This week on State of the Arts, fostering a new generation of actors, a playwrights festival in Tucson, and behind the scenes of a Pulitzer Prize winning play.

These stories next on State of the Arts.

♪ SOOTHING UPBEAT MUSIC ♪ Hello, I'm Mary Paul.

Thank you for joining us this week for a new episode of State of the Arts.

Here in Tucson, a new generation of thespians is learning to take to the stage in a supportive environment that fosters not only their love of acting, but their freedom of self-expression and a sense of belonging.

Through mentorship and practice, The Scoundrel and Scamp Theater helps young actors step into the spotlight.

[ AUDIENCE CLAPPING ] (Zachary) So, Lendl, would you actually start off stage and then Gail is gonna call for you a bunch of times and then you'll come on out.

Lendl!

Lendl!

Lendl!

Gail, what's wrong?

You okay?

(John) There's so many points where we have to just do things that have such a high risk of failure and embarrassment and we have to do that.

It's so many different times in so many different ways and in such a safe environment where it's okay to fail and be embarrassed and I think that has really, really helped me in lots of areas of my life.

[ GROUP VOCAL EXERCISES ] (Annika) Scoundrel and Scamp were really focused in bringing the next generation of artists to our theater and so we wanna provide a space for them to grow and foster in that.

(Zachary) Schools are losing access to arts funding and we are seeing arts funding being stripped across the country.

It's really important that theater becomes a space where we can have open conversations, where the actors on stage, whether they be students or adults, can say and speak what those characters are feeling and the audience doesn't have an opportunity to jump in and react but rather they have to sit with what is being said on stage.

What led us to enroll my child here at Scoundrel and the Scamp and in theater classes was that one of the teachers from Scoundrel and the Scamp taught a theater class at her school and she just heated up, she loved it so much.

Piper, we have to go, we have to get help.

(Alexandra) I love teaching kids, I love allowing them to show their best selves and their creativity and to show who they are deep down inside.

Right, I'm gonna put another emotion inside my body to feel something else, good job.

So we have two different types of youth classes.

The first one's a general acting and theater arts class so it gives them that- those foundational skills that they need to start acting, whether that be improvisation, physical movements, vocabulary, we like to start them there and then they move up into Scamp Company.

And Scamp Company is really the youth theater ensemble so we want them to feel very connected in their group, connected to their arts and for them to continue to grow as actors.

(Alexandra) Do we like this version?

Okay, we don't like this version.

So with devising, what's really cool about it is that I ask them what their certain song is or certain movie or certain foods that they like, depending on what grades they are.

And when they answered that, then I just tell them to take that inspiration from whatever song, movie, food and write a play about it.

And then we go from there.

(John) One of the funnest things we do is we do a lot of improv games, which are really hard and sometimes don't go very well.

They're useful in developing skills like how to improvise for an interview or something.

So I really enjoy those.

They go from the very first stage of being cast in their play and doing their audition to rehearsing to finally doing the tech with us on our stage with all the lights and costumes and props.

And then we bring an audience in and they get to perform for everyone.

Telling stories is one of the oldest human things that we do.

Stories bring together community and really our goal was we wanted to create a space for community to share stories.

(John) All the teachers, all the students are really kind of just really excited to help you and support you.

(Rachel) It's so child centered and the teachers, it's just so clear like they're doing it for the love of helping the kids learn and there's just not ego.

It's like a home, a theater home that they can like grow in their skills from when they're little to when they're teens.

(Elizabeth) It is so important for young people to have adults, a community of adults that they can trust, that they see modeling the way they want to be in the world, to have guides to help them navigate the hard times that we're in.

♪ SOFT UPBEAT MUSIC And as we move from stage to script, we meet a Tucson-based playwright who never knew she had it in her to write for the theater.

That is, until she joined the group Old Pueblo Playwrights.

Meeting each Monday night, the group helps writers of all ages and experience levels workshop scripts until their performance ready.

(Dennis) Everyone eventually leaves the building and that's down and out the hallway.

(Debra) I've been member of Old Pueblo Playwrights since 2019.

Honestly, without Old Pueblo Playwrights, I would not have become the playwright that I am.

You bring your play before the group and you get a lot of feedback, and so it makes for a better play.

(Sydney) Well, the feedback is the best.

The whole group exists for that, really, for making writers write better plays.

