Elton Brown 0:05

Welcome to SpeakUP! International with Rita Burke and Elton Brown!

Rita Burke 0:11

It certainly is a delight. It certainly is a pleasure to have Stephens-Thompson back with us for a second time. Welcome

Ordena Thompson 0:26

Thank you so much.

Rita Burke 0:27

Now, yes, Ordena is a mother of two and a professional actor. She's been working in the theater on television in the theme industry for over 30 years. She's a two-time door nominated actress whose selected theater credits includes Fairview, Da Kink in My Hair contraction, and quite a number of other stage and screen productions Ordena spoke with us about six weeks ago and she was so truly wonderful and full of information that educates, inform, and inspired that we decided we wanted to have another dose of Ordena Stephens-Thompson. To our audience, let's welcome Ordena!

Ordena Thompson 1:31

Thank you. It's a pleasure to be back with you both!

Elton Brown 1:36

It is certainly an honor to have you with us again. And the opportunity is wonderful because now we've had time to think about other things that we wanted to ask you from the last time that we had our conversation. And I'm gonna start with the, my very first question. The Umbrella Academy now I have to tell you, I've seen at least 90% of them. And I thoroughly enjoyed the series. And I know that this was based off of a comic book. Therefore the Umbrella Academy, and I know that you were on one of them, include also with a series called Grand Army you were in. So can you tell us a little bit about both productions, your characters, how you relate to them, and how they helped your career?

Ordena Thompson 2:33

First of all on the Umbrella Academy. I didn't know at the time that I auditioned for the role that it was such a known comic strip or that it wasn't a comic strip. But the role that I played in that was a, it's a small role. I played a town nurse and I had a scene with one of the main characters, two of the main characters. And that day was great. It was just a small role, but I got to meet one of the actresses names who I, now I'm trying to remember because he's now changed his name. But anyway that, that day was a short day and I heard that Mary j Blige was in this series, so I was looking forward to meeting her, but she was not there that day. But everybody else was very kind and it was a short, like I said, it was just a short little role on that episode. Grand Army additions to that with the writer who will actually created a play. It was a play before it became a television series and so my audition was with her and she was very kind and took her time with me. And so when I got to set I played a mother of one of the main characters who gets into some trouble. The school granddaughter, the school is a school, like a, an art school. So there's people there that. Have different disciplines in the art. My son was a very accomplished trumpet player, and he got accused of a crime, which he, it was a joke at the time, but then did, they took it seriously because they have a zero tolerance policy and so he was expelled and I had to go and speak on his behalf. So that was a short show as well. I did two episodes, I believe. Yeah, so that was basically my role in those two productions.

Rita Burke 4:31

Sounds like it was exciting for you to be a part of that series

Ordena Thompson 4:37

The second part of that question was how I related to the characters in Grand Army. I played a, a mother, which I am so I could relate to the character that way and the whole idea of, black boys being streamlined into the prison pipeline. System was a part of the story as well with the zero tolerance policy at the school and then him getting in trouble once and getting kicked out and then the option was, what do they do when they get kicked out into the street and they get involved in crimes and then they get sent to jail, to prison. So there was the prison pipeline and I was trying to keep him from going down that road because he was very talented and, had a huge opportunity to do something wonderful in his life by going to this school.

Rita Burke 5:25

Sounds like you were a good mother in that particular play. Sounds like you were a good mother an excellent mother. Now, before we went live, or you were talking about the number of auditions that are coming up for you. So it seems to me as if you're always in demand as an actress, what type of role do you believe is most important for you? Which type of role are you desiring right now?

Ordena Thompson 5:55

I've always loved action movies and I feel like I would love to do an an a role where I could, be very physical and active, like a superhero kind of character. I'd love to be in the Marvel series. Or do something very, I saw the first time I saw Kill Bill one, volume one. There's a scene that opens with Vivica Fox and Umu Thurman, and they're fighting, and it's a long scene. I don't know if you've seen that, that movie, but it's a long scene. And I just was so impressed by these two women, going at it for, ten minutes it seemed fighting and I just, I would love to play an auction hero or being in a role where I could be, physical and fight and, maybe do some, martial arts or anything like that.

