At six months old, Aarash Darroodi’s parents, who were foreign students in the US, sent their son back to Iran to live with his grandparents so they could complete their graduate studies at the University of Houston. That was 1979. A year later, the Iran-Iraq War erupted. It took seven years and attempts in many countries to get a US visa before Darroodi would reunite with his family in America. That experience, Darroodi says, shaped his life, which would forever be changed.
As General Counsel & Executive Vice President of Fender, Aarash Darroodi has developed a successful 20-year in-house legal career on the idea of melding a traditional legal education/experience with business acumen and business intelligence. He leverages his personal history to lead with empathy and pragmatism. Aarash is quite simply and beautifully a connector. He also has developed the course “How to Build a Rain Machine” through which he teaches lawyers what in-house clients really want. Equipping outside counsel with the secret skills and tactics to maximize client billings, client retention, and client satisfaction. Learn more here: https://www.rainstaracademy.com/.
“Everybody has a story when you connect to humanity,” Darroodi says. “What you realize is that those stories bring a lot of life learning, and there is a lot of power that’s locked up within people that they feel that they should hide it away and not embrace it. I fundamentally disagree. I think you embrace it because those are where the learnings come from. … I just don’t want to see the resume, I want to know the story. What were some of the challenges you faced in your life? How did you overcome them? What did you learn from those challenges? How do you think those challenges will help you in the future? That’s valuable. That’s what I want to see. I want those people, the ones that have overcome difficulties and challenges. … People are more capable than they know … But people themselves, a lot of times, we need somebody to see that within us and push us, and then we can achieve greatness we never thought possible.”
The fundamental power of storytelling, of reclaiming our individual narratives, and of celebrating our differences will be the focus of this episode. The human condition can be one of “categorizing” others, and thereby limiting potential. Aarash and Roy will discuss how important it is to break that cycle and how each individual can embrace respective heritage as a means of authentic differentiation and professional branding. They will also address the business benefits to leaders who model this for their colleagues and their teams.
Darroodi is an in-demand speaker and pundit, having offered commentary to Bloomberg Law, Thomson Reuters, The Legal 500, TedX, the American Bar Association, American Lawyer Media, South by Southwest, the Association of Corporate Counsel, the Legal Marketing Association, Fox Business, The Los Angeles Times, and the Maryland State Bar Association.
Jay Harrington is president of his eponymous agency Harrington and is one of the country’s leading consultants and strategists in the areas of legal marketing, PR, and business development. His consulting work includes helping clients define strong market branding and positioning, develop effective thought-leadership strategies, gain visibility through public relations, and generate new business through the execution of marketing tactics.
Jay practices what he preaches. He doesn’t merely consult with clients about the importance of thought-leadership PR and marketing—he is an active content creator himself. He frequently speaks and writes on important issues and trends in legal marketing. His writing is featured in columns for Law.com, JD Supra, and Attorney at Work. He is also the author of three books: The Productivity Pivot, The Essential Associate, and One of a Kind.
Following February’s conversation with Laura Gassner Otting about “getting unstuck,” Jay and Roy discuss how important thought leadership is to personal and professional branding and provide tips on how to stop overthinking and just connect, leveraging the power of social media and digital channels.
Jay leads a vibrant attorney coaching and training practice, through which he provides one-on-one coaching and group training to attorneys and law firms, with a focus on issues related to business development, productivity, and thought leadership.
Jay is a sought after speaker who frequently presents to law firms and legal industry associations on a range of topics including branding, thought-leadership marketing, and business development. His unique approach blends storytelling, strategy, behavioral science, and practical, actionable advice.
Prior to co-founding the agency 15 years ago, Jay practiced law as a commercial litigator and corporate bankruptcy attorney at top law firms, including Skadden Arps and Foley & Lardner. He also co-founded and ran a boutique corporate restructuring law firm. He has an undergraduate degree in journalism and earned his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School. During his time practicing law, Jay learned what it takes to market successfully and develop business for sophisticated professional services, and he applies those lessons while working with clients today.
Thank you, Anna Spektor, Alex Kasdan, and Expert Webcast, for hearing my voice, seeing something in my perspective, and encouraging me to build on momentum from 2023. I’m one for synergies. Any marketer worth their salt is. And this is a lovely and unique opportunity for worlds to collide, elevating all in the process.
“We are pleased to welcome Roy Sexton, Clark Hill’s Director of Marketing and Immediate Past International President of the Legal Marketing Association, to the Expert Webcast Advisory Board. As a thought leader and marketing expert, Roy, in this volunteer role, will continue to champion inclusion, community building, authentic storytelling, and value creation. Roy hosts Expert Webcast’s ‘All the World’s YOUR Stage’ series, focusing on how these qualities lead to growth in one’s personal and professional brand. He has 25 years of experience in marketing, communications, business development, and strategic planning across a number of industries, including legal, healthcare, higher education, nonprofits, and consulting.”
Roy Sexton is excited to share some inspiring stories with the world.
Joining with Expert Webcast in launching a new series, Sexton is hosting a new show called “All the World’s YOUR Stage: Authentic Culture Drives Authentic Growth.”
Sexton, a Saline resident who is the Clark Hill Director of Marketing and Immediate Past International President of the Legal Marketing Association, said this new show is an exciting opportunity to share his friends’ stories.
“I’m thrilled to be able to share my friends and their inspiring stories with the world. These professionals all have incredible and varied careers, rich with life lessons that can help others succeed and thrive in their respective work,” Sexton said in the Expert Webcast announcement. “I come from a long line of storytellers, and I think the best way to learn and to be inspired is by sharing our journeys with each other.”
Sexton leads Clark Hill’s marketing, branding, and communications efforts in collaboration with the firm’s exceptional team of marketing and business development professionals. He has nearly 20 years of experience in marketing, communications, business development, and strategic planning.
Sexton’s show is expected to feature discussions “with notable business leaders on why culture matters, how one’s personal and professional brand are inextricably linked, and how to leverage your innate authenticity to create growth and spur sustainable organizational change.”
