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Downloaded from
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Official YIFY movies site:
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[instrumental music playing]

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[August Wilson] We're in the process now
of making a choice about our future.

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And I think that it would
benefit us to see what our past is.

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We are who we are today in society

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because of things that have happened
prior to this moment.

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But we live in a culture where we forget
what happened two weeks ago.

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[girl laughs]

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And to know who you are
and what you should be doing,

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you have to first know
what your history is.

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[indistinct chatter]

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[Kenny Leon] We welcome you here,
the 2018 class

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of the August Wilson
Monologue Competition finalists!

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[students clapping and cheering]

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[Leon] Who we got? We got Pittsburgh
in the house, Pittsburgh in the house.

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-Pittsburgh!
-Yay!

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[Leon] We got Seattle in the house.
We got Boston in the house.

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[student] Yeah!

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How 'bout the ATL?
New York City. Portland.

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-New Haven. Dallas. Chicago.
-[students cheering]

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-Los Angeles. Yeah.
-[students] Yeah!

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We've been doing this now
nationally for ten years.

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We started this competition
the year after Mr. Wilson passed.

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We were grieving at the loss
of America's greatest writer.

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This is All Things Considered
from NPR News. I'm Debbie Elliott.

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Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright
August Wilson died today

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at a hospital in Seattle.
He was 60 years old

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and had been suffering from liver cancer.

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Wilson was best known
for his epic ten-play cycle

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that included the dramas Fences
and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.

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The final work in the cycle
was Radio Golf,

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which premiered just this April.

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Wilson's plays chronicled the lives

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of African Americans in every decade
of the 20th century.

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A recurring theme
was the lasting impact of slavery

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on succeeding generations
of Black Americans.

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[mellow instrumental music playing]

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[Leon] All those ten plays
say the same thing.

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That America belongs to you.

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If your people came here
on the bottom of a slave ship,

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if you came here seeking
religious freedom, political freedom,

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whatever reason,
America belongs to all of us

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with all of its rights and privileges.

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This is the way America looks.

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And you guys, you're my future.

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[Denzel Washington] For young people to be
introduced to it through the competition,

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that's the most important thing,
it's just exposing them

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to something they haven't seen before.

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They're good stories,
you know, they're great plays,

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and young, old alike love them
when they see them.

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And they're familiar.

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They feel familiar,
especially to African Americans.

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[Viola Davis] August was that one writer
who saw me

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and when I say me, I do mean me,
but I also mean people like me.

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To me, he's a muse.

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[Constanza Romero] For him, to live
was to write and to write was to live.

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He set out the assignment for himself

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of writing one play
for each decade of the 20th century.

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And they didn't come out sequential.

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They came out as the muses spoke to him.

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They're plays about people getting along,
but somehow history creeps into them.

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As you go through them,

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you feel you've lived the century
in some way.

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He was not drawn
to writing about big, historical events.

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I don't think he was ever gonna
put Frederick Douglass on the stage.

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He'd put a garbage man
who used to be in the Negro Leagues

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and a trumpet player
who was never gonna get famous.

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That is what most of the world is about.

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August belongs to everybody.
Mother, father, sister, brother...

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Everybody that's got a mother, father,
sister, brother. This speaks to you.

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If you've got a best friend,
it speaks to you.

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If you've had your heart broken,
you've had it broke in every language.

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[indistinct chatter]

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Use this time to run your monologues.

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Now you take a fellow, go out there,
grab hold to a woman,

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think he got something
'cause she's sweet and soft to the touch.

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[brakes screech]

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[indistinct chatter]

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"These men make all these babies

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and run off and leave you
to take care of 'em,

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talking about they wanna see
what's on the other side of the hill."

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I want respect.

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He don't know that he's fucking
with King Hedley II.

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[indistinct chatter]

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[Leon] You guys can take off your coats,
relax a little bit.

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You can make as much noise in here

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as you need to make
before you go in there.

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Last year, I sat over here
and I lost last year,

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-so I'm gonna sit over there.
-[student laughs]

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[Derrick Sanders]
I know it's a lot of kids,

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and they all are gonna be really nervous
and excited to perform for you.

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[vocalizing]

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[all] 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8.

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[woman] We're gonna roll forward again
back over.

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[exclaims]

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Red leather, yellow leather,
lavender leather.

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No ho-ho-ho!

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[all] No ho-ho-ho!

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I will not wait for Winnie
and Winnie Williams

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in Williamsburg and Williamstown.

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[all] I will not wait for Winnie...

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...and found out the harder you try
and hold onto these men...

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easier it is for some gal
to come and pull 'em away.

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Next thing I know, she grown.
Talking about she a woman.

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Just 'cause you can lay down
and open your legs to a man

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don't make you a woman,
and I tried to tell her that.

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You think I fetch for you
and wag my tail for you.

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The Black man is not a dog.

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[indistinct chatter]

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[indistinct whispering]

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If you grade hard...

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stay grading hard.

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If you're hardcore and you're just like,
"No, no," stay there.

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Y'all know what you have to do.
You know how to do it.

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Why don't you get 'em lined up, and--

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-Lined up? Okay.
-Yeah.

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Follow me.

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-[woman speaking indistinctly]
-[participants cheering]

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[man] Here we go, y'all.

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Hi. My name's Freedom Martin

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and I'll be doing Bynum Walker
from Joe Turner's Come and Gone.

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You can't just look at it like that.

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You gotta look at the whole thing.

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I hang a lot of stuff up,

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just like, uh, different paraphernalia,
theater-related stuff, Playbills.

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I moved from Oklahoma
to come to this school,

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the Chicago High School for the Arts.

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'Cause there weren't
a lot of, um, acting opportunities

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in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.

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We did a production of, uh, Macbeth.
And I played Banquo.

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And Banquo comes back
in, like, his bloody garbs

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and that was actually the shirt we used.

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I was a six-foot tall Black kid
in Oklahoma.

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Like, I played basketball.

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That was what was expected of me there.

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That's the first thing people saw
when they saw me.

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That is, that's Freedom.
He's the Black kid in the class.

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Usually, I've been described

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like a slang term,
what a lot of people call as an Oreo,

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being a white man in a Black man's body.
Stuff like that.

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I found my interest in theater
at around seventh grade.

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[chuckles] That is my first-ever headshot.

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It was for the first show
I ever auditioned for, Twelfth Night.

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I was a really bit part, I had two lines.

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And I had a sword and I was like,

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"We arrest you under
the name of Count Orsino."

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That's when I first got introduced
to Shakespeare

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and realized that I loved it.

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Prior to that,
I thought that acting was just camera,

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Denzel Washington, Will Smith.

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I didn't know that
theater itself was something

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that you could have a career in.

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I love Othello.

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A Shakespearean play
with a Black protagonist,

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and not only that,
a Black protagonist with depth.

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I remember
I'd always get these weird looks.

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My coach would always ask me
what was wrong with me,

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why was I leaving practice
to go to rehearsal.

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I didn't know why I was so... unhappy.

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I had my mom and my dad and my brother

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and I had good grades
and I was on the basketball team.

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I was a starter on the basketball team.

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But I couldn't express...
There's no way I could do this in my room.

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You know what I mean? Like, this is...

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[chuckles] This would not be
a thing there.

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It's a blessing when you can learn
to look at a woman and see in maybe

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just a few strands of her hair,

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00:10:41,724 --> 00:10:42,933
the way her cheeks curve.

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See in that, everything there is
out of life to be gotten.

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It's a blessing, when you could learn
to look at a woman like that.

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-[judge] This last kid right here?
-[Sanders] Yeah.

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I'm like...
How did he know how to do that?

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This is what I wanna do.

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00:11:01,327 --> 00:11:04,372
I know this is drastic,
like, this a completely new place,

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a completely new state, new city.

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00:11:07,249 --> 00:11:08,376
New high school.

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00:11:09,418 --> 00:11:11,128
But this is what I think I have to do.

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00:11:11,212 --> 00:11:14,131
[chuckling]

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00:11:14,215 --> 00:11:16,217
[indistinct chatter]

181
00:11:16,300 --> 00:11:19,929
I planted myself inside you,
and waited to bloom.

182
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You trying to tell me.

183
00:11:21,972 --> 00:11:22,973
Get on out the way.

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00:11:23,057 --> 00:11:25,267
[people laughing]

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00:11:25,351 --> 00:11:28,145
[all speaking simultaneously]

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00:11:37,613 --> 00:11:40,574
My name is Nia Sarfo,
and I will be doing Molly Cunningham

187
00:11:40,658 --> 00:11:42,284
from Joe Turner's Come and Gone.

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00:11:49,250 --> 00:11:50,835
I don't trust none of these men.

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00:11:52,628 --> 00:11:54,338
This is my little ladybug.

190
00:11:55,756 --> 00:11:57,883
These are my stuffed animals.

191
00:11:59,760 --> 00:12:01,762
Sharing a room with my mom
is cool and all,

192
00:12:01,846 --> 00:12:04,723
but I want my own space, you know?

193
00:12:04,807 --> 00:12:07,893
I would probably decorate
the whole thing pink.

194
00:12:07,977 --> 00:12:11,105
I went to elementary school
in a predominantly white neighborhood.

195
00:12:11,188 --> 00:12:14,066
And the other kids would come up
and touch my hair

196
00:12:14,150 --> 00:12:17,903
and the parents would kinda
just stare at me like I was just some

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00:12:18,863 --> 00:12:20,114
foreign object, I don't know.

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00:12:20,990 --> 00:12:22,658
I knew I stood out.

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00:12:22,741 --> 00:12:28,414
Um... But I felt like anything that I did
was going to be judged

200
00:12:28,497 --> 00:12:33,419
in this cruel way
and I was terribly afraid of that.

201
00:12:33,502 --> 00:12:38,007
This is my closet, and inside of my closet
I have this dream board.

202
00:12:38,090 --> 00:12:42,720
Um, and it has, like, all my hopes
and goals on there.

203
00:12:42,803 --> 00:12:45,264
But you can't see that. It's VIP.

204
00:12:45,347 --> 00:12:49,185
I became extremely shy, to the point
where I would have days at school

205
00:12:49,268 --> 00:12:51,395
where I did not say anything
until I got back home.

206
00:12:52,354 --> 00:12:56,275
Theater had always been something
that I knew I wanted to try.

207
00:12:56,358 --> 00:12:59,278
Seventh grade was when I did, um,
The Jungle Book.

208
00:12:59,361 --> 00:13:00,488
I was Shere Khan.

209
00:13:01,363 --> 00:13:03,616
Please don't ask
to see the video. [laughs]

210
00:13:03,699 --> 00:13:06,660
I got into rehearsal and instantly,
I fell in love with it.

211
00:13:07,411 --> 00:13:08,704
[Nia's mom] Is it down here?

212
00:13:08,787 --> 00:13:10,456
Did I hide it? I don't think I hid it.

213
00:13:10,539 --> 00:13:11,874
Is it down here?

214
00:13:11,957 --> 00:13:13,375
[Nia chuckling] Oh, she found it.

215
00:13:14,126 --> 00:13:18,214
Theater can really transform,
and I mean, really.

216
00:13:19,048 --> 00:13:22,760
I said, she is wild, is she not?

217
00:13:22,843 --> 00:13:24,261
[all] Yes.

218
00:13:24,345 --> 00:13:26,472
Then why am I the jungle god?

219
00:13:26,555 --> 00:13:29,099
Why did the man come for them
from the walls of the jungle?

220
00:13:29,683 --> 00:13:32,686
I felt heard, I felt beautiful,

221
00:13:32,770 --> 00:13:35,689
I felt like people were seeing me
for the first time.

222
00:13:35,773 --> 00:13:41,904
I became this outgoing,
completely different person.

223
00:13:41,987 --> 00:13:45,157
I wasn't afraid to do anything.

224
00:13:45,241 --> 00:13:48,285
They were like, "Nia, we didn't know
that you had that in you."

225
00:13:48,369 --> 00:13:50,412
And I was like,
"Yeah, neither did I." [chuckles]

226
00:13:50,496 --> 00:13:53,707
And that's why I don't trust nobody
but the good Lord above,

227
00:13:53,791 --> 00:13:56,252
and I don't love nobody but my mama.

228
00:13:58,587 --> 00:13:59,755
Thank you.

229
00:13:59,838 --> 00:14:03,676
I came home one day and I was like,
this is what I wanna do.

230
00:14:03,759 --> 00:14:05,803
For, like, the rest of my life.
This is where I wanna be.

231
00:14:05,886 --> 00:14:07,680
I wanna be on stage, I wanna act.

232
00:14:07,763 --> 00:14:10,724
This is my screen saver. [chuckles]

233
00:14:10,808 --> 00:14:13,435
Like a constant reminder
of where I wanna be.

234
00:14:13,519 --> 00:14:16,021
And no matter what,
I'm just gonna try and make it.

235
00:14:16,647 --> 00:14:17,940
So we'll see. [chuckles]

236
00:14:18,023 --> 00:14:19,483
Did you do that?

237
00:14:19,567 --> 00:14:20,776
[Nia] I'm having fun.

238
00:14:20,859 --> 00:14:23,487
-I had fun, too.
-You had fun? Yours was really good.

239
00:14:23,571 --> 00:14:27,283
It's hard 'cause the lights,
they're right in front of you.

240
00:14:27,366 --> 00:14:28,909
Your words, they kinda leave.

241
00:14:28,993 --> 00:14:31,203
You know what you're trying to say,
but they leave.

242
00:14:31,287 --> 00:14:33,205
I stopped, and then I started again.

243
00:14:33,289 --> 00:14:36,458
Don't cry. Don't show your weak side.
You're strong on the inside.

244
00:14:36,542 --> 00:14:38,752
[indistinct chatter]

245
00:14:42,214 --> 00:14:43,424
[woman] Cody?

246
00:14:49,096 --> 00:14:54,476
Hello. My name's Cody Merridith
and I'll be performing King Hedley II.

247
00:14:56,395 --> 00:14:57,813
This nigga done cut me.

248
00:14:58,772 --> 00:15:00,983
He hit me with a razor and I froze.

249
00:15:01,859 --> 00:15:02,902
[music playing over cell phone]

250
00:15:02,985 --> 00:15:06,697
Y'all can't miss Cody. Look.
Y'all can't miss Cody's solo right there.

251
00:15:06,780 --> 00:15:08,115
Here.

252
00:15:09,158 --> 00:15:10,200
[Cody snorts]

253
00:15:11,243 --> 00:15:12,578
Oh, my God.

254
00:15:13,495 --> 00:15:16,624
This is what happens
when you're bored on a daily basis.

255
00:15:17,750 --> 00:15:19,376
I was born in a housing project.

256
00:15:20,085 --> 00:15:21,337
There was shooting every night.

257
00:15:21,420 --> 00:15:22,963
It was nicknamed the Ickies.

258
00:15:23,797 --> 00:15:26,634
And no one wants to live
in a place called Ickies.

259
00:15:26,717 --> 00:15:28,302
I do got my accolades up here.

260
00:15:28,385 --> 00:15:30,304
You can't say nothing about that.

261
00:15:30,387 --> 00:15:34,224
I got my accolades.
Documentation of success.

262
00:15:34,308 --> 00:15:36,518
National Honor Society acceptance letter.

263
00:15:36,602 --> 00:15:38,604
What is that, OneGoal acceptance letter.

264
00:15:38,687 --> 00:15:40,731
All A's. That's these.
Don't worry about that.

265
00:15:40,814 --> 00:15:42,316
Reports, everything.

266
00:15:42,399 --> 00:15:43,943
My father wasn't there,

267
00:15:44,026 --> 00:15:47,154
and none of my brothers'
and sisters' fathers were there.

268
00:15:47,738 --> 00:15:50,157
I'm kinda in that box
where people are expecting

269
00:15:50,908 --> 00:15:54,286
the violent, kind of not hard-working,
or like,

270
00:15:54,954 --> 00:15:58,332
or working to make money
that's illegitimate, and things like that.

271
00:15:58,415 --> 00:16:00,834
I like to understand why, um...