Elton Brown 6:40

I find that to be amazing. I would, I don't know, looking at all of the roles that you've played, this would definitely be one that's out of the box as it were, and

Ordena Thompson 6:51

Asolutely!

Elton Brown 6:52

Seeing you playing that it would be absolutely wonderful and I think that for most actors, They're always looking to play a character that they've not played before. They don't wanna get stereotyped into playing one type of role.

Ordena Thompson 7:12

Absolutely.

Elton Brown 7:12

How does networking with your peers, how has that helped you in your career? I think When you work with people, you put your best face forward and you, because you are doing something that you love, you pour everything of yourself into the characters that you're playing and also you bring yourself into it. So I was thinking about this the other day, and I have been blessed to be in productions where I've gotten along with everybody from the cast and crew, stage management First and first ad's everybody. And I think because I love what I do, I'm able to bring myself to it. When I'm on set, I'm happy. When I'm on stage, I'm happy. When I'm rehearsing, I'm happy. So I form relationships with people that are authentic and lovely and people remember you and they, everybody wants to work with somebody who they like, somebody that they can relate to somebody who is, has something, brings something to the table. I've been very blessed to have these experiences and have people remember me, and people, cast me in roles I haven't auditioned for. They just offered me roles which is a wonderful feeling for an actor to just be offered a great role because people know that you can do the role and that you are, you'll be pleasant in the room. You'll be somebody that people can feel comfortable in the room. You won't, you're not a disturber. You're not a diva. You're just, you're kind. So I bring kindness into all the rooms that I enter.

Rita Burke 8:55

Am I hearing that as personality and skill set has to do what they have to do with success in your particular field?

Ordena Thompson 9:06

Absolutely. You could be a great actor, but not be a very nice person, and people will remember you for being not a very nice person, even though you did a great role. So it's hand in hand and those relationships are very intimate. When you're working on a stage production, you're in rehearsals for two or three weeks, even more sometimes if you're lucky. So you're working in close connection with people and building relationships and trust because you, depending on what type of scene you're playing. You have to be able to trust the person who's acting opposite your scene partner and have that sort of level of comfort.

Elton Brown 9:44

How did you feel when the cast was announced for the Toronto production of the Pulitzer prize, winning play, Sweat and you discovered that your name was on the list.

Ordena Thompson 9:57

Amazing! I had auditioned for Sweat when I was doing Fences in at the Grand Theater in London, Ontario, and, I auditioned for the role and my director was actually a fight, my fight teacher in theater school, a combat teacher in theater school, and he's now, he's an actor as well, but he's now a director. And I auditioned for him and there was another production of the same play being done in Hamilton at Theater Aquarius. And he said, there's another production Being done, and if they come to you and offer you the role, please let me know first. He was impressed with what I did in my audition, and he offered me the role. And then I found out that Allegra Fulton which is a, she's a wonderful Canadian actress was in the show, and I always wanted to work with her. And then I found out that Kelly Fox. Was also in the show and to work with these established powerhouse women was, I almost felt am I worthy? Am I, am I worthy to be up, acting with these women. And it was a great opportunity. I learned so much from them. Cuz that's another thing too, when you're an actor, you like to, you still wanna learn. From others that you admire or look up to have been in the business for so long, or have had really great success in their careers, there's something that you can always learn and steal from them. So it was great to be in that company with these professional actors. Ron Lee was also in the show, and he's an amazing actor who's done so much. So I felt like very honored, but then I also felt like I had to fit in, like I, that little voice in your head that says you shouldn't be here or you're not worthy. But because I was there, I had to embrace it and I just soaked up as much of the talent of these wonderful people that I could.

Rita Burke 11:58

Thank you. Do you know what I'm hearing coming through in your responses is humility. Humility and I guess that's the essence of success in any field. Humility, you talked about the powerhouse women. I see you as a powerhouse woman.

Ordena Thompson 12:17

Thank you.