Expert Webcast is a woman-owned company and is a leading source of transactional wisdom and market intelligence for the professional and the business communities locally, nationally and cross-border.
Producing the industry’s leading panel discussions and interviews covering corporate, M&A, restructuring and finance topics, Expert Webcast said it “addresses timely and relevant issues faced by general counsel, C-level executives, boards of directors, business owners and their advisors, as well as institutional investors.”
Anna Spektor, Expert Webcast’s Founder and CEO, said they are looking forward to what Sexton’s show will bring.
“We partner with leading media outlets and organizations to expand the reach and impact of the platform, and to foster collaboration and knowledge sharing among industry peers and stakeholders,” Spektor said in the announcement. “Roy is a welcome addition to our voices. We’ve already recorded our first episode [with Blaine Fowler], and I’m just thrilled with the direction. I think our viewers – attorney leaders, executives, professional services practitioners – will gain great insight from these accessible, fun, authentic conversations.”
Spektor added, “As an acknowledged business leader and a top legal marketing, communications and strategic planning executive, Roy will add a new dimension to the Expert Webcast legal, finance and transactional programming by interviewing entrepreneurs, media personalities and other business leaders, focusing on business culture, growth and collaboration.”
Sexton is described as being passionate about problem solving, facilitating business growth, crafting communications strategy, and enhancing law firm culture. He works closely with the marketing team to advance the firm’s digital and social media presence and external engagement, using multi-channel distribution and data collection. This enables the team to quantify results and use those results to produce thoughtfully and strategically organized content for clients and prospects.
Sexton also advises attorneys on marketing and business development strategy by curating relationships among external publications and media outlets and creating the appropriate platforms and opportunities for attorneys to promote their knowledge and practice.
He has been heavily involved regionally and nationally in the Legal Marketing Association (LMA) as a board member, content expert, and presenter. He currently serves as Past President of LMA. He also serves on the governance board committee of Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit and was marketing chair for Ronald McDonald House Charities Ann Arbor’s board.
Sexton was named one of INvolve People’s 2023 Top 100 OUTstanding LGBTQ+ Executives internationally. He was listed in Crain’s Detroit “Notable LGBTQ in Business” in 2021 and “Notable Leaders in Marketing” in 2023, and he was a Michigan Lawyers Weekly“Unsung Legal Hero” (2018).
In 2022, Clark Hill’s marketing campaign, which Sexton played a key role in developing, received the Best Marketing Campaign award from the Managing Partners’ Forum in London, celebrating professional services organizations. The campaign was noted for its focus on values, diversity, and inclusion. The Clark Hill marketing and business development team was also awarded “Best Marketing Initiative” by Managing Partners’ Forum in 2020.
Sexton is also a published author of two books: Reel Roy Reviews, Volumes 1 and 2and he was named “Best Actor in a Musical” by BroadwayWorld Detroit in 2017 for his performance as Jasper in The Mystery of Edwin Drood at Ann Arbor Civic.
Sexton’s first season’s guests will include:
96.3 WDVD’s morning show co-host of Blaine and Lauren Blaine D. Fowler
The Wall Street Journal best-selling author of Wonderhell and Limitless as well as keynote speaker and coach Laura Gassner Otting
Author/coach/recovering attorney/president of Harrington Communications Jay Harrington
Thank you, R.J. King and DBusiness Magazine. You are always very kind to me. You do so much good for our Metro Detroit community. And you are appreciated.
Roy Sexton, director of marketing for Clark Hill Law, will host a new show called “All the World’s YOUR Stage: Authentic Culture Drives Authentic Growth” for Expert Webcast, a woman-owned company and source of market intelligence for the professional and the business communities locally, nationally, and cross-border.
It produces panel discussions and interviews covering corporate, mergers and acquisitions, restructuring and finance topics, expert webcast addresses timely and relevant issues faced by general counsel, C-level executives, boards of directors, business owners, and their advisors, as well as institutional investors.
Sexton’s webcast will feature discussions with notable business leaders on why culture matters, how one’s personal and professional brand are inextricably linked, and how to use innate authenticity to create growth and spur sustainable organizational change.
The first season’s guests will include Blaine D. Fowler, 96.3 WDVD’s morning show co-host of “Blaine and Lauren;” Laura Gassner Otting, The Wall Street Journal best-selling author of “Wonderhell” and “Limitless” as well as keynote speaker and coach; Jay Harrington, author/coach/recovering attorney/president of Harrington Communications; Aarash Darroodi, vice president and corporate secretary and general counsel for Fender Musical Instruments Corporation; Roop Raj, prime time anchor for FOX 2 Detroit; and Lauren M. London, general counsel for Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti and executive director of The Penny Seats.
“I’m thrilled to be able to share my friends and their inspiring stories with the world,” says Sexton. “These professionals all have incredible and varied careers, rich with life lessons that can help others succeed and thrive in their respective work. I come from a long line of storytellers, and I think the best way to learn and to be inspired is by sharing our journeys with each other.”
Sexton leads Clark Hill’s marketing, branding, and communications efforts in collaboration with the firm’s team of marketing and business development professionals. He has nearly 20 years of experience in marketing, communications, business development, and strategic planning.
Sexton is a published author of two books: “Reel Roy Reviews,” Volumes 1 and 2 and he was named Best Actor in a Musical by BroadwayWorld Detroit in 2017 for his performance as Jasper in “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” at Ann Arbor Civic Theatre.
Expert Webcast has launched a new series hosted by Clark Hill director of marketing and immediate past international president of the Legal Marketing Association Roy Sexton.
Titled “All the World’s YOUR Stage: Authentic Culture Drives Authentic Growth,” the show will feature discussions with notable business leaders on why culture matters, how one’s personal and professional brand are inextricably linked, and how to leverage your innate authenticity to create growth and spur sustainable organizational change.
Counselor and spiritual coach Julie Booksh, MA, LPC
FOX 2 Detroit prime time anchor Roop Raj (TBD)
Eastern Michigan University General Counsel and Executive Director of The Penny Seats theatre company Lauren M. London
Keynote speaker/corporate comedian/client care strategist Brenda Pontiff of Partner Track Academy
Professor of Psychology, Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience Area, University of Michigan and author Stephanie Preston
President and CEO of Detroit Regional Partnership Maureen Donohue Krauss, FM
Storyteller + Strategist: on stage and behind the scenes, award-winning voiceover artist Ratana
Communications Manager at Walt Disney Imagineering Dana C. Harvey, MBA
“I’m thrilled to be able to share my friends and their inspiring stories with the world. These professionals all have incredible and varied careers, rich with life lessons that can help others succeed and thrive in their respective work,” Sexton observed. “I come from a long line of storytellers, and I think the best way to learn and to be inspired is by sharing our journeys with each other.”
Expert Webcast is a woman-owned company and is a leading source of transactional wisdom and market intelligence for the professional and the business communities locally, nationally and cross-border. Producing the industry’s leading panel discussions and interviews covering corporate, M&A, restructuring and finance topics, Expert Webcast addresses timely and relevant issues faced by general counsel, C-level executives, boards of directors, business owners and their advisors, as well as institutional investors.
“We partner with leading media outlets and organizations to expand the reach and impact of the platform, and to foster collaboration and knowledge sharing among industry peers and stakeholders,” Anna Spektor, Expert Webcast’s Founder and CEO, noted. “Roy is a welcome addition to our voices. We’ve already recorded our first episode [with Blaine Fowler], and I’m just thrilled with the direction. I think our viewers – attorney leaders, executives, professional services practitioners – will gain great insight from these accessible, fun, authentic conversations.”
Roy Sexton leads Clark Hill’s marketing, branding, and communications efforts in collaboration with the firm’s team of marketing and business development professionals. He has nearly 20 years of experience in marketing, communications, business development, and strategic planning.
“As an acknowledged business leader and a top legal marketing, communications and strategic planning executive, Roy will add a new dimension to the Expert Webcast legal, finance and transactional programming by interviewing entrepreneurs, media personalities and other business leaders, focusing on business culture, growth and collaboration,” Spektor added.
Sexton is passionate about problem solving, facilitating business growth, crafting communications strategy, and enhancing law firm culture. He works closely with the marketing team to advance the firm’s digital and social media presence and external engagement, using multi-channel distribution and data collection. This enables the team to quantify results and use those results to produce thoughtfully and strategically organized content for clients and prospects.
Sexton also advises attorneys on marketing and business development strategy by curating relationships among external publications and media outlets and creating the appropriate platforms and opportunities for attorneys to promote their knowledge and practice.
He has been heavily involved regionally and nationally in the Legal Marketing Association – LMA International (LMA) as a board member, content expert, and presenter. He currently serves as Past President of LMA. He also serves on the governance board committee of Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit and was marketing chair for Ronald McDonald House Charities Ann Arbor’s board.
Sexton was named one of INvolve People’s 2023 Top 100 OUTstanding LGBTQ+ Executives internationally. He was listed in Crain’s Detroit Business’ “Notable LGBTQ in Business” in 2021 and “Notable Leaders in Marketing” in 2023, and he was a Michigan Lawyers Weekly “Unsung Legal Hero” (2018).
In 2022, Clark Hill’s marketing campaign, which Sexton played a key role in developing, received the Best Marketing Campaign award from the Managing Partners’ Forum in London, celebrating professional services organizations. The campaign was noted for its focus on values, diversity, and inclusion. The Clark Hill marketing and business development team was also awarded “Best Marketing Initiative” by Managing Partners’ Forum in 2020.
Sexton is a published author of two books: ReelRoyReviews, Volumes 1 and 2 and he was named “Best Actor in a Musical” by BroadwayWorld in 2017 for his performance as Jasper in The Mystery of Edwin Drood at Ann Arbor Civic Theatre.
Thank you, Sheila Pursglove, Joel K. Epstein, Brian Cox, Brad Thompson, and crew! Front page above the fold TWO WEEKS in a row? It’s the hair, isn’t it? Tell me it’s the hair. In all seriousness, thank you for the kindness, friendship, and support – it means the world.
Roy Sexton leads Clark Hill Law’s marketing, branding, and communications efforts in collaboration with the firm’s team of marketing and business development professionals. He has nearly 20 years of experience in marketing, communications, business development, and strategic planning.
Sexton is passionate about problem solving, facilitating business growth, crafting communications strategy, and enhancing law firm culture. He works closely with the marketing team to advance the firm’s digital and social media presence and external engagement, using multi-channel distribution and data collection. This enables the team to quantify results and use those results to produce thoughtfully and strategically organized content for clients and prospects. He also advises attorneys on marketing and business development strategy by curating relationships among external publications and media outlets and creating the appropriate platforms and opportunities for attorneys to promote their knowledge and practice.
A resident of Saline, Sexton has been heavily involved regionally and nationally in the Legal Marketing Association – LMA International (LMA) as a board member, content expert, and presenter. He will serve as the LMA’s president in 2023. In addition, Sexton is a published author of two books: “ReelRoyReviews,” Volumes 1 and 2.
What would surprise people about your job?
People still seem pleasantly surprised that I have a global focus. Clark Hill is a huge firm with an international footprint, and, while Michigan will always be home, my responsibilities span the U.S., Mexico, and Ireland. And my fab boss Susan Ahern, our CMBDO, is based in Dublin. I’ve learned to become quite savvy about time zones!
What’s your favorite law-related TV show?
I always say “The Good Wife.” The trials and tribulations of Alan Cumming’s character in particular. In a law firm, no two days are the same when you hold a marketing role. It’s thrilling and sometimes comical how your work runs the gamut from the sublime to, well, I won’t finish that sentence.
If you could trade places with someone for a day, who would that be?
