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00:01You try to check it down, that moment, that moment that it all changed, the moment that
00:15you forgot to wake up.
00:16I really wanted to talk to you together, because you both shared that you were childhood friends,
00:30and so I wanted to talk about kind of this full circle moment of working together now.
00:35So if you could start, like, when and how did you all meet as kids?
00:41Oh, well, we were adolescents.
00:45Terrell has a much better memory than I do.
00:48Like, literally, there are events that have happened in my life, and Terrell will be like,
00:53Lana, don't you remember?
00:54And I'll be like, wow, I forgot that happened.
00:59But yes, yes, Terrell can tell you the name of the institution and everything.
01:06We've been at the African Heritage Culture Arts Center in Miami, which is a community
01:13center for the arts.
01:15It's about providing art excellence to the community of Liberty City.
01:20Alana grew up in Carroll City, but she was there for the summer program.
01:24I think this was, like, had to be, like, 93, 94, or something like that.
01:28Maybe even.
01:29Yeah.
01:30Earl, I feel like we were somewhere between, like, 11, 12, 13.
01:34Yeah, like, I think you were going to ninth grade, and I was going to eighth grade, or
01:39something like that, or.
01:41Me too, yeah.
01:42Yeah.
01:45But yeah, that's, I mean, that's the first time we met, but then we ended up being in
01:48subsequent programs together, like Voices United.
01:50We went to the same high school.
01:53We went to the same undergrad together.
01:56And we, we are part of Steppenwolf Ensemble together in Chicago.
02:01Yeah.
02:01Okay.
02:02So you were both already interested in acting, screenwriting, all of that as kids.
02:08Okay.
02:09I didn't know that.
02:09Me, personally, I didn't know that.
02:12And as an adult, I will say that I am actually very impressed that my mother knew about this
02:21program, because as a mom, I find it difficult to learn about specific programs outside of
02:30your immediate community, you know?
02:32So I find it very impressive that my mother knew of this program and, and saw something
02:38in me and was like, she need to be over there.
02:41So.
02:46And that makes me think about, when I talked to Terrell a couple of years ago, he said that
02:50he, he made you audition for the role of a life.
02:53Okay.
02:54So can you talk about that a little bit?
02:57Yeah.
02:57Okay.
02:58So here is the thing.
02:59I, um, I am not a person that I don't feel comfortable leaning on my relationships.
03:07I don't like to put my friends in that situation.
03:11I don't think I've put Terrell in that situation.
03:13I don't think Terrell has put me in that situation.
03:15I think we, we have a mutual respect for each other as professionals.
03:19And so whenever we work together, I think we have an unspoken sort of kind of agreement
03:26to respect each other as professionals.
03:28I'm going to say that.
03:30Okay.
03:30So, so much so that I auditioned and, um, my agent knows that Terrell and I are personal
03:39friends.
03:40So she called, I was at a play with my husband and she sent me a text saying, Terrell is going
03:46to call you and, and you should, it was so like cryptic.
03:51She was like, you should believe what he says.
03:53So it was something, it was something like that, you know, Terrell never called.
04:01So what happened is I got like an email saying, Hey, you know, um, rehearsals for David makes
04:07man begins this date that after that, it was like two weeks later in another state and
04:13everything.
04:14So I was like, Oh, this is okay.
04:18This is, this is, this is a lot, you know, I got a family and everything.
04:22So, because, because I was still waiting on this phone call.
04:26So I went there and because it was rehearsals, I thought I was still kind of like auditioning,
04:35right?
04:35Like, yes, really.
04:37And truly.
04:38So my husband was like, Alana, nobody would like relocate you and your whole family.
04:44If you ain't get the job, you got the job, but low key, I was in them rehearsals giving
04:50it my all.
04:50Cause I didn't know.
04:53I love that.
04:58And then it sunk in like, Oh wait, I'm glory.
05:01I was like, Oh my God, this is my life.
05:05Oh my goodness.
05:12Well, backing up, you know, one of the things I love so much.
05:16You're still laughing.
05:17I love about, um, go ahead.
05:19Like you just like, Alana, I mean, it's true.
05:22Like I did, you know, I didn't call any of the actors to let them know that they got the
05:26role.
05:27So I wasn't going to call Alana to let her know, you know, like, um, you know, we, the,
05:32the process, especially because in, in, like Alana said, I, if a friend of our, and I have
05:38a lot of wonderfully talented friends, um, some of them I had the pleasure of growing
05:43up with.
05:44And so, you know, it's important to me that like, they feel, they feel like they are
05:48getting things on the merit of their talentedness.
05:51And, and, and, you know, I know you awesome.
05:53I want other people to know.
05:54Right.
