(relaxing music) (pensive music) - And I was like, "Oh, I've played Satan before."

And then I was like, "I've also played Jesus before."

And I'm like, "I've been Mother Nature five times."

Like, "Not these kids in my backyard messing up my lawn!"

I'm like, "Yeah, I mean, what are you gonna do about it?"

We're really going to help this group of people.

We're gonna do it in a parade.

We're gonna do this, this, and this.

Nah, baby, that ain't it.

I know it seems sort of basic, but at the core, I'm like, here's the thing, I know that I do and I do well, and someone has allowed me the opportunity to do that.

And what a blessing in that.

That's a great day.

- [Artist] Seattle really is just a big neighborhood.

It was a place for us to grow.

We all have a gift of some sort.

It's just my vision of what I see.

- Theater allows you to hit harder and be more, there's a sense of hope that your story will survive longer than you will.

(tranquil music) I think it's very interesting when I tell people that I'm an actor and those people that still kind of know me from like social media, they're like, of course you are.

And I'm all like, what?

Because I thought I was this shy kid.

The drama teacher who I had never met was in there and she was holding auditions for forensics.

She was like, Hey, you come here.

I was like, okay, hi.

And she's like, Hey, read this.

Make me laugh.

And I was like, okay, monologue.

I read it, made her laugh.

She's like, okay, read it again.

Make me cry.

And I was like, okay.

And I don't think she cried, but she got, you know, she felt some things and I was like, okay, cool.

She's like, here's this thing.

I, I think that you're, you're freakishly good at this and we're gonna find you a monologue and you're just gonna do it in front of people.

You ever been to Santa Monica Boulevard?

Don't look at it yet.

Don't look at it.

(audience laughs) I think it comes down to my inquisitiveness about humans.

People always have a history.

People have reasons whether it's intentional or unintentional.

As humans, we're fascinating.

We're basic and we're complex.

And, and each one of us deserves to have our, our stories told.

We like, if we get into the like full hippie dippiness of it all, you know, we're on this giant rock that is flying through space at a million miles per hour and we're so taken with our lives and thinking we're the most important thing.

And we are.

And as a human race, we are the exact same thing.

And so what are the stories that can be held in that spectrum of specialness and ordinary and also bearing witness to people?

There's a sense of hope that your story will survive longer than you will.

I have the privilege of playing characters that allows me to explore a feeling or a sensation I saw on another human.

I'm like, okay, well let's drive that car around and see how that feels.

There's some shows you make characters and there's some shows where you create humans.

I want to create a human that has habits and choices and ticks and rhythms.

There's a reason for each thing.

And I think once you know who that human is, it's really powerful to see that come to light where you can recognize, oh, that's, my cousin does that.

(energetic music) I am co-directing "53% Of" by Steph Del Rosso with Teresa Thuman at the Seattle Center.

A director is the master weaver of the people in the room.

But shows are not made just by a director.

My particular directing style is, I'm always going to be in service to the script.

I've had wonderful teachers and text analysis.

I think of a script as a map.

It tells you exactly where you're going.

It's kind of like a treasure map.

The script is telling you this is who this human is.

You can look at that by the way they talk about themselves, how other humans talk about them.

Then you wanna take in the societal issues, the environment status.

Status is always a thing at play.

So really looking at the script as a whole, understanding what it is in service to, and uplifting that through the people who have been cast.

(group laughs) What are we looking for in terms of casting?

We're asking people to have those discussions that they have without people of color in the room.

Who are you in those moments?

Talking with other people of color, we talk about, well, what is whiteness as people of color who have been asked to perform to white supremacy and, and be in space with white people as normalcy.

We know all the things of what make white people white.

We know white behavior.

And yet when you ask white people to perform white behavior or ask them what makes white people white, they haven't the foggiest idea.

So I think that's an interesting subject matter to engage with and to explore and to also help other people see themselves.

And this year I wanted to talk about the, the hard conversations that we don't talk about and how do we do that as a person who is often found in white spaces, you know, especially in elections, "53% Of" really examines the responsibility, privilege and lack of accountability each political group brings to the table.

(calm music) I have always been based in terms of growing up military work just requires you to be community based and that sense of bring everybody in.

And then from there, once everyone's clear about we're all doing the best that we can as humans, great.

And we can come together and we can work towards certain goals, then we're, we're in community.

We're we're heading towards a certain action together.

Once I started working in the theater, especially in Seattle, just looking at what is happening in the community, how can I be of service to the community?

What are the things that we're not saying?

I, I don't mind saying the hard part out loud sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worst it happens.

But things don't change until we have those discussions.

Talking about hair in the theater, you know, I have been doing this for 24 years.

I have never had a wig provided by any theater.

I have had my hair paid for once without me asking.

And that was in 2023.

There are very few people and very few organizations saying, hi, we want to create work for deaf people to empower deaf artist.

You know, and how do we do that?

We do it by this way because this is what we know so far.

Is it the right way?

Absolutely not.

Once you get the people in the room who would actually affect, looking back with hindsight in 20/20, you're like, that was never going to be right.

So admitting those failures and of something that we're hopefully in talks about is, you know, getting a lift for the booth for stage management.

It's like, okay, why don't we have a ramp to the sound booths?

Because no one's thought about a stage manager that may need to use a mobility device.

And it says, Hey, of course you belong here.

Why wouldn't you?

We, we've thought about you, we were intentional in your presence and you've always been welcomed here.

I think about Teresa Thuman and I think about my career here in Seattle when I'm like, I'm just, I'm just a girl just trying to do a show.

And she's like, you are more than that.

And, and I would like to help you recognize that.

And I think we all need those people.

We need people who see us before we see ourselves.

Whether you're here to witness me, whether I'm here to witness you, to witness your gifts, to witness your offerings to the community, we're here to, to tell this story and to be a part of it.

(calm music)