Troy Burton: From Stage to Soulful Productions

Rob Lee: Welcome to the truth in this art. I am your host, Rob Lee. And today I am excited to welcome my next guest, an accomplished stage director, producer, playwright, road manager, just a jack of all trades. He has left an indelible mark on the world of theater. Please welcome the great Troy Burton. Welcome to the podcast.
Troy Burton: Wow, thank you. The great. OK, I'll take that. I receive it.

Rob Lee: You know, it's like if anything that comes out of this podcast, we like to give people, you know, their flowers, like, you know, while they're around and when they're doing things. And, you know, when you see, you know, a couple of decades as far as background of doing the great stuff that you've been doing, you got to throw them out there. You got to put them out there. So, you know, shout out to you, fellow alum as well. You know, fellow Morgan alum. Yes.

Troy Burton: Well, thank you for having me. I really appreciate this. Like you said, I've been around for a minute, and it's great to be able to tell your story the way you did things. So that's a wonderful thing to be here to do that.

Rob Lee: Yeah, thank you. And we're definitely going to go deeper into the journey and gets into the the crooks and crevices and all of that good stuff. But I, you know, as is tradition on this podcast, I like to give folks that opportunity in that vein of being able to share their story. But I think the story starts off with, you know, some of the beginnings, how you introduce yourself. I think there's a lot of power in that, like, I've joked about it before. I'll do a podcast, someone will introduce me and they'll say podcaster or the I word that I don't like, influencer. I don't like that word. And I'm like, I refer to myself as this, and making sure people get it. I think there's power in that. So how do you introduce yourself? Introduce yourself to the audience here. And I got a sub-question there, but I want to start there.

Troy Burton: Well, I'm Troy Burton. Baltimore, you know, everything Baltimore. I like to say I'm a living example of the good in being a Baltimore artist. I consider myself a Renaissance man, blessed to be able to do what I do for over 30 years. I'm a person who creates live performances, provide resources, mentorship, exist others with their creativity. I built a career off of that. of just being there, being that artist in the community that is a resource for others. I'm an actor. I've done some acting, director, playwright, producer. I would say all things theater. I'm also the road manager for recording artist Mesa, who's for many years sang lead for the British group Incognito. I'm a long-time member of the Arena Players. Arena Players is the oldest and continuously operating African-American community theater in the United States, right here in Baltimore. They're actually in season 70. I am the former executive director of the UB Blake National Jazz Institute and Cultural Center. I am a former Baltimore City public school teacher. And I've added those positions of former just to kind of let you know kind of where I came from and where I am now.

Rob Lee: Thank you. It's it's great to get those perspectives. And, you know, I think all of them, I would imagine all of them and I know we're going to go deeper into it, play a role in how you go about like sort of the primary and the primary practice. Like, you know, I have been, you know, a podcaster for about 15 years. But in these conversations and, you know, having conversations with folks and kind of that exchange, the back and forth, you end up learning like, oh, I had this experience that absolutely connects in what I'm doing today, but not really seeing it as clear, it crystallizes it, sometimes just through the process of conversation. So, you know, in stepping back and I had to touch their minds a little bit, like, you know, I was an emcee super, super early at, what is it, Furman L. Templeton back in the day, back in the day. Yeah. You know, for like elementary school or something. What was that early creative experience that either sparked your passion for creative pursuits, theater? What was something like early on in your childhood or your journey that you're like, oh, that's the beginning. That's the beginning. That's one of those early touch points.

Troy Burton: I can tell you exactly how it happened. First and foremost, family. My grandmother, my grandmother, the late Inez Pogue, she took me to the theater, to the Mechanic Theater, to see the show Timbuktu starring Ertha Kitt. That was 1979. And the amazing thing was, my grandmother, that was the only time she took me to the theater. because she knew there was something different about me, and she knew exactly what I needed. So she took me to the theater, and it blew my mind just seeing in that theater, lights go down, curtain goes up, stage lights come on, sets, orchestra in the pit, but it was all based off of Africa. Timbuktu, we talking about drums and the scenery going everywhere. I remember actually crawling in the aisle because we had aisle seats. And I crawled in the aisle trying to look up in the ceiling to see where things were flying. And so all of that, it just amazed me. And something clicked. I mean, it was a spiritual thing. Something clicked in me and I knew what I wanted to do the rest of my life. And my grandmother never took me to another play again. The next time we saw each other, I mean, not next time we saw each other, but the next time we were in a theater together was my senior recital at Morgan State University. So she knew she had some way she had to put me on the right path. And she did. So that that was, I think, the most That was something very influential in my life. It really just lit that fire. And because that fire was lit by someone that I was close to, I knew that was something that I wanted to do for others in my career. I discovered that later. But having my grandmother do that when the lights went up, something clicked in me and I knew that this is it.

