Under the Influence (with Jo Piazza) - Suffs Broke Open My Soul, An Interview with Nikki James

00:00:00.000 Hey all, Joe here and you are listening to Under the Influence.

00:00:10.760 Sometimes I like to talk about the good things that influence us, instead of all of the crap

00:00:15.540 on social media that is definitely making our lives worse.

00:00:19.560 And today I have one of those good things.

00:00:21.800 The other night I did a ladies' trip to New York City with my friends Tara and Janelle.

00:00:26.900 We stayed in the Moxie Hotel, which has bunk beds.

00:00:30.400 And I gotta tell you, it was pretty awesome because as grown women, we don't always want

00:00:34.500 to share a bed, okay?

00:00:36.100 I share a bed with my husband, I share a bed with my kids, and when I'm on vacation, I

00:00:41.080 don't want to sleep next to another human.

00:00:43.160 So these bunk beds really, really made this trip something special.

00:00:46.800 The other thing that made this trip super special and that broke open my soul in ways

00:00:51.920 that I didn't expect was the Broadway show Suffs.

00:00:56.160 Yeah, I knew I was going to love it.

00:00:58.120 A lot of my friends have been recommending it for a year now,

00:01:01.960 but I haven't had time to make it up to New York.

00:01:04.440 I finally saw it, and I got to tell you, after this election,

00:01:08.020 that show hit in a different way.

00:01:10.620 It really did.

00:01:11.620 I found myself sobbing into the arms of a stranger in the bathroom,

00:01:16.400 and I was not alone.

00:01:18.400 I was not the only one.

00:01:19.780 if you haven't heard about suffs it is it's really something else it is a musical like a really good

00:01:28.080 musical a musical that you were going to be bopping to that's about the american women's

00:01:32.240 suffrage movement there was so much in this show so much history that i did not know that i am

00:01:37.860 ashamed that i did not know every single member of this cast is incredible all of them and we're

00:01:44.340 very lucky to have one of those cast members here today, the wonderful Nikki James, who portrays

00:01:50.840 true American hero, Ida B. Wells. Okay, so Nikki, as we dive into this, I've just, I've got to tell

00:02:05.760 you that I went to go see Suf's with two of my girlfriends last week, and I knew it was going to

00:02:14.240 hit hard. I think it hits harder now than it probably did a month ago. But we were not the

00:02:21.640 only ones bawling in the audience. Bawling. And then bawling at intermission. And then strangers

00:02:28.640 were hugging each other in the bathroom. I don't know if you know that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Strangers

00:02:33.420 were comforting one another in the bathroom and saying, you know, it's gonna be okay. Yeah. It's

00:02:41.020 gonna be okay i want to back up a little bit you were incredible in this show you really i mean

00:02:48.640 every everyone is incredible in this show and i want to hear a little bit from you about

00:02:55.200 what inspired you why did you want to play this role it's like this this show

00:03:03.600 So Suf's is like a, it's like a many layered onion for me.

00:03:10.800 It's like a terrible metaphor, but there are so many factors just come together that made

00:03:17.600 this the exact right project for me.

00:03:20.280 And the first thing I'll say is I am obsessed with Shayna Tao.

00:03:27.540 Yes, I think we should all, I think we should all be obsessed with Shayna Tao.

00:03:31.020 And we met in 2016, officially met.

00:03:37.060 I had known who she was and she knew who I was.

00:03:39.840 We both went to NYU.

00:03:40.920 She's many years behind me.

00:03:42.920 Or not many, but enough.

00:03:44.820 And we met.

00:03:47.080 I did a musical adaptation of Twelfth Night that she wrote for Shakespeare in the Park for the public theater.

00:03:53.600 And it was part of their public works program.

00:03:55.760 And the big drive, like the big sort of mission, overarching mission of the Public Works program at the Public Theater is art for all, by all in New York City.

00:04:09.360 It's like very much in line with Joseph Papp's original idea behind this, you know, free theater, which is that it was like so that every New Yorker could experience the magic of theater.

00:04:21.240 And then Public Works takes it one step farther by allowing the public at large from all five boroughs, people from all five boroughs and from many different age range backgrounds to come together to actually make the theater.

00:04:33.820 So this was a musical adaptation of Twelfth Night that had a cast of 70 and only five of us were professional performers.

00:04:41.460 Oh, my gosh. Wow.

00:04:42.160 And some of them were aspiring professional performers. Some of them were like retirees.