05:55So I'm not going to go in and like big you up.
05:57I'm going to let them see.
05:58Right.
05:59Um, and, and, you know, the process is the same.
06:03I, we send it, I send in like recommendations that I, and a lot of the recommendations for
06:07Gloria, I let D do because D is our showrunner.
06:11D Harris Lawrence is our showrunner.
06:12Um, and so she sent in them and, you know, we got, Miss, Miss Winfrey was like, oh yeah.
06:18Yeah.
06:19Yeah.
06:19No, that's Gloria.
06:22That's Gloria.
06:22And so, um, once that happened, I was like, cool.
06:26Well, I want Alana to hear that.
06:28I don't want her to hear from me.
06:30Yeah.
06:31Um, and so, I mean, but casting is casting in the United States of America.
06:36So Miss Winfrey can say one thing, but you're going to hear that from the casting agent and
06:40from, you're going to hear, Hey, you got a job, move, move and be ready.
06:43Right.
06:44Um, so it was just funny because we were in rehearsal and I was like, Lana, do you have
06:50your scripts?
06:50Like we don't give out scripts to people who ain't going to be in the show.
06:53Like, do you have them?
06:55And here was the thing that I promise the email never said, Hey, you got the job.
07:00My agent never said, Hey, you got the job.
07:03The email was like, first rehearsal is in Orlando, Florida.
07:06Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and I was like, Hmm, this is, okay, I'm going to go.
07:13I'm going to go.
07:14Thank God, you win, right?
07:19So now I got to skip ahead and find out about the news of getting renewed.
07:23Because I remember, um, the junkie we had and, um, over with Sharon, just the beautiful
07:29story of how you pitched the series and she was just in love, um, you know, with this.
07:34So talk about finding out that you were renewed the network, particularly Tina Perry and Miss
07:40Winfrey, um, and Carla Gardini, who are executives at home.
07:46We're like, we love this show and we want to be able to say, you have a, you're coming
07:52back right now and we just want to, um, but we can't.
07:56And so you have to like, so, you know, just, you just have to hang tough with us.
08:00And I was like, cool, you know, I'm out here.
08:03Um, and a bit, and, uh, and eventually I said to myself, I did say to the actors, I was
08:07like, look, I understand, you know, I will always try to work it out for you, um, while
08:12we try to figure this out, but I'm a, I'm going to trust in listening to, you know, people
08:18who are trying to make it so that when we come back, we're not doing this as a chore.
08:21We're doing this as a joy, right?
08:23Cause I, I don't want, I don't want to be on nobody's burden list, right?
08:27I want to come back and be like, oh, we're doing a service.
08:29We're in service or something.
08:31Um, and I think we rounded a corner, you know, in the new year and, and Miss Winfrey was like,
08:37look, we, I love this.
08:39I would be very unhappy if this wasn't back.
08:43And so, you know, between her and Tina Perry, I think that, that just became what was going,
08:50what was going to happen.
08:51And I just have to thank them for that because, you know, we have some, again, we were not
08:57bought, we weren't brought back as a burden.
08:58We were brought back as like, this is life affirming.
09:00And so let's continue to do life affirming work.
09:04Yeah.
09:04And then it was a chance to get with my friends and do more work.
09:07So that was always, you know, that's always a joy.
09:10Yeah.
09:11Yeah.
09:11And, you know, for me, what I love so much about this series is that it takes place in
09:16South Florida, you know, and I feel like so many series, you know, if we see in my
09:21Miami, it's always, you know, Latina focused and it's like Cuban cartel and that kind of
09:25thing.
09:25And we kind of gloss over black life in Miami.
09:28So can you kind of talk about the significance of having a program like this on TV?
09:36Whoa.
09:36Oh, yeah.
09:37Without getting mad.
09:38I know.
09:39Right.
09:39Exactly.
09:41Absolutely.
09:42Because that's where you're from, you know, too.
09:43That's your home.
09:44That's your life.
09:45Well, I mean, part, you know, part of it that's tricky is that like, sometimes I don't
09:49even know that Miami knows the show is on the air.
09:53Right.
09:54And that bothers me.
09:55It bothers me.
09:56I would have been bothered if I said it didn't bother me.
09:59It bothers me.
10:00You know, we just did an interview with with Brandon Marshall, who does I Am Athlete.
10:06Okay.
10:06One of the things he he's based in South Florida is based in Weston.
10:10And he was talking about how the show is based in Florida and how that was so cool.
10:14And he was like, you know, I'm embarrassed.
10:15I didn't know that that this was taking place here.
10:20And and that's, you know, listen, there's a lot of wonderful, amazing television that
10:25happens that a lot of people don't check and hear about.
10:30But it also is a recurring theme.
