-I always remember the last time you were here
we played a game called Mad Lib Theater.
-Yes. It was so fun. -And we asked you
to just make up different words and catchphrases.
And I asked you, "What would you say
if there was a monster under your bed?"
And do you remember what you said?
-I said, "Not today, Satan." -Yeah, that's right.
-Which I think is a perfectly
reasonable thing to say to a monster.
-"Not today, Satan" became a catchphrase in our office.
-Did it really? -We still say it all the time.
We go, "Oh, not today, Satan." -That's good.
'Cause Satan needs to know. -He needs to know, yeah.
-Satan needs to know. -Not today.
-Not here, not now.
-Yeah. We --
-I say it to dessert all the time.
When they bring out, like, a chocolate cake,
I'm like, "Not today, Satan."
-Not today, Satan! -Not today!
-Last time you were here,
we were talking about your kids and how cute they are.
-They are. -I got to meet them.
And they really are the cutest kids.
Oh, I love them. -Proof.
-Yeah. It really is, yeah. And I signed a book for you.
I signed a book for you
'cause I wrote a book called "Everything is Mama."
-And we loved "Dada," the first book.
-Yeah. -He's a really good writer.
-Thank you. There's about 10 words total in this book.
But I signed it for you. -Yeah.
It wasn't personal.
I left it here because I was rushed out.
I was not ungrateful. -No.
-You know, I'm very grateful. Do you still have it?
-Well, here's what happened.
I guess I didn't realize
you didn't take it with you last time,
so you left without my gift.
-Yeah. See how he is? -Just saying.
And, so, Anthony Mackie was on a few weeks later.
-Love Mackie. -He was talking about his son.
And I go, "How old? Well, I got to give him this book. I'll sign it for you."
And I open it up, and it's already written to you.
I'm not kidding. So, I crossed your name out.
-You did what?!
That's rude. -No, no.
-Forgetting a book is one thing. Crossing out my name is rude.
-But here's the worst thing. He didn't take the book, either.
He left it here.
I can't give this book away!
I can't give it away! I've signed it twice.
-It's so sweet, too. It's a good book.
What are you going to do? -I was thinking --
I think Anthony's coming on in a few weeks.
I was thinking maybe -- Could you sign it?
And I'll give it to Anthony. Maybe, that way, he'll take it.
-Yeah, I'll write Anthony a note.
-Yeah, all right. And then we'll give it to Anthony Mackie.
And then maybe he'll sign it, and we'll give it back to you.
-[ Laughs ] Okay.
-Maybe we'll see how long we can keep this going.
Someone has to take my book.
-"Take...this...book."
-"Take this book. Please."
-"XO, K-Dub."
-That's perfect. Oh, I love you. Thank you for doing that.
-I love you. It's such a good book.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Let's talk about -- I have lots to talk about. "American Son."
-Yes. -Congrats on this.
And thank you for coming to our show.
I know this is a day off. -Yes, it's our one dark day.
It's Monday where you don't go on stage.
It's your one off day.
You're supposed to save your voice, but I'm here.
-You're here not saving your voice at all, no.
This is getting great reviews. Congrats on that.
-Thank you.
-Critical raves. A little Tony buzz.
Congrats on that.
Tell everybody what the play's about.
-So, this is -- It's the hardest thing I've ever done.
So it's hard to talk about.
It is a couple who are recently separated.
And it is the middle of the night.
The play takes place in real time, an hour and a half.
The middle of the night in a police station.
This black mom and a white dad are desperately looking
for their 18-year-old son who has just gone missing.
So it's kind of all of the anxieties of being the parent
of a black child in the middle of the night
when you know something has happened,
but you can't figure out what,
and you're trying to get answers.
And it is very -- It's very special, I think, the play,
because, first of all, there are more laughs than you would think.
-Yeah. Okay, good.
-I mean it. I know it's weird, but there are.
'Because there are these four people.
There are two other characters in the play.
And all four characters are saying
a lot of the kinds of stuff that we say in private
but don't really say in public.
They're, like, talking about race
and class and police brutality
and parenting and love and divorce and infidelity.
