Jordan E. Cooper, Tony-nominated performer and playwright of “Ain’t No Mo’” whose new play “Oh Happy Day!” is opening at the Public Theater on October 15, delivered a keynote address Saturday at the daylong “Black Theater Advance” at the Park Avenue Armory, and then engaged in conversation with Jonathan McCrory, the executive artistic director of National Black Theatre, the co-sponsors of the salon.
The subject of Cooper’s address was what he called “intentional foolishness,” which he introduced by telling the stories of two Black figures from 1822, Denmark Vesey, who planned to lead a slave revolt in South Carolina, and William Alexander Brown, who founded a theater in New York.
“Some would say” they were both foolish in their actions, Cooper told the crowd of Black theater professionals. But if so, that was a good thing. “I mean, there are two types of fools in this world. Static fools who move unaware of the world that they live in and often speak louder than what they have to offer. And then there’s something called intentional fool. There’s an audacity that comes with a fool who moves with intention. There’s a light force around them, a spiritual opening that moves when someone intentionally uses their foolishness to lead them to a land of promise.” The gap between being a fool and an intentional fool “is full of God, the gap is full of love, the gap is full of community. The gap is full of ancestry. The gap is full of revolution and risk and rhythm and blues and tears and laughter and speaking and listening and listening and listening and listening and obedience and doubt and prayer and faith and victory and confidence and consciousness and convincing. It is full of humility. It is full of knowing that Broadway is a tool and never a destination for us.”
Below are videos of most of his keynote address, followed by a summary of his conversation with McCrory, and another video on his hoping that theater in the future will be free.
Then he said:
“Next time it looks impossible, act a fool. Next time a white institution pulls the rug out from under you, act the fool. Next time a black institution pulls the rock away. time you turn on the news and don’t know don’t like what you see, act the fool. We got a race to run. Nobody said it was gonna be easy, but we damn sure can do it together….”
and concluded;
(Actually James Monroe was president in 1822)
After the speech, Cooper and McCrory talked about Black theater, and Cooper’s plays in particular. Among the questions McCrory asked: “How are you etching in essence of love into the craft of making of your work? What does it mean to love on Black folks for you? And where did that source come from?”
Cooper answered: “Because of my Introduction to theater. I started writing plays when I was, like, six, seven years old. So I didn’t really have a a knowledge or a capability to curate for whiteness. I don’t really know how to do that, but when I sit down to write, even to this day, I’m grateful for that, because when I sit down and write, that’s not what’s in my head, which is why sometimes black people will, like, be sitting next to a white person and feel uncomfortable in my work and I’m like, Well, I ain’t writing for them….Whatever space I’m in, whether it be theater, television, whatever, I just try to be my authentic self without an ounce of white supremacy..”
McCrory asked Cooper about the role of Black grief and sorrow in his work. “We were enslaved for a lot longer than we’ve been free,” Cooper answered, “so we’re still trying to figure out family dynamics.” Black grief can be a blockage to the flow of love, so he makes an effort to communicate the idea that ” happy is a radical act of choice. It’s not a feeling or an emotion. It’s the idea that if you don’t own your happy in the dark, then you’ll only rent it in the light.”
Seeing Cooper as in many ways representing the next generation, McCrory asked him what he thought the future can and should look like. Part of his answer was about theater more accessible — by filming everything as a matter of routine and making it available on streaming services, and making theater itself free or low cost:
