 It is Thursday, and it's the fourth of June, all day long, and I'm SLP. We are here thanks to the kindness of the public theater and of HowlRound. We've been doing the show for 11 years, and now we're doing it like this. We usually do it live, and now we're live, but in a different iteration. So what we're going to do is, if those of you who have never been here before, we are going to work together for 20 minutes, and then we're going to talk with you about your work and your creative process, and that's as simple as it gets. It doesn't have to be writing work. It can be any kind of work, because all rivers flow to the sea, I think. So happy to see all of you here. And if you want to ask a question during the question time, Audrey is going to tell you how to answer, how to ask it. I'll tell you how to answer it if you want, but it's going to be very good. Hi, thank you all. If you are inside of the Zoom, in order to ask a question, all you need to do is click on the raise your hand button, likely in the participant tab at the bottom of your screen, if you're on a laptop or the top, if you're on an iPad or a tablet. And if you are watching the stream on HowlRound.tv, you can tweet at us that watch me work SLP with the hashtag HowlRound, H-O-W-L-R-O-U-N-D. And you can also tweet at us at at public theater NY or message us in our Instagram. Awesome sauce like Diana Ross. So here we go. 20 minutes. None of the audio works. Hey, right, right, right. Zippity, yippity. Zippity. OK. It's a great, it's a beautiful day in your neighborhood. OK. All right. I actually don't see any hands. No, that's my favorite part. Oh, did that change? Yes, Matthew. All right, Matthew. All right, go for it, Matthew. Hello, hello. Hello, hello. First off, thanks so much for holding this space. I am grateful for it. So I've written down my questions so I don't ramble, so I'm clear. Lately, with what I've been writing, I've been feeling very unmotivated. But I know the idea and the concept that I want to put on the page is worthwhile. And I have a lot of passion for that idea. And I think I've been reflecting on why I've been feeling unmotivated. And I think it's because the characters I've been writing for on behalf of I don't have that lived experience that they experience. So I'm having a harder time feeling motivated to write their voices because of that. Yeah, so I was just wondering how do I work through those feelings and feeling unmotivated to try to write their experiences? Yeah. Great question, Matthew. So how far are you removed from these characters? You said you haven't lived their lived experiences. Are they like, are they your, could they be, I mean, they're fictional, I know. But could they be your, are you once or twice removed? How much skin do you have in the game? Zero, like zero. Like they're not family, but it's a screenplay about eye-life ship. And because I'm in Vancouver, Canada, the unseated Coast Salish territories, the beginning of the year, as maybe some of you know, we had the West Sueton people, we had a lot of actions going on, and barricades going on. And so this screenplay was just like looking into my role as an ally with the West Sueton people and the Coast Salish people in our lands through a comic book eye, through a character that's from a comic book. So yeah, so I was trying to mesh these politics in this imaginative imaginary world together. So does that answer your question? But I feel like you have more skin in the game than your, it sounds like you're, yeah, yeah. Because I mean, we have to, we were writing about people who we say are not like us. I mean, or you know, right? I mean, which you said, I don't know. But you said, you know, at a distance from, then we really have to be mindful of harvesting a community. Right? So not saying that that's what you're doing, but it sounds like that's something that's kind of coming up. And we just have to be mindful of how much, how much are we harvesting and how much are we helping? Right. And how much are we giving back? You know, some communities are continually harvested over harvested by people who have no skin. This is not you, Matthew, but no skin in the game. And only the only skin in the game is they say, I have a right to harvest because, well, not in your case, you're in Canada, but this is America, we hear that, I hear that a lot. This is America, we're all in the melting pot and I have a right to harvest. And I'm like, whoa, you know. But I think you have to really find the points of contact, find the points in common. And you have just find how, just examine those places where you are close, where you are related to them, to them, I'm using them, you know, us and them, it's not us and them, but if you're saying these are not my people, then find places where they could be, find