Every week, culture critics Diep Tran and Jose Solís bring a POC perspective to the performing arts with their Token Theatre Friends podcast. The show can be found on Spotify, iTunes and Stitcher. You can listen to episodes from the previous version of the podcast here but to get new episodes, you will need to resubscribe to our new podcast feed (look for the all-red logo).
This week, the Friends talk about Godspell at Berkshire Theatre Group, the first musical to be performed in from of a live audience using union actors. There’s a lot of plastic involved, and masks on stage, which is admirable but they can’t help but wonder: Who would want to risk their health to go see a show right now?
Then, the Friends review a show that is safe, the Zoom tarot readings currently being presented from Strange Bird Immersive, a Houston-based company that specializes in escape rooms. They can’t do escape rooms but their actors are doing tarot readings online which are actually quite unnerving and accurate.
This week’s guest is actor Harriett D. Foy, who is currently playing the ultra-religious Patrice in P-Valley on Starz, a new show written by playwright Katori Hall based on her play Pussy Valley. Foy talks about reading mean Tweets online and the upcoming virtual play she’s doing to celebrate the centennial of women’s suffrage: Finish the Fight by Ming Peiffer. It will premiere on Aug. 18 and is about the unsung women of color who helped win women the right to vote. It will be available after the 18th for you to view whenever.
Here are links to things the Friends talked about this episode:
- Godspell at Berkshire Theatre Group
- Tarot readings from Strange Bird Immersive
- Finish the Fight by Ming Peiffer
- The House That Will Not Stand by Marcus Gardley (Harriett D. Foy was FIRE in it)
- P-Valley on Starz, about the people who work in and around a Black-owned strip club in the South
Diep:
Hi this Diep Tran
Jose:
And I’m Jose Solis.
Diep:
And we’re your Token Theatre Friends, people who love theater so much, but I don’t know about you Jose, I would not risk my life to go see “Godspell.”
Jose:
I would consider risking my life for like JLo or like Madonna or like Kylie maybe Audra maybe Kelli. I wouldn’t risk for life for, no I wouldn’t, no.
Diep:
Don’t tell Kelli O’Hara your fav that you would not risk getting COVID to go see her. Oh my god, what kind of fanboy are you?
Jose:
Well, definitely not that kind of fanboy. I would tell her that if I want to keep seeing her work. I don’t want to die this one time, so I can see her throughout her entire career. Cuz I need to see her in The Hours opera.
Diep:
Oh your favorite movie. And it’s like it’s so weird, is she going going through Julianne Moore’s entire catalog? Do you think she’s gonna do “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle” the musical?
Jose:
I mean, that’s like very early Julianne and I do not want to see Kelly O’Hara die because like the Rebecca Martin it kills her with like all the glass things in the glass house. So definitely not. But I cannot wait to see Kelli O’Hara in a Magnolia musical, in maybe “The End of the Affair” opera. I have plans for you, Kelli. Call me.
Diep:
We’ll make something happen. During quarantine, we’ll do a Zoom reading. So today we’re going to be talking about the first Equity musical to be presented to a live audience with live actors during a global pandemic in America. Awesome, I guess. And then we’re going to be talking about the show that we both experienced as part of from the company Strange Bird Immersive, we both got a tarot reading so we’re talking about that, we’ll talk about what is in our stars. And who are we talking to today, Jose?
Jose:
Today we’re gonna be talking to Harriett D. Foy, who is an actor in “Finish the Fight a play that one of her faves, Ming Peiffer, who we interviewed so go check out that episode, wrote to commemorate the 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote in the United States. It is so insane that women weren’t allowed to vote but that’s another podcast so we’re not gonna go into that.
Diep:
Yeah. And you can also see Harriett right now in “P Valley” on Starz written by our other theater favorite Katori Hall. See it all comes back. So what was your first reaction? When I sent you that article about how Berkshire Theatre Group is doing “Godspell” outside, the New York Times wrote the article, and it was about how they’re trying to make it safe for actors and the people watching by installing plastic partitions between every actor and separating the audience members by six feet, everyone’s required to wear a mask, the show’s outside in a tent. How was your first reaction? How did you feel?
Jose:
You know that Viola Davis gif from “How to Get Away With Murder” where she grabs her purse and just leaves? That’s my reactions to everything related to this “Godspell,” let me go find my purse.
Diep:
Like they didn’t invite us but if we if they did, we wouldn’t have gone
Jose:
Or we would politely decline.
Diep:
Yeah, cuz I’m not going on a bus or a train right now.
Jose:
Can you imagine being a bunch of strangers like when people barely wear their masks on a subway like being on the subway right now is one of the most terrifying things you’ll ever see. Like the other day, I had to go into the city and someone brushed my knee because I was wearing shorts. I don’t wear pants in the summer. So they’re brushing my knee with their bag and I just like grabbed my hand sanitizer, I’m scrubbing my knee. Like I’m freaking you know, Leonardo DiCaprio in “The Aviator.”
Diep:
Yes Howard Hughes. Yeah, I’m really torn. Because on the one hand, it is really important to try to figure out how we’re going to present live theater because they say you know, COVID is not going to go completely away even if we get a vaccine. So we should all, so the industry should figure out much better practices to make things more sanitary. Cuz even before, everyone’s just so close backstage, there’s not good circulation at a Broadway theater. Like everyone, everyone’s forced to work when they’re sick because they don’t feel like they can take the time off. And so I support any measures that really, you know, lets people not go to work if they feel sick or gives them better working conditions. But I don’t know if turning actors into lab rats right now is a good idea.
Jose:
It’s basically, it’s that and then it’s so ironic, I would say to quote, Alanis Morissette, that this is happening. And then during “Godspell,” which is a show about, you know, basically what people were supposed to learn from like Jesus I guess, and from the Bible which is just be freaking kind to each other, take care of each other. Do not put actors to work in the middle of a pandemic, just because they need work. Find ways to give them work that’s not endangering their lives.
Diep:
Yeah, like Zoom readings, like what’s stopping any of these companies from putting on, from signing a SAG a contract with the Screen Actors Guild and putting on like a virtual show? Like not in front of paid audiences like why don’t they do just like a virtual Zoom musical reading and try figure out a way to make that entertaining rather than spending like hundreds of thousands of dollars to install, install plastic partitions on an outdoor stage?
Jose:
Yeah, in fact, the very first thing that came to mind, I’m gonna read it. I haven’t memorized the lyrics of this but I thought about this song, ironically, from “Godspell” called “Learn Your Lessons Well.” And you know, the opening lines are “I can see a swatch of sinners sitting yonder and they’re acting like a pack of fools.” I hope the people sitting there without their masks, did you see the people who are wearing their masks like—
Diep:
Yes, there’s a photo in the New York Times where half of the people in the photos weren’t even covering their noses.
Jose:
Meanwhile to quote the show, “you better pay attention, build your comprehension.” Do better.
Diep:
Yeah. I wonder if this is like, you know, I think a lot of people are having a hard time accepting the fact. And I think it’s the same for the people who don’t wear a mask. Like they don’t want to accept the reality of the situation, which is we’re at 4 million people with COVID. And life will not go back to normal for a very, very long time. I was shopping and I ran into someone who works in the theater and they were telling me how like, certain Off Broadway theaters were talking about not coming back until fall of 2021. And I think it’s people not accepting that we need to have a new way of working for at least the next year and they want to go back to as much of before as humanly possible and not really thinking through, is that the smartest way to do this? Or can we? Or is there like a new way to do it that we haven’t comprehend it yet? Because this it was basically like, a musical except there’s plastic everywhere and people can’t talk to each other. Like, how is that satisfying?
Jose:
It sounds fugly AF.
Diep:
It’s like a lot about letting go, you know, like letting go of what you expect to 2020 and letting go of like all the plans that we all had, like letting go of what I expect theater to be and I feel like a lot of people aren’t willing to do that yet and the industry really needs to support people in like, giving them health insurance even if they’re not working, for example. Because some of the actors were doing the show because they needed health insurance.
Jose:
It’s heartbreaking that our field that prides itself in its imagination is showing such a lack of any creativity right now. And you know, like putting, I mean, people are complaining about having to see a play on their screens at home. How is seeing a play with people in boxes any better? You know, what are they willing to sacrifice? What are they willing to put up with? Like you know, it just defies the logic.
Diep:
Mm hmm. And as audience members I feel like we’re the safest because we don’t have to give up that much in order to go to a theater and put on a mask and you sit six feet away. Why are you not thinking of the fact that you’re you’re making these actors work to entertain you, and they have to quarantine themselves and they have to make sure they’re not sick and they have to, and like they’re risking their lives for what? You know, for what?
Jose:
Are we really the safest though? Like, it seems to me like one of the requirements for most audience members in New York of a certain age is do I have a horrible cough today. Yes, I do, that it’s time to go see every show this week.
Diep:
Oh my god. Imagine if we go back to the theater. And every time you hear a cough or sneeze in the audience, you’re just like, get me out of here.
Jose:
Yeah, it’s gonna be that and you know, you know that thing where like someone coughs, and then they give permission for everyone to cough. And then suddenly, you can’t freaking hear whatever Tracy Letts wrote about straight men onstage because all the people are coughing over that..
Diep:
What do you think theater should be doing right now instead of trying to put shows up on stage?
Jose:
Everything you said about you know, fair wages, in finding ways to compensate actors or artists for their work, and also they could do something as inventive and as fun as what we did with Madame Daphe, so we should just leave Godspell in the past and move on to the future. Like I wonder if Madame Daphne saw any Godspell for you in your future.
Diep:
So, so for some context, Madam Daphne’s tarot reading is this the 15-minute program that this company called Strange Bird Immersive, they do escape rooms, they’re doing tarot readings right now, because they cannot do escape rooms once again, because of COVID. And it’s really lovely. Like, you know, like I saw Madame Daphne on Friday. And I’ve gotten a tarot reading from you before Jose, and I felt really comforted because the thing about tarot reading is you got to go in with, like a question or concern or something that you’re really thinking about, and that, and that day, I had just been notified that, you know, I’ve been furloughed since April, but I’ve been notified that now I’m actually laid off from Broadway.com, which is what it is, you know, it is the times that we’re living in. So I just been like feeling really uncertain about everything and she actually asked me what I was thinking about. And I told her that and she was really compassionate about it, and she pulled some cards for me that really made me feel like I had a lot of a lot more options than I thought I did. You know, like the first card she pulled for me was like the money card, because I telling her like, I was feeling uncertain financially and the stars gave me the money card and saying, this is your issue. And she also said, I don’t know how she knew this, maybe she researched me or something. She also said that one of my issues is like I want to be of service to people in the world and I don’t really know how to do that right now. And my next step is figuring out how to and I felt really, that felt weirdly accurate. How about you?