Rita Burke 12:18

Let me shift a little bit to Da Kink. The television series Da Kink in My Hair aired from 2007, I believe, to 2009. Share three characters from the sitcom that remind you of certain members in your own family and if you want to use names, go ahead, but I know you wouldn't.

Ordena Thompson 12:42

In my own family Da Kink in My Hair television series was a very special production because I had been in the stage production and I had played a different character in the stage production than I had played in the television series. Because it's about a Jamaican family, a sister a salon owner, myself and her sister, who I left in Jamaica to take care of my son. That's a familiar story for me because my mother, when she came to Canada, I was left with my aunt. For three years. So that relationship of, the sister who's left into Jamaica to take care of her nephew, my aunt poured a lot into me while I was left Jamaica. She treated me like her own child and she almost had ownership over me. The same kind of ownership that joy who played, my sister did over my son. In Jamaica and that sort of caused a little friction once they came to Canada because she was not willing to rele relinquish the mother role and I wanted to resume my mother role and so we batted heads about, parenting styles that way. I think that's basically it. My family members were not as vibrant as Joy and were not as sort of the novelette character on stage. She was, I guess my aunt, I guess my aunt who did raise me, she was a business minded woman she had her own business and she poured a lot into it. So I guess I could relate novelette to my aunt Bea, who's now passed rest her soul, and to my relationship with my aunt and how she poured a lot into me that, Those are the the what do you call it? The, from age, from birth to age seven. Those are the years that shaped your life and those three years really shaped me to, into the person that I am today. I believe, I came up with, independence. She taught me how to be an independent person. I was eight years old and I was ironing my own clothes. I was washing my own clothes, I was cleaning, I was doing all those things because that's what she expected of me. So when I came here, my mother had no issues with me, and yeah, so I guess that's those two women of who I can relate to in Da Kink in My Hair.

Elton Brown 15:09

Wow, amazing. What inspired you to pursue acting?

Ordena Thompson 15:14

I found years after I got into the industry, I found a picture of myself. I should show it to you, but I found a little picture of myself on a stage in a church production. My arms were out like this, and I had just finished saying something and somebody took a picture and I really didn't know growing up. What that was. But when I came to Canada and I was an only child, I was a latchkey kid, and so television was my babysitter for the most part and I would watch these sitcoms. And one of the shows that I really loved was the Carol Burnett Show. I loved how she could, You like that one too? I loved how she could, do all these characters and they were so hilarious, but they were so vibrant. And I would turn off the TV and reenact all these characters. And so when I was getting ready to graduate theater school I went to my guidance counselor and she asked me what I wanted to do with my life after I graduated high school. I said I have two things in mind, either to be a lawyer or a, an actor and she says to be a lawyer you have to have at least more eight years of school. And I thought, oh, I can't I'll go down the acting route. So I said, how do I get into the business? She said there are two schools in, in Toronto that you can apply to George Brown. And at the time, Ryerson was the name of the school and she said, just go down there and find out what you need to do. So I lived in Scarborough. I took the subway down. I went to the school and I found somebody to talk to and I said, I wanna be an actor. How, what do I do? How do I, they said you have to do two speeches and a song, and That's how you can apply. And at the time I thought speeches, I have to say a speech about myself not realizing that they meant, a speech in a play. So they suggested two plays. This is such a one play called For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enough by Ntozake Shange and I found a piece in that play and I and they said you have to do a classical speech as well. So I had just studied Macbeth in grade 12 and I pieced together lady Macbeth's speech and I did that I didn't get into Ryerson I don't remember the name of it now, what it's called, but I didn't hear from George Brown and I called them up and I said I haven't heard from you. Does everybody that apply to the program get an audition? They said, yes. You didn't get an audition? I said, no she said we're having an audition on Monday come down. So I went down, I did my pieces and the artistic director and the head acting teacher looked at me and said, who helped you with this? I said nobody, he said, and then he mentioned something about Jamaicans having a propensity for Shakespearean work, because of the, I guess the UA and the Elizabethan language. And he said to me, to be an actor, you have to be crazy and I didn't really understand that at the time, and I thought, oh, okay. And then I got into that program. I was one of two black students in the program at the time, and it was very daunting. It was a three rare, three year program, and although I had done little things in, I did a little piece in a grade seven production of Tom Sawyer and then I did a little piece in high school in the production called Sorry, Wrong Number. I played operator one and my line was, "sorry, wrong number." So I guess the bug was in me all along. And then when I had to go out into the world after high school, I had to decide what I wanted to do and so that's how I actually got into the business. But that, those three years were very difficult being one of two black people and then being the only one for the last two years and then being one of three people left in the third, my third year to, to graduate the program and that was in 1990.

