- [Announcer] Someone gave, someone donated, someone left a legacy, generations of generous someones have helped shape Rhode Island into this amazing place we call home.

How do you thank them?

By leaving your own legacy.

We can help.

(upbeat music) - Welcome to another edition of "In Another Opinion," a public information program, where our discussions are focused on the diversity of the State of Rhode Island.

I'm your host, Peter Wells.

My guests today are actors Rose Weaver and Christopher Lindsay cast members of August Wilson's "Gem of the Ocean."

Folks I'm glad to have you here.

- Hello, Peter.

- Welcome back Rose.

- Thank you.

- And Christopher for your first time.

- Thank you for having me.

- You welcome to the show.

- I appreciate it.

- Listen, Trinity's been getting a lot of attention of late for some of the plays that have been carried there.

And this one, I guess the "Gem of the Ocean" is getting a big play.

Who is August Wilson.

- I would say that he's the black community's Shakespeare.

He's prolific, he's written 10 plays and unfortunately he's passed on, but he covered our lives in this, what would you called it?

- I'd say the 100 years of the 20th century he covered all of it.

- [Peter] Very good.

- For each play a decade for each play.

- Where's he from August do you know?

- Pittsburgh.

- Pittsburgh.

- Hill District in Pittsburgh.

- And that's where all of his plays are based.

- Focused on.

- Focused on that area.

- Well, so blue collar town it's it was probably during the migration south by people from the south was probably one of the key areas being a steel town.

- Yep it was definitely a huge stop for black people that could always find work there.

Until they couldn't, which is something that, we talk about in "Gem of the Ocean."

So it's real interesting historically.

- Without letting the cat out of a bag, what is the "Gem of the Ocean" all about?

- It's about a lot of things, a lot of things, but spirituality, ancestry, knowing who we are about our history and Chris go ahead.

I know as a young person looking at it, he has his thoughts about it.

- Yeah I play the character Citizen Barlow, who is a young man who has gotten himself into a situation where he feels like he needs his soul cleansed.

And in the process that he learns a lot about his history, something that was lost to him, something that wasn't necessarily passed down that he reconnects with.

And everybody in the house sort of gets that sort of reconnection or passing down what has been given to the next generation.

- And having him be the young person in the play.

There are a couple of young people in the play who aren't questioning and to have the older person on Ester who is depicted as a 285 year old woman, who's carrying the history and trying to pass it on.

- It's so beautiful 285.

- 285.

- Yes.

- Okay.

(all laugh) - I am convincing but I don't get into tricks with it no.

- No I understand.

- It's based in truth.

And the whole thing is about finding your own truth, which and the other historical things about the play, make it so relevant to this time that it's I don't know how to describe it, but it's funny how history repeats itself.

- It repeats itself that's a great way to say it, that history repeats itself and Ester warned about that.

And but everybody can be healed if they're open enough to it.

If their heart is open enough, there is a lot of love to be had and to be shared - Oh definitely.

- And that's some of the wonderful things about this play is digging into the human spirit.

What makes people do things why is there evil?

And of course Ester believes in God and she sees God in everything like I do personally.

I look at nature and I'm like that's God.

- I was gonna say, it's like the circle of life, my Indian ancestry talks to that about, everything heals, people heal, nature heals the planet heals, everything heals given time.

- [Rose] Given time.

- But finding that is really difficult for us to find that inner knowledge of that, 'cause we're so used to waiting, wanting, and then sometimes, just asking for things that we really don't need because we're such a materialistic society today.

- But when you find it-- - Go ahead.

when you find that interconnection, it happens in the play, but I think it also happens in life.

Once you find that interconnection, it changes the way you think about things, the way you see things and it's something that I don't think you lose again.

- Storytelling is the biggest part of this as you say, is passing down, especially within our people, because we didn't have a lot of people capturing our lives.

- Now money gets in the way of a lot of things.

And that comes up in the play in different ways, how some people will take money and make that more important than the human being.

