Video: CJay Philip Unpacks the Importance of Arts Education

Welcome to Backstage with Richard Ridge

My guest, C.J. Philip, founder and creative director of dance and B. Moore theater

programs in Baltimore is the recipient of the 2024 Excellence in Theater Education Award

which is presented annually by Carnegie Mellon University and its Tony Award partners at the Broadway League and the American

and theater wing. Please say hello to C.J. Phillip. Hello, hello. Now, first off, where are you and how are you

I'm doing great. I am so excited to have a few days off. It's been a very busy summer of

theater programming, but I'm in upstate New York visiting mom. She's up in Albany area

And yeah, that's where I started off, Albany, New York. I love that. So congratulations on your Tony Award

Thank you. Have you been able to put this honor into some kind of perspective of what it means to you

I'm sure it was like, wow, you're getting it. You're at the Tony Awards

Like, have you been able to process the whole thing that you're a Tony Award winner

You know, it's been amazing experience. And I think the most amazing thing about the experience was to have it with the folks that I love and that I do this work with

from my husband, Winston, who produces a lot of the music for the shows that I write for young people

to Lauren Arzo, who's one of my amazing staff members who helped nominate me along with my young people

her husband. And we hadn't seen each other since before the pandemic. And so to meet together in New York and to experience that together, to go to the Tonys together

and really celebrate work that we've been doing and found meaning. for years, but to have other people say, we agree, we acknowledge that this is really meaningful work

that this is life-changing, connecting people through music, theater, and dance, and that it's important

and we want to pause and recognize that. So that's been amazing. I think also the thing that I noticed being at the

Tonys was that I was not accepting the award solely for myself and the work that I do, but for every teacher

because when I tell you as the theater and education, a person, they walk up to you every two steps to say, oh my gosh, I love what you do

I got to tell you about my teacher. So when I was in the fifth grade, like, you know what I'm going to tell you a story and you realize you're representative of people who, whose lives have been changed in are on Broadway and changing others lives because of the teachers in their lives

So where do you keep your toty award? Well, I keep it at my home. It's actually on the piano. And with all the fun little trinkets that I got from Carnegie Mellon, I got such a beautiful gift bag and swag bag of things. And so it sits up on the piano. And I got a wonderful bottle of champagne that sits Tony's on it that also sits in our dining room on the piano

That's some nice stuff you got that night. Yes. So your speech was absolutely glorious. I watched it yesterday. I watched it again today

You had this star-studied audience repeat something that you tell your students. Would you tell us what that is and how that felt that night

Yes. So I knew I wanted to include Celebrate Your Light. It's something that I wrote really in a coming from a place of

frustration really. A lot of my classes, a lot of the theater that I do is in community

So I, yes, I teach at different schools all throughout Baltimore at different theater companies

I've started theater companies for organizations. But oftentimes I'm in some community room, rec center, church basement, and we're making theater

You know what I mean? It's like those old movies. We got a barn. We got some talent

Let's make a show. I'm doing that all the time. And so we were in this one location where we couldn't get in the community room

There was some sort of water break, and it was a mess in there. And we were in the lobby, and it was sort of dark and dreary

And the front desk lady was like, rah, rah, right. And I was like, oh, my gosh, the energy is not making this work for me

And so I went home and I thought, we've got to claim this space as creative

And we can make that statement no matter where we are, whether we are in an alley, whether we are in a hallway that was never meant to have a theater happening in a hallway, which is what we were doing

And so I just was journaling. I journal a lot. I gratitude journal. And these words came out on the page. And this is a creative space, a shade free space

because shade blocks my light and my light shines bright. I will not hinder my light and I celebrate your light

The light within you shines brightens our hearts and our minds. And then I ask our students typically to say with me

the light within you shines. And then they repeat that. And so we've been doing that song for 12 years

And so it's just so much a part of starting a session, ending a session that I thought

if I'm sharing anything about theater programs that Dance and Bemore does that I have done

I've got to include celebrate your life. And it was wonderful to see how engaged and ready folks were for it