places where there are some characters included in the piece that who are your people, whoever your people are, you know what I mean? But again, we don't want the kind of thing where their story is a backdrop for your characters, you know, really get embedded with the story. Yeah, yeah. And I hear absolutely what you're saying and there is obviously that fear of over-harvesting and the lead character is of now in my imagination visibly white or white fully. And so it's also like I'm trying to feed in my live experience of being an ally and feeling that shame and guilt of failing as an ally, but like leaning into it and learning from it and not asking those you're being an ally to to educate you. And so that's really where that's the, yeah. So one of the characters you would say is closer to you than some of the other folks? Yes, yes. Okay, yeah, I mean, that's a good place to start. It can be a learning experience for the characters like you, but also again, be mindful that you don't want the other characters who are not like you to serve as just, you know, like, you know, the Mississippi but who are just here is, you know, I love it when the white singer is in front and then he's got the making it relevant, you know. Yeah, absolutely. You know, we've played that card in this game and it's time for us to get a new deck. Yeah, absolutely. Sounds like you're on your way to doing that. And just asking the question, just having the conversation is a wonderful way to start. I think you, you know, keeps taking steps in that direction. Cause we all write characters, you know, I mean, you know, you ever heard of the singer songwriter, John Prine? He passed away a couple of, maybe. No, I haven't. No. Okay, he's a man, cisgender dude. He was like in his seventies when he passed and he wrote a song called, wrote a lot of great song. One is called Angel from Montgomery and it starts out. I'm an old woman named after my mother and people like, yo, what? How'd you write that? You know? Right, right. Well, he said, well, no one ever told me that I couldn't. Granted, it's different, very different circumstances and that was a while ago and his days aren't these, but just be mindful that you have to bring, I think when you write from your basic personal, you bring a certain amount of respect. When you write for people who are not easily identified as you, you have to bring mad respect like truckloads. You know what I mean? Absolutely. And that is the burden you have to bear to bring to the project. You have to bear that and bring it to the project. Right. You know? Okay, thanks for bringing up that question. Great question. Yeah, thanks so much. Thank you. Thank you, Matthew. Bye. All right, up next, we've got Jolandre. Are you there? Oh, yes. Hi. Hello. Hi, good man. Thank you for doing this. Where are you? Oh, wait, I'm still, oh, no, no. Hi. The question is about revision. You know, you hear people, I hear people, I think Tony Kushner said the other day, it's done when it's done, right? But for the last season, among us like myself, you know, how do you know what you've got a thing, but what needs to be said absolutely, which is something I'm interested in. And also what needs to be kept or what should be revealed at what time. And it's not, and my question is not about triggers or anything like that. Like I'm all for that, but I, there's just, I want it to be necessary. And if revision is our practice, then how do you know? Yeah. And I love when Tony talked about vision because I'm gonna tell on him, you know, Tony loved to rewrite his stuff, man. My brother, Tony Kushner loved to be rewriting. He famous for like, hey, I need another rewrite. He's amazing that way and brave and has a courage that way. And I display the courage insane, you know, catch and release like that. So that I have the courage in a different kind of way. I do this exercise just for fun. This is just a fun thing. So when you're writing Jolandre, right? You were in the, do you like, just pick one of the other forest or jungle environment, like the Amazon or a pine forest, which one do you prefer? A jungle. Jungle, okay, great, like Amazon, okay. Okay, now, okay, so great. So there you are sitting in something like the Amazon, right, or a beautiful jungle of your own imagining. That is your writing space. Anything goes, everything grows, right? So just let it flow. When you were writing, let it flow, okay? If you want to do speed writing, if you want to write a certain number of pages a day, it's all good, vomit writing, I sometimes call it, get it out there, right? Butta, butta, butta, butta, butta, okay? Now, when you reach a point where like, like you're retching, okay, I think I got it all out, right, or I said I'd write 20 pages and I did, or I said I'd write, I'd vomit write for a week, and I did. Okay, you reach a point of stopping, and that can be measured by how many pages you say you're gonna write, some kind of first draft, vomit draft deadline, okay, like that, okay? So you reached a point of, got my sort of vomit draft out there, now you're gonna start rewriting, right? Different kind of courage, they're both courageous, different kind of courage, different kind of set of muscles. Now we employ, what's your, okay, black, here's some colors to choose from, black, gray, white, brown, spotted. Black. Black, okay, great. So you were on, Jalandra, you are now writing a beautiful black horse, right? Okay, and what's your favorite song, just any song right now, just off the top of your head. Call Tyrone. Okay, Call Tyrone, okay, great. So you call Tyrone as plain, like really loud, it's like filling every inch of air around you, you're on this beautiful black horse, and you have in your hand, which hand is your dominant hand, right or left? Right, okay, you have in your right, writing hand, a sort of discrimination, which as we know, is not the sort of like, you know, discrimination, racial discrimination, it's the sort of what is and what ain't, you got the sort of what is and what ain't, and you are going through, Jalandra, as your favorite song is playing, and you are cutting everything that don't need to be there with the assurance that it will fall to the ground in the fertile earth, and if it needs to grow up and be something else, spirit will take care of that. So you're not gonna lose it, you know what I mean? You're just cutting, right? You're just cutting, okay? It's joyous, it's a beautiful exercise, you're swinging that sword, you're riding that horse, you're beautiful, going across the landscape, okay? So you do this over and over, then you read your work. Like what do I need in here? I don't need that, don't be afraid of cutting something. You drop it into the fertile earth of your imagination, it will take root and grow into something else if it should do that, okay? Okay, I am fond of, how do you know when you're done? I am fond of setting some kind of a finish line. Like if I told you, hey, Jalondra, well, recent historical events aside, if I told you, hey, brother, go out and run, right? Just run around the block, right? Like 10 years later, you'd be like, sis, can I quit? If I say, hey, brother, go out and run a marathon. You know, right? Okay, so we sent some kind of a finish line. I'm gonna work on this for two weeks. Then I'm gonna show it to a trusted friend. You see what I mean? That's, you just decided on a done point. You see what I'm saying? Yes, yes. And then after I showed your trusted friend, I get her notes, then I'm gonna work on it for two weeks or more, doing that same thing, the same practice, that same practice of rewriting. And I'm going to show it to a couple of other trusted friends. And you repeat that process, okay? Okay, if it's a play or a screenplay or a teleplay, the done is, you know, like I'm working on Genius Aretha. Done is when we shoot it and not even then, because we got post and we edited and post, right? We edit in and rewrite in lines and do all kinds of stuff. So done is when they had the air date, you know? If it's a play, you rewrite in rehearsal. I tend to rewrite when I'm in the first rehearsal, you know, for the world premiere. After that, I let it go like a child. He's grown. He go to college. Bye. Or he go out and get a job. Bye, you know? That's a long answer. I hope it kind of answer your question. Yes, thank you. Thank you. Thanks, that's a great thing to do, Andre. Okay, thanks. Thank you. All right, up next, we've got Devon. Devon, go for it. Hi there. Hey, Devon, good to see you again. Good to be here. I'm in LA and I'm not too far from the mayor's house, so there are choppers overhead all day long. Right on. It's really fun. So by the way, that last response was just like, so transporting. Thank you so much for that. So I have a question, which has to do with a later stage of writing, writing a play, which is in the rehearsal room. So, you know, if I'm lucky to get in the rehearsal room, but one is not always lucky in terms of who else is in the room. So my question is like, how do you continue to serve the words and the project and the play and your own vision when there are other people in the room, say a director who doesn't always see eye to eye with you and or who doesn't, anyway, or there's no time or there's some circumstance that prevents like a pure communication between you and a director. And so you're like stuck. Like, how do you negotiate that? I'm wondering. Yeah, that's very difficult and sometimes painful. When you have done all this work, you know, I mean, the page was blank and then you came and created this beautiful work and you bring it to