1 00:00:00,459 --> 00:00:03,089 - "Daddy" was this play that was looking at, like, an intergenerational, 2 00:00:03,128 --> 00:00:07,928 interracial relationship through the lens of, like, a 26-year-old black artist 3 00:00:07,966 --> 00:00:10,386 and their relationship with a 65-year-old white art collector. 4 00:00:10,427 --> 00:00:12,467 - Child. - Uh, "Daddy" is a lot of things. 5 00:00:12,513 --> 00:00:15,103 Like, Yale is a daddy. Quibi is a daddy. 6 00:00:15,140 --> 00:00:16,600 "Vanity Fair" is a daddy. 7 00:00:16,642 --> 00:00:19,652 [gentle music] 8 00:00:19,686 --> 00:00:24,606 ♪ ♪ 9 00:00:24,650 --> 00:00:30,280 - Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who's the fairest of them all? 10 00:00:30,322 --> 00:00:31,782 Bitch, you know it's me. 11 00:00:31,823 --> 00:00:36,203 ♪ Reflections, reflections ♪ 12 00:00:36,245 --> 00:00:40,915 Our next guest is Jeremy O. Harris, an amazing playwright. 13 00:00:40,958 --> 00:00:44,168 We're gonna get to the center of his creative process. 14 00:00:44,211 --> 00:00:46,001 Let's go. 15 00:00:46,046 --> 00:00:49,046 [lively music] 16 00:00:49,091 --> 00:00:56,011 ♪ ♪ 17 00:01:06,900 --> 00:01:09,440 Please join me. Welcome to "Centerpiece." 18 00:01:09,486 --> 00:01:11,906 - Thank you for having me. - Absolutely. 19 00:01:11,947 --> 00:01:15,617 First of all, I just wanna talk about, um, our hair a moment. 20 00:01:15,659 --> 00:01:17,289 - Yes. - Your hair is major. 21 00:01:17,327 --> 00:01:19,077 - Oh, thank you. So is yours. 22 00:01:19,121 --> 00:01:21,121 - Uh, well, thank you so much. - [laughs softly] 23 00:01:21,164 --> 00:01:23,464 - Um, you actually were the first person that made me feel comfortable, 24 00:01:23,500 --> 00:01:25,880 like, I could actually look kind of cool in braids. 25 00:01:25,919 --> 00:01:28,089 - Yeah, I mean, I think-- Well, you know, I think that having 26 00:01:28,130 --> 00:01:30,920 your mom here makes it really easy to talk about the person who made me 27 00:01:30,966 --> 00:01:33,176 really free with my hair, which is my mom, Veronica. 28 00:01:33,218 --> 00:01:36,678 Um, she was a hair stylist, 29 00:01:36,722 --> 00:01:40,732 and she needed someone to practice on, and I was her guinea pig. 30 00:01:40,767 --> 00:01:44,937 - And now let's take a journey to the center. 31 00:01:44,980 --> 00:01:46,900 [laughs] 32 00:01:46,940 --> 00:01:52,200 Now, in terms of, like, acceptance and being, like, other as a child, 33 00:01:52,237 --> 00:01:54,777 was that, like, easy for you? Was your mom really open? 34 00:01:54,823 --> 00:01:58,833 - Her way of protecting all of the things that made me other was, like, 35 00:01:58,869 --> 00:02:02,789 also shaped by, like, growing up in, like, a predominantly Christian household. 36 00:02:02,831 --> 00:02:03,921 - Mm-hmm. 37 00:02:03,957 --> 00:02:06,627 - And, like, this sense that, like, I was, like, a blessed child 38 00:02:06,668 --> 00:02:10,298 or, like, super blessed and, like, um, anointed in some way. 39 00:02:10,339 --> 00:02:13,009 And that also sets you apart from everyone else, because-- 40 00:02:13,050 --> 00:02:14,930 And it was, like, so-- the protective measures, like-- 41 00:02:14,968 --> 00:02:16,598 everyone sort of whispers, like, 42 00:02:16,637 --> 00:02:18,597 "Oh, he's a faggot." Or he's this or he's that. 43 00:02:18,639 --> 00:02:20,139 But then she's, like, "Oh, no, he's just special." 