Rob Lee: Yeah. Yeah. Wow. It's great. It's wonderful. Thank you for sharing that. It's important, I think. You were describing sort of that experience. It made me think of, at one point, I wanted to be an illustrator, right? And I remember my grandmother used to have this wall. You know how people have the refrigerator and you put the drawing on there with the magnet? She would have this wall of sketches that I did as a kid. And it would be right there. It's a wall where she would nap at. She had a little cot and all of that stuff there, hanging out. And I remember I was, oh, go there. And I'm like, oh, I don't remember what happened with that drawing. And it's like, oh, it's over there in that creative corner that my grandmother had. And ultimately, I didn't stick with drawing long term and illustration long term. I was able to revisit it through doing this podcast in a different way. But I guess what I'm getting at is having those people who are close to you just kind of give you some of the small tools, whether it be, you know, for for every Christmas, right, I would get color pencils and like illustration books and just people in my family close to me trying to foster that creative talent, not always getting it per se, but trying to foster it because, hey, you're supposed to help, you know, this thing build out and. And as I was touching on a little bit with you before I got started, I found very similar. I'm finding trying to, you know, support folks as as a podcaster in their podcasting journey or sharing their story creatively through this podcast. It's important to help those stories get out there in a real way.

Troy Burton: Wow. It goes back to family. And that's why I always tell people whenever I direct a play or produce a play or anything else I work with, to me, family is important, to get to know your artists that you're working with. And they become a part of my family, even though this is business and we're working together. For this time that we're working together, we have to be like a family. So that's extremely important. And my grandmother, she did it for me. I mean, just it was amazing. She knew exactly what to do.

Rob Lee: That's great. So in looking at, you know, if folks ask me this and doing this, as I share with you, like, you know, over 700 podcasts at this point, interviews, what have you. And obviously, there are going to be some that stick out for whatever reason, like it may be, hey, I was super nervous, and we got it. Or man, I crushed it. And I had no, no issues or what have you. So thinking back through projects that you've worked on in the various ways that you've worked on and contributed to them, like, The laundry list, the renaissance, you know, the laundry list of projects and things that you've done within the projects and your roles. What are some of the projects, some of the productions that that stick out, that are meaningful to you as as a person, as a creator or transformative for you? And what made them stand out?

Troy Burton: Well, I got an interesting list of things, and they mean different periods of my life. One of the most dear experiences that I've had was to actually teach and direct for the Arena Players Youth Theater. I taught there from 1993 to 2007. And the great thing about that was knowing that I was working with young people. And what I spoke about earlier, that fire that my grandmother lit me, I knew giving back and being that person to pour into someone else. So, I mean, that was something amazing. And I got it. I arrived at Arena Players. It was a place of freedom, creative freedom, where Mrs. Orange, who hired me, and she actually hired me off the spot, Catherine Orange, I've never directed a play before, but she saw I was an actor at that time, on the stage, doing my thing. And she saw something in me, and she said, you know, Troy, I want you to come in and work with the kids. And I thought I was just going to assist the teacher, you know. But she gave me a script and said, go in there and make this happen. And I was like, wow, and never directed a play. But I had a big mouth, you know, when it came to as an actor. So I always made suggestions to directors and they would say to me, you know, hey, Troy, you need to direct one day. And they kept saying that because I always made suggestions respectfully, you know, when we were doing productions. I even had a director tell me one time, you know what? You have great ideas. And guess what? I'm going to get all the credit for it. So yeah, I said, OK, I'll go in there and I'll do that. So Arena Players Youth Theater is extremely important to me, because that's the gift that keeps on giving, even to this same day. But even going back before then, I had the pleasure of working with Robert Chu, who played Prop Joe on The Wire. We were the best of friends. And we wrote and produced a play once. And that was my first adventure in producing. I put my own money up. And young guy, I was like 20. I was before 25. And so that was a big thing to actually take on the responsibility of producing my own play and making sure everything is done. So I think about that. That was something that was very significant in my career. I've had opportunities where the blessings have come just like in my opinion, out of the sky, but I didn't realize I was actually building a foundation and building on top of it and not realizing it. And as I was moving along, people were watching because, you know, from doing those few productions in those early years, next thing you know, I was invited to direct for television. And I'm thinking, wow, I don't have, you know, a lot of work in theater. I don't have a lot of credits on my resume. But here I am. I was pulled into a project, a special project called Without a Doubt. Every February, WMAR-TV and the Arena Players had a playwright competition. And they would pick a winning script. They would have local playwrights from the area and in the DMV submit scripts. And the winning play would be produced for television. And so I was invited to direct one. Actually, I assisted with one in 1995. And by assisting, that's when I was given my own. And that was amazing to say, OK, wait a minute, I directed my first play in 1993. And here it is, 1996. And I'm directing a piece for television. And I came with big vision because they were teleplays. And the teleplays, they usually had one set, maybe two, and maybe four actors in the piece. And I came in with this murder mystery. and said, oh, the first scene, we got to expand it. We got to do something in the hospital. I need at least 25 extras to create this hospital scene. And, you know, and just to be able to just have people look at me and say, OK, this guy has vision. Yeah. Let's go with him. You know, without them, anybody pulling the strings, telling me what to do. I was I was given that space. So that was another one. I mean, there are many pieces in my life, like I had an opportunity to take the arena players, first time in their history, first time taking the group to Europe to direct a piece. And it was an original piece that I put together. It was called The Face of Reality. We were scheduled to leave on September 11th. And I will never forget getting a phone call from one of the actors saying, Burton, we're not going anywhere. I said, no, we're not. No, I don't think so. So just unpack and sit still. And, you know, we waited a while, but we eventually, you know, we were representing Baltimore in a sister city program in Rotterdam, Holland. And we finally got a chance to get there in 2002. Came got there and you know, we did workshops and you know, we we were all over the place. We were in Paris we were in Brussels, you know Amsterdam and it was like wow, I'm representing this historical organization in Europe the first time they're showing who they are and their work and their actors in Europe and it was a sister city program. So I was also representing Baltimore and So, I mean, these are the things that came to me. And I mean, there are a lot of others I can give you examples, but I'll give you two other examples. The most important piece, I think, of my career was a show, a very controversial show, a show called A Real Nigga Show. And that was, first of all, the name. But we spelled the name N-I-G-G-A, and that came from mentoring some young men in the community who, you know, Eazy Jackson, who, you know, rapper, so it's like, but also Eazy Jackson is an excellent actor and many others who actually they wanted to write and create something, and they knew that I was that out-of-the-box guy. I wasn't scared, and I wasn't scared to put my own money up, work hard, and save. So they came to me, and we did this show. We wrote this show, and in 2003, we put the show up. And since we're just being real here. I went to the arena players and they told me, no, we can't do anything like that. That name, that word, you can't. I know. And so they said, change the word and let's get moving. And I left that day and I went to another theater, Baltimore Theater Project. And I said, I want to rent the space. And I did it on my own. So there is I have a track record. There's a history of not getting what you need. So you create your own. But that piece was so important because we did that piece in 2003 and 2008 and 2010 and 2014. It kept coming back because people wanted to see it because it was raw, it was edgy. We were updated as life changing the world. We would write new pieces. It was a choreopoem. meaning poetry, music, movement. And we did that piece and then we were invited by a group, actually Wilberforce University invited us. And I was like, okay, this wasn't on the radar, but they invited us to perform for their homecoming and they wanted to present to the university. you know, some theater. And they thought that was the right piece of theater to introduce to the students of Wilberforce. And so we got there and I said, okay, how many seats does this place hold? And they said a thousand. And I was like, wow, how many tickets were sold? And I'm thinking, oh, here we go. You know, maybe 150. They said a thousand. You're sold out. Wow. And so culturally, because of that name, that kind of that attracted another audience that's not your normal theater going audience. So I said, OK, this is something different. This is a conversation we need to have. you know, my own home theater turned me away, but others, you know, invited me in. Even Johns Hopkins invited me to do a lecture on the piece and why did I decide to do it as a choreopoem and self-produce and, you know, a lot of other things. And so we did the piece over and over a year as people requested the piece and updated, you know, we up when Trayvon Martin, when that tragedy happened, we updated the piece. We just kept working. And it stayed with the time. And then we were scheduled to do in 2020, in June 2020. And of course, COVID. So I said, you know, okay, well, we just won't do it. But then I got the idea, you know, me just being bold, and always thinking that I own myself, and the performers that I work with, they own themselves and their work. I said, we'll do a live stream. And so we made the commitment to say, OK, guys, we're going to work together. We're going to stay in our little COVID unit and say, we're not going to let this thing get inside here. And we're going to work together and we're going to make this happen. And I put up the money and put up a lot of money for that. and produced it, and we did a live stream worldwide, and it was just amazing, because something I produced out of my own pocket was viewed the same time in London, in Japan, in LA, up in the Bronx, you know, and I was just amazed, you know, in Paris, and when, you know, the people I was working with, they were telling me where people were viewing, I was just blown away, and I was like, So here we go again. It's a running theme in my career of owning yourself and not waiting for the industry to come looking for me. So that's a lot of things like that have been happening for me throughout my entire career.

