“Art is just a great mirror of life”
- Dale Ricardo Shields
An interview with Tomaca Govan
Black Theatre,African American Voices
The vision of Dale Ricardo Shields is to preserve history about African American and Black actors and artists on the Facebook website Black Theatre / African American Voices on the Internet for everyone to learn from and enjoy. Who better for this mission than a man who has decades of experience in all aspects of theatre,movies and production? Here is a transcription of a candid conversation he afforded us:
Hi Dale. So you are an actor,playwright,and producer —did I miss any titles?
Well,maybe a few.
Would you run through them for us because I know there are many!
Professionally,I have been an actor,director,stage manager and educator. I’ve taught on the university level as well as public and private schools and for non-profit leadership institutions. I have also explored other vocations that helped pay the rent! (laughs)
And with this opportunity to speak with you about Black Theatre / African American Voices perhaps I will add theatre historian in the future! Thank you!
How did you get started with acting?
John F. Kennedy High School in Cleveland,Ohio… just a simple announcement over the P A system caught my attention. They were asking for people to join the drama club. I decided to see what the club was about. I became interested in lighting design initially. With that interest in lighting design,I started to act,which led to a love of the total art of the theatre.
My high school theatre was blessed with advanced technology equipment and a brand new stage. I also had two drama teachers that had solid foundations in theatre. From learning the lighting board and basic design,I started getting little jobs as a teenager working lighting and tech for rental events at my high school. There I found an interest in stage management. I was advised to continue my education in this field;I went to Ohio University (my drama teacher’s alma mater) and studied theatre. Thankfully,I received a well-rounded education in all facets of theatre at Ohio University.
Is acting the main thing that you do?
Well… I would say directing. I love directing a production. I love putting pieces together,watching the pieces fall into place. I enjoy the collaboration of ideas that it takes to produce a production. I lectured to college students about the advantage of working as a unit. We spoke about the idea of a machine in regards to the theatrical process,artistically,where even the smallest screw or switch has a purpose. That is what I find great about theatre… no matter how big or small your part is,you’re needed as a part of the whole to make the machine operate. I love that idea –that everybody plays a part,that everybody is important,that everybody has something to add and to do.
I inadvertently created some great life lessons for myself,spiritually,with that concept in mind… that everybody is part of a core,that everybody has their purpose. Learning and respecting that truth makes my whole world productive.
What a perspective. Teamwork,everybody has a place,everything works as one,and everything pulls together. I thought I was going to talk to you about just acting and here you are giving us a whole different dimension of yourself and theatre.
Thank you! Yes,isn’t it that the whole idea that art is just a great mirror of life? I think when you really connect to the art of it all,the base of any art form… it just brings life into a motivating selfless prospective. What’s happening in our lives and how I approach my art,people and life issues,deal with foreign art forms or thought,it’s collaboration between minds,those who are putting on the production,even the audience! I have sometimes questioned myself,why I would want to act in or direct certain theatre pieces and not others? What might that tell me about myself?
What makes us cry? What makes you laugh? What is my point for doing this? Do I have an agenda? Is this covering up a hole in my life or digging one up? I began,organically,to realize,that there are choices in art just like there are choices in life. I was developing energy to recognize that I am responsible for what I was presenting and saying as an artist by the work. “Your art speaks for itself.”
What kind of pieces do you like to direct?
Dr. Woodie King Jr,a highly respected Black theatre elder and producers (New Federal Theatre –NYC),spoke to a group of my students at a college in Ohio,about the choice of plays he has produced. He suggested that he produced shows that he could see reflections of himself in. I liked that statement! I also choose to direct shows that I can see a mirror of myself in the characters and experience represented by the plot of the script. I dramatically hold a mirror up to the audience and ask,“What do you see?” That has really helped me teach theatre students. I asked that they do not put the foundation and responsibility of their artistic education on me. “No,this is about you.” “I can guide you through this process,but you have so many different choices to make. Please,start to make some of them,now!” Please,“Make it happen” for you!