(Debra) I would say at first when I would get feedback, a positive, constructive criticism it was hard to receive, but I realized it made me much more aware of all of what it takes to write a play.

(Participating member) I have a small place.

Girl, you've got a humongous place.

You could pay more, like, $20,000.

(Debra) Well, I had been thinking about writing a play about an HOA.

I thought it would be fun.

And my last play was really serious and really challenging, and I wanted to do a comedy.

And I have a wonderful director who directed my last play, Dennis O'Dell, and then we worked together numerous times, meeting and going over the script, and he has wonderful ideas.

She has a good sense of people of human nature and how people react, so she develops good characters.

What she didn't have was a background in theater and that was something that I was able to bring to her.

Hi, guys.

And it's an interesting relationship with a playwright and a director trying to work together to make the best script you can.

Savannah, I'll take you shopping sometime to find something in her secondhand clothing.

(Dennis) The thing that probably attracted me to the script most was characters.

You start hearing them talk and you go, "Yeah, I know this guy.

I know that lady."

I'd like to force it down their throat or up their- Alexis!

- What's a slurry scene (Joe) I've been a member of OPP for about six years, strictly as an actor.

I'm not a writer or a director.

(Participating member) In the middle of all that- (Joe) I'm getting to actually know the playwright and be involved in the process.

Nothing helps an actor more than working with other talented people that are willing to collaborate.

I think Debra is a wonderful playwright.

I've loved this playwright since the beginning, and I begged Debra to keep me in it for that festival, and I'm so grateful that I did, so I think it's going to be great.

When we do our play festival, you can come for free.

It's a suggested donation, so it's an offering to the community and they can give feedback to the play.

If someone's coming to the festival and they're going to subject themselves to the whole week of it, they can expect to laugh a lot.

They can expect to perhaps think a little bit.

(Sydney) There's going to be a good range.

Now, the Saturday, they're going to be a good variety and very entertaining.

I recommend that day highly.

I know that Debra's play is on the first evening.

That's going to be a very enjoyable experience.

I've been in theater for close to 50 years, and I've never come across a group quite like this.

The way they support each other, the breadth of the work, the talent in the group, but they just great people to be with, and I think that the community benefits and all of us who are members get a lot of benefit out of it.

I've seen all the plays, so it's going to be just get ready to enjoy yourself, and it's very affordable.

It's pay what you will.

Who could ask for anything more?

You can see Debra's play, "HOA Blues," and other new works a week from today at the Invisible Theater, 1400 North First Avenue, part of The Old Pueblo Playwrights New Play Festival, 2026.

Next, we visit the Contemporary Theater of Ohio to get an inside look at its production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play, "Fat Ham," and meet some of the dedicated creatives bringing the show to the stage.

Welcome to the Contemporary's 40th anniversary season, and our production of "Fat Ham."

I'm the artistic director here at the Contemporary, and what that means is I'm in charge of all the programming so I oversee what goes on stage, our education programs, what happens in classrooms across the city, and so all of the programming that you see, community engagement, productions, and education are all under my umbrella.

As artistic director, I also pick the plays with advice from lots and lots of community members and staff and artists in town, and so "Fat Ham" is a show that the first time I heard about it, I went, "I think this is going to be the play for us."

I work with the director to cast the production and find the actors to put the design team together, and then I'm sort of just here as a cheeleader and a support system throughout the rehearsal process and the technical rehearsal process all the way through till we close on closing night.

I am the director, so that means essentially I'm in charge, question mark.

Ultimately, it means I get the opportunity to bring together a group of artists to get at what the heart of the show is and make our version, so, I take the work, I take the research, I take the moments in the room, and ultimately I'm in charge of crafting that all into the show that our audience gets to see at the end.

"Fat Ham" is phenomenal.

It's a show that resonates with me.

When I got first got to see it, I was a black queer man in theater.

I was like, "Yes, this is a gym," And I'm really excited for its both connections to Hamlet but also the idea of stepping out into something new on its own.

Ultimately, I ask a lot of questions.

We've all got the same script, and we've all got time and space, so we read, we talk, we discuss their backgrounds, their interests, what they're bringing into the room, and then once we get up on our feet, we're really doing this ballet of what makes sense for that moment in time.

They bring suggestions, I bring suggestions.

I'm a very hands-on director, so I will physically sometimes with permission get up and move people to look at topography and patterns in space, so it's really, I leave room for everyone to bring themselves into the space.