a rehearsal process and you don't quite jive your example is with the director, you know, that's tricky. It's a play you said you're talking about. Yeah. I would say you continue to assert yourself in appropriate ways, you know, what you're doing every time you assert yourself as you're saying, can you listen? Can you hear me? What I mean? And you kind of try to take a look at the things that you are doing that might create a difficulty in the relationship but sometimes it's just a director who doesn't wanna listen to you who comes in with all of their own ideas, you know, and has a certain take on it and doesn't really appreciate your take on it as much as you'd like them to, you know? The great thing about it is with a play is that you can do it once, you can do it again. You know, screenplays are a little trickier because when they're shot, you know, it's very hard for the writer to get in there you know, once you shoot it, it's kind of the way it is. You know what I mean? So I would say continue to assert yourself and know that some collaborations are not great, you know, but don't, I would say, you know, don't give up. I'm not coming to rehearsal because I'm not being listened to. That's not an option, right? That's not something you wanna do. You wanna continue to be there, continue to be there. My personal experience, one thing I do not do is I don't then go around and start talking to the actors. I don't do that. Some writers do, I don't. That's not part of my toolkit, you know? I learn from the experience. I take notes, I take names, you know what I mean? So for example, I had a great, last year I did the public theater, I had a great working relationship with Oscar Eustis. We had a ball and a blast and he was very respectful, kind, considerate. The actors loved him, you know, everybody, you know, we all worked together, we worked hard, it was hard, a hard play, white noise. But he remembered those things and wow, great guy to collaborate with, really respected me, respected the play. You know, we had a great time. It hasn't always been like that. Take names and this is your craft. This is your career, you're gonna learn. You're learning, right? And know that you have a squad here, okay? It happens, it happens. Great collaborations happen and not so great ones happen too. And keep going, yeah, sorry, don't let it, you know, let it motivate you, you shit for fuel. Let it motivate you to your next experience. Don't let it stop you, ain't nobody gonna turn me around, right? Thank you, thank you so much. Thank you, Tiffan. All right, up next we have Leon. Are you there? Hi. I think that was... Hi. Hi, I'm unmuted. I'm surprised. Thank you for a, I'm a wandering person who happened to notice us on the internet and wanted to just wait. Get some advice if possible. I'm working on a Zoom play and I'm not sure how to proceed from having it crystallized to having it seen. I don't know what to do. This is my, the second play I've written and I haven't had any of them produced, but I decided I might as well give it a try. And as they quote the president, what have I got for him? No, no, no, go ahead. So you're writing a Zoom play, right? Yeah, yeah, and I'm not sure what to do, how to do it and how to get it considered seen. Uh-huh, go away. Sorry, I filed. I've seen the play that the public... You know, what do we talk of now? The music play, I saw that and it was great. And that pretty much sort of inspired me to do it myself. So I, you know, late night, early mornings and have something that I think will be well, you know, I won't be too embarrassed to put it out. I think this platform is really great for doing plays. I think what I suggest always to everybody, no matter how many plays or novels or screenplays or whatever they've written is to finish your draft. So how close are you to finishing your draft, Leon? Well, in terms of time, depends on how driven I am. I guess I can do it in a week, but I really just, you know, focus on it and do... Uh-huh, okay. So you're gonna work every day. I mean, how close mean, you know, you know, so you've got like 30 pages to write before you're done. This is just make up a number. What you wanna do is you wanna keep showing up at your writing practice, right? Get it done and then think of people in your community. I mean, what's great, what could be really fun is to, if you have like a playwriting community or a group of people you know are writers, it would be fun to have a Zoom call where you pass it out and allow people to read it. That could be really fun. I mean, or even friends, I don't have to be professionals. You know, they could be just friends who wanna have a good time. Yeah, because I don't have a community, but I do, I have a friend or two. You seem like you would have friends. No, really. So you get some friends and you make it a little party, you know, like a potluck and you kinda have your friends read it and then you could have a discussion afterwards. That's a really fun way to not only get your work heard, but sort of make public your efforts, which is often, you know, if they're good friends are gonna cheer you on and it's really super easy to set up. I think people would enjoy it, you know, better than watching something ready-made on Zoom. Yeah, yeah. Thank you, that's good, yeah, I will, I'll do that. They are patient people, otherwise it wouldn't have been my friend. Thank you, Leanne. All right, we actually don't have any questions at the moment. We got one. Lou? Hi. Hi. Hey, Lou. Hi, nice to be here with you. I've been here the last four weeks. Oh, right on, girl. And almost every day and it has changed my brain chemistry. So thank you so much. I'm gonna make this as quick as possible, but I just wanna give a little background to let you know, my creative life really came to fruition in the advertising business, where it was my job to channel the voices of other creative, famous people. I worked in entertainment marketing, but also brands. And once I even did a commercial where Michael Jordan voiced something I wrote. So if you Google him, something I wrote is credited to him. So it's been a long road where it's been my job to be invisible and channel creativity for commerce. And the last two years, I took a break from that. And it's taken me about two years to get here in your space where this all makes sense. But I still struggle with finding my voice, which I've been much better at and a lot of credit to this group and to you. But my question is, where does the line between making art for art's sake and moving people to some kind of action or belief? Where does it stop and start? And I think because of my background and why I bring it up is I still am always thinking about making people feel certain things or leaving them with some kind of action or feeling. And I think art can have a place in that space. But for me, it's been like over ramped. And so I've had to back it up a lot. And I don't know, I guess I'm just thinking a lot about the purpose of art and story to leave people with a feeling or an action and what it means. And so I just wanted to put that question like how it's met, if it's played a part in what you've made or if you just sort of make things and kiss it up to the powers of the people. I love, I love, oops, sorry, go ahead. I'm done, yeah, I'm done. No, I'm just, wow, your writer's journey is so cool. It's so cool to have, you're sort of like in the belly of the beast, you know? That's where you've been writing from the belly of the beast. And now that you're out of the beast's belly, it's like, okay. The things I've seen, you can't unsee. Right, right, right, right. And now you're a writer, but you're sort of out there, you know, swimming on your own or not on your own with your whole writer's community. But what's, what a great question, Lou. It's, and it's great. Yeah, you've been right for many years, you've written things that, you know, to make people feel a certain thing. I would, in my, I mean, to me, writing or art makes, it's great when it encourages people to feel something, not ace a certain thing. I mean, this, and this is where I maybe differ from some of my colleagues. Some of these market, you know, sometimes they say, oh, what do you want people to leave the theater with? You know, I'm like, gee. A sick feeling in their stomach? Wow, a feeling like, oh, gee. I have to, I have to talk to my friends now. And I haven't been talking to my friends for a long, you know, that kind of, I mean, you know, I have to hug my brother, you know, you know. But all those things are valid. You think of, I think, when I think of, let's just take place, when I think of King Lear, what is we're supposed, what are we supposed to think when we write? Oftentimes some products, some pieces of art move us to buy things, make us feel a certain way that then we'll have us purchase certain things, which I think is a form of, is criminal, basically. To use art for like, yeah, we're gonna get them, you know. But I often think of, when I think of stories, whether they be songs or my son, who just got a new sweatshirt and he wants me to see it. Okay, go back to your room or something. I think of stories or songs or plays or movies or teleplays or whatever. I think of Ariadne, right? So there was this, anyway, for those of you who don't know there was this minotaur, long story about him, how he got there, but he was kind of dangerous, you know. So they built a maze for him and they put him in the maze so he wouldn't hurt people. And then they started sending people into the maze to get eaten or whatever. And Ariadne had this