I'm Trudy Gallant-Stokes sitting in for Stephen Henderson.

The holidays are here, and Detroit Public Theater is putting audiences in a festive mood with "Holiday Cabaret".

This is the second year for the production, which features performances of familiar holiday tunes and theatrical songs.

"Holiday Cabaret" runs through December 22nd, and I had a chance to speak with one of the performers who happens to be a native Detroiter.

Here's my conversation with the artist known as Dev.

Welcome, Dev!

We're so excited to have you today to learn about this fantastic cabaret that's going on.

- Well, thank you so much for having me.

I appreciate you having me on.

Thank you.

(Dev chuckling) - So let's talk about the cabaret just briefly in a nutshell, and then we'll talk about the performers and particularly about you because you've got a great story of accomplishment.

So, tell me about this cabaret that's going on right now.

- Yeah, so the Detroit Public Theater is doing their "Holiday Cabaret".

It's our 2nd Annual Cabaret.

So, we're really excited!

All the four performers, including myself are back for a second year.

So, we're really grateful to be back.

The show, I feel like I would describe it, it is a show for people who don't typically like to go to see shows.

I think it is a show that is all encompassing of the holidays.

I mean, you know, I think with holiday shows you often find that people are talking about, all the joy, all the happiness, all the love, all the light of the holidays, which is beautiful, but they don't talk about the grief at the holidays.

Maybe you've lost a loved one, maybe you've had a breakup or something.

We talk about that.

There's some humor.

We talk about the capitalism, the commercialism of the holidays, then how that can kinda get with us, and we talk about it in kind of a funny way.

It's a little vulgar, which is fun.

You know, you never know what to expect I promise you, I guarantee you'll definitely be laughing.

You'll probably cry a little bit, but you'll leave the theater better than you came in, I think.

It's just such a fun...

It's a show for everybody.

Everybody can take something from it, I think.

- That's awesome!

But like you said, it's a little naughty because I noticed it said it's not your grandmother's cabaret.

- Yeah, yeah.

- This is a modern day cabaret.

- For sure.

It's definitely a modern day cabaret.

But I think your granny would enjoy it too.

So, everybody is enjoyed it.

We do some traditional holiday songs, of course, but not always in a traditional way.

But we do some songs you've never heard before, 'cause there are songs I didn't hear that I had never heard that we do.

I was like, "Oh wow!

This is really cool."

And like it's just fun.

Like I said, you take away a bit of the...

It's a lot.

It's something that talks about grief a little bit.

It talks about your... Maybe, like I say, you're going through a breakup, but it talks about in a silly way, maybe you have some kooky cousins.

It's all encompassing of the holidays.

- It's really fun.

- And it's not just Christmas, - You touch on holidays.

- No.

- Yeah, we talk about all the... You know, we talk a little bit about Hanukkah.

One of our dear cast members is Jewish.

So, he does it in a really fun way.

Eric Gutman, he's fantastic.

He talks about the Hanukkah and the beautiful nuance of Hanukkah, and things I didn't know about Hanukkah, you know, he tells about... and of course, like I said, we still talk about all traditions of the holidays, not just one specific one.

- So, you mentioned Eric, tell us about the other cast members.

- Yeah, Eric Gutman, and then there's Bryana Sloan, and then there's Arielle Crosby.

They're all incredible.

Arielle Crosby really just came off of her principal role height thing.

She did "The Color Purple" as Sealy.

She played Becky and the "Waitress".

She's done all... She did "The Bodyguard".

She's the lead in that.

She's done all these fantastic things.

Bryana Sloan also has done some incredible things.

She just did a fantastic show at the Flint Repertory Theater.

And Eric Gutman has done all...

He did a Broadway for a while.

We call him Michigan's favorite.

He is Michigan's favorite.

So, they're all so, so phenomenal, and I am so grateful to be able to share the stage with them.

- It's a really great blend.

- So these are all- fantastic performers, and people that you'll be bragging about in the future or sharing with people, "I saw so and so when they performed in Detroit", and maybe something that somebody already knows about.

- Oh, yeah!

- So you have a great story- as well.

And I checked out your website.

I loved that.

Just the name of it, definitely sanging- - Because we all know- - Yeah!

- There's singing- - And then there's singing.

- And there is singing.

There is!

- Definitely!

- So, Dev can sang.

- Yes.

Yeah, we're all sang in this show too.

- That's another thing.

- All right.