I'm not that director who's gonna be like, "This is what we're doing, XYZ."

I get people in the room, get the material, get the bodies, and we build together.

So it's kind of a game.

I love games as well, and you kind of treat a play as a little game, questions, problems arise you must solve, and how can you have fun with it at the same time I'm the production manager here at the Contemporary Theater.

The production manager is in charge of all of the shows.

They're essentially the project manager of each show.

aI also think of it as the air traffic controller of the theater.

We're sort of in charge of everything, and we're making sure everyone is going in the right direction.

The baseline is I'm in charge of the people, I'm in charge of the story, I'm in charge of the budget, and I'm in charge of the safety of everyone.

Theater takes a long time to produce.

A show can take anywhere, almost a year, from when we choose the story to when we get on stage.

And there's a lot of work that goes in between a lot of people.

We have actors, performers, designers.

We have all of the administration, advertising, technicians.

So it takes a lot of people to, It's not a one-man show, you know, even if it is a one-man show, there's still a hundred people behind the scenes making it happen.

(Actor) It took over his whole body.

Everyone is there to tell the story and to uplift whatever the intention of the tale is, and that's what you'll see.

It's the most beautiful part of theater, is everyone working together to tell one story.

Choreography in itself is the expression of movement.

My first process when I'm getting ready for a show is making sure that I see what's in the text.

Sometimes there's already music in the text, and sometimes there's a feeling that's there.

And I take that and I also like enhance that with my own experiences.

So I'm black, I'm queer, so I got to pull expressions from that for "Fat Ham" and to telling that story through a black lens and through a joyful lens.

And sometimes that's something you get to do with your texts and get prepared for your show.

For "Fat Ham," I think because we're talking about a queer black story, I got an opportunity to go back into our history about what that looks like, what that visually looks like.

So I took inspiration from Vogue, I took inspiration from the ballroom culture, I took inspiration from queer liberation and how that expression can be played through the body and allowed it to put on everyone's body.

So I didn't want to make it exclusive only to queer people, but to black people in general, and, that's how we approached it in the show.

One of my favorite moments was, is Rabi being this church woman.

But when we got into rehearsals, I said, okay, you're the fiercest person in the room.

So she said, yes, I am.

Yes, I am.

A scenic designer is someone who creates the visual world of the play, the physical things that people stand on, touch, the things that make up the physical space of it.

And then they get lots of help from their friends lighting and sound and costumes, but kind of the basic world of the play is the scenic designer's job.

So start off with some research.

And that can mean a lot of different things.

That can either be the actual physical things that you want to design, or it can be things are kind of invocative of the feeling or the kind of mood that you're trying to get at.

And so you just kind of start researching things.

And then you go, okay, what does this look like to me?

And I start sketching, and some of them are really terrible.

And I usually start with like the first idea I had, and then something really crazy.

And then somewhere in the middle is where the set usually ends up being.

And then there's sketches, and then you end up putting it into technical drawing programs and creating drafting that the shop uses to create their drawings that they'll use to build the set.

And you do paint elevations and find out how paint goes on it.

And so you do all of these different processes to decide and then communicate with other people how it's going to look, because you're usually not the one building it.

So you have to make sure you've given other people all the tools they need to make the thing the way you see it in your head.

The shop downstairs that is run by Columbus Children's Theater, they're building a house, they're with a porch, and they're putting up some fence for us, and they're laying some fake turf, and they're making a whole backyard.

So when the audience comes in, they should see a backyard, and they'll go, "Oh yeah, that looks like a fun place to hang out."

Scenically, this play kind of lives in this weird place between reality and like really blatantly theatrical moments.

So that was kind of a fun thing to try to figure out, scenically, because you want it to look like a backyard barbecue.

You want it to look like the thing we all think we've come to see.

But then also there are going to be these moments that totally break from that.

And so there's this kind of need desire to like set that up a little bit.

So when it happens, it's not totally shocking.

It's something that you're like, "Oh yeah, that makes sense."

I'm Tabby, I'm the costume designer for" Fat Ham."

And what that means is I get to take the script, the words, and kind of interpret a visual for that, but in the form of the way of clothing and fantastic costume elements.

So jewelry and accessories, things like that.

Taking apart a script and just imagining for yourself what that character looks like and what that character would wear and based on their personality, how do you present that?