Rob Lee: What was that sort of indication or that that inkling that You had to be in a spot of owning yourself, of owning that. And I say that from this perspective, this is a self-funded project. It takes a lot of time and effort and energy. And as you touched on with having a really good idea, but maybe not getting the support from folks that that support you, that probably should support you in that way, but saying, I'm going to shoot my shot. What is that? Was there a moment earlier on in your career or is there like sort of, I'm going to use, for lack of a better term, some math or an equation that you have in your head when you're like, nah, I'm just going to make this happen. This has to happen. This has to go out there and I'm going to will it to existence. What does that look like for you?

Troy Burton: I'll put it like this. What was it? The year was 1992. I was working on a production of The Wiz. The fly system collapsed. And I had many weights just collapse on me. And I had a 500-pound weight split my head open from ear to ear. And it crushed my skull into my brain. And I came through that. And I was in the hospital over at Hopkins. They fixed me up. They got the skull from stabbing in my brain. They moved that up. And I was a young guy. I was like 24. And so something like that happened. And I came out of that situation. I was a different person. And for some reason, you know, people would tell me, Troy, you're different for your level of creativity. You, for some reason, you have no fear. You just move and and you trust your gut more. And and that was at an early age, having to find out a will to survive. And that happened in the theater. You know, I never forget being the paramedics taking me off across the stage. And I'm saying to people that I'm sorry I bled all over your stage. So that was a tragedy early in life that I flipped that. So this thing of no fear. And yes, I do believe people can advise you, people can tell you no, but when your gut, you know, deep down in your gut spirit, you got to go for it. And that's something that I've been teaching. And so that is pretty much what has guided me through my career, you know, nonstop. And I keep a good circle around me who we believe a lot of the same things.

Rob Lee: That's that's that's super important. And wow. Wow. Well, I remember I think I saw a post about about that tragedy and sort of the, you know, it's a very Baltimore thing, really, I think, where it's just like this thing happened. It was not great. This was what the experience was. But I've not only overcome it, like I've I'm doing this now and this is one of those points from it, like from tragedy comes like, you know, thriving, you know.

