Daveed Diggs is making history!

The Pickwyck chatted with the talented Daveed Diggs of Broadway's newest hit, HAMILTON! In this interview, Daveed talks about his earliest memories of theatre, his technical training and his character(s) in Hamilton!

Where did you grow up? Do you have a theatrical family?

• "I grew up in California in The Bay Area. Oakland, Albany, and El Cerrito if we want to be specific. Pops always lived in Oakland, Moms moved around the Bay Area as she finished up her degree at UC Berkeley. My mother was one of the early lighting designers for Berkeley Rep. Theatre, and before that was an apprentice doing lights at the Old Vic and running light boards in Europe (This is all well before I was born). By the time I came along, she was a DJ and I believe also worked at a gas station. My father was never involved with the theatre in any official capacity. He is, however, one of the world's greatest storytellers. I remember my little brother was the lead in The Music Man when he was in middle school, he was great! But he gave up performing."
  

What is your earliest memory of theater? When did you realize you wanted to be an performer?

• "In 4th grade, our teacher used to have us memorize poems every week and recite them in front of the class. I remember one time I got it in my head that I was going to act out the poem as opposed to just reciting it plainly. And when I did, it was kind of a revelation. People laughed when I wanted them to laugh. I had always been a really quiet kid and pretty shy But here was a way that I could exist in large groups of people feel like I belonged. But if I really think about it, I was one of those kids who was forcing my mom to come watch skits me and my brother had prepared. I remember using this boombox with a mic we had to make radio plays when I was much younger. So I guess I always really liked performing. I just didn't know it was a thing one could do outside of his house."
  
  
  

What was your first car and your first job (doesn't have to be creative!)

• "A '91 Toyota Corolla that I inherited from my mom when she finally got a new car. And my first job was either at Pier 1 Imports (which was miserable), or at Just Desserts Bakery (which was amazing), I'm not certain of the order."
  
  

Could you tell us your first impression of Hamilton? How did you know this was a journey you wanted to embark on?

• "As soon as I was sent the score and the demo songs I knew that this was something special. The writing was so good and, most importantly for me, the rapping was really impressive. Lin hadn't dumbed anything down for the stage. These characters rapped like rappers. Nothing felt forced. I got the opportunity to workshop the first act for a week up at Vasser and after getting to be in the room with all of these amazing artists I pulled Tommy Kail aside and said "man, just call me first." I was living in California, but I was gonna cancel plans and figure out travel and do whatever I had to do to get to work with these folks again."
  

This show has many unique aspects ranging from the diversity represented on stage to the intricate lyrics being rapped in the production. Do you think Hamilton is redefining american theater?

• "I think it's effect on american theatre remains to be seen. That depends on what happens after this. But one of the reason I think the show works so well is that for all of its "unique aspects" it is also very faithful to and understanding of traditional musicals. Lin can exist in multiple worlds at once in a way that is effortless. So when people come to see the show they get something that feels very new but also very familiar."
  
  
  

What are your thoughts on what Hamilton brings to the theatre community and how it will inspire theater in the future? Do you think Hamilton has the potential to spark a whole new era of theater?

• "I really don't know. But I do think that this show being financially successful makes a pretty good case for more ethnically balanced casting. It pokes a pretty big hole in the argument that "a tourist audience won't be able to relate to a person of color in the role of an historically white character." 
  

Could you tell us about working in Freestyle Love Supreme with Lin Miranda? How did this group come about? How do you practice for shows like this (or can you practice?)

• "We don't really practice. We brush up on what games we are playing if there is a show coming up. But this group was around before I joined. They had a really strong following and a great structure for how to theatricalize an improvised rap show. Working with all the FLS guys is amazing. They are so smart and so fast and so effortlessly save me on stage when I get stuck. It's improv at its best."
  

Can you tell us about your educational/theater training journey! Was there a particular instructor that inspired you and gave you words that you live by?

• "I never went to a conservatory. I have a BA from Brown University in Theatre and I learned a lot from all of my professors there. But I feel like my training really started when I got out into the world and started working.  I was doing plays in The Bay Area for many years after college and it is the incredible community of artists there that really made me. The first show I did after College was with Custom Made Theatre Company. They cast me in things that I may never have gotten to do in a less adventurous company (Foustka in Vaclav Havel's 'Temptation,' Matt in 'Red Light Winter' by Adam Rapp) and that really pushed me.
  
  I had the good fortune of getting cast with some really great actors. I did a production of 'Jesus Hopped The A Train' at the San Francisco Playhouse opposite Carl Lumbly, and I think I learned more working with him for three months than I could have in years of conservatory training. Same with Margo Hall. Both of them are so present and so fluid. I also have worked a lot with Marc Bamuthi Joseph's 'The Living Word Project.' The great thing about working with Bamuthi is that he is a poet and a dancer, so for him, the words and the movement are one and the same. He really teaches you how to tell a story with your body. 
  
  I have worked a great deal with Campo Santo and they have an aesthetic that is really about making theatre for everybody. You can do a campo show in a thousand seat theatre, or in a basement, or on a street corner, and it will be just as good in any place and for any community. Chinaka Hodge is my favorite playwright and one of my best friends and getting to work on her plays is a dream come true. And at the same time I was working with Rafael Casal on rap music and really figuring out how to perform songs in ways that were exciting and took an audience on a journey.  This is a long way of saying the Bay Area is a very special place to be an artist."

What is your favorite New York spot?

• "I'm a big fan of  the highline. I love seeing the city from that angle."
  
  

What is your favorite memory so far with this show?

• "Not long ago I totally went up on my lines and watching everybody on stage rally to try and cover for me was equal parts humbling and hilarious. This is the best cast!"
  
  

What are some of the challenges of playing two different characters in the show? What is your favorite part about playing each character?

• "Lafayette is fun because we meet him in his youth before he's really figured it out yet. Him hanging with Mulligan, Laurens, and Hamilton, reminds me of hanging with my boys at home making songs together when we really had no idea what we were doing. Lafayette really comes into his own on stage in this show. Jefferson is so extravagant and so privileged and such a walking contradiction. It's fun to play somebody who thinks so highly of himself. "
  
  
  

What is your favorite sequence of the show? (Perhaps one you in perform in and one you don't)

• "I get chills every time Leslie sings "Wait For It"."
  
  

What is your favorite movie, TV show, book?

• "Movie, this weird Preston Sturges film "The Sin of Harold Diddlebock." TV show, pretty much any of the BBC masterpiece mysteries. Book, 'The Inheritance Trilogy' by N.K. Jemisin."
  
  
  

If you could switch places with anyone alive or dead, who would it be and why?

• "Probably George Clinton circa 1975. I want to know what it's like to have a brain capable of making that much great and groundbreaking music all while touring in a show that involved landing a spaceship on stage every night in six inch platform shoes."
  

What is your guilty pleasure?

• "Doughnuts... and I'm not that guilty about it."
  
  

What has been the most difficult part of transitioning to Broadway? Previews are meant to "work out the kinks" if you will. Perhaps you can shed light on what the "finished" product is aiming to be by opening night?

• "The great thing about this company is that I don't think we will ever have a finished product. Nobody associated with this show believes in "good enough." We will keep playing and finding new moments and showing up to work every night for the chance to try it again and make it even better."