00:04:47.400 um one one of my my favorite um uh uh one of my favorite performers is a retired uh

00:04:55.900 new york city subway driver who drove subways and now he's um you know in these shows and

00:05:04.000 just hearing shana's work the incredible work she did on this adaptation her beautiful music

00:05:10.160 but then also being around a person whose spirit of activism and community and the fact that the

00:05:17.320 arts can transform lives is not at all a it's she's a person who who walks the walk in a real

00:05:26.480 way and I fell madly in love with her I played Viola for her and and then we got to do it again

00:05:33.000 in 2018 in a more you know sort of a longer run and between 2018 and 2016 she told me I'm working

00:05:42.220 on this new musical about the suffrage movement and she said did you know and then she downloaded

00:05:47.680 all the things that i definitely didn't know about the suffrage movement so i did not know

00:05:53.100 the name alice paul i did not i did not know the name alice paul either and we feel very ashamed

00:06:02.160 we i will tell you that after i mean everything ever like all all of the massive amounts of

00:06:09.700 knowledge that that we learned while watching this show and i consider myself someone who knows

00:06:14.740 feminist history the the number of things i didn't know really just blew my freaking mind

00:06:21.280 yeah so it's and she asked me to play idle wells and she was telling me about these people and i

00:06:27.300 got together with her in 2017 january i think of 2017 or the end of 2017 whatever it was 2017

00:06:36.780 what is time

00:06:37.720 what is time anyway

00:06:39.760 after a pandemic

00:06:40.580 and having a two year old child

00:06:42.020 I have no idea what time is

00:06:43.300 but

00:06:43.500 I did like a little reading

00:06:46.180 of it

00:06:46.780 and she just had

00:06:47.720 the first 30 minutes

00:06:48.680 of what would

00:06:49.260 now become Suft's

00:06:50.580 musical at the time

00:06:51.460 that had no title

00:06:52.300 and Jen Colella 1.00

00:06:53.600 was there as well

00:06:54.500 playing

00:06:55.020 Carrie Chapman Cat

00:06:56.420 and

00:06:57.360 I just said like

00:06:58.680 this is going to be

00:06:59.460 my next project

00:07:00.040 and I kept showing up

00:07:01.260 and

00:07:01.940 and Shana kept showing up

00:07:03.620 and I fell in love

00:07:04.440 with Ida

00:07:04.940 and I

00:07:06.780 Over the years, I grew closer in age to Ida.

00:07:12.180 I remember when I first did it, I was like, I've been too young to play this part.

00:07:15.240 But now I'm like getting there.

00:07:17.520 And I love that Shano is not shying away from the racism that was present in the women's movement,

00:07:29.120 in the early suffrage movement and still present today in a lot of areas of women's rights.

00:07:38.420 And she was not shy about having these conversations.

00:07:43.600 So wanting to be around Shana and then Lee, our director,

00:07:48.380 and being so committed to telling Ida's story and knowing in my soul

00:07:54.180 that it was a great American musical.

00:07:59.480 I always knew it.

00:08:00.700 In fact, like, I said this to Shana.

00:08:02.320 I was like, there were times where you didn't believe it

00:08:04.600 as much as I did.

00:08:05.660 And she's like, you're right.

00:08:07.100 I just knew.

00:08:08.620 I knew what she had in her.

00:08:10.900 And being a commercial success is not the same thing

00:08:14.860 as having, like, lasting impact on our industry

00:08:17.440 and on the art form.

00:08:19.160 And I know that she has made...

00:08:24.180 a huge mark i i think that in 20 years we'll look back on this and for me you know rent is one of 0.96

00:08:33.160 those musicals that like it's an anchor you know mormon is one hamilton and i think sucks yeah

00:08:40.840 yeah i agree i mean and that's what i've been saying to literally anyone who would listen

00:08:45.620 to me um since seeing it and i i have a lot of friends who have worked with the show who were

00:08:51.880 early investors in the show uh but as as you know because you came became a mother um while while

00:08:58.320 working on the show yeah i've been breeding for eight years um so my my time for for shows has

00:09:05.360 been limited until now uh and i was just i was blown away because it packs so much into a single

00:09:13.760 show and yet also still doesn't feel crowded you know it's it's and does not shy away as you said

00:09:22.600 from the racism that was inherent in the suffrage movement that is still inherent in the women's

