 My name is Minerva Garcia, one of the co-facilitators of the Latinx Theater Alliance Los Angeles. I, along with the other co-facilitator of our organization, Black Humble Chor, welcome you all to our convening, awake, and activate. Before we begin our kickoff event, honoring and celebrating the legacy lessons of theater artist Diane Rodriguez, I want to take this moment to acknowledge that I stand on the land belonging to the Tangla, the original people of this region. If you know whose indigenous land you stand upon, please take a moment to make your own acknowledgement to the original peoples of Turtle Island. Thank you for being here tonight. I want to give a brief history of Latinx Theater Alliance Los Angeles. Founded in 2012, LTA is an ad hoc group of individual artists and professionals, led by a steering committee of practitioners from L.A. and Orange County. Our goal is to share our rich culture on the national stage by fostering collaboration and empowering our local artistic communities. LTA L.A. produces convenings, public workshops, and the writer's circle, which incubates new works by emerging playwrights while providing access to established playwrights. Awake and activate will be our third convening we produce. The theme of this year's convening emerged from the devastating policy agenda that sprung from the occupant in the White House against the Latinx community. With a refugee migrant crisis at our southern border, the indifferent response of this administration to the people in Puerto Rico when Hurricane Maria hit, the unimaginable pain inflicted on the people of El Paso, the Latinx people of El Paso a year ago. And now our community being unduly affected by COVID-19, the uprisings against police brutality, the Black Lives Matter movement. LTA L.A. wanted to provide a space for our members to bear witness and explore how we as artists can meet this unprecedented moment. We chose to offer three workshops in writing, performance art, and actals as a way to provide our members with an opportunity to find their voice during this revolutionary moment. Sadly, 2020 also brought us here today. After losing Diane Rodriguez recently, excuse me, after losing Diane Rodriguez recently, LTA L.A. wanted to honor one of our own, our dear friend because she is one of us. She gave the very first keynote speech at the first convening for LTA L.A. in 2013. It is only fitting that we come full circle now to return the favor by dedicating our opening event to Diane and for all those friends and colleagues who loved her. Thank you for being here. Without further ado, here's Patricia Garza, who will take it from here. Thank you so much, Minerva, just for who you are and for also giving us this amazing space. Friends, I cannot say how sacred this space is tonight. And I thank all these amazing folks on this panel, but also all of you as well for taking time on your Friday to remember a legend, Diane Rodriguez. My name is Patricia Garza. I have shared an office with Diane for six years of my 12-year tenure at Center Theatre Group in here in Los Angeles. We worked side-by-side supporting and developing work as did Malcolm, which we'll hear from later today. I hold many creative spheres during the day, but I also have a deep passion and dedication for conversations around anti-racism and inclusion nationally. I want to acknowledge the moment we are in together of collective challenge and collective pain. And I want to say Black Lives Matter. I know throughout this conversation, we will be touching on Diane's amazing history, a fighting for equality throughout her career. I'm also wearing some red lips for her as her infamous red lip. And Deborah and Olga joined me on that tonight. Shifting gears slightly, just some tech notes. Please make sure your video is off throughout the entire presentation. So that way we can make sure the spotlight, the panelists and hear them clearly. We will invite folks to turn their cameras on later in this session when we take questions. And I will go ahead and mark when we do that. If you feel comfortable being seen. We also encourage gallery view, which is on the upper right-hand corner, so you can see folks nice and clearly in those beautiful squares. This event is also being livestreamed on HowlRound, and we thank the Latinx Theater Commons and HowlRound for your support. And it will be recorded for folks to see at a later time. Throughout the session, you can go ahead and put questions in the chat if you're joining us on Zoom. If you're joining us on HowlRound, on any of the social media channels, we will have support there, taking and kind of filtering questions to us back here over at the Zoom. So feel free to do that at any time, but we will have a portion for Q&A at the end. I also want to acknowledge not just Minerva but Blanca, Mercedes and Anthony, who are kind of tech support, our backbone who really helped support us and Thea from HowlRound. So just some short introductions, and then we're going to get started. Many of you tonight will know Diane. I hope that's why you're here. But just in case for those of us who need a refresher of her awesomeness, I have to be brief. So I only picked a few things to highlight, but I could go on all night. Diane is a celebrated member of the Los Angeles Theater community. She was an actress, a director, a playwright, producer. Her career began in 1973 when she joined Luis Valdez's Al Teatro Campesino. She went on to become Associate Artistic Director for Center Theater Group and worked with theaters and artists across the country, as well as internationally. She was the president of Theater Communications Board, was inducted into the College of the Fellows for the American Theater in 2018 and appointed by President Obama to the NEA's National Council of the Arts. She was also the co-founder of the groundbreaking comedy troupe Latin's Anonymous and a member of the International Director Circle, which explored work on a global scale. Fun fact, and I always love sharing this with folks, she also worked for Mattel as the book writer for the Broadway-style musical, Barbie Live, which toured Asia in 2013 and Latin America in 2010. She was also the creative and cultural consultant for the Disney television animation series, Elena of Avalor. Is there nothing this woman did? Diane is survived by her wonderful husband, who's here with us, Jose Delgado, her mother, Helen Rodriguez, her niece, Gabriel Fusco, Matthew Mario Fusco, and brother-in-law, Gary Fusco. So I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge them. But her legacy is large and is present here in the room with us. We are a small group, the folks on this panel, Diane's family and friends who supported her throughout her two-year diagnosis of cancer. Affectionately self-named Team Diane, we continue to come together to ensure her legacy lives on. With that, I will get to introductions right now to introduce these amazing folks. But I also want to acknowledge the three other members of Team Diane who gave up space for this conversation to happen tonight. Dolores Chavez, Amy Handelsman, and Paulina Sahagun. Thank you. All right, getting on to the bios. Starting with, of course, JD, my dear friend. Jose has 45 years of experience in theater and artistic management as general manager, tour manager, administrator, producer, and business manager. He was a member of the Theatro Campesino and currently sits on their board of directors. He is currently the producing director of Ohio Playwrights Conference, as well as owner of Pliedas Management where he manages Mariachi Sol de Mexico and Mariachi Reines de Los Angeles. He is Diane Rodriguez, devoted husband of 43 years. Thank you for being here, JD. We love you. Let me introduce Olga Caray English next. Olga has been an independent arts consultant since 2014 working on California-based national and international projects. She has been a senior advisor for international affairs for Funilación Theatro Amil and is the renowned Festival Internacion Santiago Amil in Chile. In 2016, she was appointed executive director of the Ford theaters and from 2007 to 2014, Olga was executive director of the city of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. As founding program director for the arts for the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Ms. Caray English was responsible for one of the largest national arts funders in the U.S. She was awarded over $145 million to arts organizations in the U.S. and abroad during her nearly eight-year tenure. Prior to that, she was executive director of Miami, I'm not saying that correctly. Olga will correct me later. Colleges Cultural Affairs Department were as a performing arts presenter. She focused on presenting work from local, national, and international BIPOC artists who represented Miami's diverse communities. Thank you so much for being here, Olga. Moving on to my dear friend, Malcolm. A