, he says it came in a vision years before taking the podium.

The thing that was so deep I was traumatized and I went to dinner that night.

We about maybe six hours later I go to dinner.

My father said, "What's the matter, Johnny?"

I said, "Daddy, I was in a movie."

He said, "You was in a movie.

What happened?"

Cuz he see I'm traumatized.

I explained to him what happened.

The old man bought me into his rib cage.

He said, "Son, nobody's going to bother you.

My job is to love you, feed you, house you, protect you, teach you, get a good education.

Nobody's going to bother you."

And he reached over my head and said to my mother said, "Bye."

It look like God's got something special for this kid.

We gonna have to wait and see.

I didn't think about that vision after the first five years after vision.

I think about it no more until I got to that victory stand.

And if you look at my eyes, you can see I made a connection with something in my mind.

It was that vision.

They shared how their actions cost them endorsements, money, even association with teammates and friends.

And a lot of folks was afraid to be around me because they might think that I might say the wrong thing that some black folks are going to dislike me because I am using the word white.

A lot of people don't want to use the word white.

After Mexico City, my life almost stopped because people were afraid to approach me because they they felt and I was told this and I felt this that if they associated with me, people will view them as as negative as they viewed me.

So, I stayed by myself a lot and went back to school just to what else I going to do.

Uh, I lost the house that I was in.

Uh, and so me and the wife had to kind of almost be on the streets, hold the 11 world records of being a gold medalist, almost on the street just to make it and our young son just to make it.

First, it took me actually two years to figure out that it wasn't they was walking away because they didn't have love for me or, you know, I had stinky on my collar or what have you.

They walking away for fair reprisal.

They saw what was being thrust upon Dr.

Smith and I. So they didn't want that to happen to them and their families.

So they walked.

I can't knock them for wanting to protect their right.

But yet and still I figured in time if you endure they're going to be able to see the benefits of what we did.

Yeah.

You have to take some pain to make gain.

Carlos gave a deep perspective on how race relations compare nearly 60 years later.

In 1968 we put a picture up.

Dr.

Smith and I put a picture up and the picture illustrated racism, bias, prejudice, segregation, the whole nine yards.

Red lining, lack of education in institutions that we couldn't get in.

All of this wrapped up in one.

So we put up a cameo to say this is what we up against.

But people didn't want to take the move.

But see now at that time it was like is this real or is this memorex modern day the same thing is happening but it's in your face and you can touch it.

You can feel it.

It's real.

When you see 4,800 people lose their jobs.

When you see black mayors or governors across the state being put down based on the color of their skin.

When you see them trying to change the zones in the various uh states like what they doing in Texas.

You know, it's a lot of things taking place right now and it's in people's face.

And I tell white folks, you you got good hearts.

I'm not saying all white people had anything to do with, you know, with the prejudice that's going on or all the uh slavery that took place back in time.

I said, but at the same time, as a human being, you can't be there and say, I'm a white guy and I stand by you.

Standing by me is fine, but today you have to be more than just standing by me.

You have to open up your mouth and turn the volume and tell your brother say, "Hey man, what you doing is wrong.

This thing called racism and bias and prejudice is wrong."

Each of the track and field legends had a message to the athletes of today who have access to social media and many more lucrative opportunities.

Think of the young people.

That's why I do what I do.

I chose teaching to do that.

Use different platforms from grammar school which I started teaching up to the four-year college to reach back and help Young folks, help the people.

The big ring, the big watches, the great car, big cars.

That's selfishness and that's okay.

But you got to share that with the kids.

A seed would not grow if it's not watered.

So, we must continue to nurture our young people.

And even though as they try to go in their own way, we must bring them back and be a reminder of the constant is God.

And that you can do whatever you want to do.

But when it's all said and done, if you're not true to your own self, then you'll be hard for you to be true to trying to have a real platform that's just superficial and temporarily versus a platform again that's longevity and lasts forever.

Right.

Right.

They have to realize, man, is more important than them just having a name or reputation because you can run the football or dribble the basketball or run track fast.

Realize that you was public.

When I say public, you was pronounced to the public as the president of the United States is.

The president is not known no more around the world than LeBron James is.

Same thing back in the time when Joe Lewis was boxing the president Eisenhower.

He wasn't no more pronounced than Joe Lewis was at the time.

Look at the man in the mirror.

Get in touch with yourself.

I know who I am.

But the question is, do you know who you are?

And once you find out of who you are, then you can move forward and do great things in your life.

[Music] That's Byron Stripp.

He's the principal pops conductor for the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.

Sometimes he interacts with local students.

[Music] I believe the children are our future.

teach them well and let them lead the way.

Songs are real.

That's a real song.

And that's why children are so important.

The songs are the things that elevate them.

I'm trying to figure out what's the way that I can get into one of these kids that I see walking down this hall.

What can I say to them?

And they never heard of me.

They don't know who I am.

So the music has to be delivered into a way that's palpable to them.

They can they can feel it in their body, in their soul, in their mind, in their spirit that this is some good stuff.

And maybe they'll leave with a few words from a song.

Maybe it might say the colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky.

Or maybe it will say um I think to myself, what a wonderful world.

And we realize through all this craziness that has gone in going on in the world, but really where's the wonder in it?

And it's up to us to dig deep and find that one wonder inside of us.

Where is your joy?

And the joy comes from the music.

So when I'm talking to kids, that's my objective to let the power of music shake them shake them out of their misery and their pain.

[Music] Who knows what's going on in uh the houses that people come from these kids, but now they have a chance to see me.

Maybe I look like them.

If that's the case and I'm on stage, maybe they'll go, I could be like that.

[Music] Along with empowering children, Byron also teaches them that music can be made by all people.

Later this month on the 26th to the 28th, he'll conduct an allw women show called Disco Divas.

The purpose is to showcase the underappreciated talents many women have to offer the orchestra by mixing classical orchestra music with 1970s disco.

That music from that disco era is so popular with people and I still remember Gloria Gainor and you know you know I will survive all all the songs like that.

So that's really important music to that era and I think it was also an era where women were empowered letting us know as they have continued to do uh that we can do anything y'all can do.

The best trumpet players now are like women.

They are coming out of the woodwork cuz we've now allowed that and they should have been out a long time ago.

But I empowerment of women especially since I have two girls.

I want them to see that show to see these women take over that stage.

everything I I I do there's an educational part to it and so I want to serve women in that way too so that they can see those positive role models not only myself but it's the women that are so important too music is who I am so there's no thought about be a doctor make better money be a lawyer all those things it's all about like what's in my heart what's in my soul what's in my spirit and what will ultimately uplift people to make the world a better place.

But you're doing it through music and hopefully you don't have to preach about it that they can feel the power through when you pick up an instrument and my instrument is the trumpet or when they hear you sing or when they see you conduct.

And we had a packed house full of just kids.

And they were standing up and dancing by the end.

That's why I live.

[Music] I want to stop.

I said I want to stop.

I want to stop.

I want to stop.

[Music] That's our program for this month.

Remember to check us out across all of our social media platforms and make sure you join us next month as we begin season number 34 of Black Novo.

I'm Earl Arms.

Have a great evening.

[Music]