Music Credit:

“NY” written and performed by Kosta T from the cd Soul Sand. Used courtesy of Free Music Archive.

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Ayana Workman: … This play is so much about the actors. I mean, it hinges on the actors. We only have ourselves. We are the only people that are telling this story. We don’t have props, we don’t have set, really. You know, we just have ourselves, so I think Will wanted it to be sometimes really big—and he kept calling it a clown ballet. Because the way Branden writes is really hilarious, and it’s dark comedy. It’s a very sad thing, but Branden swims through it with humor.

<Music Up>

Jo Reed: That's actor Ayana Workman. She is talking about performing in Branden Jacobs-Jenkins most recent play, Everybody, which opened the current season at Washington DC’s Shakespeare Theater Company. And this is Art Works, the weekly podcast produced at the National Endowment for the Arts. I’m Josephine Reed.

Theater actors are singular people—embodying a character, letting their vulnerabilities lead, and performing before a live audience nightly. I think, as a rule, they are very brave, a little mad and I admire them greatly. Still, nothing quite prepared me for what playwright and MacArthur fellow, Branden Jacobs- Jenkins, puts his actors through in his play, Everybody. Everybody is inspired by Everyman, a fifteenth-century morality play about Christian salvation and how to achieve it. Jacobs-Jenkins adapts it for contemporary ears and sensibilities, not the least of which is renaming and re-framing it as the more gender inclusive Everybody. Here’s the plot: the character Everybody is visited by Death, ready to take her to the great unknown. Everybody protests she is just not ready for this and asks if she can have some time to find a companion to join her. Death agrees, "Sure, if anybody's brave enough to come along." So, Everybody approaches Friendship, Kin, Cousin, and Stuff and tries to convince one of them to go with her to meet Death. As if playing allegorical characters isn’t hard enough, Branden also adds an additional challenge. The actors playing Everybody, Kin, Cousin, Friendship and Stuff rotate their characters and they are reassigned roles by lottery via balls in a bingo cage. At every performance, these five actors find out in front of the audience which character they are going to be performing that evening—and keep in mind, this includes the character of Everybody who is the lead, and is on stage for the entire play. It’s bold. It’s innovative. It’s a praise song to live theater, and it takes an extraordinary amount of preparedness and just plain chutzpah on the part of the actors.

Ayana Workman is up for the job. She is a young actress, really just beginning her career—four years out of the conservatory. And she brilliantly played the role of Cousin the night I saw Everybody at the Shakespeare Theater Company in DC. Given her youth, Ayana has racked up a pretty impressive resume. She's already played a number of classical roles: Juliet in Romeo and Juliet—both at NYC’s Public Theater and the Shakespeare Theater Company, Perdita in Winter’s Tale, and Banquo in Macbeth. Still, I wondered if she knew what she was getting into when she auditioned for Everybody.

Ayana Workman: I did. I auditioned for the original production and when I first read it I fell in love with it. I thought it was so clever. I thought it was so funny. I thought it was so weird, and I thought it was also really, like, ambitious. I was like, “How the hell are they going to do this? How are the actors—like, are they actually going to memorize the entire play?” Because if anyone knows Branden’s work, he writes a lot. <laughs> He writes so much. Kind of similar to Shakespeare. I’ve been saying this a lot, but he’s—he very much has--

Jo Reed: It’s in my notes too.

Ayana Workman: Yeah. He has such a meticulous way of his language and everything is so intentional but there’re a lot of, for lack of a better phrase, like, ‘stream of consciousness’ aspects of it.

Jo Reed: Yeah.

Ayana Workman: So, I—my immediate thing, was, like, “How is someone going to be able to learn all of this?” But when I saw it I was incredibly moved and had me really thinking deeply about, I mean, <laughs> life and death. It was a very kind of scary, surprising, beautiful idea of this morality play in 2018 when I saw it. It intimidated me but it also really excited me, so when I got the opportunity to audition for it again and I actually was cast in it, it was funny because everyone that I talked to said that I was crazy.

<laughter>

Ayana Workman: They’re like, “What are you do—it’s going to be so hard,” and I was just really excited for the challenge. I had done a lot of classical work in the past and I’ve been really lucky to do a lot of Shakespeare, one of the most challenging writers in all of theater history. So I was like, “You know, let me go to the next thing,” so I was really excited for the challenge, but I don’t think I really knew how hard it really was going to be. I mean, in theory it was like, “Ah, cool,” but in reality, it was very challenging. It pushed all of us, I think I can speak for all of us, to our—past our limits, and it pushed me to discover, like, what I could really do. I mean, I feel like I can do a lot after this.

Jo Reed: I bet.

Ayana Workman: Yeah.

Jo Reed: I have no doubt.

Ayana Workman: <laughs>

Jo Reed: Okay. Because it doesn’t even mean you have to know the lines, and--

Ayana Workman: I mean, yeah.

Jo Reed: --that man writes.

Ayana Workman: He writes.

Jo Reed: But you have to know the blocking. You have to hit the marks.

Ayana Workman: Yeah, mm-hm.

Jo Reed: So that’s also a lot to think about.

Ayana Workman: Mm-hm, and every single character’s marks.

Jo Reed: That’s what I mean.

Ayana Workman: Not even one character.

Jo Reed: Yeah, every--

Ayana Workman: You got to know—and in the same scene. So you have to know, you know, Everybody’s blocking, but also Cousin and Kin’s blocking, so that was definitely a mind puzzle--

Jo Reed: Yeah.

Ayana Workman: <laughs> -- for a minute.

Jo Reed: I really want to know what the rehearsal process was like.

Ayana Workman: <laughs>

Jo Reed: Will Davis is the director.

Ayana Workman: He’s a genius.

Jo Reed: How did he unpack this for you? What was that first day like?

Ayana Workman: Well, he made it seem like it was going to be a very simple process. I mean, his enthusiasm, and his excitement, and his play—I don’t know what it would’ve been like if we didn’t have a person who was so open to play. Will Davis is not only a hilarious person, but he’s so open to everything that an actor is willing to say, or do, or offer. So he was so much like, “Okay. So what we’re going to do is we’re going to approach the rehearsal process like the lottery. So every single day you’re going to pick a character out of a hat and we’re going to start building the scene with the character that you’ve chosen.” So if I chose Everybody, and Kelly, who’s in the cast, chose Friendship, we were going to build it from there, and then we would get however far we got to, and then we would swap. But we discovered quickly that it was very difficult to remember all the things if we kept going, of each character’s, like—of the blocking. So about, like, a week in we decided that we would block a scene with one iteration of the scene, and then we would swap in and we would have another actor come in and play the same characters, and through that, we started to give and take and respectfully steal. <laughs>

Jo Reed: Well, I was going to ask you that. If you’re working with a cast that is not just playing a role that you’re going to be playing--

Ayana Workman: Yeah.

Jo Reed: -- They’re playing a role that you’re going to be playing with them maybe the next day.

Ayana Workman: Yeah.

Jo Reed: So I would imagine--

Ayana Workman: Yeah.

Jo Reed: You know, you’re both inspired by that and you steal.