senior, Malcolm Darrell, a senior creative director with 20 plus years under his belt, Malcolm has enjoyed collaborating with Ebony Repertory Theater, Cal Performances, Cornerstone Theater Company, the Association of Performing Arts Professionals, Center Theater Group, Yale Repertory Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theater, National New Play Network, and Theater Campesino. Presently, he leads the Live Entertainment Advanced Development Studio for Walt Disney Imagineering. There, he is a creative strategist and thought leader researching and developing new ways of delivering live entertainment to Walt Disney Parks globally. Love you, Malcolm. And last, but certainly not least, in the slightest is our esteemed guest, Debra JT Padilla. Debra is infused with a deep understanding and commitment to socially relevant, activist-minded, diversity-driven organizations, believing art can be a tool for social change and self-transformation. Honored to have served as Executive Director of Spark for 25 years and Managing Director of Borderlands Theater for seven years. Borderlands is where she and Diane Met in 1991 in Tucson, Arizona. Debra served for 14 years on the Board of Cornerstone Theater. She is the Chair Emeritus of the Board of Directors for Arts for LA, where she served eight years on the board and nine months as Interim Executive Director. She is principal of hashtag Padilla Consulting slash partner currently and is currently working as the Senior Advisor of Heidi Duckler Dance. Wow, you all. We have a panel tonight. Diane surrounded herself with amazing, brilliant minds. But before we begin tonight, I also wanna take a moment to acknowledge and bring into this space Olga's dear husband, Dr. Carrie English, who left us this year as well, only two weeks after Diane, who was himself an avid supporter of the arts and culture here in Los Angeles. We honor Carrie as well tonight. Thank you, Olga. So we thought it would be fun if we played a video. So as Minerva was saying, Diane was the keynote speaker of our first Latinx Theater Alliance of Los Angeles convening. And we apologize if the audio is a little grainy, is a little, you know, filmed in the corner. But it's her words and her presence like bounce off of the video. And we wanna bring her into this space tonight. So I'm going to invite Mercedes, if you wanna take us into the video. I think we're having a little bit of audio issue. So we're gonna stop and start again. Thank you for your patience. Don't you love Zoom? Three stories, three observations, three mantras. Story one, the happy brothers. When do you give a little so that you can take a lot? Note, I'm not talking about compromise or selling it. I am not talking about cheating or stealing. I am talking about strategic give and not giving in. I'm talking about having a little give in order to achieve your goal. Too many of us don't wanna compromise our vision. And what I am doing here is acknowledging that all of you in this room today have vision. And you wouldn't be here if you didn't. Contemporary Latino theater would not exist for 50 years without your vision. But so many of us hold on stubbornly to the fact, to the first draft. And I use that metaphorically. The happy brothers were brilliant, obviously. And I would think that their goal was to have their music heard. Couldn't these smart guys who had vision come up with another name that would have been equal or more brilliant than death to satisfy themselves and the record companies while achieving their greater goal as a person? Everyone that has worked with me knows that. I get it from my dad, Jake Rodriguez, who was always calling me and saying, I have an idea. And I was like, oh my God, what's that? And it was always some idea about circumventing my mother and trying to get her to do something that she didn't want to do. Well, so in the spirit of my father, I really enjoyed pitching ideas. And I'm not hurt if you don't like my ideas because I have another one. And I'm with the ideas, and I know I'm annoying. But I've trained myself to just let them flow. I don't censor myself. So what I'm saying about Sam and the two other brothers is that they didn't trust that they would have a better idea. Believe and the ideas will flow. Give a little. For example, playwrights. We all know playwriting is about rewriting. If you don't know that, or if you are a playwright who refuses to rewrite your career, it is reflective of that, and I am so sorry. Find people who you trust, who's work you admire and who is admired by others and seek their opinion. And I'm talking about Foncha down the street. Foncha, and she's really like that. I resent people who do give me those, even if I ask for them. Usually they want me to change something, and usually they are right. It will make my work better. So you are in control of your vision and believe that if you change your work with the goal of improving it, you will retain it. C-Star, story two. Now the most talented artists, the most brilliant, the most natural need drive ambition at a business sense. Now, you don't have to be the most talented, the most beautiful, the best poet, the richest organization, have the best building, the most people working for you, but you do need drive and ambition. Don't be embarrassed by that or deny it. You have to be competitive. And being competitive is about excellence. Now, excellence is a tough word for me. Who determines who's excellent or not? When I was in the theater, I had to act next to Soprano Valdes. To this day, one of the two best actresses I have ever worked with. She, she was an inspiration. She was excellent. She could act like a man, better than a man, do a back flip, and then let out a sorrowful wail that would chill your back. Brilliant. But she burned out early. Not interested in pursuing an artistic life. And me, the one with the tiny voice to balance the not-so-tiny body who wasn't very deep, who mugged and overactive, had the career. I wasn't excellent, but I had drive. And I could sense that I had presence. So in order to raise the bar for myself, I had to change. And I did that by listening to people I trusted because I wanted a life in the theater so badly. Sisto? His tape? If it happens, it happens. If it doesn't, it doesn't. If the door is closed, I'll just go in the opposite direction and do something else. That was fine for him. But for me, and many of you, if the door is closed, you go around and you look for another door, and if you cannot find a door that is open, then you open one yourself and you keep it open for others to go through. Now, I've spent 18 years not for profit organization. I can't even get it out! The tried and true ways. Because honestly, I am not interested in embracing the status quo, though I have worked at a various hardcore establishment. Can I share them with you? A well-respected room for my subversion. Then I sit at the table as a rebel who can politic. My job is to challenge, to tell the truth. I choose because I can. What meetings I have to attend to and those I don't. If I feel my soul will be crushed or my heart broken, I will not go. If I feel like my spirit will be dulled or my hope dashed, you will not see me at the table. I sit at the table because I am hopeful. Hopeful for change. But I never let myself get too comfortable. That's in general. And that is how. Discomfort makes me move. Change. Grow. Do. So three story observations. Three mantras. Thank you, Mercedes. Thank you so much. I just want to take a collective breath. Hearing her presence and her words was just. Yeah. It's very meaningful to. To talk about this and to hear her. Yeah. So folks, three mantras. When do you give a little so you can take a lot? The most talented artists need drive, ambition and business savvy. Subvert the rules. We'll be kind of coming back to these mantras throughout our conversation. So first. I'm sure it was very emotional to hear her voice in this space. And to see her presence. And I want to thank all of you for being here today, but I particularly want to acknowledge JD. I'm kind of his first public. Outing here. And we talked about this before, so I'm not putting him on the spot, but I did want to make space if you will. Had anything you wanted to share with folks before we really talk about this. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Patricia. The only thing I think I can say is thank you. Patricia for those very moving opening remarks. And also just the community at large. For all the condolences and. Generous notes. You've all been very, very kind and generous. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for the generosity that Diane extended to many, many of her colleagues and friends in the community. And I also just wanted to thank also the Latinx theater alliance for. Actually conceiving and putting on this, this, this event. And also to let people know that, you know, we're still waiting for closure at a certain level. And we're hoping that we can do an in-person, you know, celebration of life. That would allow people to, you know, share stories and, and anecdotes and that kind of a thing. But with this pandemic, it's been obviously impossible. This is a, has been a period, I think, of, of, of, of speaking internationally or universally of, of, of reflection. And the nature itself is, is sort of doing its own cleaning, if you will, and is telling us that. We really should be aware of how sick the planet is. And, and I think that, that people have had time to reflect on. This country racism, social injustice, and have really allowed themselves to really ponder. How that is, how that is, how that is toxic, not only for our society. And I think artists are also taking note. And Diane, Diane wrote this article as, as team Diane knows, resonates strongly at this time about the elitism that's taking place on board of directors and in large arts institutions, not, not just performing arts, but also in museums. And how that, that, that paradigm is old. And her mantra at that time was reform or perish. And that seems to be a part of this mantra here, where you're talking about how do you get a little and gain a lot. Right. But also just in general. The last two years of her life were full. And she purposely did not want to, you know, let out that she was ill because she didn't want that to be a deterrent for not only herself, but also her friends to treat her in a different light. And so with the limited time that she had, she kept it full. And there were prospects for a lot of projects in the future. And that work is left undone. And that, that undone, you know, so those undone projects or incomplete projects now have to be taken up by the younger generation and people that are watching, you know, this program. And again, we had a year and a half a dialogue in preparing us for the ultimate, but really nothing, there is no handbook. And, and, and ultimately when, when she had her stroke in San Jose, that was really the beginning of her demise. And this is stuff that we'll talk about, I think, at the celebration. Absolutely. But today this is, this is, this is, you honor her by acknowledging some of the precepts and principles that she has passed on to you as individuals and a team Diane and the panelists here. So with that, I'll, I'll leave it back up to you, bring it back up to you. Patricia, thank you. Thank you. Thank you, JD, for those beautiful words and for letting us, for letting us know that she did have a really full two years. I mean, I can tell you because I shared an office. Never saw her. She's always out and about. I did want to acknowledge where the video, I think we were getting some questions about where the video came from. So we actually have been playing clips of the video throughout, they will be playing clips of the video throughout the convening. And maybe Minerva and I could touch base about how to share that out more publicly in terms of the entire keynote. That was just 10 minutes of a 40 minute keynote. Yes, we can tell you that in a moment. Oh, perfect. Okay, great. But first I want each panelists and JD will start with you. And then we'll kind of kick it around. But first I would love to start with just hearing from each panelists. And asking a quick gut, like one minute gut check, which mantra really stuck with you after re hearing them again. And why, and maybe how that reflected with Diane's legacy. So JD, do you want to kick us off? Well, I mean, the first, the first one about giving, giving a little to get to take a lot. I mean, that certainly was something that she learned in the theater, the theater, because there was this idea of, of, of your work having cause. It was all about the causa, right? Whether or not the causa was specifically about the, the farm workers movement, about social justice, about your community. And all of the inspiration came from actually that, that purpose. The, and the artwork that was created also in, in the theater was really about more the collective, the collective collaboration, the collective creation. And so there was a lot of give and take where, you know, there were improvs and the improv is eventually turned into the writing. And then the writing ended up being staged. And then everybody was involved in the design of it. You know, we had a visionary leader in Luis Valdez who, you know, has a huge mind and it was, and he was the one to put these together. And in the improv, I think we talked about this earlier in an improv, there's a give and take, a give and take. There's a, there is the duality. There is the dialectic. And the moment the improv ends is when somebody says no. And, and thus the creative, the creative muse is gone. So she understood that, and she understood also that giving a little to take a lot in the, in the sense of the improv. This is what you get activate, you activate through, through, through movement, you activate through being generous, right. You activate by including others in your process. And this is not only true for actors, but it was also true for, for, for directors and directors, she took that into, into her direction. When, when, when she'd work with actors, what is the strength and the weakness of this actor? How, how do you activate this actor? How do you get the actor to activate the script, right? Or the scene. So there is that as well, but, but basically, I think they're all really tight and they're also interconnected. Patricia that where, where her generous generosity of spirit was that she always believed that, and it's, this is a problem with some colonized minds is that your success is my failure. And in her, in her, in her belief, it was your success is my success. So, yeah, generous spirit, right? Yeah, no, totally. That's the, that's, that's the way, that's the way she always thought. And, you know, it was definitely very difficult as, as you may know, you attest and also Malcolm to be in a situation sometimes in a large institution with the set, like the Senate theater group with all its microaggressions and, you know, all of that where you have to sit down and sort of pick your fight. There's just something, you know, and it's, it's, it's imbued within the spirit. It just, of racism and all of that. And we live with that. And she never hated anybody. Her, her colleagues or her colleagues, even at that level. And I'm telling you, there were times where, you know, she'd come in and she'd be moping and I go, what's going on? I says, like, oh, nothing, nothing. Yeah. And I know we're related, you know, so there's a lot of pillow talk, right? So, and you know, and, and mostly you have partners know when something bothers your partner, it's like something that you need to talk about and you sort of draw it out of them as best you can, right? But it was all always never about herself personally, really more about an idea, an idea gets kicked because they don't understand it. An idea gets thrown out because it's potentially not. They don't want to invest the resources in it. So what the thing that we've learned in the theatrical was that you can create miracles and how do you create miracles? The miracle is that you create something out of nothing. And the resources always limited with small theater companies. And how, how you're able to use something creatively. I mean, where you see something, something as, as a trash and turn that trash into something that turns into a jewel, right? Right. I hear that. Yeah. And that, that's, that's part of her DNA and the money, the money resources in that sense, you know, and I told you, yeah, I think we talked about this story. You should share. I don't realize that the theater was, was in terms of finances was formed after the model of the United farm workers and there's, and they're striking workers. And at the time, the striking workers were given food and housing and the allowance of $5 a week, right? This is in the 60s. Well, the theater ended up developing somewhat similar parallel structure only we were being, we were paid $60 a month and had our food and housing covered. And, and then eventually like when Diane and I got together, we got $100. Oh, it's very nice. But I mean, you know, somebody told me once while you guys are funding the group and you know, I talked to Paulie and I had a discussion about this just yesterday. She's like, no, you were taking so much more from that. And it's true. The experience of working together in a unified cause and moving together and moving forward. Most people don't know that the first experience with international groups came through the theater. And this is Diane. I mean, the company toured used to tour Europe at least every other year. And we were included in a, in a, in a, we were included in a touring circuit that involved all these international theater companies. They looked at us