No one can a play the same role or direct a production in the exact same way,not with the same pauses,speed or tone of delivery or vision. That is what makes being an artist so fascinating. A solid reason we do what we do,with so much passion! There’s just so much information to arrange before us. It’s a buffet of ideas,tones,colors and emotions. “You were born an original,why die a copy!” So,what could be better than having a job that I am happy to perform? I’m excited to be there and work with other people who are committed and talented. My whole theatre world combines my world ingredients… seasonings of a spiritually progressive life. We deal with history. You work with writers,technicians,scientists,electricians,carpenters,and advertisers… with businessmen and women… regular people. It’s the only place that I know of where this mix of intellectual and occupational expertise are working together going towards the universal objective of making this one production work.
I think that most people on the outside of that world,the people watching only think about one aspect and that is the actors and the actresses. So much media goes into portraying and glamorizing those images. I appreciate the way you are giving us a broader view of what’s required and what takes place.
Thanks. I would imagine there are some people who choose to see a limited aspect of the arts. Some people do come to the theatre arts to escape… not figure how something was created!
I love talking to teenagers about the vast number of career possibilities in the theatrical sphere. I respect the fact that many of my college and high school students have no interest in becoming an actor at all. Maybe they enrolled in the class because they needed an arts credit or it fit their schedule! Some students would begin classes with these tiny little voices and shy presentations of themselves. By the time they would complete the class,they would be standing before us,bursting their name out loud! As a class we rehearsed job interviews and discussed the many occupations that require public speaking. I had my directing students design sets and costumes for their final Chekhov scenes. Hopefully,they will understand how to talk to designers when that first directorial gig comes along!
I have used theatre techniques in leadership camps. I taught for a great program in East Cleveland for the Center for Families and Children’s Rap/Art program for teenage students. They mixed the arts and leadership techniques together in a combination of sessions. I used improvisational theatre games to motivate the students writing assignments. There are great techniques built around the positive growth and support of group dynamics in a class of students from different racial and religious backgrounds. It’s wonderful to have young actors deal with catharsis – getting whatever’s inside of them off their chest and on the floor before them and others to ponder. They became a trust circle that only worked if we all felt trust,in that moment,for everyone else in the circle. I learned these methods while working at the Public Theatre (NYSF) in New York City for six years as a teacher and workshop leader.
Over the years our students produced a volcano of writing on a single subject or theme. These kinds of programs are quickly disappearing from the inner cities across the country.
What do you like to do more – theatre or television? Do you have a preference?
I like to work… in theatrical form,television,or film,so be it. I think that theatre is the greatest foundation for acting and directing. Therefore,I love theatre first and foremost. But,any chance to get to work is not only a blessing,but also a challenge… there is an education in all things. No,I don’t have any type of ranking,I love the work! I love thought provoking writing. Chekhov,Williams,Baraka,Hansberry,Miller and Wilson. Bring it on. Please in this economy!
Have you worked on pieces that you just didn’t like?
Sure.
So what happens with that? Do you just get into the character or the theme and does the feeling about it change? How do you do it?
You mean as an actor?
As an actor or director.
You do not always get a chance to do those wonderful plays and roles that you love,all the time. As artists,our task is to take whatever character or play we are presented,get underneath that character,the playwright’s original intent or objective and just play them out to our own understanding. It’s not my job to like the role or person portrayed,or decide if the role is big enough for my ego or not. I just have to get under that character’s skin enough to find out what makes the character respond and think. The power of research and facts humbles me! You have to dig history! When and why did he say that or write that? Why is she responding like that? What’s his subtext –which is what the character is thinking? What is the character’s background and what is the time and place of the action of the script. What was taking place historically,when this play was written? What do I have in common with this character or play from my own life experience? Artists are such quiet intellectuals!
Even while you and I are talking our brain is having its own conversation. We call it “subtext.” So,when you’re dealing with a character,you’re putting all of that together. Like an intellectual gumbo of “what if’s.” I think that if you are talented,that is happening within you,naturally and organically.
