Video: Audra McDonald and Kenny Leon Open Up About the Drama of OHIO STATE MURDERS
Nov 16, 2022
Watch this video, as Audra McDonald and Kenny Leon talk all about the new play Ohio State Murders, which will be the first show to play at the newly renamed James Earl Jones Theatre beginning Friday, November 11, 2022 and opening on Thursday, December 8, 2022 for a strictly limited engagement.
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0:00
Okay, thank you for meeting with us today
0:20
How excited are you to be working on this play? I am very excited to work on Ohio State Murders
0:28
number one because of adrian kennedy who is an amazing writer and she i remember in college
0:36
reading her the owl answers she has a great play called the funny house of the negro
0:44
and this woman has just contributed so much to academic life and theater life in america
0:53
that I just feel honored to, that she's entrusted me with the commercial production of Ohio State Murders
1:00
And to do it with my friend, Audra McDonald, in the James Earl Jones Theater
1:06
I feel a huge sense of responsibility, and I'm up to the task
1:12
I'm excited to do it. I just finished doing a play on Top Dog, Underdog on Broadway
1:19
which I think is probably one of the best experiences I've had
1:24
But to go right into rehearsal for Ohio State Murders, I think these plays are in conversation with each other
1:31
Both of these plays are about the need for us to love on humanity a little bit more
1:37
And to do one with Susie Laurie Parks and the other with Adrian Kennedy
1:42
these two powerhouse women, I'm just a lucky kind of person and a lucky director
1:49
And I'm just very excited to present this play to the public with its suspense
1:55
with its living moment by moment, also looking at our time on the planet with each other
2:05
So it's a very exciting play. You are about to return to Broadway in this beautiful play, which I've read numerous times
2:12
Talk about who you play and the relevance of this play for now
2:15
I play Suzanne Alexander, a woman in her 50s who is a writer who has been invited back
2:21
to her alma mater, Ohio State, to talk about imagery in her work, certain types of imagery
2:27
in her work. And in doing so and preparing to give this speech she ends up sort of releasing emotionally and telling a secret a story of what actually happened to her when she was at Ohio State in 1949 It a murder mystery it a memory play and it a cautionary tale on the horrific effects of systemic racism
2:55
and trauma on a person and lasting effects and devastating consequences of having such
3:05
you know, racism institutionalized in the way that it is and was at, you know, Ohio State
3:12
many, many, many, many universities then. And its relevance is it feels like we're
3:18
making a U-turn heading right back to that time. You know, so being, for me, being a black woman
3:24
in my 50s in 2022 and people sitting here sort of denying that systemic racism exists and
3:30
legislating systemic racism back into society and then people just boldly claiming it
3:40
It feels like this is a story that needs to be told right now to sort of as a shout
3:45
as a warning, you know, and shine a light on it and call it out
3:49
I just love that the playwright's making her Broadway debut with this play too, isn't she
3:54
Yeah, this is her debut. And, you know, she's 91 years old. And this is the first time her play has been on Broadway, but certainly not the first time human beings have witnessed her wonderful writing
4:11
And, you know, in this year, especially after COVID, to see the diversity of storytelling on Broadway, you know, this is the way I think it should be
4:20
And I hope we continue to go in this direction. But to have Tom Stoppard on one corner and August Wilson on the next, Susie Laurie Parks on the next, you know, Casey Nicholaw doing something like it, Hot Down the Street, Death of a Salesman with Wendell Pierce, you know, and then to add this to the fabric of that
4:39
I think we're redefining what stories need to be on our greatest stage
4:46
and to be a part of introducing the world or more of the world
4:51
to Adrienne Kennedy's wonderful writing, her poetry, her skill set is just otherworldly
4:58
So, yeah, I'm glad to do Adrienne's welcoming party to Broadway
5:09
and should have happened a long time ago. But we don't live in the past, we live in the present
5:14
And so I hoping that many many folks will do other plays for Broadway and on university campuses and in community theater And I just want the world to know how gifted a writer and how much she given to America for you know eight or nine decades
5:31
Being back in the room with Kenny Leon, what's that like? Oh, it's Kenny. It's Kenny. I mean, you know, it's been 18 years since we've worked together
5:40
but we've remained friends all this time and talked about what are we going to do? We have to do something together at some point and cheer each other on
5:45