ball of yarn. I love poetry, a yarn. So she had a ball of yarn, she had a yarn that helped her chosen one navigate the maze. And to me, that's why I write things. I make yarn to help my people, all kinds of people navigate the maze. So I'm like Ariadne hanging out. It doesn't mean I don't like the minotaur, actually I probably am the minotaur, but anyway, that's another story. James Baldwin said, I figured at one point I decided to become a writer and I decided that I would save my people that way. So it has, it is a holy art, it is a holy calling, you know, that can be used to get people to buy things. Or you know, you know what I mean? And now that you're free, you know, now you can pick up the sword that's yours. You were just using a little butter knife in there. Don't worry. Now you have a sword and it's really sharp now and you know how to swing it, right? I know. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. All right, we've got a little less than 10 minutes left and we're gonna go to Crystal. Crystal, are you there? Yeah, I am here, hi. How you doing girl? How's New Jersey? It's still New Jersey. But we are gonna protest. My daughter and my son and I are gonna protest in our town on Sunday. So we're excited about that. Very good, very good. During daylight hours, yes? Daylight, yes. Yes ma'am, all right, there you go. Good. Actually, I wanted to share a real quick quote before my question, is that okay? Yeah, sure. So on Monday I did this thing where on Instagram Live I read an excerpt from the fire next time. And but my friend sent me this quote from Mr. Baldwin and it goes, the role of the artist is exactly the same as the role of the lover. If I love you, I have to make you conscious of the things you don't see. And I was just like, it just kind of just landed heavy on my heart and kind of was like, okay, now I understand why I'm writing again. Okay, okay, okay, we can get back to it. We can get back to it. So I just wanted to share that before my question. My question is, so I've been balancing the two projects, the personal project, the Demogat Project and my personal Father Chronicles project. And the Father Chronicles, I'm like 22 pages in, but I've literally like run out of material to write, like what to write, but I know I'm not done. I feel like I'm very far from being done. But I don't have anything else. Like I feel like I've emptied out, but I know that there's more that needs to come out. It's just that I don't know what to put on the paper anymore to contribute to that, to make it, it's not really about making it longer but making it fuller and getting all of it out because it's partially emotional and partially spiritual for me to finish it like in a complete way that I'm finished to, does that make sense? Like it's more than just writing a play to present to my friends, it's more about this is what is my catharsis. It's what I need, I need this to get through the process of grieving and get through the process of mourning and get through the process of all these complicated, confusing layers of questions and doubts and all sorts of things. Like I have to finish it, but I'm not finished but I don't know what to do. I don't know what else to write. It's a beautiful question and your father passed recently, didn't he? I remember, okay. So have you printed out the pages? You've typed them up and do you have the pages so far that you've printed? I didn't print that out yet. Okay, have you typed them up? Uh-huh. Great, okay. So here's just a little exercise. We're gonna call it showing up and being patient. Okay, so you're gonna print out the pages. Okay, do you have any folders? Not to say you got to go to Staples or anything. I mean, Staples for me is right down the street but do you have any spare folder or that kind of looks nice or something, you know? Yeah, I'm sorry. You're gonna have something nice or a piece of ribbon that you could tie around the pages, put in a folder. I could find something. Kind of like that. So you're gonna make a little, you're gonna acknowledge the gift. So you're gonna print out the pages, put them in a folder, tie them up nicely with a bow. Okay, put them in a place. Do you have a desk or a place kind of that's your own? I mean, I kind of have an area on the dining room table. Do you have kind of like an area? Okay, okay. You're gonna put them in a place of prominence, right? Mm-hmm. And luckily you have another project to work on, right? Okay. Yeah. So every day you sit down to work on your other project. You sit down, you can put your hand gently on your printed out page and folder with the ribbon and say, I love you. I'm here. Come when you can, right? I'm showing up. I'm showing up for you. Talk to me when you can. I'm listening. Okay. Then you can go about it on your other project