I know that you do a lot of work on the side to bring attention to African American actors past and present who have not had a lot of media attention and therefore are not well known. What motivated you to do the research and would you tell us about your work with that?
Number one,I moved back to Ohio to take care of my elderly parents,which put me into the situation of watching and not doing theatre on the high level I experienced in New York City. I would see so many friends of mine from LA and New York on the screen. “Hey –there’s so and so!” I would end up talking to my parents about that or talking to friends who are not in show business. They would ask me “do you really know that person on television?” I would say,“yeah,I know that person really well” and I am proud to see them up there! These people have studied and worked in the business for years. They are my legends!
I thought,now here’s someone that I know really well and I know that this person has worked constantly in New York and LA – been all over the country…some of them all over the world,but nobody knows their names. And they’re brilliant people,I’m talking about the high end – high-level Broadway and LA artists that I did the website for. There are so many people who still don’t know who they are,actually! There are not that many people who would know who Mary Alice or Gloria Foster are and those are two of the most brilliant actresses that I’ve ever seen on stage and film in my life,Black or White. They take my breath away. They are excellent! They have both been on television and in the movies,but I know that the average person would not know them. That clicked in my head and proposed the question,why?
I started to collect biographies,information and photos and put them on the side. I thought… okay,when I have another opportunity to teach Black Theatre History,I’ll use this information to educate. So,I started collecting hundreds of thoughts and notes… and something happened to me. That whole six degrees of separation started to amaze me with how lines were being drawn,circles formed and everything was pointing to this group,or pointing to this person,you could link them up together,that person worked with this person or that person,that person did not even come from this part of the country,this person wasn’t born in the United States at all and I found this fascinating and interesting academically and socially.
Then I started talking to my peers in New York and they started throwing in information that they knew. Did you know this;did you know that? Did you know that this person did this first? Then they started going out of the African American theatre and I started hearing things about Caucasian and foreign actors and producers – “ Dale,you know,this person was really,really supportive in the civil rights movement or did you know this person fought for this play to be done or did this movie – the studio didn’t want to do it or it was hard to find a backer for the show and this person stepped in and saved the production. I found this just amazing!
I started putting it out there bit-by-bit. I set up a little webpage on Face book. My friends from New York and LA were writing me back and we’d laugh and talk about us.
I felt at home again and with family. Now we’ve got about 700 members on the website,1,900 pictures,and over 200 video links. I found a subject that I love… that I want to share and I am educating myself. I hope people who have a need for this knowledge will find the information inspiring and useful. It’s all in one place. Now,my many talented puzzle pieces have become a large mosaic of theatrical respect and royalty that is still growing in size and importance.
What is next?
Find a new home for the site! I’ve got this perfect vision of how I want it to have links to as many different artistic highways as possible. I am hoping,looking and seeking information about funding and grants so we can bring this page to a very high,professional level. We’ll serve the public in having this resource of history at our fingertips for generations to come. I have asked two former students to join me and keep the site going for years to come. They have agreed and we are looking forward to making this machine,work. This is a thank you… an acknowledgement of the experience and talent these artists have given us. I am in gratitude to have been a witness of your gifts!
Hopefully,we offer a tip or two for young African American artists in training to artistically rise in the future to (borrowing a quote from Poet Laureate Gwendolyn Brooks -Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress 1985) “Find your own voice.” Certainly,the people on this web site did that and much more!
I am very interested in information about funding sources or grants interested in promoting this arm of American history. I need help in finding these contacts. I know somewhere out there,there’s somebody who would like to support this theatre history project. I am digging my history! You dig?
Yes,there’s got to be some interest out there! Thank you so very much for all of this information and for speaking with us.
My pleasure. Thank you.
Dale R. Shields
Contact Dale: ricardo2541@msn.com
Click the link to check out BLACK THEATRE –AFRICAN AMERICAN THEATRE VOICES page on facebook.
Click the image below to view the Black Theatre Slide Show compiled by Dale R. Shields.
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