Elton Brown 19:33

Okay. Comedy. Or drama. So do you prefer the comedic side of acting the Carol Burnetts as opposed to drama? Da Kink in My Hair.

Ordena Thompson 19:45

I think I have the same level of joy for both. They're both part of my sensibilities my last year in theater school. Our final assignment was what's called a vocal mask. And it's in the third year you do a one woman show or one person show for 20 minutes. And the theme of my show was laughter and tears, how laughter can heal and tears can also heal. So my, I touched on both of those. Themes in my vocal mask. So I think I love drama because it touches on real emotion, human emotion that anybody can access or tap into or relate to and then comedy is something that I love because I love to make people laugh. I love to make myself laugh. I love to laugh. I love to watch comedy, but that making people laugh to the point where they, their bell's hurt and they're begging you to stop. Please stop! Let me catch my breath! That's something that I just love. It feeds me. So I don't know. I both, I can't. If I had to decide, ooh, I'd say comedy just because who doesn't love to laugh?

Rita Burke 21:00

Both crying and laughing heels? Is that what you said? They contribute to healing?

Ordena Thompson 21:08

Yes, absolutely. Yes.

Rita Burke 21:11

Now, here's a tough one for you and I know that you'll be able to answer it. If our Stephens-Thompson wasn't acting, who would she be doing?

Ordena Thompson 21:24

Think I'd be a lawyer. I think I'd be an activist. I think I would be, championing the rights of people in to do with children, a a child lawyer advocating for children because that's very close to my heart.

Rita Burke 21:40

It's interesting that we have a very good friend who went to York University in Toronto and he was into the arts and culture. He moved to England, Birmingham in England and was teaching at the University of Birmingham Teaching Arts, and most recently I founded, they went back to school and studied law. So there's hope for it. There's hope.

Ordena Thompson 22:02

That's a quite common thing that actors expire to be lawyers, and I don't know what it is maybe it's about the, when you have to stand up and speak. On behalf of somebody else and convince a jury that your case is the right ca case. Your client is innocent and there tends to be a level of acting to be done in that in the, in that area.

Elton Brown 22:32

I would definitely agree with you on that after watching 200 episodes of Perry Mason, he basically won every case, I think, except minus maybe one, and that, so there was a lot of acting going on in order for him to come across as portray a winner, a winning lawyer.

Elton Brown (2) 22:54

So how do you feel about being part of that Pulitzer Prize winning drama Fairview?