00:09:29.540 rights movements and so many other political movements right now but i i think it's done in

00:09:36.100 such a such a brilliant way in that you're you're invested in every character in the play it doesn't

00:09:42.120 feel like anyone is preaching to you you're so invested in everyone's fight that you walk away

00:09:49.200 feeling empathy for everyone yeah um and well because they're fighting with each other like

00:09:55.040 this is the thing that's so smart about the way sheena sheena structured the piece is that like

00:09:59.560 there isn't a moment when we're ever turning out to the audience and saying you should feel this

00:10:04.400 way. It's like we get inside each person's perspective. You know, like when when Alice

00:10:11.100 says to Ida, you might have to wait your turn in line. Like from Alice's perspective, she's like,

00:10:16.700 I'm trying to serve all of these people. And from her perspective, she's like, this is the

00:10:24.200 compromise. Like, what do you mean? Why is this such a big deal? And then Ida gets to be on stage

00:10:29.100 says, like, you don't know what that costs. You don't know what it costs to have to step back

00:10:34.480 day after day after day. And not for nothing, you know, here's Ida looking at Alice Paul being like,

00:10:40.640 babe, I am 30 years your senior. You think that I haven't seen this or heard? You think you're

00:10:46.680 the first person to ask me this question? No, no, no. Let me give you some information. But from

00:10:51.900 the audience perspective, it's like even as like an outside dramaturg, when I step out of it,

00:10:56.820 When I'm in it, I'm 100 percent Ida.

00:10:59.700 When you step out, it's like I understand that people make these kinds of compromises every day.

00:11:04.780 And of course, Alice Paul couldn't know the cost.

00:11:08.320 And so to have them talking to each other as opposed to if I sang Wait My Turn out to the audience, that's like it could be alienating.

00:11:16.560 I don't it's not the way it's set up.

00:11:18.660 and she gives each person's point of view enough respect to know that these people were complicated

00:11:27.140 people and could we go further a little bit in all the areas like sure but it's really beautiful

00:11:34.460 to be witnessing people having conflict within each other while also still trying to move the

00:11:42.220 ball forward in the same way and we are facing that right now that's why it feels so present

00:11:47.520 it we are you know we are like snakes eating our own tails right now we're all playing the blame

00:11:54.220 game and and it's like we can't get distracted by that right like we have to you know let people

00:12:01.780 take care of themselves and figure out ways to create coalition even in the face of conflict

00:12:06.340 and um and like no one person is going to be the hero here each person's like efforts were required

00:12:14.960 in order to like pass this including that mother you know oh my god like she was needed she was

00:12:25.560 like vital a woman who wasn't marching who wasn't in the streets who wasn't petitioning the

00:12:31.160 government who wasn't giving speeches but a person who said i know my son and i'm gonna and my son is

00:12:37.720 a good person and so like every single person's um effort like fingerprints were needed in this

00:12:46.080 this thing and it's this show being in the show and telling the story every day makes me so very

00:12:53.760 proud to be an american and a first generation american at that and it also makes me so deeply

00:12:58.680 believe in democracy and that's that's the thing that is the thing i gotta say is you know seeing

00:13:05.960 this after the election i think it's very easy to start to feel hopeless um and and beaten down but

00:13:12.880 this also watching it made me very proud to be an american and very proud of the constantly

00:13:20.700 evolving version of our democracy and that change can happen even though and but it's also this

00:13:27.760 reminder that change takes a really long time um and we have to keep um uh and that our

00:13:37.660 participation is required and that if you are not constant if you are not remaining vigil there are

00:13:43.940 people who are fighting against you whose idea of what the perfect democracy is different than

00:13:48.500 ours and therefore we must not be complacent we must continue to participate you know she wrote

00:13:53.820 a song called keep marching and in the public at the public theater production also the other

00:14:00.240 thing that's been amazing about this piece is that like every iteration had its own like sort

00:14:06.120 of special thing um and i really believe that this version of the show is the best version of this

00:14:13.540 show but in the public the the final song keep marching is new for broadway and um the original

00:14:22.560 song that the finale was called the work is never over it was like slightly less hopeful

00:14:27.740 and i remember like thinking it was like sort of like a weird change because

00:14:33.700 the work is never over so we so it's like it's a similar message but then

00:14:40.020 i was like why did you change it and she was like i wanted it to feel like an indictment

00:14:47.580 and a call to action and and the work is never over like didn't feel right even though that is