Ayana Workman: Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, and this idea of—I remember as a kid, I learned imitation is the highest form of flattery. It really is. Like, I get to work with these amazing actors, with these amazing ideas, and we very quickly were like, “Actually, like, this is an amazing idea. Let me take this. Let me take this,” and it created this equality, and it created this trust, and it created this, like, beautiful mechanism of, “We’re all in this together.” You’re just so connected with each other and so trusting of each other and so, like, there’s this equal playing field and playing ground that we created from jump because we had to, because we had to trust each other, that just, like, created this beautiful connection, and we all have each other’s back, for anything, through anything, every single day, you know, because we also all know each other’s lines. So if anyone’s, like, in a rut we can pick up on that, you know what I mean? So it’s all very connected and equal.

Jo Reed: Well, yeah, because I was going to ask you how the cast works together and what’s unique about being in this cast because of the way the five of you are literally switching out on a whim, <laughs> literally, by the roll of the dice.

Ayana Workman: Yeah. Yeah, I think this cast is really special and really unique. Will did a—I don’t know how he did it, but he picked five individually different people. We all come from different backgrounds. We all identify as different things, different races, different pronouns, so we all have a very specific individual interpretation of the characters. So I think Will did a really good job in being able to tell a very specific story, depending on who is playing each character. I think for some of us, for the first time, like, we were able to give really who we are. We’re not fitting into any character, we’re just giving who we are. I get to actually just play myself. I don’t have to fit into a character, and same goes with everyone else. There’s an honesty there.

Jo Reed: Yeah, and also because you’re not playing a character as much as a concept, an idea.

Ayana Workman: As a concept. Yeah, yeah, and it was an interesting process in the beginning, because I think we had a conversation once that I was like, “Okay. So-- <laughs> we called it the accent play for a minute, because <laughs> every single time we would go in with a new character we would have a different accent, because our ideas was like, “Friendship is like this,” and, “Kinship is like this,” and, “Cousin is like this,” and then--

Jo Reed: <deeper voice> And then there’s Stuff.

Ayana Workman: <deeper voice> And then there’s Stuff.

Jo Reed: <laughs>

Ayana Workman: <deeper voice> And Stuff is very, like-- or Stuff is hung over or Stuff is manipulative or <normal voice> it was, and we tried it that way. That’s the cool thing about Will is that, like, no idea was wrong. We tried so many different things. I mean, this play has had so many different iterations. If you came the first day of previews and you came now, you wouldn’t recognize the play. It’s changed so much.

Jo Reed: Yeah. It’s interesting, because theater itself is so ephemeral, no matter what, and it’s what I love about it. No matter what play you see on a Tuesday, the person who sees it on Wednesday is seeing something else because it’s--

Ayana Workman: Definitely.

Jo Reed: -- it’s different. It’s live theater.

Ayana Workman: Yeah, different energy. Different moment in time. Yeah.

Jo Reed: Exactly. Exactly.

Ayana Workman: Yeah.

Jo Reed: But Everybody is that way cubed. <laughs>

Ayana Workman: Yeah, times a bajillion.

Jo Reed: Yeah, times a bajillion.

Ayana Workman: Because you’re literally seeing a different play.

Jo Reed: Exactly.

Ayana Workman: And even if you’re playing the same, like--

Jo Reed: And you’re playing a different play.

Ayana Workman: Exactly. Exactly. You’re playing a different part, and even if I played Everybody twice in a row, the chemistry between each other character is going to be different. The story’s going to be different if I have one actor one night playing Friendship, and I’m still playing Everybody and a different actor’s playing Friendship.

Jo Reed: Exactly.

Ayana Workman: You know what I mean? Like, that, quite that-- so there’s a lot of improv there.

Jo Reed: That’s what I was going to ask you—if there is improv, because it’s not like an understudy, where if an understudy plays Everybody but the rest of the cast is playing who they usually play.

Ayana Workman: Right.

Jo Reed: There’s still something--

Ayana Workman: There’s some, like, anchoring.

Jo Reed: Exactly.

Ayana Workman: <laughs> I was just talking about that.

Jo Reed: Whereas with this--

Ayana Workman: There’s nothing... <laughs>

Jo Reed: There’s none.

Ayana Workman: There’s, like, very little things that you can latch onto.

Jo Reed: Which makes me think, you know, how much improv is involved from performance to performance?

Ayana Workman: Yeah. I mean, we do have some anchoring in there. I don’t want to say that, like, it’s all improv, right?

Jo Reed: No, and that is true. Yes.

Ayana Workman: Like, in the beginning of the show, I don’t want to give too many spoilers. If you are playing Everybody, right, and you haven’t played Everybody for a minute, you have a character at the end who represents love, who has been doing it every single night, who’s watched the show every single night, and the actor is so generous and lovely and beautiful that you can rely on that person if you’re feeling lost. So there are things to hold onto, and then yes, the blocking. The overall blocking is similar, but within it there’s a lot of room to play, which is kind of such a freeing blessing. You know, you don’t always get to do that. You have some plays where, like, you can’t move your pinky—pinky this way. You must not, like, you have—you can’t turn left this time. You have to turn right, you know what I mean, and this is just like a freeing thing of like everything is right. Like, whatever you are, whoever you are in that moment is correct because it’s who you are in that moment, and that’s what we’re following and this is—and that’s what this audience is caring about is what—what is Everybody in this time, in this moment, at that night, you know?

Jo Reed: Okay. So...

Ayana Workman: <laughs>

Jo Reed: What does it feel like to be up on that stage and that little lottery wheel is going around?

Ayana Workman: Oh, my God, Jo. <laughs>

Jo Reed: And you’re about to pick—what does that feel like?

Ayana Workman: <laughs> Scary. <laughs> I mean, it changes every night. There’s some nights where I’m like, “I’m ready for this.” Like, “I’m so ready. I want to play Everybody,” and then there’s some nights that I’m like, “You know what? I would rather not do it tonight,” and that’s the night that you’ll probably get Everybody.

<laughter>

Ayana Workman: That’s what I’ve noticed. Every time that I’m resistant to it for whatever I’m going, like, whatever I’m going through in that moment, personal or not, like, just feeling tired or whatever, that’s the time where for whatever reason, numbers, universe, whatever you believe in, you pick that thing, and you just have to say, “Yes.” Like, no matter what, like, if you want to do it or not, you’re going to do it, right? You don’t have any time. You pick the thing. You open it. You see that you’re playing Everybody. Everyone sees who they’re playing. Everyone leaves you, <snaps> and then it starts. You know, so the only option you have is—it sounds cheesy but, like, it’s just to say “Yes.”

Jo Reed: Well, it’s so much like life. I mean, it really is.

Ayana Workman: It’s so much like life. You don’t know what’s going to happen.

Jo Reed: We make all these plans and then who knows what’s going to happen.

Ayana Workman: Yeah. Exactly. Life always has something in plan for you, in store for you. You never know what’s going to happen next, and that’s, I think, why Branden decided to put this lottery into it. One of the many reasons. Maybe it’s just to torture us.

<laughter>

Ayana Workman: No. But it’s—I think it’s because it’s reflecting the randomness of death. You know, you never know when you’re going to—sometimes you do; lot of times you don’t. So yeah, I think it’s—I think it’s very representing of life and I think a lot of people can relate to it, and it’s been—it’s been very visceral for many people, and I think they’ve been very affected by the lottery aspect, but by also just, like, being offered to Death.

Jo Reed: Is there one character that you really don’t like playing?

Ayana Workman: <laughs> That’s a good question.

Jo Reed: Or, you know, the one who’s sort of at the bottom.

Ayana Workman: I never get that one.

Jo Reed: It’s just like, “Ah. I can do—I can do it. I can do it,” but, “Oooh.”