as colleagues. Now we were never given that recognition in this country in terms of our artistry, but we were outside and it was extremely validating. So there's that and that later, that later was an easier fit for her to go back into the international thing later with through the help and the inspiration of Olga and she can talk about that because Olga became an international connection and she's, she remains an international, international presenter in, in, in that circuit, not just in Chile, but also throughout Europe. The director's 21 was also another thing, you know, it made it easier to fit with these international directors because they understood the idea of, of, of culture, the idea of, of a vision. And they don't look, they never looked at her coming from the United States. They looked at her as coming from California, right? And California has this allure outside of the country that most people don't understand or see or exposed to because we live in the United States of America, not just California. Yeah, absolutely. And before we get too deep into that, I want to make sure that everybody else gets a chance to jump into it. I just want to touch on the international stuff as well. Yes. Yeah. And I, you know, just, just that, I mean, her DNA was, was, was basically formed in the theatrical. Yes. With the socialists, with, with, with socialist, social justice and a larger cause, a larger artistic vision. That's right. Really her, her grounding, kind of the ground on which she, her root, her rooting. Absolutely. Who would love to jump in and kind of share their mantra that really stuck with them. Koncha down the street. Okay. Why don't you talk about Koncha? I'm going to talk about Koncha down the street. Jump in, jump in. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's this sense of, you know, she was a person who never, ever forgot where she came from. And at the same time understood the placement of that kind of. Testimony of community folk, but also she was the, the torch singer to take our work, our stories, our narrative, our visuals into a wider audience. So when you talk about. I mean, she refers to a moment in a keynote speech that another keynote speech that she gave in which I think she's in. I think she's in Paris or France somewhere. And she's the only American that's there and some lady comes up to her and says, I'm sorry, why are you here? And, and she didn't take it personally like she didn't belong there. It's just that, you know, folks from the United States never found themselves in that context. But she said that the woman looked at her and said, you're from California, Los Angeles. So it wasn't the United States. It was that Los California, Los Angeles was like its own country. What did you say? Yeah. And I think that Joie de Vee of, you know, the fabulousness of her. It was, it was imbued in, in how she lived the circle of friends that she had, the work that she was so passionate about, that she, that everything, you know, I think, I don't know why I'm thinking about Malcolm as I'm doing this. You know, throwing the scarf around her neck. It's like she really enveloped all of those beautiful stories and people and, and even concha down the street. We need the concha. I just want to say one thing is I love JD. And they were like my family, she's my best friend, but to see JD in that room, because I haven't been able to go back to Echo parks since, you know, late April, but that's the room where she, we would come and we would eat and we, and many of you who are on this panel and, and in the room with us, you know, you had New Year's Eve parties there with her and JD. And I remember I played Scrabble with her. I mean, I think we did it for 20 years. And, you know, the last game she won. So I said, just feel good dying. You're a champion of the world. But I went back today to look at stuff, you know, from our days at Borderlands and, I don't know, it's just, I have so much goodness and lessons from her. And, but it's really her generosity of spirit as JD says, that was so infectious. And she believed in me in a way that I didn't believe in myself. So I applaud her tenacity. I learned from that. I agree with that 100%. I filled the exact same way. I can't tell you how many times, you know, she would give me advice and I just turned my chair and be like, can't I'm going to take the advice in Texas person, but I'm not going to let you know. Which she totally saw every time. I hope that answers you. Yes. Yes. Thank you. Why don't we do Malcolm and then Olga. Yeah, immediately subvert the rules was immediately in my spirit. And if you knew Diane, like I know that and we were always plotting. Diane knew that this country. And even the American theater was established. And it wasn't an established with BIPOC artists and people in mind. And so when you enter a place that you have not been thought of, you have to, in order to make space for you, you have to make space for you to make space for you to make space. And so you will be able to do that. And so I think that we're going to see the 100 rules that were not created with you in mind. I think of, I think of, you know, Langston Hughes poem. I too. That talks about you, you know, you may not see me now, but when I'm at the table and I'm eating with you, you won't be able to deny me. You'll see how beautiful I am. And you'll be ashamed. And so I. You know, you know, when subverting those rules knew what it meant to be able to strategize within that. And I think we're seeing right now in this country in the world, the importance of that. That you can be subversive, but that subversion has to have some organization to it. Right. It cannot just be. You can be subversive. You can be a subversive. You can be transversive. You can be transversive. You can be transversive. You're going to be transversive. Live in an emotion. There has to be direction, strategic. Direction. And I learned all of that from her. I learned it. I remember moments thinking, wow, You got to be careful and she was concerned about my health because she saw the stress level right but what I learned was that you have to live to fight another day and that I just think even this moment is a complete manifestation of her brilliance and her legacy. And yeah, for those who doubted her yesterday today or forevermore shame on you and it was your loss. That's right. And also speak truth to power to I mean I think that's also part of subverting the rules right is I think we we tend to monitor silence ourselves and she was like I'm not about that life. Olga why don't you take us home with this question in terms of the mantras. Okay, so I'm sort of melding the last two the most talented artists need drive ambitious and ambition and business sense with subvert the rules. I love it. I'm going to talk about is I think what Diane was able to glean from her experience at El Teatro Campesino was the whole, the whole belief in ensemble work and collaborative work and giving various and diverse people voice. And through that artistry. A more perfect union could be found and work that was not just the purview of an individual playwrights, or a director who was, you know, rethinking what a playwright intended this was something that was created really as a, as a, as a, as a community that was committed to each other and its artistry. So, so, so that's sort of her genesis and that's where her grounding was, I think, where the subvert the rules component comes in for me was that she was able to take that and was sort of mindful and strategic enough to take that to say, in order for me to help these artists gain voice. I have to create a resource pool that will allow me to have a seat at the table. So it wasn't that she was pleading with CTG center theater group where she worked for like 23 years. She wasn't coming in and saying, Oh, please, please, please let me do these works. No, she articulated and was powerful enough to conceptualize this vision of what a new American and I mean American in the largest sense of that. What is American theater in the 20th and late 20th and early 21st century, and she was able to go to the Mellon Foundation and say, This is the new way this is the only way that American theater will be able to resonate in a majority minority new world for our country. And so she was able to bring resources together in the millions of dollars and millions of dollars and and was able to go back to CTG and say, I have the resources to give people voice. And so that was not only brilliant, but it was like groundbreaking. I think that the, the, the resources that she was able to gather from the, from the Mellon Foundation primarily allowed CTG but it was really Diane it wasn't CTG was fucking Diane right. Single handedly pretty much yeah. She said, I'm going to commission these new works, I'm going to commission these new works I'm going to bring these new voices to the