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Lights, Courage, Action: Lee Rose's Directorial Odyssey

Lee Rose: In-the-Face Storytelling, The Truth About Jane, and Refusing to Disappear

Host Quincy interviews writer-director-producer Lee Rose about her career and approach to storytelling, highlighting The Truth About Jane as a project that enabled parent-child conversations and drew intense reactions, including death threats, a White House screening, and a fight to dedicate the film to Matthew Shepard. Rose traces her path from theater and production work to writing and producing TV movies, learning ruthless editing from Stockard Channing, and making her directorial debut with The Color of Courage, a civil-rights story she pushed to greenlight with Linda Hamilton’s support. She discusses being raised by a Black housekeeper, sexism in directing versus being gay, the shrinking pipeline for new diverse directors post-COVID/strikes, and advice to persist through shorts, grants, festivals, and DGA mentoring. Rose also reflects on coming out later in life, separating work from news, and currently writing a novel about generations of women and slavery.

00:00 A Rebel Builds Her Own Table

01:08 Welcome to Cocoon After Dark

01:25 Rapid Fire and The Truth About Jane

02:52 From Theater to TV Sets

04:06 Learning to Let Words Go

07:19 Becoming a Ruthless Editor

09:14 Directorial Debut The Color of Courage

13:56 Raised by Johnny and Identity

15:18 Women Gay and Power on Set

17:01 Who Gets Hired Now

19:29 Advice for New Directors

21:24 When Representation Catches Up

24:46 Writing for Everyone Strong Leads

26:39 Origins Late Bloomer Lessons

29:23 Chores and Tough Love

30:39 Truth About Jane Fallout

33:07 Culture Backlash Today

34:18 Staying Focused Creatively

35:28 Mentoring Women Filmmakers

36:38 Two Ideas at Once

37:59 Coming Out at 38

41:21 Parents and Upbringing

47:37 Exes and Adulthood

49:52 Martinis and Quitting Smoking

51:09 Cruise and Farewell

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Intersections of Voice and Identity: Discovering Jen Cheng

Host Quincy interviews Jen Cheng, poet laureate of West Hollywood, about voice, identity, community, and showing up authentically. After rapid-fire questions, Jen reads her poem “10,000 Butterflies,” written in 2023 for a Grand Performances opportunity, tracing family survival, war, displacement, and queer safety across Hong Kong, China, and Buenos Aires. Jen discusses her pronouns (“she/ke”) and how Cantonese lacks binary gendered pronouns, then explains Cantonese vs. Mandarin and efforts to suppress Cantonese. She describes writing in English while incorporating Cantonese pronunciation, teaching workshops through the West Hollywood Library and WeHo Arts Pride, and moderating a March 29 event with the Mazer Lesbian Archives honoring Eloise Klein Healy. Jen shares coping tools (listening to Maya Angelou and James Baldwin), performance-anxiety techniques, a short rainbow meditation, and closes by reading “Still I Stand,” plus where to find her classes and links.

00:00 Meet Jen Cheng

01:10 Rapid Fire Warmup

01:59 Poem 10000 Butterflies

06:56 Pronouns and Language

08:23 Cantonese vs Mandarin

10:48 Writing and Roots

14:07 Identity Shapes Art

17:14 Creative Breakthroughs

20:30 Finding Your Voice

23:37 Poet Laureate Life

27:33 Teaching and Queer Joy

31:46 Stage Fright Tools

35:50 Stress and PTSD Tools

36:40 Grandma Confidence Story

39:15 Grief and Spirit Guide

39:53 Visibility on National Stage

43:55 Coming Out and Pride

47:27 Proudest Personal Growth

50:00 Guided Rainbow Meditation

54:30 Chakras and Creativity Blocks

57:59 Courage Creativity Belonging

59:11 Closing Poem and Where to Find

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Support the show

https://linktr.ee/CocoonAfterDark