Troy Burton: You're meant to follow your destiny." Because I was told, oh, you can sue, you can sue, you can do this, you'll have a bag for the rest of your life and all that stuff. And I said, yeah, but what I would have to proclaim myself disabled. And that's not going to happen. That happened in August of 1992, and by March of 1993, I was in a musical once on this island. I had auditioned to do a gig where I was doing eight shows a week, and people were like, I don't believe—there's no way in August you were sitting in the hospital from brain surgery. I was like, no, it was just a will to survive.

Rob Lee: I love hearing about that will. I mean, when you see folks that just might not have the thing, like I, like, you know, I look at what I do, I take what I do very serious. And I think that's one of the things that's very important. If you take whatever you do serious, you could be someone that's just drawing stick figures. If you take it serious, you know, you will be taken serious. And I remember talking with one of my colleagues, one of my friends, you know, in this sort of arena, and he wanted something else out of this. He wanted to use it for just trivial matters, like, oh, I can use this to get free tickets and this and that. And when it came down to actually doing the work around this, I was like, I don't think you have the stamina for it, bro. And that's a piece of it. It's like, you know, when I look back in instances in this 15 year journey of podcasting, I've been sick. I've been depressed. I've had no voice. I have all of these different things that granted, it's not like I had like a head injury or anything along those lines. Some may say I have, who knows? But, you know, it's it's having, you know, whatever that passion and that drive is to do your creative thing, to follow your destiny. That is the thing.

Troy Burton: That's it. That's it. And it's that passion that drives you. And you're sick, and no matter what, you just get up and you say, OK, next podcast. Let's go. 100%. I've done the homework so we can get this together. Let's go. And you go.

Rob Lee: Yeah, I mean, and the thing is, I'm always looking for for more. And I would imagine it's it's similar. Like, you know, I got touched on earlier. I was an emcee at like five. I'm terrified of that idea now. Right. But, you know, people always like, Rob, you should get on stage. I was like, I'm six, four. I'm gangly. I take up a lot of space. I don't know how to I don't know what to do with my arms. And but when there is opportunity, you know, like Robert means bright and famous. When there's an opportunity to be in front of folks presenting something, that's the thing that I gravitate toward.

Troy Burton: All the Roberts I know, that's them. I know quite a few of them, yes.

Rob Lee: So I want to switch gears just a touch to the sort of arts educator hat, like, you know, I see music, it's drama, it's a large background, like the education component, it's, you know, it can be the formal way, it can be the informal way. So talk about how, you know, exploring education, and I like to look at it as a person who's also an educator, almost always trying to be a novice so you don't forget and think you're a master of something when you're sharing it. I'm going to help this person get it. If I'm speaking in these weighty terms, they're not going to get it. It may be easy for me. But if I'm explaining this, I get to relearn it and almost relive it. So when you're working with someone, talk about some of those lessons. come from maybe the classroom and that education setting that maybe show up in like, you know, recent work or work like that's almost concurrent to the education component. Like, you know, are you taking something from the class and then it shows up and how maybe you're working with an actor or working with someone in a production?

Troy Burton: Well, me becoming a teacher, that was something that my parents were saying, OK, go to school, get an education, make sure. But I'm like, no. Actually, I wanted to be a classical singer with a background in classical voice and all of that. And I wanted to sing in operas and musical theater. And they were like, yeah, but You're going to stay in our house for a long time if you're doing that. And you need those things to fall back on and move life along. So that was something that led me to the classroom. And I found out that I enjoyed teaching. I enjoyed working with young people. And so my background was music at that time, going to Morgan State University, being on the Morgan State University Choir under the leadership of Dr. Nathan Carter. I like to say I cut my teeth, the old jazz saying, from Dr. Carter. So it was like, OK, getting in there, working with young people, and always remembering how that light was turned on by my grandmother. So I said, OK, that was an easy transfer. But as a teacher, it allowed me to see each person in the classroom I worked with and in the theater setting as individuals. That's an approach that I took. Okay, I know you're in a classroom, I remember teaching, and one class I had like 30-something students in a class. I'll never forget them. 9-18, first period at Douglas High School. Never forget. And they were a wonderful group of kids. They had some learning difficulties, but I had the best time learning each one of them as an individual. and figuring out ways that I could follow the curriculum and ways that I could really reach them. And one of the things that I did was, at that time, I was teaching American music and ethnic music. And in the curriculum for the school system, there was no unit on hip hop music. And we're talking about mid-90s, because I remember I had that class when Tupac passed. And so I created my own curriculum. I was one of the first teachers in Baltimore City School to develop a curriculum on hip hop. And so, and that's how I, the kids, I worked with them with what they knew. Instead of trying to get the, shove down their throat, oh, this is a spiritual and this is ragtime and things like that. And I worked with them right there, what you're living with today. They listen to 92Q, I listen to 92Q. We had a discussion in the classroom, you know, things like that. So, and I actually, gathered things like that for my mentors, you know, and that was something that just allowed me to see them as individuals. And then I was able to develop a drama class because of that. And so, you know, school system here, they trust me because I was always a person walking in and saying, Hey, Let's try something different. Times are changing. Let's try something different, something new. We know the fundamentals that will work, but let's add something new to it. And that's me working with young people and my desire to stay young, even though you get up there in age, but you still stay in touch with what's there. So I always do things like that. But then also, I used to keep a sign in my classroom for the kids to say, Don't blame Douglas for what you don't know. And every time we got into a situation where life would happen, I would point to the sign. you know, for them to think about it. And they would. You know, it was a different way of thinking. Plus, my students also saw me. I stayed as a performing artist, and they saw me touring and things like that. And I would come back and bring the adventures back and do some things with them. So they knew that I just wasn't someone in the classroom trying to tell them about music. I was living music. I was living theater. So it's like there was a different level of respect. So, you know, that was something to me that was extremely important in connecting the two. And it didn't stay long because, in my personal opinion, I saw the school system changing. And I saw it changing to a point where it wasn't about one-on-one. It wasn't about individuality with young people. It was more of a structure where you got to follow what looks good on paper. And I'm like, you know, no, no, no. I'm dealing with the human heart. I'm dealing with the human mind. And that's something on paper you can't follow the same formula for everything.

