Princeton Summer Theater Presents: "Emergency" by Daniel Beaty

July 30, 2024

By: Zach Lee

Courtesy Director Layla J. Williams | Pictured: Destine Harrison-Williams in Emergency

Every summer, Princeton Summer Theater presents a season of pre-professional theatrical productions, bringing together young actors, directors, designers, and theater administrators to "become part of a unique artistic community". Last weekend, I had the pleasure of seeing the one-man show, Emergency, not once, but twice. Following the performances, I was able to sit down with my good friend and the lead actor of Emergency, Destine Harrison-Williams, for an insightful interview.

Destine is going into his third year at Princeton University, where he is pursuing a major in English and minors in Theater Playwriting and Creative Writing Screenwriting. He is a prominent member of many groups on campus, including the Princeton Triangle Club, Princeton Transfer Association, Princeton Black Student Union, and Princeton Black Theater Collective. Emergency was the perfect show for an individual like Destine. Because of his diverse background, Destine was able to bring life to each character in a special way - Emergency being a one-man show put Destine's acting range and immense talent on display. A performance filled with accents, singing, characters of all genders, and characters of all ages, Emergency was an incredible experience - an experience and world created by one man, Destine Harrison-Williams.

Emergency is a show by award-winning American actor, composer, singer, and poet Daniel Beaty. It describes the modern-day Black experience in New York City.

We began our conversation with a standout character, James the Beggar:

ZL: I really liked [James/The Beggar] because I feel like as somebody who goes to New York, you have these experiences, and it's nice to see the inner workings of the character; you give him humanity.

DHW: Yeah, I think some people don't like him, because he's a little raunchy. He's very much like, "Oh, damn, I'd drink a tub of your dirty bathwater; I'm not leaving this spot they give the Statue of Liberty a flat nose and a fat ass." But for me, I grew up in Miami, born and raised in Alabama. And James is the drunk uncle, and in larger cities and metropolitan areas, when we find a homeless person, you get to know them, like, you know them. So like when they come up and ask for change, it's like "Ay, Steve, leave me alone." Like you know them personally. And they know you, right? And that's what James feels like. And he is Southern! That's another thing about him. So it 's not that hard to jump into his character because he's very muchso someone I know. Like, I know James's in my life.

ZL: How would you say your personal lived experience informed the way that you went about creating each of these characters and voicing them and embodying them?

Courtesy Director Layla J. Williams | Pictured: Destine Harrison-Williams in Emergency

DHW: I had personal conflict with how I went about doing a lot of it. First and foremost, this play is very, very, very, very close. I know that most black literature will be close to home for me because of how centric my blackness is in my purview of life. But this had each character overlap in some capacity of my life. Like, I know someone living with AIDS. I am gay. I have a grandmother who had dementia. Every single thing going on overlaps with my life, which was such a weird experience. So it wasn't hard to have things to pull from. But what was hard was when I first got the text, I was very, very worried about it being a caricature of black experience. I hadn't read the whole play on the read the first page and I was not liking it. I was like, this feels very shucking and jiving, which is not cute. So when I got to Clarissa, I was worried about her character, because she's a hot Cheetos girl, as we referred to in high school. And I was like, I don't know how I feel about performing this little black girl as a hot Cheetos girl. But Daniel Beaty does a good job of providing context for how someone could come out like that. And that's what made me feel comfortable. But you know, it was really hard because I'm making jokes, and people are laughing, but they don't know what it's like to be raised in that way. So it's always nice to see like, Clarissa's character specifically is one where I've seen people cry to.

ZL: Yeah, that's amazing. And I think not only is the show a big, theatrical exercise in terms of understanding your character and embodying them, but because it's a one man show, you're flipping through each of these characters individually. What are some of the ways that helped you rehearse that on your own and on stage too? Because it's really difficult to get in and out of each of the mindsets.

DHW: So I've never done one man before. You don't realize how important cues are for you. But they're so important. Like, you'll be like, "Oh, I have it memorized." But when you're doing the whole show, without any assistance, you don't get any cues. And then you also don't get a lot of emotional runway. And I have to deliver that. And I think because I grew up like that, it wasn't too hard to jump in. But making it fluid was difficult - having to sit there sometimes in rehearsals, and have essentially two scenes locked together my memory. What's an example - where Reginald is looking out [of the door]. And he's really in shock because they're telling him his wife died. I have it locked into my body that I will not stay sad long. But I'm immediately going to go to the son, Freddie.

Courtesy Director Layla J. Williams | Pictured: Destine Harrison-Williams in Emergency

ZL: As an English major, you're very into literature, and half of the show takes place in a poetry competition. I'm curious to know how your experience in slam poetry and poetry that talks a lot about the black experience in America in New York is reflected in your process of these characters? So what was that like for you?