table. I'm going to produce this work in a way that it hasn't been produced before. One thing that I would add is that, you know, very proudly. I was able to work with Diane and Mark Murphy and Mark Russell to create radar LA and radar LA was really about putting ensemble based LA artists on the same platform with nationally and internationally recognized ensembles theater ensembles. It was just, you know, a meeting of the minds, and it was, you know, again, as a Latina myself coming in and saying, I'm the head of the Department of Cultural Affairs. I'm going to put money into this enterprise because I think it's an important thing to say that LA artists have the same stature and the same level of power and and creativity as their brother and sisters from, you know, the national scene or the national scene so to me the the the beauty of Diane was that she could translate what was a very deeply held artistic prowess and then turn that into a monetized, you know, operationalized mode that really could bring a multiplicity of voices to the table and for that I'll be ever grateful. Yes that actualization right just the the the vision to have it and then to make it happen. Absolutely. You know, you have a really strong artistic voice or have a very strong sort of administrative and business voice but finding individuals that have both and can be true to both and successful of both. You know that's a home run. That's right. That's right. Yeah, we're really exploring in this conference, you know, and something that not just LTLA but LTC the Latinx Theater Commons is really focusing on this year. What forever it's a life to work is really committing ourselves to anti racism and anti blackness particularly as a Latinx community. Diane herself always dedicated herself in this fight and in this conversation. Legacy lessons are really burst right now I think in this moment like JD was referencing earlier. I can't tell you how many folks have told me off Diane was here right now. I would love to hear what she had to say. I know Malcolm you kind of wanted to take this question and everybody else could kind of fall in after if you have thoughts, but what would I add. Not that you could speak for her but what would I offer in today's moment particularly around these conversations around race. Well, I first feel like we have to remember that. And so she saw the human being she saw your humanity first. And I think what we are dealing with right now have been centuries of people's humanity not even being acknowledged. What does it mean to not acknowledge another human beings humanity. So, first we have to ask ourselves and not just, you know, you know, by Pac I'm just everybody has to ask ourselves how do we not look and investigate and love and appreciate another human being. The reason why Diane and I just clicked is because. I never thought I never in her presence in working with her through the ups, the downs, the challenges, the tension. I never had to explain who I was as a black man in her presence. She accepted and received me for who I was on all terms, whatever that look like whatever it sounded like however I was. She gave me a space to fully be myself with her. Yes, and she was fully herself with me. And we embraced each other in a way and accepted each other in a way that we learned from one another. So, I see that and I say to myself, Oh, well that's why she would ask me to be a consultant on a project with the historic El Teatro Campesino. She understood that I recognize that we were looking at humanity. Now we recognize that we all have these constructs of race and ethnicity and gender and whatnot, but ultimately we could connect on the human level. There's something that I think is powerful even when you look at this space and her legacy that Diane was was was able to connect with everyone. But I think that is because she saw them first. I absolutely agree with that. I can't even tell you thank you yes thank you. I've been in New York for under the radar every year and you know I'm born and raised here in LA East LA, never really went to New York coined up, and she was JD and her run circles around me and I would get sick every year, but it was this generous spirit where you did toughen you up. But it was like, you know, it's this generosity again right of seeing the human, letting me know that I'll get there, you know, like I'll get there but that it was like taking care of me first as a person. So I'll never forget that. Any other folks want to jump in at this question in terms of like, what would Diane say to this kind of racial unrest at this moment. I think that the, all of the fervor that's happening, all of the, you know, the activation of looking at injustice and fighting for something, just just the feeling that all of us are having as a, as a, as a country and as a city. Now would have been the time for her ideas to really flourish. So, as I look to all of you right now, I'm looking at Patricia and I'm looking at Malcolm. And you are her mentees. That was one of the things she was really big about really adamant about who is the next generation, who's going to take this shit on and fight. And who's going to be the articulate entity that's going to, you know, not be apologetic. But just get, you know, Malcolm says it really beautifully just to be able to get to that sense of humanity but getting to that sense of humanity for Diane was also, I mean, there was a there was a fight to that bite, you know, to, to want to make sure that she, that she, that she left something. And I look at all of us where she lives in all of us every day in some way or another. And, but I'm really looking at you and Malcolm. And I'm, I'm hoping the future Malcolm's the future Patricia's the future Diane's that they that I mean if anything you're going to learn if you get to see her full keynote is stop at nothing. Do not ask for permission. Just go and ask it's that whole old adage you know ask for permission later. And, but just go. You got this one life. You know what are you going to do with it. It's like Mary Oliver, you know what you have this one precious life. And I felt that so profoundly with her always, but more profoundly certainly in the last few years. And, and it was never like being around her like I wonder if this is going to be the last time blank or that you know, and the, the conversation was still vibrant to the bitter end. It was one of the things that she was wanting to fight for. And I think it's up to all of us to carry that forward and but don't feel, don't be apologetic just get the fuck out there and do it. I love that. I also want to take a moment and I wouldn't want to leave anybody out but I do think I would be remiss if I didn't also acknowledge some of the other amazing folks that she has mentored. So I know they're here with us today so I just wanted to say thank you for sharing space and for sharing that time with Diane as well. You all were very precious to her. I think that I just wanted to add one thing that we talked about before the panel came together was that you know her sense of being a mentor was so critical to who she was as a human being. And she touched so many people's lives. But I think one thing that she would say right now she was here is that all of them, those mentees need to mentor someone else. Yes, it's not a one way thing. It is ingrained in your ethos and it is about, you know, I got this from Diane how can I give this to somebody who's coming into the field and that generosity needs to be really multi-generational. It's not just a one way street and that's something that I think she would absolutely endorse. You know all the part of that is not just having coffee but offering real opportunities right Diane when I was working someplace else call me and said come work with me. Right so, you know, even in my current work. I'm constantly looking at how do I find work opportunities. Those opportunities become my chance to mentor. But you know, I think for so long the mentor-mentee relationship has in some ways not been long term beneficial beyond a conversation. And you need to provide access to your mentees. You need to provide them a leg up. You need to, when I think about mentee and mentorship, I, all of my mentees, I am constantly trying to elevate them, even above myself. Yes. Because that to me is legacy. It's not about being insecure and thinking that they're going to take over the world. No, it's about no, once I have run my race, it's now for you time for you to take the baton and you need to be equipped and ready to run that race even faster than me so that as we get to that finish line, we win and we win in a huge way. That is so great and I feel like I really, I really tried to model that from Diane, you know, and I really tried to just, even if it's just as simple as, especially right now a text care package a moment to say I'm thinking of you I see you I see your