So there is a bit of my own family history incorporated in each of the designs for "Fat Ham."

But I think I'm most excited for everyone to see character Larry's finale outfit when he comes out and he sings his song.

That I'm most especially looking forward for people to see.

I love the collaboration with set and with the actors and with the rest of the design team.

It's always fun to just kind of when you're seeing it in tech, it's great to see how everything comes together.

I love plays that are full of joy.

I just think that's such an important idea in the theater and in life.

And so "Fat Ham" is a comedy based on Hamlet, a play that normally ends in tragedy and this time it ends in joy.

And so it's just so funny and so joyous that I knew that Columbus really had to see this production.

It's also a Pulitzer Prize winning play and so it is being done all over the country.

And the contemporary really is the theater in Columbus to do this and I just wanted to make sure that this community got to see it.

And now "Fat Ham."

♪ ELECTRONIC FUNK MUSIC And finally let's meet a group of women in Northeast Ohio who've been advocating for women's rights through song for more than 45 years.

Wind Song, Cleveland's feminist chorus, builds upon its legacy of inclusivity while evolving to meet the needs of the diverse community it represents.

This is the music that my soul needs and wants but also I want to shout it to the world.

I'm going to sing about it and I want you know everybody to hear this music.

I think there's a lot of people who are looking for a place to direct their energy or their need for a community and a place to put their desire for activism and this can be a really powerful place to put it.

♪ INSTRUMENTAL RISE IN WITH CHOIR ♪ This feminist choir blending with other feminist voices had a soul touching effect for me because you're really blending the energy of who we are in our diversity, in our identities, in what we dared to say with each other and to our audiences because we were singing together.

I'm really excited to just say this is who we are and this is what we believe and here are the songs that we're going to share with you at this point in American history, in American politics, in the American experience.

Windsong is a community.

It is a community of people who genuinely care about advancing women's rights, advancing LGBTQ plus rights, people who genuinely care about social justice and want to create a better world and the way that we as a community have kind of come together to do all this is through song.

♪ CHOIR VOCAL SWELL ♪ APPLAUSE When it was started back in 1979, it was a handful of people who wanted a safe space to sing and to sing about things that mattered to them and feminism has always been about pushing for equality and kind of giving voice to people who don't have a voice.

So Windsong is the evolution of that 45 years later.

We're a group that's made up of folks of all different ages, all different walks of life, people who have experienced feminism in their own unique way and it's cool because we all have so much that we can learn from each other since we're coming from all of these different walks of life.

So we have typically two concerts a year and this current one is our 45th anniversary concert at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

So the title of our concert is "Honor the Past, Inspire the Future."

A lot of these songs have a lot to do with matriarchs of the feminist movement.

The second half of the concert speaks to some of the evolution and growth that is happening within I guess the feminist movement in general as well as kind of in response to a lot of what is happening politically and socially in our country right now.

But even within that heaviness there's kind of this constantly moving message of hope and holding each other up and hopefully that will inspire, you know, continue to go on and inspire another next generation.

Windsong is a non-audition community chorus and we have members who cannot read music, who just sing, you know, in the car and in the shower and then we have members who have higher education with music, who sing semi-professionally.

And at least half of us are not musical, not people who read music.

For me it was the part about acceptance.

Accepting the fact that I couldn't read music, accepting the fact that maybe my voice is not the greatest, but giving me the opportunity to learn and grow and not be criticized.

I have a very small voice and I'm very shy about singing, but I love to sing.

And over the years through four wonderful teachers I have developed a reasonably decent voice and self-confidence and with the just the sisterhood of all these people in Windsong, the whole thing is just so, so important.

I can't say that enough.

I came to Windsong at least 20 years ago and now we're welcoming younger people who have grown up with completely different ideas of what it is to be a person in the world.

So I'd like to think that us older people, you know, learn from the younger ones.

We're like-minded but very diverse sometimes too, but we're all going in the same direction, which is awesome.

Right now I think our youngest member is 25, not that long ago, just a few years ago.

I was the youngest member at 37 and so we've really shifted our demographics, which I think is important to really kind of have that next generation of Windsong.

I think probably the best thing is the camaraderie through music and being with my daughter.

We've got all these different people coming from different places, but we all are connected by the music and the stories we're telling.

And that wraps it up for this week's episode of State of the Arts.

Thank you for joining us.

We'll see you next week with more art stories.