Weird as this is to type, I’d trade places with my mom Susie Sexton (who recently passed) so she could have a good chance to say goodbye. She left this world rather abruptly (heart attack), and, having sheltered away for months and months because of COVID, I don’t know that she got a chance to reconnect with people she loved before she vanished. I don’t mean all that to seem as dour as it reads, but I wish she’d had one truly happy day before she was gone.
What do you do to relax?
My inner introvert shines on days off. Admittedly, I have to get through any and all chores first. I also eat the things I don’t much like on my plate first too. But once I’m free and clear, it’s pajamas, comic books, bad pop music, playing with our fur baby Hudson, having a quiet dinner with my husband, and watching some escapist TV.
What other career path might you have chosen?
I have a master’s degree in theatre and thought for a while that I would get a Ph.D. and go into academia. But I wanted to eat. I still wonder what would have happened if I’d tried the “chuck it all and audition for Broadway/Hollywood” route also. But I have such a happy and fulfilling life that I have zero regrets.
What would you say to your 16-year-old self?
Enjoy the moments with people you might not know you will see again. We are always all so enmeshed in petty dramas or accomplishing some task or rushing off to the next event that we miss the moments that matter. I wish I’d curbed my rampant collecting habits (books, movies, music, toys) early on and put more energy into collecting experiences. And I wish I’d enjoyed being skinny! I was so self-conscious back then about not looking like a Men’s Health model, and I should have just appreciated being me!
Favorite local hangouts?
Seva Ann Arbor has become our “Cheers.” We are vegetarians and still a bit cautious about getting out and about too many places. The food is glorious but it’s the staff who have made us feel so welcome and loved. Every Saturday night – and sometimes Fridays too. I also am a bit obsessed with Target, and I love Vault of Midnight (comic book shop). I really need to get a life!
Oh, I’m such a menace on all social media apps. And I still love iTunes/Apple Music (lord, I’m a dinosaur). And Layout is a great little app for simple photo collages.
Favorite music?
I’m a gay man raised in the ’80s: Madonna, Janet Jackson, Tori Amos, Cher, Whitney Houston, George Michael, New Order, Kylie Minogue, Annie Lennox, k.d. lang … basically any and all dance pop with a slight edge to it. And that sensibility continues: Taylor Swift, Britney Spears, Dua Lipa, Lizzo, Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry … well, you get the gist.
What is your happiest childhood memory?
I didn’t have many birthday parties. I am an only child, but it just wasn’t something we did. My birthday is December 28, which coincided with my parents’ wedding anniversary. Smack dab in the middle of the holidays, not super conducive to adding another gathering to the mix. But I remember one (of two) childhood parties where my parents, grandparents, and a couple of friends all gathered in our dining room for cake and ice cream. And it was all just quiet and loving and warm. I had a wonderful childhood, and have so many memories but that one sticks out right now as I just turned 50!
What is your most treasured material possession?
When he died, my grandfather Roy Duncan left me his mother’s college ring with “1900” (her graduation year) emblazoned across it. He wore it every day of his life, and I’ve worn it every day of my life since he passed in 1983. In fact, my fingers are so fat now I can’t remove it even if I wanted to. And I don’t! I just think it’s a beautiful reminder of legacy.
What do you wish someone would invent?
Something that makes everyone less reactionary and adversarial over the smallest things. As I age, I just find it harder and harder to understand why people point out flaws, undercut others, argue to prove a point … it’s just so much time wasted. And when I’m being ugly or receiving ugliness, I just feel it as tension in my chest, and I don’t know why people want to walk around like that.
What has been your favorite year so far and why?
2000 – the year I met my husband. It was also a very tough year – I came out to my parents (didn’t go well … like spectacularly so) and John ended up getting a foreign assignment in Japan just months after we met. But it was a year that brought him into my life, it was a year that taught me resilience, and it was a year that set me on a path to genuine happiness.
What’s the most awe-inspiring place you’ve ever been?
Tokyo, Japan when I was in high school. The U.S. Senate had a program in the ‘80s with Youth for Understanding where they sent two “youth ambassadors” from each state to Japan for the summer. I’d never been anywhere. To be immersed in such a vibrant, dynamic, bustling environment with so much to see and try and do, it was overwhelming in all the best ways. A transformative summer. I still feel electricity in my bones when I’m in big city like that.
If you could have one super power, what would it be?
Help everyone be a bit kinder. It’s easy and lazy to be mean. It takes a little effort to show appreciation. But is so much more rewarding.
What’s one thing you would like to learn to do?
Play the piano. Not ever gonna happen. I’ve tried a few times. I don’t have the discipline. But I wish I could accompany myself as a singer. Would save money!
What is something most people don’t know about you?
I wrote a column for our hometown paper in high school. It was called “AdoleSENSE” and was about my experience in small town America. I also wrote the occasional feature story, and the longer they were, the more money I got. I could write a LOT … which bought me more comic books. I also won the national PTA Reflections writing contest three (or four?) years in a row in elementary school.
If you could have dinner with three people, past or present, who would they be?
Jennifer Garner, Wanda Sykes, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, Mindy Kaling, Kelly Ripa, Parker Posey, Aidy Bryant, and Jane Fonda. Yes, I know that is triple the requested number. This answer has evolved for me over the years. Now I just want to have dinner with nice people who will make me laugh or inspire me.
What’s the best advice you ever received?
From my boss Susan Ahern: “Take the pause. Not everything has to be rushed. Pick up the phone before the e-mails escalate. You don’t need to feel pressured to entertain or make everyone laugh. Just be.” It’s a paraphrased compilation of thoughts, but her advice has been transformative.
Favorite place to spend money?
Seva Ann Arbor, Target, Vault of Midnight … and Amazon.com! Heaven help me.
What is your motto?
“It’s okay to not be okay.” Something more recent, but I have a lapel pin with that thought and I wear it frequently. As much to remind myself as anyone else!
Which living person do you most admire?
My dad Don Sexton has been through a lot the past couple of years. He retired, lost my mom, began a new relationship with a wonderful soul, transformed his home (still working on that), travels, and has remained buoyant and resilient throughout. I admire how he has embraced life when others might have crumbled. It’s kept me from crumbling myself just to observe!