00:14:54.040 true in keep marching the keep marching also really feels like a community song as opposed

00:15:01.060 to like a person's individual work anyway it's like cool those little that those little things

00:15:07.120 i think um the brilliance of this a great dramatist but also like just like constantly

00:15:14.760 trying to like be more clear about what it is you're trying to say and and letting the work

00:15:22.180 evolve right oh yeah um yeah because this and i i i want this to be you know part of a curriculum

00:15:31.420 in schools i want i want um my friends are desperate to try to get their girl scout troop

00:15:37.660 in oh yeah yeah before the show closes so we're working on that this week uh and my daughter's

00:15:43.460 not old enough to be a Girl Scout and she's totally going to sneak in with them. Absolutely. 0.97

00:15:47.260 Yeah. Because she'll love it. But yeah, letting the art evolve, I think is so important because

00:15:54.660 the world is also going to change in reflect, like because of this play and, you know, outside

00:16:00.120 of this play. Oh, sure. I want to take a really quick break. And when we get back, I want to talk

00:16:04.600 a little bit about how you have changed while doing this role. You know, becoming a mother

00:16:10.420 and, you know, stepping into a new phase of life,

00:16:12.900 I think it has to change you

00:16:14.440 and change how you portray Ida, right?

00:16:17.080 It does.

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00:16:27.140 Now.

00:16:29.280 What about now?

00:16:31.360 Whenever it hits you, wherever you are,

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00:16:49.440 O'Hungry O'Henry.

00:16:55.800 Okay, we're back.

00:16:57.680 You've been with Ida.

00:17:00.340 You've been Ida for a while now, and you became a mom

00:17:04.440 while you were portraying Ida.

00:17:06.120 how has that changed how you play her and also how you view the show it's funny it's just like

00:17:14.380 becoming a mother was a thing that I wasn't sure that I was going to do like I was not a person

00:17:21.160 who was like I desperately want to be a mother I was a person who was like I desperately want

00:17:26.460 to be a Broadway actress I desperately want to win a Tony Award like I've always been like very

00:17:31.140 career focused and storytelling focused and this is not it is not easy to be a mother and pursue

00:17:39.000 a career in any field in anything yes anything um being a mother takes 100 of yourself and to be

00:17:47.260 good at your job no matter what your job is requires 100 of yourself and commitment and

00:17:53.580 i knew as i watched my mother who's a working mother and many of my friends who are working

00:17:58.740 mothers. And I saw like, I don't know that that's for me. I don't know that I have the capacity for

00:18:04.620 it. And I felt like I had a very full life having children, my my nephews and my friends, kids that

00:18:10.760 all called me auntie. And I felt like I had been, you know, like maybe I was gifted with having a

00:18:16.820 very specific relationship with with the children of the world, which is like as like a special

00:18:22.540 confidant. And then the pandemic changed everything in every way. And it also changed my relationship

00:18:27.540 with myself and my business didn't exist and I thought oh wow like look at how full my life is

00:18:35.040 when I'm not running to a theater eight times a week and what else is there out for me and I

00:18:39.900 decided to have a kid and I got pregnant um or I found out I was pregnant two weeks into our

00:18:45.880 rehearsal process for the public oh my daughter was with that cast from literally her inception

00:18:52.380 and um i was like six months pregnant i think when the show closed in june and then we did

00:19:00.300 another workshop in january of 2023 and i had a five-week-old baby that i want to rehearsal with

00:19:07.680 me six days a week my mother took time out of her life moved in with us and would come to work with

00:19:14.940 me every single day and they set up a little nursery down the hall from the big rehearsal room 0.91

00:19:20.700 where my child spent time with my mom and I would rush in to nurse. And I was surrounded by these

00:19:28.760 incredible women who were taking such good care of me and her and were making it possible for me to 0.92

00:19:34.120 be as close to 100% as one can get. Wow. Well, I mean, it really, look, it really does take a 1.00

00:19:41.540 village. And I love that. I also, I mean, that is also what I want for every woman. Yes. Yes. Yes.

00:19:48.320 Yes. I mean, I think about that a lot. I was working at Yahoo years ago when the CEO of Yahoo had had her babies and she she got a lot of flack for setting up, you know, essentially a nursery for these babies so that she could continue to work.

00:20:04.480 And I remember just remember thinking, no, like this is this is how this has to be done. She's running a company. She's choosing to continue to do this. And so she's making it work for her.