Ordena Thompson 23:02

In retrospect now when I first read the play, I was very confused. I wasn't sure what was going on and what the playwright intended. And I saw, and I, the more I read it, the more questions I had. But then walking into rehearsals and having conversations with our director and cast realized everybody felt the same way and we had to work through it together to find, our own interpretation of what the author was doing and how to actually. Put that across. Rita, I know you've seen the show a couple times, so you know how it plays out from the beginning until the end. So it was a very collaborative experience. The director really wanted it to be because he didn't have all the answers, and we had to discover the process as we went along, and we created a space that was safe to do that because the subjects and the things that come up in the play are very hard-hitting and they're very triggering. So he created a very safe space for us to be able to collaborate and to express what we were going through day to day. We would start the day with a check-in and end the day with a checkout. So whatever happened in that day or even before the day started, whatever you showed up with that you needed to speak about just to put it in the room, to say, I'm not feeling great today. I had, an encounter with somebody on the subway and it just threw me and you could put that in the room and everybody would recognize that and say, okay, that's where you are. Respect that and at the end of the day, We would pose a question, whatever it was, something is, would be as, as silly as if you were a flower, what kind of flower would you be at this moment, right? Yeah. So Fairview was a wonderful experience for me as an actor because it, it took me out of my comfort zone. So much so that I had to find different ways to cope with what was being asked of me and what was happening internally because I'd never been in a space where white folks were being confronted with, their perception of black folks and just letting them in to how black people feel when we are aware of their perception of us and how we navigate that in the world day to day. Trying not to feel apologetic about how we felt, the honesty of how that really impacts us. Like the, I mentioned the white gaze and how that feels on a day-to-day basis. The issues of self surveillance, how that really feels, and how, these little microaggressions build up in us and why we behave the way we do when, those things happen and just letting them know that it almost felt not letting them in a secret, but just being open and vulnerable to letting somebody know you make me feel. You might not be aware of it, but this is how I feel. And being honest with with letting them know that and then letting them, live in that space of discomfort and being okay with that instead of trying to smooth it over and say, oh no, everything's fine. I'm good. No, it's okay.

Rita Burke 26:31

You talked about. You talked about the other being confronted, and I will add to that, Stevens confronted with our truth. Our truth. It was powerful. It was very powerful. I believe that it was a performance that reeked of political and social activism. Those words weren't used, but that's what it was doing. It was pushing the walls down. I thought it was truly fantastic. I've seen you in Da Kink twice. I've seen you in For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow is Not Enough, and I've seen you in Fairview. I'm gonna ask you to choose. Which was your favorite, if that's possible?

Ordena Thompson 27:24

Ooh! I would think that's a great question because they've all been profoundly impactful for me. Janet Sears, who directed For Colored Girls is a amazing human being. She is a generous director. She is kind. She creates such a beautiful space with her rituals that she does in every rehearsal process. She is humble. She makes you feel that you have as much to offer as she does that you, her, as a director doesn't trump you as an actor and she values your work as an actor and she chooses her actors very wisely. Not just on ability, but on, how they are as people. For Colored Girls, because I had, like I mentioned, auditioned with a piece from the show to get into theater school. Decades later be asked to be in this production was a joy and to work with the women that I worked with was also a joy. But because I got to play two different characters, basically three different characters in Da Kink, I would have to say Da Kink in My Hair is my favorite. Just because of that reason that I got to play three different characters and experienced the magnitude of the show and how it, it transcended cultures and races and, it touched so many people. Someone mentioned that the Mirvish production of Da Kink was seen by over a hundred thousand people. In its run, which is incredible to me for a theatrical show. So just knowing that many people got to experience the show and many of them came, three, four times is something that I'm really proud to have been a part of in, in the landscape of Canadian theater.

Elton Brown 29:44

I know that being an actor, especially for a really heavy roles, can be emotionally draining. You're cuz you're giving like a thousand percent of yourself every sentence, every movement, all of these things in your head are going around and everything is focused on this one thing to bring this character alive. Emotionally draining. So what do you do or where do you go in order to revive yourself?

Ordena Thompson 30:14

That's a great question and that's something that I've had to put in practice for myself in the last year that I recognize. That was something that was very necessary for me to do because you, you do go deeply into these characters to find the truth of them, so you can tell them authentically. So for me meditation is very key and I've recently, especially just finished doing Fairview. I adopted a practice of letting my mind know that the show's over because your body doesn't, your body doesn't know you're acting so it's holding all the energy. So if you talk to yourself and say, I've just done this show Fairview, and this is what I experienced, and now I am letting go and coming back to myself. Just the act of saying that and letting yourself know that, okay, you don't need to hold onto this, these energies anymore. You can let it go, and then you can. Approach, whatever else you need to do, be with your family, take on another role speak to your husband kindly, anything like that. Just to, I just realized recently that when you don't release the characters especially really emotional characters, that stays in your body and it manifests in ways you don't even, you might not even realize.

