Denise continues her intimate conversation with actress, director and producer Lisa Gay Hamilton.  A graduate of the Juilliard School’s 18th class Lisa Gay Hamilton is known for her film about the life and work of Beah Richards, Beah: A Black Woman Speaks as well as her role as attorney Rebecca Washington on the ABC legal drama The Practice, and for her critically acclaimed performance as young Sethe in Jonathan Demme's film adaptation of Toni Morrison's Beloved. Her theater credits include Measure for Measure (Isabella), Henry IV Parts I & II (Lady Hotspur), Athol Fugard’s, Valley Song and The Ohio State Murders. Hamilton was also an original cast member in the Broadway productions of August Wilson’s, The Piano Lesson and Gem of the Ocean.

What You Will Hear

• Lisa’s connection with Beah Richards
• Choosing projects and setting limits
• Aaron Sorkin
• Depth, truth and meter in script
• Beah Richards
• Beah: A Black Woman Speaks
• What Beah wanted for young people
• Being a student at Juilliard

Quotes

“This connection you have with people sometimes, it's because of your age, it's because of your journey and it's because of the experience that you've had. It's also how you see the world and what you want from the world and what you want as an artist and how you want to tell that story and what stories you don't want to tell and what stories you do want to tell.

“Deep investigation, that is so necessary because iambic pentameter and poetry is just fluff and words if you don't start from that place.”

“I think it's so important to have a sense of the world and to have an opinion about it and

not be afraid of it.”

“Speak it into existence” - Beah Richards

“Giving voice to the truth is all that we have and it's the most powerful thing we have as artists.”

“Our greatest political being in the theater community, the film community next to Harry Belafonte is Danny Glover”.

Mentioned

LisaGayHamilton.com

Beah Richards

Marie Louise and William Patterson

Paul Robeson

Alice Childress

Francis Williams

Watch Beah: A Black Woman Speaks

Harry Belafonte

Danny Glover

Robert Williams

Edith Skinner 

Liz Smith

Tim Monick