call and response podcast

We chat with Marchánt Davis about the importance of finding abundance as an artist, the magic created in the Ain’t No Mo’ rehearsal room, and the dramaturgy for his role in The Great Society, currently running at Lincoln Center Theater.

Ready for some Big Virgo Energy?! We talk with director Miranda Haymon about investigating conclusions in the rehearsal room, operating in all-white spaces, and promoting Diversity with a capital “D.”

We talk with Susan Stroman Award-winning director and creator Whitney White about finding rhythms within scripts, code-switching within predominantly white spaces, and discovering the dynamics within for all the women who thought they were Mad, currently running at Soho Rep. Also check out the other show Whitney recently directed, Our Dear Dead Drug Lord, currently running at Second Stage.

The Phantom of the Opera is here! We talk with Derrick Davis, the titular star of Phantom’s national tour about the cosmic journey to fulfill his Phantom destiny, the nuances of playing Carousel's Billy Bigelow as a black man, and the importance of sharing truthful stories of black experiences.  

Let us be glad and let us be grateful, because we are BACK for season four, y’all! For our premiere episode, we talk with Brittney Johnson about the nuances of making history as Wicked’s first black Glinda, the freedom in not limiting yourself, and the importance of finding a character's essence.

And like that, another call and response season is complete! For the season three finale, we talk with two-time Pulitzer Prize winner (and one of Felicia’s personal heroes) Lynn Nottage about approaching every play in a new way, ignoring the restrictions put on black women writers, and tapping into her musical roots for her current project, Secret Life of Bees, at Atlantic Theater.

For season three’s penultimate episode we talk with Jelani Alladin about originating the role of Kristoff in Frozen on Broadway, exploring identity through writing, and acknowledging an artist’s superpower to change the world.

We talk with Glory about finding her way to stand-up comedy (and back again), embracing moments of failure, and pushing back against racism and sexism in the comedy industry through her shows Strawberry Milk and Pretty Funny Friends.

We talk with award-winning writer Chisa Hutchinson about fighting assumptions, working as Lynn Nottage’s assistant, and exploring her sense of duality in her new Audible-commissioned play Proof of Love, currently running at Minetta Lane.

Get ready for a full-circle moment that was eight years in the making! We chat with NYU Tisch New Studio on Broadway’s Founding Director and professor (who is also a full-time director!) Kent Gash about navigating between academia and the professional theatre world, creating a safe space for students in higher education, and examining (and humanizing) the world of incarceration.