272
00:16:02,461 --> 00:16:04,713
Why I took a different approach to it.

273
00:16:05,464 --> 00:16:07,549
This book cost me $25.

274
00:16:07,633 --> 00:16:11,762
Took all of these practice tests
in the back of the book.

275
00:16:11,845 --> 00:16:15,683
Growing up, I had seen my older siblings
make certain mistakes,

276
00:16:15,766 --> 00:16:17,309
and I can't go down the same path.

277
00:16:17,393 --> 00:16:19,687
So I told myself,
"Okay, I gotta learn from that."

278
00:16:19,770 --> 00:16:22,147
I ain't get away with murder. That time.

279
00:16:22,231 --> 00:16:23,774
But I done got smart.

280
00:16:24,525 --> 00:16:26,443
See, the next one's gonna be self-defense.

281
00:16:27,152 --> 00:16:29,446
The next one ain't gonna cost me nothing.

282
00:16:30,739 --> 00:16:31,865
Thank you.

283
00:16:32,574 --> 00:16:34,284
I don't really have the resources

284
00:16:34,368 --> 00:16:38,247
to kinda push myself
and be some type of grade-A actor.

285
00:16:38,330 --> 00:16:41,750
Never once in my life
have I done a vocal exercise. Ever.

286
00:16:41,834 --> 00:16:45,045
Red leather, yellow leather.
Yellow leather, lavender leather.

287
00:16:45,129 --> 00:16:48,298
And then it's like...
It's like, red leather, yellow leather.

288
00:16:48,382 --> 00:16:51,844
Lavender leather... or um...
Ugh!

289
00:16:51,927 --> 00:16:54,096
But if somebody is better than you

290
00:16:54,179 --> 00:16:57,224
or somebody has
a clear advantage over you,

291
00:16:57,307 --> 00:17:00,019
you make sure that you put yourself
in the same playing field.

292
00:17:04,940 --> 00:17:09,236
Yes. There was something interesting,
because he was like...

293
00:17:09,319 --> 00:17:11,989
He was focused.

294
00:17:12,072 --> 00:17:14,074
It was focused, but it was...

295
00:17:15,075 --> 00:17:17,745
Very subdued. But in a believable manner.

296
00:17:17,828 --> 00:17:20,664
-He had a believable creepy way.
-But believable, yeah. Creepy way.

297
00:17:20,748 --> 00:17:23,208
-[female judge] Mmm-hmm.
-It's not the traditional Hedley,

298
00:17:23,292 --> 00:17:26,211
but I was like, "Wait a minute.
That's almost scarier."

299
00:17:26,295 --> 00:17:28,464
Which actually works
with that energy shift.

300
00:17:28,547 --> 00:17:31,258
-That shift that he made at the end. Yeah.
-At the end.

301
00:17:31,341 --> 00:17:33,218
-That's that crazy guy.
-Yeah.

302
00:17:33,302 --> 00:17:35,095
-Mmm-hmm.
-Yeah.

303
00:17:35,763 --> 00:17:38,348
That was probably the best I performed it.

304
00:17:38,432 --> 00:17:39,892
-So far.
-[man] That's good.

305
00:17:39,975 --> 00:17:43,062
He's connected to that character in a way

306
00:17:43,145 --> 00:17:47,775
that you live that if you live
in a particular neighborhood in Chicago.

307
00:17:49,193 --> 00:17:52,446
So, uh, this is our first ten here.

308
00:17:52,529 --> 00:17:55,240
Up top, starting right here,
the highest here.

309
00:17:56,742 --> 00:17:59,286
That quote there,
"Fearless revolutionary optimism,"

310
00:17:59,369 --> 00:18:01,705
that's actually from
the Juilliard commencement speech.

311
00:18:01,789 --> 00:18:06,043
An actor named Stephen McKinley Henderson,
he gave this amazing speech.

312
00:18:06,126 --> 00:18:08,545
I remember watching it on YouTube
and it resonated with me.

313
00:18:08,629 --> 00:18:11,799
He said in order for us young artists
to go out and change the world,

314
00:18:11,882 --> 00:18:16,178
we have to have this undying sense
of fearless revolutionary optimism.

315
00:18:16,261 --> 00:18:18,514
Typically, we don't touch the ten.

316
00:18:18,597 --> 00:18:21,225
-Yeah.
-The top ten, if they made it there,

317
00:18:21,308 --> 00:18:23,060
-those guys are solid.
-[female judge] They're solid.

318
00:18:23,143 --> 00:18:26,313
Last year, I got to finals,
but I did not win.

319
00:18:26,396 --> 00:18:28,357
And I told myself, I was like,

320
00:18:28,440 --> 00:18:30,526
we're definitely going
for the gold next year.

321
00:18:30,609 --> 00:18:33,153
-No, I'm good, I'm good with these.
-Yeah.

322
00:18:33,237 --> 00:18:37,574
Good, okay. Let's close these top ten
so we can focus on this bottom.

323
00:18:38,408 --> 00:18:40,702
Where's the guy that we just saw?

324
00:18:41,495 --> 00:18:44,123
-[male judge] Is he, was he part of the--
-[Sanders] 153.

325
00:18:44,206 --> 00:18:47,084
[female judge] No, no, he's not,
he's under 162.

326
00:18:47,167 --> 00:18:49,962
Yeah, I think that's a little skewed.

327
00:18:50,045 --> 00:18:51,672
I feel like I'm at a disadvantage.

328
00:18:51,755 --> 00:18:54,550
But I'm gonna work. Always gonna work.

329
00:18:54,633 --> 00:18:56,009
Not gonna stop working

330
00:18:56,093 --> 00:19:00,180
until you can acknowledge me
as at your level or above.

331
00:19:00,264 --> 00:19:03,851
Does he have a coach?
Or did he come as an individual?

332
00:19:03,934 --> 00:19:06,812
No, he had, um, six weeks of classes.

333
00:19:07,521 --> 00:19:08,981
So six classes.

334
00:19:09,064 --> 00:19:12,943
He was that good without any coaching.

335
00:19:13,026 --> 00:19:13,861
Mmm-hmm. Right.

336
00:19:13,944 --> 00:19:16,613
They just taught him
how to do a monologue for six weeks.

337
00:19:16,697 --> 00:19:18,907
-That's six days.
-[female judge 2] Yep.

338
00:19:18,991 --> 00:19:22,661
I really think this guy has potential.

339
00:19:36,300 --> 00:19:40,721
When I first came to this school,
seeing this whole field

340
00:19:41,305 --> 00:19:43,348
I was like, wow. [chuckles]

341
00:19:43,432 --> 00:19:45,642
I grew up in South Central Los Angeles.

342
00:19:45,726 --> 00:19:47,561
A neighborhood like where I grew up,

343
00:19:47,644 --> 00:19:49,188
people don't normally talk about plays

344
00:19:49,271 --> 00:19:52,357
and people don't really
get the opportunity to watch plays.

345
00:19:52,441 --> 00:19:57,571
But I was really young and I knew
that performing was something for me.

346
00:19:57,654 --> 00:20:02,492
We would always go
to these, um, casting agency places

347
00:20:02,576 --> 00:20:04,203
that we would hear on the radio

348
00:20:04,286 --> 00:20:06,830
or all this stuff.
And a lot of 'em were scams.

349
00:20:06,914 --> 00:20:10,792
Um, 'cause they wanted to, uh...
A lot of 'em wanted money.

350
00:20:10,876 --> 00:20:13,462
That is something we did not have.

351
00:20:13,545 --> 00:20:15,589
The way I grew up,
it was all movies and TV

352
00:20:15,672 --> 00:20:17,382
and I wanted to be a TV actor.

353
00:20:17,466 --> 00:20:20,469
I think it was just because of
just the norms that I grew up with.

354
00:20:20,552 --> 00:20:22,846
And it was always like, theater,
like theater kids.

355
00:20:22,930 --> 00:20:25,182
[indistinct chatter]

356
00:20:27,392 --> 00:20:29,019
I did not like theater.

357
00:20:29,102 --> 00:20:30,938
In eighth grade,
I would never have expected

358
00:20:31,021 --> 00:20:32,981
that a year later,
I would want to be in a play.

359
00:20:33,065 --> 00:20:35,025
-I've never practiced with the music.
-Okay.

360
00:20:35,108 --> 00:20:36,902
-So go with it then.
-And-- Okay.

361
00:20:38,403 --> 00:20:39,988
[playing piano]

362
00:20:40,072 --> 00:20:44,868
♪ The most beautiful sound I ever heard ♪

363
00:20:45,786 --> 00:20:48,872
-♪ Mar... Maria ♪
-♪ Maria ♪

364
00:20:48,956 --> 00:20:53,877
♪ Maria, Maria, Maria ♪

365
00:20:55,254 --> 00:20:59,091
Performing here at school,
it really opened my eyes.

366
00:20:59,174 --> 00:21:01,468
I realized that
it's more about storytelling.

367
00:21:01,551 --> 00:21:03,637
♪ Maria! ♪

368
00:21:03,720 --> 00:21:07,933
♪ Say it loud and there's music playing ♪

369
00:21:08,016 --> 00:21:13,021
♪ Say it soft
And it's almost like praying ♪

370
00:21:13,105 --> 00:21:15,774
I had never even learned
much about August Wilson.

371
00:21:15,857 --> 00:21:18,610
But I had friends
who had done the competition.

372
00:21:18,694 --> 00:21:21,863
And it was amazing.

373
00:21:22,531 --> 00:21:25,826
So, I said I had to do this the next year.
I had to.

374
00:21:26,618 --> 00:21:30,455
Working on August Wilson,
although I'm not African American

375
00:21:30,539 --> 00:21:36,420
or, um, I'm trying to be,
or anything like that,

376
00:21:36,503 --> 00:21:43,218
I felt as though he was writing
for all of the people who are not, um,

377
00:21:44,011 --> 00:21:46,388
I guess, constantly seen.

378
00:21:47,055 --> 00:21:50,767
I mean, I'm Mexican. Hispanic.

379
00:21:50,851 --> 00:21:53,020
Going to an arts school,
going towards theater

380
00:21:53,103 --> 00:21:56,648
even though they tell you only,
what, 7% make it.

381
00:21:56,732 --> 00:22:00,193
I'm still gonna strive
to be what I wanna be.

382
00:22:00,277 --> 00:22:04,448
You're given very little chance in life
to express yourself.

383
00:22:05,324 --> 00:22:08,410
Life more so is about masking.

384
00:22:08,493 --> 00:22:12,706
You have a lot of, sort of,
labels put on you.

385
00:22:12,789 --> 00:22:16,710
And somewhere in there
is who you really are.

386
00:22:17,711 --> 00:22:21,214
And if someone does not
give you permission to express that,

387
00:22:21,298 --> 00:22:25,344
if someone never gives you permission,
then you implode.

388
00:22:35,270 --> 00:22:38,440
[Aaron Guy] I'm from a small town
called Cherryville, North Carolina.

389
00:22:39,483 --> 00:22:42,319
The cows have
the bigger population than us.

390
00:22:42,402 --> 00:22:44,529
[laughing] It's really, really small.

391
00:22:44,613 --> 00:22:48,116
There's nothing like that good
public transportation smell, you know?

392
00:22:48,200 --> 00:22:49,201
Ugh!

393
00:22:49,284 --> 00:22:51,453
My biological dad
lived up here in Atlanta.

394
00:22:51,536 --> 00:22:54,331
He was like, "Aaron,
there's much more opportunity up here.

395
00:22:54,414 --> 00:22:57,459
You need to come up here
and really push yourself."

396
00:22:57,542 --> 00:23:00,796
I come up here, I start joining
something called Toastmasters.

397
00:23:00,879 --> 00:23:01,922
It's speaking, you know.

398
00:23:02,005 --> 00:23:05,217
My dad's trying to groom me up
to be a politician.

399
00:23:05,300 --> 00:23:06,760
I'm getting ready for it. You know?

400
00:23:06,843 --> 00:23:10,055
Then he says, "Well, the school you're at,
they have an acting program.

401
00:23:10,138 --> 00:23:11,681
I think that'd be good for you."

402
00:23:11,765 --> 00:23:15,227
I was like, "I don't know.
I got... I like sports."

403
00:23:15,310 --> 00:23:19,731
My shortcut to bypass all this,
I throw my book bag through here.

404
00:23:22,526 --> 00:23:23,652
[grunts]

405
00:23:24,736 --> 00:23:26,238
I slide through.

406
00:23:26,321 --> 00:23:28,240
And across the train tracks.

407
00:23:28,990 --> 00:23:30,867
And then I was like, "Okay, I'll try it."

408
00:23:30,951 --> 00:23:33,578
I come into the class,
and they're doing yoga.

409
00:23:33,662 --> 00:23:36,623
And I was like,
"Whoa, what is this?" You know?

410
00:23:36,706 --> 00:23:39,501
My teacher started explaining to me,
like, "You just gotta be free,

411
00:23:39,584 --> 00:23:41,920
get to pretend, be anybody you wanna be."

412
00:23:42,003 --> 00:23:44,548
And I was like, "Oh. Really?"

413
00:23:44,631 --> 00:23:47,676
[all] To sit in solemn silence
on the dull dark dock

414
00:23:47,759 --> 00:23:50,679
in the pestilential prison
with a lifelong lock.

415
00:23:50,762 --> 00:23:54,641
Ever since then, I've been bit by the bug,
as you say.

416
00:23:54,724 --> 00:23:59,563
For thy sweet love remembered
such wealth brings,

417
00:24:00,272 --> 00:24:06,403
that then I scorned
to change my state with kings.

418
00:24:08,780 --> 00:24:11,032
Then they told me
the August Wilson competition.

419
00:24:11,116 --> 00:24:13,785
And I said,
"Cool, I'm doing it. Let's go."

420
00:24:13,869 --> 00:24:16,788
I found a monologue
that I thought that sounded like

421
00:24:16,872 --> 00:24:18,999
the people back home in my town.

422
00:24:19,082 --> 00:24:22,127
I was like, "Oh, yeah, this is me."
I performed it for my family,

423
00:24:22,210 --> 00:24:23,837
and they said, "I hate it."

424
00:24:23,920 --> 00:24:26,214
I was like, "What?" I was like, "Why?"

425
00:24:26,298 --> 00:24:28,008
It was like, "Because you're acting."

426
00:24:28,091 --> 00:24:29,551
It really just threw me off.

427
00:24:29,634 --> 00:24:33,138
And I was like, "Okay. So should I
change this? What should I do?"

428
00:24:33,221 --> 00:24:35,515
And I went to my teacher, I was like,

429
00:24:35,599 --> 00:24:38,226
"What route should I take right now?"

430
00:24:38,310 --> 00:24:40,812
She was like, "What are you talking about?
That's great."

431
00:24:40,896 --> 00:24:42,147
And I was like, "Okay."

432
00:24:42,230 --> 00:24:44,316
My parents, they're gonna...

433
00:24:44,399 --> 00:24:46,401
They're not steering me
in the right direction.

434
00:24:46,484 --> 00:24:48,737
So I gotta go with what's true to me.

435
00:24:48,820 --> 00:24:50,947
[panting] This is intense.

436
00:24:53,450 --> 00:24:56,161
I love this craft. I love doing this.

437
00:24:57,245 --> 00:24:59,039
They didn't like that, you know?

438
00:25:00,957 --> 00:25:03,210
[Henderson] Lorraine Hansberry said,
"You have to be arrogant enough

439
00:25:03,293 --> 00:25:05,128
to think of yourself as an artist."

440
00:25:05,212 --> 00:25:08,048
Honestly, 'cause it really
does take something

441
00:25:08,131 --> 00:25:11,760
to really think that you can do
something creative and make a difference.

442
00:25:23,438 --> 00:25:27,484
Whoo! That Houston sun. [laughing]

443
00:25:27,567 --> 00:25:30,278
My mom's my first role model.

444
00:25:30,362 --> 00:25:35,450
Because everything I am
is because of her and hers.

445
00:25:35,533 --> 00:25:38,328
Good morning. Thank you so much.