Jose:
It felt weird because one of the things that I really loved about the show was I went into it with not preconceptions per se, but with a little bit of skepticism. And the reason why is because I am also a tarot reader. I have I have been doing this since I was 16 years old, which means for three years now. Okay, you know, over half my life, right? I’ve been doing this for 18 years, and I have developed my own technique and my own way which I read, and I thought that once I went into Madame Daphne’s booth, it was gonna be a little bit more about you know, the show, a bit more about you know, like, just general reading. Something cute right, something for fun, because we haven’t mentioned that also Strange Bird Immersive is doing this as a means of raising funds while they can’t do their escape rooms and the traditional things that they do. So also the readings are like $20 and I do believe it’s worth every cent. So anyway, I go into Daphne’s booth, and I’m thinking that, oh, she’s just gonna give me like a very generic reading right? And lo and behold, in like 15 minutes she did the Celtic cross for me, which is like one of the most complex, thorough spreads in tarot. And not only that, but she was really fabulous at it. She was a great tarot reader, and I was impressed because she did it all in character. So let me find the name of the actress.
Diep:
Oh yeah I have the name of my actress too.
Jose:
Is it the same one, who’s yours?
Diep:
My actress was Amanda Marie Parker. There’s a spider.
Jose:
There’s a spider where?
Diep:
There’s a spider on my wall I thought I thought it was like a fruit fly but it’s a spider. So I’ll just let her go. I’m not going to feed her to my plants. You will live another day spider.
Jose:
Are you also afraid of spiders?
Diep:
No, I’m not. No, I’m not afraid of insects. It’s more like it’s really annoying when you have plants and there’s fruit flies everywhere. So I’m very grateful for the plant I bought that eats the flies.
Jose:
Do you have a venus flytrap?
Diep:
No, I have a pitcher plant so the insects go into the pitcher and then they drown and then the plant digests them. I love my pitcher plant. Her name is Audrey II.
Jose:
Okay, I also got Amanda too. I was very impressed because the actor Amanda Marie Parker did it the entire time in character and she has this like really cool almost like Wizard of Oz accent where it’s like British.
Diep:
Like a Mid Atlantic accent right?
Jose:
Yeah, like a classic Hollywood like weird, you know, like really, really charming accent and she does that reading which is very accurate and she’s putting a lot of herself into it while improvising, you know being in character. What do you think about her bird?
Diep:
I love the bird, I love Walter. I’m really glad he was there the entire time. He seems very sleepy. So I hope he is more animated in future readings. But yeah, I feel like the thing about immersive experiences and you know people being character in front of you is sometimes it can take you out of it if they’re not. If you feel like they’re not actually responding to you in the room, if you feel like they’re sticking to a script. And what I find fascinating about having an actor do a tarot reading is the fact that, the point is, you as the audience have to ask them questions and they have to be able to respond. And she responded so authentically that I feel like she was a real person, and not playing a character because like I could see like her eyes like understanding me when I was saying I was having a really hard time and feeling really depressed, like there was compassion there. And so I’m wondering like, do they give these actors like a tarot class, did they come already with this experience? Like it was really interesting like just how authentic it seemed even if you knew she was an actor.
Jose:
Don’t try to go behind the magic. Like you’ll ruin for yourself. I don’t want to say how they do it because I don’t want people to steal their idea or whatever. But they do, you know what you said where you felt like she was looking into your eyes. This is the only I believe the only thing I’ve ever done on Zoom that made me completely forget I was on Zoom, that made me completely forget that I was sitting in front of a screen. And at the very beginning of the performance, she goes through a process, don’t give it away, she goes through a process that makes you go like, Okay, this is not Zoom anymore. You forget it’s Zoom. Maybe she was hypnotizing us. So if only for that, even if you don’t believe in tarot necessarily, or if you’re skeptical about that kind of thing, go so you’re kind of forget yourself for half an hour. I mean, it’s like 20 minutes, but you know what? I mean? Isn’t that thing at the beginning? Wasn’t that like mind blowing?
Diep:
I wish I wish I had the option of forgetting that I’m on zoom. I wish people used that Zoom functionality because it is a functionality. But I’m not gonna tell you because Jose told me not to.
Jose:
Yeah, cuz I mean, this company is doing such fun work that, yeah, we’re not gonna spoil it for people.
Diep:
Yeah. I also tipped my actress after. So, you know, I hope if you go and you see it, and it was a comforting experience for you that you know, you do the actor a solid and like tip them after for making us forget for a little while that, you know, we’re living in hard times. And it truly was comforting, though, she did say the devil card is in my future and I have to figure out a way to get myself out of that bind.
Jose:
I’m smiling because the devil card is the card of lust.
Diep:
Oh no, this is not a good time. You cannot be a hoe right now. This is not the time to be a hoe it is unsanitary.
Jose:
Yeah, I’ll send you a rabbit.
Diep:
Oh how sweet. They’re so expensive. Okay, but since you are also tarot card reader Jose, do you want to pull a card for us today and see how we’re going to do?
Jose:
Why not? I have my tarot deck next to me. Am I your Madame Daphne today?
Diep:
Yeah, yeah, you need beads though, you need beads and a robe and some candles?
Jose:
The card I got today is the ace of wands. Can you see it?
Diep:
The wand looks really phallic.
Jose:
That’s the devil talking. Daphne was right. This is really awesome because it means that amazing ideas creative ideas, exciting, interesting, it’s gonna literally pop from the heavens for us and we have to just make sure to grab it. So go for it.
Diep:
Okay, I guess that means we’re going to continue doing this podcast. Thank you universe.
