Video: THE WHITE CHIP Cast Explains What the New Play Is All About

Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World

Up next at MCC Theatre is The White Chip, the autobiographical comedy by writer, playwright

and activist Sean Daniels. And I dropped by the theater to catch up

with the show's three stars, Joe Tapper, Crystal Dickinson, and Jason Tam

Well, I am thrilled to be sitting with all of you here at MCC. You're getting ready to open The White Chip

All right, I'm gonna start with you, Joe. Okay. First of all, how did this play come about for you

This play came to me, I had a dear friend named Christopher Oscar Pena, who was a great playwright

And he sent me the play and said, because he had had some, he's really close friends

with the playwright, and he knew that they were kind of dipping their toe in the idea

of having a recovering alcoholic play the lead role, which I am, I'm very kind of out loud about that

And I was like, great, I'll read it. And I read it one afternoon, I asked my wife, I said, hey, can you watch Our Son for a couple hours

so I can get through this? And I just poured through it. And then I made a few phone calls

and the dominoes fell in my favor, and then here I am

I did it in 2019 in 59th, East 59th Theater, and here we are now, which is very, very exciting

with my heroes, so. Yeah, so how did the play come to you? Well, we have Joe and Annalie and I have a connection

of You Can't Take It With You. So I knew Joe was doing the play at East 59th

and I just came because I wanted to support him and see his work. And it was brilliant and I loved it

And that was it. And then sometime later, I think y'all might have asked me

to do the reading, but I couldn't do that. And then they said, well, would you like to do the play

And I was like, with Joe Tapper? That's a yes. I love it

Jason, for you, how'd it come to you? I mean, same. It was on my perimeter in 2019

I've been a fan of the play, a fan of Joe, a fan of Cheryl Caller ever since I saw Next Fall

15 years ago, I was like, and we've done readings and stuff, but we've never done a solid production together

me and Cheryl. So she reached out in just last spring for the reading

And it was such an immediate yes for all of those reasons

and for all of the brilliant things that I get to do

in the show, all the characters that I get to play. It's so funny and exciting

And I'm just, I'm having the time of my life. Okay, well, let's talk about that. I love when people get to play a lot of different characters

in a show. So how many do you play? Who are they sort of

I've never actually sat down and counted, but it's probably like 20, between 15 and 20 characters

And some of them literally only have one line. It's just like one line are gone. You never see them again

Some of them are recurring. And then some of them have like really substantial scenes

Like there's this really beautiful arc that I play a character named Britt

who is a, what's the line? He's a- He's a recovering cocaine addict

former Air Force officer, and now a preacher and addiction specialist. You know, like you are

Like that. And we have this incredible arc of like, he's at a recovery center and it's four weeks

And at first we're just like oil and water, just like completely butting heads nonstop

And then by the end of it, we form this really beautiful kind of intimate

in its own special way relationship. So that's one of the many fun characters

that I get to play. Now, who do you play? I play all the female identifying characters in the play

A few girlfriends, a few wives, his mom. And then also just some insular

like minor one line characters as well. So probably about the same as Jason's

somewhere between 15 and 20. It's a lot of fun to do that, isn't it

It's a blast. It's nerve wracking, you know, but we're getting in our groove now

And I think with time we'll really be solid in there and feel totally safe

But it's kind of nice to not feel that way too, because the nature of the play is we're prompted

by the characters experiences. So part of that, you know, part of that like being on your toes is actually necessary

So it's kind of good to hold on to. Yeah. Now, Joe, talk about who you play

So I play a character named Steven who he is a aspiring theater director

And he starts a theater in Atlanta and he's kind of climbing up the ladder and he gets a job of like associate director

at a theater in Louisville. I won't say explicitly which one, but, and this is all, it's all real

It's based on the playwright's life. And he was moving ahead and he was about to take over

kind of the artistic director of that theater. And at the same time

while all of the good stuff was happening and the ladder was being climbed

he was also struggling severely with addiction and he lost his job and everything started to spiral

