"Daddy" was this play that was looking at, like, an intergenerational,
interracial relationship through the lens of, like, a 26-year-old black artist
and their relationship with a 65-year-old white art collector.
- Child. - Uh, "Daddy" is a lot of things.
Like, Yale is a daddy. Quibi is a daddy.
"Vanity Fair" is a daddy.
Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?
Bitch, you know it's me.
Reflections, reflections...
Our next guest is Jeremy O. Harris, an amazing playwright.
We're gonna get to the center of his creative process.
Let's go.
Please join me. Welcome to "Centerpiece."
- Thank you for having me. - Absolutely.
First of all, I just wanna talk about, um, our hair a moment.
- Yes. - Your hair is major.
Oh, thank you. So is yours.
Uh, well, thank you so much.
Um, you actually were the first person that made me feel comfortable,
like, I could actually look kind of cool in braids.
Yeah, I mean, I think– Well, you know, I think that having
your mom here makes it really easy to talk about the person who made me
really free with my hair, which is my mom, Veronica.
Um, she was a hair stylist,
and she needed someone to practice on, and I was her guinea pig.
And now let's take a journey to the center.
Now, in terms of, like, acceptance and being, like, other as a child,
was that, like, easy for you? Was your mom really open?
Her way of protecting all of the things that made me other was, like,
also shaped by, like, growing up in, like, a predominantly Christian household.
Mm-hmm.
And, like, this sense that, like, I was, like, a blessed child
or, like, super blessed and, like, um, anointed in some way.
And that also sets you apart from everyone else, because–
And it was, like, so– the protective measures, like–
everyone sort of whispers, like,
"Oh, he's a faggot." Or he's this or he's that.
But then she's, like, "Oh, no, he's just special."
- God, I love that. - Yeah.
So when I'm thinking about "Slave Play" and I'm thinking of the complexity
of all of those characters that are so well nuanced...
how did you find them?
I think just listening for a long time.
As a kid from a poor household in the South,
who was, like, groomed in these, like, really expensive private schools...
- Mm. - I got to have, like,
a different vocabulary and language so I constantly was translating for everyone.
So, again, like, a translator has to be someone who's listening a lot.
Can you tell me more about your use of mirrors in your work,
and why you use that as a tool?
In, like, the major works that people have interacted with,
mirrors play, like, a major part in, or at least, like,
a reflecting plays a big part of it.
And I was, like, "That's the kind of moment that you don't get on stage,
and, like we have to have it here."
Interesting.
And now let's go deep.
Are you ready?
- Okay. - Richard Wright or James Baldwin?
James Baldwin.
Cotton or silk?
Cotton-silk blend.
Come on, find the liminal space, diva.
"Praise the Lord" or Crystal Waters?
"Praise the Lord."
Vaseline, coconut oil, or spit?
Coconut oil.
Deacon or youth pastor?
That's a hard choice.
Is there, like, a medium option for that one?
- No. - Choir director.
Yes!
And most importantly, being that you're a playwright,
and you said that you're a person that
picks up on nuance and details immediately...
Um, what would the title of my play be?
It's something about flowers and, like, metaphors around, like, nature.
And you'd have, like, really long titles.
So that, like, um...
"A Hyacinth Only Blooms in the Summer with the Dew."
I love that.
Girl, it's time to process.
Y'all, I first encountered Jeremy O. Harris's work in a dark-ass theater,
where I actually had to look at my reflection.
He spoke through the refracted prisms of this crazy, twisted world.
Okay, refractive prism.
He saw every shade, every side, and every color.
And it is my desire to reflect back to him the beauty that he reflected to me.
Mr. Jeremy O. Harris, please join me.
You've been so generous with me, you've been so kind, you've been so open.
I wanted to take a moment to reflect back to you,
like, your magic that I see in you.
Cue the curtain.
What?
- This is for you. - Oh, my God.
I just wanted to create something that was literally a reflection.
Your use of mirrors is so moving,
and I wanted to figure out a way to synthesize that.
Does everyone get this many mirrors or is it just for me?
It's for, like, being who you are in the best way possible.
- I just think, it's, like, very moving. - Thank you for this.
- Yeah. - It's awesome.
Where'd you go?
Just look in another mirror, you'll find me.
I want you to have a moment with it.
I'm gonna leave you to it.
Absolute insanity. I need a moment too.
Yes.
This is truly, I don't– I'm generally not speechless.
I just think that it's, like, so rare that we get to, like, see ourselves
and be able to see that we have lots of dimension.
We have lots of beauty in all kinds of ways.