Director Brodrick Ryans Delves into 'Brown Bodies on a Blue Earth' on The Day With Trae
Photos by Cydney Stephens
In a recent segment of The Day With Trae, host Trae Holiday met with Brodrick Ryans, the director of the thought-provoking production ‘Brown Bodies on a Blue Earth.’ During the episode, Ryans delved into his journey into the world of theater and directing, offering viewers a glimpse into the inspirations and motivations behind his work.
Reflecting on his upbringing, Ryans shared that theater has been integral to his life since his youth. Growing up in a household filled with creativity, he fondly recalled Saturdays with his family filled with artistic endeavors. Ryans particularly credited his older brother with instilling his passion for theater, igniting a lifelong career in storytelling and performance.
"In high school, I was a freshman. He was a senior, and he was like, "Hey, you should take this class with me and my friends." I think it was his way of protecting me," Ryans said. "It was a theater class, and the teacher asked me if I wanted to be in Grease that year, and from there, it just stuck."
Currently, Ryans is the casting associate and artistic liaison for Seattle's renowned 5th Avenue Theatre. When presented with the opportunity to direct ‘Brown Bodies on a Blue Earth,’ a production by playwright Cris Blak focusing on themes of solidarity, race, climate change, solidarity, and the human experience, Ryan enthusiastically stepped into the role. Ryan aptly describes the play, which Blak crafted during the lockdown of the pandemic, as "Black, sci-fi, and futuristic."
"It's almost a little bit of the Black experience through the pandemic of knowing that we saw what was happening," Ryans said. "We were living it day by day. You can turn the news on and off. I can't turn my life on and off. So I'm living that experience every day, and that is bathed into this script."
Continuing, Ryans sheds light on the poignant themes explored through one of the show's central characters, stating, "There's a specific monologue that Simeon gives where he talks about they just packed up and left. All the rich white people got on a spaceship, and they packed up, and they left us, and he's like, "Why don't they care about us?" For me, that was a question the entire time I was directing. I kept asking why do people not care about us and what is it that we have to say and portray in this play to make people get that and understand that we are humans too; we are living and trying to thrive just like everyone else is?"
While delving into critical social issues, Ryans emphasizes that Blak masterfully balances the production with a blend of humor.
"Cris does a fantastic job of writing a lot of comedic relief within the show. There are plenty of moments where specifically Black and brown folks will probably be like, "Yeah, we completely get that." But there are plenty of other moments where anyone watching will go, "Yes, thank you for a moment to laugh," Ryans said. " All the moments of hardship and trauma happening on stage, there are double moments of, "Hey, you can laugh at this." It's a bad situation, but it's also a bad situation [of] what are you going to do? Will you make it worse and linger on it, or will you laugh and make the best of it?"
The production is being shown at the Underground Theatre, which Ryan said gave the actors' performances benefits and challenges they had to navigate.
"So this space works for us as an advantage and a disadvantage. The advantage being that you can put people into two different worlds and allow them to fully live. The disadvantage is that we're not in a traditional theater setting," Ryans said.
One notable challenge they encountered was the absence of a backstage area. "The first entrance of characters just enters right through the house, and they're in space and time living as those characters," Ryans said. "The opening night, I watched some audience members be like, "Oh, we're in this," and I'm like, yes, you're very much a part of the show, as the actors are. That was a bit tough and difficult [but] the actors are managing that and working on it."
Furthermore, Ryans addressed the additional hurdle with some of the show's leads being new to acting in a theatre of this nature, a challenge compounded by the evolving theatre landscape in the post-pandemic era.
"Post-pandemic, we're not making theater the same way we were before. Some of the steps are the same. Blocking, all of that stuff, the language around that is the same, but how we handle and deal with people. The way that we talk to people is completely different," Ryans said. "Good theatre should always be a collaborative effort. As an actor, you should always be allowed to make a choice and to do that thing first. If their director is not allowing you to do that, in my personal opinion, I don't think that they're directing. They're just being a dictator."
Ryans emphasized that his role as a director is to establish the circumstances and setting. Ultimately, the actor's choices breathe life into the character.
"Pre-pandemic, we'd be like, Okay, so I'm just a body. I'm doing exactly what you need me to do," Ryans said. But with new works, [it] is always great because nothing is laid out for these people. They get to make it up themselves, and so that's literally what they're doing right now."
Additionally, Ryans underscored the collaborative nature of working on a new piece of art with playwright Cris Blak.
"Since it's new work, we have constantly communicated with Cris. I asked him questions, asked him for clarification, and asked him his opinion on whether he approved something that we wanted to change or something that we wanted to do on the show," Ryans said. "That was vital to us mainly because he is the writer. His voice makes these words come out, so we want to ensure that that was heard and very clear in delivering this piece."
Lastly, Ryans highlighted two key messages he hopes audiences take away from the show.
"We've got to come together and have tough conversations to get past some of these bad situations that are still happening. That's the first," Ryans said. "The second is that [with] regional [and] community theater, I feel things get pushed to the side because actors might not be making as much money, or if you're doing community theater, they're doing their thing for free. But with the Underground Theater being a regional theater, we're paying actors, we're doing those things. Just because we're not doing them on larger, grander scales doesn't mean it's less important. Because often, these theatre companies do the work we want some larger ones to do. I hope that people go in and go, "Great. I can get behind this, and I support this. Not just the Underground Theater, but other small theaters in Seattle."
Tickets for the production, running until May 12th, are available for purchase here.
To stay update on other productions like this happening in Seattle, tune into Trae every weekday at 11 a.m. on all Converge Media platforms and The Day With Trae YouTube Channel.