DHW: I think the poetry was much harder to learn than the monologues. Because poetry doesn't flow the same way monologues that monologues do. Maybe this is a little critique towards Daniel Beaty. But I think he could have formatted the poems better in the book. That would have made it easier for me to digest as literature. And I think that's the English major in me because I'm looking at them and I'm like, this line does not flow this way and actually breaks here. Sometimes it's written in prose. And sometimes it's not. Now into performing it, I did competitive poetry growing up. And I had met many of these type of people. And Joaquin is harder for me to play, because by the time I get to the point in the story, my voice is tired. I'm speaking for like an hour and 15 minutes. I probably would characterize him differently if he was earlier in the play, because I feel like he would be much older and he would talk with a heavier voice. But I don't want to do that because I'm out of voice. And I think for Eric, his story is my story. He's talking about going to an Ivy League and managing his emotions in "Duality Duel". He was one of the poems I worked on the least. I think it just came a little bit easier. One of the harder poems was Ray Ray Christopher, who does a "Knock Knock". And I think it was harder one because it's a more, the most, important than all of the other ones. If you ask me, it's the only one with a real story going on in the poem. And also, I had to play with the words until I understood the rhythm. He also does this thing in that damn poem - he swaps between "Father" and "Papa" so much. And I'm referencing the same person - mind you I have a lot of text to memorize - so in my head, I'm like, I don't want to reference one person with two different names. And it's throwing me and I'll say "Papa" or I'll say "Father" when I need to say the other, but then I'll throw off the rhythm of that line.

ZL: Why do you think he wrote it like that?

DHW: I think when he's saying "Father", he's trying to be mature. He's trying to be detached; he's trying to be removed. When he says "Papa", he's allowing himself to feel emotions.

ZL:

Do you think that Daniel writing the poem with both the words "Father" and "Papa" is a reflection of the character originally writing it that way or the character messing it up in performance?

DHW:

That's interesting. I knew a little bit about Daniel before I did this play. I didn't know he was a playwright. I knew him as a poet. And these are my hunches. I feel as though "Duality Duel" and "Knock Knock" were two poems he had written separate from this experience. And he realized that he could tell a bigger story by adding these into a poetry competition. As a poet, he had tons of poetry to pull from. So I think he wrote this separate from this world, and then put them into this world. And so it's a possibility that Ray Ray Christopher bounces between the two. You also have to think about it this way. These are nationally competitive poets. Ray Ray Christopher is 18. And he's competing with Rodney, who has a freakin' degree and makes so much money and has time to pour into this. Rodney's dad was a Shakespearean scholar who studied poetry. So Ray Ray Christopher is a young boy. It's sort of a slip up, but it's a slip up that works in his effort. He's more evocative in his poetry than the others are, in my opinion.

Courtesy Director Layla J. Williams | Pictured: Destine Harrison-Williams in Emergency

ZL:

I also wanted to talk about the singing because you have a wonderful voice.

DHW: Let's talk a jam about Daniel Beaty. He put no music in the book, and so there were times where I was like, "What the fuck", like I made up melodies for sure. And then other times, "Calling all poets", I did not make up because I found a clip of him doing this play. It's not the whole show. It's literally just the beginning. But I got to see him sing, "Calling all poets; calling all poets", and because I saw that I was like, "Okay, that's how it sounds". But like, all of "Ashes", I made that up. Maybe that's how it goes. Yeah, but I have no idea. And you can't tell just by seeing words on the paper.

ZL: You just finished opening weekend. And how are you feeling going into second weekend / closing weekend?

DHW: As you know, certain things get lost once the show starts and you're running it. There are things that need to be clarified; I need to go back over lines that I've now modified that aren't exactly said that way. And trying to think about my own timing of movement. But the thing is professionally, you usually get a month of rehearsal. I got a week.

ZL: Final question, who was your favorite character to portray? And why? And is there anything else you'd like to add?

DHW: That's so hard. I got love for Bessie, who is the grandma. I got love for Freddie. Freddie feels like home; he's the easiest character for me to portray. I got love for James. I hate the reporter. I got love for Clarissa. I want to say out of all of them, it's between James and Freddie. As for Freddie, I feel like he is the closest character to me. He's a tease more feminine than I am. But a lot of his feelings, I directly relate to and understand. And I feel like most of the characters don't understand him. And he's emotional. I feel like Freddie is me if I didn't grow up in the way that I did, feeling that I had to be overly masculine and mask my emotions. I probably would be like Freddie. I remember I performed James's monologue for my mom. And she loved it. Specifically, though, we talked about the fact that he thinks the Statue of Liberty is supposed to be black. And he said so because he saw a painting in the museum in Paris. And I was like, I feel like he's just talking on it. That's because that's what James does. My mom's like, No, she doesn't feel that way. She feels like a lot of people like James, a lot of people who deal with homelessness and abandonment, they have these crazy stories that you do not know. And they probably have experienced these wild things that you will never be able to guess. So I think James is really complex and deep, while also looking very simple. I've shared with you like various issues I've had from attending Princeton, surrounding specifically my blackness. And we've seen how my blackness plays a part in clubs, and there's half of me that has to smile at all times. Smile and laugh, because it's way too easy for me to be perceived as aggressive. And then there's another half of me that's like, "Yo, fuck that, like, you don't even know it. And I know you didn't mean to, but you just did some racist shit". I think someone else who's a really, really integral character to this is Ronald. Ronald, grew up in Corporate America. And I think "Duality Duel" is a message to Ronald. But I also think Ronald has a message to the audience. Because yeah, you pretty much have to deal with a lot of bullshit. And your blackness is almost always at conflict with the system that's going on. And your options are to quell your blackness or be upset. And it's not fun to be upset all the time. So, Ronald's overcompensating - he knows his blackness has an effect.

ZL: Thank you for all the insight. There's so much to talk about the show. There's so many angles, so many characters, so I really appreciate you taking the time to speak with me today. Thank you, man.

Courtesy Director Layla J. Williams | Pictured: Destine Harrison-Williams in Emergency

You can learn more about Princeton Summer Theater on their website. Emergency plays at the Hamilton-Murray Theater and closes this weekend. Be sure to check it out!