And there's a character in the play that epitomizes that.

And so love and money.

What's more important.

How do you balance them?

- Right Rose you're right.

And unfortunately we've experienced some of that as some of our highest political levels of late, unfortunately but yes, you're right.

So I can expect when I go to the play that I'm gonna learn a little bit more about my ancestry through the characters.

- [Chris] Cry a little bit, laugh a little bit cry.

- Cry a little bit and laugh.

So definitely bring a handkerchief which I normally don't carry.

- Wear tissues as soon as you walk in.

- So okay well, that's a good thing.

So tell me about these characters in terms of the challenge of playing the part and now Rose, I mean you have to take on a, you're a 285 year old grandmother who's wise beyond your years.

How do you get into that character?

- Well, first of all, I didn't realize what a heavy lift this play is.

All of all this Wilson's plays are heavy lifts.

You gotta really work hard to develop the character.

When I counted the pages of dialogue and monologue that I had to learn 57 pages that I'm on.

- [Peter] Wow.

- And I panicked a little bit, but it's a wonderfully supportive company and the director and the whole company, there's a lot of love in our company, but I had to go inside and that's how I work on a character.

I try to figure out what's going on inside that person, that human being so I don't go from the exterior.

Some actors do work from the exterior.

They wanna do what the physical physicality is and the costume and everything else.

Me I go to my heart and my soul and figure out who she is.

And then once I understand that I can start learning the lines and I'm older I'll be 73 years old next month.

- Don't look that old.

- It's a challenge.

- That's a part you're playing too right.

(all laugh) - I just have to say she does this role beautifully.

And to see her in rehearsal, when we were in there, the way she works it informed it.

I think it set the culture for the room.

And I think that's something that nobody will tell her, but I'm gonna tell her it set the culture for the room.

- Well, she's been at it for a while.

Oh, she she's got a reputation.

- An amazing one and it shows.

- Well, what about you, Christopher?

What about your character.

- Citizen Barlow let's see.

- That's wonderful.

- Stop it.

When I first read the script, it hit home to me, somebody who is just looking and who's hungry for something love which is the main thing that he's looking for.

And I remember a time when I was also on that journey.

I think we all go on that journey.

And so it was easy for me to see the similarities, but I focused more on the differences in how we differ and of course the time period, this is set 1904 and kind of like Rose working from the inside, really trying to figure out who he is, what the script gives me.

What do the other characters say about him?

What do I say about myself?

And then sort of building on top of that and trusting Jude Sandy is an amazing director.

He's a wonderful, wonderful human being.

- What was his name I'm sorry.

- Jude Sandy.

- Jude Sandy.

- Jude Sandy - Jude Sandy and listening to what he had to say, what he was seeing from his side of the table and taking the notes and working at it.

And I think together we cultivated, somebody who has a lot of love, but just doesn't know where to place it.

And I think that's true for a lot of people, especially his age so, yeah.

- And Jude had this way of allowing us to really examine our characters ourselves without him telling us what it is.

We were work together and we started finding the interactions between each other.

And he just gave this freedom to us that we were able to work in no tension.

Sometimes you can go into a play and the director, or some of the casters may have an attitude, or the director may be forceful and make everybody uptight.

- Have an agenda.

- And this was just the perfect situation.

I have never been in a room like this with these actors that made me feel so good.

And so appreciative of the craft.

- Well, that thing is not easy.

A lot of people think you're just reading memorizing lines and you smile when you're supposed to, whatever I had the pleasure of actually trying out.

And I played in a couple plays in college.

Actually I played the part of Blossom in the play, "The Hasty Heart" of which Sidney Poitier played the part, I was an African post World War I, and couldn't speak English in a rehab center but learning how to cry.

- Ooh talk about crying.

- It was difficult but I had to think of things in my case, I actually had lost my dad the summer before I went to school.

And I just think about his funeral to be able to get misty.

- They called that memory recall Stanovsky.

- Oh, was that right?

- Yes.

