>> I guess I can stab, and then
say the line,

because I guess it will be
more audible

>>Okay, Yeah, makes sense.

All right. Seventy-Five please.
>>All right.

>>This is what I need to do,
this is my calling.

I need to make sure

that more people, not only
go to see black theater

and support it, but understand
why it's important.

And I want every black actor

to have the experience

of doing a show with a
completely black cast.

>>Having the opportunity
to work with her professionally

here at CPG has been
life changing for me,

because she's given me
opportunities a lot of people

in this town haven't given me.

I mean, she calls me up, she's
like, "Hey, do you want

to direct this show next year?
Hey, I'm trying to do an acting

workshop. do you want to come
and work with me here?"

Always providing opportunities
for black people in the city

to do what they love and
do what they do best.

Leslie, standby, we're going to
do the choke hold after that.

If you're a live theater fan,
a local music lover,

a reader, or a radio listener,

there is a good chance you've
seen or heard today's guest.

Join us as we catch up with
the ever busy, multi talented,

Leslie M. Scott-Jones.
Come on.

>>Leslie, everywhere I go
in Charlottesville,

there you are.
>>[Laughs]

>>So tell us, how did you
get involved in theater and

the arts, what inspired you?

>> I started literally writing
my own, kind of

I guess adventure novels
you could call them,

when I was like seven or eight.

So, all of my Barbies were
international spies and their

husbands had absolutely
no idea what they were doing,

>>[Laughs]
>>And they wen all around

the world saving the world

from bad guys, nuclear weapons,
the whole deal.

That's how it started.
>>So it started on your own.

And then your mother and father
had a little influence too?

Yes. And then, so my dad is

one of those... he's big
and burly and a man's man.

His hobby was redoing old cars.

So if I wanted to spend time
with my dad

it had to be in a garage.

The only other thing that he and
I really connected on was music,

and every Saturday morning
he would put on blues.

So I grew up listening to
BB King and James Brown

and Bobby Blue Bland
and all of those guys.

And then my mom
did the more like bougie,

more cultural side of things.

So, she would take me
to the Kennedy Center,

and to Ford's Theater,
so I got to see

Avery Brooks do his one man
Paul Robeson show.

I got to see the original cast
of Ain't Misbehavin'

at Ford's Theater, Meryl Streep
doing Merry Wives of Windsor and

>>Oh my goodness.
You caught the bug, right?

You knew it.

>>Oh, yeah.

>>Well, and you set off
into the world and to school,

and you're studying theater
and theater education,

and eventually you
have a family,

and so you focus on your
two beautiful kids.

>>Yes.

>>Tell us how you
got back into it.

>>We had moved from Culpepper
back to Charlottesville,

and I see a posting for

African American actors
for Othello.

>>Five minutes to places please.

>> So I go, I audition,
not expecting to get anything,

because it'd literally been 15
years since I'd been on a stage.

But I go, I audition,
and I get Emilia,

>>Yeah

>>which was amazing.

>> And you haven't really
stopped since then.

>> No.

>> You have not stopped
since then.

>>I really haven't.

>>Let's talk ... you act,
>>Yes.

>>you're also, you direct,
you produce,

you adapt scripts.
So let's

Talk about some of
your favorite projects

over this past decade.

>> I guess my favorite
is still Jitney.

>>Okay, so this is part of the
August Wilson series?

>>Yes.

>>Right, so let's maybe
back up and

>>With the Charlottesville
Players Guild

>> And let's explain that.
So you started with Fences.

>> Yeah, Andrea Douglas,
Dr. Douglas came to me and said,

"I'm not a theater person,

but I want to produce

the entire Century Cycle,"

because part of the
mission of the center is to

tell the black history
of the 20th century,

specifically of the
20th century.

And that's what the
Century Cycle is,

it's a picture of life for

black people in every decade.

Well, I'm worried about
what you talking about.

Bono, you going to stay
for supper?

No thank you, Rose.
Lucile said she going to be

cooking up some
[inaudible]

[Inaudible] I might be
going home with you,

might even stay the night
if you [inaudible]

>> And then the second
in the series, Jitney,

now that was one
of your favorites.

>>Yes. So Jitney is set

in the Hill District
of Pittsburgh,

right at the point of
another round of gentrification.

It's centered around
a cab company.

they discover pretty early in
the play that it's going to be

taken over by eminent domain
and torn down.

so they have to decide whether
or not they're going to fight

to keep their business and
their livelihood.

And a week and a half
before we open,

August 11th and 12th happens,

Right.

and every single member

of my cast and crew, including me,

were on the streets that day.

So that one's always going
to be closest to me.

It wasn't just telling a
black story anymore.

It really brought it home to
everybody on that stage that

through telling this story

are proving our humanity.

>>Leslie is a great component,

and a great activist

for Jefferson School,

t just Charlottesville
Players Guild

and saying, "Look, we've
got stories we need to tell.

And it's our job to tell them,

because no one else
is going to do it.

>>People of color,
marginalized people

she is willing to
uplift those people

in the space of theater,

and making theater more
equitable for the people

of Charlottesville.

>>All right, now talk
about BlackMac.

Yes. So BlackMac came out

of a conversation one night,

And Ti turns to me and says,

"So what's the next show?"