Ayana Workman: <laughs> Oh, my God. I never get that question.

Jo Reed: Only because I know I would. <laughs>

Ayana Workman: Yeah. Was there one that I was like, “I don’t want to do that”? Okay. So just for, like, logistical reasons, I think it would be Stuff. Now, I will tell you that in rehearsal, when we were doing the lottery, I always drew Stuff. It was my favorite. It was what I auditioned with. It’s like one of the first table reads is what I read with. I loved Stuff.

Jo Reed: <laughs>

Ayana Workman: Constantly got it. It was like the running joke, like, “Ayana was Stuff”. Since we started, I’ve drawn it twice. Only twice. So I think it’s not necessarily my least favorite, because I still, I think it’s one of my favorite scenes. But since I haven’t done it much, it’s kind of nerve-wracking, because I go up there and I’m like, “Oh, when’s the blocking? What am I supposed to be doing?” dada-dada-dah. So in that way, if I had to say my least favorite—but I actually like it, because it’s—it’s fun. Once I’m up there I’m just like, you know, I just let go and say “Yes,” and I played it really recently and it was a really fun time.

Jo Reed: Is there one that gives you a tremendous amount of joy portraying or...?

Ayana Workman: Cousin. Cousin. I’ve played Cousin a lot, but I think Cousin is so funny. <laughs> It’s in the—in the family scene and Cousin’s just, like, throwing out all these, like, existential, like, concepts and ideas and is so oblivious and, like, and is being really genuine, and I think also part of this play, like, all these characters are really genuine, you know. They’re not ill willing. They just don’t want to die today.

Jo Reed: Yeah.

Ayana Workman: You know, like, “I just don’t want to go with you, so love ya, but bye.”

<laughter>

Ayana Workman: And I think there’s, like, a lot of comedy to that. The way Branden writes is really hilarious, and it’s dark comedy. Do you know what I mean? Like, it’s a very sad thing, but Branden kind of swims through it with humor. You know, I read it and I thought it was funny, but it surprised me how funny it actually was, and we laughed a lot in rehearsal.

Jo Reed: Yeah, we laughed a lot in the theater the night I saw it.

Ayana Workman: <laughs> Yeah.

Jo Reed: Speaking of which, I know your parents came Saturday night.

Ayana Workman: They did.

Jo Reed: Did you know they were going to be in the audience, A, and--

Ayana Workman: Yeah.

Jo Reed: --B, was that unnerving for you? <laughs>

Ayana Workman: Oh, God, it’s always unnerving <laughs> when my parents come. My mom and my dad came separately. My dad came opening night, which was really cool. I was really excited that he got to come opening night, and then my mom came this past weekend. She saw it three times in hopes to see me as Everybody, and she saw me as Everybody. She loved it. They both really loved the show. It’s nerve-wracking to have my parents in the audience because both of them are artists and both of them have very, like, specific views on art, very different views on art. They’re <laughs> quite special, I think. But they love me, you know, and they love anything <laughs> that I do. I always joke, like, I could just stand up there and fart and they would be like...

<laughter>

Ayana Workman: <clapping> “Bravo.”

<laughter>

Ayana Workman: You know, they really—they’re really proud of me. I always get a little nervous when my dad is in the audience, because I really, really respect his opinion and I want to know what he thinks at all times, but he—he really enjoyed the show and he had a lot of questions, and my mom’s a dancer, was a dancer, and a choreographer, and my dad’s a musician, they often made pieces together, and a lot of it reminded me, like, through rehearsal. I was like, “Oh, yeah. That’s kind of like the way my parents talk about theater.” So it was cool for me to be able to show them something that I feel like is in line with what they—what they have done or what they love to watch, so that’s cool.

Jo Reed: We should say—and your dad is 2020 Jazz Master, Reggie Workman, the great bassist.

Ayana Workman: Yeah, so proud.

Jo Reed: And what was that like growing up in a household where art was so prevalent with your father and your mother?

Ayana Workman: It was really special. I mean, honestly, it was—it was all I knew. I didn’t know it was anything different until I became a teenager and I saw that not everyone went to, like, see Picasso paintings at two years old and had jazz musicians running around in the house, like, having jam sessions every weekend. I thought it was—I thought it was normal, but looking back at it, it was really special, and if I ever have children I would love to create that kind of environment for them. Everything was offered to me. They are obviously in the arts, and from a very young age, you know, I was offered to play the piano. I was offered to play the violin, the guitar. My mom had her own dance school in New Jersey. She opened up a dance school when I was three years old, so I grew up, like, in a dance studio. I had dance classes, theater classes, music classes every single day. My dad taught there too. They both founded it together. It’s still around. They just celebrated their 20^th anniversary.

Jo Reed: What’s the name of the school?

Ayana Workman: Montclair Academy of Dance and Laboratory of Music. It’s in Montclair, New Jersey. We lived in Montclair until I was 14, so they started it there and then my mom still works there. I had a really cool childhood. It was really special, I—when my mom was working or when she was out of town my dad would bring me to-- <laughs> I have like one memory at the knitting factory. I was a baby. Like, small enough to be wearing footsie pajamas, and I had my footsie pajamas and it was really, really late. It was probably 10 or 11 and my dad was on stage playing and I was really tired, so I, like, set up three chairs and I, like, fell asleep, like, in the middle of the knitting factory, like, on, like--

<laughter>

Ayana Workman: On probably, like, a school night, you know. <laughs> Like, I was—I was exposed to a lot of different people, and at the time I didn’t know, but, like, I met Abbey Lincoln at a very young age and was around her and, my biggest memory is I saw my dad play with Alice before—Alice Coltrane before she passed. Up until then, like, I knew my dad was special and everyone loved him and he had this—I mean, I guess I knew. I mean, I was just a kid, you know. I was just living a, like, a kid life, but I—well, we were in California and he was performing with Robby Coltrane, Alice Coltrane, and I remember seeing something and feeling something like I never had before and I was like, “Oh, like that’s what this all—is all about.” Like, “He is—this is magic.” In that moment I realized how, like special, for lack of a better word, my father is he’s—he channels something else when he plays, you know. So I had moments like that that, and my mom. I mean, my mom too, and both of them had worked together a lot, before I was born and also when I was—I was very little. So I was always around them performing and creating. It was a very creative household. We’re always working.

<laughter>

Ayana Workman: Like, we are always—I mean Workman.

<laughter>

Jo Reed: It’s a good name.

Ayana Workman: It’s in the name, man. Like, we’re always, always working. There’s always something new, to this day.

Jo Reed: And what drew you to acting, Ayana?

Ayana Workman: I knew I wanted to be an actress since I was nine years old. I think I actually played Wendy in “Peter Pan.” <laughs> I was a kid. My mom drove me to, when we still lived in Jersey, she drove me to Strasburg Studios every weekend. So for 10 years I was going to Strasburg for acting, so I always had that option, and I played Wendy in, like, in a scene and I loved it and I felt so free, and at that moment I was like—I looked at my mom and I was like, “I want to be an actress,” and she was like, “Okay.” My parents kind of like gave me a palette. It was just a matter of me choosing, like, what I wanted to do. I loved to dance but I felt more free and more excited. I always loved movies, I always loved plays, and I really wanted to—to be an actor, since, like, since I was a small child, and then I, like, dabbled in other things and then when I—was time to go to college I remember my dad, my dad was like, “If you’re going to do it, do it.” So then I decided to go to conservatory. He was like, “Just go for it, and then, you know, when you graduate you still have your entire life ahead of you. If you want to change it, change it,” but my dad was a huge, huge part of this, and my mom was always there, like, encouraging me too. No matter what I did she would be there for me.