- I didn't know that, but I figured I was the only way I was gonna try to get any tears outta my eyes was to think about things that were sad and actors have to do that.

I mean in a split second, maybe from crying to laughing.

- And we do it.

You will see all of that in this play.

There's some stuff that makes you laugh.

And then the tears.

- Well, it's challenging.

It's very challenging.

Well and take note personalities are always tough because I imagine you have to try to keep your personal feeling about a character out and somehow grasp that from the playground.

- Well one of the philosophies I've always had is you leave, this is a vessel.

This whole body is a vessel.

So my personal opinions about the character.

Yeah I do leave him outside the door because that's not the character that's me.

I use my vessel to interpret that character and everything about that character.

I try to learn as much as I can and embody that.

And is that how you go about it too much.

- Same that's how I was taught.

And I think that's the best way to put it down after the show is over, once repetition is the first thing, right.

Having that routine of like, okay, this is what I do to get into it.

This is what I do to get out of it.

But as far as like, assumptions about the character, I don't think you can make them because at the end of the day, it's just a human being, and we're in the business of empathy as actors.

And so understanding is key because that's essentially what we want the audience to do with us when we get on stage no matter how dark the character might be or violent or whatever, we want them to understand the view and then start to under see that, regardless of how they behave or whatever the case may be, they're just a person that needs something.

- Now, you mentioned a key word.

You said how you were taught or trained.

- [Chris] Yes.

- Tell me about your training, how did you get into acting?

- So I played basketball in high school.

I thought I was going to the league as star.

- Oh sure.

- That was gonna be a lion bear in the NFL, but I'm not.

- Yeah and now we're here.

I ended up doing playwriting.

That's how I actually got into the theater.

I went to college I met my mentor who I talk to almost once a week, Anthony Stocker.

He taught me and he's got a lot of people into grad school and into the industry since then.

And he took me under his wing, took me under his wing.

I went to Norfolk State University and I helped with their theater program there.

I learned from him, I got my first professional gig at the Virginia States Company in Norfolk, Virginia.

And there was one show I did where it was about suicide.

This woman in the crowd saw the show and came up to me and said I haven't talked to my brother in seven years, but you made me wanna call him today.

- [Peter] Very good.

- And that was it for me, it's not just fun.

It's not just words on a page.

It's not just playing on stage.

- And he's in the Trinity MFA Program right now at Brown.

- Yes.

- At Brown Trinity, I'm graduating in May.

- [Peter] Very good.

- Another wonderful program where I've got to meet and learn from a lot of teachers, including Jude.

Jude was my teacher my first year.

And then I've had some other great ones throughout the years.

Rachel Christopher has taught me who you'll see her later on in the season at Trinity Rep.

So yeah I mean, that was it.

- How about you Rose?

I've known you for a long time I know you've done everything between acting, singing, hosting, everything that has to do with entertainment, but how did you actually get started?

- I graduated from Wheaton College in Massachusetts in 1973 and started to work for the Rhode Island State Council in the Arts.

I was going to be an arts administrator.

I wanted to be a lawyer, but I couldn't stay awake, doing political science classes.

So theater was my outlet and I loved it, but I got to Providence got that job.

And Josh Miller's father, Dan Miller heard me singing at an event I had organized and said, you should be on the stage at Trinity.

And well, he set up an audition for me with Adrian Hall.

And I immediately was invited to join the company as an acting fellow, the equivalent of the MFA Program at Brown University with Trinity now.

And I started my career at Trinity Repertory Company in 1973.

And I stayed there for 11 seasons straight through also hosting and producing a half hour talk show for Channel 10, which gave me a lot of on camera experience.

- [Peter] Sure.

- So between Trinity Rep and Channel 10, I was constantly performing.

And then I started singing in nightclubs.

I was working around the clock to put my son through Moses Brown School.

Okay so I had that motivation like you like you to that really achieve, do what I love, but at the same time make a living.

And so that's where I started.

I started going into Boston to do commercials and industrials and I started getting film roles.

