 Good afternoon and welcome to today's vital conversation with our community in dominable strength, the spirit, the strength of artistic expression, a conversation between interfaith ministries and the ensemble theater. Interfaith ministries is pleased to be able to host these virtual conversations on topics with people and organization in our community addressing crucial issues. We offer our thanks for the support of Citgo Petroleum as the sponsor of our whole 2021 series. Before I proceed, just a reminder that this event is being recorded. Thank you for all of us, for all of you joining us on Zoom. Please keep yourselves muted and please use the chat box to send me any questions along the way. We welcome as well those who are joining us via Facebook live. Vital conversations emerged after the death of George Floyd, a son of Houston's third ward in May of 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In June, we brought our three amigos, Reverend William Lawson, Archbishop Joe Firenza and Rabbi Sam Karfin to dialogue to begin this series. It would be the final time that the three amigos would be together in the same space as Rabbi Karfin died that following August about a year ago. A second summer conversation on allyship followed and then we began our fall 2020 series with a conversation between four outstanding young leaders and how their generation is on the forefront of social change. Our second fall conversation, then our upcoming, the next fall conversation was with the fifth ward CRC and Center for Urban Transformation. And we concluded the 2020 season with a vital conversation with scholars from Rice University's Houston Education Research Consortium. We began our 2021 series last month with a conversation with Ashley Johnson and Jonathan Brooks from Link Houston about transportation and equity. You can view that conversation on IM's YouTube page. Please visit www.imgh.org to learn more about interfaith ministries and how to donate at IMGH.org. You can learn about our overall work in the community and you can learn about our 2021 series. You'll have the opportunity to register for our upcoming vital conversations episode, including our upcoming September conversation with Project Curate. In the coming weeks, you'll also learn more about our October and December vital conversations with October's focus on young leaders in our community and December focusing on health equity. You can also access a study guide that you can use with our five episodes from our 2020 vital conversation series. Today, our theme is the power of artistic expression. And let me share a personal story about why this conversation is important to me. Since I was young, the arts have been important to me. I played the violin and sang through my middle and high school years and then sang in multiple choirs in college. I know personally that art in all its forms is a medium of expression, of discovery, of identity, of freedom, of love, of what it means to be human in all of its limitations and its potential. I've been transformed through the act of creation and co-creation through the arts. It can be at the same time singularly individualistic and wholly communal. I have felt alive as a human being connected with my fellow musicians and connected with what I experience as the source of all creativity. Some may call that your muse. I will call it God. But when it comes to the intersection of art and culture of liberation and resistance, I didn't get a taste of this kind of art until one day, my first year at Georgetown University, many, many years ago, it was early 1990. I decided to attend a Friday night rehearsal of Georgetown's Gospel Choir. Trust me, I didn't stumble in there looking to get woke. This was the, it's a black thing. You wouldn't understand era of the early 1990s and I had no idea what I didn't understand. I was a goofy and awkward 18-year-old half Asian from semi-rural Wisconsin, where I didn't quite fit as there weren't that many Asians. But at Georgetown with many more students of Asian descent, I didn't speak the source language. I didn't speak, in this case, Chinese. So I didn't really fit in there as well. And I'm sure not black. I was just looking for places to belong as I was figuring out who I was. And this Gospel Choir community took me in, one of maybe three people who weren't black in a room of maybe 50 students. It was there, though, that I learned something about the intersection of blackness and art. I learned that when I sang these spirituals and gospel songs, I sang with them, but I also was missing something that I slowly learned through experience and dialogue. That something was the power of art in the black community as a mode of resistance, of liberation, of expression, of songs that had multiple layers and meanings. And while they weren't my songs or my history, I was enwrapped and enveloped in these voices and songs and narratives. The first time I sang the words, I've been buked and I've been scorned, I had no idea what it meant to be buked. But I learned not through my own experience, but through the experience of that African-American spiritual, what it meant. I began to learn that black art matters. And those arts matter more today in 2021 than ever before. And that's why we've asked the ensemble theater to join us. Founded in 1976 by the late George Hawkins to preserve African-American artistic expression and to enlighten and entertain in a rich, a diverse community. The ensemble is one of the only professional theaters in the region dedicated to the production of works portraying the African-American experience, one of the oldest and the oldest and largest professional African-American theater in the Southwest and reaches over 65,000 people annually. And so from the ensemble theater, we welcome Rachel Dixon, who has functioned as a professional artist for over 25 years, worked as an actor, director, playwright, dramaturg, educator, producer, technical staff and artistic consultant. She has worked with various theaters throughout the Houston community. And as the current president of scriptwriters Houston, a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority. We also welcome Eileen Morris, who is the artistic director. She's directed over 87 productions, which include eight world premieres. And in January, 2021 was awarded Broadway World Houston's best director of decade of the decade for August Wilson's fences. She has numerous directing credits, not only in Houston, but also in Pittsburgh directing Pittsburgh's New Horizon Theater. She currently serves as vice president of the board of the theater communications group and chair of the Midtown Management District. And so we're really happy to welcome both Rachel