What do you consider to be your greatest achievement?
Staying true to myself. I’m odd. Some have called me quirky. But (mostly) I’ve not twisted myself into some unrecognizable version of Roy to get ahead or to be liked. At least I hope that’s the case!
What is the most unusual thing you have done?
I don’t know if this qualifies, but my husband John Mola is a fan of the singing group 98 Degrees. Over the years, we’ve seen them multiple times as they’ve devolved into a career of casino performing. Consequently, their meet and greets are pretty affordable, and we’ve gotten to the point of affirmative facial recognition from them when we show up! Jeff Timmons even follows me on Twitter. Ah, we’ve arrived!
“Your imperfections make you special.” – Joey, student actor in “Spotlight,” the final episode of Marvel’s 616
Today, we brought in our deck furniture (from the summer!) to store in the basement, that is after decorating our house for Christmas. We bought the set what feels like yesterday (April), and we dutifully covered it to protect it from harsh sun and booming thunderstorms, pretty much never sitting on it, once wrapped in a cumbersome, billowing shroud of waxy canvas. So we paid for outdoor couches, negotiated their delivery in pandemic, never used them, and just huffed and puffed maneuvering them through endless doors and hallways into our basement, in another attempt to protect them.
Futility and comedy, thy name is home ownership. Everyone keeps blaming 2020 for everything, as if an arbitrarily determined twelve-month signifier of time’s passage is the cause of our collective woes. Yet, what has actually been laid bare in this dumpster fire period is, in fact, that we are all ourselves to blame with our materialistic, self-absorbed mania day after day, a long-standing debt that finally came due. How much have we taken for granted and what damage have we done to planet, culture, ecology, health, and mental well-being in the process? We’ve likely only seen the tip of that iceberg. Ahoy, me maties!
Take these chances Place them in a box until a quieter time Lights down, you up and die Driving in on this highway All these cars and upon the sidewalk People in every direction No words exchanged No time to exchange
When all the little ants are marching Red and black antennas waving They all do it the same They all do it the same way
My last legit movie review was Birds of Prey. In February. Lord, I hope that’s not the last movie I ever get to see in an actual movie theatre. If I had only known, I’d have chosen … oh, who am I kidding? I still would have seen it. I miss the communal experience of movies, observing audience reaction and assessing the art as well as the commerce of cinema. Wild horses couldn’t get me to go now, if ever again, but I do miss it. Yet, between lone gunmen and rampant plague, performance venues are the new OK Corral.
Thanksgiving has always been a special movie time for my family. My parents and I, year after year, would see hundreds of films over the long holiday weekends, beguiled by Hollywood’s relentless marketing machine. We’d pronounce a film as “awful!” only to change our minds over breakfast, searching for connective tissue and insights into the human condition from such disparate selections as Life of Piand Daddy’s Home 2. I miss that. I miss my parents.
My husband and I have had no end of entertainment – deck furniture notwithstanding. Showing my age, I do resent that finding new shows to binge is tantamount to a digital Easter egg hunt these days. Netflix? No. AmazonPrime? Maybe. Disney+? Possibly. Do we just have this on DVD somewhere?
We’ve enjoyed a lot of what we’ve seen, at times arguably more forgiving of relative quality for the escape that Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Ratched, Upload, All-American, Hollywood, The Order, The Boys, Emily in Paris, Mandalorian, The Umbrella Academy provided. I’m 99% certain we would have watched very few of these (let alone looked forward to each installment like Victorians eagerly awaiting the next Dickens chapter) had the world not been ending every five days. For this time with my husband, enjoying our home, staying at home, not chasing frenetically scheduled ACTIVITIES!, I am grateful. Pandemic has been a pleasant reprieve in that regard, and I may have been permanently transformed into Boo Radley as a result. Check our trees for handmade toys left for passers-by.
My dear friend Tyler Chase is a talented documentary filmmaker, and she gave me a sneak peek at her latest A Castle in Brooklyn, King Arthur. To say it was the right movie to see in my present mindset would be textbook understatement. I am haunted days after by her clear-eyed, unsentimental but utterly empathic filmic observations on the clash of creativity, capitalism, obsession, free thought, and community in postmodern America.
From the film’s website: “A Castle in Brooklyn, King Arthur with Golden Globe Award recipient, Brian Cox as the Narrator is an intimate and journalistic documentary by filmmaker, Tyler A. Chase. The intimate and journalistic documentary … filmed over a period of seven years, A Castle in Brooklyn, King Arthur, brings us through the doors of the iconic Broken Angel building and into the world of its creators, the visionary, Arthur Wood and his wife, Cynthia as they cling to their life’s work, the Broken Angel building, the last symbol of the bohemian artist culture that once permeated Brooklyn, NY.
“The Woods created the 108 foot Broken Angel objet trouvé building as a sculpture and landmark for the community located in a section of Clinton Hill bordering on Bed Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. The Broken Angel building is the subject of local and international news specials; photographed by many. The Woods are loved by their neighbors who see the iconic structure as a beacon of freedom and the threat of its destruction as an omen of the disappearance of a way of life and community. To many it is a symbol of freedom – to others an opportunity for profit.
“Filmmaker, Tyler A. Chase renders the Woods’ story as one both magical and heart wrenching; following them through triumphs, judicial blunders, injustice, evictions, and comedic moments all the while inspired by the indomitable spirit of visionary artist and creator of the Broken Angel, Arthur Wood.”
Director Tyler Chase filming on location at Broken Angel (above) and with narrator Brian Cox (below)
The piece, which recently received the Audience Choice Award from YoFiFest 2020 and the Grand Jury Prize from the CARE Awards International Film Festival, is lyrical and poignant and heartbreaking. Chase captures the visceral nature of what it must have been like to live in that space. And the pain of being deeply misunderstood. Grey Gardens for the 21st century.