Jose:
Yes. And if you see something falling from the sky, go for it unless it’s an AC, then just run away from it because you don’t want to get hit by that.
Diep:
Yeah. And if you want to get a tarot reading that’s not from someone who’s in character, Jose’s also started doing them. And is it okay if I plug?
Jose:
Am I our own Casper mattress?
Diep:
Use code TTF for a 10% discount on your reading. He’ll give you a card for free.
Jose:
I mean, plug me by all means if you think I’m worth it.
Diep:
Yeah, I do. I do. We’re all having to build up our side hustles and I feel like yours is like one of the most creative ones I’ve seen. And also one that’s bringing a lot of comfort and joy to people.
Jose:
That must be the sweetest thing you’ve ever said to me. And I’m glad you said on camera so that I can remind you when you’re being mean. Thank you, but yeah, hit me up, you know how to find me, email me. Happy to do a reading for you.
Diep:
Yeah. And if you just want a quick reading then Madame Daphne is also available at Strange Bird Immersive, so book them. Go. Go have a one on one theater experience with a stranger.
Jose:
Amen. Now let’s go talk to Harriett D Foy. Who I love so much. You didn’t see “The House That Will Not Stand” [Off Broadway] right? She was mindblowing in that and she’s also been incredible in “P-Valley.” We’re excited to be talking to her about this new project. So let’s go to Harriet. I am so excited to have Harriet D Foy joining us today, I love you so much. And I’m sorry that I’m kind of like fanboying all over you. But like every time I’ve seen you, and then I was like, you know, going through your credits, I was like, I have seen you so many times. And you blow my mind every time. I was watching “P-Valley,” and I didn’t know you were in it. And then I saw you know, and I even screen shot it, like she’s in this?! So anyway, sorry about that. Welcome, and thank you.
Harriett
I love all of that. I receive all of that good energy. Thank you.
Jose:
Thank you for joining us. You are going to be in “Finish the Fight” which is a play that Ming Peiffer wrote about, you know, I was like mind blown to think that a century ago women couldn’t vote and right now our voting rights are in so much danger. Like, can you talk us just a little bit about why you wanted to be part of this?
Harriett
Well, for me, it’s exactly like what you’re saying. It’s like, it was like a history lesson like we used to back in school get like a bit during Black History Month, like what was going on. And when I started looking up Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, I was like, Wow, I didn’t know she did all of that. You get one little snippet. And then I thought, well, how important is that, that we’re still fighting for some of these same things that 100 years ago, we couldn’t even do it. And yet Black women were still at the back and women of color. So I was like, man, I have to do this piece, because there’s a history lesson for you know, people now that they need to know like the younger generation and some of the older generation.
Diep:
Yeah, and because the thing about like, women’s suffrage is, it’s kind of like, you know, the women’s liberation movement in the 60s like, women of color were a part of it but you never see it in any popular media most of the time. It’s centered on white women.
Harriett
Exactly. And I think too maybe if you’re not like the pretty one or the, you know, favorite, then you weren’t in the forefront. Like some of these women who were like, major badass is like the activism that they did. I was like, Are you kidding me? I had no idea. Like every page, like when we had like our read through together, I was like, Who is this lady? And why don’t I know her? So I felt bad. I had to go do some more research. You know what I mean? Like, how do we not know this? So that’s why I’m glad this piece is out in that The New York Times has commissioned it and directed by Whitney White, one of my favorite directors, and it’s an amazing cast. So yes, I’m sorry. I’m taking up all the time.
Diep:
You’re supposed to if we’re talking. Yeah, if we’re talking too much, we’re not doing our jobs right. What’s it been like rehearsing something remotely, especially if you’re rehearsing a new play remotely because we see a lot of classics being done. But this is a new piece.
Harriett
Well, here’s the thing. So I’ve done a couple of readings. So I kind of had a vibe for it. And they sent, the New York Times sent the equipment. So there I’m trying to unfold the background, it comes out, I took over my mom’s basement. I was in Maryland for like, literally seven months just because of the corona and everything. So I do it, I set up the lights, and I’m all ready to go by the time they come on. So my computer setup with the Zoom Room, they’re in the Zoom Room, and I’m literally doing like the lights like what you would have your crew do. I felt like I was like, Yes. Oh, so that’s what they’re doing when we’re standing there. And they’re, you know, trying to get the right light on you and everything. It was really, it was really cool. And I felt actually more free in that way just to create and do it. And some we would try to do it off the book. So some of the lines I had, because it was a lot of material in a short amount of time. But then I just turned on my, how you have to audition for a film, mind and it’s like boom, boom, boom, it was fun. And did my little marks it. I had a good time. Of course there’s nothing like being in a live theatre and getting that immediate response. But I think this will last a lifetime and you can always go back to it, you know and use it in school like as a tool to teach.
Jose:
Did you ever think you were going to be doing a new play in the midst of a pandemic?
Harriett
I did not. So when it came about, I was like, wait, we’re gonna do what? How? So wait, how’s this gonna work? Like, okay, I’m down. Let’s see if it works. And it did. You know, I think it’s gonna be a really great experience. I think people will be amazed at the look of the piece. And just editing is key in this which I want to learn more about. And it just makes me want to learn more about this medium, you know, because it seems like that’s what we’re going to be using for some time. So I think you can focus more on these women who are the unsung heroes. I think you can focus more on their story. Because you’re going to be up close and personal.