00:20:15.180 it's so nuts i mean like if we think back to humanity like yes we all have seen the you know

00:20:23.760 we have the images of you know uh uh a person tending the field while their child is next to

00:20:32.480 them like there is there's a way to make this all work and the idea that one should like hide

00:20:38.700 themselves or or like remove themselves from like public life or engaging it's so tricky and of

00:20:46.560 course each generation is going to find what works and what doesn't work as we navigate this world

00:20:52.440 but like I was unwilling to be away from my child and I was also unwilling to not participate in

00:21:01.440 this project that I was an integral part of. And our producers and my creative team, who I will say

00:21:09.140 were all women, thank you very much, were like, what can we do? How can we make this work? And

00:21:16.500 guess what? I was my best self. I was able to be 100% present in the room because I knew

00:21:22.120 that if it was time to nurse, I could like run to this room down the hall. And anyway, just to say

00:21:28.900 that part of it changed me in so much as I realized like how easy it is to ask for help

00:21:35.500 and how much people are willing to help and that you don't have to do it alone if you are

00:21:41.620 lucky enough to be able to work and create in a real true community which I yeah um but then

00:21:51.900 there's the other parts when I am on stage playing Ida and I think about how brave this

00:21:58.340 woman was and I think about what how much risk she put herself in by saying the things she was

00:22:07.680 saying and I'm like how does somebody have the courage to do that then you become a mother and

00:22:13.880 then you think she's not doing this for herself she is doing this so that her children can be safe

00:22:22.860 so you put yourself in front of your children in a way that you have no idea that you have

00:22:35.420 the capacity to do it I remember like I was like oh I don't eat and my husband's like what do you

00:22:45.380 mean you made like breakfast you made like I was like right but you don't even think about it like

00:22:50.220 my focus is on did she get enough food is she eating and then somehow down the line as you're

00:22:56.500 cleaning up the dishes you're like oh wait maybe i should have two bites of this like

00:22:59.240 and that's just like a very like sort of you know no but it's i mean it's a very relatable

00:23:04.480 example right i mean this is my this is my life every day i'm like wait a second you don't think

00:23:09.140 about it i haven't showered i have not that showering is what is mine actually yeah and

00:23:14.660 and it doesn't feel like a sacrifice and so becoming a mother um has brought me closer to

00:23:22.140 Ida but it's also brought me closer to myself I it's so much easier for me to say what is and

00:23:28.680 is not important um to me um it makes decision making like pretty simple because my priority

00:23:37.560 lists are so clear to me um but I also think that like the ways in which I've changed in

00:23:46.500 portraying Ida over the last number of years is how much more bold and brave I have been

00:23:56.120 in becoming outspoken my own beliefs and it's really brought into clarity to me the

00:24:05.220 the conversations I'm willing to engage in the the communities that I want to lend my name and

00:24:14.780 my talent and my time to and um yeah like

00:24:21.980 knowing that yeah I want to I want to hear more about that I mean how has and I will say you know 0.87

00:24:30.300 Out of all of the women who were portrayed in this show, I probably knew the most about Ida. 0.58

00:24:37.380 Sure.

00:24:37.840 You know, as a journalist from journalism school, I still learned a ton about her that I did not know.

00:24:44.400 Sure.

00:24:44.580 But how has embodying Ida, you know, changed you and how you want to support women and women of color moving forward in the world?

00:25:00.300 Well, like, Ida was just, this is a word that Shayna used in an early draft, and I think it's the perfect way to describe her.

00:25:11.500 She was unflinching.

00:25:14.540 And I think as a woman and as a performer, you have a tendency, or I have, when I say you, I mean me,

00:25:28.360 has a tendency to be people pleasing, to bite my tongue, to allow an offhanded comment to

00:25:38.740 pass, to placate, to want to be liked, to feel that I need to smile, to say, no, that's okay

00:25:50.100 that you stepped on me or stepped over me or ignored a need. And

00:25:58.360 And it's like, Ida would just never.

00:26:01.180 And I think I'm now a leader.

00:26:03.720 I'm one of the older members of the cast.

00:26:06.340 I'm very clear about what our responsibilities are.

00:26:09.380 It's like very easy for me to lead with love, but also with like a firm hand.

