 The Public Theater has been supporting this from day one. So big thank you to the Public Theater. And a few years ago, HowlRound came on board and helped us livestream. And they are also joining forces, HowlRound and the Public Theater to bring us this format, which is so thrilling and exciting because I'm getting to meet people who don't have time to come to the lobby of the Public Theater. Although some folks who come to the lobby of the Public Theater are here like Carol. Hey Carol. But anyway, so Watch Me Work is, oh, and you know, I write things, lots and lots of different kinds of things. I'm a showrunner for TV, I've written plays, movies, films, songs for a band, my band, all kinds of things. So during this show, I like to have us work together. And then we talk about your work and your creative process. So what we don't have time to do is to give specific critique on things that you have created. But we do have plenty of time to talk about your process and give you some pointers, feedback, encouragement on that, something to help you keep going during these very interesting times we are living in. So Audrey will tell us how to contact me. Yep. Yeah, totally. So if you wanna ask a question, all that you need to do if you are inside of the Zoom is click on the raise your hand button. It should be in a participant tab, likely at the bottom of your screen if you're on a laptop or at the top if you're on an iPad. If you have trouble finding it, feel free to send me a chat and I will help you. If you're watching the stream on HowlRound.tv, then you can ask questions via social media. You can tweet at the Public Leaders Twitter or on our Instagram, or you can tweet at Watch Me Work SLP with the hashtag HowlRound, H-O-W-L-R-O-U-N-D. And that's it. Oh, SLP, you're muted. Okay. One second. We will vamp. Yep. Okay, there we go. I was trying out all these buttons so you're like, oh yeah, why don't I click some shit while you're talking? Bad idea. Okay, so here we go. Because you were making it sound so interesting, like click the participant tab. I was like, let me see what that's like. I know. Bad idea. Here we go. Here we go. We got 20 minutes to work. Everybody ready? And go. You're, my timer went off. I was that too early? No? All okay. One second, I'm gonna text you. Thank you. Wow, so sorry. That was really funny. That was funny. It says you can't unmute yourself because the host has muted you. I'm like, Audrey. So sorry. It's okay. Thursday, all day long. It is all day long. We have a 23rd all day long. So yeah, any questions other than how to unmute yourself if the host has muted you? At least we had the answer to that. Now we know. Yeah, I know. We have a question from Ray. Go for it, Ray. Hi. Oh my God. Thank you so much for doing this. It has been such a pleasure to tune in. My question is about structure for a piece. I find that once I know what needs to happen scene by scene, I have no problem just sitting down and writing it. But especially in the earlier stages of developing a new play, the hardest thing for me is creating an outline. And specifically, I'll know like a few key moments that I need to happen and the nitty gritty of just like what needs to happen before this for us to understand it. And in between these points, I was wondering if you could shed any light on that process. Okay, I know, I know. It's weird. I won't meet myself anymore today. I'm just gonna. I think that how everyone's gonna make you a host and it'll work. Oh, yeah, I got a promotion. Yeah, Ray. So you have sort of the big building blocks, right? And you're wondering how to fill out the middle bits. Yes. Okay. You just kind of, you know, it's like, I mean, where do you live right now? Where are you right now? I'm from New York, but I'm finishing my senior year at Northwestern. So I'm in Chicago. You're in Chicago, right. So if you wanna go from somewhere to somewhere in Chicago, right, you know where you are, you know where you wanna go. And then you just have to look around and see like, well, how am I gonna get there? You know? Just ask a question. Like Hamlet wants to get revenge for his father's murder, right? You know, Hamlet. Yeah, I do, I was taking notes. Okay, no, no, no, no. You can, whatever, you don't have to look at me. But Hamlet, you know, wants to get revenge. He wants to find out who or he wants to get revenge for his father's murder. And so it could be easy if he was like a hotheaded dude who didn't think very much and he had a knife or whatever. And he just goes after, he says, ah, it must be my uncle, right? That's a really short play, right? But because he's a thinking guy, i.e. because Shakespeare is really diving into his character a little bit more. You see what I mean? So his character makes the, kind of unfolds the steps along the way. So if he were a hotheaded guy, it would be a relatively quick play maybe. But because he's a thinking dude and he has, he vacillates and he has to consider every angle, the playwright is gonna take us through lots of different thought processes that Hamlet is having, right? Cause that's a big part of the play. Now, the disclaimer is of course, I'm not a Shakespeare scholar. I just read Shakespeare for fun. So if your teacher or whatever doesn't agree with that, whatever. My point is that the idea is if you wanna develop your plot, you gotta develop your character, okay? So if you're thin on your plot, you're probably thin on your character, okay? If you're thin on, yeah, okay? You're thin on your plot. And if you feel like you're really rich in your character, then maybe you're thin on your setting or context, you know? But usually it's character. Usually people think, yeah, I just gonna, like someone I knew years ago, I had these great characters and now I gotta find a plot for them to be in. You know, as if the two things were separate and they're not, they're, one is part of another, okay? So dig deep into your characters, find out what's going on with them and the specifics of their personalities or their situations will give you the made more points along the way, okay? Because if I'm in New York, if I were driving to California right now and I love Dairy Queen, right? Yeah. And I probably stop at a lot of Dairy Queens and that's part of the story. Did you get it? Yeah, thank you so much. If I was in Dairy Queen, I probably wouldn't stop at Dairy Queen. But I have to see the Grand Canyon. I'd probably stop at the Grand Canyon, you understand? Yeah. That's so helpful. I appreciate it. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Thanks, Ray. All right, next we're gonna go to Nell. Go for it. Hi. Hey, Nell. Hey, Nell. Hey, Nell. Hey, Nell. Hey, Nell. Sorry. So I'm really happy to be a part of this. I'm coming all the way from Atlanta, Georgia. So I'm really excited right now. But I guess a little bit about me. I went from kind of writing academic essays. I was on the track to get a PhD in African-American literature. I switched gears, moved from, I went to Carnegie Mellon, moved from Pennsylvania all the way to Atlanta, Georgia in hopes of starting a career in the entertainment industry. So right now, like I'm just starting out as a comic. I would like to move into screenwriting. And I was just wondering like, how do you balance, I guess, goal setting and planning with doing when you're learning something new? Because I feel like there's a huge, we're not huge because it's still storytelling, but I guess the kind of storytelling, there's a learning curve. So you went to Carnegie Mellon, you took classes? I'm just trying to track it. So I went to Carnegie Mellon, I got a master's in literary and cultural studies. I was going to apply to the PhD program, decided not to, and like right after the program ended, I moved out to Atlanta and started a career in comedy. That's great, like sketch comedy? Are you a stand-up comedian? Yeah, yep. That's fantastic. Oh, more of you, please. That would be great. That's so great. That's really fun. Well, I mean, I think it's just, there you are, you're doing stand-up. So you're writing, I'm guessing you're writing a lot of your own material. Yeah, so you're doing that. You just gotta, I mean, set yourself a goal when it's something new, I would say be modest in your goals, you know, but be able to stick to them. So make your goals achievable, you know, and stick to them and maybe, you know, join a group, you know, like a writing group. You probably have, do you have a group of comedians that you can out-work or try out material? They don't necessarily do, like, screenwriting or anything like that, some of them are into sketch writing. But they're, I mean, Atlanta, there's tons and tons of people who work in the industry. So what's great about that is you can, you can keep, you know, set yourself a goal, like you're gonna write a, what are you working on now, a screenplay or a teleplay or what are you working on? Right now I'm working on a screenplay. Great. Okay. So like a 120 page kind of thing or what? Great. Okay. So when are you gonna get it done? How close are you? Well, that's the thing. Like I, I guess I get it caught up in like the how to. So like I'm writing it out, but I won't, like I don't think it's necessarily like the right format and everything. Okay. Well, there are lots of books. Cool, that's cool. Lots of books. I mean, you know, there are programs or writing programs or online courses you can take to, you know, especially in the beginning stages, but at any point in your career, we should always be into taking a class. This, this, this, what do you call it? This weekend, I'm taking a fiddle class. Don't ask me why. Except that I, so it's always good to take, you know, always good to be learning new things, right? Especially in your case, if you want to have it as a career, fiddling is something I do just for fun, but you want to do that as a career. So take an online class, maybe, you know? So you can learn things like format. You don't want to not know the format of a screenplay. There are also screenplays that you can, I guess download online now. You can get screeners probably. Well, you went to Carnegie Mellon, but that wasn't your program. But you can get, you can see this, the format of a screenplay on the page. So you want to just know those kinds of things. You can take an online course. You can probably find, if you put out Craigslist or something, even that meet virtually a group of screenwriters, who you can have like a writer's, you know, sharing circle or whatever they're called, you know, those kinds of things. So I would say make a goal, tell yourself where you're going to finish your screenplay. But in the meantime, learn the form, what it looks like on the page. That's easy. That's kind of easy. That's really easy. And get yourself a group so that when you're finished, you can read it to them, okay? But say you're going to write just like two pages a day. Keep your goal modest, achievable. Okay, set a goal, keep it modest and achievable and make your deadlines every day. Two pages a day. You can be done in what? 60 days. What's today? 23rd. 23rd. You know, so, you know, June you're done, right? I mean, I'm guessing you have at least five pages. How many pages you have already? I have about, I wanna say maybe six pages. Great, there you see, I was close. So there you go. So you can be done, you know, July, right? Yeah. You understand? Okay, there are lots of great books out there to teach you the format of screenplay writing. Lots of really good material out there. Okay, you go on Amazon, check it out. Treat yourself to two or three books if you don't wanna take a class, okay? Okay, so make the goal to make the right but also gaining that additional information. Yeah, yeah, you gotta do both at once. You're not gonna, unless you wanna stop and do research, you know, just make the two pages a day, books that are gonna tell you how the format, what the format looks like, and just keep writing. Make your goals. And then as you progress, you're gonna get a group of people together. You know, I'm not saying stop writing and get a group of people together. All these things are running concurrently, okay? I mean, come on, we live in a world where we multitask. Here we are doing, I mean, come on, I'm telling you, write, set a goal, learn the form, join a group. It can all happen concurrently. It's all helping you reach your goal, okay? Okay, thank you so much. Okay, thank you. Thanks now. SLB, you're a co-host now, so if you wanna mute yourself, you totally can. I just, the background noise of the park and everything, I just don't. All right, up next we have Devin. All right, Devin, go for it. Hi. Do I, am I unmuted? Yes, you can hear me. Hi. Thank you so much. I consider these meetings a silver lining of the pandemic on self-isolation and happy birthday, Shakespeare. So here's my question. Well, I'm a playwright, but now and then I have projects that are not plays that sort of speak to me and need to be written. So I've been working for a long time for, I hate to say it, seven years on a book, a memoir, and it's about stuff that happened in our family. And so my question, and now and then, going through this wilderness of my own experience, my journals and everything, I'm almost done actually, but sometimes it gets bleak. And I'm wondering if you ever find yourself writing tough, bleak stuff and how you cheer yourself through that project, through that and like what you're, you know, I don't know, do you go to Dairy Queen? I mean, like what do you do to get yourself through those hard parts of writing stuff? Right, if you've had that experience, I don't know. Yeah, right, all my stuff, if you know anything about my work, it's all very upbeat and happy, joyous, and there's always like a dance party at the end. Yay, hooray, and nothing ever sad happens ever in anything I've ever written. Actually, Devin, I'm totally, it's completely opposite. I know that. Yeah, so, yeah, so, you know, it's the desire to exercise the energy is what pulls me through. Say that again, please. The desire, the need to exercise the energy. Exercise. Exercise, the energy is what pulls me through. You see what I mean? Or think of it, I mean, gee, think of it like, you know, say you have, you know, corona and you have a fever. It's my writing, when I write, it's very much like that. I have a fever and the body is working to, you know, get the virus under control or expel it or you have a splint or something more mild in your finger and you're working to expel the wounded thing. So it's the need to expel the wounded thing that keeps me, that powers my writing. So, you know, sure, it's a heavy thing, it's heavy. I mean, I'm, you know, I write heavy things on my own and I'm called. Anybody has a big project or a heavy thing or oh my God, that's fucking impossible. An eight-part TV show about Aretha Franklin. Yeah, let's call SLP, she can do it, you know. Fucking A. Or fucking A, a play about the Scarlet Letter maybe. You know, I get called to do these heavy or a poor game best, yeah, adapt that, rewrite that. Sure, no sweat, I'll just, you know, I get called to do these really difficult, laden, heavy topics. And it's the desire to just make it right, tell the truth as best I can. That's what powers me through. So sure it's heavy and daunting, sure. Sure, you know, but I feel like we're, you know, we're in the company of warriors, you know. You know what I mean? Some writers, sure, they're writing like, you know, I don't know, all they write is rom-coms and don't get me wrong, I love a good rom-com and even a bad one, but I really do actually. But, you know, those of us who are called to work on, you know, heavy topics. We're, you know, we're, you know, the warriors or the priestesses and we're called and you gotta go and fight the fight. Who else is gonna do it if not you? Okay, hey, thanks so much. That's beautiful, and yeah, thank you. Thank you, Devin. All right, next we've got Jonathan. Go for it, Jonathan. Hi there. So not about structure this time, but this time I, so I've had this idea about writing a sequel to The Hairdy Ape, actually. And it's been through this time that I actually found why I feel like that is a thing I need to do. Weirdly enough, but I'm curious about how to approach writing a sequel based on something that's so famous or based on something that is so legendary and just, I feel like I know the answer