Diep:
And one of the things I’ve been really loving about this time, you know, I mean, we can’t gather in a room, but people are putting things up so quickly. I’m sure that the New York Times thing, I’m sure took like a week or two to do that entire thing. And you’ve got new plays, you did “The House That Will Not Stand, “On the Levee.” And those things take years and years to do. And so has this been refreshing to just you know, wham, bam, we’re done.
Harriett
It was a little unnerving. At the same time, too, I’m open to every experience now. There is something to taking that time like we did with “The House That Will Not Stand” by my bestie Marcus Gardley, who wrote that part for me, Makeda. Yes, because we worked on that. We did it at Yale. We did it at the theater lab in Berkeley Rep. So it was like at least five years maybe pulling that to bring it to New York. And even before that, we worked at New Dramatists. So when we were just doing it as a reading, so it took a minute. But yeah that that was a good piece. Oh child I forgot the question because you know I was talking I have five thoughts because I’m a Virgo, Gemini rising so the Virgo was real like, you know, here, and then the Gemini like damn, stay on point Harriett!
Diep:
What’s your horoscope telling you right now?
Harriett
Miss thing, focus! Child, you know this is like my second interview since we’ve been doing um “P-Valley” and for “Finish the Fight,” this is my first with finish the fight so you know. And then I didn’t know it was on camera I was like oh I gotta put a bead on, put some gel in my hair. I thought we was just gonna be talking
Diep:
You look gorgeous like I want to know what you’ve been doing with your skin during quarantine you know it’s just so glowy and dewy.
Harriett
I’m going to let you in on a secret girl rose water glycerin is key. And you have to wear sunscreen, I know people don’t want to but you have to do it every day. And you have to take your makeup off at night. Moisturize moisturize moisturizers, as Wendy Williams says honey. Because I’m 80. [laughs]
Jose:
And then you probably smell wonderful because of the rosewater all day long right?
Harriett
Listen, just a little vanilla mist. Just a little.
Jose:
Yeah. Oh my god. If you launch like a fragrance line, I’m buying everything.
Harriett
Oh, thank you. Yeah, I love those earthy scents that that make you feel real sexy. You know, just like, oh, what are you wearing? And you just like, mmm, you know?
Jose:
Yeah, we need to be best friends at some point.
Harriett
Yes. Wait, what are y’all signs?
Jose:
I’m an Aries.
Diep:
Yeah, I’m a Taurus with a Taurus rising
Harriett
Your house must be really nice.
Diep:
Now it’s nicer than ever because I have time to buy plants, water the plants, decorate.
Harriett
We just talked about those plants. We just talked didn’t we?
Jose:
She knows that I have the worst green thumb.
Harriett
You’re changing that energy you’re going to have new green thumb energy, change that. Yes. In fact, you should do you know, smudge a little bit, and just change that whole energy and get you a new plant. Start with maybe a, the aloe vera plant. You can’t go wrong with aloe vera.
Diep:
Get a pothos because you cannot kill those.
Harriett
Or snake plant. Oh, yeah. Yeah, very little, very little watering this, put them in a spot and just give it love.
Jose:
And I have a new energy thanks to you. So I’ll, I’ll remember that. I want to talk about you know, that moment in “The House That Will Not Stand,” that’s like, you know, you know which moment. And always like, electrifying, and after watching you on stage, I wondered, and now knowing that you did this part for five years, how do you do something like that every night? And how do you then cleanse and like release yourself from a character like that?
Harriett
That’s a great question. Thank you. So okay, when we were doing it at New Dramatists, that particular monologue wasn’t in there. So we came to the rehearsal. I think Patricia McGregor was our director at the time. And Marcus came in. He says, Oh, I have some new pages. He says he always called me diva. “Diva, I got something for you.” And I was like, What? So he gave it to me. It was like five pages because it was a five-page monologue. And I was like, okay, and I read it. And it was like, I connected immediately with the words. I had never looked at it and people thought I had looked at it the night before. And it was because it was our history. It was like every ancestor spoke to me and I could connect it to it in such you know, like a grounding way. It was like I was in the pocket and it just came, the rhythms that you heard it was, that’s how I spoke it, because I could hear the drums and all that. What would happen because we were at New York Theatre Workshop and it was a close, it was a great cast.
It’s like literally I would be exhausted after the show. And Joniece [Abbott-Pratt], who played Odette, we would walk home after the show from New York Theatre Workshop and I live in Midtown and she lives in Jersey, but I needed that time to decompress. And I didn’t want to be like enclosed on a bus or enclosed on the train and we would just walk and gradually release it. Because you do have to release it, because it was such an emotional journey playing Makeda you know, from beginning to end being enslaved and then getting that freedom and then trying to take care of this whole house. But yeah, that’s that’s true. I would warm up, get to the theater early and warm up. Always say a prayer before I start each show, you know, and I always celebrate one of my ancestors, as if I imagined that they watch me every night, so I call a name particularly before I started a show, say, this one’s for you tonight.
Diep:
What can you tell us about the movie version?
Harriett
I can’t say anything. I just don’t know. I don’t know who I’ll be, but I hope to be in it. But you know, because things change and film, you know,
Jose:
No one else can play your part, like, it’s yours.