44 00:02:20,182 --> 00:02:21,812 - God, I love that. - Yeah. 45 00:02:21,850 --> 00:02:26,230 - So when I'm thinking about "Slave Play" and I'm thinking of the complexity 46 00:02:26,271 --> 00:02:31,491 of all of those characters that are so well nuanced... 47 00:02:31,527 --> 00:02:32,987 how did you find them? 48 00:02:33,028 --> 00:02:34,818 - I think just listening for a long time. 49 00:02:34,863 --> 00:02:38,493 As a kid from a poor household in the South, 50 00:02:38,534 --> 00:02:42,834 who was, like, groomed in these, like, really expensive private schools... 51 00:02:42,871 --> 00:02:44,161 - Mm. - I got to have, like, 52 00:02:44,206 --> 00:02:47,746 a different vocabulary and language so I constantly was translating for everyone. 53 00:02:47,793 --> 00:02:50,713 So, again, like, a translator has to be someone who's listening a lot. 54 00:02:50,754 --> 00:02:55,634 - Can you tell me more about your use of mirrors in your work, 55 00:02:55,676 --> 00:02:58,136 and why you use that as a tool? 56 00:02:58,178 --> 00:03:01,678 - In, like, the major works that people have interacted with, 57 00:03:01,723 --> 00:03:04,483 mirrors play, like, a major part in, or at least, like, 58 00:03:04,518 --> 00:03:06,598 a reflecting plays a big part of it. 59 00:03:06,645 --> 00:03:09,725 And I was, like, "That's the kind of moment that you don't get on stage, 60 00:03:09,773 --> 00:03:11,113 and, like we have to have it here." 61 00:03:11,149 --> 00:03:12,109 - Interesting. 62 00:03:12,150 --> 00:03:14,570 [woodwind scales] 63 00:03:14,611 --> 00:03:16,991 And now let's go deep. 64 00:03:17,030 --> 00:03:18,700 [calming music] 65 00:03:18,740 --> 00:03:20,490 [chime sounds] 66 00:03:20,534 --> 00:03:23,454 [laughter] 67 00:03:23,495 --> 00:03:24,865 Are you ready? 68 00:03:24,913 --> 00:03:28,383 - Okay. - Richard Wright or James Baldwin? 69 00:03:28,417 --> 00:03:29,667 - James Baldwin. 70 00:03:29,710 --> 00:03:30,880 [musical sting plays] 71 00:03:30,919 --> 00:03:33,089 - Cotton or silk? 72 00:03:33,130 --> 00:03:34,550 - Cotton-silk blend. 73 00:03:34,590 --> 00:03:37,590 - Come on, find the liminal space, diva. - [laughs] 74 00:03:37,634 --> 00:03:39,854 [musical sting plays] 75 00:03:39,887 --> 00:03:43,677 - "Praise the Lord" or Crystal Waters? 76 00:03:43,724 --> 00:03:44,684 - "Praise the Lord." 77 00:03:44,725 --> 00:03:45,765 [musical sting plays] 78 00:03:45,809 --> 00:03:49,899 - Vaseline, coconut oil, or spit? 79 00:03:49,938 --> 00:03:51,148 - Coconut oil. 80 00:03:51,190 --> 00:03:53,230 [musical sting plays] 81 00:03:53,275 --> 00:03:55,685 - Deacon or youth pastor? 82 00:03:55,736 --> 00:03:57,526 - That's a hard choice. 83 00:03:57,571 --> 00:03:58,701 - [chortles] 84 00:03:58,739 --> 00:04:00,069 - Is there, like, a medium option for that one? 85 00:04:00,115 --> 00:04:01,525 - No. - Choir director. 86 00:04:01,575 --> 00:04:05,035 - Yes! 87 00:04:05,078 --> 00:04:07,158 [organ music playing] 88 00:04:07,206 --> 00:04:09,536 [gentle music] 89 00:04:09,583 --> 00:04:12,843 And most importantly, being that you're a playwright, 90 00:04:12,878 --> 00:04:14,298 and you said that you're a person that 91 00:04:14,338 --> 00:04:18,718 picks up on nuance and details immediately... 