446
00:25:39,871 --> 00:25:41,665
She is a single parent.

447
00:25:41,748 --> 00:25:43,458
And when I was younger,

448
00:25:43,541 --> 00:25:47,545
my sister and I and my older brother,
we all went to private school.

449
00:25:47,629 --> 00:25:50,006
It was a great life.
She was working in corporate America.

450
00:25:50,090 --> 00:25:51,549
And then she got a tumor.

451
00:25:52,342 --> 00:25:57,472
Um, and she left corporate America
because it was,

452
00:25:57,555 --> 00:26:00,183
the doctor said it was a tumor
that formed from stress.

453
00:26:00,267 --> 00:26:02,269
Dear Father, we thank you.

454
00:26:03,270 --> 00:26:06,231
We thank you because you allowed us to...

455
00:26:07,190 --> 00:26:08,817
[Callie] And then the 2008 recession hit.

456
00:26:09,567 --> 00:26:11,528
And she had us three.

457
00:26:11,611 --> 00:26:15,824
I mean, like,
downsizing to a very small apartment.

458
00:26:15,907 --> 00:26:18,410
Um, I mean, money for laundry,

459
00:26:19,619 --> 00:26:21,579
we were scraping together coins.

460
00:26:21,663 --> 00:26:26,334
And she was never empty.
Always full of love.

461
00:26:26,418 --> 00:26:28,003
[piano music playing]

462
00:26:28,086 --> 00:26:30,338
[preacher] You're going through
something like I do...

463
00:26:31,214 --> 00:26:33,008
[Callie] I mean, I said,
"Mom, I want dance classes,"

464
00:26:33,091 --> 00:26:35,844
and she couldn't afford them.
But she took me to church.

465
00:26:35,927 --> 00:26:39,264
And I praise danced.
That's where I learned to do a pirouette.

466
00:26:39,347 --> 00:26:41,766
Just always making it happen.

467
00:26:41,850 --> 00:26:43,351
-How you doing?
-Doing good.

468
00:26:43,435 --> 00:26:45,228
-Good to see you.
-Supermom.

469
00:26:45,312 --> 00:26:46,730
[Callie and man laugh]

470
00:26:46,813 --> 00:26:49,399
[Callie] I attended High School
for the Performing and Visual Arts.

471
00:26:49,482 --> 00:26:53,403
And so in ninth grade,
I started loving the theater

472
00:26:53,486 --> 00:26:56,239
and enjoying being in shows and musicals.

473
00:26:56,323 --> 00:26:58,241
The theater just took me by surprise.

474
00:26:59,242 --> 00:27:01,828
One day, we found out
about the competition,

475
00:27:01,911 --> 00:27:04,372
and I came across The Piano Lesson.

476
00:27:04,456 --> 00:27:06,666
And I fell in love with Berniece.

477
00:27:07,375 --> 00:27:09,294
I got enough on my hands with Maretha.

478
00:27:09,377 --> 00:27:12,547
I got enough people
to love and take care of.

479
00:27:13,381 --> 00:27:17,927
She's the backbone of that family.
Her reminding me of my mom...

480
00:27:18,011 --> 00:27:21,681
Those are qualities that I wanted:
to be a very strong woman,

481
00:27:21,765 --> 00:27:25,393
to grow into someone
who knows herself as a young lady.

482
00:27:25,477 --> 00:27:30,398
And it was just so enticing, I guess.

483
00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:37,280
[Henderson] It's about you belong
in the world.

484
00:27:37,364 --> 00:27:40,241
That's what I think they get
from August Wilson's plays.

485
00:27:40,325 --> 00:27:43,703
You fit, you belong,

486
00:27:43,787 --> 00:27:46,956
you have a contribution to make,
you're okay.

487
00:27:47,874 --> 00:27:50,043
You know? You're okay.

488
00:28:01,846 --> 00:28:05,683
[teacher speaking indistinctly]

489
00:28:06,851 --> 00:28:09,312
-Good morning.
-[teacher] Good morning, Cody.

490
00:28:09,396 --> 00:28:13,566
Uh, do you have any idea
why the film crew might be here?

491
00:28:13,650 --> 00:28:15,151
-No.
-Come on.

492
00:28:15,235 --> 00:28:16,486
-[Murphy] Good morning.
-Good morning.

493
00:28:18,613 --> 00:28:19,697
Come here.

494
00:28:21,449 --> 00:28:23,993
"Congratulations.
We are extremely pleased to inform you

495
00:28:24,077 --> 00:28:26,413
that you have qualified
to compete in the Chicago finals

496
00:28:26,496 --> 00:28:27,872
of the August Wilson
Monologue Competition."

497
00:28:27,956 --> 00:28:30,792
"...this year, extending one hour
private coaching for free."

498
00:28:31,459 --> 00:28:33,169
And so we'll email them today.

499
00:28:33,253 --> 00:28:35,672
And then we'll get you a spot,

500
00:28:35,755 --> 00:28:39,717
where you will basically have
an hour of private coaching with,

501
00:28:40,510 --> 00:28:43,054
like, to get your monologue
squared away before the finals.

502
00:28:43,847 --> 00:28:45,640
[laughs]

503
00:28:45,724 --> 00:28:47,434
-All right.
-I'm just ready.

504
00:28:47,517 --> 00:28:51,396
Good. Good, I think that's about the best
reaction we could hope for, right?

505
00:28:51,479 --> 00:28:53,857
You're ready. Ready to roll.

506
00:28:53,940 --> 00:28:58,486
-That's crazy. That's crazy.
-[laughs]

507
00:29:00,280 --> 00:29:03,825
Hey. It was good.
I made it to the Chicago finals.

508
00:29:03,908 --> 00:29:05,326
Congratulations.

509
00:29:05,410 --> 00:29:06,286
[male student] For real?

510
00:29:06,369 --> 00:29:07,495
Uh-huh.

511
00:29:08,913 --> 00:29:10,707
What you think,
they filming me 'cause I lost?

512
00:29:10,790 --> 00:29:11,624
[female student laughs]

513
00:29:12,625 --> 00:29:15,211
[Murphy] Around our specific school
and area,

514
00:29:15,295 --> 00:29:20,216
it is 99% Black.
96% below the poverty line.

515
00:29:20,300 --> 00:29:21,676
[Cody] Hey, Miss Mascara.

516
00:29:21,760 --> 00:29:25,180
-Hi, Mr. Cody. How are you today?
-I'm doing good. I got a cameraman.

517
00:29:26,473 --> 00:29:28,099
[Murphy] We don't have
a lot of departments.

518
00:29:28,183 --> 00:29:31,895
We have no drama department,
no music, uh, no art.

519
00:29:32,562 --> 00:29:37,609
He's one of only two kids who does not go
to an arts academy that made it.

520
00:29:37,692 --> 00:29:40,445
We don't even have a theater program.
This is an English class.

521
00:29:40,528 --> 00:29:43,573
We got into the nuts and bolts of the idea

522
00:29:43,656 --> 00:29:47,535
that Cody's monologue
is a great reflection of what the 1980s

523
00:29:47,619 --> 00:29:51,664
and Reaganomics and the crack epidemic
did in the inner cities.

524
00:29:54,167 --> 00:29:57,587
[Wilson] What I'm trying to do is
to create the world of Black America,

525
00:29:57,670 --> 00:29:59,839
and to create an environment
and to show it,

526
00:30:00,548 --> 00:30:03,384
that it's capable of offering sustenance

527
00:30:03,468 --> 00:30:08,681
so that when you left your father's house,
that you do not go out in the world alone.

528
00:30:08,765 --> 00:30:11,851
That you are fully clothed in manners
and a way of life

529
00:30:11,935 --> 00:30:16,105
that is uniquely and particularly
and peculiarly yours as a Black American.

530
00:30:20,235 --> 00:30:22,320
[Callie] There was a certain feeling...

531
00:30:23,112 --> 00:30:26,449
like that speech was already in me. Um...

532
00:30:26,533 --> 00:30:31,579
Especially in the way that he used words,
the particular words he used.

533
00:30:31,663 --> 00:30:34,332
The flow of the language,
the rhythm of the language.

534
00:30:34,415 --> 00:30:36,292
It felt very familiar.

535
00:30:36,376 --> 00:30:37,669
Whoa.

536
00:30:37,752 --> 00:30:40,338
That sounds like the guy down the road
at the corner store,

537
00:30:40,421 --> 00:30:41,881
talking all the time.

538
00:30:41,965 --> 00:30:44,175
That sounds like
how my stepdad talks, too.

539
00:30:44,259 --> 00:30:46,427
And I was like,
"Ah, I gotta do this. This is fun."

540
00:30:46,511 --> 00:30:49,889
[Freedom] Bynum pulled me in.
He's got everything figured out.

541
00:30:49,973 --> 00:30:51,516
I would love to step into the shoes

542
00:30:51,599 --> 00:30:53,518
of someone who's got it
completely figured out.

543
00:30:54,561 --> 00:30:55,603
[Wilson] I couldn't write dialogue,

544
00:30:55,687 --> 00:30:57,313
and the reason
I couldn't write dialogue is

545
00:30:57,397 --> 00:31:00,775
because I didn't see the value
in the way Blacks spoke.

546
00:31:00,859 --> 00:31:05,405
I felt you had to change it
in order to make it into art.

547
00:31:05,488 --> 00:31:07,949
Uh, and I asked my friend
who's a playwright,

548
00:31:08,032 --> 00:31:08,992
"How do you make 'em talk?"

549
00:31:09,576 --> 00:31:11,953
And he said,
"You don't, you listen to them."

550
00:31:12,036 --> 00:31:14,247
Well, I thought he was trying to be smart.

551
00:31:14,330 --> 00:31:17,959
And, gradually, after five
or six years later, I began to listen,

552
00:31:18,042 --> 00:31:20,086
and I understood then what he meant.

553
00:31:20,169 --> 00:31:22,380
That if you listen, that you can hear,

554
00:31:22,463 --> 00:31:26,801
but first you have to recognize
the value in what you're hearing.

555
00:31:26,885 --> 00:31:30,305
[soulful string music playing]

556
00:31:59,667 --> 00:32:03,296
August Wilson is the blues.
It's blues music.

557
00:32:03,379 --> 00:32:07,425
So really, the only thing you gotta do
is just hear the song.

558
00:32:08,301 --> 00:32:10,261
Shakespeare has more of a...

559
00:32:10,345 --> 00:32:12,680
[vocalizing slow and even beat]

560
00:32:12,764 --> 00:32:14,265
And August Wilson more of a...

561
00:32:14,349 --> 00:32:16,392
[vocalizing syncopated rhythm]

562
00:32:16,476 --> 00:32:20,772
It's the same cadences of speech
that you hear at home.

563
00:32:20,855 --> 00:32:22,106
He's talking about us,

564
00:32:22,190 --> 00:32:24,859
he's talking about me. I'm like,
"Oh, that's like my aunt up there."

565
00:32:27,737 --> 00:32:30,949
[Davis] Because they identify
with it so much,

566
00:32:31,032 --> 00:32:33,618
it's very easy to embody.

567
00:32:33,701 --> 00:32:39,666
Sometimes, you need a physical
manifestation of a dream and who you are.

568
00:32:39,749 --> 00:32:45,630
[laughs] Molly is this old school...

569
00:32:47,048 --> 00:32:48,675
You know the song, um...

570
00:32:48,758 --> 00:32:50,635
♪ She's a bad mama jama ♪

571
00:32:50,718 --> 00:32:53,721
That one?
That's kinda like Molly's theme song.

572
00:32:53,805 --> 00:32:55,598
Molly is just bad, like... [chuckles]

573
00:32:55,682 --> 00:32:58,434
I remember reading a part
about him going to get photos.

574
00:32:59,227 --> 00:33:01,688
And the lady said
that he couldn't get his photos

575
00:33:01,771 --> 00:33:03,022
even though he had the receipt.

576
00:33:03,106 --> 00:33:04,190
Him getting angry over that,

577
00:33:04,273 --> 00:33:06,943
and him feeling like
the world should just be simple,

578
00:33:07,026 --> 00:33:10,989
just everything they tell you should be...
that's true, should be true.

579
00:33:11,072 --> 00:33:16,160
And I feel like I could really
relate to him in that regard.

580
00:33:22,500 --> 00:33:25,003
[interviewer] What is the period
or the time when you said to yourself,

581
00:33:25,086 --> 00:33:26,337
"I'm now a playwright?"

582
00:33:26,421 --> 00:33:27,922
So, I wrote a play called Jitney,

583
00:33:28,006 --> 00:33:30,133
which I sent to
the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center.

584
00:33:30,216 --> 00:33:31,884
It's a national playwrights conference.

585
00:33:31,968 --> 00:33:33,302
And they sent it back.

586
00:33:34,887 --> 00:33:36,639
[interviewer] What was Jitney about?

587
00:33:36,723 --> 00:33:41,060
[Wilson] Jitney is like a gypsy cab
and it took place in a gypsy cab station

588
00:33:41,144 --> 00:33:43,855
in Pittsburgh in the '70s,
in which we're tearing down

589
00:33:43,938 --> 00:33:46,149
the building that
the cab station was housed in.

590
00:33:46,232 --> 00:33:48,192
One of your plays then was accepted.

591
00:33:48,276 --> 00:33:49,819
-Which one was it?
-Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.

592
00:33:49,902 --> 00:33:52,739
[interviewer] Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.
And the O'Neill Playwrights Conference,

593
00:33:52,822 --> 00:33:55,408
that's a summer program
of trying out new scripts?

594
00:33:55,491 --> 00:33:57,577
-[Wilson] Yes, it's a--
-It's one of the best known

595
00:33:57,660 --> 00:34:00,788
and it's a place where you have a chance
to find out what works and doesn't work.

596
00:34:00,872 --> 00:34:04,083
Absolutely. And there I was.
And I thought, well,

597
00:34:04,167 --> 00:34:07,336
you know, "I must be a playwright.
Because I'm here with them."

598
00:34:10,923 --> 00:34:13,301
[Preston Whiteway] Here at the O'Neill,
these plays were read blindly,

599
00:34:13,384 --> 00:34:14,552
these submissions coming in.

600
00:34:14,635 --> 00:34:17,889
You didn't know the writer.
You couldn't make preconceptions about it.

601
00:34:17,972 --> 00:34:20,850
You just had to pick
the story that grips you.

602
00:34:21,809 --> 00:34:24,604
Playwriting is such
a solitary profession in many ways.

603
00:34:24,687 --> 00:34:29,317
And to be in a place with a cadre
of eight, ten, twelve other writers

604
00:34:29,400 --> 00:34:32,070
who know what it is
to be bearing that burden,

605
00:34:32,153 --> 00:34:35,990
to be sharing your story with the world,
that I think is so valuable.

606
00:34:36,074 --> 00:34:38,868
I know August found it valuable
to find his tribe.

607
00:34:40,119 --> 00:34:42,246
August did six plays with us.

608
00:34:42,330 --> 00:34:45,708
We do not allow any reviews
because the work is so embryonic.

609
00:34:45,792 --> 00:34:47,919
We wanna protect the writer
and the work that way.

610
00:34:48,002 --> 00:34:52,215
But we still absolutely are inviting
everyone in the field to see the work.

611
00:34:53,007 --> 00:34:57,011
The lead critic of the New York Times
at the time got around our ban of reviews

612
00:34:57,095 --> 00:35:00,973
by writing a glowing piece
about a new talent here at the O'Neill.

613
00:35:01,057 --> 00:35:02,433
And August was launched.

614
00:35:16,656 --> 00:35:20,076
-And the Tony Award winner is Fences.
-[audience applauding]

615
00:35:22,870 --> 00:35:25,581
This is for my daughter, Sakina.
My family.

616
00:35:25,665 --> 00:35:27,166
And all the Troy Maxsons.

617
00:35:27,250 --> 00:35:29,252
[audience applauding]

618
00:35:30,461 --> 00:35:33,506
[woman] His honors include numerous
Drama Critics Circle Awards,

619
00:35:33,589 --> 00:35:37,426
a Drama Desk Award, a Tony Award
and two Pulitzer Prizes,

620
00:35:37,510 --> 00:35:40,972
which marks him as one of America's
most distinguished playwrights.