and Eileen. I'm gonna go ahead and end the slideshow and we're gonna get right back to, let me just get back to a full screen and to our conversation. Rachel, Eileen, it's really wonderful to have both of you with us. Thank you for your time. Glad to be here. Absolutely, thank you guys so much. And first of all, it's so wonderful to be able to share this experience, especially since we're neighbors, right next door to each other. And also to be able to, on behalf of the ensemble theater's board and staff and artists, be able to have this shared conversation, which is really important and it's a part of who we are at the ensemble theater. Super, thank you so much. Let's, again, the vital conversations has a focus, but also is a platform for people to learn more about these amazing and vital organizations doing vital work. So let's start by learning a little more. Can you tell us about the ensemble theater? What do you want people to know about your work and why is your work important? Just some small questions. Small, yeah. Well, to start, we want you to know that we are here to serve our community and we do that through a sixth show main stage season. We are opening up in September with our first production and we hope everyone comes out to enjoy that experience of being together with protocols in place, but we will open our season with respect in September and we'll have a sixth show season throughout the year. We also have training for young people six to 17 and we have some adult classes that'll be coming up if they want to learn a little bit about the craft. We welcome everyone through our training program, our young performance program and our main stage season. And then we have what we call celebrating the creative journey, which is a series of projects that aren't on our main stage, but it's an opportunity to experience the art and experience more about the culture. So we may have readings or films or like you, Interfaith Ministries, equity, diversity and inclusion conversations where we connect the art to what it means to be invested in EDI or how those intersections happen. So we'll have more conversations in the fall, but those are a few of the things that we offer and we want everyone to know that we're here, we're thriving and we want to be in space with you as soon as we can. Absolutely. I think in addition to that, Rachel, I'll just add that a huge part of who the ensemble is is being connected to our community because that's vitally important to us to be able to share and have a connectivity between community, between art, between the work that we do, which is why George Hawkins, our founder, actually began the ensemble theater because he wanted to provide a place where African-Americans and others could be able to enjoy the stories that are told. Something that you said in what connected you, Reverend Han, really touched my spirit when you talked about being human and you talked about being one of only three people that were in the room. Well, from an African-American perspective, that's our world most times when we walk into the room and we're one of very few that look like us, which is why the ensemble theater is so vitally important because of the fact that it's a place where you can see and share and experience stories that come from the African-American, who the African-American lives. Maybe we could stop, I'm kind of reversing direction here. So what was happening in 1976? Maybe starting in, what was the context and why was it founded? And particularly at that point in time, what was missing that needed to be filled by the role of the ensemble theater? Wow, I mean, so much was missing, right? I mean, when you look at it, during the 70s and around that time, Rachel and I were talking about this just a few weeks ago and even just a couple of days ago about the fact that during the 70s, that was the Black Arts Movement. So the Black Arts Movement was taking place because of the fact that artists, Black artists felt that they didn't have a niche, they didn't have a place that they themselves could present their art in a way that would be acceptable by all people. So you got the Black Arts Movement and during that time, maybe, oh my gosh, 40 to 50 Black arts groups were being formulated and kind of began to come into fruition. Now, when you look back at those arts groups, out of those 50 plus groups that actually became a part of the world, maybe 10 to 20 of them have not actually succeeded and actually been able to take part because either the founder passed or because the financial situation or just because the world changed. And then now when you fast forward, Rachel and I were looking at the fact that the Black Seed, which is a national organization that has brought together various arts groups that are of color, minority arts groups that are able to get funding. Now there's over like 100 plus groups that have come together. Not all of them are institutions, but many of them are actually group groups that are either through individual performances or group performances or associated with some kind of higher learning educational aspect, but at least it's kind of a resurgence of that. So during the 70s, it was the Black Arts Movement that was driving these institutions or individuals to create these institutions because they wanted a place where the voices could be heard. I think, Rachel, you might wanna add something to it. I mean, you've encapsulated it beautifully, Eileen, that there was a funding opportunity. That's part of what happened in the 70s, right? Out of the civil rights movement and into supporting the work that came out of that. Kind of like now, right? We had the movement, George Floyd's death and then the Black Lives Matter movement that has grown and grown and since then become a part of our community, there's funding in response to that. So the 70s and now very similar, but the outcome is the same, right? Or groups who have felt oppressed and felt like they didn't have a voice are moving in a way that provides space for them to do that with Black Lives Matter movement and where we are now and the Black Arts movement of the 70s, right? So, yeah. Let's, maybe we could move, I wanna come back to a couple of other things about the theater, but again, I use the phrase that Black art matters. And that's a kind of riffing off of Black Lives Matter. But again, it's a phrase that I think focuses on the importance of art and the unique lens of the Black experience in America. But also I think a message of love, but also identity and resistance. Can you talk a little bit about why does Black art matter and how does the ensemble theater embody that mattering? Yeah, I mean, I'll go on, Rachel. No, we both inhaled, yes? Yeah. Because