And through that spiral, he found redemption and hope and courage. And that's the character I play, Steven. Yeah

You know, millions of people go through this on a day-to-day basis and you never see it

because they can still do their work. Yeah. But I'm sure this play has helped a lot of people too

And I'm sure it helped Sean Daniels who wrote it and it's the story of his life

And as a recovering alcoholic, it helps me. It helps me. I mean, just to get to tell this story

and every day after the show, somebody comes up to me and says how inspired they are

They're struggling and we have a QR code for resources for anybody who's in need

And yeah, it's a great honor to get to do this play

because it's so darn funny on top of everything. It's just the way that the playwright found humor

through the kind of darker elements is just gorgeous because we can't laugh at ourselves

And what are we doing? An incredible director you're all working with. Talk about your director

Oh, Cheryl Caller. She is just the greatest. I love her so much

I met her back in like 2014, just kind of had a meeting

and I was obsessed with her work in next fall and all that she does

And truly like getting to work with her, getting to work with the two of you is truly like

it's the miracles. It's the miracles coming true for me. I love her so much

She creates such a ripe environment. She is so direct. She does not beat around the bush at all

but she's always so constructive. And what I love about her is that she has a really great

sense of not just what notes to give, but when to give them

Because a director can have an amazing note, but if they give it at the wrong time

sometimes it really just throws you off in a weird way. And she has such an amazing sense of when to say something

and when not to. And I just really appreciate that. That's such a- She does it all with kindness and generosity of spirit. Yeah

Which is not always the case. Yeah. And we trust her. Yeah

I really trust her. I'm like, oh yeah, that, everything has a purpose

Everything has a reason. It's really, really exciting. It's really exciting. And working together

I mean, you three of you seem to be this, like have this great synergy going on

We do. Yeah. These are, I don't say that lightly. These are heroes of mine

I have seen them in things when, even when I was back and I was still like in the

in the depths of just like confusion. I was a true producer of confusion

and I still got to see them in things. And I was such admiration for both of you

And the fact that I get to do this with you is

it's just a dream come true. They are the absolute best. And they make light of the amount of characters they play

but you are an absolute safety net for me. And I am so lucky

Well, we feel the same way. I mean, I do. I mean, you, you make it, you make everything stable

You're our anchor. And, and I haven't met Jason before, but one of my great pleasures is watching you both

Like we are all, we, we never leave the stage, right? So we're always on stage and we have to be ever present

even if we're not in, we have to still be in the scene. And it is a joy to be in the scene with y'all

Even when I'm just sitting there, it's just a delight every day

Yeah, the, the work that's happening, what Joe is doing, it's a marathon

It's an absolute marathon. The storytelling that he's doing, the, the, the, the, the pitch, the like

the ascendancy, the like, it's this, it's a marathon, truly. It's like mind boggling what you're doing

And then getting to watch Crystal and just like the truth that's happening

and the humor that's happening and the humor in the truth and the truth in the humor

And it's just, and the, it's, it's like, it's a little different every night and I love that

Yeah, it keeps us on our toes. Yeah, and it's because we have to, the audiences are, they're our other scene partner

in this, you know, some, some plays are just, we're going to present this to you. You're not there, we're not watching

but this play from the beginning is so, so we're here with you and we're talking directly to you

and you're going to watch these things and you may react and we may acknowledge your reaction

So, so that has to change because they change. And so it keeps us on our toes in that way

And also doing it with the two of you, I've discovered so much more about the play

than I had in the past. I mean, this, you know, it's about addiction

and it's about recovery and it's about redemption, but it's also about family

It is about family. It is a funny play about family and I just love that

There are so many elements to this show. That's, I was just thinking about that. It's like a family sitcom meets like across the country

like fun adventure road trip meets like workplace comedy slash workplace, like tragedy

You know what I mean? Like it's so many things all mashed up in one and it's just an utter delight