621
00:35:46,936 --> 00:35:48,771
[Whiteway] He is the titan
of American playwriting.

622
00:35:48,855 --> 00:35:51,691
These are plays that will be
performed in the same way

623
00:35:51,774 --> 00:35:53,734
that Shakespeare is performed
around the world.

624
00:35:53,818 --> 00:35:57,655
You live in my house,
you sleep your behind on my bedclothes.

625
00:35:57,738 --> 00:36:01,033
You put my food in your belly,
because you are my son.

626
00:36:01,117 --> 00:36:03,619
You are my flesh and blood.
Not because I like you.

627
00:36:03,703 --> 00:36:07,707
But it's a blessing when you
learn to look at a woman

628
00:36:07,790 --> 00:36:11,169
and see in maybe
just a few strands of her hair.

629
00:36:11,752 --> 00:36:13,880
Just 'cause you can lay down
and open your legs to a man

630
00:36:13,963 --> 00:36:16,007
don't make you a woman.
I tried to tell her that.

631
00:36:16,090 --> 00:36:18,009
She's a baby.
She don't know nothing about life.

632
00:36:18,092 --> 00:36:20,636
What she know? Who taught her?
I'm trying to figure it out myself.

633
00:36:20,720 --> 00:36:24,348
And the fact that August was writing
the characters and stories he was writing

634
00:36:24,432 --> 00:36:28,060
allowed actors to be in those plays,
empowering these new voices.

635
00:36:33,900 --> 00:36:35,860
[imperceptible]

636
00:36:39,864 --> 00:36:41,824
[woman speaking indistinctly]

637
00:36:41,908 --> 00:36:44,368
[Whiteway] Then a young,
aspiring actor sees

638
00:36:44,452 --> 00:36:45,995
that it's possible for them
to be in the theater,

639
00:36:46,078 --> 00:36:47,872
for their story to be valued.

640
00:36:47,955 --> 00:36:50,541
[cheering and applauding]

641
00:36:53,419 --> 00:36:56,088
That was amazing. Oh, my God.

642
00:36:56,839 --> 00:36:59,800
I just wanna say, I took a lot
from this play and it inspired me.

643
00:36:59,884 --> 00:37:01,344
Good, good.

644
00:37:01,427 --> 00:37:02,553
August does that.

645
00:37:02,637 --> 00:37:04,263
Make sure you read all of his stuff.

646
00:37:04,347 --> 00:37:06,724
-Yeah, yeah.
-You know he wrote ten of them things.

647
00:37:06,807 --> 00:37:09,352
He's the baddest playwright
this country's ever seen.

648
00:37:10,269 --> 00:37:14,065
Yeah, nobody else done that.
Tennessee didn't do it.

649
00:37:14,982 --> 00:37:17,485
There was never a dull moment,
ever, I was just...

650
00:37:17,568 --> 00:37:20,112
-[Perry laughs]
-You gotta keep your face glued to it.

651
00:37:20,196 --> 00:37:21,906
-Glad you enjoyed it.
-I really enjoyed it.

652
00:37:21,989 --> 00:37:23,532
-You in the competition?
-Yeah.

653
00:37:23,616 --> 00:37:26,118
I made it to the finals.
Hopefully, I can go to nationals.

654
00:37:26,202 --> 00:37:28,329
-Which monologue?
-King Hedley II.

655
00:37:28,412 --> 00:37:29,330
-Oh, nice.
-Yeah.

656
00:37:29,413 --> 00:37:31,207
I like that one.
That's one I would like to see.

657
00:37:31,290 --> 00:37:34,961
-That's a real wordy play and monologue.
-[chuckles]

658
00:37:35,044 --> 00:37:36,504
-Yeah.
-You could do it, just live it.

659
00:37:36,587 --> 00:37:39,173
Acting is great,
just don't get caught doing it.

660
00:37:39,257 --> 00:37:40,716
-You know?
-[chuckles] I like that.

661
00:37:40,800 --> 00:37:44,095
Yeah, you got a monologue,
you begin with the end in mind.

662
00:37:44,178 --> 00:37:46,973
Hmm. What do you mean by that?
Could you break that down for me?

663
00:37:47,056 --> 00:37:50,059
Yeah, you know what's gonna happen
at the end of it,

664
00:37:50,142 --> 00:37:51,978
you know where you're trying to get.

665
00:37:52,061 --> 00:37:54,021
So you begin with that.

666
00:37:54,105 --> 00:37:56,440
The audience can't,
'cause you're bringing them into it,

667
00:37:56,524 --> 00:37:58,693
but you begin with the end in mind.

668
00:37:58,776 --> 00:38:01,320
-So I control the flow of it?
-It's how you get to it.

669
00:38:01,404 --> 00:38:02,780
That's perfect. Thank you.

670
00:38:02,863 --> 00:38:05,783
Now I got a new way to look at it.
Thank you.

671
00:38:05,866 --> 00:38:07,285
-That make any sense to you?
-Of course.

672
00:38:09,161 --> 00:38:12,498
[Davis] Actors walk through life
so different,

673
00:38:12,581 --> 00:38:14,625
because we have to be observers.

674
00:38:14,709 --> 00:38:18,337
I always say,
you are an observer and a thief,

675
00:38:18,421 --> 00:38:23,009
that you're constantly seeing
the minutiae of everything.

676
00:38:23,092 --> 00:38:27,388
The way someone puts their head down
if you say a certain word.

677
00:38:27,471 --> 00:38:29,890
And you think, "Ah! Why did they do that?

678
00:38:30,933 --> 00:38:32,935
"Is it something in their past?

679
00:38:33,019 --> 00:38:35,813
Were they traumatized?
Do they not like me?"

680
00:38:37,398 --> 00:38:39,400
[Nia] I had to study my mom.

681
00:38:39,483 --> 00:38:43,904
I had to study the Black women
that I saw anywhere.

682
00:38:43,988 --> 00:38:46,949
Whether that was on the bus, on the train,
walking down the street.

683
00:38:47,033 --> 00:38:48,743
He's just sitting at the bus stop.

684
00:38:48,826 --> 00:38:51,245
But look what he's eating
and how he's eating it.

685
00:38:52,413 --> 00:38:54,373
You see how he smiled?

686
00:38:54,457 --> 00:38:55,916
Do you see how he didn't?

687
00:38:56,000 --> 00:38:58,461
I could walk into a Starbucks

688
00:38:58,544 --> 00:39:01,797
and just be amazed
by the different people that are in there.

689
00:39:01,881 --> 00:39:04,216
There's someone having
an interview on this side,

690
00:39:04,300 --> 00:39:06,844
there's someone talking to their mother,
maybe there was bad news.

691
00:39:06,927 --> 00:39:10,014
There's this barista
who is hating her job.

692
00:39:10,097 --> 00:39:14,352
I sit back and listen to conversations
and how people flow.

693
00:39:14,435 --> 00:39:17,021
You know? And it just makes me think.

694
00:39:17,104 --> 00:39:21,067
You observe the extremes of humanity.

695
00:39:21,150 --> 00:39:24,236
And it's funny because August Wilson
did the exact same thing.

696
00:39:24,320 --> 00:39:27,406
He would go to coffee shops
and just take notes

697
00:39:27,490 --> 00:39:30,326
and write down
what people around him were saying.

698
00:39:30,409 --> 00:39:31,952
I asked him about his process

699
00:39:32,036 --> 00:39:34,497
and he talked about
how he would shut the doors

700
00:39:34,580 --> 00:39:37,375
and close the blinds and everything

701
00:39:37,458 --> 00:39:41,212
and the characters would come
into the room and tell him what to write.

702
00:39:42,880 --> 00:39:44,799
[Wilson] I sort of started working
on my '80s play

703
00:39:44,882 --> 00:39:47,176
and I'm trying to deal with Black America,

704
00:39:47,259 --> 00:39:49,220
these kids in 1984 with these guns.

705
00:39:49,845 --> 00:39:52,431
I started writing a character
who has a scar on his face.

706
00:39:52,515 --> 00:39:54,934
And I generally start
with a line of dialogue

707
00:39:55,017 --> 00:39:58,813
and the line I started with,
uh, he had been in a penitentiary

708
00:39:58,896 --> 00:40:00,398
and he said to me,
"Where you get that scar from?"

709
00:40:00,481 --> 00:40:03,109
Not "How you get that scar?"
He said, "Where you get that scar from?"

710
00:40:03,192 --> 00:40:05,486
Like he'd go down the street and get one?

711
00:40:05,569 --> 00:40:06,946
Or like, "Where'd you get that scar?"

712
00:40:07,029 --> 00:40:08,697
Maybe he thought it was his
and he wanted to have one,

713
00:40:08,781 --> 00:40:10,116
so I kinda laughed

714
00:40:10,199 --> 00:40:13,285
and spit out my razor blade in my hand
and hit him across the face with it.

715
00:40:13,369 --> 00:40:14,620
And said, "Now you got one, too."

716
00:40:16,664 --> 00:40:18,416
This nigga done cut me.

717
00:40:19,208 --> 00:40:21,460
He hit me with a razor and I froze.

718
00:40:21,544 --> 00:40:24,046
It's like somebody
turned on a bright light

719
00:40:24,130 --> 00:40:27,425
and everything stood still,
and I could see him smile.

720
00:40:28,217 --> 00:40:29,427
I got an idea.

721
00:40:31,053 --> 00:40:34,515
I want you to say the monologue
nice and loud to me...

722
00:40:35,099 --> 00:40:37,268
right from where you stand.

723
00:40:40,813 --> 00:40:42,398
Pernell made me kill him.

724
00:40:43,816 --> 00:40:45,693
Pernell call me chimp.

725
00:40:45,776 --> 00:40:48,195
I said, "My name is King."

726
00:40:48,988 --> 00:40:50,614
Good, good, good.

727
00:40:50,698 --> 00:40:53,159
So, where does this take you?

728
00:40:53,742 --> 00:40:56,495
-This nigga done cut me.
-This nigga done cut me.

729
00:40:57,788 --> 00:41:00,040
So, boom, it happens.

730
00:41:02,460 --> 00:41:05,796
And then, how do you think that goes
in his mind. Does it go slow?

731
00:41:05,880 --> 00:41:08,174
Is it like step by step, or is it...

732
00:41:08,257 --> 00:41:10,050
[snapping fingers] Does it go fast?

733
00:41:10,134 --> 00:41:12,344
What's the... What happens to the rhythm?

734
00:41:12,428 --> 00:41:13,888
Kinda like jolts.

735
00:41:13,971 --> 00:41:15,389
-Yes.
-A big snap.

736
00:41:15,473 --> 00:41:18,517
Yeah, and then it, and then he...
Now, what?

737
00:41:18,601 --> 00:41:20,769
-Now he's on something, right?
-Mmm-hmm.

738
00:41:20,853 --> 00:41:22,730
-Good. Let's take that back.
-Okay.

739
00:41:23,689 --> 00:41:29,069
No sooner did the words leave my mouth,
then I feel something hot on my face.

740
00:41:29,153 --> 00:41:30,613
-[Sanders] Good.
-A hot flash.

741
00:41:30,696 --> 00:41:32,531
Then something wet and warm.

742
00:41:32,615 --> 00:41:34,575
-Good.
-This nigga done cut me.

743
00:41:34,658 --> 00:41:37,661
-Good.
-He hit me with the razor and I froze.

744
00:41:37,745 --> 00:41:39,788
-Yeah. [chuckles]
-I said, "That's all right.

745
00:41:40,789 --> 00:41:43,626
That's all right, the king is still here."

746
00:41:43,709 --> 00:41:46,837
[Sanders] Let's pronounce that.
Right, to the whole world.

747
00:41:46,921 --> 00:41:48,172
-To the whole world.
-I said, "That's all right.

748
00:41:48,255 --> 00:41:50,508
The king is still here."

749
00:41:50,591 --> 00:41:54,136
-You say what?
-The king is still here.

750
00:41:58,516 --> 00:41:59,934
[laughs]

751
00:42:01,060 --> 00:42:03,312
Uh, hopefully it'll be me
going to New York,

752
00:42:03,395 --> 00:42:05,773
'cause I've never been on a plane before.

753
00:42:05,856 --> 00:42:10,611
Hopefully, this'll be my first,
my first chance to get on a plane.

754
00:42:10,694 --> 00:42:12,696
I wanna win this competition badly.

755
00:42:12,780 --> 00:42:16,325
I really wanna show everybody
that I really have what it takes.

756
00:42:21,205 --> 00:42:22,581
[Freedom] As dead set I was

757
00:42:22,665 --> 00:42:24,458
on this is what I wanna do
and I wanna be here,

758
00:42:24,542 --> 00:42:26,919
it was still a super hard decision
to actually go through with.

759
00:42:27,002 --> 00:42:31,340
Because I knew that... [chuckles]
my dad and my brother,

760
00:42:31,423 --> 00:42:34,885
they're not gonna be around
for the next four years of my life.

761
00:42:34,969 --> 00:42:36,262
Out like that.

762
00:42:36,345 --> 00:42:37,846
-Oh!
-[yelps]

763
00:42:37,930 --> 00:42:39,765
Okay, face down. Ready?

764
00:42:39,848 --> 00:42:41,892
[Freedom] Because of that
there's this sense of urgency in me.

765
00:42:41,976 --> 00:42:44,562
Whatever's gonna come of this,
it needs to come quickly.

766
00:42:44,645 --> 00:42:46,981
There needs to be
some justification for me leaving.

767
00:42:47,064 --> 00:42:48,899
Like, I didn't come here for no reason.

768
00:42:50,276 --> 00:42:52,820
[Nia] I really, really, really wanna win.

769
00:42:54,071 --> 00:42:56,657
I wanna be on Broadway.
I wanna do so much.

770
00:42:56,740 --> 00:42:58,200
When it comes to anything, really,

771
00:42:58,284 --> 00:43:00,286
if I set my eyes on it,
that's what I'm going for.

772
00:43:00,995 --> 00:43:03,831
I want more.

773
00:43:05,165 --> 00:43:06,375
[Aaron] My biological family,

774
00:43:06,458 --> 00:43:09,169
they didn't support
my dream of becoming an actor.

775
00:43:09,253 --> 00:43:12,381
They don't see entertaining
as a way to succeed.

776
00:43:12,464 --> 00:43:15,217
So I had to leave
my biological parents' house.

777
00:43:15,301 --> 00:43:16,302
They put me out.

778
00:43:16,385 --> 00:43:20,139
His wife is the one
who pushes him to this extremity.

779
00:43:22,433 --> 00:43:25,561
Sometimes I'm like, all right,
I gotta do it because they said I can't.

780
00:43:25,644 --> 00:43:30,941
But I also say my ambition comes
because I want to do it.

781
00:43:31,775 --> 00:43:33,319
Because I love it.

782
00:43:34,028 --> 00:43:36,071
-[man] How you feeling?
-[Gerardo] Good.

783
00:43:36,155 --> 00:43:38,365
-Where's your head?
-I don't know.

784
00:43:38,449 --> 00:43:39,700
[both laugh]

785
00:43:39,783 --> 00:43:42,411
You scared of anything
or do you feel pretty good?

786
00:43:42,494 --> 00:43:43,621
Uh...

787
00:43:44,246 --> 00:43:46,248
Everything. I'm scared of everything.

788
00:43:46,332 --> 00:43:50,919
When you're on stage,
it's so exhilarating. [chuckles]

789
00:43:51,003 --> 00:43:54,381
I have my fingers crossed.
My whole family has their fingers crossed.

790
00:43:54,465 --> 00:43:56,258
Um, to keep going.

791
00:43:57,676 --> 00:44:03,599
[Callie] I want to act.
To affect people, inspire others.

792
00:44:04,391 --> 00:44:06,644
And the perspectives that I can pull from

793
00:44:06,727 --> 00:44:10,230
really enrich me
as an individual and as an artist.

794
00:44:13,359 --> 00:44:16,445
[Davis] Coming up in abject poverty,

795
00:44:16,528 --> 00:44:19,948
growing up in an environment
where we were the only Black family

796
00:44:20,032 --> 00:44:23,577
living in Central Falls
and feeling invisible,

797
00:44:24,328 --> 00:44:26,205
growing up in dysfunction,

798
00:44:27,081 --> 00:44:29,124
acting threw me a rope.

799
00:44:30,542 --> 00:44:32,044
It sort of saved me.

800
00:44:33,253 --> 00:44:34,630
It saved me.

801
00:44:46,767 --> 00:44:48,686
[indistinct chatter]

802
00:44:48,769 --> 00:44:51,855
[up-tempo drumbeat playing]

803
00:44:51,939 --> 00:44:53,190
Hey.

804
00:44:55,359 --> 00:44:57,444
It's kinda weird, being alone.

805
00:44:58,695 --> 00:45:00,280
I'll represent my school well, though.

806
00:45:01,281 --> 00:45:02,366
[student] Oh, my goodness.

807
00:45:02,449 --> 00:45:04,243
It's pretty big, man.

808
00:45:04,326 --> 00:45:07,496
[grunting rhythmically]

809
00:45:08,789 --> 00:45:12,709
Remember, it's you who has something
to give to them.

810
00:45:12,793 --> 00:45:14,461
It's something to celebrate.

811
00:45:14,545 --> 00:45:16,171
-Day by day...
-[all] Day by day...

812
00:45:16,255 --> 00:45:18,257
-...we get better and better...
-...we get better and better...

813
00:45:18,340 --> 00:45:20,259
-...till we can't be beat.
-...till we can't be beat.

814
00:45:20,342 --> 00:45:22,261
-Won't be beat.
-Won't be beat.

815
00:45:22,344 --> 00:45:23,595
-Amen.
-Amen.

816
00:45:23,679 --> 00:45:25,264
[all] One, two, three!

817
00:45:25,347 --> 00:45:27,474
August Wilson!

818
00:45:28,517 --> 00:45:30,144
[indistinct chatter]

819
00:45:30,227 --> 00:45:33,480
Lord, I pray that you will
just take away any anxiousness

820
00:45:33,564 --> 00:45:36,775
allow us to have fun and enjoy today.

821
00:45:36,859 --> 00:45:38,026
-Amen.
-[all] Amen.

822
00:45:38,610 --> 00:45:40,487
[indistinct chatter]

823
00:45:41,989 --> 00:45:44,283
I left you with your mama
to keep you safe.

824
00:45:44,366 --> 00:45:46,535
-New York's unique.
-[all] New York's unique.

825
00:45:46,618 --> 00:45:48,787
You know you need unique New York.

826
00:45:48,871 --> 00:45:50,789
[all] You know you need unique New York.

827
00:45:50,873 --> 00:45:53,500
[up-tempo drumbeat continues]

828
00:46:05,679 --> 00:46:06,680
[imperceptible]

829
00:46:07,347 --> 00:46:08,891
Let's get it. It's showtime.

830
00:46:09,558 --> 00:46:14,021
Welcome to the 2018
August Wilson Monologue Competition.

831
00:46:15,314 --> 00:46:18,692
Today, we're here to celebrate
August Wilson and his work.

832
00:46:19,776 --> 00:46:22,613
These students are interpreting
the roles from these plays

833
00:46:22,696 --> 00:46:26,241
in a way that reflects their
personable approach to the characters.

834
00:46:26,325 --> 00:46:27,618
You gonna be good. You need a hug?

835
00:46:27,701 --> 00:46:29,453
-Yes. I'm nervous.
-You'll be good.

836
00:46:29,536 --> 00:46:31,997
It's not the monologue,
it's the people that make me nervous.

837
00:46:32,080 --> 00:46:37,085
Can I just hear a big cheer
for the students, all right?

838
00:46:37,169 --> 00:46:39,671
[audience cheering]

839
00:46:39,755 --> 00:46:41,632
Sounds like a lot of fucking people.

840
00:46:41,715 --> 00:46:44,426
And just so you know,
two of those three winners

841
00:46:44,510 --> 00:46:49,348
are going to go on to perform
on the August Wilson Stage on Broadway...

842
00:46:49,431 --> 00:46:53,393
...at the National August Wilson
Monologue Competition in New York City.

843
00:46:53,477 --> 00:46:54,978
[audience cheering]

844
00:46:56,396 --> 00:46:57,231
Everybody ready?

845
00:46:57,940 --> 00:47:04,154
Our 21 finalists of Chicago's 2018
August Wilson Monologue Competition,

846
00:47:05,072 --> 00:47:05,906
please enter.

847
00:47:06,823 --> 00:47:09,618
[audience cheering and applauding]

848
00:47:21,129 --> 00:47:23,882
Our first person is Freedom.

849
00:47:23,966 --> 00:47:26,260
[audience cheering]

850
00:47:28,554 --> 00:47:30,305
Hi. My name is Freedom Martin

851
00:47:30,389 --> 00:47:32,766
and I'll be doing Bynum Walker
from Joe Turner's Come and Gone.

852
00:47:37,563 --> 00:47:40,899
You trying to tell me a woman
can't be nothing without a man.

853
00:47:41,692 --> 00:47:43,277
But you all right, huh?

854
00:47:44,152 --> 00:47:48,532
You can just walk out of here
without me, without a woman,

855
00:47:49,324 --> 00:47:50,909
and you can still be a man.

856
00:47:54,037 --> 00:47:57,207
It's a blessing when you can
learn to look at a woman

857
00:47:57,291 --> 00:47:59,835
and see in maybe just
a few strands of her hair,

858
00:48:01,086 --> 00:48:02,504
or the way her cheeks curve,

859
00:48:03,880 --> 00:48:06,466
everything there is to be had out of life.

860
00:48:11,930 --> 00:48:15,601
Had nine white men
and three white women,

861
00:48:15,684 --> 00:48:17,311
they all said guilty.

862
00:48:17,394 --> 00:48:18,645
They wouldn't look at me.

863
00:48:18,729 --> 00:48:20,981
I told them to look at me,
look at that scar.

864
00:48:23,817 --> 00:48:26,486
I ain’t never met no man
that meant nobody no good.

865
00:48:26,570 --> 00:48:28,196
[audience laughing]

866
00:48:28,280 --> 00:48:30,782
These men make all these babies.

867
00:48:30,866 --> 00:48:33,619
And then they run off
and leave you to take care of 'em.

868
00:48:37,122 --> 00:48:38,582
This gal's fella,

869
00:48:38,665 --> 00:48:43,253
him pulled a knife a foot long
on Slow Drag.

870
00:48:45,005 --> 00:48:47,883
Took the doctors four hours,

871
00:48:47,966 --> 00:48:51,345
112 stitches to sew me up.

872
00:48:51,428 --> 00:48:52,638
I say, "That's all right.

873
00:48:53,680 --> 00:48:55,849
The king is still here."

874
00:49:00,771 --> 00:49:01,605
Thank you.

875
00:49:01,688 --> 00:49:03,315
[audience cheering and applauding]

876
00:49:08,904 --> 00:49:11,531
[Sanders] We're gonna ask the audience
to please remain seated,

877
00:49:11,615 --> 00:49:14,326
as our judges will go to deliberate.

878
00:49:15,327 --> 00:49:16,536
[male judge] He was great.

879
00:49:16,620 --> 00:49:18,330
[female judge] He was.
He really nailed it.

880
00:49:18,413 --> 00:49:20,624
[male judge] He was very clear.
Yes, indeed.

881
00:49:20,707 --> 00:49:23,543
[Sanders] This is a program
that is trying to get

882
00:49:23,627 --> 00:49:26,755
August Wilson's words
in the public school.

883
00:49:26,838 --> 00:49:27,964
They read Shakespeare.

884
00:49:28,048 --> 00:49:30,717
They should be able to read
August Wilson in the schools, right?

885
00:49:30,801 --> 00:49:34,596
So let's agree on
number one and two first, yeah?

886
00:49:35,222 --> 00:49:37,140
-[audience cheering and applauding]
-I wanna provide you

887
00:49:37,224 --> 00:49:41,103
a set of August Wilson's Century Cycle
for your school

888
00:49:41,186 --> 00:49:44,022
so other students
will have access to this work.

889
00:49:45,315 --> 00:49:47,442
I'm okay with those two
as first and second.

890
00:49:47,526 --> 00:49:48,485
Okay.

891
00:49:48,568 --> 00:49:51,279
[audience applauding]

892
00:49:51,363 --> 00:49:56,118
[Sanders] Whoa, whoa...

893
00:49:57,661 --> 00:49:59,705
-You guys ready?
-[participants] Yeah!

894
00:49:59,788 --> 00:50:02,582
Our second place winner
is going to New York City

895
00:50:02,666 --> 00:50:04,459
and also receiving $250...

896
00:50:04,543 --> 00:50:06,837
-Gerardo Navarro!
-[audience cheering and applauding]

897
00:50:09,965 --> 00:50:13,510
And our first place winner...

898
00:50:14,136 --> 00:50:15,971
-Aaron Guy.
-[audience cheering and applauding]

899
00:50:17,806 --> 00:50:20,475
The winner of the 2018

900
00:50:20,559 --> 00:50:25,063
Chicago Regional August Wilson
Monologue Competition is...

901
00:50:28,024 --> 00:50:29,776
-Nia Sarfo.
-[audience cheering and applauding]

902
00:50:40,537 --> 00:50:41,705
That's my baby.

903
00:50:48,628 --> 00:50:50,213
[Callie] I was just amazed.

904
00:50:50,297 --> 00:50:52,132
I hope they didn't make a mistake.
[chuckles]

905
00:50:52,799 --> 00:50:54,801
I hope that was really
my name on the paper.

906
00:50:54,885 --> 00:50:55,802
It wasn't an accident.

907
00:50:58,054 --> 00:51:00,849
[Aaron] My family never
expected me to win a competition.

908
00:51:00,932 --> 00:51:03,268
I was like, "Well, you know, I won."

909
00:51:03,351 --> 00:51:06,396
You know? So like,
"Can you say I'm an actor now?"

910
00:51:06,480 --> 00:51:08,523
Like, "What can you say about it now?"

911
00:51:08,607 --> 00:51:13,111
And their responses was,
"Well, this could have been a fluke."

912
00:51:13,195 --> 00:51:14,821
They said, "You got lucky."

913
00:51:14,905 --> 00:51:16,823
That's... They just drilled into me.

914
00:51:16,907 --> 00:51:19,075
And I was like, "Okay. I got lucky."

915
00:51:19,159 --> 00:51:20,911
[indistinct chatter]

916
00:51:21,953 --> 00:51:24,498
[Freedom] Nia 100% deserved it
with that monologue.

917
00:51:25,123 --> 00:51:27,000
But it's still never not hard.

918
00:51:29,127 --> 00:51:31,129
Every time I do
the August Wilson competition,

919
00:51:31,213 --> 00:51:33,965
I learn so much more about myself.

920
00:51:34,049 --> 00:51:35,842
I always felt like
my experience as a Black man

921
00:51:35,926 --> 00:51:41,973
was always different
than, um, other Black men's experiences.

922
00:51:43,433 --> 00:51:45,602
August Wilson, I think,
was basically saying that

923
00:51:45,685 --> 00:51:48,563
these are Black people,
regardless of what they've been through,

924
00:51:48,647 --> 00:51:51,107
which was just life-changing. Um...

925
00:51:53,777 --> 00:51:57,364
Yeah, for the first time,
I felt comfortable in my own skin.

926
00:51:57,447 --> 00:51:58,657
Just felt comfortable...

927
00:52:00,784 --> 00:52:02,118
[chuckles] Yeah, just felt comfortable.

928
00:52:02,953 --> 00:52:04,287
[woman] Freedom, next year?

929
00:52:04,371 --> 00:52:05,914
That's the plan.

930
00:52:07,165 --> 00:52:08,959
[indistinct chatter]

931
00:52:09,042 --> 00:52:12,462
[Cody] Everybody said I did good,
but it's like, I coulda did better.

932
00:52:13,129 --> 00:52:16,049
There was a lot of talent in that room.
I could see that in the end.

933
00:52:16,132 --> 00:52:19,135
It was fine-tuned. It was...

934
00:52:20,303 --> 00:52:23,682
You could see the work
that they had put in.

935
00:52:23,765 --> 00:52:25,433
And the talent. Both.

936
00:52:25,517 --> 00:52:28,603
So it's not like
it's just a room for raw talent.

937
00:52:28,687 --> 00:52:32,524
Uh, I heard a lot of times,
"raw talent" being said about me.

938
00:52:32,607 --> 00:52:35,193
But, you know, it's raw. So...

939
00:52:35,277 --> 00:52:37,904
Nobody wants uncooked food.

940
00:52:39,573 --> 00:52:40,949
It's all in how you react to failure.

941
00:52:41,032 --> 00:52:42,868
Because you can fail and you can give up,

942
00:52:42,951 --> 00:52:45,287
or you can fail
and keep just driving in that lane

943
00:52:45,370 --> 00:52:46,454
or keep working towards it.

944
00:52:48,248 --> 00:52:50,792
Lot of people around me
took the wrong road.

945
00:52:50,876 --> 00:52:52,335
Specifically, my brother.

946
00:52:53,003 --> 00:52:54,796
I lost my brother in October.

947
00:52:59,926 --> 00:53:03,763
It was due to just the violence
that people expect from us.

948
00:53:05,098 --> 00:53:09,561
I respect August Wilson for highlighting
that aspect of African American life.

949
00:53:09,644 --> 00:53:11,062
Because sometimes, it's hard.

950
00:53:11,146 --> 00:53:13,231
Sometimes, things in life
don't go the way you think they are,

951
00:53:13,315 --> 00:53:15,066
and some things aren't the way they seem.

952
00:53:15,692 --> 00:53:18,445
And I'm happy that he portrayed
a Black man trying to find

953
00:53:18,528 --> 00:53:22,198
his own identity within what he was given.

954
00:53:22,782 --> 00:53:25,368
So I'm very happy, very grateful for that.

955
00:53:32,792 --> 00:53:36,296
-[indistinct chatter]
-[music playing faintly]

956
00:53:45,221 --> 00:53:49,017
[Gerardo] So today
is my 17th birthday party.

957
00:53:51,186 --> 00:53:53,188
My dad built a little stage in the back,

958
00:53:53,271 --> 00:53:55,690
so we're gonna have
little singing performances

959
00:53:55,774 --> 00:53:56,650
and some monologues.

960
00:53:57,233 --> 00:53:58,276
This is my bed.

961
00:53:58,902 --> 00:54:01,112
And these are my other two brothers' beds.

962
00:54:03,365 --> 00:54:06,076
I'm waiting to get my own room. [laughs]

963
00:54:06,159 --> 00:54:07,827
I don't think that'll happen soon though.

964
00:54:07,911 --> 00:54:10,038
New York stuff.
Here's my suitcase. I have it.

965
00:54:11,539 --> 00:54:16,711
So this was in the closet
of my grandmother's house.

966
00:54:17,379 --> 00:54:21,132
Um, it was my grandfather's,
who passed away a couple years ago.

967
00:54:21,216 --> 00:54:23,051
He was very dear to us.

968
00:54:24,386 --> 00:54:25,553
This is what he looked like.

969
00:54:28,556 --> 00:54:30,558
-Happy birthday.
-Gracias.

970
00:54:30,642 --> 00:54:31,977
Oh. Gracias.

971
00:54:32,894 --> 00:54:34,312
[Gerardo laughs]

972
00:54:34,396 --> 00:54:37,148
[in Spanish]
This is from your Uncle Poncho.

973
00:54:37,232 --> 00:54:38,692
[Gerardo laughs]

974
00:54:38,775 --> 00:54:40,652
You're still missing mine.

975
00:54:41,820 --> 00:54:43,613
[in English] I have a King Hedley pin...

976
00:54:44,155 --> 00:54:46,574
that I wanna make sure
that I wear on stage.