- You're gonna hear some good old sanging in the show as well.

- So, yeah!

- Okay!

- It's really cool.

- So, tell me about your background.

- Oh, well, I'm born and raised from Detroit.

I'm a Detroit native.

I went to Detroit Institute of Music Education for my undergrad, where I got my bachelor's in commercial music performance, concentration and voice.

And then during the pandemic, I actually moved to New York.

I moved to New York, and I got my master's degree in voice at NYU for musical theater.

And since then I've just...

While I was in Detroit, of course, in high school I did Mosaic Theater of Detroit.

That's where I found my love for theater because I've been singing since I could talk.

I've been singing my entire life.

I started singing in church, of course.

And I've sung, like I said, the entire gamut of my life.

I don't remember a day I didn't sing.

And so, I've been really grateful to be able to share that gift with people for a very, very long time.

And to be able to tell people's stories, realize I can tell stories through song and through acting has been a real treat, and it's been become part of my purpose.

And so, I'm really grateful to be able to do it and to have been able to share the stage with fantastic people like Arielle, Eric, and Bryana, but also, you know, share stages with people like Elizabeth Stanley and Josh Grobin and Audra McDonald, and these people who are, you know, phenoms in the stage.

- That's a range.

- I saw Josh.

- Yeah!

- Josh Grobin to Don Was to Thornetta Davis.

- That's a heck of a... - Yes.

Yes, exactly!

Yes, Don Was, Thornetta Davis.

It's really been a great...

I've been very grateful to have been to experience those things with people.

And I believe that my purpose is to leave people better than they came to me through song and through expression.

- That's awesome!

- So, yeah, - And I think what was most touching to me on your website was your post when you graduated from NYU with your master's in music, and thanking your mother, and just talking about how... You know, you're sharing that degree with everybody because you wanna inspire people.

Talk about that a little bit.

- Oh yeah!

- You know, you were lucky to be in Mosaic, but maybe they don't quite get that kind of exposure and so they don't get that push they need at a younger age to be confident.

- Yeah.

Absolutely!

It's funny because I started school, what people say late.

I didn't go to undergrad until I was 21.

And I'm a first generation student, so nobody in my family had ever gone to college.

And my mom actually didn't finish high school.

And my mom passed away in 2018.

And so, when I graduated in 2022, she didn't see me graduate from undergrad or from my master's degree.

But she was always so proud of the fact that we all even just graduated from high school.

And she would say, like her...

I have four siblings.

And she would say like, those degrees, those diplomas were hers because I mean, she fought tooth and nail.

She and my dad both were just really great champions of making sure that we got love.

When we didn't have maybe financial security, we had loving security, and that's what got us through constantly.

- Let's talk specifically about the cabaret in terms of tickets and time and all that.

'cause it sounds like it would be a fun thing to just bring a group of people and come together and just have a good holiday outing.

- Our matinee are at two o'clock, our evening shows typically start at eight o'clock, typically Thursday through Sunday.

It's running till December 22nd.

And, it's the "Holiday Cabaret".

Like I said, you do group, there are group prices, so people like to bring groups along, which is a really fun time.

We love the energy from the crowd always.

So, we want as many people as we can getting the seats.

(Dev chuckles) - Awesome!

And talk about the venue because it looked like a great setting to have an event,- - A performance.

- It is!

it's a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful theater.

The Detroit Public Theater has been going...

They're celebrating their 10th season this year.

So they've been going for 10 years, but they've only been in this particular building for about two.

So, it's a new refurbished...

It was a car garage.

It's like a historical building.

It's about a hundred years old.

It was a car garage, and it has a beautiful black box type of theater.

And then there's a beautiful lobby where there's a bar.

So you can grab a drink, come into the theater and have a good, good time.

It is a beautiful, beautiful place to do work.

- Anything else that you'd like to close with?

Any inspirational tips to someone aspiring?

- Oh yeah!

I think that make sure that you love what you do, even when it doesn't love you back.

Because I mean, there are times,...

I was just telling a friend I could go back to New York and I could have a tour, and I could be gone for the next year of my life touring the country, or I could go back to New York and work in a coffee shop for a year.

Like, it's a toss up.

So love it even when it doesn't love you back, but that's why you do it, to change people in that love.

- Thank you so much, Dev!

And we look forward to seeing this performance.

I gotta squeeze in a time when I can go see it 'cause it sounds great.

- Yes, please come and see it.

(Dev chuckles)