And I started out being an extra in Boston and ended up getting some leading roles in some things and out of Boston.

So that's how I started and I've been doing it ever since.

- What advice would you two give to young people thinking about an acting career today 'cause things are different.

- They are different you go first Chris.

- The first thing I would say would be to never worry about the outcome, just have fun and always do it to the best of your ability, try to sub immerse yourself in it and breathe through it because taking on another character can be overwhelming at times.

And like you said before, learning how to do things like cry and spread emotions and all those things.

If those aren't things that you do in your daily life on the regular, it's gonna be a little difficult for you when you start off.

But just learning how to move through that, breathe through that and take your time and just have fun with it.

I think that's what I would tell somebody.

- How about you Rose?

- Well, because I've already lived and had 47 years in show business.

I look back on some of the decisions I made and I'm glad I made them.

The one thing I never liked about show business was with artists' particularly in theater was this quote, starving artist syndrome.

I don't like that and I don't think it's right.

And I hope that artists don't look at themselves that way anymore, because we can love the art and still make a good living at it using our talent.

You don't necessarily have to go out and be a waiter if you don't want to try to do some commercials in Boston or New York or wherever you are to use your craft, to make a living.

And I think it's important not to feel poor.

Yeah some people will say, well, it gives me this energy and everything else.

Well, okay you can do that.

I prefer not to.

And my advice is try to be as comfortable as you can make a living using your craft.

And a lot of people now are teaching their craft and so they're passing it on already and that's important.

But when I was coming up, I worked multiple jobs because I didn't want a waitress.

And I wanted to use my singing voice and my acting and my dancing and everything.

They called me a triple threat so I figured I can use all of that, but I wanna see the young people enjoy it and not suffer so much as we did, but to really grow in the craft.

And you gotta have food on the table in order to grow in the craft.

And it does take sticktuitiveness.

You have to stick to it and stick to it and stick to it.

And there have been years that I didn't make any money hardly, but I figured out ways to keep feeding myself so I could stay in the arts.

I love the arts I believe art saves lives.

- I do too yes.

- Well, the arts and humanities have taken a blow by technology, unfortunately, to some degree, of course, to some people are using technology now as art and is interwoven with our humanity actions.

But it is different today and the whole concept the couch.

What do you call it?

When people wanted to be an actress, they would go to Hollywood and have to do-- - Casting couch.

- The casting couch concept.

- No more that.

- Yeah all that stuff is gone, but those were the things that my generation kind of grew up with thing this is what you have to do.

- No, I got chased a few times.

- I'm sure.

- Oh boy I can remember.

And had if it were now, those people would be in jail.

- Yeah things are so different and it's a good thing that they are.

And you mentioned the company, just outta curiosity.

It is for the viewers.

Tell me about the Trinity Company, because that's something that's behind the scenes most people don't know about.

- There's a certain group of actors that are in the company and they are hired for most of the plays for the season.

And then there are people that they invite in to do a show here in a show there I'm not a member of the company anymore.

I was flown back, I auditioned like everybody else, the director read me and wanted me to play this character.

So, and I was invited the play.

And I think that's similar for you.

- Well, being in Brown Trinity Program every students gets a chance to be on the Trinity Rep stage, usually in their final year or second to final year, or however it lines up.

That's a part of the agreement.

When you come to graduate school here at Brown Trinity, you get to actually be in a professional show.

You get to sort of sum up all the training you've gotten over the years and put it on stage and see what-- - When you're studying Christopher I'm gonna ask Rose, you've been in different theaters over the years.

How do you find Stacking Trinity Rep up to some of the big ones, maybe in New York or-- - It's a real professional company.

Trinity won of Tony back in the '80s.

I think it was for being one of the regional companies, regional theater companies in the country.

And the quality of the quality of the work is still there.

Trinity is a professional company and the actors who work there come with a whole lot of training under their belt.

And so it, yeah it's great.

It's a wonderful company.