Rob Lee: Yeah. I mean, that sort of thing, I rebel against when someone is educating me or something or acting as if they're educating me or something. And you can almost hear and maybe it applies in school or have you, but you can almost hear like the cookie cutter working. You know, it's like this is not individualized. There is no artistry to it. And it kind of diminishes the importance of it. So there are some folks, and I see this all the time, you talk to like creative folks, like school really wasn't my thing. It's like, you know, these areas are important, but you know, having the experience and I have a rapid fire question later that's going to be similar to this, I think. having the experience and having those reps, if you will, you know, whether it's the, you know, hours on stage, hours working on a production, the hours podcasting, whatever it is, that's actually where the education comes from, not sort of the curriculum that is designed for the largest swath of people. I think, you know, you get those foundational things, but even when you go to like, you know, an undergrad thing or even a, You know, a graduate school thing, you have like some foundational stuff, but, you know, it starts to get more specialized the further you go up, I think. But the importance is getting those reps.

Troy Burton: Yeah, it's. school system. Even when I left, I would come back, there were other teachers, you know, who would come in, and they would say, you know, can you come and help me? I'm doing a play. And I would come in and I would see the former students. And they would see that they knew, you know, that I really believe what I said in the classroom. I really believe that in doing the work. And that that whole thing was It was an amazing experience because like right now, I get a chance to sit back and I watch. So one of my students, I will never forget this young lady who, she was always considered a problem student. And when I look at her, her career, what she's doing now, and I know there are things that were related to her drama class, her second period drama class, you know, as she run her nonprofit right now, as she, you know, she's a writer, you know, her imagination is beautiful. And, you know, she wasn't allowed to explore that in a certain structure, but I knew to look at her individually, And that led to something else in a whole avenue where, as an adult now, she's bloomed. And that's something, in the confines of certain situations of a school system, a child can't do. So I mean, to me, that's very important to me. And that's led to a lot of… Mentoring. I continue to mentor just like I had beautiful mentors growing up that I found in the school system and other walks of life. Like I mentioned, Nathan Carter and Kameh Calloway Murphy, Cab Calloway's daughter. She was extremely important in my life. She has been I mean, I saw her two months ago, and she gave me an assignment. She's in her 90s, and she gave me an assignment. And she was like, here's a script. And I was like, yep, yes, ma'am. And so those things that you carry the rest of your life, when you pour into the community, that was the whole thing of me pouring into the community from the classroom to the stage. I believe everybody's story has value, whether they need to be told or not.

Rob Lee: That's that's huge. And one thing I want to comment on before moving into these last two real questions is definitely the notion of bringing back experiences from the lab, as I call it, the real life experiences and being someone who's like educating and being a teacher, but also being a person that works in the field. That's so important. And, you know, I was getting advice from someone. Sometimes it's not the best advice, but it was advice. I'll listen, you know. And the person was working to convince me that maybe teaching wasn't a thing for me or so on. And as I was saying before we got started, I like it. I enjoy it. And one of the things about it, I think, that makes it effective is actually being a person that's doing it. It's like the Sam Jackson thing. It's like, I'm a working actor. I work. I'm not just going to do one movie and then move on. It's like, no, I'm working, so I'm always busy. And I think that's the thing that keeps you sharp and keeps you fresh. And, you know, as I said, even with this sort of break, you know, that we're in as we're recording this, you know, I was like, I wanted to make sure that I was still able to, you know, record a few, make sure I still kind of have that going. Because I know that if I haven't touched this microphone in a couple of weeks, It's not good. It is not good. I'm like, I got to throw that one away. I got to rerecord that one player.

Troy Burton: But just hearing you say that is you found your joy in it. You know, your joy in your teaching, your joy in podcasting. And it's on your terms owning yourself. Yeah.

Rob Lee: Oh, yeah. Yeah. So let's look ahead a little bit. You know, 2024, you know, it's, it's, you know, whenever we're at the sort of beginning of the year, we're reporting this to the tail end of 2023. So we're always thinking and planning and, you know, when something is in I think actuality, when something is out there, when a production is ready to go, when a podcast is uploaded or have you and released to the public, there's time that goes into it. It's like production, there's the prep and all of that stuff. So what's on tap for 2024? What's coming up? What are you excited about within this journey? What have we got?