or you can journal if you want about whatever. Okay. But basically you wanna be grateful for, yeah. You wanna be grateful for what you've accomplished already. So we're not gonna go, gee, it's only such and such pages. It should be more a bad crystal, bad. You know what I mean? You're not doing the work. No, no, no, no, no. And I've gone as far as I can right now but I'm respecting what I've done. And I'm saying I'm right here. I'm showing up every day. Talk to me when you can. Call when you can. I'm right here. Okay. Okay. Yeah. And it'll show up in a little bit maybe. And if you hear a little bit, you can write it down and type it up and add to it. You know what I'm saying? You know, right now, again, you're like Jolanda, you're in the garden of anything goes, anything goes, everything grows. You know what I mean? So you're in that place where you're writing, okay? So you might think of a sentence. Write it down, type it up, write it down, flip it in the folder or type it up in the document. Okay. And it'll come. It'll show up for you, okay? Okay. You always ask such beautiful questions, Crystal. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Crystal. All right. We have about 45 seconds left. Jim has a really quick question. I bet you. Go for it, Jim. Do you? Oh, you gotta unmute him. You gotta unmute him. Are you there? Uh-oh, he's right here. Hi, honey. Oh, there you go. There you are. Yeah, hi. Hey, Tom. Thank you so much for this. I attended every session online. I used to come at the mezzanine of the public. I've been on HowlRound partly because I knew my writing was going so well. I didn't really have a question, but I've taken incredible sustenance from what's been going on here. The play I'm writing now is about old people and real estate. And I've been collecting material for, I'm a New Yorker. I've been in a rent stabilized apartment and I have been collecting material for it for a few years. And the writing has been going fine, but this is my problem. I am writing not a Zoom play, not a Teleplay. I'm not writing a film. I am writing a theater play because it's about contested space. Three old people in a retired home for retired performers and a representative of the real estate interest that are trying to displace them. And so it has to be in real space. The writing has been going great. It's in seven scenes. I've written all of three scenes, most of two scenes. I hope to have a draft by maybe July the fourth. The problem is every once in a while in the middle of the night, I say, how can you be writing a play for a space that might never ever be again? The theater with an audience and performers in a space because it's the space and holding that space that is so important. Does that make any sense? It totally does, Jim. And like you said, you often mostly always are on the mezzanine when we're doing it live at the Public Theater. It's great that you've been part of this incarnation too. Jim, it's an act of faith. And I know you are a man who lives in his faith. And just like these days, we gotta believe in this country, right? These days we gotta believe in each other to come through. And we gotta believe that there is, your play sounds beautiful and I cannot wait to see it. And I know I will hold the space for your play in my heart and my mind. And I think if we all do that for each other, we're gonna hold space for each other. This is what the part of Watch Me Work right now is. We are actively holding space for each other and each other's creative endeavors. That's what we're doing. And we are encouraging other and there's a lot of power in that. Right now, Gathering in Washington Square Park, they are holding space for a better America right now, right? This is part of the powerful thing that we do. And I believe, Jim, that we will one day come back and have theaters and stages and actors live and in the flesh, you know? While Zoom plays are awesome and teleplays and all that stuff is fantastic, we will one day come back and have a live, you know, more traditional theater experience and a delicious theater experience and we will see your play on stage. We will. And we have to step out on faith. Faith is the evidence of things unseen, right? And I believe that we're gonna come back. You can't wait to see your play. I'm thrilled and finish writing it. Sounds like I haven't finished. So, finish. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Alright, 603. Yay, it's 603. So, we're gonna take Friday off like we do in the summer. Yes, no, nothing, not Fridays. But we'll be back next week, Monday to Thursday. All the links will be released tomorrow at 3 p.m. Eastern time. Thank you guys for showing up. Thanks, Audrey, for organizing and orchestrating. Thank you. Thank you, SLB. So beautiful. Thank you. We love you. We love you.