Jo Reed: Do you remember your first professional role? You might not. That’s fine.

Ayana Workman: Well, okay. Technically, it was when I was still in college. It was a show written by my mother called Guernica Continuum, and it was my freshman year of college and it was in Slovenia, where my mother is from. My mother’s Slovenian—go there every year. I speak Slovenian, and she produced a play in Maribor. Maribor is the town that she’s from. We have a home there, so that was, like, the first time that I was professionally, you know, like, I was in a playbill and there was an audience and all that and I got paid. That was the first time, but my first professional role in America was Juliet in Romeo and Juliet at The Public Theater.

Jo Reed: Oh. Not small potatoes at all.

Ayana Workman: <laughs> Yeah.

Jo Reed: What a debut.

Ayana Workman: No big deal.

Jo Reed: Are you serious?

Ayana Workman: I’m serious. It was pretty insane. That was my first—my first professional role.

Jo Reed: Okay. Walk me through that. What was that like?

Ayana Workman: <laughs> Insane, Jo. It was crazy. It’s still—it doesn’t get old. It was the coolest, most special, lucky, most beautiful thing I’ve ever gotten to be a part of. I had graduated college in 2015, and I had been doing, like, local stuff and working with friends and working on, like, a, you know, like unpaid jobs a lot just like trying to get out there, trying to get connections, and I got an audition for Juliet. I didn’t think I had a chance. So I just like went in there full throttle and worked really hard and had a bunch of auditions. Like five, five or six auditions. They kept calling me back, kept calling me back, and then I booked it and it was for the mobile unit, which is a program that The Public has where they take a Shakespeare play and they bring it around New York and all—all of the boroughs, and you go to community centers, you go to art centers, and then you also go to prisons, correctional facilities, and you go to homeless shelters or different—different kinds of community facilities. So that was dope. It was the coolest first job ever. It was the coolest first job ever, because not only was it Juliet. Beyond that, I was able to tell this story to people that really, really, really wanted to hear it and really, really were—were hungry to be brought into a different world for 90 minutes.

Jo Reed: And who don’t often get a chance to go to theater.

Ayana Workman: Yeah. It was so, so special and so uplifting and so encouraging and it—it started my career off in a very interesting way where I kind of understood why I was doing it right away. I was like, “I’m doing it for this reason. I’m doing it to tell stories for—to people who really need them.” And then I came to STC right after that and played Juliet again, and then it all unfolded. <laughs>

Jo Reed: And then it all unfolded and that’s the Shakespeare Theatre Company, where of course--

Ayana Workman: Yeah, Shakespeare Theatre Company, yes. <laughs>

Jo Reed: --you’re now doing Everybody.

Ayana Workman: Yes.

Jo Reed: You—you mentioned you’ve done a lot of classical theater and Shakespeare, and the biggies too.

Ayana Workman: Yeah, I guess I have. <laughs>

Jo Reed: What draws you to Shakespeare?

Ayana Workman: I find it, Shakespeare, to be a template. First of all, so beautiful, right? This language is—is absolutely stunning, but more than that, the stories—I think the reason why we still do it, they’re so relatable and epic and human that they can be molded and changed and shifted to any time period. Any kind of person can be speaking it, any location. So, I felt like I could fit in the world of Shakespeare. I felt like I didn’t have to jam myself to be someone else. I felt like I could, like, me as Ayana, could be Juliet. I felt that the worlds are as open and as inclusive that any kind of actor can be a part of it. So not only can I be in it but anyone can relate to it, and that was a huge experience of me doing Shakespeare, was playing Juliet and being an African-American young girl. I had some experiences of audience members telling me stories and saying, “Thank you for being up there and representing me,” and I’m lucky that I started there, because it—it affirmed why I’m doing it and it’s still why I’m doing it.

Jo Reed: You know, you mentioned auditioning, and I have to—that has to just so suck.

Ayana Workman: <laughs>

Jo Reed: I mean, seriously. That has to be one of the hardest things in the world to do.

Ayana Workman: Yeah. <laughs>

Jo Reed: How do you prepare yourself for it and how do you take care of yourself?

Ayana Workman: Oh, that’s a good question. <laughs> Well, how do I take care of myself? I’m lucky that I’ve gotten a lot of chances to audition, being in the profession for four years now professionally. But, <sighs> you know, you have to just trust in yourself, and I know that that sounds a lot easier said than done, but there’s so much that goes into it that’s beyond your control. All you can do is offer what you have. Do you know what I mean? And—and my version of that is working, working really hard to be able to let it go. So everything that I get, whether it be classical, five different scenes, or whether it be two lines on a TV show that says, “Would you like some more water, sir?” <laughs> Whatever it might be, I prepare as much as I need to for that and I do all of my homework, if I have the time to do it, if I’m lucky enough to have time, and if not, I do it as much as I can, and then I let go and trust that, like, if it’s meant to be it’s meant to be and know that I put my best foot forward. As long as I’m doing as well as I know I can do, that’s all I can do, and I know that the person on the other side sees that and maybe will remember me for another thing if I don’t book that thing. But I’m very at peace with the fact that I don’t have much control, and I think that actually helps me be okay with it and keep going.

Ayana Workman: There’s some things that hurt more-- you know, there’s some things that, you know, you really, really want and you don’t get it, and it’s sad, but I got some advice a little while ago. “You get 24 hours to be sad about it, and then you move on.” Because, you know, the next thing might be right around the corner, and that's the cool thing. It’s like, I know in my career I’ve gotten the coolest opportunities. I’ve gotten a lot of “nos”, but the “yeses” that I’ve gotten have been really important. So I just trust that the right “yes” is down the line at some point.

Jo Reed: And what’s next? Do you know?

Ayana Workman: I do. I do know. It was just announced, so I can say it.

<laughter>

Ayana Workman: So in—this past spring, I did an all-female production of Macbeth, by William Shakespeare. It was through Red Bull Theater Company at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, and we are remounting it through--

Jo Reed: Oh.

Ayana Workman: Yeah. We’re remounting it through Hunter Theater Project, who’s run by Gregory Mosher, and he saw the show and he was like, “I really believe in this show so I want to bring it to my program,” so that’s going to be happening in the beginning of January and running for a month until the beginning of February. So I’m going back to that cast and there’s some of the old cast and there’s some new people coming in and I’m really, really excited about. It was like one of the most fun shows that I’ve done.

Jo Reed: Oh, that’s fabulous.

Ayana Workman: Yeah, yeah.

Jo Reed: That’s fabulous.

Ayana Workman: So I have that coming.

Jo Reed: Who did you play?

Ayana Workman: I played Banquo. Yeah. But the—there’s a twist. So it’s a modern adaptation, so it’s a bunch of schoolgirls. The concept is that we love this play called Macbeth, so every day after school we go into this junkyard, essentially, and, like, put on this play. So I’m playing a schoolgirl playing Banquo, so it--

Jo Reed: Oh, that’s so smart.

Ayana Workman: So it goes in and out of, like, this schoolgirl character and then Banquo and then Banquo as a ghost and we have a really cool twist on that. It’s unlike a lot of other productions.

Jo Reed: Oh, I’m going.

Ayana Workman: Yeah, you should come.