10:32And Alana hears this from me all the time about black life in South Florida.
10:36Yeah.
10:36Particularly like black people have been a part of Florida's tapestry for almost 200, 300
10:45years.
10:46You know what I mean?
10:46Like you can't like some of the things that happen.
10:50In fact, the city of Miami itself in 1896 and its founding has, you know, Negro citizen
10:57number one signed on its charter next to Julia Tuttle's name.
11:01Like the city was founded with the labor and the and the and the love of black people.
11:08Yeah, from the islands and from from the northeast in of America, of the United States, the forming
11:16United States.
11:16So, you know, we've been here like my grandmother was born in Coconut Grove.
11:21I'm a third generation Miami.
11:23And so it's it was so important to me that like this series incorporate that and also the
11:29you know, the Latinx and and Caribbean culture that is all around us for sure.
11:35Yeah, but it's just it can be a little frustrating and the fact that, again, me and Lana grew
11:44up there.
11:45We have so many friends who grew up there and most of us have to leave in order to pursue
11:49our dreams.
11:50Yeah.
11:53Yeah.
11:54It's a problem.
11:56And for you, you know, as a black woman and with, you know, the stories.
11:59Miami, much like every other city in America is is has a very complicated cultural and social
12:08dynamic.
12:09In everything that's real has touched upon, I can definitely second.
12:14And I'm sure that between us, we have a wealth of experiences that we could actually talk about
12:21that that are actual lived experiences within that dynamic.
12:25Right.
12:26Because in Miami, you have this complex existence of this is a city where just about everybody
12:34is other everybody.
12:36Right.
12:36And what can be particularly challenging in that experience is advocating the beauty of American
12:51blackness on its own, because in a city where everybody is other and otherness is celebrated
13:00and welcomed, unfortunately, much like colorism, you know, in the African-American experience.
13:07I know that I have experienced and I, you know, I don't know if Terrell, you know, can talk
13:13about this, but but both of us have otherness in our bloodline.
13:17Right.
13:18So I have Cuban heritage in my bloodline, but the world perceives me as an African-American
13:24and I have that experience.
13:25And so in Miami, I've had people from other cultures say to me, I'm not African-American.
13:33I'm this, I'm this.
13:34And nobody should deny their roots and who they are.
13:38But you do wish sometimes that there is more celebration for what African-Americans in this
13:45country have had to endure in order for other people to have a space in this success.
13:51Right.
13:51So it's a complicated relationship because nobody wants to diminish anybody else for their
13:59space.
14:01I think black Americans just often find themselves in a space of wishing that people could celebrate
14:08their story and their process in this American narrative.
14:14Yeah, a hundred percent.
14:16And I feel we see that, you know, David and you, you know, as well, it just feels so relatable
14:22and so authentic.
14:24Just seeing, you know, how he navigates life and just things like that.
14:29So I'm curious if you can talk a little bit about how we'll see that take shape in the
14:33next season.
14:34There is a dominant culture economically and socially in Miami.
14:39And it is, you know, the landscape of Miami shifted mightily in 1980, thanks to the Mariel
14:47Boatlift in beautiful ways.
14:49And, you know, I think, and you see David navigating that.
14:55You see David as a black man, a descendant of black people in Miami trying to navigate the
15:02various hierarchies of that socially and economically.
15:05And I think, but then also you see how gentrification is driving another wave of change.
15:13Climate gentrification is happening and the water is rising.
15:16And so all of the people who lived on the outskirts in these sort of, you know, wealthy
15:21enclaves who were far away from the inland places that a lot of black people inhabit still to this
15:27moment.
15:28I mean, you, you were watching another moment where, as Lana said, African-American
15:34culture, life in Miami or in South Florida is, is being diminished or muted for the sake
15:41of higher ground, right?
15:43People are like, oh yeah, the sea rise is going to be six feet.
15:45So we got to move to everywhere that seven feet.
15:48Well, that place used to be Liberty City, Carroll City, Miami Gardens, Ghouls, right?
15:55And so is, is valuable.
15:57And so, um, um, and, and the people in it are not, right, right, right.
16:05And so I ask question mark.
16:08And so like David has to, has to reckon with that.
16:11He has to see that, like, you know, and his, his want to engage the world, his want to survive,
16:17his want to be on the up and up puts him at odds with some of the people who he show should
16:23be trying to be, maybe should be is a bad word, but that he, he may have wanted to protect
16:29before.
16:30Okay.
16:32And, um, Alana, I would love to know also how your characters, excuse me, how your character,
16:37um, kind of develops, you know, I think the angle with the addiction and just, it was just
16:42such a real face, I think, to see if not, you know, someone on the corner, you think, or just
16:47what addiction really looks like and what that journey looks like, um, of being on it in the
16:51long-term.