00:26:16.020 And also to allow my Blackness to be front and center in a way that growing up in this industry in my early 20s,

00:26:26.060 um,

00:26:28.360 I'm trying to think of a really like articulate way to say this and there isn't one because I

00:26:33.980 still am processing it for myself anyway but for most of the majority of the early parts of my

00:26:40.280 career I was playing it I was playing I was in a show I would be in a show where the expectation

00:26:48.680 is that all of the characters were white even if the person playing them was not you know I made

00:26:57.180 my broadway debut in the adventures of tom sawyer there were some black actors in this show and like

00:27:01.980 but the that their blackness was not part of the storytelling and therefore you end up having to

00:27:08.620 like erase that part of you even though it's the most present part of you right right yeah no and

00:27:14.560 that and that makes so much sense and i did that a lot and and for a while i thought like that is

00:27:20.300 advancement that is an advancement like seeing black faces or non-white faces in the ensemble

00:27:29.380 of musicals was that was those were steps and now I want to be like happy to be in this show

00:27:38.760 but I'm gonna be being a black person you know what I mean like my point of view is gonna be

00:27:45.380 like that not that I'm going to race myself and um that was a real evolution for me and I take the

00:27:54.280 lead from a lot of younger performers who who did not you know sort of come up in the exact same

00:27:58.800 world that I came up in and they're so unflinching about that and I think it's really um admirable

00:28:05.260 and it's quite scary and so I feel like I that has changed me playing this part um

00:28:12.780 the conversations I had with Shana about how Ida was being portrayed and um were and my and sharing

00:28:22.140 my own experiences with her the number that we we do in the second act the reprise um was not in the

00:28:31.660 show it didn't exist in a show in a lot of early drafts we wrote she wrote that song in advance of

00:28:36.180 the public production it's now a duet between myself and Mary in the public production it was

00:28:40.780 more of a solo and i i i said to her like we were getting ready to do the public and i was like

00:28:47.220 you don't have an opportunity for ida to speak her real truth on stage without the presence of 0.65

00:28:55.560 the white gaze and i'm going to tell you right now that black people under will edit themselves

00:29:03.460 and their thoughts and their comments and their behavior when there are when there's when there are 0.54

00:29:10.780 people present that are have perceived more you know they're and they're you know higher up on

00:29:16.780 the totem pole or whatever than power i mean however you want to say it right and i said and

00:29:21.540 you have this opportunity you have ida wells this most powerful woman a woman who wrote

00:29:25.980 so much who has like shaped the face of american journalism on your stage and the audience doesn't

00:29:32.140 ever get a moment alone with her and i'm like that's a problem and that's a blind spot that

00:29:37.480 you have and it's a thing that's been done to black performers and performers of color a lot

00:29:43.920 in musicals where it's like you come on stage you do one big fancy number in the second act and then

00:29:48.520 we don't hear from you again like there's a joke about that and you know the 11 o'clock number or

00:29:52.540 whatever so she really took that to heart and it was really scary for me to have that conversation

00:29:59.740 with her because I respect her so much and I didn't want her to think I was prescribing how

00:30:04.120 she should write her show but having played Ida all these years I was thinking I cannot let this

00:30:10.320 opportunity pass or this moment pass without sharing this with her what she does with it is

00:30:14.660 her is this is her show but like as her colleague and as response and her friend um I have a

00:30:23.140 responsibility to say this both to her for me and for Ida and I said that too I said I'm saying this

00:30:28.780 for me too for nicki james but also i don't also i don't and also all the young women of color who

00:30:35.740 are going to see the show for centuries and when i came into rehearsal for the public production and

00:30:43.560 uh we sat in the rehearsal room to learn that song and i i heard those lyrics

00:30:51.300 uh i just started hysterically crying could not make sure and i just thought like

00:31:02.460 how lucky am i to know and to be working with this artist who heard the things that i said

00:31:18.980 and although our life experiences are different she was able to voice it in a way that felt

00:31:26.680 so specific and also deeply universal and I'm just like she is best and I felt like and to me like

00:31:38.240 still that like scene and it even got better when we moved to Broadway I mean she yeah so anyway you

00:31:44.680 asked how is it being Ida playing Ida all these years is actually what made that conversation

00:31:51.680 possible yeah because I don't it was so brave on your part and then also you know brave and

00:32:00.460 wonderful on Shana's part too yeah I mean to to take something in to change your to change something

00:32:07.740 that is so close to you um and to be able I mean I think that that is you know the the work of a

00:32:14.500 great artist to be able to see things from so many different perspectives um and to take to

00:32:19.440 take in the the criticism um i love that let's take one more quick break here we'll be right back

00:32:29.140 i think this show matters more than ever i want this show to be seen by as many people

00:32:43.000 as possible and to get this message out there um as much as possible um what is what is next for

00:32:51.600 you what is next for the show well you know broadway is a commercial enterprise and so

00:33:00.680 you know and very expensive and so the show's time in a broadway theater is coming to a close

00:33:08.020 and will have run, I think, more than 300 performances,

00:33:12.240 which is more than respectable.