The actors are just really well trained and they know what they're doing.

- Well it's a different sense.

I know if you go to, let's say a play at PPAC versus a play at Trinity, you feel closer to the actors at Trinity because it's smaller and more, I don't know what the word is, but-- - Intimate.

- Yeah well that's the word.

- They have two theaters at Trinity, the upstairs, the downstairs and the upstairs is about 550 seats now.

- I've never been upstairs.

- Never been upstairs?

- No, I don't think I have.

- It's a big one.

- It's nice.

- It's very nice and downstairs is smaller, really intimate.

Where if you saw the "Billie" holiday show that I did back in the '90s that was downstairs, they turned the whole downstairs into a bar and upstairs it's versatile too.

Eugene Lee has designed and Eugene Lee is the same designer who's done Saturday Night Live for all these years.

He's our resident designer.

But they do invite other designers to come in and design shows, but the spaces are versatile, but they're different sizes.

- I didn't realize that I've gone to Trinity Reps many, many times.

I've always been downstairs for the place.

- Well, this place upstairs.

So, you'll get a new tour.

- Okay well I'm a growing up in New York.

I grew up in Manhattan.

I grew up going to Broadway plays as a kid.

My mom was an English teacher so she was adamant about it, about getting there.

And my dad was into theater and classical music.

So every Sunday, when he would close up the church, my dad was a minister when the church closed up, my brother and I would finish folding up the chairs where you could rent the hall out.

It was always culture Sunday afternoon.

So it was Rockefeller Plaza, the museums, or one of the off Broadway part of all of this.

- You were lucky.

I was never got to see a play when I was a kid the church was where I saw the play.

'Cause the acting that went on into church, sometimes it was pretty amazing boy, I'd sit there with my eyes wide open and watch those ladies jumping up.

- Oh, you could make a play out of that.

- Yes you could.

- Yes you could.

I mean I was fortunate growing up in New York at that time when everything was free.

I know I learnt the ice skate, roller skate, and horseback ride in central park for nothing.

- And so you encouraging people to do those things because a lot of young black children, especially still don't realize that they can do these things.

- Oh I know yeah it's true.

I was fortunate enough.

And therefore, I exposed my kids to it.

So they were fortunate enough to do it.

And now I would say they're both artistic.

My son's a design engineer, my daughter is in your business she's producer now.

she's done set designs.

She used to set designs for "Tales from the Crypt".

If you remember the-- - I was in that show.

- Well, she used to do some of those sets.

- She did.

- Yeah.

- I played a couple of villains and tails from the Crypt.

- It's amazing how things do cross - Small world.

- Yes.

- Yes, it is But yeah the world of art and the air showcase show, show business in theater.

It's not dying, but it is changing.

I know with the internet but we're gonna have to have you guys come back.

- Oh please.

- When the play is over maybe and to talk a little bit more about what you got from the experience of doing it yourselves.

- Okay now we've got coming up eight shows a week is what we do sometimes we're off Monday and Tuesday.

So we've gotta cram those eight shows into Wednesday through Sunday, that's exhausting.

- Yes it is.

- Oh yeah.

- I imagine well, and just remembering all the parts and the lines and one when you're coming in and yada, yada, yada.

- But it's worth it, it's all worth it.

- Well actually knowing you and we'll soon see Christopher on stage, we think it's worth it watching you guys.

And because it's what it's all about.

Thanks for coming on today.

- Thank you Peter.

- Thank you for having us.

- We have run out of time, but I wanna thank today's guest Rose Weaver and Christopher Lindsay, and you the listeners for tuning in to another edition of "In Another Opinion," a special thanks to PBS for making this program possible.

I'm your host, Peter Wells, give us your opinion on Facebook and on our podcast.

"In Another Opinion" and have a great day.

(upbeat music) - [Announcer] Someone gave, someone donated, someone left a legacy, generations of generous someones have helped shape Rhode Island into this amazing place we call home how do you thank them?

By leaving your own legacy.

We can help.