that's a wonderful question, Reverend Hahn, a wonderful question. It matters and I'll be free because to say it simply, it matters because we are telling the American story, right? African-Americans are part of the fabric of this country. We are here and have contributed to this existence and the art that we produce, not only does it give us a voice to communicate happenings through the African-American lens, which is one of the most important things, right? But we also are telling the story of all people, right? When you went to the choir rehearsal, those were your songs you discovered. It's the very same pieces that we're presenting with the work that we do in the community, right? Like you discovered, Reverend Hahn, that community, that choir embraced you. As do we embrace all of the stories that come forth, all of the artists that come forth. Our art matters because it gives voice and provides space for anyone who's willing to embrace it. Yeah, and it matters because we matter. I mean, I really take that to heart because we are human beings that are culturally specific human beings that are thrust into this world of Europeans, of black and brown, of diversity, of so many different aspects. And we matter as a result of that. When you think about the work that the ensemble theater does, the plays that are chosen, that's why I said earlier is that our work every day, we're ingrained in this work. This is a part of who we are. So we're not just doing a play to do a play. I mean, there are plays, even those plays that are purely entertainment, there's still an aspect of who we are culturally and what we've been affected with and why that needs to be presented. So I'll give you this an example. And so one Sunday afternoon, when we did have a Houston critic in the greater Houston area, Evans was the theater critic for the Houston Chronicle. And Evans was so gracious because he always came to see everything that every theater company pretty much in the city of Houston was gonna be doing. So he had a wide and vast knowledge of what was going on and what was specific to that particular institution. This particular Sunday afternoon when he came to see the ensemble play, I happened to be there in the audience. And the play was David Mamet's Race. So now David Mamet is not, is a European, Caucasian playwright, male playwright. And, but this play Race dealt with a subject matter that dealt with someone that had been, not incarcerated but was being tried because of something that had been done and all of these different entities were coming together. And so for us, we felt like it really was something that needed to be told from the African American experience because of the fact that that was a world that we lived in and we who better to express that than the ensemble theater. So it was intermission, he came out and he looked at me from across the lobby and that was in a way for me to come over and have a conversation with him. And he said, I lean, he said, what would we do if we didn't have the ensemble theater? He said, I don't know what we would do. These kinds of plays will be told from a different perspective and not always necessarily from, it would be the truth of that particular group but not the truth from a group that has lived and breathed that experience. And that really touched me when he said that. And another thing that kind of, I think about is another story. And Rachel, you know, you might wanna share this one. The other extreme was somebody with even more power than Everett Evans was a little girl who came to see Cinderella when we were doing it. Now she's eight years old and she said after the show, she said, mommy, that princess looks like me. So what else can matter besides allowing people to see themselves? And they say art imitates life, life imitates art, whichever is true, there's an ongoing debate. We know that the stories we tell reflect, reflects a world that people are moving in and they deserve to see themselves. When she said that in that story was told to us, another example is a woman who was 100 years old saw a show that we did from Port Society. She said after the show, she said, I know those people, that was my house. And so that's beautiful. And it was, I think it may have been one of her first times at the theater. So pretty, pretty powerful. Let's just know that we matter. Yeah, which is why Mr. Hawkins actually founded the theater because when he was, you know, he was an actor at first. And so he was acting and he was acting at, you know, other places that, but there were places that where his voice wasn't the primary voice. And he wanted to be able to have a place where the voice of, you know, that other stories that he knew could be primary. And they could be, you know, enriched and told and talked about and shared from a global perspective. How, let me, let me, there's so many things I wanna touch on, but I wanna, and I'm gonna try to connect these a little bit. Often with our vital conversations, we've talked in the past with people working on either, maybe working on issues and with policy, like with our conversation last month with Link Houston about transportation policy or with the Houston Education Research Consortium about education policy. Can you talk to me a little bit about how art can change, your experience with how art changes things with the change that you're seeking to bring into the community? It's all, you know, it's a little different kind than, you know, marching down to city hall and saying something about the I-45 project. Though art may have something to say about that in a very powerful way, maybe even more powerful because of the role of story. So can you maybe reflect with me a little bit on the power of how you see art making change? One person at a time, Reverend Hunt, you started with your story of going into that choir rehearsal, that changed you. And sometimes those seeds are not unearthed until later, but I know so many artists who say, art changed my life, it saved me. And when those artists present their pieces for an audience of folks, no, that audience member may not be moved to exit the theater and go straight to Washington or Austin, right? But they will be moved to think about further, to perhaps support a little bit more, to perhaps speak up about, so those tiny changes add together to make the powerful change that we need in the world. And there are arts groups who are doing the theater that is about, they focus, they say they are social justice with the point of, right? But we know that all art really does that. Yeah, ours included, even though we don't start out saying we're gonna do some social justice theater, but all of our art is social justice art. And in doing