Troy Burton: Well, a whole lot. I didn't mention this, but I'll say this real quick. I started my own company of who I am, Troy Burton Arts and Entertainment Consultant, when I decided to move on from the E.B. Blake Center, because I never want to be labeled as a gatekeeper. And so I moved on so the next chapter for that organization could happen, but also my next chapter. And so I started Troy Burton Arts and Entertainment, and out of that have come quite a few projects that I've been able to work on to help build that. It was a little scary, but then I said, wait a minute, my teaching experience, my experience working as an artist where people were hiring me to do things, to direct, My work in nonprofit through the UB Blake Center, writing grants and being a mentor and a resource in the community. I said, you know what, these are special jewels that I have gathered and put them in my own basket along my journey. So why not do that for myself? So I go back to saying, owning myself, I officially did the damn thing for myself and started that. And it has been a beautiful journey. I do want to mention real quick a project that I did in 2022, You Thought I Was Him. And that's so important because that was the first project, theatrical project that I did in my new journey as owning my own business. And so I did a project called You Thought I Was Him, and it was a project from start to finish. I kind of like mapped it out as a community, as an example to Baltimore to say, folks, this is a great concept of doing community theater. So what I did was a series of community conversations where I invited black men to come in. And we've had several community conversations where we sat down from ages like 16 up to age like 76. And from those, we did four of them, from a series of conversations, we were able to develop some ideas that we needed to focus on about self-love and mental health and things like that. And so I flipped all of that and decided that I was going to turn that into a play. And that's where the concept of You Thought I Was Him came from. And then so I developed a writer's room of community people. So we had community conversations with people. Then we did community writers. And I took things from the community conversation, brought them into the writing room for the community, and we were able to develop a script. Then I put it out there for the community to audition people. you know, actors. And then we were able to find, we workshopped the piece and then we were able to put it up. And so that, to me, that was just a great win for my first theatrical piece of my new company, Moving Forward. And actually it was, you thought I was him, but I labeled it a theatrical mixtape. Because it's something that I've wanted to kind of like define as a genre for the stage for a long time. And I didn't come up with the idea of using those words saying theatrical mixtape. But when I heard it, and I've only heard it used twice in theaters, but I wanted to kind of like develop it as define it as a genre for the stage. Because I heard it as a description, but not, you know, defining it. So we did that piece and it was wonderful and it played for three weeks and I was just so proud, you know, as a producer, chest sticking out, because I realized I did something different that I have not seen in Baltimore. And I'm starting to see a lot of the regional and community theaters develop that style of developing a piece for up-and-coming playwrights and new writers. So it goes back to what my grandmother did, Lighting That Flame, and that whole thing. So that was 2022. So 2023, I kind of laid low because I put on another hat. I am the vice president of a record label called Blue Velvet Soul Records. So when I take my hat off when I'm not doing theater or I'm not grant writing or I'm not a consultant, I was a consultant with the Black Arts District here as well. So when I'm not wearing all these other hats, you know, I'm back in the music business where I started in music. And we put out a record, when I say we, my business partner as well as the singer, Mesa, we put out a new record in March of 2023. So that was a whole other thing of wearing a hat. And now we're working on a second release that's coming in 2024. See, I'm connecting to the question. Eventually, I'll get to 2024. Because that's how I like to connect things. I like to build from one thing to the next, where you look at your foundation and we build it up. And so in 2024, we plan to release another record. And learning the music business has been quite interesting, because when I first came into the music business in the mid-90s, it was totally different. I had a job, I worked with Mesa, and we did some things for GRP, Blue Thumb Records, and things like that. And so it's a totally different business of how we operate and how we make money. You got to make money from the art, too. You just can't, you know, be inspirational and want to light the fire and all that stuff. That's great, too. But, you know, I've got to get paid because I got to live. That's true. So in 2024, I was commissioned by the arena players back home because they've witnessed my growth and they've been loving and supportive. And so they commissioned me to do and they wanted a musical. They came to me. They were very somewhat detailed about what they wanted. They wanted a jukebox musical, but they said, we're going to allow you to pick who you want to do and how you want to do it. And I was like, do you know what you're getting into? Because I'm an out-of-the-box type guy. I decided, because I know they've done jukebox musicals, like with, about Teddy Pendergrass. I mean, musical history type things, Nina Simone, Luther Vandross, Phyllis Hyman, things like that. So when they said, Troy, you pick, I decided to go with Nicholas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, the great Ashford and Simpson. Because when you think about the American songbook. You think about the Gershwins. You even think about Paul McCartney and John Lennon. You think about a lot of these people. You think about Babyface and, oh, God, I can't think of, oh, man, I can't think of his writing. The Face Records. You think of them. But a lot of times you don't really we don't realize the work that Ashford and Simpson put into American music, beyond the African-American community, and the artists that they wrote for, and the history of it. And so that's the teacher in me. And so I'm working on a new piece that will premiere and it will open May 10th of 2024 at the Arena Players. It's called Soulmates, the music of Ashlyn Simpson. It is not, it is a jukebox musical. No, well, no, let me, I'm wrong. It's not a jukebox musical. It's my second theatrical mixtape. Let me get that clear. And I'm choosing not to do it in a historical way, where I'm telling their life story. Because I don't think that's my place to do that. You see so many of these productions that are centered around telling people's life story, and people take artistic license to expand on certain things like that. No, I'm not going to do that. I'm celebrating their music. But I'm doing it in my special way. I'm developing them, actually presenting it like it's a concert where you have just, you think you come into a concert. And for those who are a little bit older, they may remember Painter's Mill Music Fair, you know, because actually this is a show that I'm designing for an audience that's 50 and over. to be honest, because I've done all the edgy stuff. I've done all the real nigger show. I've done a lot of stuff that caters to a raw, edgy audience. And I decided to do something for another audience, because everything right now that I see out here is about trauma, and mental health. And I'm like, you all, we got to be careful as creatives not to bombard and just oversaturate the market with that. It's about self-care and all that. So when I look at what's happening out here, you know, I decided to do a pivot and do something opposite. something that's going to make people feel good, something that's going to make people feel loved, because I think that it's needed right now. And so the way I'm curating this production is that the music is there, but I've been inspired to create new pieces based on their songs. So I'm also using the art form, and I call these intonations of love, in between the songs of the show, because you feel like you're in a concert, but then you're not completely in a concert, you're in a play. So you can divide this piece up and say part of it is a concert, part of it is a play, because they are love letters. And so I've kind of delved into the art of love letters. And then from there, there are other songs that I got into. And I said, wait a minute, they wrote this for Ray Charles. It's a piece called Let's Go Get Stoned. So I had the idea. I said, I'm going to write a monologue about a guy coming from the Vietnam War. and how black men were treated during this time. So now it evolved from the love letters of all the songs. And I said, now there's stories here as well. And that's why I call it a theatrical mixtape, because you're mixing a whole lot. The music and the theater is coming together, and you're mixing it. There's a story. I interviewed my mother about my grandparents, going back to family, because my grandparents were married for over 70 years. And so I wanted to know more about them. And my mother told me this heart-wrenching story of how my family on her side came to Baltimore, because they were run out of town by the KKK. And I was like, wow. So I didn't realize I was going to get that. You know, I thought I was interviewing them because I was thinking about the old Donna Ross song, It's My House and I Live Here. And I wrote a monologue based on how cleaning the house on Saturday mornings was a big thing in black families. You know, you put on Stevie Wonder, Anita Baker and all that stuff. But then I got a whole nother story, and I was like, wow. So I said, I'm going to write this as a monologue. And this monologue, The Bond That Held Us Together, is a story there, but the music is right there. The music has always played a role. So I'm coming up with something interesting and new and different. I wouldn't say necessarily new, but just something people haven't seen in a while. And at one point, you're going to feel like you had a party. Because as far as the set, part of it's going to be right there as a dance floor where people can get up. And the amazing thing, I thought, like I said, was creating something for audiences age 50 and over. But when I did some workshops on the music of Ashton Simpson already, I've done three of them. And I have the fourth one coming up. It's going to actually be a table reading of the script. But when I put the word out for artists to come and read and listen to the music, they were all in their late 20s and early 30s. And I said, OK, damn, I thought I was doing something for an older demographic. But no. I said, OK, these young artists are hungry for this. So that was the validation of I'm doing the right thing. And then I had to reach out to Valerie Simpson to get her blessing, because I'm not going to do this without her blessing. And she gave me her blessing, as long as I don't tell the story of their personal life, because that's not my story to tell. And I made sure she knew that. And I made sure she knew we also had a license through ASCAP to do this. things were on legally, you know, done right. And she'll get her check as well. So that type of thing. So, I mean, it's a beautiful experience. I'm looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to the fact that I get a chance to create something and it's something totally different. I have never created anything like this in my life because I'm about collaborations. But I'm writing the script on my own. This is the first time I wrote a script on my own. And it's very personal, because I had to take my own personal energies about life and love and put it in there. And it's something different. And I'm happy about it. And I figured I've done this long enough. But that's the joy in doing what I do, is that I get a chance to still, for arena players, this will be show number 56 that I've directed for them.