Harriett
You know, thank you. I received that. Thank you. I did try to put my foot all the way in it. So you would always remember Harriett D Foy as Makeda. Yeah, Makeda and I are one. I will find that when I was doing other pieces, that particular monologue, phrases, words would come to me and I’m like, “Girl, you trying to play Nina Simone? How are you talking like Makeda?” Because she would just come to me. So I was like, okay, what’s happening now, I need to connect in some way with the ancestors with, you know, history or something. So yeah, she’s always around. I want to do it again. I want to play her again. You know, because there’s so many layers when you come back to a part, like coming back to it. After we had done it and we were away from it. It was just a whole ‘nother level for me. And the connection and the way that we were allowed to play in the cast and how we reacted with each other, it was powerful. And especially I think blackout night It was all I could do not to cry the whole time because I mean, just the way they were, everyone was so supportive that night, it was nothing like it. You can’t describe it. It’s nothing like it.
Jose:
Does it feel like slipping into like, your favorite pair of jeans when you get to play her again?
Harriett
Right literally like putting on yes, putting on her clothing. That was a different outfit and a different, I’m sorry, costume, different hair. But she was still the same, her energy. You know, it was fun. I was more relaxed. And you know, before we actually had, Oh Lord, what was his name? On the table? The father. We actually had an actor playing that part. But this time Marcus is like no, I want him to embody you and you become Lazaar, and I was like, okay, is this gonna work? Are people going to. because at first I was a little nervous about it, I was like, how is this going to work? But once I let go and just did it, it was like, there he was, you know.
Diep:
So I was looking through like what you’ve done and I’ve noticed that it’s like really deep, almost even split between period pieces like “The House That Will Not Stand,” was period versus like modern like “P-Valley” and lik as an actor, what’s like your favorite kind of genre to do and what’s like the different preparations you have to do in order to….
Harriett
Well, here’s the thing. I love doing comedy. I’m really a clown, but I don’t get to do as much as I would like to. Like I love pratfalls. I love anything like that. So I think “Mamma Mia!” [on Broadway] was as close as I could get to doing like a good comedy, when I did that on Broadway and played Rosie. That was one of my favorites. Yeah, I would love to do more of that. What was the piece where they’re all running around, it was on Broadway a few years back. “Noises Off,” that kind of crazy you know when you walk into doors, stuff is crazy, do it over like five times. Oh no no no the one with a whole set fell apart.
Diep:
“The Play That Goes Wrong.”
Harriett
Oh my god that was brilliant, that kind of stuff I want to do that because that’s the last, I love the drama, but comedy is everything you know.
Jose:
yeah I love that because I think that a lot of people especially outside of New York if people haven’t seen you on stage are gonna get to meet you now that you’re a series regular in “P-Valley.” And I mean this as like the utmost like compliment, but Patrice is so terrifying.
Diep:
And also funny, in a weird way.
Harriett
Katori has given us the writers room, they gave us some really great lines. Okay, Uncle Clifford gets the best lines. But Patrice has a few zingers that are good. Um, what I love the best about Patrice and how she’s resonating is that, I received that, when you just said, everybody hates her. [laughs] And Katori says, she said, I want you to dislike her. But I also want you to understand where she’s coming from. People, I literally want to do a thing where I read like the fans, like mean tweets, or like what they say on their reviews. “Honey, she would eat concrete, if it was me, I would have punched her dead in the face.” I’m like, what??? And so I’ll comment sometimes and they get a kick out of that. Listen, honey, Patrice is no joke. You know, I was doing a show, the audition came, and I just really couldn’t focus the very first time it came through because I don’t know, I was doing Nina Simone [“Nina Simone: Four Women”]. I don’t know. But whatever part I was doing, I just couldn’t do it.
I was doing another Marcus Gardley play, “A Wonder in My Soul” at Baltimore Center Stage and it came around again. I said, Oh, you better pull this together. So we got together. My cast mates helped me audition and stuff like that. Then I got the call. Come to New York, audition, then I went back and they were like, nope, gotta come back, call back. I was like, Oh, this is serious. So I really, really had to learn the lines honey. I came to the callback. It was very emotional. I felt again, the ancestors were there with me, it was something like I’ve never felt before. Like, I literally felt it all over. And in my mind, I was like, I think this is your part. And like, I’ll start to cry if I think about it too much, because that’s how it felt in the moment. Katori got up and gave me a hug because I literally was overcome. And the fact that the song that I sang, they asked me to sing, was the same song I was singing in, “A Wonder in My Soul,” “I Know I’ve Been Changed.” And I was like, oh my god. So girl, it was all. It was the audition. The callback was the episode one in the parking lot with Mercedes.
Diep:
Yeah, my God, that scene.
Harriett
Yeah, Patrice. I feel like all the roles that I played leading up to her, Princess Peyei in “Amazing Grace” [on Broadway], Dr. Nina Simone, Odessa [in “The Young Man from Atlanta” Off-Broadway], Makeda, were all forming me and shaping me to play Patrice, you know, my first series regular.
Diep:
Did Katori you at Baltimore Center Stage and that’s how she knew to put the song in?
Harriett
No, do you not know Katori? When she first came to New York and she used to do her plays at the Lark, you know, and it was like, we come in as actors and read and they give us a little you know, la dee da that kept you know, for transportation and stuff like that. And I remind her, I said, girl, remember when I was doing your plays back in the day. So no, there’s no way she would have known because she was busy casting “P-Valley” and writing and creating that whole thing. So yeah, it was just, that’s how it is sometimes. So when it’s meant to be you know.
Diep:
Okay, so I’ve never heard of anyone look up mean comments of themselves online, like someone, someone, someone who is in public like you are because I was on your Instagram and all of your comments were “Oh my god, how dare Patrice” and “she should not have done that.” Like how do you separate yourself from the character when you read that stuff? Because acting is so personal.