I actually happened to be talking with someone who won for lighting

And he turns to me and says, you don't even know, CJ, how much I needed it

Everywhere there, we're nervous. We're like, hmm. He says, and it just, we sang

together and my shoulders just released and I thought, wait, yeah, we're here to celebrate each

other's light. We'll be fine. We're all here and we're together. So I love that we were able to

have that moment. Well, for people watching, just go to watch CJ's speech at the Tony's because

you had everybody in that beautiful Lincoln Center theater. Everybody repeated that back

And I think it just eased everybody into realizing, you know, everybody has a light. If you go into

the theater or not, I'm sure when you teach your students, you know, some lights haven't been

turned up yet. Some people haven't found out how to turn them on. And what you have done is bring the

light out in all these students. And it's something, you know, my light's always on. My glass is

always half full, but I've been listening to your speech all this weekend and it sits in my brain

I'm like, oh, I'm going to get up and, you know, let your light shine today. Because we all have it

And I'm sure, you know, being an educator, what's been one of the biggest takeaways of what you've done to let these students celebrate themselves

Tell me what it's meant to you. So it's this week especially the past month

We normally have a summer Voices of Carmen program which is a musical adaptation of the opera Carmen that I wrote and produced years ago with my brother Kelvin in Zurich Switzerland And I put it on a shelf and thought I want to do

that again in the United States, just not sure where or when or why. And then when I moved to

Baltimore and I saw just the immense talent in the city and the hunger that young people have

to be bold to try new things and have material that substantive, that's, you know, not just jazz

hands, but that there's some meaning and there's some narrative that we can have some dialogue

about that's really interesting to them and relevant to their lives. And so, you know

once we did Voices of Carmen, we're always like, what's next for our young people? And so we then

started a program, Voices of Carmen is 14 to 18, maybe 21 sometimes. So then we started a program

called Amp Up, which is an arts mentorship program that's looking not only to be on stage

but behind the scenes, sound design, lighting, stage management, and also being dance and be more

teaching artists and community. And so that's 16 to 24. Well, the past month, we've been going

to teach little bitties in our FASA fam family jam programs and small ones, second graders

third graders and then up to fifth grade. And my teaching artists, half of them are professional

teaching artists, educators for years. And the other half of them are students who've come up through

AMP programs, Voices of Carmen, and they're in our teaching artist training program. And so

it's like being in this sort of sphere or loop of, we're teaching a third grader, but I'm also teaching a 19-year-old

who I've been teaching for 10 years, how to teach a third grader

and they're teaching me things that I hadn't even thought of. And I'm just like, wow, this life that I get to live

to be able to collaborate with young people. Like, genuinely, we, you know, do our class plans together

We talk about structure and pedagogy and sort of what we want these young people to learn

or understand or connect to. within their own communities, right? So we're leaving them with something

not just had knowledge, but how does art and music and theater connect you

And how can you continue to connect here at this, you know, park or this camp that you're a part of

or in this community center? And so it's been really wonderful to be doing programming

with young people who are also in a program. And so it's sort of doubling down on the learning and the teaching

Now, all of these programs are free, I understand. Is that correct? Yeah, so it's been amazing. You know, when I first started Dance and Bemore, our first program was a family dance program for parents, grandparents, aunties, uncles, and kids to just jam to play fun theater games, use our imagination. And part of that came out of my last tour was legally blonde, the Broadway national tour. I played the judge and I went on quite a bit for Paulette on that tour. But, you know, you leave New York City and you travel and you go

Oh, okay, so this is America. New York is New York. America's a whole other thing. And so as I saw the country, I was like, wow, I can see technology is growing. I can see, you know, there's all of these advances, but somehow I feel like we're distancing ourselves. And the human connection is something that we're losing. And I wonder if there's a way, I'm not a researcher, and I'm sure they're going to figure it out and they're going to tell us all about it

But I sing and dance, honey. And so what we're going to do is we're going to sing and we're going to dance together

and start to reconnect parents with children, grandparents. And in a community dance class, that's for everyone

That's really diverse, right? And so that was, you know, the program that we started with

And now, child, I'm getting up there. I don't forgot the question. What was it? No, you answered beautifully

You answered it. You answered. You know, mentorship is really important. And I've asked stars over the years and they were like, if I didn't have this teacher come up to me, I would have been on a whole other path