Jo Reed: I’m definitely going.

Ayana Workman: You have to come. It’s really, really fun. And all women, which is so special.

Ayana Workman is up for the job. She is a young actress, really just beginning her career—four years out of the conservatory. And she brilliantly played the role of Cousin the night I saw Everybody at the Shakespeare Theater Company in DC. Given her youth, Ayana has racked up a pretty impressive resume. She's already played a number of classical roles: Juliet in Romeo and Juliet—both at NYC’s Public Theater and the Shakespeare Theater Company, Perdita in Winter’s Tale, and Banquo in Macbeth. Still, I wondered if she knew what she was getting into when she auditioned for Everybody.

Ayana Workman: I did. I auditioned for the original production and when I first read it I fell in love with it. I thought it was so clever. I thought it was so funny. I thought it was so weird, and I thought it was also really, like, ambitious. I was like, “How the hell are they going to do this? How are the actors—like, are they actually going to memorize the entire play?” Because if anyone knows Branden’s work, he writes a lot. <laughs> He writes so much. Kind of similar to Shakespeare. I’ve been saying this a lot, but he’s—he very much has--

Jo Reed: It’s in my notes too.

Ayana Workman: Yeah. He has such a meticulous way of his language and everything is so intentional but there’re a lot of, for lack of a better phrase, like, ‘stream of consciousness’ aspects of it.

Jo Reed: Yeah.

Ayana Workman: So, I—my immediate thing, was, like, “How is someone going to be able to learn all of this?” But when I saw it I was incredibly moved and had me really thinking deeply about, I mean, <laughs> life and death. It was a very kind of scary, surprising, beautiful idea of this morality play in 2018 when I saw it. It intimidated me but it also really excited me, so when I got the opportunity to audition for it again and I actually was cast in it, it was funny because everyone that I talked to said that I was crazy.

<laughter>

Ayana Workman: They’re like, “What are you do—it’s going to be so hard,” and I was just really excited for the challenge. I had done a lot of classical work in the past and I’ve been really lucky to do a lot of Shakespeare, one of the most challenging writers in all of theater history. So I was like, “You know, let me go to the next thing,” so I was really excited for the challenge, but I don’t think I really knew how hard it really was going to be. I mean, in theory it was like, “Ah, cool,” but in reality, it was very challenging. It pushed all of us, I think I can speak for all of us, to our—past our limits, and it pushed me to discover, like, what I could really do. I mean, I feel like I can do a lot after this.

Jo Reed: I bet.

Ayana Workman: Yeah.

Jo Reed: I have no doubt.

Ayana Workman: <laughs>

Jo Reed: Okay. Because it doesn’t even mean you have to know the lines, and--

Ayana Workman: I mean, yeah.

Jo Reed: --that man writes.

Ayana Workman: He writes.

Jo Reed: But you have to know the blocking. You have to hit the marks.

Ayana Workman: Yeah, mm-hm.

Jo Reed: So that’s also a lot to think about.

Ayana Workman: Mm-hm, and every single character’s marks.

Jo Reed: That’s what I mean.

Ayana Workman: Not even one character.

Jo Reed: Yeah, every--

Ayana Workman: You got to know—and in the same scene. So you have to know, you know, Everybody’s blocking, but also Cousin and Kin’s blocking, so that was definitely a mind puzzle--

Jo Reed: Yeah.

Ayana Workman: <laughs> -- for a minute.

Jo Reed: I really want to know what the rehearsal process was like.

Ayana Workman: <laughs>

Jo Reed: Will Davis is the director.

Ayana Workman: He’s a genius.

Jo Reed: How did he unpack this for you? What was that first day like?

Ayana Workman: Well, he made it seem like it was going to be a very simple process. I mean, his enthusiasm, and his excitement, and his play—I don’t know what it would’ve been like if we didn’t have a person who was so open to play. Will Davis is not only a hilarious person, but he’s so open to everything that an actor is willing to say, or do, or offer. So he was so much like, “Okay. So what we’re going to do is we’re going to approach the rehearsal process like the lottery. So every single day you’re going to pick a character out of a hat and we’re going to start building the scene with the character that you’ve chosen.” So if I chose Everybody, and Kelly, who’s in the cast, chose Friendship, we were going to build it from there, and then we would get however far we got to, and then we would swap. But we discovered quickly that it was very difficult to remember all the things if we kept going, of each character’s, like—of the blocking. So about, like, a week in we decided that we would block a scene with one iteration of the scene, and then we would swap in and we would have another actor come in and play the same characters, and through that, we started to give and take and respectfully steal. <laughs>

Jo Reed: Well, I was going to ask you that. If you’re working with a cast that is not just playing a role that you’re going to be playing--

Ayana Workman: Yeah.

Jo Reed: -- They’re playing a role that you’re going to be playing with them maybe the next day.

Ayana Workman: Yeah.

Jo Reed: So I would imagine--

Ayana Workman: Yeah.

Jo Reed: You know, you’re both inspired by that and you steal.

Ayana Workman: Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, and this idea of—I remember as a kid, I learned imitation is the highest form of flattery. It really is. Like, I get to work with these amazing actors, with these amazing ideas, and we very quickly were like, “Actually, like, this is an amazing idea. Let me take this. Let me take this,” and it created this equality, and it created this trust, and it created this, like, beautiful mechanism of, “We’re all in this together.” You’re just so connected with each other and so trusting of each other and so, like, there’s this equal playing field and playing ground that we created from jump because we had to, because we had to trust each other, that just, like, created this beautiful connection, and we all have each other’s back, for anything, through anything, every single day, you know, because we also all know each other’s lines. So if anyone’s, like, in a rut we can pick up on that, you know what I mean? So it’s all very connected and equal.

Jo Reed: Well, yeah, because I was going to ask you how the cast works together and what’s unique about being in this cast because of the way the five of you are literally switching out on a whim, <laughs> literally, by the roll of the dice.

Ayana Workman: Yeah. Yeah, I think this cast is really special and really unique. Will did a—I don’t know how he did it, but he picked five individually different people. We all come from different backgrounds. We all identify as different things, different races, different pronouns, so we all have a very specific individual interpretation of the characters. So I think Will did a really good job in being able to tell a very specific story, depending on who is playing each character. I think for some of us, for the first time, like, we were able to give really who we are. We’re not fitting into any character, we’re just giving who we are. I get to actually just play myself. I don’t have to fit into a character, and same goes with everyone else. There’s an honesty there.

Jo Reed: Yeah, and also because you’re not playing a character as much as a concept, an idea.

Ayana Workman: As a concept. Yeah, yeah, and it was an interesting process in the beginning, because I think we had a conversation once that I was like, “Okay. So-- <laughs> we called it the accent play for a minute, because <laughs> every single time we would go in with a new character we would have a different accent, because our ideas was like, “Friendship is like this,” and, “Kinship is like this,” and, “Cousin is like this,” and then--

Jo Reed: <deeper voice> And then there’s Stuff.

Ayana Workman: <deeper voice> And then there’s Stuff.

Jo Reed: <laughs>

Ayana Workman: <deeper voice> And Stuff is very, like-- or Stuff is hung over or Stuff is manipulative or <normal voice> it was, and we tried it that way. That’s the cool thing about Will is that, like, no idea was wrong. We tried so many different things. I mean, this play has had so many different iterations. If you came the first day of previews and you came now, you wouldn’t recognize the play. It’s changed so much.