And, of course, we were both, you know, members of BTU. And so it's so wonderful being everything about who he was when we worked together 18 years ago
5:54
It's so it's so wonderful to have all those memories come rushing back and all those feelings
5:58
And so that feeling of being pushed really, really, really hard. I remember doing Raisin. He pushed me so hard
6:04
And I'd be like, I can't. I don't. And it was always with faith and love
6:08
He'd be like, no, yes, you can. You are McDonald. You can do this. and there's something about that it's like okay well if someone believes me and believes in me as
6:15
much as he does then who am I to say I can't do this and he's there pushing you but going I got
6:20
you but I'm gonna push you but I got you and then there's things like whenever he's really thinking
6:25
hard he pulls out a yo-yo and he starts doing his yo-yo and or he starts or he'll say he has very
6:31
interesting sort of repetitive phrases that he'll say over and over again in the middle of something
6:35
he'd be like repetition is good good repetition is better go back do it again you know so he's a
6:40
Wonderful cheerleader, coach, and he's one of the toughest directors I've ever worked with
6:45
And it's all in love. This has been a great experience. You know, Audra McDonald and I worked together on Raising in the Sun
6:53
where I think she won a Tony Award, and Felicia Rashad won a Tony Award
6:59
and I think we had 10 Tony nominations, but that was one of the years I did not even get nominated
7:05
But I had 10 nominations for the show. So like Felicia Rashad said at the time, she said, I guess the show directed itself
7:12
I said, yeah, but sometimes it's your time and sometimes it's other people's time
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And I was grateful to win a Tony Award many years later on that same play
7:23
But this cast, at that time, Audra and I said, wow, this is a great experience working with each other
7:31
Let's do it again. And, well, as fate would have it, you know, we did, you know, I directed her in private practice and some other television stuff
7:41
But this is the first time we've been back in the room for theater
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So that's like, I don't know, 15, 16 years. So we're really embracing that right now, this time together
7:52
And this is what we're supposed to do together. So I'm excited to be in a room with her
7:56
And just it amazing Sometimes I get carried away and work with her because I end up just watching her and being engaged with what she doing And she might say so what do you think I say huh I was lost
8:07
What, what, what? So it's great. She has an amazing skill set
8:12
Bryce Pinkham and I, we first met last year. We did a musical called Trading Places as we were trying to bring that into the city
8:20
But he is just an amazingly gifted artist. and to put him with Audra McDonald is exciting
8:28
And Lizanne Mitchell and I worked together many, many years ago, and it's been far too many years since we've been in the same room
8:34
so she's in the room, and Abby is just a joy to work with
8:37
So I'm really, you know, and Mr., who I saw in Raising in the Sun downtown
8:43
So we've got a great group of people, a great room of giving artists
8:48
and this is a tricky piece. Yes, it's a spinful, it's a whodunit
8:53
It's deception. But you need the right actors to deliver it because Adrienne Kennedy is the most economical writer on the planet
9:05
so she only gives you what is necessary. The play is 75 minutes of suspense, and you're out, and you're home
9:12
But it's so powerful. I think Mr. might have maybe 10 lines in the whole play
9:21
but it feels like he has 100. Abby has no lines. She plays the violin, and she's in scenes
9:27
and it feels like you've seen her in 15 scenes. Liz Ann plays three different maternal figures
9:36
but I don't even know how Adrien Kennedy does it. So it's not about words
9:42
It's about visual storytelling, some words, some scene. It's musical. It's even funny at some times, at certain moments
9:51
So yeah, I'm very excited with this cast. Very excited. Finally, you and your husband are appearing on Broadway together
9:58
in different shows, but together this season. What that means? It means that our daughter is going to need a lot of therapy
10:04
Our six-year-old, it's rough for her right now. And we're really struggling to figure out how we're going to make this work
10:10
Thank God mine's a limited run. It is kind of great that I can meet him after his show
10:16
way before his show is done, because mine's only in one act. but it's also very special
10:21
and I'm so proud of him and you know I fall more in love with him every single day
10:27
and the fact that this is happening to him you know at this moment in his life
10:31
is huge and so we will get through and then maybe we'll have
10:35
some family therapy afterwards for Sally or she'll blackmail us I don't know something
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