Rob Lee: Congratulations. That is a nice number.

Troy Burton: Yeah. And so I'm like, but I get a chance to keep it fresh for me. But hopefully people will enjoy it and love it. You know, so it's I'm excited about it because I've never done anything like this. And it's very spiritual. And it goes back. It goes back to the foundation.

Rob Lee: It keeps it fresh. It keeps it familiar where you know, doing this. And as I said, how many I've done and, you know, I've probably done a couple thousand podcasts at this point in this 15 years. But, you know, whatever the thing is, trying to do something sort of different, trying to approach different people, trying to learn different things from different people. And, you know, it keeps it fresh. It keeps it interesting. And it gives everything going back to one of the things touched on earlier. Everything doesn't feel like it's a cookie cutter interview, you know?

Troy Burton: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because I appreciate this, this type of conversation, because I was like, oh, wow, what am I going to talk about? Then I said, oh, wow, I guess I do have a history. I have a journey. And I don't share a lot of things. Outside of that Facebook post, I've never shared about my accident. There are more details about that mentally and physically that I went through. But this is the first time that I've actually said it. It came out of my mouth publicly. And I needed that. That's some healing that I need from something that happened years ago. So I appreciate this format.

Rob Lee: Thank you so much. And I appreciate you being a part of it. And I'm looking forward to all that's coming for you in 2024 and your work.

Troy Burton: I'm going on the road. I'm going on the road also in 2024. European tour with Mesa. We got a lot of stuff set up. Yeah, we hit the road in March with the UK. So I mean, there's a couple of things. So touring and, you know, doing this Soulmates project, and I have no idea what else may come, you know, because I think in the next two months, there'll be another idea, you know, and we'll take it from there.