977
00:54:46,658 --> 00:54:48,660
All the regional finalists
took a photo together

978
00:54:48,743 --> 00:54:50,578
and they ended up putting it on a pin.

979
00:54:50,662 --> 00:54:53,456
So I thought it would
be awesome to sort of...

980
00:54:53,540 --> 00:54:55,834
have in these pockets right here,

981
00:54:55,917 --> 00:54:57,085
have King Hedley,

982
00:54:57,168 --> 00:54:58,920
as well as the rest
of the regional finalists.

983
00:54:59,004 --> 00:55:01,589
So I can bring
all of them on the stage with me

984
00:55:01,673 --> 00:55:03,633
'cause they've inspired me a lot.

985
00:55:03,717 --> 00:55:07,303
And as well,
bring my grandfather who really...

986
00:55:09,014 --> 00:55:11,349
is part of the reason I am who I am.

987
00:55:11,975 --> 00:55:15,520
So that is going in this suitcase.

988
00:55:15,603 --> 00:55:19,274
He would have been very proud
that I would be going to New York.

989
00:55:19,357 --> 00:55:21,317
[horns honking]

990
00:55:27,073 --> 00:55:28,700
[woman] Whoo! We made it.

991
00:55:28,783 --> 00:55:33,830
Coming this far, I was like...
"Whoa. This is ridiculous."

992
00:55:33,913 --> 00:55:35,749
To actually see it in person.

993
00:55:35,832 --> 00:55:37,083
Oh, my God.

994
00:55:37,167 --> 00:55:40,545
Oh, my God. I'm gonna pass out. [laughs]

995
00:55:41,838 --> 00:55:43,131
-[Nia] Hi.
-[valet] How you doing?

996
00:55:43,214 --> 00:55:46,134
-Do you need some help there, my friends?
-Thank you.

997
00:55:47,177 --> 00:55:50,305
[whispers] He has such a New York accent.
It's so cool.

998
00:55:53,058 --> 00:55:56,770
If you're outside your room after curfew,
you won't be allowed to compete.

999
00:55:57,771 --> 00:55:59,439
-[Aaron] And we don't want that.
-We don't want that.

1000
00:56:00,148 --> 00:56:02,776
Is it too early to ask
what monologues you got going on?

1001
00:56:02,859 --> 00:56:05,528
-I'm doing Rena from Jitney.
-Okay.

1002
00:56:06,237 --> 00:56:08,490
I'm doing Boy Willie
from The Piano Lesson.

1003
00:56:08,573 --> 00:56:10,825
Okay. I'm doing Cutler
from Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.

1004
00:56:11,409 --> 00:56:13,745
[woman] We're gonna see
Once On This Island tonight.

1005
00:56:13,828 --> 00:56:17,332
Do a little... Say hi to Hailey Kilgore,

1006
00:56:17,415 --> 00:56:21,419
who was an August Wilson
Monologue competitor.

1007
00:56:21,503 --> 00:56:24,756
She didn't win.
She was just in it. So there you go.

1008
00:56:24,839 --> 00:56:28,426
I'm excited for the Broadway shows.
I'm excited to see the shows.

1009
00:56:28,510 --> 00:56:30,762
I wanna see Children of a Lesser God.

1010
00:56:30,845 --> 00:56:32,972
Yeah, me, too. I'm sorry, I'm touchy.

1011
00:56:33,056 --> 00:56:35,308
-But yes. Me, too.
-You're good. I'm a hugger.

1012
00:56:35,391 --> 00:56:36,226
Me, too.

1013
00:56:36,309 --> 00:56:37,852
[Callie whispers] I can't stop.

1014
00:56:37,936 --> 00:56:40,355
-I'm a hugger.
-I love hugs.

1015
00:56:44,025 --> 00:56:46,528
[indistinct chatter]

1016
00:56:48,780 --> 00:56:50,573
[student] I just wanted to say
thank you to you

1017
00:56:50,657 --> 00:56:53,868
and everybody else
behind, um, making this competition,

1018
00:56:53,952 --> 00:56:56,412
because as I was saying
to my coaches,

1019
00:56:56,496 --> 00:57:00,041
I never thought somebody like me
from the projects in South Boston

1020
00:57:00,125 --> 00:57:03,044
would ever have the opportunity
to perform on a Broadway stage.

1021
00:57:03,128 --> 00:57:04,337
So thank you.

1022
00:57:04,420 --> 00:57:05,797
[Leon] Oh, thank you.

1023
00:57:06,589 --> 00:57:08,383
Just dig in to who you are.

1024
00:57:08,466 --> 00:57:10,385
I am a country boy
from Tallahassee, Florida,

1025
00:57:10,468 --> 00:57:11,427
that's who I am.

1026
00:57:11,511 --> 00:57:15,640
And the more I keep digging into that
and owning that and embracing that,

1027
00:57:15,723 --> 00:57:17,725
I'm gonna live out my destiny.

1028
00:57:17,809 --> 00:57:20,186
You gotta say, "Hey, I'm from Seattle,
that's where I'm from.

1029
00:57:20,270 --> 00:57:21,521
I'm doing my thing."

1030
00:57:21,604 --> 00:57:24,441
Be who you are. And that is enough.

1031
00:57:25,150 --> 00:57:27,777
When I look at you, I wanna cry.

1032
00:57:27,861 --> 00:57:30,405
I wanna cry because
when I tell you that we started this

1033
00:57:30,488 --> 00:57:34,117
and it was just one school, and we did it
because we were losing our friend.

1034
00:57:34,200 --> 00:57:37,370
He had five months to live
and he passed away.

1035
00:57:37,454 --> 00:57:42,834
And he gave everything that he had,
as a man and an artist, to America.

1036
00:57:42,917 --> 00:57:47,755
That's what this whole project is about.
And I'm just glad you're here.

1037
00:57:47,839 --> 00:57:51,801
So take time to get to know people.
Don't just hang out with your own group.

1038
00:57:51,885 --> 00:57:55,180
Just enjoy this time,
enjoy meeting each other,

1039
00:57:55,263 --> 00:57:58,099
enjoy asking questions of each other.

1040
00:57:58,183 --> 00:58:00,310
Talk about August Wilson. Talk about life.

1041
00:58:01,102 --> 00:58:02,103
Let's have fun!

1042
00:58:02,187 --> 00:58:03,646
[all cheering]

1043
00:58:10,987 --> 00:58:14,741
Especially being from Chicago,
shopping in New York seems so elegant.

1044
00:58:14,824 --> 00:58:16,826
[indistinct chatter]

1045
00:58:16,910 --> 00:58:19,078
She is more famous, but Kourtney's better.

1046
00:58:19,162 --> 00:58:21,789
Actually, to be honest, Khloé...

1047
00:58:22,415 --> 00:58:23,541
Khloé was my favorite.

1048
00:58:34,511 --> 00:58:36,930
-It was so good.
-So good.

1049
00:58:37,013 --> 00:58:39,390
[all] Hi.

1050
00:58:40,642 --> 00:58:44,521
Do you guys have any questions?
This feels formal. I'm not formal at all.

1051
00:58:44,604 --> 00:58:46,147
[student] Which monologue did you do
when you did it?

1052
00:58:46,231 --> 00:58:47,482
I did the competition twice.

1053
00:58:47,565 --> 00:58:50,527
I did it one regionally,
and the second time, I went forward.

1054
00:58:50,610 --> 00:58:53,655
I did Ma Rainey from
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom my first time.

1055
00:58:53,738 --> 00:58:57,367
And then I was Rose from Fences
the second time.

1056
00:58:57,450 --> 00:58:59,244
-How old are you?
-I'm 19.

1057
00:58:59,327 --> 00:59:01,204
-Oh!
-Whoo!

1058
00:59:01,913 --> 00:59:05,792
What's the best piece of advice
you can impart on young fellow actors?

1059
00:59:05,875 --> 00:59:08,628
[Kilgore] Always be you. Just do you.

1060
00:59:08,711 --> 00:59:11,297
'Cause you can't be anybody else.
You know?

1061
00:59:11,923 --> 00:59:16,678
For y'all to have made it this far
after working this freaking hard

1062
00:59:16,761 --> 00:59:18,471
is amazing.

1063
00:59:18,555 --> 00:59:20,848
Have so much fun. Break legs, you guys.

1064
00:59:23,851 --> 00:59:25,603
[indistinct chatter]

1065
00:59:28,189 --> 00:59:29,482
What are you doing?

1066
00:59:29,566 --> 00:59:31,526
-King Hedley.
-King Hedley?

1067
00:59:31,609 --> 00:59:34,070
-That character's also very hard.
-Yes.

1068
00:59:34,153 --> 00:59:35,989
[singing indistinctly]

1069
01:00:04,892 --> 01:00:05,810
[Viertel] Hi, everybody.

1070
01:00:05,893 --> 01:00:08,146
First step, you've made it
into a Broadway theater.

1071
01:00:09,188 --> 01:00:10,106
Here you are.

1072
01:00:10,773 --> 01:00:14,193
August had one play in this theater,
which was King Hedley II.

1073
01:00:14,277 --> 01:00:16,446
And when he became ill,

1074
01:00:16,529 --> 01:00:18,531
we went to work
not only trying to figure out

1075
01:00:18,615 --> 01:00:20,533
the best way to rename the theater,

1076
01:00:20,617 --> 01:00:23,786
which ended up being
August's signature in neon out front

1077
01:00:23,870 --> 01:00:28,166
but also how to use the theater
in a way that would honor his legacy.

1078
01:00:28,249 --> 01:00:31,127
And that led to the creation
of this room that you're sitting in now,

1079
01:00:31,210 --> 01:00:34,255
which pays tribute
to all ten of the plays.

1080
01:00:34,339 --> 01:00:39,093
You can walk around and see various pieces
of memorabilia from those productions.

1081
01:00:39,177 --> 01:00:40,178
[indistinct chatter]

1082
01:00:43,264 --> 01:00:46,017
-That's Whoopi Goldberg?
-Yeah, that's Whoopi.

1083
01:00:49,312 --> 01:00:50,730
[Viertel] The kids who participate in this

1084
01:00:51,522 --> 01:00:56,444
are sort of startled, many of them,
to find that this voice exists.

1085
01:00:56,527 --> 01:00:57,987
They didn't know

1086
01:00:58,071 --> 01:01:01,032
that someone was writing
in a voice that they recognize

1087
01:01:01,115 --> 01:01:02,742
about things that are important to them.

1088
01:01:02,825 --> 01:01:05,912
And for a lot of them, it's history.

1089
01:01:08,414 --> 01:01:11,292
The current world of a 17-year-old

1090
01:01:11,376 --> 01:01:13,336
is not the world
of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

1091
01:01:13,419 --> 01:01:14,879
or Joe Turner's Come and Gone.

1092
01:01:15,505 --> 01:01:17,507
But the issues in it are very current.

1093
01:01:19,258 --> 01:01:21,427
[Romero] August speaks
about mass incarceration

1094
01:01:21,511 --> 01:01:24,806
of Black men and Black women,
police brutality,

1095
01:01:24,889 --> 01:01:29,727
everyday people negotiating
every part of their existence

1096
01:01:29,811 --> 01:01:33,981
because of
the grander structures of racism.

1097
01:01:35,608 --> 01:01:39,153
If this play was written a while ago
and this is still happening,

1098
01:01:39,237 --> 01:01:41,322
we need to do something about it.

1099
01:01:43,241 --> 01:01:47,203
[Callie] He captures
what it's like to be a woman.

1100
01:01:48,830 --> 01:01:51,541
Being pushed aside,

1101
01:01:51,624 --> 01:01:56,504
belittled, hushed, disrespected,
has been common throughout time.

1102
01:02:00,550 --> 01:02:04,011
[Nia] The life of a Black female,

1103
01:02:05,179 --> 01:02:11,728
you have to fight just to be seen
and be acknowledged.

1104
01:02:12,353 --> 01:02:14,522
It definitely makes you work harder.

1105
01:02:16,482 --> 01:02:20,111
It's like the more things change,
the more things stay the same.

1106
01:02:22,864 --> 01:02:25,867
[Henderson] Any playwright
that writes a play

1107
01:02:25,950 --> 01:02:29,036
for each decade of the 20th century

1108
01:02:29,120 --> 01:02:32,623
wants you to know something
about history as well as about art.

1109
01:02:33,708 --> 01:02:37,336
And if they can find a voice

1110
01:02:38,254 --> 01:02:41,257
in the teens, in the '30s,
in the '20s, in the '40s,

1111
01:02:42,383 --> 01:02:44,010
that speaks to them,

1112
01:02:44,093 --> 01:02:47,555
and it gives them
some sort of an understanding

1113
01:02:48,139 --> 01:02:52,226
of the universal
and timeless nature of the human spirit.

1114
01:02:52,894 --> 01:02:55,438
If you can understand where you came from,

1115
01:02:55,521 --> 01:02:58,274
you got a better chance
to get on where you're bound.

1116
01:02:58,357 --> 01:03:01,027
[imperceptible]

1117
01:03:01,736 --> 01:03:04,655
[Wilson] It's the resiliency
of the human spirit

1118
01:03:04,739 --> 01:03:08,659
despite all of the problems that are
attendant to being Black in America.

1119
01:03:10,536 --> 01:03:14,165
The ability to sing that song,
that spiritual song,

1120
01:03:14,248 --> 01:03:18,586
the ability to absorb and not be broken.

1121
01:03:21,088 --> 01:03:23,174
[interviewer] How do people
find their song?

1122
01:03:23,257 --> 01:03:25,551
Well, I think, one, they have it.

1123
01:03:26,636 --> 01:03:31,182
They just have to realize that,
then they have to learn how to sing it.

1124
01:03:39,398 --> 01:03:41,317
[playing saxophone]

1125
01:03:45,446 --> 01:03:46,656
-Hi.
-Hey.

1126
01:03:46,739 --> 01:03:48,241
-Hi.
-[Nia chuckles]

1127
01:03:48,324 --> 01:03:52,495
It's not hitting me
that the competition is tonight.

1128
01:03:52,578 --> 01:03:55,122
So should I not say "now"?

1129
01:03:55,206 --> 01:03:56,332
-No.
-Okay.

1130
01:03:56,415 --> 01:03:57,792
Be word perfect.

1131
01:03:57,875 --> 01:03:58,835
-Gotcha.
-Okay.

1132
01:03:58,918 --> 01:04:03,881
You said, "These men,
harder you try to hold to them."

1133
01:04:04,549 --> 01:04:06,342
-Mmm. Okay.
-Not "these men." "Them."

1134
01:04:06,425 --> 01:04:08,177
[woman] You can still give me
the same thing

1135
01:04:08,261 --> 01:04:09,929
that you're trying
to convey to the audience

1136
01:04:10,012 --> 01:04:12,431
without breaking up
the rhythm of the sentence.

1137
01:04:12,515 --> 01:04:13,975
-Are you clear on that?
-Yes.

1138
01:04:14,892 --> 01:04:17,270
[indistinct chatter]

1139
01:04:23,484 --> 01:04:25,027
You performing on Broadway.

1140
01:04:25,111 --> 01:04:27,321
[all cheer and laugh]

1141
01:04:27,405 --> 01:04:30,283
[intense drumbeat playing]

1142
01:04:46,632 --> 01:04:49,427
[indistinct chatter]

1143
01:05:07,278 --> 01:05:11,699
We wanna welcome you to the 10th annual

1144
01:05:11,782 --> 01:05:14,035
National August Wilson
Monologue Competition.

1145
01:05:14,118 --> 01:05:16,329
-Ten years. Ten years.
-[audience cheering and applauding]

1146
01:05:17,371 --> 01:05:19,165
[woman] This is where the line pauses

1147
01:05:19,248 --> 01:05:22,251
and you guys just hang out in the line
until we're ready to go.

1148
01:05:22,335 --> 01:05:26,547
We have been incredibly proud
to be part of this experience

1149
01:05:26,631 --> 01:05:30,009
at the August Wilson Theater on Broadway.