As far as narrative techniques, Chase employs interstitial chapter headings with ironic word choices/definitions, building the momentum inexorably. Like a slow-moving car crash, it’s clear things won’t end well for Arthur, Cynthia, or their beloved home. This chapter device – dare I invoke Dickensian tragicomedy again? – accentuates the tale’s inevitability. We all know how the relentless, monochromatic push of “economic development” can destroy the delicate work of sensitive souls creating art in the margins. America, ain’t it something to see? But the viewer mustn’t look away, and Chase’s gaze assures that you won’t.
The overall construction of the film mirrors the Broken Angel itself, layering upon itself in jagged turns, a documentary collage. Exquisite. The film FEELS artisanal – no doubt because of its lengthy gestation – which brings us that much closer to understanding Arthur’s quixotic DIY style. Hello, Oscar? Don’t overlook this essential, bespoke film.
Brian Cox’ regally dulcet tones as the film’s narrator are, yes, Arthurian, yet comforting with a wry edge. The use of music – folk, classical, even what seems like Gregorian chanting – is elegiac. And the moment Chase steps in front of her camera to advocate in real-time for Arthur (at The U.N. no less!), becoming a character in the story, is breathtaking. Just when the viewer is screaming, “Why can’t someone do something for these souls?!” … she does.
(Side note: for the inevitable scripted Hollywood remake, Willem DaFoe is Arthur Wood’s doppelgänger, and he could start preparing his Academy Award acceptance speech now. And then Stephen Schwartz could musicalize it for Broadway, dusting off some of the salvageable ideas from his work on Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame. Broken Angel! The Musical! Arthur and Cynthia could live on forever!)
Chase tells the story of Broken Angel with an artist’s appreciation and identification sans any judgment. That’s all Arthur likely ever wanted, in his expression and in his life. Is that why some of us “live out loud,” making bold choices, seemingly incongruous with the workaday world? Semiotic code for the person to be seen and accepted as they are? More devastating than the demolition of Arthur’s life’s work is society’s sniffy rejection of his unique soul made manifest in the Broken Angel.
Surprisingly, this same theme carries through another documentary – or rather documentary series – of a more corporate variety: Marvel’s 616 on Disney+. Across eight episodes, helmed by a bevy of filmmakers, the series wisely eschews a linear recounting of Marvel Comics’ storied history, instead highlighting unsung corners of fandom and creative output.
The incisive episode depicting the rise and proliferation of women comic book writers and artists is as reflective of the fraught times in which we live as it is of Marvel’s fits and starts where inclusion is concerned. The episode about toy creation and collection is as frenetic and joy-filled as you might imagine. And the feature on Marvel’s growing community of international artists is quietly introspective and appropriately moving, if not quite compensating for Marvel’s poor track record with creators of color in the past.
Episodes, respectively, on the cosplay community and school-based theatre are almost tangentially Marvel, shining a much needed light on people left behind who found kinship, purpose, and family through the characters, stories, and mythology of Marvel. I dare you not to shed a few happy tears while viewing.
Much (digital) ink has been spilled on the episode highlighting the legendary “Marvel Method,” whereby an issue is created iteratively and collaboratively between writer and artist. Affable, jocular Dan Slott, the subject of the episode, spurred great ire from fanboys over what they perceived as his seeming disrespect for his fellow creators (and, ultimately, for the end user). Slott’s procrastination is played for comic effect in the episode, and his chronic inability to meet dreaded deadlines is excused under the guise of “Marvel Method.”
The angry binge-watching horde missed the point, however. This isn’t about their inconvenience over receiving the latest issue of Iron Man 2020 a few weeks later than expected. This is about, yet again, the thorny nexus of art and commerce. For Slott, like Arthur Wood, creative expression is a kind of one-sided communion with his fellow human beings. The procrastination prolongs the fun, the invention, the collaboration. Hitting deadline means the party’s over, only to begin again on a schedule set by management, not artists.
Dan Slott
The episode ends with Slott prowling his local comic shop – no doubt in avoidance of work awaiting him at home – joyously name-dropping his favorite writers and artists, as he thumbs through their latest issues. In that moment, he is a figure both inspiringly childlike and painfully alone. If anything, I am now more appreciative of Dan Slott as a singular voice than I am annoyed by delays in his output.
I’m just a face in the crowd Nothing to worry about Not even trying to stand out I’m getting smaller and smaller and smaller And I got nothing to say It’s all been taken away I just behave and obey I’m afraid that I’m starting to fade away
Hey, and for what it was worth I really used to believe That maybe there’s some great thing That we could achieve And now I can’t tell the difference Or know what to feel Between what I’ve been trying so hard to see And what appears to be real
Images of Bill Schwarz and of my mom Susie Duncan Sexton during various special moments of creativity and community
We all just want to be seen, to be understood, to matter. While writing this, my mom Susie Duncan Sexton received a glorious email from her friend and fellow Columbia City, Indiana native Bill Schwarz. My mother wrote about Bill nearly a decade ago (here), and they recently reconnected. Both are accomplished talents in their own rights (check out Bill’s singing group “New Tradition Chorus” and upcoming concert), but their appreciation for one another is inspiring. Bill just finished reading one of my mother’s books, and here is an excerpt of what he wrote to her in response:
“After reading your book (on my Nook reader) it prompted me to write my opinion… I perceived a sensitive, creative intellect that deeply cared and loved unconditionally. Your pets have that quality as does your son Roy. I sensed in your writing the wholesome expression of joy, yet I saw you tempering feelings of dismay. You said, how does the song go: ‘looking for love in the most usual places…..’”
And isn’t that all any of us desire? A voice that is heard, appreciated, reciprocated. To all of the artists in this world … thank you.
And then one day A magic day he passed my way And while we spoke of many things Fools and kings This he said to me The greatest thing you’ll ever learn Is just to love and be loved in return
The greatest thing you’ll ever learn Is just to love and be loved in return
Want to join me in supporting a good cause? Beginning this #GivingTuesday and on through my birthday on December 28, I’m raising money for Ronald McDonald House Charities Ann Arbor and your contribution will make an impact, whether you donate $5 or $500. I’m a proud board member and have seen firsthand how every little bit helps.