Rob Lee: That's great. And I think that's a good spot for us to wrap on the real questions. I got a few rapid fire questions for you. Everyone gets the rapid fire questions. Everybody's got to go. So I got three of them. As I tell everybody, don't overthink them. They're they're just regular questions. They're kind of like icebreaker questions, but let's see. So one of the things, and I think like sort of the being Johnny on the spot and kind of just being around, being prepared, I think is very important to, you know, progress. It's like there's no accidents, right? To progress creatively. How important is availability, relationships, and that sort of thing? How important are those two parts of an artist? How important is that in the theater community, availability and building relationships? How important is that?

Troy Burton: First of all, you got to do your homework and know what you're stepping into, and then take the time for planning your time. to know that you're stepping into something that you always have to show, hey, I'm ready to be there. I'm ready to work. You know, the business has changed a lot. And in my opinion, discipline is lax. You know, and that comes from not having proper mentorship about how to be prepared for when it's time to work. But it's that, you know, to be early is to be on time. To be on time is to be late.

Rob Lee: Uh, one tip, and maybe this is self-serving, maybe I'm looking for a piece of this. One tip to get over nerves. Like, you know, I was talking about this yesterday. I was doing a presentation for Movie Night and I like to prepare. I'm a very prepared person and I'm behind, you know, I'm backstage, what have you. And I'm talking with, um, My co-host that's gonna do this movie night with me and we're running over everything how everything is gonna go because I'm like Preparation is the only way I can do it. But still there's always nerves and I'll forget my whole intro. I'll memorize it and then it's gone What would be that that tip for you like that? You know you would suggest to someone who is afflicted with with those nerves and

Troy Burton: breathe, just breathe, you know, it takes low breaths, and just slowly work through it. And remember that the people are listening to you, they're watching you. So you're in control of the conversation. So just take a breath. And let's go.

Rob Lee: And it's funny you mentioned that my my partner's her dad was a playwright. And that was the piece of advice that he gave to her that she gave to me.

Troy Burton: Wow.

Rob Lee: Yeah. So so this is the last one, last like rapid fire question. And thank you. This is this is great. So I'm always curious. I'm a food snob, so I'm always curious. I had a conversation with someone in the D.C. theater a couple of days ago, and he has a he spent some time up here. He's talking about, you know, working with a company up here. And he was regaling us about how good the lake trout is here. I was like, I was like, all right, bro, you know, but the lake trout here in Baltimore, What is your favorite meal? It could be a super Baltimore-specific meal, but do you have a favorite meal? And if so, what is it?

Troy Burton: Indian food. Oh, say more. I love a great butter chicken, a great korma. That's my go-to. That and Italian.

Rob Lee: Okay. I mean, I'm a big Tikka Masala fan.

Troy Burton: Anything Indian, you give me the whole menu, we good.

Rob Lee: I love it. Thank you. That's great. That's a great answer. So that's kind of it. I like to get those rapid fire ones in there because I think it adds a little bit more texture to who the person is versus just, oh, he did it great. So One, I want to thank you for spending some time with me and being on this podcast. And two, I want to invite and encourage you to share with the listeners where they can check you out, where they can check out everything that's happening, social media, website, all of that good stuff. The floor is yours.

Troy Burton: Okay. Well, I am Troy Burton, you know, of course, social media, Facebook, Instagram, Macy Obert, you can catch me there. You know, I don't do a whole lot of, you know, all the Twitters. I don't do that anymore. I kind of, like I said, I'm out of that one. Well, what is it, X now? Actually, I'm getting ready to launch, coming up in 2024, my new website for Troy Burton Arts and Entertainment, because I kind of want to build something a little bit, and I think I have something really to put out there. So I'm basically Instagram, Facebook, you can catch me there.

Rob Lee: I like you, you X'd out X, I like that.

Troy Burton: Yeah, I had to get out of there because I didn't feel, I wasn't feeling it, not feeling what's happening there.

Rob Lee: Yeah. You know, even with my I don't really spend too much time on social now. It's it's a weird space and overall. And it's like, you know, if you're interested in learning about the podcast, you should probably subscribe. You know, it's literally that like that's you can't listen to the podcast on Instagram. You might find out about it, but that's an extra step. And it's just like there's the link to it. But yeah.

Troy Burton: Yeah, I tell people, you know, reach out to me because I am a person that I do, I do have an open door policy when you reach out to me, but you got to come correct. You got to come with a clean heart of really wanting to do the work. And I have a great sense of if I feel like you're not willing to do the work, you know, I'm a back off. But, you know, I have an open door. I am a consultant, arts and entertainment consultant. However, I do believe in reaching out and giving back. You know, it's not always you got to hire me as a consultant if you're interested in certain grants, like as an individual artist and things like that. You know, I will help you because I believe investing, pouring into people, because so many have poured into me. So I believe to continue it by pouring back into them. And a lot of people that I still work with, who have grown and they still, I mean, they 10, 15 years into their career, but they still come home and say, hey, I need to talk to you. We need to work this out. And they're doing wonderful work all over the world.

Rob Lee: And there you have it, folks. I want to, again, thank Troy Burton for coming on and sharing a bit of his journey with us. And I'm Rob Lee, saying that there's art, culture, and community in and around your neck of the woods. You've just got to look for it.