Jo Reed: Yeah. It’s interesting, because theater itself is so ephemeral, no matter what, and it’s what I love about it. No matter what play you see on a Tuesday, the person who sees it on Wednesday is seeing something else because it’s--

Ayana Workman: Definitely.

Jo Reed: -- it’s different. It’s live theater.

Ayana Workman: Yeah, different energy. Different moment in time. Yeah.

Jo Reed: Exactly. Exactly.

Ayana Workman: Yeah.

Jo Reed: But Everybody is that way cubed. <laughs>

Ayana Workman: Yeah, times a bajillion.

Jo Reed: Yeah, times a bajillion.

Ayana Workman: Because you’re literally seeing a different play.

Jo Reed: Exactly.

Ayana Workman: And even if you’re playing the same, like--

Jo Reed: And you’re playing a different play.

Ayana Workman: Exactly. Exactly. You’re playing a different part, and even if I played Everybody twice in a row, the chemistry between each other character is going to be different. The story’s going to be different if I have one actor one night playing Friendship, and I’m still playing Everybody and a different actor’s playing Friendship.

Jo Reed: Exactly.

Ayana Workman: You know what I mean? Like, that, quite that-- so there’s a lot of improv there.

Jo Reed: That’s what I was going to ask you—if there is improv, because it’s not like an understudy, where if an understudy plays Everybody but the rest of the cast is playing who they usually play.

Ayana Workman: Right.

Jo Reed: There’s still something--

Ayana Workman: There’s some, like, anchoring.

Jo Reed: Exactly.

Ayana Workman: <laughs> I was just talking about that.

Jo Reed: Whereas with this--

Ayana Workman: There’s nothing... <laughs>

Jo Reed: There’s none.

Ayana Workman: There’s, like, very little things that you can latch onto.

Jo Reed: Which makes me think, you know, how much improv is involved from performance to performance?

Ayana Workman: Yeah. I mean, we do have some anchoring in there. I don’t want to say that, like, it’s all improv, right?

Jo Reed: No, and that is true. Yes.

Ayana Workman: Like, in the beginning of the show, I don’t want to give too many spoilers. If you are playing Everybody, right, and you haven’t played Everybody for a minute, you have a character at the end who represents love, who has been doing it every single night, who’s watched the show every single night, and the actor is so generous and lovely and beautiful that you can rely on that person if you’re feeling lost. So there are things to hold onto, and then yes, the blocking. The overall blocking is similar, but within it there’s a lot of room to play, which is kind of such a freeing blessing. You know, you don’t always get to do that. You have some plays where, like, you can’t move your pinky—pinky this way. You must not, like, you have—you can’t turn left this time. You have to turn right, you know what I mean, and this is just like a freeing thing of like everything is right. Like, whatever you are, whoever you are in that moment is correct because it’s who you are in that moment, and that’s what we’re following and this is—and that’s what this audience is caring about is what—what is Everybody in this time, in this moment, at that night, you know?

Jo Reed: Okay. So...

Ayana Workman: <laughs>

Jo Reed: What does it feel like to be up on that stage and that little lottery wheel is going around?

Ayana Workman: Oh, my God, Jo. <laughs>

Jo Reed: And you’re about to pick—what does that feel like?

Ayana Workman: <laughs> Scary. <laughs> I mean, it changes every night. There’s some nights where I’m like, “I’m ready for this.” Like, “I’m so ready. I want to play Everybody,” and then there’s some nights that I’m like, “You know what? I would rather not do it tonight,” and that’s the night that you’ll probably get Everybody.

<laughter>

Ayana Workman: That’s what I’ve noticed. Every time that I’m resistant to it for whatever I’m going, like, whatever I’m going through in that moment, personal or not, like, just feeling tired or whatever, that’s the time where for whatever reason, numbers, universe, whatever you believe in, you pick that thing, and you just have to say, “Yes.” Like, no matter what, like, if you want to do it or not, you’re going to do it, right? You don’t have any time. You pick the thing. You open it. You see that you’re playing Everybody. Everyone sees who they’re playing. Everyone leaves you, <snaps> and then it starts. You know, so the only option you have is—it sounds cheesy but, like, it’s just to say “Yes.”

Jo Reed: Well, it’s so much like life. I mean, it really is.

Ayana Workman: It’s so much like life. You don’t know what’s going to happen.

Jo Reed: We make all these plans and then who knows what’s going to happen.

Ayana Workman: Yeah. Exactly. Life always has something in plan for you, in store for you. You never know what’s going to happen next, and that’s, I think, why Branden decided to put this lottery into it. One of the many reasons. Maybe it’s just to torture us.

<laughter>

Ayana Workman: No. But it’s—I think it’s because it’s reflecting the randomness of death. You know, you never know when you’re going to—sometimes you do; lot of times you don’t. So yeah, I think it’s—I think it’s very representing of life and I think a lot of people can relate to it, and it’s been—it’s been very visceral for many people, and I think they’ve been very affected by the lottery aspect, but by also just, like, being offered to Death.

Jo Reed: Is there one character that you really don’t like playing?

Ayana Workman: <laughs> That’s a good question.

Jo Reed: Or, you know, the one who’s sort of at the bottom.

Ayana Workman: I never get that one.

Jo Reed: It’s just like, “Ah. I can do—I can do it. I can do it,” but, “Oooh.”

Ayana Workman: <laughs> Oh, my God. I never get that question.

Jo Reed: Only because I know I would. <laughs>

Ayana Workman: Yeah. Was there one that I was like, “I don’t want to do that”? Okay. So just for, like, logistical reasons, I think it would be Stuff. Now, I will tell you that in rehearsal, when we were doing the lottery, I always drew Stuff. It was my favorite. It was what I auditioned with. It’s like one of the first table reads is what I read with. I loved Stuff.

Jo Reed: <laughs>

Ayana Workman: Constantly got it. It was like the running joke, like, “Ayana was Stuff”. Since we started, I’ve drawn it twice. Only twice. So I think it’s not necessarily my least favorite, because I still, I think it’s one of my favorite scenes. But since I haven’t done it much, it’s kind of nerve-wracking, because I go up there and I’m like, “Oh, when’s the blocking? What am I supposed to be doing?” dada-dada-dah. So in that way, if I had to say my least favorite—but I actually like it, because it’s—it’s fun. Once I’m up there I’m just like, you know, I just let go and say “Yes,” and I played it really recently and it was a really fun time.

Jo Reed: Is there one that gives you a tremendous amount of joy portraying or...?

Ayana Workman: Cousin. Cousin. I’ve played Cousin a lot, but I think Cousin is so funny. <laughs> It’s in the—in the family scene and Cousin’s just, like, throwing out all these, like, existential, like, concepts and ideas and is so oblivious and, like, and is being really genuine, and I think also part of this play, like, all these characters are really genuine, you know. They’re not ill willing. They just don’t want to die today.

Jo Reed: Yeah.

Ayana Workman: You know, like, “I just don’t want to go with you, so love ya, but bye.”

<laughter>

Ayana Workman: And I think there’s, like, a lot of comedy to that. The way Branden writes is really hilarious, and it’s dark comedy. Do you know what I mean? Like, it’s a very sad thing, but Branden kind of swims through it with humor. You know, I read it and I thought it was funny, but it surprised me how funny it actually was, and we laughed a lot in rehearsal.

Jo Reed: Yeah, we laughed a lot in the theater the night I saw it.