Yeah. Because, you know, and I know you've had some wonderful mentors. I want to start with who I think we saw in the background

In the beginning, your mom, besides being your wonderful mom, was your first big mentor

Tell me. Yes. So my mom is one of the most amazing women that I know

Her story is a movie. It really is a story to be told of the things that she came up through

She is 85 years old. She was born in Montgomery, Alabama. And, you know, those are challenging times for her as a young black woman

But that is where the bus boycott began. My mom volunteered and swept the

floors in the taxi station where Dr. King and others were planning. She eavesdropped, you know

and sort of got a sense of gathering people, creating a sense of purpose and movement and change

in doing the small things as a community. And I think that stayed with her. She was a social

worker. I remember that our house was in the middle of a dead end street, but it was the place

you went when you needed help with anything, doing your taxes, filling out a form, getting free

lunch and figuring out how to do the paperwork. Like my mom was just, it felt like our home and our

kitchen table was the office for our whole street to get their things done to ask questions

to not feel judged or look down on because you didn't know. And, you know, my mom had a life

where she really struggled with not feeling accomplished or bright and still pressed through

and pressed on. And so to just learn from her strength of character and her generosity, the way that she serves

and gives, she still volunteers. Like, it was weird to me when I started meeting people who didn't volunteer, I was like

what is that like for you? what do you do with your time? I mean, you don't, you just spend your time on yourself

Like, how is, that didn't make sense to me because I, you know, my first job was volunteering

at a daycare center. I was 14 years old. And so, you know, looking at, and my mom is a writer, but she discovered writing later

She writes poetry and plays. And I've been in her plays in our little church basement and in her shows

And so to see that she's like, if I have this little much talent here, this talent here, I'm going to use it to its full

I'm going to connect and give the talents that I have, the time that I have in the most creative ways

And I think that my mom is definitely an artist. And so seeing me be an artist my brother also is a choreographer and a wonderful teacher and dancer I think that there a joy that she has and seeing us really truly fully lived that out because she lived in a different time where it wasn like yeah just go on out there and

you know, go to New York and be a star or to Hollywood

Like, that was not the advice you were getting from advisors from anyone. And so to have the kind of support that she has given me over the years and my stepdad

Oh my gosh, my stepdad, he picked me up. He'd drive me back to dance class

And I would be singing. Let me tell you, I would sing in the basement. And I'm looking at, I'm at my mom's house

I'm looking at the little duck that I used in my microphone. And used to be like, all in the basement

And my brothers would be like, shut up. Like they would just feel like, I can't

She's just squawking. And my stepdad used to be like, no, no, you don't tell her to shut up

She's going to be on Broadway one day. And I don't know why he had that in his mind

He said it regularly. Like, it was just something that he said. I don't know that I even thought I was going to be on Broadway one day, but he did

And so when I did get my first Broadway show, which was Big the musical, jumping on those

pianos and learning all I could from Susan Stroman. And I remember a bus little people came down from Albany, and he just nudged right up against me

And he said, see what I told you? Didn't I tell you? And I was like, yes, sir, yes, you did

And so I had parents who were like dream, believe. Now, this is simultaneously with not being a great student, getting solid Cs, maybe a C plus for most of my being so easily distracted, sort of roaming, skipping class, da, da, da, da, da, and my mom would say, she'd read my report card

My sister now, straight A's right? She'd read my report card and be like, oh, they talk so bad about my baby

My sister would be like, mom, it's not slander. It's the work she's doing. There was a teacher in high school that caught you in the hallway

Yes. Who was that other mentor of yours? John Veeley. One more time

Go ahead. Yeah, John Veeley saw me roam in the halls. Cutting up

Just, you know, nothing better to do. I just was not that engaged in a normal classroom setting

I love learning. To this day, I love learning. I love reading

I'm always sort of inclined. class, a student of life. And so the way that he engaged me and introduced me to Shakespeare

And also I was very competitive. I was an athlete. I was on the track team. And so he was like

I think we can enter you in some of these Shakespeare competitions. I was like, okay, I can do

competition. And so we started doing those and I would win them. And then, you know, because that

sort of competitive spirit, I was like, why am I winning them? What is it that is connecting