1150
01:05:30,092 --> 01:05:32,720
-[audience cheers and applauds]
-[chuckles]

1151
01:05:32,803 --> 01:05:36,015
The young people today
are judged on characterization,

1152
01:05:36,849 --> 01:05:42,855
focus, energy, understanding of the text
and accuracy of the text.

1153
01:05:43,940 --> 01:05:45,149
Ladies and gentlemen,

1154
01:05:46,108 --> 01:05:48,486
the 2018 class

1155
01:05:49,195 --> 01:05:52,156
of the August Wilson
Monologue Competition finalists!

1156
01:05:52,907 --> 01:05:54,951
-Here they are!
-[audience cheering and applauding]

1157
01:06:07,713 --> 01:06:08,798
Here we go.

1158
01:06:08,881 --> 01:06:10,091
[announcer] All right.

1159
01:06:10,174 --> 01:06:13,928
Our first Wilsonian soldier
coming to the stage, Callie Holley.

1160
01:06:14,512 --> 01:06:16,305
-[woman] That's my girl!
-[audience applauding]

1161
01:06:26,023 --> 01:06:28,859
Avery, I ain't ready
to get married right now.

1162
01:06:29,986 --> 01:06:33,197
I ain't said nothing about closing up.

1163
01:06:33,280 --> 01:06:36,450
I got a lot of woman left in me.

1164
01:06:37,952 --> 01:06:40,037
I got enough on my hands with Maretha.

1165
01:06:40,121 --> 01:06:43,457
I got enough people
to love and take care of.

1166
01:06:45,710 --> 01:06:49,088
You trying to tell me
a woman can't be nothing without a man.

1167
01:06:49,755 --> 01:06:51,257
But you all right, huh?

1168
01:06:52,341 --> 01:06:56,679
You can just walk out of here
without me, without a woman,

1169
01:06:57,513 --> 01:06:59,807
and you can still be a man. [scoffs]

1170
01:07:00,391 --> 01:07:01,308
That's all right.

1171
01:07:01,976 --> 01:07:08,524
Ain't nobody gonna ask you,
"Avery, who you got to love you?"

1172
01:07:08,607 --> 01:07:10,067
That's all right for you.

1173
01:07:10,818 --> 01:07:14,739
But everybody's gonna
be worried about Berniece.

1174
01:07:15,740 --> 01:07:18,534
"How Berniece gonna take care of herself?"

1175
01:07:19,368 --> 01:07:22,496
"How she gonna raise
that child without a man?"

1176
01:07:23,539 --> 01:07:26,292
Wonder, "What's she do with herself?"

1177
01:07:27,877 --> 01:07:30,421
"How she gonna live like that?"

1178
01:07:31,672 --> 01:07:35,384
Everybody got all kinds
of questions for Berniece.

1179
01:07:35,468 --> 01:07:37,386
Everybody always telling me

1180
01:07:37,470 --> 01:07:40,848
that I can't be a woman
unless I got a man.

1181
01:07:41,724 --> 01:07:42,641
[scoffs]

1182
01:07:43,267 --> 01:07:45,561
I kept seeing your face
at your mother's funeral.

1183
01:07:47,354 --> 01:07:52,026
How you stood there and never said a word,
stood there with a scowl on your face.

1184
01:07:52,985 --> 01:07:55,488
And now you're gonna come in here
and ridicule me

1185
01:07:55,571 --> 01:07:58,199
'cause I didn't knock Mr. Rand on his ass.

1186
01:08:00,826 --> 01:08:02,369
You wanna know why?

1187
01:08:02,453 --> 01:08:03,579
I'll tell you why.

1188
01:08:05,289 --> 01:08:07,958
Because I had your Black ass
crying to be fed.

1189
01:08:09,001 --> 01:08:12,880
Walter Kelly got his hand
all the way up under my dress

1190
01:08:12,963 --> 01:08:16,967
and he touched me there.
I told him to stop. He just laughed.

1191
01:08:17,051 --> 01:08:19,095
We was drinking from a pint bottle.

1192
01:08:19,178 --> 01:08:21,847
I took the bottle
and I broke it on the car handle.

1193
01:08:21,931 --> 01:08:25,142
I cut my hand pretty bad,
but I put the glass up to his throat.

1194
01:08:25,226 --> 01:08:28,062
I told him I wanted him to taste my blood

1195
01:08:28,145 --> 01:08:30,231
'cause if he didn't move his hand
from under my dress,

1196
01:08:30,314 --> 01:08:32,108
I was gonna taste his.

1197
01:08:32,733 --> 01:08:35,111
They had this guy this one time

1198
01:08:35,194 --> 01:08:39,573
in a little town called Bolingbroke,
about 100 miles outside of Macon.

1199
01:08:39,657 --> 01:08:40,908
We was playing for this dance,

1200
01:08:40,991 --> 01:08:43,869
and they was giving $20
to the best slow draggers.

1201
01:08:43,953 --> 01:08:49,250
Slow Drag looked over the competition,
got down off the bandstand,

1202
01:08:49,333 --> 01:08:52,211
grab hold of one of them gals
and stuck to her

1203
01:08:52,294 --> 01:08:57,299
-like a fly to jelly, like wood to glue.
-[audience laughs and applauds]

1204
01:08:57,383 --> 01:09:00,761
Man had that gal
whooping and hollering so,

1205
01:09:00,845 --> 01:09:03,430
everybody stopped to watch.

1206
01:09:04,932 --> 01:09:06,142
This fella come in,

1207
01:09:07,560 --> 01:09:09,145
this gal's fella,

1208
01:09:09,228 --> 01:09:13,399
and pulled a knife
a foot long on Slow Drag.

1209
01:09:13,482 --> 01:09:14,900
Remember that, Slow Drag?

1210
01:09:14,984 --> 01:09:16,152
[laughs]

1211
01:09:16,235 --> 01:09:17,736
Folks was clearing out.

1212
01:09:17,820 --> 01:09:22,366
Ducking and hiding under the tables,
figuring there's gonna be a fight.

1213
01:09:22,449 --> 01:09:25,452
Slow Drag just looked
over the gal's shoulder

1214
01:09:25,536 --> 01:09:27,037
at the man and said,

1215
01:09:28,747 --> 01:09:31,667
"Mister, if you'd quit hollering
and wait a minute,

1216
01:09:31,750 --> 01:09:33,919
you'll see I'm doing you a favor."

1217
01:09:34,545 --> 01:09:40,301
"I'm helping this gal win $10
so she can buy you a gold watch."

1218
01:09:40,926 --> 01:09:45,014
He been my manager for six years,
talking 'bout sticking together.

1219
01:09:45,097 --> 01:09:48,893
The only time he had me in this house
was to sing for some of his friends.

1220
01:09:49,894 --> 01:09:52,646
Now if you colored,
and you can make them some money,

1221
01:09:53,606 --> 01:09:55,107
then you all right with them.

1222
01:09:55,649 --> 01:09:58,986
Otherwise, you just a dog in the alley.

1223
01:10:01,113 --> 01:10:05,075
I ain't gonna raise no kid
to have somebody shoot him.

1224
01:10:07,578 --> 01:10:10,372
To have his friends shoot him.

1225
01:10:12,541 --> 01:10:15,753
To have the police shoot him.

1226
01:10:18,297 --> 01:10:22,426
Why I wanna bring another life
into this world that don't respect life?

1227
01:10:24,762 --> 01:10:27,890
I ain't sorry for nothing I'd done,
and ain't gonna be sorry.

1228
01:10:28,641 --> 01:10:31,602
I'm gonna see to that
'cause I'm gonna do the right thing.

1229
01:10:31,685 --> 01:10:32,978
Always.

1230
01:10:33,062 --> 01:10:34,897
It ain't in me to do nothing else.

1231
01:10:34,980 --> 01:10:39,109
Now we might disagree about what that is,
but I know what is right for me.

1232
01:10:39,193 --> 01:10:41,445
As long as I draw a breath in my body,

1233
01:10:41,528 --> 01:10:45,032
I'm gonna do the right thing for me.
What I gotta be sorry for?

1234
01:10:45,115 --> 01:10:47,576
People say,
"Ain't you sorry you killed Pernell?"

1235
01:10:47,660 --> 01:10:49,245
I ain't sorry I killed Pernell.

1236
01:10:49,328 --> 01:10:51,747
The nigga deserved to die. He cut my face.

1237
01:10:52,665 --> 01:10:54,750
I told the judge, "Not guilty."

1238
01:10:55,584 --> 01:10:56,835
They thought I was joking.

1239
01:10:57,544 --> 01:11:00,214
I say, "The motherfucker cut me.

1240
01:11:00,297 --> 01:11:03,425
How can I be wrong for killing him?
That's common sense."

1241
01:11:03,509 --> 01:11:04,927
[audience laughs]

1242
01:11:05,010 --> 01:11:06,679
I don't care what the law say.

1243
01:11:06,762 --> 01:11:09,682
The law don't understand this.
It must not.

1244
01:11:10,349 --> 01:11:13,769
They wanna take and lock me up.
Where's the understanding?

1245
01:11:13,852 --> 01:11:16,647
If a burglar break into
a white man's house to steal his TV,

1246
01:11:16,730 --> 01:11:19,400
and the white man shoot him,
they don't say he wrong.

1247
01:11:19,483 --> 01:11:20,985
The law understand that.

1248
01:11:21,568 --> 01:11:24,405
They pat him on the back
and tell him to go on home.

1249
01:11:25,531 --> 01:11:26,740
You see what I'm saying?

1250
01:11:27,366 --> 01:11:29,326
The jury come back and say guilty.

1251
01:11:29,410 --> 01:11:33,080
They ask them one by one.
They all say guilty.

1252
01:11:33,163 --> 01:11:38,294
Had nine white men, and three white women.
They all said guilty.

1253
01:11:38,377 --> 01:11:40,129
They wouldn't look at me.

1254
01:11:40,212 --> 01:11:43,007
I told them to look at me,
look at that scar.

1255
01:11:43,090 --> 01:11:44,842
I got closer
to where they could see my scar.

1256
01:11:44,925 --> 01:11:46,468
The judge like to had a fit.

1257
01:11:46,552 --> 01:11:49,430
They had six deputies
come at me from all sides,

1258
01:11:49,513 --> 01:11:51,265
said I tried to attack the jury.

1259
01:11:51,348 --> 01:11:53,892
I was just trying to get closer
so they could see my face.

1260
01:11:53,976 --> 01:11:55,811
They tried to run out that door.

1261
01:11:55,894 --> 01:11:57,313
[panting]

1262
01:11:58,522 --> 01:12:01,984
They took and put me
in solitary confinement,

1263
01:12:02,609 --> 01:12:04,069
said I was unruly.

1264
01:12:07,781 --> 01:12:10,117
I don't trust none of these men.

1265
01:12:10,200 --> 01:12:11,785
[audience laughs]

1266
01:12:11,869 --> 01:12:13,454
Jack or nobody else.

1267
01:12:13,537 --> 01:12:15,664
These men liable to do anything.

1268
01:12:16,498 --> 01:12:17,666
They wait,

1269
01:12:18,292 --> 01:12:22,629
just until they can get one woman
tied and locked up with 'em,

1270
01:12:22,713 --> 01:12:25,424
and then they look around
to see if they can get another one.

1271
01:12:25,507 --> 01:12:27,885
Molly don't pay 'em no mind.

1272
01:12:28,761 --> 01:12:30,721
One's just as good as the other,
if you ask me.

1273
01:12:31,347 --> 01:12:34,266
I ain't never met no man
that meant nobody no good.

1274
01:12:36,143 --> 01:12:38,645
These men make all these babies.

1275
01:12:39,313 --> 01:12:42,232
And then they run off
and leave you to take care of 'em.

1276
01:12:42,316 --> 01:12:45,319
Talkin' 'bout they wanna see
what's on the other side of the hill.

1277
01:12:45,402 --> 01:12:48,322
I make sure I don't get no babies.
[scoffs]

1278
01:12:49,114 --> 01:12:50,824
My mama taught me how to do that.

1279
01:12:50,908 --> 01:12:52,159
[audience laughs]

1280
01:12:52,242 --> 01:12:55,412
Molly Cunningham ain't gonna
be tied down with no babies.

1281
01:12:57,414 --> 01:13:00,667
Had me a man one time
who I thought had some love in him.

1282
01:13:01,293 --> 01:13:04,171
Come home one day,
and he's packing his trunk.

1283
01:13:05,214 --> 01:13:09,718
Told me, time come when
even the best of friends must part.

1284
01:13:10,844 --> 01:13:14,014
Said he was gonna send me
a special delivery some old day.

1285
01:13:14,890 --> 01:13:16,642
I watched him out the window.

1286
01:13:17,226 --> 01:13:20,229
When he carried that trunk out
and down to the train station,

1287
01:13:20,854 --> 01:13:22,564
said if he was gonna
send me a special delivery,

1288
01:13:22,648 --> 01:13:24,233
I wasn't gonna be there to get it.

1289
01:13:26,193 --> 01:13:27,236
I done found out,

1290
01:13:28,028 --> 01:13:30,906
the harder you try
and hold onto these men,

1291
01:13:31,573 --> 01:13:34,785
the easier it is for some gal
to come and pull 'em away.

1292
01:13:36,912 --> 01:13:38,247
Molly done learned that.

1293
01:13:38,330 --> 01:13:40,833
[audience laughing]

1294
01:13:40,916 --> 01:13:41,959
And that's why

1295
01:13:42,584 --> 01:13:44,711
I don't trust nobody
but the good Lord above,

1296
01:13:44,795 --> 01:13:47,131
and I don't love nobody but my mama.

1297
01:13:49,216 --> 01:13:50,134
Thank you.

1298
01:13:50,217 --> 01:13:51,969
[audience cheering and applauding]

1299
01:14:15,576 --> 01:14:16,743
[Romero] These young people,

1300
01:14:16,827 --> 01:14:19,329
the landscape
they're walking on is sacred.

1301
01:14:19,997 --> 01:14:24,209
August gave his life...
for these words on the paper.

1302
01:14:24,877 --> 01:14:29,173
He was diagnosed with cancer in 2005.

1303
01:14:29,923 --> 01:14:32,050
It's that horrible choice
that you have to make

1304
01:14:32,134 --> 01:14:36,346
if you have a terminal illness,
is, you know, extend life,

1305
01:14:36,430 --> 01:14:40,017
or don't take medications
or don't do chemotherapy,

1306
01:14:40,100 --> 01:14:45,522
and live your life feeling pain,
but being very present.

1307
01:14:45,606 --> 01:14:47,107
And he chose the latter.

1308
01:14:49,902 --> 01:14:56,158
In that time, he and his assistant
worked ceaselessly to finish Radio Golf

1309
01:14:56,241 --> 01:14:59,161
and he got to that finish line.
Just barely.

1310
01:15:04,166 --> 01:15:07,961
When a young actor
enters one of those plays,

1311
01:15:08,045 --> 01:15:11,173
it's almost like picking up
the baton that he left there.

1312
01:15:11,256 --> 01:15:13,842
For a whole new generation of people

1313
01:15:13,926 --> 01:15:17,429
to take on
sort of consciousness that he is offering.

1314
01:15:19,056 --> 01:15:23,393
Everybody gets
this box set of all ten plays.

1315
01:15:23,477 --> 01:15:25,020
[audience cheering and applauding]

1316
01:15:26,271 --> 01:15:28,649
[Viertel] If you're not a member
of that culture

1317
01:15:29,274 --> 01:15:30,484
or those communities,

1318
01:15:31,276 --> 01:15:33,237
to try to feel you've come to understand

1319
01:15:33,320 --> 01:15:36,782
another culture or community
very different than your own,

1320
01:15:36,865 --> 01:15:38,617
in a very visceral and emotional way,

1321
01:15:38,700 --> 01:15:42,412
through a set of people
you've come to love and believe in

1322
01:15:42,496 --> 01:15:45,707
and, I think, that's as valuable
a thing as anyone can do

1323
01:15:45,791 --> 01:15:49,294
in trying to create
cross-cultural community.