92 00:04:18,759 --> 00:04:21,049 Um, what would the title of my play be? 93 00:04:21,094 --> 00:04:25,524 - It's something about flowers and, like, metaphors around, like, nature. 94 00:04:25,557 --> 00:04:27,767 And you'd have, like, really long titles. - [laughs] 95 00:04:27,809 --> 00:04:30,099 - So that, like, um... 96 00:04:30,145 --> 00:04:33,725 "A Hyacinth Only Blooms in the Summer with the Dew." 97 00:04:33,774 --> 00:04:35,364 - I love that. 98 00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:36,650 [woodwind scales] 99 00:04:36,693 --> 00:04:40,073 Girl, it's time to process. 100 00:04:40,113 --> 00:04:44,203 Y'all, I first encountered Jeremy O. Harris's work in a dark-ass theater, 101 00:04:44,243 --> 00:04:47,253 where I actually had to look at my reflection. 102 00:04:47,287 --> 00:04:52,167 He spoke through the refracted prisms of this crazy, twisted world. 103 00:04:52,209 --> 00:04:53,749 Okay, refractive prism. 104 00:04:53,794 --> 00:04:57,464 He saw every shade, every side, and every color. 105 00:04:57,506 --> 00:05:03,386 And it is my desire to reflect back to him the beauty that he reflected to me. 106 00:05:05,013 --> 00:05:07,643 [drumroll] 107 00:05:07,683 --> 00:05:08,683 [ethereal music] 108 00:05:08,725 --> 00:05:11,845 - [laughs] - Mr. Jeremy O. Harris, please join me. 109 00:05:11,895 --> 00:05:15,685 You've been so generous with me, you've been so kind, you've been so open. 110 00:05:15,732 --> 00:05:19,742 I wanted to take a moment to reflect back to you, 111 00:05:19,778 --> 00:05:23,068 like, your magic that I see in you. 112 00:05:23,115 --> 00:05:24,525 Cue the curtain. 113 00:05:24,575 --> 00:05:26,735 [drumroll] 114 00:05:26,785 --> 00:05:28,365 - What? 115 00:05:28,412 --> 00:05:30,662 - This is for you. - Oh, my God. 116 00:05:30,706 --> 00:05:33,126 [gentle music] 117 00:05:33,166 --> 00:05:35,746 ♪ ♪ 118 00:05:35,794 --> 00:05:41,184 - I just wanted to create something that was literally a reflection. 119 00:05:41,216 --> 00:05:44,596 Your use of mirrors is so moving, 120 00:05:44,636 --> 00:05:49,636 and I wanted to figure out a way to synthesize that. 121 00:05:49,683 --> 00:05:52,443 - Does everyone get this many mirrors or is it just for me? 122 00:05:52,477 --> 00:05:55,477 - It's for, like, being who you are in the best way possible. 123 00:05:55,522 --> 00:05:59,942 I just think, it's, like, very moving. - Thank you for this. 124 00:05:59,985 --> 00:06:02,145 - Yeah. - It's awesome. 125 00:06:02,196 --> 00:06:03,106 - Where'd you go? 126 00:06:03,697 --> 00:06:04,907 - Just look in another mirror, you'll find me. 127 00:06:04,948 --> 00:06:07,698 - [laughs] I want you to have a moment with it. 128 00:06:07,743 --> 00:06:09,123 [chimes tinkling] 129 00:06:09,161 --> 00:06:11,581 I'm gonna leave you to it. 130 00:06:11,622 --> 00:06:14,632 [soft melancholy music] 131 00:06:14,666 --> 00:06:21,666 ♪ ♪ 132 00:06:30,724 --> 00:06:33,484 Absolute insanity. I need a moment too. 133 00:06:33,519 --> 00:06:34,649 - Yes. - [laughs] 134 00:06:34,686 --> 00:06:39,066 - This is truly, I don't-- I'm generally not speechless. 135 00:06:39,107 --> 00:06:42,277 - I just think that it's, like, so rare that we get to, like, see ourselves 136 00:06:42,319 --> 00:06:45,909 and be able to see that we have lots of dimension. 137 00:06:45,948 --> 00:06:49,948 We have lots of beauty in all kinds of ways.