Why is someone else winning? What is it that I understand in the language and the way

And why don't I understand it when this? So then I started paying attention to the details

And so he then invited me to do Shakespeare in the park

I was a sprite in The Tempest. And I understudied Charlene Wooder and got to learn from her, her work ethic

combined with a joy and a laugh that is just infectious and contagious

And about a year and a half ago, I reached out to her

She remembered me. We're from the same hometown. And so she came in and just hung out with my young people on a Zoom to talk about

don't bother me. I can't cope because I was directing that production

And I wanted the young people to research that work by making

Mickey Grant and Bennett Carroll so that they could do a pre-show presentation for the audience that helped them to know who these pioneers in theater were

That Mickey Grant was the first black woman to have a show on Broadway in 1972

That Vanette Carroll was the first black woman to direct a Broadway show

And so Charlene was so generous. And we just sat and talked about what it was like to be in the urban arts players back then and the touring companies

the different people and she's naming names and Sicily and da-da. And I'm like, are you talking about

Sicily Tyson? Like, and so, you know what I mean? And so, yes, it's that sense of, you know

John Vili started me out and then introduced me to someone that he was mentoring. And she speaks so

highly of him as well. And then because she was mentored by him, she mentored me and gave what she

could to me and the times that we spent together. And I remember her pulling me aside and pointing out

to me what she thought I did really well in the show. And I thought to myself, I'm a sprite

I'm a glorified stage hands. I'm fluttering in and pulling curtains. And so she's like, but you are

taking the stage in a way that you're giving so much gravitas to your sprightness. And I love that she

spoke life to me. And I love doing that with my students

I love Liz Lerman's critical response process. She's also a friend and a mentor

And the thing I love about that four-step process is starting with what is meaningful

what is memorable about the work, not what do you need to change, what do you need to fix

what do you need to tighten up, and just turning upside down how we communicate to ourselves

and to our students, the work that they're doing, the way we ask questions

what are you trying to communicate? What are you trying to get across

And then if the student can tell me something, then I'm like, oh, that's your goal

Let me help you get there as opposed to, this is how it's done

This is how you need to do it because this is how they do it in New York or bup, blah, blah, but I had to shed a lot of that

And I feel like that's been a process. Each mentor has given me a gift

of a different perspective that I just put in my toolbox and take with me

And hopefully I'm able to share those gifts with the students that I interact with

Yeah. Talk about the importance of arts education because, you know, it's been cut back in our country

which is the saddest thing in the world. And, you know, there's people like you

that just do it every day out of the love that you continue to be like, no

arts education is so important. Talk about the importance of arts education. So our last camp this year

was for third through fifth graders. And it was our original Amt Camp

And it was simply a creative space. Every day there was a table full of things to draw

to put together, to glue together, to make. And we gave no prompts

It just sat there. And they would come to the table and just start making

Sometimes I'd talk about what happened the day before or what they're going to do

But it was just this little maker space. And then we would go from there to a physical warm-up and sort of a check-in with each other

And we do Broadway dance And then we have a songwriter come in and teach us vocal and how our body is an instrument and how to write a song how to unpack the structure of a song like to listen to songs differently because you know how they made and what a verse and a bridge is and the difference between the two And then we would learn about theater terminology and language and about ways of communication nonverbal communication

body language, how to understand communication and then adjust when you feel something from someone

and then after lunch we would do 30 minutes of breath and yoga

And then later in the day, we would start to creative writing and then build our own pieces

And when I tell you, we went through that entire camp. And at the end, I sat one day and I said, do those children have phones

Because I never saw one. Which is literally a miracle in today's age

like no one ever pulled out their phones. Because they were so, I was like, what it must be like to spend a whole day being creative in so many different ways

Their parents were like, they are so happy. They are so joy filled

And they tell us all about all the different things that they explore and create

And it's just so necessary. And it's so natural. When you're a little kid, music comes on, guess what you do

You wiggle. If someone has coloring or something, guess what did you

You pick it up, you draw. It is so innate. So to cut it off from ourselves based on whatever sort of box we're trying to put everybody in is like to cut off a part of who you are