social justice work, you're planting seeds one seed at a time. Yeah, that was such a beautiful way of saying it, Rachel. I mean, it's about that human being and what's how they're being affected by the art that we present each and every day. You could take any subject matter of a play and you could look at, talk to that actor that's presenting it and talk about what changed or how they were affected by that. You could talk to an audience member and ask them if they're being honest, if they're being transparent about how they were affected by that piece of art that they witnessed or experienced and the good, the bad and the ugly, whatever that is, you could talk about all those aspects. And I think that's the beauty of what art is because it's a shared experience that everybody had. It may not be the same because you're coming from it, from your come from it, from how you were raised in the world and how what your parents instilled upon you, that's how you're looking at it initially. But then what happens is that as you begin to look and have that experience, things get peeled back, certain feelings come into play and then there's the connectivity that happens with human beings from artist to audience. That's the beauty of what the art is that just gives me goosebumps when I think about what that means to be able to have that experience with your audience and with the entities that come together in that room, in that, when that room becomes dark and there's nobody watching me, but we're all watching this experience on stage. Right, I like to say it's no longer, it's not a transaction, it's transformational because once we're in space together, we're being real intimate. I said that the last process I worked on, I said, okay, you guys, we're gonna be intimate together today because you're sharing breath. That's amazing, yeah. Again, we're talking with Rachel Dixon and Eileen Morris from the Ensemble Theater. If you're on Facebook, please post if you wanna ask questions. And I also, with the 30 of us that are here in the Zoom, please take advantage of the chat box to ask questions as well. You can see Valencia Edner posted the power of art express transforms people. It's church reaching the heart through the eyes, ears and spirit stories. Bravo Ensemble, speak to us. Let me ask a little bit about, again, the Ensemble Theater existed and you have been artists long before the death of George Floyd in 2020 and there have been many opportunities and tragic instances that have illustrated the inequalities in American life. But just there seem to be a potential sea change in that summer of 2020. I'm curious if either people coming to the Ensemble or interested in the Ensemble or your understanding of the role of the Ensemble Theater has changed at certain points since 1976 and in particular, if you found it has changed since, again, since the murder of George Floyd a little more than a year ago. I think one of the things that for us that we as an institution and staff, board artists talk about more than we've probably talked about in recent years, I would say is that because of the murder of George Floyd and because of the impact that that made on us, first of all, as culturally specific black and brown people having that experience and understanding what that means, understanding the fact that we have to continue to have those conversations with the young people, the people in our lives about what to do in situations such as that, how do we heal from that? How do we make sure that we get an opportunity to talk about it so that we can move forward? Is that we have to continue that and that whereas before we were just, the art was we were doing the art. We were having dialogue exchanges after a production and talking about it and having shared experience. Now we understand, well, maybe I should say we're more animate about the fact that we have to be really strong-willed about making sure that the conversations happen, that our audiences understand why we're doing the art that we're doing, why it's important that this type of play be done at the ensemble theater, why this particular story needs to be told at this time. For instance, we're gonna be doing a play this year, two plays I would just bring up. One is about one of your three amigos, Reverend William A. Lawson and Mrs. Argy Lawson. And a lot of people know about Reverend Lawson because he's founder of Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church. He has such a vast knowledge and information and shared experience that he has had in Houston. But they were really a part of the civil rights movement that happened in the 60s and 70s. Reverend Lawson and Mrs. Argy Watson Lawson. And so just knowing that information, that's one thing too, we're doing another play called Brother Toad by Nathan Lewis Jackson and that play is dealing with gun violence. And so people will be like, why are you doing a play about that? Well, it's important that we help our community to understand what is going on in the world, how these stories are affecting our community, how they're affecting the entire world because gun violence is something that pertains to all of us that affects each and every one of us. That's why we always say that our stories are universal stories. They're just told from the African-American experience. So I mean, I think that's one idea. Thank you. Rachel, do you have anything? Please, I would love it if you could want to contribute to that as well about, again, how particularly the past 14 months, how you have experienced the role or the perception of the ensemble theater changing within the community? Changing, I don't know that. Yes, I agree with Eileen. Being deliberate and conscious about conversation has become more of a theme for us. Providing a space, I think we have moved to a space to support other organizations who may need that conversation to happen, right? Other theaters or other arts groups that need a voice, they reach out and we provide that for them. I think as we move on, it'll be a space of healing more than perhaps we've thought of it in the past, right? I know that when I am reading a play now, and it's connected to the theater, how content resonates with me is very different. And it makes me call up one of my colleagues and say, hey, what do you think about it? Let's have this conversation. So I anticipate we will move even further in that direction, right? Having those conversations about the work and what our responsibility is to the work and how the work affects us. We can't, I don't know, I can't say anymore in a play, someone so died and it just be that. It's not ever gonna be just that again, especially depending on the circumstances. So providing that healing