humanity. And I try to do that with all of the folks that I mentor as well and just also just acknowledge you matter to me. I know that even if in arts and particularly in predominate white institutions, it's hard to remember that our value. I think the your way of mentoring is obviously a reflection of who you are. And, you know, it's a place to, it's not to, it's a place to download and upload. You know, at the same time, and the people that I mentor, if anything that is consistent is a belief in them, because that can go a long way that they have a space to flourish they have a place to for failure, but at the same time, they have someone will who will have their and who will. And that sounds cliche, but someone to, you know, they can always come back to some of the people that I mentor, you know, even at Spark so many years ago are still within my sphere and within my, you know, and if anything they're, I think that our connection is mentor mentee, it made both and both of us better people. But yeah, I, and I think I loved hearing Diane's stories about, you know, who, who was next or who was giving, who was, who was giving, making a, making an influence or and it wasn't so much like who is rising to the top but who had the bite, you know, in them and that was, that was great to witness. Yes, and also I think that does tie back to the mantra of subvert the rules when we have a society in a system that pits ourselves against each other and competition, and instead to choose the generous spirit and to choose the way of mentorship and opening that door I think that directly kind of applies to that. I want to start taking questions to folks in just a second so get those questions ready put them in the chat, put them, raise those hands, put them on the social media channels and our amazing tech team will help me out here, but I wanted to just hear one last time from JD before the question started. I actually want to reflect a little bit on this first mantra. When do you give a little so you can get a lot. How we have a lot of artists here today. And so I also want maybe you could speak as an artist yourself. How do artists need to balance that tension between compromise and vision. That's a big question. It's big because, you know, at one level, writers are told sometimes, you know, well, don't compromise you can't compromise your vision, right. Especially if you're going to go into but but which is, I don't know if that's bad advice to be honest with you, because I mean, once had an opportunity to and Malcolm this is this is this is this new hallway now is at Disney parks where people are conceptualizing, you know, new rides or how to, you know, deal with the space or something you know and and there are so many people sitting around the table and everybody has an idea. And, you know, what's her name hamburger. And this is this is an age regime at the time. And she's sitting there she's a theater person and you know she's like monitoring and you know talking basically and leading the discussion and there's a big vision and how is everybody contributing to this and it was a pretty amazing collaborative thing to watch actually and I hadn't seen that kind of energy since I was in the theater and you know, and this individualists into big people being into, you know, sort of independent individuals with an idea and the vision and this is how it should be done and because of the writer, the actors are going to ruin my vision or you know the director is going to turn it someplace else. I think it's kind of to me is toxic. It can be toxic. The generosity of spirit again. How do you give a little to take to take a lot right I mean, that's right. Getting back to that I mean that's that becomes the paradox in a way that becomes the dialectic. One of the things that we did in the capital a lot actually during a certain period, maybe for about two years as that we were studying very very referring very very heavily to mouse on contradictions. Right. And don't ask me a question about my was on back into it certainly becomes part of your subconscious right and you know, there is a huge contradiction in our lives right there is a dialectic. You give a little you take back, you know, you take back you give a you know there's that kind of a thing going on and this is again. You give a little to an individual as a mentor, you know, and it was back to you. This is the idea of, of being lucky, right, this is the idea of doing is the other you're right you are my other self. And, again, this was another another. This was another mantra that we had in the theater understanding what that meant, trying to understand for example. The idea of looking at in the indigenous philosophies and the metaphysics and trying to decolonize ourselves in the process, right, trying not to be Euro centric, right, taking inspiration from our indigenous roots because basically all Native you know, get your DNA test, you know, Diane took her DNA test and she was like, guess what 50% native 56% native together. We had, we had like a what's the same. Patricia and Dolores and myself and and Diane we all took our DNA. Yeah, you know, we all came back and said oh my God, we're, you know, I was 46% Native American because I'm a native of New Mexico but well, you know, and there you go and then then and so there's a little bit of that. I mean, and, and then you try to understand what that means and you realize that, wow, okay. As opposed to say, generally speaking, just being really general, white America didn't have the same experiences as those of us in Latin America and Latin America we were the tormentor. We married the, the, the people that we were tormenting and in our blood now runs the blood of both the tormentor and the tormented. Right. So we have this huge thing going on inside of us genetically that sometimes people say well that's your cousin confusion but I like to say I like to see I think that it's it's almost poetic justice in some ways, you know. And my mother-in-law did her genetic tests and you know and she found out that she was like, you know, a small percentage of Ghana, you know, the Congo and Portuguese and you're wondering. Okay, there's okay there's a little bit of a Portuguese slave are going in there might have had, you know, something going on the slave ship and then here goes the genetic here here goes the Portuguese with the with the African American and, you know, through the centuries. You get this mix right so it's, it's again, giving a little to get to get to get more I mean understanding that understanding to Malcolm's point about humanity and that we all have a shared experience. You know, is is something that we don't really ponder I think as much as we should. I mean, how can you, how can you seriously want to do harm or exclude something from something whether it's a voice in a room. When the person that's across from you is basically has the sum total of thousands of years of coupling and genetic sort of sharing right. I mean, and they're all of us are survivors right, and we should respect that we should respect the fact that we're here as survivors and we're trying as a civilization and as a community and as humanity to continue to evolve. And how that how that how that reflects in the work, you know, certain things resonate for you and others don't I mean I remember Diane used to want to meet all the time when we were in New York. Going to under the radar should always want to see the latest young Jean Lee, you know sort of workshop favorite. And I to be honest with you, there were a couple of times like, Hi, Diane really. We won't tell them Jean we won't tell her. Oh no, but you know she was coming from a very specific, you know, sort of feminine, you know, sort of point of view Asian that it resonated for her, you know, and it sort of she evolved into the playwright that you know did the show on Broadway which he helped along and about men about white men straight women. And again it was just give this is an artist who has a vision, you know, let's support her in a little way. You know, we'll give her a small commission and see where it goes and maybe it'll pay off. Maybe it won't, but it's going to help her along on her path and her journey right that's giving a little to gain a lot. Absolutely. I also think in that spirit of giving a little people people need to give up their ego. I mean really, I think a healthy ego is good. But when you, you, I think that's one thing that she was so, you know, if you can just have an honest conversation about what is it that you really want to do what is it that you really want to get across just talk to me. Just, you know, without the, you know, without the, all of the gibberish, just, you know, and I think getting to the essence of, you know, when you think about somebody who who believed in your humanity, but imagine believing in your humanity and also believing in the story