And it keeps us from being whole. And we see the result of folks walking around stunted and not whole because they're not engaged

creatively. And it's why I also believe not only is arts education so important to allow it to flourish

throughout someone's life, whether they're three, 13, 23, 35, 85, every age and stage of life

needs creativity to thrive, to express. There's just some things you cannot say in a conversation

but you can say in a song. There's just some things you cannot express that are

troubling you that you can write out and have be as my friend Andre McCrae says you can have pain

life is challenging but don't waste it as an artist we get to use it we get to express it we get

to share it we get to connect it to other human beings to to tap into our humanity right and so when

we lose art when we lose the opportunity for educators to introduce art

to people, to reintroduce art to folks who've forgotten it and need to come back to it

We lose a sense of humanity. We lose a sense of wholeness and it is not healthy, right

We've got to be about helping ourselves to be whole, helping ourselves to be strong

helping ourselves to be well-rounded. And the arts help to do that in so many ways that I can't even express

how valuable and invaluable it is. It also makes people feel. When you're on a phone, you can't feel

If you're playing a video game, you can't feel. You know, and it's that human connection

And I think arts education, even if someone doesn't want to become an actor or an actress

you know, they may want to go work behind the scenes, but it also just prepares them for life to have a conversation

to go to a job interview, to, you know, interact with an actual human being, not a cell phone

And I think even if they don't go into the arts, It just sets them up for life

Yes. And that's one of the things that I share with my young people all the time

Our programs aren't here to make you a performer. To make this be your career pursuit

They're to give you the skills and the tools that performers have. We are some of the best problem solvers in the world because, honey, this fell down

The light's not working, da-da-da, but the show must go on. We're going to figure it out

We are some of the best collaborators, you know, the amount of teamwork

and just making it happen, getting it done. We are some of the best cheerleaders for that understudy who went on and

who I'm rooting for you, right? So all of those communicators, communication styles that are different

There's a different communication style in and listening to, you know, part of acting is just listening

And then there's that communication style of the person working behind the scenes that's concise

because they're on a headset, five words or lefts. I don't need a whole exposition. right? And so learning to flip back and forth between that, I tell my young people, all of these

you are going to be ahead of the game and have so many tools that you can use in any setting

whether you are working in a job or your own entrepreneur, you can use these skills

Finally, what gives you the most satisfaction each day with teaching the arts

Hmm. I think for me, it's the one-on-one quiet moment. There's times where I'll get, you know, I get the Miss CJ text

Ms. CJ, can I get your advice about such and such? Ms. CJ, I have an audition

I was wondering if I was like, Ms. CJ, I got a contract and I don't know how to read it

Ms. CJ or Ms. CJ, so my students always, Miss CJ, I don't know what to do with this check, with this money I got

So we'll just have lunch or, you know, tea. or something. And I've had a bunch of those, especially a couple that are getting ready to go to

college. They're like, can we have tea? Can we have lunch? And just to sit and talk and listen

and to tell my own stories, to tell how far I was. I mean, when I was 17, Broadway was way over

there. And it was a chasm between me and it as far as knowledge and understanding. And I wish I had

someone to answer a few questions to talk about, oh, I can see where you would think that

Here's a couple things to consider. Not to tell me what to do, but just open up the amount of information that I can put into

my decision making as a young adult on this path. I love those one-on-ones

I love it. They look for you for that. They look for you like Ms. CJ can just, if she can do it, I can do it

And they watch the way you've dealt with life and all the people you've helped

which I think it's wonderful. Once again, submissions are now being accepted

for the 2025 Excellence in the Theater Education Award. So please just click the link above to submit your teacher today

CJ, thank you, but drop me to chat with me. This has been great. I've seen you in the shows you've done

And I just love that you've given back. And like you said, you turn the lights up and turn the lights on

to all these people to let their light shine. and that's an important thing we need in the world today

And thank you for doing what you do. Oh, my goodness. Thank you so much

This has been lovely to talk with you. I appreciate having this time. Everybody, we'll see you at the theater

And just remember the importance of teachers of what they've given to you

and what they give to our future and the importance of arts education

Take care, everybody. We'll see you soon. Take care