space, I think it's something we'll move even further into. Yeah, and I think a good point, excuse me, Reverend Hahn. I think a great point is when you talked about healing Rachel because that's an aspect that a lot of times, people think, well, that takes place. I think what happens is that people wanna pigeonhole or put things in certain aspects of, okay, I'm gonna heal now, I'm gonna go to therapy now, I'm gonna do this now, opposed to understanding that art has, that's the blessing of what art does for each and every one of us. It takes us through all of those different emotions and journeys because it is healing, it is nurturing, it is transparent, it does, it is connectivity, it is community, it is a part of who you are, you just might not express it in that way. That's why we always say there's a little bit of artists in everybody, right? Because we all have to, there's a way that we look at ourselves and look at how we view things. But healing I think is hugely important, even more so in our journey, especially because of this past, not just George Floyd, but just all of the things that we're having to go through because of COVID and what has happened with us as a, we were all uniformed in that thing, right? There was no, it didn't matter what your ethnicity was, what your age was, what your gender was, we were all connected. It brings tears to my eyes to think about it. We were all connected in a way that we all had a shared experience. You know, I would be remiss Reverend Hahn if I didn't mention since the peeling of George Floyd, we've had a few residencies with young people. Residencies meaning we go into the school or the institution and work with young people and we were much more deliberate about having the young people write their own work and speak to their feelings. Between George Floyd and COVID, but like giving them that opportunity to express their fears, their concerns and creating art around it so they can see the value of art back to one of your earlier questions. So that has been really, really, really powerful to see what they create and then to see their movement in response to their creations just. That's amazing, amazing, amazing. I wanna ask maybe a slightly personal question. You mentioned a second, the artist and each of us and it's not just about the art but the artist and I'm wondering if you'd be able to share just a little bit about being both of your artists and women and women of color. How did you come to the performing arts? What spoke about it to you and what has kept you in the space for these many years? Eileen, let me just, I'll put you on the spot first. I think, and we always have to breathe when we hear questions that really kind of capture our heart, pull at our heart strings because it's, I mean, for Rachel and I both and when I'm gonna speak for Eileen, it's just, it's a part of who I am. I always look at my heart as my ministry and what I've been called to do, right? But I went to Catholic schools all my life and those who have known me have heard this story. And so I went to Catholic grade school and Catholic high school and up until fifth grade, I wanted to be a nun. And that somehow changed, I keep telling everybody my hormones kicked in, I start wearing glasses, who knows, right? But I really always felt that I wanted to be connected to the community, connected to human beings, being able to express myself in a way. And I really started doing theater at that time. Got, fast forward, the thing is, is that I was in a school where there was only a couple that looked like me. So they couldn't see me being Snow White or playing in a play that traditionally was for someone of European descent. And so you have to fight and claw and prove your way, prove that you're worthy and that you're talented enough and can do the work. And so for me, my art has always been, it's always been a part of who I am. It's been a part of the fact that I'm able to express myself as a black female. I've been able to learn more about who I am because of my art, through the art that it was being presented. And I just, I love it. I love being able to, so as an actress, I love that because I was an actress, I've always been an actress, even though I don't get to perform as much anymore because of my responsibilities and the time constraints that fall upon at the ensemble theater, but I still get to do some things occasionally. And then as a director, because you're delving into so many different aspects when you do this work and you're getting an opportunity to kind of mold and shape and have conversations and talk about and dissect and pull apart and enjoy and have this delicious experience through your art. So for me, it's a part of, I know I've been blessed to be able to do the art that we're doing each and every day and we'll continue to do. I don't see, you got to look at an August Wilson play where a character may be in her 20s and then in that same play, there's a character in their 50s or 60s and I go, oh wow, I can do that play because I did it when I was younger and I could do it now that I'm older. That's the kind of beauty of what art is. If you're able to memorize a line or read a script or dissect the character, you can do it at any age. It doesn't require training or the history. If it's something you ever thought you wanted to try, it's so worth it. Yeah. How about you, Rachel? What brought you to the arts? Oh, there are a few things along the way that brought me to the arts. I remember seeing my sister in a pageant. Those were real popular back in the early 80s. And she did a monologue or something and I was like, I want to do that partially because she did it. But that was my first introduction to, oh, this is something, right? Cause you remember, right? We didn't have TV with a bunch of channels and even if you did, there were very few shows. So I didn't, that was not my representation. But when I saw my sister, I thought, oh, that's something people can do. Maybe I'll try. So that was the start. And then along the way experiences with the craft, I realized now were a part of just pushing me for being in a play in fifth grade and being really upset that I was the queen. My king was who he was. I was like so distraught about that. And then crying because I got cast as a munchkin. I cried for about a week that I got cast as a munchkin instead of Dorothy. I was just devastated. But at all of that time, I never thought, I want to be an actor. Cause, you know, a lot of Africans still today, a lot of black and brown families say, you can't do that. It's not gonna make you money. You gotta have a money making job. And then in high school, it was never said, but it was understood you can't audition for this. Same