Episode 6: Storytelling - To Honor Or Exploit with Kemp Powers
The co-Star of this episode:
The Sidecar
Featured Guest: Kemp Powers
How do you honor your own identity in the stories that you craft?
In this final episode of the first season, Jason and Yvonne spend valuable time with Oscar-nominated, “brother” Kemp Powers -- journalist, screenwriter, playwright, journalist and now, director. This grounded, yet uplifting conversation circles around this notion: to maintain truth and integrity in storytelling, we must bring ourselves into the story and we do so by holding steadfast to emotional honesty and by creating empathy. This way, we create a great story, and a great story brings us together.
This week:
Jason asks, “How do we honor identity without exploiting it for the sake of a ‘good’ story?”
Jason and Yvonne examine the book and 1977 television miniseries, Roots by Alex Haley as a way into the discussion about to honor or to exploit in storytelling
Frederick Douglass: “What, to the Slave, is the Fourth of July” (1852)
One Night in Miami, stage play (Jason as Malcolm X), “How the Ending of ‘One Night in Miami’ Recreated a Long Lost Cultural Landmark” Los Angeles Times
Yvonne asks, “Are you in service to yourself or to the greater good?”
Episode 5 guest, Jacqueline Olive work is about filling in the gaps of narrative in history and her documentary, “Always in Season” which won the 2019 Sundance Special Jury Prize for Moral Urgency
Kemp Powers, Pixar’s first black director; “Do Black People Wear Belts? Kemp Powers on Creativity and Tackling Stereotypes at Pixar” WBEZ, Chicago
‘Spider-man: Into the Spider-Verse’ Sequel Reveals Directing Team, The Hollywood Reporter
Kemp shares his career journey; the ups and downs and says, “It’s about finding the people who get you.”
Kemp says, “I’m a storyteller.”
Yvonne asks, “How do you maintain integrity in storytelling?”
Kemp answers, “It’s about emotional honesty.”
Kemp shares, “It took me my whole life to understand who I am,” … “I know me really, really, well.”
“And most people try so hard to pretend that they know everything and everyone. I'm the opposite. I don't know anything or anyone except me, but I know me really, really well...”
-Kemp (minute 40:57)
Cocktail: Sidecar
A gorgeous, savory drink that is cognac forward with a delightful citrus kick.
Recipe
2oz Cognac
¾ oz Cointreau*
¾ oz Lemon juice* (preferably freshly squeezed)
Orange twist garnish
Shaken
*Jason prefers to dial back (or ramp up!) on these two ingredients and uses ½ oz Cointreau and ½ oz lemon juice in his recipe as a perfect way to tell the Sidecar story.
History & Meaning
The Sidecar:
Like many cocktails, the Sidecar’s history and origination is attributed to more than one story. Here at Lagralane Spirits, and for the emphasis of this episode’s title, we both honor and perhaps exploit the story of the sidecar by making it our own.
About our special guest
Kemp Powers
Kemp Powers is an Academy Award-nominated screenwriter, director, playwright, and journalist.
Powers’ theatre play, ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI, had its world premiere at Rogue Machine Theatre in Los Angeles and starred our very own Jason Delane as Malcolm X. Kemp helped adapt ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI into a film of the same name, directed by Regina King. Kemp received a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination for the film at the 93rd Academy Awards.
Powers also co-directed and co-wrote the animated Pixar film, SOUL, which was nominated for multiple Academy Awards. With his work on SOUL, Kemp became the first African-American to co-direct a Disney animated feature film.
Powers joined the co-directing team behind SPIDERMAN: INTO THE SPIDERVERSE alongside Joaquim Dos Santos and Justin K. Thompson.
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(and the cocktail too)?
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