And it's really --
It's shocking to hear some of the things they say
and sometimes funny and sometimes emotional.
And -- Yeah.
-It also comes -- Every playbill comes with this.
-Yes. -This pamphlet here.
Can you explain what this is?
And how did you convince them to do this?
-So, this play, like -- This play completely --
When I read it, it blew me away,
'cause I had never read anything like it.
I had never seen people talk this way in public.
Only, like, in my kitchen, my friends to each other.
But never out in public.
And so I felt like because
it was such an important play with so much to say
but really throws a lot of issues at you,
we should give people some tools to deal with it.
So we have this discussion guide that's in every single program.
And it kind of helps you continue to ask the questions
that have been raised by the play
and continue the conversation
and also support some of the organizations
who are doing the work to help on these issues.
-That's really cool that you're doing that.
-It's developed by The Opportunity Agenda.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-That's great. -Thank you.
-How to discuss. Questions to ask.
Yeah, it's really great. -Start the discussion.
-The play is kind of shocking. You really --
It is this roller-coaster ride, where you don't know
what's going to happen moment to moment.
-Oh, it's frightening. It's intense.
-You're pulled into the anxiety of this family.
But when it's over, it's shocking.
And you --
I would watch people leave the theater kind of disoriented
and wanting to talk about it and wanting to engage.
So this is kind of a way to do it.
-And you do some good phone acting in this, I will say.
'Cause you start the play on your phone.
-I do, I do. -Is that awkward for you,
because everyone politely in your audience
cannot be on their phone.
-Yeah, we've told -- The ushers are pretty badass on our show.
They walk around saying, "Turn off your phones!"
-Really?
They're like, "It's only 90 minutes of your life!
Turn off your phone!
It's a very quiet play!"
-Yes. -They're amazing.
And a lot of times people don't turn off their phone.
But they do often, and then I'm on stage --
You know what's weird about it?
The first two minutes of the play, I'm really
just by myself on stage having these very private moments.
So you have to pretend that you're completely alone
in a room with like 1,000 people.
Which is kind of what acting is all the time,
is pretending to have these private moments in public.
But it's interesting
when you're just alone on stage with your cellphone.
-When was the last time you did Broadway?
-About 10 years ago. -Wow.
-Yeah. Before "Scandal." -And how does it feel?
-It's amazing to be back. -You love it, right?
-I do. I really, really love it.
-It's a totally different vibe than doing movies.
-It is. Well, the thing is, like, when you're on stage,
you can't say, "Cut. Let's try it again."
Like, you have to get it right the first time.
-Yeah. -You can't make any mistakes.
You can't mess anything up.
You have no second option, no second chance.
-Yeah. It's exciting. -Yeah.
-But you also have some big news you wanted to announce tonight,
which is very cool. -It's very exciting.
-If you missed the play. -Yes.
So, we've been -- I always get a little bit sad on Twitter
when people say, like, "I live far away,"
or, "I can't afford to come to New York, and I really want to see it,"
or, "We wished you were running longer."
And so we are actually doing something really great,
which is that Netflix is adapting the play
for the platform.
We're not just filming the play.
We're adapting it to kind of be this movie/play hybrid event.
-Really? And Netflix is going to help with this, as well.
-Yeah, they're going to continue the conversation by making sure
we continue to get those Opportunity Agenda questions out there.
-That's very cool you're doing this, pal.
-Thank you. -Good for you for doing that.
-I'm so happy, because I feel like --
So many people come to see the play say, "This is so great.
Everybody should be having these conversations.
Everybody should be seeing this play."
It really brings us together as a country
and makes us talk about things that we don't know how
to talk about in this country."
So it feels exciting
that more people than just the ones in New York
or just the people who have flown in to see it,
that now everybody's going to get to have this conversation.
-Sometime this year. -Yeah.
-I wanted to give you a gift
to congratulate you on your rave reviews for this play
and your great phone acting.
I got you an iPhone case.
[ Laughter ]
It says "Not today, Satan."
[ Cheers and applause ]
-That's amazing!
-You got to take it with you this time.
-I will. -Our thanks to Kerry Washington.
Look for the movie adaptation of her play, "American Son,"
on Netflix later this year.