as Miss Eileen, right? And I went to- Kind of that unspoken role. Unspoken, right? And my theater, and it doesn't matter what he says. You can do this, this and this. And then, you know, I went to school for engineering in college and my mother died while I was in college. And that was the kicker for me that said, I need to do it. I encourage people do what you feel like you need to do. If you're called to do it. And for me, like Miss Eileen, I am called to create, to engage people, to help people think, move, feel. I'm a believer you have an idea whether this as an actor or a writer or a director. And then that idea you get the people engaged to make it happen. And then you're creating art and that's as close as we're gonna get to God, right? Is creative. So I, yeah, that is what got me here and what has kept me here is just believing I have a voice. Wow. And- I think you- No, no. I'm sorry, Rachel. I was just, I got excited when you said that about, you know, the different entities that come together because I mean, that's why part of the ensemble's name. Ensemble, it's a group of people coming together to create, to do things. I love that process. You know, when you're bringing together all of those designers that have all these, they really, we're all coming from the same Bible, right? Which is our script. It's the same text that we, but we're all coming from it with different perspectives because you're using your knowledge and you're, what you're, again, I'll say this word, come from its is and you're putting that together. But you're taking all of these pieces together to create the one piece that's gonna be shared with your audience. That's a beautiful thing. It is. And again, and I would imagine, again, thinking about the history of the Black experience, particularly in America, that having avenues for creation and for expression and in many ways, again, this multi-layered and often a subversive message. I remember, I remember some of the spirituals that we sang had multiple layers and multiple codes that maybe meant something on the outside, but to the community, it said something far, far more different and maybe far more encouraging as well. So let me, let's turn them to the ensemble season. I love that you looked to have themes for seasons at the Ensemble Theater. And again, one of the reasons that we titled this conversation, Indomitable Spirit, is that that's the theme of the season coming up. Can you share more about why you chose that title and give us a little taste of what's gonna be part of that theme? Well, in talking about the title, we of course bounced around as we always do several different options and Indomitable Spirit, Miss Eileen, kind of hailed onto her. But it is, we agree, right? The ensemble has been here. The ensemble is here and survived through COVID and a lot of theaters didn't. And we believe we'll be here to have this conversation again in 20, 30 years, right? So just Indomitable, meaning we cannot be beaten. We are proceed for going forth, knowing that we have something to do and we cannot be beaten. And then the spirit is right. The spirit of the craft, the spirit of our ancestors are with us. Yes. And I say, yes, we are all working together with a turning from the inside that keeps us moving forward. So Indomitable Spirit is about that. And that's what we know coming out of COVID, coming out of and with the Black Lives Matter movement, the part of what we're doing this year. We are going to go forth and be strong in spirit and do good work. And if our actual completed season is Indomitable Spirit, Poland, make sure I get it right, tenaciously empowered together. Or together empowered tenaciously. But it's T-E-T, right? That's who we are, the ensemble theater. And so we know that we have to have the drive. We have to do it together here, where the ensemble theater, where the E is for everyone and everyone counts. And it's part of our phrase, right? And we are empowered to just move forward. So. I think also, when you think about that, we're celebrating 45 years. This is our 45th anniversary season. And Reverend Han, first of all, we're grateful that the community has supported us throughout the years. We're grateful to be, you know, standing as the oldest, you know, the oldest arts entity in Midtown. And for those of you that don't know, Midtown is also a cultural arts district designated by the Texas Commission on the Arts oh, maybe about nine years ago. And so the ensemble theater was very much a part of, you know, them getting that designation because of the fact of our history and the legacy that we have. So when you think about 45 years, when you think about all of the plays that we're doing for this particular season, and you think about each one of those kind of themes of that particular play has its own indomitable spirit, its own tenaciousness, its own empowerment, and its own sense of togetherness. That's another way that we, you know, choose the theme because it's based upon and it's layered with the theme of all of the plays that are being done. But all of it, you know, is a part of the community that we serve each and every day. That that really is what empowers us to do the work that we do and brings us such joy. I just want to highlight a couple of comments in the chat box. Gorgeous conversation. You're speaking to my soul. Thank you to the ensemble theater. As an implant or to the Houston area and a new employee here at Interfaith Conversations. So enlightening. I had no idea what the ensemble did and how it has impacted the community. So you have quite a few fans here in the room with us. Two questions. What are your challenges right now? But I also want to ask, what is maybe some success stories as well? So maybe start first. What do you see as the challenges right now for the ensemble or maybe within the arts community? And then we can switch to talking about your, what success looks like? Maybe some success stories about the ensemble theater. Maybe what are challenges are just more, challenges that become opportunities, right? So I think that for all of us that are getting ready to begin to embark on opening up, but maybe that's even just a very kind of raw, transparent way of saying it, but just the fact that we're to begin to take a leap and a leap of faith into the back into the world to be able to bring the art to our community is going to be a challenge. Just getting on helping for ourselves to actually be able to implement all of the CDC guidelines and COVID confines that need to be done for the safety of our artists, our staff and our patrons. Those are going to be opportunities that we're going to be looking at. And because things are changing every day, that's the, I think that's