of what you would say, but I feel like hearing it from you might be a good thing. And just what you would maybe recommend. I would love actually Jonathan to hear what I might say. I knew you might. Come on, tell me, tell me, tell me. So tell the story. What skin do you have in the game? What do these characters want? Ask them why they want to do, why they're after this. And then write that tale. And don't worry about whatever it else is. Respect though, and know that the playwright is with you and that, and you being honored with them and they're honored with you and that becomes an informed thing. That's perfect. You get a gold star. That's exactly what I would have said. My master class with SLT. No, those are exactly my little talking points for that subject. That's exactly right. So here we go, Jonathan. Think about what your characters want. Think about how much skin you have in the game. Be respectful to the original writer. Know that they are with you. Stay focused on the story. And at the same time, be okay with making it your play. But don't do so out of a need to be interesting, which I think is the death of anything good, actually. You know what I'm saying? So just stay true, you know? And keep your hand on your own pulse. Why am I doing this? You don't have to articulate that, but just hopefully it'll remain to be a beautiful and honest thing. Yeah. Yeah, and it was, it's been through some of this that's been helped me to kind of flesh that out. And so I've appreciated that. And yeah, I just was kind of, yeah, I appreciate all the things that, the nuggets you share in all of this because I feel like they do, I've been listening, so that's good, but. No, good. No, and it's, I mean, you know, I think we can, inspiration can come from anywhere. And I think if you wanna write a sequel to a great play, that's fine, you know? There's lots of, you will hopefully write many, many, many things in your long and beautiful career. And if right now you wanna write that, I think that's great, you know? That's totally cool. Also, I would add to those things that I have already said and that you've so beautifully repeated, I'm so impressed is set yourself some goals, like we were talking to now, you know, set yourself some goals and Ray, you know, set yourself some goals, make them achievable. And that will help. That will help you kind of move along. Okay, okay, great. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thanks, Jonathan. Thank you. Thank you, Jonathan. All right, up next we've got William. William, can you hear us? Yes. Hi. Hi, how are you? Bill, hi. Hi. Hi. I haven't seen you since the fall book theater. Where are you living, man? I'm at the University of Maine. I don't know. I just received my honorary doctorate's degree from the same college that's fucking kicked me out of the program. Maybe that's why we stick with it. Congratulations. Oh, I'm so happy for you. Thank you. Well, I have a question about an issue. When we went out to public, we had all these native playwrights there. Right, right. And I'm getting to a point where I'm turning my back on mainstream theater because I'm not really getting what I need. Right. What amazes me now, and I brought this to Teresa, TCG's Teresa. Yeah. Attention. I said, you folks are worried about playwrights, native theater, but all of these reservation communities are producing plays left and right in their own languages. Oh, nice. But they're not open to the public. Uh-huh. And I've been focused on just doing community work. Right. I helped develop the young playwright by the name of Molly and Dana. She had a play called Molly that was premiered at Yale during the Native American Festival they had. But I'm getting to a point where I'm turning my back on mainstream. And I don't know if that's right because here's the issue I have. I'm running into where we've battled the issue of commercialism versus community. Yep. And for native communities, community is your lifeblood. Right. And so there's this huge conflict because what I'm seeing is the remains of colonialism within the standards of theater. Even here at the University of Maine, I'm teaching in the English department, but they won't hire me within the theater department, which is kind of weird. But out of a liberal arts school, there are 27 faculty in the English department and I'm the diversity. Oh, great. Yeah. So it's amazing that we still have these situations. And so I'm kind of looking at the possibility of doing an article on native theater after this pandemic. How do we redefine ourselves? But do you find that difficult that either within an African-American community, you have to redefine yourself all the time? Well, the virus of colonialism is deeply embedded in our communities. I mean, at our communities, meaning whoever you are, whoever your people are, it is deeply embedded. And the more marginalized you are, the deeper it is embedded. It is attached to our every cell. To shake it is a life's work. I look at mainstream theater sometimes and I go, really? That's supposed to be us? That's, you know what I mean? So there's a lot of disconnect because I think we as artists have equated being successful with how much money we make. And we're playing right into the hand of the man because how much are you gonna sell your soul for, you know? And we, people in my community, we're quick to, yeah, sure, you know? How fast, how fast can I make my buck, you know? And how much can I elbow my brother or sister out of the way because, you know, I gotta be on top and she can't be in the room if I am and, you know? So it is deeply, deeply a part of what our day to day. It is a difficult struggle. I think the best thing to do, I mean, what you're doing, you know, if you turn your back on mainstream theater, I don't think that's a bad thing, you know? But also the tricky thing is when you go into your community, and I'll just speak for myself, when I go into my community, I am at, on one hand, overjoyed to be in the community and horrified at the amount of hatred with the community. We can't talk about that because it's not cool. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, because I've been working with the Penobscot here and I've been granted status of an elder. They look at me as an elder and they've given me three eagle feathers since I've been here, working with them. And what amazes me the most though is that they're still trying to find the vessel for expression. They're still trying to find that vessel for expression. And I did that all my life. And it's very frustrating because when you go to the theater company, they say, well, that's great. It's a great play, but we have no Indians. So we can't do it. Or it's a great Indian play, but we really don't wanna deal with the native politics. And so there's always these catch 22 that make it almost impossible. And yet they wanna talk about inclusion and it never happens. Oh, by the way, I'm on Facebook, threewilliam.yellowrow, I've been trying to contact you. Okay, see, I'm not on Facebook. I'm like on Facebook, so not really. Okay. But it's okay, I can find you now. Yeah, I wanna send you some work. Okay, okay. And show you what's happening within the native communities. All right, man. But I think, I mean, for me, the best thing I do is I just keep working and keep trying to find ways to tell it like it is and keep trying not to be too discouraged when members of my own community try to shut me down. Because that's the worst. It's one thing to get put down by the man, but it's another thing to get put down by the sister of the brother. So it's just something that, and again, this is not like, we're not talking about like writer's block, which is kind of a luxury almost. You know what I mean? Yeah, it is. How do I get to that point, you know what I mean? Or how do I meet my deadline? We're talking about systemic shit that's going on in the world that is trying to shut down, that's trying to shut some folks down. And so it's just good to acknowledge that in this context and just, we'll keep talking about it, okay? Okay. Blessings to you, sister. Yeah, you too, man. That's great. Thank you. All right. Up next we've got Chandra. Go for it. Hi, SLP. Chandra, it's such a, it's an absolute honor to be speaking with you. So thank you for this. Thank you. So I have been working in theater for a long time. I'm currently in a TV writer's fellowship to transition into television writing. And I wanted to hear from you, what were sort of the skills that you took from theater into the TV room? Like what do you feel like, was easily transferable? What were things that you felt like were different that just would be helpful for someone who's making that kind of leap? I think the most helpful thing, transitioning, I mean, doing theater and film and TV. I mean, film and TV are pretty close in my mind. But in a way, it's a lot like theater. I was never like a long-winded writer, okay? Even in my plays. I was always filing it down to the absolutely essential words, absolutely most essential action. I would start, you know, you cut deep into the scene, you start where it has to start and you get out as quick as you can. That's been my writing in my plays anyway. Cause you have the meat of the play always. It's always like bristling and intense and, you know, ah, like that. That helps me a lot with TV writing and screen play writing. Because you wanna be economical. Also, you wanna see it, see it as much as you can. It's a visual medium. So you wanna really, as much as you can, imagine your story on a screen, you know? So when you see your story, it's not perhaps long, delicious monologues where the character is standing there, you know, going on and on about something beautiful, but she is actively doing something and you can see her in a landscape trying to affect something, achieve something, you know? So you just have to be leaner, I think, you know, or just focus on that. It's pretty much that's pretty much the most helpful thing. Great, thank you so much. Thanks, and good luck with your screen writing. I appreciate that, thank you. Thanks, Chandra. All right, we've got about five minutes left and we're gonna go to Celeste. Hi, Hazel B. Happy tourist season. Yeah, I know. How you doing? I'm good, how are you? I'm good, are you in Queen, where you live? I'm in Brooklyn. Brooke, I'm sorry, Brooklyn, okay, cool. Good and pretty, don't be sorry. So I find it really difficult and frustrating to talk about my plays, especially in a simple way and I kind of feel like I should be better at it by now. I'm just wondering if you have any advice about sort of pairing back and clearly articulating about work. Right, it's so funny Celeste, you know, I've known Celeste for a while and only now is your Canadian accent coming out, sister. It's very interesting. No, no, no, no, I can hear it. I could never hear it until right now. Really? Yeah, true. Which words did you hear