Ayana Workman: <laughs> Yeah.

Jo Reed: Speaking of which, I know your parents came Saturday night.

Ayana Workman: They did.

Jo Reed: Did you know they were going to be in the audience, A, and--

Ayana Workman: Yeah.

Jo Reed: --B, was that unnerving for you? <laughs>

Ayana Workman: Oh, God, it’s always unnerving <laughs> when my parents come. My mom and my dad came separately. My dad came opening night, which was really cool. I was really excited that he got to come opening night, and then my mom came this past weekend. She saw it three times in hopes to see me as Everybody, and she saw me as Everybody. She loved it. They both really loved the show. It’s nerve-wracking to have my parents in the audience because both of them are artists and both of them have very, like, specific views on art, very different views on art. They’re <laughs> quite special, I think. But they love me, you know, and they love anything <laughs> that I do. I always joke, like, I could just stand up there and fart and they would be like...

<laughter>

Ayana Workman: <clapping> “Bravo.”

<laughter>

Ayana Workman: You know, they really—they’re really proud of me. I always get a little nervous when my dad is in the audience, because I really, really respect his opinion and I want to know what he thinks at all times, but he—he really enjoyed the show and he had a lot of questions, and my mom’s a dancer, was a dancer, and a choreographer, and my dad’s a musician, they often made pieces together, and a lot of it reminded me, like, through rehearsal. I was like, “Oh, yeah. That’s kind of like the way my parents talk about theater.” So it was cool for me to be able to show them something that I feel like is in line with what they—what they have done or what they love to watch, so that’s cool.

Jo Reed: We should say—and your dad is 2020 Jazz Master, Reggie Workman, the great bassist.

Ayana Workman: Yeah, so proud.

Jo Reed: And what was that like growing up in a household where art was so prevalent with your father and your mother?

Ayana Workman: It was really special. I mean, honestly, it was—it was all I knew. I didn’t know it was anything different until I became a teenager and I saw that not everyone went to, like, see Picasso paintings at two years old and had jazz musicians running around in the house, like, having jam sessions every weekend. I thought it was—I thought it was normal, but looking back at it, it was really special, and if I ever have children I would love to create that kind of environment for them. Everything was offered to me. They are obviously in the arts, and from a very young age, you know, I was offered to play the piano. I was offered to play the violin, the guitar. My mom had her own dance school in New Jersey. She opened up a dance school when I was three years old, so I grew up, like, in a dance studio. I had dance classes, theater classes, music classes every single day. My dad taught there too. They both founded it together. It’s still around. They just celebrated their 20^th anniversary.

Jo Reed: What’s the name of the school?

Ayana Workman: Montclair Academy of Dance and Laboratory of Music. It’s in Montclair, New Jersey. We lived in Montclair until I was 14, so they started it there and then my mom still works there. I had a really cool childhood. It was really special, I—when my mom was working or when she was out of town my dad would bring me to-- <laughs> I have like one memory at the knitting factory. I was a baby. Like, small enough to be wearing footsie pajamas, and I had my footsie pajamas and it was really, really late. It was probably 10 or 11 and my dad was on stage playing and I was really tired, so I, like, set up three chairs and I, like, fell asleep, like, in the middle of the knitting factory, like, on, like--

<laughter>

Ayana Workman: On probably, like, a school night, you know. <laughs> Like, I was—I was exposed to a lot of different people, and at the time I didn’t know, but, like, I met Abbey Lincoln at a very young age and was around her and, my biggest memory is I saw my dad play with Alice before—Alice Coltrane before she passed. Up until then, like, I knew my dad was special and everyone loved him and he had this—I mean, I guess I knew. I mean, I was just a kid, you know. I was just living a, like, a kid life, but I—well, we were in California and he was performing with Robby Coltrane, Alice Coltrane, and I remember seeing something and feeling something like I never had before and I was like, “Oh, like that’s what this all—is all about.” Like, “He is—this is magic.” In that moment I realized how, like special, for lack of a better word, my father is he’s—he channels something else when he plays, you know. So I had moments like that that, and my mom. I mean, my mom too, and both of them had worked together a lot, before I was born and also when I was—I was very little. So I was always around them performing and creating. It was a very creative household. We’re always working.

<laughter>

Ayana Workman: Like, we are always—I mean Workman.

<laughter>

Jo Reed: It’s a good name.

Ayana Workman: It’s in the name, man. Like, we’re always, always working. There’s always something new, to this day.

Jo Reed: And what drew you to acting, Ayana?

Ayana Workman: I knew I wanted to be an actress since I was nine years old. I think I actually played Wendy in “Peter Pan.” <laughs> I was a kid. My mom drove me to, when we still lived in Jersey, she drove me to Strasburg Studios every weekend. So for 10 years I was going to Strasburg for acting, so I always had that option, and I played Wendy in, like, in a scene and I loved it and I felt so free, and at that moment I was like—I looked at my mom and I was like, “I want to be an actress,” and she was like, “Okay.” My parents kind of like gave me a palette. It was just a matter of me choosing, like, what I wanted to do. I loved to dance but I felt more free and more excited. I always loved movies, I always loved plays, and I really wanted to—to be an actor, since, like, since I was a small child, and then I, like, dabbled in other things and then when I—was time to go to college I remember my dad, my dad was like, “If you’re going to do it, do it.” So then I decided to go to conservatory. He was like, “Just go for it, and then, you know, when you graduate you still have your entire life ahead of you. If you want to change it, change it,” but my dad was a huge, huge part of this, and my mom was always there, like, encouraging me too. No matter what I did she would be there for me.

Jo Reed: Do you remember your first professional role? You might not. That’s fine.

Ayana Workman: Well, okay. Technically, it was when I was still in college. It was a show written by my mother called Guernica Continuum, and it was my freshman year of college and it was in Slovenia, where my mother is from. My mother’s Slovenian—go there every year. I speak Slovenian, and she produced a play in Maribor. Maribor is the town that she’s from. We have a home there, so that was, like, the first time that I was professionally, you know, like, I was in a playbill and there was an audience and all that and I got paid. That was the first time, but my first professional role in America was Juliet in Romeo and Juliet at The Public Theater.

Jo Reed: Oh. Not small potatoes at all.

Ayana Workman: <laughs> Yeah.

Jo Reed: What a debut.

Ayana Workman: No big deal.

Jo Reed: Are you serious?

Ayana Workman: I’m serious. It was pretty insane. That was my first—my first professional role.

Jo Reed: Okay. Walk me through that. What was that like?

Ayana Workman: <laughs> Insane, Jo. It was crazy. It’s still—it doesn’t get old. It was the coolest, most special, lucky, most beautiful thing I’ve ever gotten to be a part of. I had graduated college in 2015, and I had been doing, like, local stuff and working with friends and working on, like, a, you know, like unpaid jobs a lot just like trying to get out there, trying to get connections, and I got an audition for Juliet. I didn’t think I had a chance. So I just like went in there full throttle and worked really hard and had a bunch of auditions. Like five, five or six auditions. They kept calling me back, kept calling me back, and then I booked it and it was for the mobile unit, which is a program that The Public has where they take a Shakespeare play and they bring it around New York and all—all of the boroughs, and you go to community centers, you go to art centers, and then you also go to prisons, correctional facilities, and you go to homeless shelters or different—different kinds of community facilities. So that was dope. It was the coolest first job ever. It was the coolest first job ever, because not only was it Juliet. Beyond that, I was able to tell this story to people that really, really, really wanted to hear it and really, really were—were hungry to be brought into a different world for 90 minutes.