the big challenge is because there's so much uncertainty amongst things that are going on in that vein. That would be one kind of thing that I would think about. And then for us, our previous managing director, Ms. Jeanette Cosley had retired this past October. And so we're going to be introducing a new managing director to our community, which is great and we're very excited about that. But just the fact that, you know, with Jeanette's longevity and history, she had been with the theater for 17 years. So, you know, just making those adjustments in with our community, with funders, with staffing, you know, that's another opportunity that we're going to be having to, we introduce someone to the community and getting them involved and letting them know, hey, we are still here, despite all of the challenges that we had with COVID. And we did have to do some furloughs. We've been able to bring people back on to staff. We've been able to continue. We did not close the doors. Those of us that remained on payroll were still able to have a job. Those are hugely important, wonderful things that because of our community, because of the funders that support the ensemble theater, we've been able to continue to do. Super, thank you. I think an additional challenge, though, I love how you put in the signing that it's an opportunity, really, is the burgeoning of funding and support of Black and Brown right now, the optimism that it will maintain. Yeah. Right, because there's lots of support right now, which is wonderful, wonderful. And I agree, it's an opportunity. But where will that be in a year, right? Because we've seen the sling in the tide happen many times. Yes. The hope is that it will maintain and the entities that have been able to sustain because of that support will still have that support in a year. And we'll have taken the challenge that is coming and prepared in order to turn it into an opportunity. I think something else that is a challenge is, right? As I mentioned, COVID with schools, right? We don't know what's happening with schools. And so much of our work is about the young people that we serve. It's about going into schools and doing shows for children and having residencies and having conversations with teachers and kiddos. And what does that look like? We don't know. Yeah, maybe that's the, oh, I'm sorry, Eileen did. No, no, I was just thinking about just another couple of phases. Believe it or not, because of all the things that happened with COVID and you hear, we've heard a lot about teachers saying that I'm not gonna teach anymore and they retired or something like that. Well, we've had just, we planned a season based on artists that we know would possibly be able to take and be a part of it. Some of those artists have moved out or moving out of state or have moved. Some of them are like several of our artists are pregnant. And so then that kind of is a change for us that we're having to adjust what we thought we would be able to depend on and kind of look back and just finding new artists in the community to be a part of the work that we do. And maybe I know that I wanted to ask about success stories but I think this whole pivotal conversation has been about the wonderful success. Maybe that's a good segue to talk about what can people do? Rachel, you mentioned that the hope of, both the hope and the concern about the sustain, the being able to sustain the support into black and brown arts communities. So people tune into these vital conversations to learn more about vital issues and especially what they can do. What can people do to support the ensemble theater and your role in supporting, I think again, the importance of black, of arts in the black community and the black experience. Well, of course, the most immediate reverend Han that comes to mind that all of us are thinking about is support theater, go to theater, see theater, give dollars to theater, right? Support in ways that can be maintained beyond your hearing this, right? There are ways to endow your theater that you love so much with funds after you've passed and I'll support theater and come and see theater. That's the biggest immediate piece. Introducing children to theater, right? Because we know the average audience age is getting older and if we don't get young people 30 and younger to see the value and they can stay home and watch Netflix and Hulu and all of that, right? But if they don't see the value, then theater will have some danger, right? It'll have to change a whole lot to reflect, to engage with what is if our audience continues to get older. So that's a starting place. Yeah, and I think we have to be strategic about, you know, our audiences need to be those that are wanting to get introduced to the theater, be strategic about it. So like if you know you work for a company that has a matching gift plan, you know, donate something and have that matching gift so that your gift becomes even more of a contribution to the theater. Also, maybe if there's an opportunity for us to be able to be introduced to your place of employment, that's always great because we love, part of what we do, part of what we love so very much is the different ways that we go out and reach into the community. I mean, we can go and do some theme, you know, presented situation and create art out of that theme. Or we can go to a school and come in and engage and talk with students about something that they're studying or reading in their English class. You know, so we can be specific, we can specifically work towards something with a particular audience member. And I think it's important that audiences begin to introduce us to these very groups that they're in so that we will have new audiences that can become a part of the ensemble theater. That's why we say we're the ensemble theater where the E is for everyone and everyone counts. So many of us have brought other people to the theater because we're introducing them. We have several board members that do that consistently where they'll bring new people to the theater and they'll buy their tickets for them so that they can be introduced. So we say introduce people to what the ensemble theater has to offer, ask one of us to come out and talk to a specific group at your job or church or community center. Whatever that is, we're really wanting to be engaged with our community because that's where, you know, the legacy and the longevity of who we are as an institution will continue to, you know, to exist. Someone mentioned in the chat or senior matinees and I'm so excited that there are folks who love those because we enjoy those as well where sometimes we'll have seniors and students together in the audience, right? And it will be even