it in? About, about. I'll work on that. No, no, we love it. It's lovely, we love Canadians. Come on, Canadians are better than Americans. Sorry, did I just say that? Yes, I did. Okay, so, when you think about pitching your plays, sorry, I'm gonna use that horrible phrase, pitching your plays, explaining your plays, telling the story of your plays, are you sitting down and thinking about them? What are you doing with your body? In the moment that I'm speaking? Yeah, in the moment that you're speaking. Oh, it's blank, no thoughts. No thoughts, but what in your body, oh, see you said it's blank, no thoughts. I said, what are you doing with your body? Bless your heart. You said it's blank, no thoughts. Your body, the rest of you, your legs. Look, you're flat, what are you doing with your, right, I wonder if you could practice talking about your work, standing up. You have, who's your roommate, Matt? Matt, Matt, Libby, right? No, jacket. Jacket, okay, what, you have an elevator in your building? No. Okay, okay, you have a sidewalk outside? Yeah. Right, okay, walk down the sidewalk with him, go from one end of the sidewalk to the other, and say, okay, I got it, it's your elevator pitch, it's your horizontal elevator pitch. Okay, Matt, this is the story of my play. So there's this, see if you can see if you can be moving your body, right, while you're walking and talking to a good friend about your play. I think you gotta allow your play, the story of your play to trickle into your body and get a little, sort of move it out of your, because your play is a really beautiful and poetic and conceptual and interesting and, it's true. So you gotta just maybe go for a walk and talk to a friend. Okay, I'll try it. Okay, also think in big story points. This is the beginning, right? It's about this character and this character, right? And she was trying to erase her memory, I'm sorry, I'm not talking about your place, but she had everything, and then it, and then it, and then the end, then it, and then it. So think in big story points, think of beginning, middle, and end, okay? Try to tell it just in terms of beginning, middle, and end. Also you can use, I cleaned up my desk so I no longer have my little census reminder card, but you can use little cards where you write just the plot points on your cards. There you go. Okay. Okay, okay. But I think taking a walk, especially now that it is tourist season, happy tourist season. Thank you so much. And, you know, or this way, and get out for a walk and start talking to yourself about your plays. Okay. And keep the details to a minimum. Got it. Does that make sense? Okay. Yeah, thanks. Thanks, it's good to see you. Yeah, see you soon. Thanks, Celeste. All right, we've got about a minute to go. Do we have 10 more more? We should wrap up for two. No, let's go, let's go. All right, Jess. Jess. Oh no, there we go. Hey, Jess. Hi. So my name is Jess. I'm currently a senior at Holford and William Smith and I'm not a screenwriter, but I am a poet and a visual artist. And a lot of the work that I do is around race, gender, and I try to like tackle specific things within grammar and the English language. One thing that I love doing is lower casing America. Like, I know doing things like that, you might not have as large as an audience as you'd like, as some of those things are considered like anti-American, anti-patriotic. So I guess my question is, how do you frame an audience and what would you consider a success when your consciousness and your thoughts are considered radical? Yeah, that's a great question, Jess. What do we consider success when our consciousness and our thoughts are considered radical? I mean, Jess, getting the work done, being able to have a conversation or instigate a conversation with people who may or may not be like-minded, it's a wonderful conversation to say, I'm lower casing America, let's talk about it. Let's just, let's have a conversation. I mean, William, we're talking about a minute ago about how difficult it is to talk about what's going on in the community really. Because people don't wanna talk about it. So sometimes you just have to say what you gotta say and there might be blowback from the status quo. There might be blowback from your own community, however you define that. But I think success is actually being brave enough to tell your truth. That's success. That's a huge, great thing that you would do for yourself and for all of us, you know? Definitely. So you gotta keep the writing going, you know? Whatever you do, poems, plays, novels, movies, whatever it is, you know? And keep bringing those questions to us and in getting us to talk about those kinds of things. Because I think one of the greatest things that we can do for each other as artists or for the world as artists is get each other to, get each other to think and we can get each other to feel, you know? Think beyond our standard way of seeing the world, you know? That's a great thing. But it's also something that a lot of people don't like. You can tell a lot of people don't like to think these days. Yeah. So. Thank you. It's a challenge. Fair enough. Yeah. Thanks so much, Jess. All right, it's 602. All right, it's 602. How about you? How about you? As a reminder, sign up every day by 3 p.m. Eastern time and I will send you the link between 3 p.m. and 4 30 p.m. and the sign up is on publictheater.org. Fantastic. Okay, thanks, guys. See you tomorrow. Thanks, everyone. See you tomorrow.