What do you hope audiences take away after seeing this? Like you said, you've already met audience members already

and that's the wonderful thing I love about plays and creativeness is that it helps people

and they get to see themselves or be like, oh, he got through that, she got through that

or he got through that. I can do the same thing. It's like you're entertained and you have

you would learn a life lesson at the same time. And that is exactly that

You very well said it's that. And what I, the blessing of this show

is that it is so far above me. I don't, you know, I don't know

but I don't even really have to think about, oh, who's in the audience or blah, blah, blah

or any of that because it is just, it's beyond me. It's above me. It is a message that I'm just in service of

And if one person, if one person in the seven weeks of audiences finds courage and hope to change

if one person does, then it's a success. Yeah, one life. I've been thinking about this a lot

I have been thinking about alcoholism and I've been thinking that it's not something

in the forefront of our minds, right? It's not something that people talk about a lot

but it is something we should not ignore because it is, people die every day from this disease

and it is a disease. So I think if anything, I hope that people will just put it

in your, because we all know someone, we know, everybody knows someone who has had a problem with alcohol

And so that is what's important to me, that we bring that to the forefront to say

don't forget that. Don't forget that it may be your cousin, it may be your uncle, it may be your neighbor

How can we help? Yeah, if you're somebody that's dealing with addiction

I hope that they will walk away from this show feeling like they're not alone, that it's not because they're weak

that it's not, that there's hope and a path forward. And likewise, we all know somebody that is affected by this

And so I hope that if you are somebody in that respect

that you will walk away with a vocabulary to be able to talk about it with perspective

And I was telling my friends earlier, like I feel so lucky doing this show

because I care very much about like things like community enrichment and the health of our society

but I am not a community leader. That's not why I was put on this earth

but I can do like funny voices. And so it feels great to have like the Venn diagram

of my skillset and also what I care about in the world, really overlapping in a way that doesn't often happen

And I would say that it's not just a play for the people who are struggling with addiction

but it helps the people who support those people to understand what that journey is

and what it could be like and what those people might be going through and how we can support their effort, right

Yeah, how many years have you stopped? I have 11 plus years

I'm five. I stopped drinking. I loved wine. So just so you know, I stopped five years ago. Congratulations

Well, I always thought I was always competing with like the younger kids and coming up in this business

I mean, early mornings, you do all this stuff. You go to an open night party, have a few glasses of wine

I have to go to bed and be up at eight o'clock. It's such a huge part of our business. I'm just done with it

And I did it like that. Yeah, and it's beautiful, right? What a beautiful life that it is

And you think it's so scary. There's a thing, it's like, I don't wanna give up everything because of one thing

but really you give up one thing and you get everything. Yeah, everything's clearer. Yes

Life is clear, everything is a whole different lens. I'm not a producer of confusion anymore. I have clarity and I really love that

And what you said, it's like, this craft that I get to do, that we get to do

can be this act of service, which is what this play is

And I just love that. And it makes me laugh so much. I go home thinking about them and I laugh so much

Well, I love that there's humor in all this. My final question is, I know you have to go to rehearsal

Doing it here at MCC, there's such an important theater company. What it means to each of you

that this play is being done here with you in it? This is the right place for it

And it feels, the minute that they opened, the space to us, it just felt like everything had aligned

There was possibly some other spaces that were gonna happen, but they facilitated us to get to do that workshop

back in April and they loved it so much. So when they opened the doors to us, it was like

oh, it all clicked into place. And it's like, now we go and we can do it

And it feels so special to me to get to do this here

Well, there's nothing like a theater company saying, we value what you do

We value it so much. We're gonna make every avenue for it to be possible

for you to do so in the best possible way. And that's what they've given us. And MCC is at the forefront of Off-Broadway

They are an Off-Broadway juggernaut. And to have their stamp of approval

is such a beautiful way to, a launch pad for this. Well, thank you for sitting with me today at Broadway World

Thank you. We love Broadway World. Thank you. And like I said, you're in the middle of previews

It's such a great time period where this changes and you get ready for that opening night

and then just doing it for an audience. So I wanna thank you all. And everybody come over to MCC and see The White Chip