that you wanted to tell on the stage. So all that that was a, it was a continual rhythm in her to be able to, you know, to apply that in a variety of ways. But, you know, there was no room for people's ego, you know, there's no room for arrogance. There's, you know, let's just get to the essence of what we have to do here. Absolutely. I want to open it up for questions. I see a couple hands, but I do want to honor we have Armando Wipe, one of Diane's mentors, mentees here so if you want to come on camera, and I'm going to, I think you are unneeded. Hi. Good to see you good to be here. Thank you for holding this space. I just wanted to share a little bit about in thinking about like what I've been thinking about recently with Diane and about Diane and our time together and I got to meet her when I was a freshman at UCLA. I was 18, and I was like a shy little queer brown boy taking the gaitino class with Dan Guerrero at UCLA. And I've been reflecting on like how much time I spent being intimidated by Diane, but that entire time that I did she was supporting me that whole time and I think it was Deborah you were saying she had your back and like I always felt that with Diane for sure. And taking on, I just took on the new position at the LTC, my new position and we were at TCG together and she had this like little planned like let's get together with Alex Mehta at that or Luna. Let's try to make it a weekly thing as much as we can. And we did we were meeting weekly we got a pretty good rhythm going and we would just like unpack issues of the day and unpack issues in her careers that we were facing. And at just like the day to day work that we were doing and about subversion that a lot of the times it's, it can, it can seem small at like at face value, and or it happens behind the scenes. She all like every action that she took however big or small had so much power in it and she imbued it with so much power that now I've been thinking about revisiting a lot of my memories with her and in that phase when I was too intimidated to really like really accept the relationship that we were building that there was so much in there still for me to like mine and learn from and, and yeah I just wanted to share, share that and about you know it in every moment she had it seemed like she would she had a plan. Oh my gosh. You left, you know, our bond and you applied for the job for the, the how round. Let next either comments. Yeah. Oh, I mean even before you got the job I knew you got the job. So, but you were somebody that she really really believed in, and she gave a whole list of reasons why. And within that context of believing in you. It's never to say that you were perfect but that there was room always for expansion and, and, you know, we're all learners, all of us. So, but she was a huge fan, for sure. Yes, absolutely. Thank you for being here. I'm going to go take our next question. Leah, if you want to come on camera. Normally, I would my friend. I'm having massive mask acne outbreaks. Okay, let's, let's just do the question that. Exactly. So my question for anyone who would like to speak on it was, you know, my interaction with Diane was more on like the big scale like bigger events bigger things, large gatherings and for those who are have intimate moments with her intimate memories, what were the things that made Diane super gleeful and joyful or gave her the deep, deep belly laughs, those kinds of things. Who would like to take that. Say it Joe, what do you say. It's not fair because you know, I'm the husband so are the now widower. I'll say it because I am not here. Hi Joe. No, I mean, Well, you know, I was incessantly teasing her and, you know, which would get her extremely upset. Very upset. You know, but it's in my nature. I mean, I mean, I'm the eldest in the family of my family of six. So I was always picking on my brothers and sisters. And she was the eldest of two sisters who were very, very, you know, proper, especially with the Baptist upbringing. Right. So, very different. And of course, and I had to, I'm in my good behavior right now. I'm terribly not PC. And that would get her very upset, you know, you can't be doing that kind of stuff, you know, it's like, what, you know, what, what, what, what are you talking about? She's like, that's terrible. You can't be, you can't, you can't act like that. Look, I'm in my sixties now, I can say whatever I want. Okay, so like, I couldn't do it when I was in my twenties and thirties, but nobody cares. I think I'm a crazy old man. So that's fine. No, you can't do that. You're embarrassing me, you know, or there would be other other times when, when I would tease her. I remember once when we were like in our twenties. And we were laying together in the bed and I saw, I saw her eyelashes and what are these and I started poking them and I pulled out some of her real eyelashes. And she went through the roof. She was just so upset, you know, dare I say that there was little spousal abuse there, you know, but that would get her upset and then, and you know, then there was she asked about joy, joy, joy. Got down there brought me joy. Oh Lord. Hi Joe. The thing that really brought her joy was entertaining here at the house, you know, when and also the, the dinners with close friends. That certainly brought her joy. What brought her joy once when she came back from New York on a, on a trip and one of her, one of the writers in her writers group, because she had, she was in a writers group. Bridget Carpenter was in was installed in the drama skill and she, she made it a point to be present when they had the ceremony ceremony for her. When she came back all excited. It's like we cried so much with just because it was, it was such a wonderful moment. Bridget Bridget, you know, was was crying and it was very emotional and these were tears of joy right so that that was something that was a joyful moment for her. She really loved. Again, your success my success kind of a thing right and she was very happy. She was happy. She was extremely happy. Even though it most people don't realize it because it was a very small thing when gold Olga invited us to the French consulate where the where the she was bestowed the Legion of Honor. She was very happy about that that was just something that was extremely special. And we were happy to be involved in that, you know, by being invited to the event. And it was such a such a big honor. People are reminding us of her fashions in the chat her fashions. Let's not forget. Oh yeah well there was a time when she, she had this designer in the garment district that dealt primarily with purses right so you know we used to. She used to go there and Deborah I think when a couple of times and she bought a purse there she came back one day and she was telling me the story but what happened to your purse is like oh my god what a story. I was a baggage claim at JetBlue and this guy comes up to me and he says like wow that's a really nice purse. I says like oh yeah thank you. He's like, what did you get it he says like oh I got it in Los Angeles. Ah, so he was there with an assistant and then he comes back says like that is really a nice purse can I buy it from you. Well no no it's not for sale it's it's it's one of my favorite purses he's like, well I'm in the purse business a bag business right so how about if I offer you $300 for it. Right. And then she goes. Really. I'll give you $300 for that purse. And so she says well okay so she takes herself out of her purse and packs it up and she collects $300 and came back with the $300. She was so worried that somebody's going to rip off the design finally she went to the designer and confess and she goes oh honey don't worry about it they ripped that off that design a long time ago. You know. The other thing that brought a great joy were actors actors were actors she loved actors. And performers actors especially. And she know how to work with actors because she was an actress, and she knew all the insecurities you know she knew, you know, how to draw performances out of actors. Some directors, you know, where maybe maybe a little bit, you know, lacking in that area sometimes you know the director sometimes if they're too hard, and they don't know how to massage the psychology of a performer. The actor will step down and not deliver and she knew how to work with actors, and she also knew how to work with writers and a good scene is, you know, was was also something that she loved working with. You know, getting a new scene from it from a writer. And yeah those are a couple of a couple of. I love it I love it well we were almost that time I want to take the last couple questions. Henry I'm gonna say what gave her joy. Her mother Helen. Yes, a few Mario and Gabby and Belle and Leo and Jacob and Jude. Yes, he was spending lots of time with them. She loved being an aunt, for sure, and then a great aunt. Oh