1324
01:15:49,378 --> 01:15:52,422
Because August
gave voice to all those people,

1325
01:15:53,090 --> 01:15:55,717
these young people can find their voice.

1326
01:15:56,635 --> 01:16:01,765
You know, this is not about all of them
becoming actors or directors.

1327
01:16:01,848 --> 01:16:05,811
This is about knowing that they can
be anything that they wanna be.

1328
01:16:05,894 --> 01:16:08,522
They can do anything that they want to do.

1329
01:16:08,605 --> 01:16:10,649
Everything is possible, right?

1330
01:16:10,732 --> 01:16:15,153
All right, so we got some doctors,
we got some lawyers, we got some actors.

1331
01:16:15,237 --> 01:16:18,949
I don't know if who wins
is that important, necessarily.

1332
01:16:19,032 --> 01:16:22,160
Just getting there and getting...
First of all, just getting up there,

1333
01:16:22,244 --> 01:16:25,664
to stand up there and do it
takes a lot of guts.

1334
01:16:26,248 --> 01:16:32,379
I'm sure that there were some young actors
who went up there on that stage,

1335
01:16:32,462 --> 01:16:34,756
and even if they didn't wanna be actors,

1336
01:16:34,840 --> 01:16:38,343
because of August Wilson
and because of those words,

1337
01:16:38,427 --> 01:16:41,763
they probably had
great revelations in their lives.

1338
01:16:41,847 --> 01:16:43,640
And great healing.

1339
01:16:43,724 --> 01:16:47,811
And there may have been
some artists who were created in that.

1340
01:16:47,894 --> 01:16:51,898
People who said,
"This is what it is that I wanna do."

1341
01:16:52,524 --> 01:16:56,737
In a world that sometimes
really is lacking in compassion,

1342
01:16:59,114 --> 01:17:01,408
I think it's honorable
to wanna be an artist.

1343
01:17:02,034 --> 01:17:03,619
The judges have already told me

1344
01:17:03,702 --> 01:17:07,581
that this was the hardest decision
that they have had to make in ten years.

1345
01:17:07,664 --> 01:17:10,000
[audience cheering and applauding]

1346
01:17:12,711 --> 01:17:13,962
All right.

1347
01:17:15,922 --> 01:17:18,133
Ah! Third place.

1348
01:17:18,759 --> 01:17:22,137
$1,000 to Teslyne Junior.

1349
01:17:22,220 --> 01:17:24,222
[audience cheering and applauding]

1350
01:17:28,935 --> 01:17:30,896
[indistinct conversation]

1351
01:17:35,901 --> 01:17:38,153
Second place, $2,000...

1352
01:17:40,405 --> 01:17:41,907
Nia Sarfo.

1353
01:17:41,990 --> 01:17:44,534
[audience cheering and applauding]

1354
01:17:54,127 --> 01:17:57,297
First place, $3,000...

1355
01:18:03,428 --> 01:18:05,263
Gerardo Navarro.

1356
01:18:05,347 --> 01:18:08,016
[audience cheering and applauding]

1357
01:18:20,570 --> 01:18:24,116
We thank you for coming
and we'll see you next year!

1358
01:18:24,199 --> 01:18:26,660
[uplifting music playing]

1359
01:18:40,424 --> 01:18:41,550
[indistinct chatter]

1360
01:18:41,633 --> 01:18:42,843
Fantastic.

1361
01:18:44,678 --> 01:18:45,929
I'm so happy.

1362
01:18:46,012 --> 01:18:47,097
-[man] It's awesome.
-Yes.

1363
01:18:48,807 --> 01:18:53,478
[Nia] This experience, honestly,
all I can say is I'm extremely grateful.

1364
01:18:53,562 --> 01:18:57,983
It really was about the journey
and not the destination.

1365
01:18:58,567 --> 01:19:02,904
And I'm still figuring things out
for myself.

1366
01:19:05,323 --> 01:19:10,454
But I've proven to myself
that I'm capable of doing a lot.

1367
01:19:12,998 --> 01:19:16,585
If you have enough
gut and grit inside of you,

1368
01:19:17,502 --> 01:19:19,212
you can do anything that's possible.

1369
01:19:20,213 --> 01:19:21,548
[chuckles] When you don't got a lot,

1370
01:19:21,631 --> 01:19:24,426
you always seek to have more,
you get hungry.

1371
01:19:25,010 --> 01:19:26,428
You know? And I always,

1372
01:19:26,511 --> 01:19:28,638
always knew I
was destined to be something more.

1373
01:19:29,598 --> 01:19:31,767
There was something
out there for me. I knew it.

1374
01:19:35,020 --> 01:19:37,105
[Callie] Because of his stories,

1375
01:19:37,189 --> 01:19:40,650
I have a better idea
of who I am as a person.

1376
01:19:41,193 --> 01:19:44,446
I have a better idea
of the ancestry that I hold.

1377
01:19:44,529 --> 01:19:48,200
It helped me develop as an individual,
as an African American female,

1378
01:19:48,283 --> 01:19:49,743
and then as a theater artist,

1379
01:19:49,826 --> 01:19:55,165
I feel more agency over who I am
and over what I bring to the table.

1380
01:19:55,832 --> 01:19:57,417
I'm thankful for the opportunity.

1381
01:19:58,376 --> 01:19:59,920
August gave me the chance

1382
01:20:00,003 --> 01:20:02,214
to put myself out there
for the very first time,

1383
01:20:02,839 --> 01:20:04,174
and showed me...

1384
01:20:05,592 --> 01:20:07,010
you're worth seeing.

1385
01:20:07,719 --> 01:20:08,762
You're worth seeing.

1386
01:20:12,057 --> 01:20:15,018
[Gerardo] Winning was, of course,
something I didn't expect.

1387
01:20:15,644 --> 01:20:17,646
But I think it says
a lot about his work as well.

1388
01:20:17,729 --> 01:20:19,439
That it is for everyone,

1389
01:20:19,523 --> 01:20:21,274
and that it speaks
for those that are not seen.

1390
01:20:23,193 --> 01:20:24,986
I have talks amongst my friends

1391
01:20:25,070 --> 01:20:27,614
where we talk about
the lack of representation

1392
01:20:27,697 --> 01:20:31,076
and we think
that's because we are the change.

1393
01:20:31,660 --> 01:20:33,203
We have to be the change.

1394
01:20:35,914 --> 01:20:39,084
[Washington] Just knowing someone cares,
you know, that's our job.

1395
01:20:39,668 --> 01:20:42,087
We have to do all we can for them,
encourage them,

1396
01:20:42,170 --> 01:20:46,091
and lift them up and build them up
and give them a chance to compete.

1397
01:20:46,174 --> 01:20:49,010
Not everybody makes it to the top.

1398
01:20:49,094 --> 01:20:52,138
And what's the definition
of the top anyway?

1399
01:20:54,182 --> 01:20:57,644
[Davis] You have to remember
the final step, which is significance.

1400
01:20:59,646 --> 01:21:03,066
And significance
is something much higher than awards.

1401
01:21:03,733 --> 01:21:05,277
It's about legacy.

1402
01:21:06,069 --> 01:21:09,698
That thing that you wanna
leave behind once you're gone.

1403
01:21:12,868 --> 01:21:15,287
Winning is not going to get you anything

1404
01:21:15,370 --> 01:21:17,914
because as soon as
you have that award in your hand,

1405
01:21:17,998 --> 01:21:21,126
the three famous words
is gonna haunt you in your life.

1406
01:21:21,751 --> 01:21:25,046
And the three famous words
are gonna be, "And now what?"

1407
01:21:27,299 --> 01:21:28,341
And now what?

1408
01:21:49,613 --> 01:21:54,034
[Wilson] I am standing here
in my grandfather's shoes.

1409
01:21:55,076 --> 01:21:56,661
They are large shoes.

1410
01:21:58,079 --> 01:22:00,916
They are the shoes
of a whole generation of men

1411
01:22:01,499 --> 01:22:05,962
who left a life of unspeakable horror
in the South

1412
01:22:06,046 --> 01:22:12,636
and came north, searching for jobs,
and a way to live life with dignity

1413
01:22:13,219 --> 01:22:15,805
and whatever eloquence
the heart can call upon.

1414
01:22:16,765 --> 01:22:20,769
They came from
the cotton fields of Georgia

1415
01:22:21,478 --> 01:22:23,438
and Arkansas and Mississippi,

1416
01:22:24,105 --> 01:22:26,650
from the chain gangs of Alabama,

1417
01:22:27,525 --> 01:22:30,236
from the cane fields of Louisiana,

1418
01:22:30,987 --> 01:22:36,493
and in my grandfather's case,
from the tobacco fields of North Carolina.

1419
01:22:37,744 --> 01:22:42,165
They came carrying bibles and guitars.

1420
01:22:42,791 --> 01:22:46,461
Marked men seeking a way of bludgeoning

1421
01:22:46,544 --> 01:22:49,297
and shaping
the malleable parts of themselves

1422
01:22:49,381 --> 01:22:56,012
into a new identity
as free men of definite and sincere worth.

1423
01:22:57,180 --> 01:23:01,434
They brought with them
manners and a way of life

1424
01:23:01,518 --> 01:23:05,355
that corresponded to their
temperament and sensibilities.

1425
01:23:06,314 --> 01:23:12,570
And it is this field of manners
and rituals of social intercourse,

1426
01:23:13,196 --> 01:23:14,656
out of which I make my art.

1427
01:23:16,992 --> 01:23:18,118
I thank you.

1428
01:23:18,994 --> 01:23:20,578
My grandfather thanks you.

1429
01:23:21,287 --> 01:23:23,331
By honoring me, you honor him.

1430
01:23:24,040 --> 01:23:27,085
And by virtue of that,
you honor yourselves.

1431
01:23:28,586 --> 01:23:30,213
This year. What do you got?

1432
01:23:30,296 --> 01:23:31,464
All right, so here's the pitch.

1433
01:23:32,173 --> 01:23:37,012
Two Trains Running. Memphis.
Act one. Scene two.

1434
01:23:49,357 --> 01:23:51,943
["Never Break" playing]

1435
01:23:54,821 --> 01:23:58,950
♪ Oh, yeah ♪

1436
01:24:00,910 --> 01:24:03,621
♪ We got a good thing, babe ♪

1437
01:24:03,705 --> 01:24:06,624
♪ Whenever life is hard ♪

1438
01:24:06,708 --> 01:24:08,835
♪ We'll never lose our way ♪

1439
01:24:08,918 --> 01:24:12,672
♪ 'Cause we both know who we are ♪

1440
01:24:12,756 --> 01:24:14,966
♪ Who knows about tomorrow ♪

1441
01:24:15,050 --> 01:24:18,011
♪ We don't know what's in the stars ♪

1442
01:24:18,094 --> 01:24:21,264
♪ I just know I'll always follow ♪

1443
01:24:21,347 --> 01:24:24,392
♪ The light in your heart ♪

1444
01:24:25,060 --> 01:24:28,021
♪ I'm not worried about us ♪

1445
01:24:28,104 --> 01:24:30,732
♪ And I've never been ♪

1446
01:24:30,815 --> 01:24:34,527
♪ We know how the story ends ♪

1447
01:24:34,611 --> 01:24:40,116
♪ We will never break
We will never break ♪

1448
01:24:40,200 --> 01:24:43,328
♪ Built on a foundation ♪

1449
01:24:43,411 --> 01:24:46,247
♪ Strong enough to stay ♪

1450
01:24:46,331 --> 01:24:49,125
♪ We will never break ♪

1451
01:24:49,209 --> 01:24:52,087
♪ As the water rises ♪

1452
01:24:52,170 --> 01:24:55,006
♪ And the mountains shake ♪

1453
01:24:55,090 --> 01:24:57,926
♪ Our love will remain ♪

1454
01:24:58,009 --> 01:25:00,303
♪ We will never ♪

1455
01:25:01,179 --> 01:25:03,598
♪ No, no, never ♪

1456
01:25:04,140 --> 01:25:06,392
♪ We will never ♪

1457
01:25:06,976 --> 01:25:09,437
♪ No, no, never ♪

1458
01:25:11,022 --> 01:25:13,983
♪ It's more than a good sensation ♪

1459
01:25:14,067 --> 01:25:16,402
♪ It's more than a passing fling ♪

1460
01:25:17,028 --> 01:25:19,239
♪ You are the explanation ♪

1461
01:25:19,322 --> 01:25:22,700
♪ Of what love really means ♪

1462
01:25:22,784 --> 01:25:25,036
♪ It's bigger than you and me ♪

1463
01:25:25,120 --> 01:25:27,997
♪ It's one plus one equals three ♪

1464
01:25:28,623 --> 01:25:31,292
♪ When we talk about forever ♪

1465
01:25:31,376 --> 01:25:34,337
♪ Then forever's what we mean ♪

1466
01:25:35,130 --> 01:25:38,174
♪ So I'm not worried about us ♪

1467
01:25:38,258 --> 01:25:40,885
♪ And I've never been ♪

1468
01:25:40,969 --> 01:25:44,848
♪ No matter what may come our way ♪

1469
01:25:44,931 --> 01:25:50,603
♪ We will never break
We will never break ♪

1470
01:25:50,687 --> 01:25:53,523
♪ Built on a foundation ♪

1471
01:25:53,606 --> 01:25:56,401
♪ Stronger than the pain ♪

1472
01:25:56,484 --> 01:25:59,404
♪ We will never break ♪

1473
01:25:59,487 --> 01:26:02,365
♪ As the water rises ♪

1474
01:26:02,448 --> 01:26:05,368
♪ And the mountains shake ♪

1475
01:26:05,451 --> 01:26:08,121
♪ Our love will remain ♪

1476
01:26:08,204 --> 01:26:10,582
♪ We will never ♪

1477
01:26:11,416 --> 01:26:13,376
♪ No, no, never ♪

1478
01:26:14,169 --> 01:26:17,463
♪ We will never ♪

1479
01:26:17,547 --> 01:26:19,549
♪ No, no, never ♪

1480
01:26:20,133 --> 01:26:22,510
♪ We will never ♪

1481
01:26:23,178 --> 01:26:25,346
♪ No, never ♪

1482
01:26:25,430 --> 01:26:28,349
♪ We will never ♪

1483
01:26:29,142 --> 01:26:32,228
♪ No ♪

1484
01:26:33,563 --> 01:26:36,691
♪ The world is dangerous ♪

1485
01:26:36,774 --> 01:26:39,611
♪ Throw it all at us ♪

1486
01:26:39,694 --> 01:26:43,448
♪ There's nothing we cannot take ♪

1487
01:26:43,531 --> 01:26:48,995
♪ We will never break
We will never break ♪

1488
01:26:49,078 --> 01:26:51,623
♪ Built on a foundation ♪

1489
01:26:52,165 --> 01:26:54,918
♪ Strong enough to stay ♪

1490
01:26:55,001 --> 01:26:58,171
♪ We will never break ♪

1491
01:26:58,254 --> 01:27:01,007
♪ As the water rises ♪

1492
01:27:01,090 --> 01:27:03,885
♪ And the mountains shake ♪

1493
01:27:03,968 --> 01:27:06,638
♪ Our love will remain ♪

1494
01:27:06,721 --> 01:27:09,891
♪ We will never ♪

1495
01:27:09,974 --> 01:27:12,143
♪ No, no, never ♪

1496
01:27:12,769 --> 01:27:15,897
♪ We will never ♪

1497
01:27:15,980 --> 01:27:18,524
♪ No, no, never ♪

1498
01:27:18,608 --> 01:27:21,194
♪ We will never ♪

1499
01:27:21,778 --> 01:27:23,947
♪ No, never ♪

1500
01:27:24,030 --> 01:27:28,243
♪ We will never ♪

1501
01:27:28,326 --> 01:27:30,536
♪ No ♪

1502
01:27:30,620 --> 01:27:33,957
♪ We will never ♪

1503
01:27:34,040 --> 01:27:36,751
♪ No, never ♪

1504
01:27:36,834 --> 01:27:39,754
♪ We will ♪

1505
01:27:39,837 --> 01:27:44,550
♪ No ♪