My (not quite) successful pursuit of Robert Deniro | Phoebe Robinson | TEDxBroadway
i'm so happy to be here and talking to you guys about broadway uh before i start i want to just tell you a little bit about myself one thing you need to definitely know about me when i was a teenager my number one goal in life was to move to new york marry robert de niro and win all the oscars that was the plan because i was very obsessed as a teenager with power couples and how did that happen i don't know and i was convinced this plan was fail proof because i knew robert nero was in the black chick so i was like i'm not gonna get rejected let's pack my bags and go uh this is very crazy uh and it's also weird that i knew that because there was no google like i couldn't just type in is robert niron to black chicks i like had to watch entertainment tonight every evening with my mom uh to get that information fun fact if you do that and then also wear overalls long into adulthood and you're not ironic about it you won't lose your virginity until you're 24. um a little sharing now we're friends now right you know that about me this is a safe space okay uh but it's not we're not talking about my virginity today uh unfortunately we could i could uh go on and on about it uh love to talk about it uh but we're here to talk about broadway and even though i'm a stand-up comedian and i'm kind of an outsider i feel like to broadway uh i i feel like i'm kind of in the world a little bit i moved to new york when i was 17 to attend pratt institute i was a writing major and our freshman class went to go see rent which is so exciting it was my first time ever in new york it's my first time seeing broadway play i instantly loved it i was hooked i was like broadway's amazing so then naturally i did stand-up comedy uh so what happens you can't sing and dance and you're acting as kind of like meh we just have tons of opinions about everything you want people to agree with you so you do stand up instead so that was so i i started doing stand-up about seven years ago at caroline's on broadway and you know a few times a week i would trek up here from brooklyn to take my classes at uh 49th where where caroline's is and i would you know always bump past people who were like on their way to broadway shows and like all these fancy things and i felt like oh wow i'm like a part of this environment uh but then you know i would look at the the awnings you know the you know the names of people are like starring the plays and the faces and everything and i didn't see like a lot of women or i wouldn't see you know a lot of people color starring in these plays and it got me thinking you know today's central theme like what's the best that broadway could be and for me i just feel like it could just be better in so many ways if we i know we talk about diversity a lot i get it we're so sick of hearing about diversity i me i'm sick of saying it um but we have to it's 2015 we i want there to be more inclusiveness you know like my friends are always asking me that don't live here they live in ohio or wherever they're like oh how many times do you go to broadway i mean you must go broadway all the time right and i was like oh okay um have you seen my checking account um i'm making black michelle williams money not white with michelle williams money so can't really afford it thank you uh can't afford it uh but i i want that to change you know and i i feel i'm a millennial i think i'm 30 do i still qualify as a millennial i don't know uh thank you thank you my boyfriend's younger than me so he tells me i'm old so i don't know anymore um but yeah i want things to be more affordable like i my favorite thing in the world is being at home watching netflix and watching some movie or tv show and uh believe me i am a stand-up comedian i'm a live performer i get that there's nothing better than being in the room and performing in front of people and feeling that energy back but i think there's a way to make broadway less mysterious if i don't know if we you know offer some streaming service where you could like watch you know i'll join mcdonald's from your living room in ohio as a kid that would have been amazing to me to see like this incredible black woman acting performing i'm in my bedroom and being like oh that is a possibility because i think that is the number one thing that keeps a lot of people like myself away from broadway because if you don't see yourself reflected you don't think it's a possibility and i feel like if we could do things like that where we cast more people of color in in plays or we do you know fresher takes on stories i i mean i love to going to see who's afraid of virginia woolf i thought that was amazing i love going to rent but i think there are other amazing stories out there that haven't been told yet like in the heights was incredible and that's a story that hadn't really been told before and i think it's time that we embrace more of that and you know give more stories like i don't know from my life or from your life you know i don't i mean if you weren't casting something i'm totally down uh but you know i'm in an interracial relationship and we're moving in together and they're all these like weird like little quirks that happen and that could be ripe for a broadway play but we don't see it yet and i think there's an audience for it there are people out there who want to see themselves who want to see their stories reflected and want to see their stories commented on and go oh yeah i do exist in this world yeah my life story is universal instead of us feeling like it is the diversity box i think there's a way for broadway to just kind of embrace diversity embrace women embrace you know everyone transgender people everyone in a more inclusive way and i think that's going to make broadway better you're going to make more money the audiences are going to be happier i'm going to be happier i think we can do it we're all smart we're all brilliant people let's make that happen all right thank you guys