00:33:14.260 It's amazing.

00:33:15.180 It is incredible.

00:33:18.080 And there will be a tour in the fall, I think, that's going out.

00:33:23.020 So the show will be seen and more.

00:33:24.920 You know, that's the sad part about Broadway

00:33:26.420 is you have to be here and able to get a ticket

00:33:28.720 to have us butt in the seat to see it.

00:33:30.480 And I love the idea that the show is going to travel the country.

00:33:33.420 Yes.

00:33:34.040 Over the next years as, like, the political climate

00:33:37.600 and the conversations about what our democracy means

00:33:40.340 continues to change.

00:33:41.500 I'm sure how the show feels and how it hits

00:33:45.200 both from the perspective of the performers

00:33:47.420 and the audience is going to change.

00:33:48.740 I'm so curious and excited about that.

00:33:50.900 But more than even the tour,

00:33:52.700 and I know this is super big for Shayna too,

00:33:56.340 and for me, being a person who came up

00:33:58.880 falling in love with theater,

00:34:00.180 doing community theater in my town,

00:34:02.040 was the show was going to be licensed

00:34:03.080 to be produced in community theaters

00:34:05.980 and high schools and middle schools.

00:34:07.440 And schools and colleges and, you know, and basements and church, you know, church basements all over the country.

00:34:14.980 And I think the licensing is is really Shana's like big thing is like she wants this show and this story to be told by and performed by and embodied by as many people as possible.

00:34:33.660 You know, it's like and so I'm excited for that.

00:34:37.440 The production we did of Twelfth Night, her adaptation of Twelfth Night is also licensed, and it's a very, very good musical adaptation of Twelfth Night, I will say.

00:34:47.120 And it's so fun for me at the stage door to run into young people to say, like, so they played viola in my, like, school's production.

00:34:54.780 Yes, that's awesome.

00:34:56.240 It's so thrilling that the distance between the, you know, the commercial production or the professional production and the amateur production is, like, so short now.

00:35:07.680 I'm so excited for that.

00:35:09.880 As you said, I do think, I think that this show truly is a landmark performance.

00:35:16.880 You know, it's, I think it is one of the kind of shows that changes what we see on Broadway.

00:35:23.940 And also it's just so, the music is damn good is the thing too.

00:35:27.100 It's not just, it's not just like, you know, I've seen a lot of shows.

00:35:30.400 I'm like, this is important, but this music, this is not in my head.

00:35:33.160 This is not catchy.

00:35:33.960 No, slaps.

00:35:35.260 Yeah, it is.

00:35:36.820 so good yes what do we say backstage we're like it's a bop i mean that's it's a bop it's great 0.53

00:35:43.700 she's it's so that's what's happening with suffs um i will not be going on tour with it and

00:35:51.540 and i will be so sad to say goodbye to ida you know in the eight times a week way but as every

00:35:59.960 single character i've ever played in my entire life occupies a place in my heart and each one

00:36:04.760 of them has changed me and my perspective that's the magic of you know doing pretend life is that

00:36:11.140 you get to you really do get to experience so many perspectives and allow them to affect you

00:36:17.060 but what's next for me outside of that as like a performer is um i was in i mean this is out in the

00:36:25.640 world um i i am will be appearing in the first season of the reboot of daredevil so i'm joining

00:36:34.180 the marvel cinematic universe not as a superhero i can't talk about my character

00:36:38.760 but um and so that was like a really thrilling thing to do i was i was shooting that right before

00:36:44.360 we started rehearsals for this and i'm excited that it will finally see the light of day that

00:36:49.400 is so fun yeah and beyond that i hope to do some more directing and writing and collaborating and

00:36:56.220 singing and concerts and touring like it's like there's the sky's the limit there's so many

00:37:01.820 avenues and threads that i'm like ready to pull now that i um i won't be at the music box all the

00:37:09.480 time every day do you still feel hopeful because i will say that suffs gave me a lot of hope

00:37:17.240 um walking out of that theater yeah i i mean i have to say i have to remain hopeful like

00:37:27.380 choosing a life in the arts is a like of a life of real bizarre and like often unwarranted optimism

00:37:36.380 true this is very true yeah you know like we're not like super practical people no um so i do feel

00:37:46.600 hopeful when i look out into the audience and i see like you said it's so nice to hear that people

00:37:51.360 are strangers are holding each other but when i see the communities that are building and i'm

00:37:56.200 making eye contact with people who I know are moved to action when I see young people.

