RECAP: Brenda Braxton and Raymond J. Lee Talked About Their Experiences on Broadway on STARS IN THE HOUSE

Stars in The House continued this afternoon (2pm) with Brenda Braxton and Raymond J. Lee This episode was in support of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

Raymond talked about raising a five-year-old daughter and the state of the world. "We want to take our daughter to a protest so she learns. We've been slowly talking to her about it, especially being a biracial girl, I want to make sure she's equipped for the world."

Brenda talked about starting her career as a black woman in the 70s. "Back then it was just about 'I got a job. I got my first Broadway show.' And it just happened to be an all-black version of GUYS AND DOLLS. People ask me about coming up in the 70s and the 80s and the difference and all of that. When I started out it was only about the work and I didn't start noticing it until I started going on auditions and getting jobs and realizing 'I'm the only one here.'"

Seth asked Brenda and Raymond their thoughts on a non person of color writing stories about people of color. Brenda responded, "As long as you have us in the room to help you tell the story. Not tell your story the way you think it is but to literally help you tell the story...back with DREAMGIRLS they had so many workshops that they did and they listened to the performers. Most of the time you know in Workshop you give your idea of what you think the character is, what they might say, and they literally took words from the African Americans who were working with them on this show."

Raymond chimed in, "With SOFT POWER, David Henry Hwang was our writer but everybody else was white so we would have pow wows or we would be in a circle and they would check in with us and say 'are we going the right way? Are we being sensitive? Is this what a Chinese person would do?' They really sat there and listened to us and learned from us and then applied it to the show."

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