16:51So I'm curious, you know, how we'll see developments in the next season.
16:55Yeah, well, I, um, I'm excited for our viewers to get to see Gloria in season two in a much
17:01healthier space.
17:03And I think it's actually very, um, inspiring to be quite honest, because I think all of us
17:11have people in our lives who we know very intimately and we know, we know every obstacle,
17:18every challenge that they've faced.
17:21And sometimes the thing that can weigh on us is that we know that, but we know that when
17:26they go out into the world, people see something else and they're being judged by something else.
17:33And so, you know, you, you are silently hoping and praying that everything they're striving
17:40for, they make, they can make it.
17:42And I can also say, unfortunately, um, in many instances, we have not seen them make
17:48it, but in Gloria's story, you get to see progress.
17:52You get to see, you know, the manifestation of your hopes and prayers, um, for somebody
17:58who really is trying to fight their way to something better.
18:01Yeah.
18:02And Leslie, I want to ask, um, both of you, I guess, what kind of personal feedback you've
18:07maybe gotten from people?
18:08Like for me, when I also look at the show, I think about, there's so many different
18:11representations, I think of black boys and men.
18:14Um, and I can't imagine what that would mean, you know, for a young black boy, um, to see
18:19that.
18:19So I'm curious, you know, I don't know if people DM you or what, but just, you know, I'm
18:22curious about just direct feedback you've gotten about what the show, you know, has meant
18:26to viewers.
18:28Yeah.
18:29Well, I will say that, you know, every now and then I will get somebody who DMs me and they'll
18:35tell me that, um, especially, unfortunately, um, Gloria's experience in season one, which
18:42she talked about, um, just some of the sexual abuse and assault that she encountered.
18:47I've had people, you know, say that was, that's my story.
18:51Um, I've had people reach out to me and say, your character really reminds me of my mother
18:57and how hard my mother has fought, um, as a single mom to try to do this for me and that
19:03for me and those things, I mean, I don't have words for the gift that it, that is because
19:10honestly, um, when you pick up any story, you really want to honor the people who are
19:16really walking that out.
19:18So that is a huge gift, um, for someone to tell you that I see myself in this story reflected
19:25well.
19:26And, and, you know, it's like a huge compliment.
19:29Um, now Terrell, on the other hand, you know, I don't know if people always know, like when
19:34he walking down the street, like that's the one that's giving you life, right?
19:42That's the man.
19:44Hopefully, no, they don't.
19:46People say weird things to me anyway.
19:48You know it to be true.
19:49A lot of no's.
19:50People just love saying strange and interesting things to me.
19:55Some of them are not, you know, we shouldn't record them for our essence friends, but
19:59if you want to, I will say, um, no, I get hit up with all kinds of things, but I think
20:05the things that I definitely know, you know, the affirmations that come through are the
20:10ones when particularly, um, families will say, you know, we sit down and we watch this
20:17together because we got to talk about some of this stuff.
20:20Like I had, I didn't have a way or I didn't have a language to bring this up and this
20:24is, you know, we use your show as a way to talk about X or talk about like Y.
20:31Um, and that's, especially mothers.
20:33Mothers are like, you know, I have a son.
20:35I didn't know what to talk to him about.
20:36We sat down and watched it together and we dot, we genuinely dialogue.
20:40And then the sons will hit me up and be like, yo, I could tell my mom about this.
20:43She can see now that like, sometimes I can't tell her everything or I can't reach out to
20:48her in that way.
20:50Um, and I will, you know, for me as a person who has always felt like an outsider, uh,
20:56I think for it's to have a place in the community of that, like, I'm the person who pulls up
21:01the chair around the fire.
21:02You know what I mean?
21:03I'm the person who makes sure that like, we got a hearth to come to where we need to
21:07discuss it.
21:08I just get the little, the little space ready for you.
21:11Yeah.
21:11And, um, and that, that's, that's thrilling to me.
21:14That's been, it's been a, it's been, you know, I don't consider myself an activist.
21:18I don't consider myself, you know, and I, and I definitely want to be on the right side
21:22of history on, on, on many and most things.
21:25Um, but I also can feel very outside of, of, of, uh, of the mainstream and the community
21:33in so many ways.
21:33And so during this time of uprising, wanting to do something, wanting to have a voice,
21:37wanting to contribute, knowing that there is a way to like, allowing people to come together
21:42and speak through some joy to each other has been like, um, a blessing.
21:47So those comments, um, um, are always the ones that I'm like, I may not answer them back,
21:53but I just go, thank you.
21:54Like they don't know that they just, they, they helped me out today.
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