Harriett
Yes, it is. And I love playing Patrice. But I just think it’s all a compliment, because I guess I’m really into it and really, you know, giving it to the people. So sometimes I’ll come and say thank you darling. And they get so excited, like, Oh my god, you responded to my comment! I don’t think people think we read them. But I just scroll through every now and then to see what’s going on, how she’s resonating. Um, it doesn’t affect me. I just feel like I’m really doing my job then if this is people are, you know, seeing her so I’m good. I think there was no, there was one where they were just like, “I hate her. I wanted to jump through the television and beat her.” I was like, “ohhh.” Oh, one guy was like, “we’re going to drive up to the prison and we’re going to get Mercedes out and if you come out, we’re gonna fight!” And I was like, “Bring it, ‘cuz Patrice ain’t no punk.”
Diep:
She’s a God fearing woman but she doesn’t feel normal people.
Harriett
Listen, she will take you down. Mercedes came for her. She fought her. Like people gonna come in her face, what she gonna do? She’s not gonna back down!
Jose:
Every time I see Patrice, like, you know, like, if you’re going through my social media, you’re gonna see she’s my favorite character. Like, every time I see Patrice, I want her to come slap me and tell me that I should be ashamed of myself or something like that. Yes, Patrice. I love the shows specificity, and you know, everything feels so, you know, like all of the ensemble just, you know, someone showed up with a camera and just like captured everyone and everything. Can you talk about what the, you know, the environment is like and what it takes to create the kind of very lived-in experience, especially within the show.
Harriett
I’ll say that’s all due to Katori and the people that she brought on the team in terms of the crew, producers, and the cast. She was very specific about what she wanted, down to the directors being all female, which made for a very safe space that you knew you were going to be cared for, especially for our ladies who had to, you know, be in very skimpy clothing and really do some very intimate scenes. We had an intimacy coordinator, we were having problems, they would come and we’d have a conversation about it and how it was going to be shot. It was a very open space in terms of Katori listening to us and how we thought about our characters.
We all had a private session with her. I don’t know, from my first experience, I don’t know if other experiences are like that. But I’m like, if that’s how it really is, then I am here for television and all that because it felt, we felt loved we felt cared for. I mean, down to like Craftie. It was just, it was a great time. You know, like our support cast, our background actors. It was just a really wonderful time being at the Tyler Perry Studios was great. Even down to our drivers transport, you know, all you could do is just come in, do your part. And the scripts, and the way she’s defined these characters is just like nothing else I’ve seen in a while, except for Marcus Gardley, of course, because you know, I’m partial, And he writes for the child. I, you know, there’s nothing like it. And everybody feels that way. Our entire cast. Everybody in the cast feels that way. You know, we talk about it all the time. We call ourselves family. We have our own little private group that we talk to each other constantly. We get along, we love hanging out with each other. So I’m just saying it was all love. So it makes your job easy. You know what I mean? It wasn’t like work. It was like, Oh, I get to come to set today like yay, because sometimes I wouldn’t see them because Patrice was always at the church or something. So I wasn’t in the Pynk except for that first episode. So when I would get to come to that, I was shooting on you know, in the studios. I’d be like, Hey, y’all, I’m here, you know, so it was always, I was looking forward to that.
Diep:
Do you feel like removed from the party sometimes, like, oh, I have to hang out at church instead of the fun part of the set?
Harriett
Listen church was live honey, it was whooo, she was a whole thing! It was a beautiful church they found, like an hour away. So literally in that car like at 4 am, trying to be there. And it was like an al-day thing. And what I love about the lighting is that we were there and it was night and it looked like daytime the entire time. We came out and it was like, dark, we’re like, oh, oh, it’s night. Like we’ve been a whole day. No, no, it was great. I love working the church, but I’m just saying it was fun to see everybody, you know.
Jose:
Yeah. You were talking earlier about, you know, getting the equipment and having to like, light yourself and do all those things by yourself. So, out of all the new things that you have tried as an actor in quarantine, you know did any of those things you’re like, maybe I want to, you know, try a hand at, you know, directing or lighting or photography or something like that? Did you find any new skills in yourself?
Harriett
Well, you know, we got all of that at Howard University when I was in school, we had to do lighting, we had to build sets, we had to do it, as well as be the actress, my degree was in acting. I’m actually I keep hearing this from friends like Harriett, you should direct, you should direct, because that’s how I think in my mind, like the look of the piece as the actor, because we took directing as well, from Professor Vera Katz. And if anything, I would do that but I love being on the stage so much, I just can’t do it right now. And even people are like, you should teach as well. And I’m like, Okay, I will but I have to do this part first. You know, I’m actually, lighting was kind of cool. You know, getting that right. Look, I didn’t mind that at all. So I could put add that on my resume, take a little you know, refresher course. But yeah, yeah, I definitely want to be a better equipped at the technical aspects. I had to do an interview on Instagram and I hadn’t done one yet. So trying to figure out how to make me look right in that little square, I could, child… I need a course in that and they don’t tell you but it’s okay. I got it now.
Diep:
You’ll get TikTok by the time this is over.
Harriett
I am not TikTok-ing y’all listen. Instagram keeps you busy. The Twitter is a full time job because you have to respond. And I think you have to engage with the fans because they’re the reason that your show is a success. You know, I mean, aside from our beautiful queen Katori Hall, but I’m just saying that they’re there, they’re there for it. I love live tweeting. I love all of it. I wonder. I guess we can’t live tweet with “Finish the Fight” though. I guess because that’ll just be its own thing.