The mission of the Ann Arbor Ronald McDonald Houses is to provide families of children experiencing a serious illness or injury requiring hospitalization or treatment on an outpatient basis, a “home away from home” that assists in alleviating the families’ emotional and financial stress.
We had a ball performing as part of Theatre Nova’s Michigan Playwrights Festival Night 2: Hollywood Lies. Thank you, Jackie Sue Salter for the fun words and zippy characters, Brian Cox for the loving friendship and expert direction, and Carla Milarch for your nuanced facilitation and gracious leadership. Hope I get to work with this talented cast again: Colleen Gentry, Ellen Finch, Robert Schorr, and my giggle buddy Laurie Atwood. Thank you to sweet friends Kim Elizabeth Johnson, Sue Nelson, Rebecca Winder, Eric Winder, Mary Newton, and Toby Tieger for your gracious support (and photos) and for taking time from your busy lives to attend. Such a perfect night of theatre community 🎭 ❤️
And, yes, Kim Kelly and Julaine DeMink LeDuc, I recycled my Ronald McDonald House Charities of Ann Arbor “Red Shoe Affair” footwear.
“Hollywood Lies” by Jackie Sue Salter
Thursday, July 26, 2018, 8:00 pm
A story of friendship amidst the Hollywood blacklist, Hollywood Lies presents 1948 Hollywood where a just-past-her-prime actress attempts to revive her stalled career.
Cast:
Brenda Baxter: Colleen Gentry
Jerry Simon: Roy Sexton
Ida Stiles: Laurie Atwood
Sid Levy: Robert Schorr
Sylvia Thomas: Ellen Finch
Stage directions: Brian Cox
Directed by Brian Cox
Reel Roy Reviews is now TWO books! You can purchase your copies by clicking here (print and digital). In addition to online ordering at Amazon or from the publisher Open Books, the first book is currently is being carried by Bookbound, Common Language Bookstore, and Crazy Wisdom Bookstore and Tea Room in Ann Arbor, Michigan and by Green Brain Comics in Dearborn, Michigan. My mom Susie Duncan Sexton’s Secrets of an Old Typewriter series is also available on Amazon and at Bookbound and Common Language.
“Words – so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them,” the novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne once observed. For all intents and purposes, this quote could serve as the central thesis of Tipping Point Theatre’s latest offering, the Michigan premiere of Y. York’s The Impossibility of Now.
[Image Source: Tipping Point]
With a narrative conceit that wouldn’t have been out of place in mid-century episodes of Playhouse 90, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, or my mother’s beloved The Loretta Young Show, York’s play details the recovery of a successful non-fiction writer Carl (a dazzling Dave Davies) whose slate is literally wiped clean when a utility pole falls on his car and renders him an amnesiac. His wife Miranda (poignantly portrayed by Julia Glander) has suffered for years, married to a pre-accident Carl who was terse, cruel, distant, and unkind, keeping her an emotional prisoner in their isolated three-story Las Vegas condo.
[Image Source: Tipping Point]
In the midst of her heartache, Miranda had taken up with a hunky man-child dentist Anthony (Glander’s real-life husband Alex Leydenfrost) who may or may not have fully healed from his own recent divorce. Yet, Carl returns from the hospital a changed man – innocent and loving, full of wonder about this new world around him … and pretty darn smitten with Miranda. Needless to say, Miranda is at a crossroads.
[Image Source: Tipping Point]
What keeps the piece from devolving into maudlin soap opera? Sprightly dialogue by York that values adult wit over self-indulgent shtick and, perhaps more importantly, smart direction from Frannie Shepherd-Bates that allows each of her talented actors to shine and genius set and projection design from Moníka Essen that elevates the narrative with a hauntingly dream-like quality.
The interplay between Davies and Glander, as a couple rebuilding a life from ash, provides the production its most affecting moments. Essen’s set – a series of (literal) jigsaw puzzle pieces – is a nod toward Carl’s attempts at reconciling a sea of memories, real and imagined.
[Image Source: Tipping Point]
Her projection work aids and abets the exceptional onstage connection between Davies and Glander: a series of animated words appear at key junctures on a screen above the stage, representing the ever-spinning algorithms in Carl’s mind, and provide exquisite punctuation (sometimes riotous, sometimes heartbreaking) on the unfolding tragicomedy.
I was transfixed by the interplay of these elements; an effect that can only be achieved in the theatre, expanding and elevating a good play into something great.
Quintessa Gallinat’s nuanced sound design is a key element in this experience as well and must be acknowledged for the immersive but unobtrusive use of music and sound effects.
[Image Source: Tipping Point]
My only quibbles are more with script than production. At two hours, the narrative at times seems attenuated past its breaking point, and the capable and compelling Leydenfrost is saddled with a role which, at times, seems to be more a sitcom-level complication than fully developed character. He and Glander are fun to watch with their dental chair trysts, but those moments are jarring, like lost pages from Neil Simon’s Plaza Suite, given the high-wire act Davies brings to Carl’s reclamation of self. They almost seem like two different universes entirely. It doesn’t hurt the show, and the cast all soldier through admirably, but the script would be more of a gut punch with fewer shenanigans and even more focus on Carl and Miranda’s fascinating pas de deux.
[Image Source: Tipping Point]
Davies is a marvel. His crack comedic timing coupled with a deep-feeling pathos engenders a wealth of audience empathy. Davies has built an extraordinary number of layers into a role that in lesser hands could have been Forrest Gump-redux. He never condescends to the character nor to the situations and is electrifyingly present throughout. Don’t miss his work here. “Deft and exhilarating” can’t begin to describe it.
