Episode 20: Acting and Identity

Intro (1 min) Lebert & Paul: Happy Sunday everybody! You are currently tuned into another episode of Thoughts From A Counselor. We are your hosts Lebert Lester III and Paul Singleton II. As is usual for this show, we have invited some amazing guests to help us have a great conversation. Now, we’ll let them introduce themselves to you. Paul: Who are we? (2 min) Two Black counselors in training who are bridging the gap between what they were taught, what they know, and what they think they know. All through understanding the world by recognizing the world is still being formed. Paul pass to Lebert to introduce the topic Episode Topic: Acting and Identity Segment 1: Performances that Touched Us (Lebert) Intro: On August 28th of 2020, the news was broken to the world that Chadwick Boseman passed away from colon cancer. This inspired a variety of feelings in people, and especially in the Black community who often mourns as a unit when such an event reaches us (Paul) Question 1: Acting clearly has a major effect on us, and the rate at which many of us go to or bootleg movies clearly shows that. Today, I want to ask who the first actor was that made you really feel a movie? (Lebert) Question 2: When you discuss acting, we have to remember that these are people playing a role. Still, in a way we are all “actors” based on what each environment requires from us. In what ways have you found yourself having to “fit the role” of what is needed from you in your daily life? Segment 2: Acting As A Profession (Paul) Question 1: As our guests indicated, we have some actual actors present in the room who have experience with the field we are discussing. When you are looking for roles, what are you looking for? Actually, what are some ways you go about finding roles to even gauge? (Lebert) Question 2: What are ways in which you think your identity has influenced your experience navigating your career? (Paul) Transition: Now, before we go into our next segment, we’re gonna play a short but important clip for you all to digest. Record this Chadwick Boseman clip from 2:11 - 4:10 pls https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgASaCn8XXs Segment 3: How Actors and Actresses Influence Us (Paul) Question 1: To pivot back to Chadwick Boseman and the often wonderful casts he worked with, performances often assist us in imagining ourselves in ways that perhaps we could not have before. What is one movie in particular that gave that feeling to you? Time-45:25 (Lebert) Question 2: What is one vision that you have for a movie and of course the actors/actresses that you would like to see realized? (Paul) Lead by Example: Where we highlight those doing good work, or who did good work (Lebert) Listener question of the day idea: Do you consume art, or do you merely view it? Next time on Thoughts From A Counselor: Close/outro