00:38:04.700 Listen, I think that like every structure should have pressure on it. That's how you figure out

00:38:13.420 where the cracks are. And that's how we fill the cracks. And so our democracy is not unlike

00:38:19.860 anything else. And we are going to learn how strong our structure is. But I also believe

00:38:26.120 that everything is reparable. And so and that doesn't mean we won't have scars and wounds and

00:38:31.780 battles, but like we are capable of so much more. And as these women and stuff showed us, like in

00:38:38.980 the face of really huge odds, they were able to forge a path that was didn't exist. And we don't 0.95

00:38:47.320 know where we'll be and what tests we'll have to withstand but I feel I feel very sure that we can

00:38:56.740 yeah um how long I don't know but um I I know that we can so that's the kind of hope I have

00:39:04.820 I have a hope of resiliency and I also see around me people of such rigor you know

00:39:16.680 Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

00:39:46.680 To know that, like, you can return to the work and make it better.

00:39:53.740 And that's what we're going to do as a nation.

00:39:55.760 And that's what each of us should be doing every single day in our lives with our relationships, with our relationship with ourselves.

00:40:05.200 Yesterday I was at a memorial service for my friend Gavin Creel, who recently passed away too soon.

00:40:13.840 and I was in the St. James Theater

00:40:16.980 with more than a thousand people who loved him

00:40:21.540 and they were showing videos of the teaching

00:40:24.560 that Gavin had done throughout his time,

00:40:28.460 taught a lot and they played music that he wrote

00:40:31.500 and people spoke about his life

00:40:34.200 and I'm just like,

00:40:35.920 we are capable of so much love and compassion

00:40:41.180 and yeah so do I feel hopeful I do yeah I do and um and one of the things that like

00:40:53.260 you know Gavin had been working a lot on it like last over the you know basically since the pandemic

00:40:59.280 and they talked about it yesterday was just like his meditation practice and also like self-love

00:41:03.560 and just like reminding ourselves to take care like real take real care to you know like like

00:41:11.460 yourself to like yourself yes to be kind to be kind to yourself in these terrible and these

00:41:18.900 like weird times right yes and that's how you take care of others too um so yeah there's there's a lot

00:41:25.620 to be hopeful for and excited about yeah i think there's still a lot to be hopeful for there is but 0.97

00:41:31.580 I mean, as we saw in the show and the story of the show, it's going to be it's it's a lot of goddamn work. 0.98

00:41:36.340 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And we just keep marching. 0.99

00:41:39.500 That's right. That's right.

00:41:42.840 And that is all we have for today. 0.72

00:41:45.840 Go see Suf's people. It is closing. 1.00

00:41:48.720 Of course, you can always see it when it is on tour, but I highly recommend going to see it on Broadway.

00:41:54.180 You want to see Nikki as Ida. She is amazing. The show is amazing.

00:41:58.000 I have not felt this way after leaving a theater for years, really. I mean, probably since the

00:42:04.680 first time I saw Hamilton. So I cannot recommend the show enough. It was wonderful. And I do feel

00:42:11.700 hopeful. I think that my hope has changed in the past month, but it is still there. It is still

00:42:17.920 strong. And I think that we will move into 2025 doing wonderful things. But we probably have to

00:42:27.180 rest first. And that's okay. That's okay. I'm ready. I'm ready to start resting. I hope you're

00:42:32.220 ready to start resting. In fact, I'm going to go rest right now. I am. If you love this show,

00:42:38.080 please leave us a review. Share it with all of your friends. Do all the things. You know what

00:42:42.620 to do. You're the freaking best. You are. Have a great day. 0.87

00:42:57.180 We'll see you next time.

00:43:27.180 You

Under the Influence (with Jo Piazza) - December 05, 2024

Suffs Broke Open My Soul, An Interview with Nikki James

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