I said, "I don't know."

And Richelle says,

"Oh, we should do Macbeth."

And T says, "Oh yeah,

and I should direct it."

And I was like, "Oh yeah,
that'd be a good idea."

And Richelle goes, "And I'll
play Lady Macbeth."

I was like, "Done."

It was really amazing.

And I love the way she
adapted the script

to really encompass
the African diaspora,

and really bring that
as a layer on to the

Shakespearian language.

You know, Ooh, he's so extra.

>>[laughs] Oh that's great.

>>Completely fit in Shakespeare.

>>Oh, that's great. Okay,
talk about Hambone.

>>So yeah, we wanted to do
it was like, okay, so we did

this kind of other wordly kind
of thing with Shakespeare.

Let's bring it a little
closer to home and do like a

black family drama,

grieving what happened and
trying to figure out a way

to move forward.

>> Here, Othello,
take my napkin, wipe thy face.

The queen carouses to
Hambone's fortunes.

>> Gertrude, do not drink.

>> I pray you'll pardon me,
my lord. I will.

>> It is the poisoned cup.
It is too late.

>> Come let me wipe thy face.

>> I think the role that Leslie
plays in our community

is bringing a lot of artists
and people out of their shells

and trying different things.

I know she did that with me
and I love it.

[fight scene]
...they are incensed.

[inaudible]

>>All right, and hold.

>>Music. You know, music
is a big thing to you.

>>Yes.

>>And you and your buddy,
Richelle Claiborne, who is

an amazing musician,

>>Oh, my God.

>>You've partnered on...
you were involved in an

Aretha Franklin tribute-

>>Yeah, that we did in
Pennsylvania.

>>And another tribute...

>>A Nina Simone tribute.

>>Oh, Nina Simone.

>>Yeah.

Yeah. And once again,
that's something I kind

of got pushed back into.

I'm a Southern woman,
of course I grew up

singing in the choir,
of course.

but I hadn't sung in public

for a really long time.

And then I met this wonderful
man who's a musician

and a composer
and he goes,

"You need to sing again."

>>So, here you are out
there singing.

>>So, here I am out
there singing.

>>And you write. You have
books that you've written,

>>Yes.

>>I don't know if there are
any Barbie dolls involved

anymore but.
>>No. No Barbies.

>>But books. You contribute
in the community

to different papers,

and you have
a podcast radio show.

>>Yes.

I'm always busy. I am
always busy.

>>I, I would, yeah!

>> There is, and I come by it
honestly, I did not steal it.

My mother was possibly the
busiest person I've ever met,

and she still is.

There was always
a meeting to go to, or

an event that had to be planned.

To me that's what you're
supposed to do.

Like, if you are sitting at
home and doing nothing,

something is wrong.

You are doing it wrong.

>>Well, what I love,
too, is that

you took the time
to raise your children.

>>Yeah.

You know, you did that,

and now you have
been doing this.

You are back to your first love,
or your second love,

because your kids
are your first love.

But you're back to this.

What kind of advice do you
have for people who are

passionate about the arts,

no matter how old they are,

no matter where they are
in their stage of life?

>>A lot of people think that

that you're going to get
from here to there

and it's going to be
instantaneous.

And it's like, no,

getting there

is 20 years of hard work.

>>Yeah.

>It doesn't matter if there is

winning an Oscar,

>>Right.

>>Or, if there is starring
in a musical at your

local community theater,

it doesn't matter what
the destination is,

there's always work
in the middle.

>>Yeah. And you have to
enjoy this.

>>And you have to be here.

>>If you're s- looking at this
the whole time,

how are you going to
enjoy that?

>>Right. You have to be
in the moment,

present, and figure it out.

>>Yeah.

>>And the wonderful
thing that I love

about community theater

is that there's always
going to be people

to catch you.

There's always going to be
people to support you.

There's always goint to be
this mini family that's

eated when you do a show

>>And collaboration, you
collaborate constantly.

>>Yes.

>>And that just makes the
experience even richer.

And shares it with more people.

>>Yeah, because you're never
going to have every idea.

It's absolutely impossible

that you're going to have
every good idea all the time.

>>Right.

>>So it's important that you get
other people in the room.

And people from different
perspectives, like that

that's why I... that's
another reason why I like

having diverse casts,

especially in age and
experience, because that

because that person who just
walks off the street and

has never been on a stage
before could have the idea

that makes whatever is
wrong in this moment

come together in a way that
no one else in the room could.

>>Yeah.

>>And we need that.

>>Go, bring these ladies to
where young Hambone is.

[inaudible]

>>She will always

do the best

to put black people forefront
in the theater.

People of color, marginalized
people,

she is willing to uplift
those people

in the space of theater, and

ever since I've know her she
has worked toward that goal

and making theater
more equitable for

the people of Charlottesville.

>>You never know
what you can do

until you actually do it.

And Leslie is very good at
bringing that out in people.

>>Leslie is a great component

d a great activist for
Jefferson School.

not just Charlottesville
Players Guild,

in saying, "Look, we've
got stories we need to tell,

and it's our job to tell them,

because no one else
is going to do it."

I don't know what
Charlottesville

would do without her.

Ophelia [inaudible]