yeah, definitely thank you for saying that. All right Henry if you want to come on camera or not. Hello, hello. This is the voice of Henry, we hear you. Okay, perfect. I try to start the video but it's not letting me. It's okay. Yeah. So my question is for anybody on the panel. Oh, they're letting me look. Hello. My question is for anybody on the panel is what's some advice on subverting the rules, or if you have any of Diane's advice that she would give us on subverting the rules so anybody can answer this. We haven't heard from you in a little bit. Do you want to chime in? I think that having a sense of inner strength and knowing that you do have a seat at the table and that you are just as good as anyone else. Don't be cowed by power. I really, really go in there and just say I am who I am and I'm bringing something that none of you possess. I am bringing a sense of sort of community intelligence and power that you need from me to get this organization going. And so it's like flipping, it's like kung fu. It's like power kung fu of just saying I am the one that is giving the power. I'm not taking power from you. I am giving you power. And so I think that that whole sense of just flipping the paradigm is really the only way to go and have some time. And she would do that move Olga. Another thing that she would always, you know, that was part of her too was like, if you can't beat them, join them and leave them. Oh, that's so good. She said that resisting the true resisting the tried in true ways, don't get stuck on, you know, that it has to be this way that you that you have the room to learn and to, and to even give it to yourself in a different way. So, but also that one of the things that that was in the video in the keynote was that she was a rebel who can politic. And I think that's really important. You know, she never abandoned, you know, her capacity to to, you know, she says it so beautifully at the video that you guys are going to watch, hopefully. Yeah, I just want to one last thing and that she was very clear on her sense of being a woman. Yes, all of that. That that can note, and I just want to give a shout out there's a number of our colleagues from the women's working. To to this session and they've been texting the whole time and Diane was a very critical part of the women's working group of a group of about 15 to 20 women in the performing arts artists administrators funders heads of national organizations, etc. And we come together once a year to talk about both personal and professional issues and I just want to give a shout out to the women's working group because I know that that was another forum that Diane cared deeply about so that I think that you know that whole sense of I am a woman and I am bringing, you know, sort of the best in the sense of traditional women's thinking giving nurturing home, you know, all of those wonderful qualities that women bring to the table. She brought that to her leadership. Yes. Absolutely. Absolutely. She also says about that women's group that it really was one of the steps that catapulted her because of the advice that she got from so many of you and that group and that she learned so much about herself, and that she was. I mean, it was, it was, it was like another realm of sisterhood for sure for her. And I think Malcolm wanted to jump in. Yeah. Yeah, I just wanted to respond to, you know, people are asking how, you know, how did she subvert part of the subversion was whatever people thought that she couldn't do was her power. So if people make assumptions about you what you can or cannot do. And also, when being told no, realizing that there's somebody who will say yes and going and finding that I think subversion doesn't necessarily always have to be some nefarious moment that went down. Right. It could be a complete. Again, it's a lot of people say this is about being strategic. Yes. And when people doubt you. That is when you actually now have the upper hand, because you have the ability to prove them not only wrong, but to, you know, maybe set yourself up to to come back with some ability to negotiate. Thank you, Henry. Thank you. Shout out to Malcolm. I was a cast member four years at Disneyland. I was a tour guide. Okay, I'm getting off now. Thank you. Folks, we are at time. I cannot believe it. This just went so quickly. I did want to acknowledge there were some questions on social media about how team Diane is undertaking maybe some of Diane's unfinished business that JD had referenced and yes we meet every other week folks. We have a business meeting to talk about Diane. Yeah, her board article that JD referenced earlier is going to be published through theater communications group. Shortly, we are working on a series with them to honor more of her legacy. We have the memorial that we're hoping or the celebration of life that we're hoping to host. I'm going to talk to Linus and Hannah Kim are doing a commission that they already started pre Diane's passing at Yale rep. So they are living and carrying on her legacy. So there's so many ways, folks, and I encourage people to go to Diane's website you can Google it. If I could find it quickly I'll put it in the chat but just stay in touch. We love you. We thank you for being here I just want to take a moment to acknowledge Deborah Malcolm Olga, and of course, JD. Thank you so much for being Patricia. Check out their Alliance LA and they're doing amazing things all weekend. Thank you. Love you. Love you all we're just going to thank you for being here. Oh thank you Christina Christina put the website in the chat. Thank you. And if you want to come off video and shout out, please feel free while you're exiting. That was great Patricia you did fantastic. Yeah you did great Patricia. Really, thank you. Really. You're hired. For what but you're hired. And thank you to our techs they were really keeping us on track there. Thank you Anthony. Thank you, Ms. Blanca. Thank you. I got to thank you. I was so helpful to get all those tidbits. Thank you, Minerva. I appreciate this very much. Wonderful tribute to our dear Diane. Lady, Lady died. I'm grateful that all of you came on and decided to be with us tonight. It was meant, I think it meant a lot to everyone. Thank you. Thank you. And I want to save this chat if you can. Oh, Jessica. Yay. She went away. Okay. I don't know Mercedes and Anthony if we could save the chat for our team Diane. This is being reported right. Yeah. This is being recorded but the chat is also so beautiful. Yeah, yeah. I can save the chat. Okay, great. Thank you. When will people get to see this. Livestream. That's a how round question. I'm not sure. I'd like my mother-in-law to watch it with. Oh, yes. Yeah. If it's on Facebook, it's, it'll be on there. Oh, okay. Armando. It's on Facebook already. Yeah. It's on Facebook currently. Perfect. Okay. So you could go to Facebook to watch it. I think. Yeah, it'll be saved after it's done. Oh, thank you. Thank you. I just have to acknowledge there have been, there were so many people in this room who connected to Diane. And it's just incredible. I'm looking at this room and I'm like, this is, this is my homework. Impact this many people who represent humanity. Yes. I mean, I think if there's anything we can learn, you know, we can learn, you know, we can learn, you know, we can learn. And sometimes so many of us are so focused on these sort of career. What am I going to do? What am I, you know, and to just have an impact on people is extraordinary to me. That is true legacy. That's true success. So I'm just, I'm blown away, you know, and this is, this is so beautiful to me. I was like, what would I do if I just worked hard. So I, I, I thought. The damage impacted so many people in the world and left us so much, she's left them so much to move forward. So thank you. And to this, everybody. Yes. And the house round Feed now, and then if folks want to stay on the zoo and say, Hello, we're happy to do that. But I just wanted to formally end the live stream portion. comments. Armando, everyone. Thank you. Thank you. Bye. Bye. Bye, Olga. Well, I love everybody's photos. Let me just start there. Wonderful. I know. Oh, I know Dolores is still on here and I just want to give her a shout out because Diane and her and me, we were called last rest days. We have such great excursions and I don't think we either one of us have brought ourselves yet to go do that again yet. So someday soon I hope so for sure. All right. Well, I think we're still live. So I think maybe we just all sign up. Okay. Okay. Love you. Bye. Bye. See you. Thank you, Patricia. Thank you. Thank you. Love you. Love you. Thank you, Patricia, for helping us. Of course, always. See you tomorrow. Do you want to come to some of the panels? No, I'm coming to the, I'm coming to the, the six o'clock. Yes. Okay. So I'll be there. Yay. Okay. Good night. Good night. Thank you. Oh, there's Chante.