Diep:
There’s a live chat right?
Harriett
Yeah, maybe I’ll be in that because that would be cool. Yeah, but yeah, I love I love live tweeting. It’s everything. Like if someone says something bad about Patrice, I find a good picture of her and I respond. I see you and I put their name and then I put like a smiley face in a church, and money, a bag of money and they’re like, Oh my God Patrice! Like, sorry, Sister Woodbine, but you know, you mean. It’s hilarious!
Jose:
I love that. I want her also to hit me with her purse like, you know, I love her so much.
Diep:
So like speaking of Marcus and Katori. We’re not going to say how long you’ve been in the business, we’re not rude. But I just want to ask like, like, have you seen a change in terms of like the amount the number of playwrights of color or Black playwrights produced or like the style? Because there was all this conversation a couple years ago about how it’s so experimental. Now Black playwrights are experimenting with the form. Have you noticed that?
Harriett
Of course, I mean, more doors are opening but still not enough. I mean, everybody should be able to do their play, everybody should be produced. I mean, we should all, there should be just so many different varieties on Broadway, of color, Black, white, everybody. I don’t understand why it’s always a thing, you know, oh, we’re going to have the Black play and we’re going to have this play. I just think yeah, it’s um, especially, but what’s happening is a lot of our writers, our theater writers are moving towards television, because there is more opportunity. And this is a problem because they’re not going to want to do this theater, and not make as much money or just have to fight about casting and fight about this. I think our whole We See You movement is opening some eyes to that and just like, wow, how people have been, you know, acting and treating people that they didn’t realize. So, yeah, definitely, there is a change but always we could use more. More openness, more opportunity. Yeah, more.
Jose:
Since you live between both worlds of stage and television, I wonder what from the stage that you love would you bring to TV and what from TV that you love would you bring to theater?
Harriett
From stage to the TV, I think is the discipline. That is the key for me, this is how I live my life, in terms of a body, in terms of voice, in terms of how I prepare, and I think that helps with the amount of time that you have to spend setting up a shot and that so you’re always ready every time they say, “action.” I think of it, that’s always the take. For me, you know, that’s eight shows a week, every time is the take. The last episode that you saw. I specifically did not want to pre-record, I want it to be in the moment, so no, even if she’s tired, even if we do it for the 12th take and that’s her voice, I’m thinking that’s her truth in that moment, because it wasn’t gonna work if I’m trying to sing to a track and I’m trying to take you through this emotion to give you the history of Patrice in “P-Valley.” Such an emotional episode.
From television to film, I think really focusing on that internal, not judging, just being in that moment. So truthfully, and just so, what I want to say, just real and not judging. And there’s a little more freedom in that, maybe not as much as like, because you have to be in a specific spot or like land on your mark, but just it was more freedom, even more freedom, from television to that. Yeah. I mean, it’s the same work. It’s the same work and time: how you have to prepare, how you have to do your background, create a background for your character, create a book, you know, all that kind of stuff. So yeah, yeah. That’s a great question.
Jose:
And I could ask the questions for like, all of eternity, but we’re very mindful of your time and we are already over what we said.
Harriett
Oooh did we? I’m having such a good time. You have such great questions.
Diep:
So can we keep you here until like, 4 o’clock. Just kidding.
Harriett
Wait, I was listening because I was doing my research and you guys, there was one podcast, you guys started talking about the male anatomy. I was like, Ooh, this show, what are they doing? [laughs]
Diep:
Sometimes people like that and other times we get people writing and saying that’s offensive. So thank you.
Harriett
No, I love that.
Jose:
Yeah, it’s human nature. We should all talk about sex.
Harriett
That’s how you do when you have conversation, it goes everywhere. And something connects to this. Something connects to that and you just keep doing it. Yeah. I loved it.
Jose:
But you are fabulous. And right now, please plug everything you have going on right now. Like if you want to talk about, obviously the play and “P-Valley.” If you had the shows that are streaming, everything that you want people to see you in right now because we have a lot of free time on our hands.
Harriett
Oh, let’s see. Well now basically just watching “P-Valley.” Um, I do have a piece that is a opening, another theatrical piece based on the slave narratives, that my friend Dr. Melanie Joseph is putting together. I have to learn my lines, though. I’ve been so crazy, I haven’t had chance to learn it. And she asked us to choose different pieces from the slave narratives that’s in the Library of Congress. And then we’re going to film it and she’s going to put it together as an educational piece for schools. And I have my own one-woman piece on the slave narratives, “My Soul Looks Back in Wonder” which actually Marcus Gardley directed back in the day. So I’m feeling like I have time, I want to go back and investigate the piece and add some visuals and things like that. And maybe I’ll do it, maybe I should film it. And then it can also be done as an educational piece for you know, Black History Month or whenever. Other than that trying to put my apartment back together since I’ve been away for so long. I’m looking forward to season two you guys! We got season two of “P-Valley.” Thank you 10 episodes. And looking forward to the finished product of “Finish the Fight.” I really cannot wait to see what they’ve done with it. The editing and Whitney’s direction is just wonderful. I was very honored to be asked to do that. For the New York Times. I mean, just honored. It was so funny when we read the script. And I got to the part where I said Dr. McLeod’s name, like, literally I welled up because I felt like she was like, “Thank you. Thank you for telling my story. Thank you.” And I’m very connected like that. I don’t know if people understand that but, I don’t think you can navigate and not be connected to your history, to your ancestors. Just no way, you know?
Jose:
Amen. Amen.
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