Tipping Point and its Producing Artistic Director James Kuhl are perhaps too-often unsung for the consistent level of quality and engagement they bring to their work. Productions there are consistently top-notch, relatable, and transporting. They take chances on new material, use their space in clever and creative and economical ways, and provide a safe place for an extraordinary array of talent to play. The Impossibility of Now is a perfect example of the humane and humanistic approach they take to theatrical arts, and, for that, this critic is grateful.
Addendum … I’m participating in this event (below) on Thursday …
Theatre NOVA, Ann Arbor’s professional theatre with an exclusive focus on new plays and playwrights, presents their semi-annual Michigan Playwrights Festival, now in its third year. Five new plays by Michigan playwrights will be given readings July 25-29, 2018.
[Image Source: Theatre Nova]
Theatre NOVA focuses on new plays and new playwrights and is dedicated to working with new and local playwrights to help them develop their craft and to offer brand new plays for audiences. The theatre created the Michigan Playwrights Festival to nurture Michigan playwrights and to develop full-length plays for future seasons. They recently produced “Clutter,” an original script by Michigan playwright Brian Cox, as a result of its staged reading at a previous festival. “Clutter” was lauded by audiences and critics and earned two Wilde Award awards, including Best New Script.
[Image Source: Theatre Nova]
In the previous year, “Irrational” by R. MacKenzie Lewis and David Wells was given a full production and also received a Wilde Award for Best New Script. Other plays that began as staged readings at Theatre NOVA and have gone on to full productions are “Katherine” by Kim Carney, “Spin” by Emilio Rodriguez, and “Bird” by Kristin Hanratty. “Resisting” by David Wells and “Mrs. Fifty Bakes a Pie” by Linda Ramsay-Detherage also benefited from readings at a Michigan Playwrights Festival and had their world premieres in the current Theatre NOVA season, with “Resisting” being nominated for a Wilde Award for Best New Script.
[Image Source: Theatre Nova]
This activity is supported by the MICHIGAN COUNCIL FOR ARTS AND CULTURAL AFFAIRS and the NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS.
Schedule of the July Michigan Playwrights Festival:
“Sex and Innocence” by Emilio Rodriguez, Wednesday, July 25 at 8:00 pm
After hours, inside a fictional museum for 1950’s Hollywood plastic figurines, a statue of Rita Moreno comes to life and runs into a statue of Marlon Brando. When Rita’s statue discovers that she is tucked away in the basement of the museum and remembered as merely a sex symbol instead of an Oscar-winning actress, she attempts to re-brand herself while simultaneously confronting her tumultuous relationship with Marlon. Can she change how she is revered, or will her interactions reaffirm the very image she seeks to shatter? This reading, directed by Emilio Rodriguez, will feature Chloe Castro-Santos and James Busam.
“Hollywood Lies” by Jackie Sue Salter, Thursday, July 26 at 8:00 pm
A story of friendship amidst the Hollywood blacklist, “Hollywood Lies” presents 1948 Hollywood where a just-past-her-prime actress attempts to revive her stalled career. “Hollywood Lies” features Colleen Gentry, Roy Sexton, Laurie Atwood, Robert Schorr, and Ellen Finch, and is directed by Brian Cox.
“Under Ceege” by Jeffry Chastang, Friday, July 27 at 8:00 pm
Following the death of her father, a retired hospital worker finds herself not only at odds with her son, in the middle of a lucky lottery streak, but also at a financial disadvantage as she struggles to buy the home she’s lived in all of her life. Featuring Monrico Ward and directed by Lynch Travis.
[Image Source: Theatre Nova]
“Dirt” by Kristin Andrea Hanratty, Saturday, July 28 at 8:00 pm
All that Saundra wants to focus on during her sixth year of college is parties, avoiding schoolwork and herself. However, after she returns from a road trip to the Southwest, she finds herself plagued by the pains of others and the mysterious substance found in a hole of a New Mexican church. Directed by Aliyah Kiesler, “Dirt” features Danielle Wright, Carlos Westbrook, Rishi Mahesh, Maggie Alger, Connor Hutchins, Alan Gibson, and Joe Sfair.
“Dirty Glass” by Micealaya Moses, Sunday, July 29 at 2:00 pm
Teenaged Meghan returns home a year after running away and has to find a way to fit herself into her old life. Meghan and her community grapple with their responsibility concerning Meghan’s choices in a world that often doesn’t see young black girls as children and refuses to acknowledge when they have been victimized. This reading of “Dirty Glass” features Arabia Little, Shelia Johnson, Doug Monds, Dan Johnson, Aseneth Peek Parker, Jillian Diane Craighead, and Lorenzo Orlando, and is directed by Casaundra Freeman.
[Image Source: Theatre Nova]
The Michigan Playwrights Festival will run October 10-15, 2017 at Theatre NOVA (410 W. Huron, Ann Arbor), a downtown performance space. Show times are 8:00 p.m.Thursday through Saturday, and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. Theatre NOVA features free parking for patrons, as well as quick access to the city’s restaurants, bars, bakeries, and coffee shops.
Tickets are $10 for each reading, while festival passes good for all five readings are $30. Theatre NOVA continues its commitment to making theatre accessible by offering pay-what-you-can tickets for those who need them for all readings. For tickets or more info, visit TheatreNOVA.org, call 734-635-8450 (Tuesdays through Fridays from noon until 3 p.m.), or buy them in person at the box office one hour before show time.
Theatre NOVA is Ann Arbor’s resident professional theatre company. Its mission is to raise awareness of the value and excitement of new plays and new playwrights in a diverse and expanding audience and to provide resources and outlets for playwrights to develop their craft, by importing, exporting, and developing new plays and playwrights.
Reel Roy Reviews is now TWO books! You can purchase your copies by clicking here (print and digital). In addition to online ordering at Amazon or from the publisher Open Books, the first book is currently is being carried by Bookbound, Common Language Bookstore, and Crazy Wisdom Bookstore and Tea Room in Ann Arbor, Michigan and by Green Brain Comics in Dearborn, Michigan. My mom Susie Duncan Sexton’s Secrets of an Old Typewriter series is also available on Amazon and at Bookbound and Common Language.