Jo Reed: And who don’t often get a chance to go to theater.

Ayana Workman: Yeah. It was so, so special and so uplifting and so encouraging and it—it started my career off in a very interesting way where I kind of understood why I was doing it right away. I was like, “I’m doing it for this reason. I’m doing it to tell stories for—to people who really need them.” And then I came to STC right after that and played Juliet again, and then it all unfolded. <laughs>

Jo Reed: And then it all unfolded and that’s the Shakespeare Theatre Company, where of course--

Ayana Workman: Yeah, Shakespeare Theatre Company, yes. <laughs>

Jo Reed: --you’re now doing Everybody.

Ayana Workman: Yes.

Jo Reed: You—you mentioned you’ve done a lot of classical theater and Shakespeare, and the biggies too.

Ayana Workman: Yeah, I guess I have. <laughs>

Jo Reed: What draws you to Shakespeare?

Ayana Workman: I find it, Shakespeare, to be a template. First of all, so beautiful, right? This language is—is absolutely stunning, but more than that, the stories—I think the reason why we still do it, they’re so relatable and epic and human that they can be molded and changed and shifted to any time period. Any kind of person can be speaking it, any location. So, I felt like I could fit in the world of Shakespeare. I felt like I didn’t have to jam myself to be someone else. I felt like I could, like, me as Ayana, could be Juliet. I felt that the worlds are as open and as inclusive that any kind of actor can be a part of it. So not only can I be in it but anyone can relate to it, and that was a huge experience of me doing Shakespeare, was playing Juliet and being an African-American young girl. I had some experiences of audience members telling me stories and saying, “Thank you for being up there and representing me,” and I’m lucky that I started there, because it—it affirmed why I’m doing it and it’s still why I’m doing it.

Jo Reed: You know, you mentioned auditioning, and I have to—that has to just so suck.

Ayana Workman: <laughs>

Jo Reed: I mean, seriously. That has to be one of the hardest things in the world to do.

Ayana Workman: Yeah. <laughs>

Jo Reed: How do you prepare yourself for it and how do you take care of yourself?

Ayana Workman: Oh, that’s a good question. <laughs> Well, how do I take care of myself? I’m lucky that I’ve gotten a lot of chances to audition, being in the profession for four years now professionally. But, <sighs> you know, you have to just trust in yourself, and I know that that sounds a lot easier said than done, but there’s so much that goes into it that’s beyond your control. All you can do is offer what you have. Do you know what I mean? And—and my version of that is working, working really hard to be able to let it go. So everything that I get, whether it be classical, five different scenes, or whether it be two lines on a TV show that says, “Would you like some more water, sir?” <laughs> Whatever it might be, I prepare as much as I need to for that and I do all of my homework, if I have the time to do it, if I’m lucky enough to have time, and if not, I do it as much as I can, and then I let go and trust that, like, if it’s meant to be it’s meant to be and know that I put my best foot forward. As long as I’m doing as well as I know I can do, that’s all I can do, and I know that the person on the other side sees that and maybe will remember me for another thing if I don’t book that thing. But I’m very at peace with the fact that I don’t have much control, and I think that actually helps me be okay with it and keep going.

Ayana Workman: There’s some things that hurt more-- you know, there’s some things that, you know, you really, really want and you don’t get it, and it’s sad, but I got some advice a little while ago. “You get 24 hours to be sad about it, and then you move on.” Because, you know, the next thing might be right around the corner, and that's the cool thing. It’s like, I know in my career I’ve gotten the coolest opportunities. I’ve gotten a lot of “nos”, but the “yeses” that I’ve gotten have been really important. So I just trust that the right “yes” is down the line at some point.

Jo Reed: And what’s next? Do you know?

Ayana Workman: I do. I do know. It was just announced, so I can say it.

<laughter>

Ayana Workman: So in—this past spring, I did an all-female production of Macbeth, by William Shakespeare. It was through Red Bull Theater Company at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, and we are remounting it through--

Jo Reed: Oh.

Ayana Workman: Yeah. We’re remounting it through Hunter Theater Project, who’s run by Gregory Mosher, and he saw the show and he was like, “I really believe in this show so I want to bring it to my program,” so that’s going to be happening in the beginning of January and running for a month until the beginning of February. So I’m going back to that cast and there’s some of the old cast and there’s some new people coming in and I’m really, really excited about. It was like one of the most fun shows that I’ve done.

Jo Reed: Oh, that’s fabulous.

Ayana Workman: Yeah, yeah.

Jo Reed: That’s fabulous.

Ayana Workman: So I have that coming.

Jo Reed: Who did you play?

Ayana Workman: I played Banquo. Yeah. But the—there’s a twist. So it’s a modern adaptation, so it’s a bunch of schoolgirls. The concept is that we love this play called Macbeth, so every day after school we go into this junkyard, essentially, and, like, put on this play. So I’m playing a schoolgirl playing Banquo, so it--

Jo Reed: Oh, that’s so smart.

Ayana Workman: So it goes in and out of, like, this schoolgirl character and then Banquo and then Banquo as a ghost and we have a really cool twist on that. It’s unlike a lot of other productions.

Jo Reed: Oh, I’m going.

Ayana Workman: Yeah, you should come.

Jo Reed: I’m definitely going.

Ayana Workman: You have to come. It’s really, really fun. And all women, which is so special.

Jo Reed: I’m making notes.

Ayana Workman: It’s a really cool energy that we’ve cultivated, so...

Jo Reed: Ayana, thank you so much. It was a great play.

Ayana Workman: Ah.

Jo Reed: You were wonderful in it.

Ayana Workman: Thank you.

Jo Reed: And thank you for coming in.

Ayana Workman: Thank you for having me.

Jo Reed: Not at all.

Ayana Workman: Thank you.

Jo Reed: Thank you so much!

Ayana Workman: All right. Thanks, Jo.

Jo Reed: Sure.

<Music Up>

Jo Reed: That’s actor Ayana Workman. You can find out more about her and her upcoming performances at Ayana Workman.com and if you want to know about NEA Jazz Masters just go to arts.gov.

You’ve been listening Art Works, produced at the National Endowment for the Arts. You can subscribe to Art Works wherever you get your podcasts, so please do, and leave us a rating on Apple because it helps people to find us. For the National Endowment for the Arts, I’m Josephine Reed. Thanks for listening.

Ayana Workman: It’s a really cool energy that we’ve cultivated, so...

Jo Reed: Ayana, thank you so much. It was a great play.

Ayana Workman: Ah.

Jo Reed: You were wonderful in it.

Ayana Workman: Thank you.

Jo Reed: And thank you for coming in.

Ayana Workman: Thank you for having me.

Jo Reed: Not at all.

Ayana Workman: Thank you.

Jo Reed: Thank you so much!

Ayana Workman: All right. Thanks, Jo.

Jo Reed: Sure.

<Music Up>

Jo Reed: That’s actor Ayana Workman. You can find out more about her and her upcoming performances at Ayana Workman.com and if you want to know about NEA Jazz Masters just go to arts.gov.

You’ve been listening Art Works, produced at the National Endowment for the Arts. You can subscribe to Art Works wherever you get your podcasts, so please do, and leave us a rating on Apple because it helps people to find us. For the National Endowment for the Arts, I’m Josephine Reed. Thanks for listening.