more deliberate about the conversations that those two groups have, right? But it's beautiful to see everybody from the little to the big in the space, right? And one more thing I think folks can do is when you hear about, especially if this is your wheelhouse, for a lot of us, it's not. When you hear about house bills and Senate bills and the policy that you mentioned about happening around the support of arts, make your voice be heard. Send your letter, do the call, Google or research, how do I support this house bill if you don't know how? Cause I didn't know how and it's still not my strength but it matters. All of the people who support, you know, having moved in their circles here in Houston that they focus on advocacy for arts and watching how they work when they say we did this because you sent a message is really powerful. That's an important, and I know we could have a whole of a conversation about the culture and policy of how arts get funded here in the Greater Houston area by various foundations and alliances. And hopefully, again, my guess is that they have probably not been equitable in the past and but hopefully are improving but that's probably a whole other conversation perhaps to be had at another time. But just I wanted to, I think want to raise that consciousness and awareness to those who are listening that it's just not about, besides I think bills and policies but there's all whole kind of funding kind of culture or kind of infrastructure here in Houston as well that people need to be aware of. There's some questions in the chat about maybe a little bit about when opening is, again, I encourage people to go to ensemblehustin.com but when opening show is and things that you're thinking about when it comes to how many people you're gonna have in with the changing atmosphere, changing landscape of COVID but really when will things open up and when would we be able to come down to the theater? Right, well, we start rehearsals next Tuesday, August 17th with the play Respect. Not based on the movie but it definitely has a Rita Franklin couple of songs in the play itself but it deals with the empowerment of women and written by Dr. Dorothy Marci directed by Tony Glover who's a well-known local HSPDA graduate and Houstonian artist. So that star actually opens on September 23rd, I believe is the date that we actually open that play will run until October 17th and so what we're gonna be doing for the first play of the season is we're actually going to have limited audiences that will be able to attend the show so it will be live. We will follow again CDC guidelines and regulations. We will have things in place that audiences will know about by visiting our website or going on, getting the information from the ensemble theater but we'll have limited audiences for the first show. Also that first show will be a show without an admission. So once you come into the theater and get seated then you, when the show ends then that will be the end of that play. It'll be like an hour and 20 minutes, hour and 30 minute performance that will be seen. So that will help us to kind of reduce interaction amongst people and audiences and crowds and that kind of thing until things settle down. We plan on doing that for the first show everybody and then for the second play Motown Christmas, then we're gonna evaluate that probably midway of the first show respect to see if we can open up a little bit more with audiences and be able to have close to, you know, a regular, our theater is very intimate, but it's 190. So the beauty that people love about what the ensemble theater provides is that, you know you feel like you're right there with the actors on stage. The intimacy is so strong yet it's a large space. It's 190 seat house. So we're looking to open that up a little bit more for the holiday Christmas show. So that's really what we're gonna be putting in place. We'll still be doing some aspects virtually. Rachel, you might wanna talk about that, some of the virtual things that we'll do and then a few other in-person things that we'll do with small audiences. Yeah, we'll be moving with a conversation in September and equity diversity inclusion conversation right now that we'll be in collaboration with another theater. So we're looking forward to see what that is and talking about some form of intersectionality which hasn't been fully distilled but that will be a virtual conversation that happens. We'll be having an acting class coming up in September as well. So if you were an adult and thought about taking an acting class or even if you're seasoned and want to get that muscle moving since we've all kind of been on a break for a while then that could be a good class. And it is also virtual. Now we're just like with the shows we're planning to increase and become more face to face as the year goes on to the next acting class will be face to face and the next few conversations will be in-person. So yeah, and moving into the year Miss Eileen you mentioned already the Lawson's I'm terribly excited about that. I know it's a world premiere musical and to tell the story of Reverend Lawson and this Audrey Lawson. I think it's going to be really dynamic, right? It's a play with music but it has several songs and the cast is really fabulous of all of our shows this year and we're really excited to see the work that they bring to this stage and that opens at the end of, no, yes, the end of January, January 24th, right? So we're looking forward to moving into the year with some really exciting work. That is Rachel Dixon, Eileen J. Morris. I wish I had a whole other hour when we've come to the end. So I wanted to thank you. Let me just have a couple of closing announcements. Again, we hope to see you for our September conversation with Project Curate. But before then, we hope you can join us or continue to join us for our dialogue workshops at Interfaith Ministries. We're hosting in partnership with an organization called Braver Angels. So please visit, I've got a slide here but I will, if you'll visit imgh.org and go to events and our dialogue workshops we would really hope that you would join us. We've got one on September 28th and one on November 9th. Thank you all for joining us today. Again, you can learn more about the Ensemble Theater at ensemblehustin.com and you can visit us at imgh.org to learn more about Interfaith's work. Again, thank you to Citco Petroleum Corporation for sponsoring this episode and the entire series. Rachel, Eileen, thank you so much again and look forward to getting to the Ensemble Theater to see your show this fall. Excellent. Thank you. Thank you very much, Ben and Han. We appreciate it. Thank you audience. All right, thanks everyone.