Elton Brown 31:45

I would also assume that, you have to vacation from time to time. You have to go somewhere and allow the sun to just melt your body and soul so that you're able to put it all back together again and your whole, and now you're ready to pursue your next role. But doing so, you need to eat. So I know that you were vacationing in Jamaica, I think. While you were there, what did you eat?

Ordena Thompson 32:18

Oh my goodness! First of all, I was I realized that I was not prioritizing myself enough, and I was going, and that was depleting me spiritually. To be quite honest. And so when I decided to go and take my two girls with me, they wanted to go to Jamaica, which is my homeland, my, my land of birth. I said, okay, let's go. So we went to an all inclusive resort. I just wanted to relax and not have to do anything. And so there was, for breakfast, there was a smorgasborg of everything and anything to choose from. My second day there, I realized there was a Jamaican breakfast buffet section, and I was I walked over and I saw Kalu and green banana and yellow yam and white fish and a kidney a liver and onions, and I was like, okay. This is something that I'm gonna have to participate in every day besides the, the eggs and bacon that that's traditional. But to have a traditional Jamaican breakfast where the ingredients and the provisions are grown in the soil and the authentic taste of the food. I was in heaven I had Aki and Sawfish. I had Planting, I just soaked up and ate every bit of that, that I could, for lunch. There was another lunch buffet with Oxtail, there was a jerk chicken hut on the beach where you could have jerk chicken roasted on the, the drum pan,

Elton Brown 34:09

yeah.

Ordena Thompson 34:09

But it was like a big huge, cuz it, you had to feed a lot of people, so it was like a big huge, but just having that access to the authentic food and the authentic spices and the ingredients, oh, I was in heaven. Yeah, that was, That's as much what I mostly ate. J anything to do with the Jamaican food

Rita Burke 34:30

That sounds like pure joy my mouth is watering! It started watering when you were talking about the AKI and all of those truly wonderful things. So I'm just gonna present my last question. Do you plan now to savor yourself, to treat yourself, to relax after every play that you performing?

Ordena Thompson 34:59

Maybe not to the extent of traveling to Jamaica, but definitely I think it's important to put in practice something where you can come back to yourself and also, process. The experience that you just had, whether it be a stage production or a TV and film thing, just to process that for yourself so that you can grow from any experience, you can heal from any negative experience attached to it, and that you can actually also celebrate yourself. And say, yes, I did that and I enjoyed it and I impacted somebody. I just re recently realized through doing DA Kink in My Hair and Fairview, cuz I was always searching of a way to make my art an active service and because of these two powerful productions and the feedback that I got from so many people and how it actually impacted them in such ways that they, went away. For days, weeks, thinking about the show, I realized that what I am doing is an active service and that I can celebrate that and approach every role or production that I do with that mentality of this is my art, this is my livelihood, but is actually an act of service.

Rita Burke 36:22

Wonderful. I will subscribe to that argument that it certainly is an active service, and so I congratulate you. I thank you. I enjoyed everything that I see in you in and continue doing the wonderful work that you're doing out there representing people, representing black people, representing women. You're telling stories that are critical. They need to be told, and I thank you.

Ordena Thompson 36:49

Thank you. I just wanna want add one other thing that a friend of mine told me doing Da Kink in My Hair the actress Debbi Young Anita Africa, who's a very good friend of mine that I'm actually gonna be working with shortly. She said to me, you are a fabric of Canadian theater and I never thought of it that way, I always thought that every production that I did, I was starting fresh. It just seemed like that to my mind and when I thought about that, I thought, wow, I have contributed to the Fabric Canadian theater. And that gave me such a jolt of confidence. So now that when I am either offered something or auditioned for something, I go in knowing that I have a purpose in that. I've done some good things and that, I am of the powerhouse women that I mentioned before doing Sweat. I can say, yeah, I have contributed and that's a great feeling. So thank you.

Elton Brown 37:52

So when you become the, I guess you are superstar now, so megastar. And I'm waving at you with my, my autograph book. I hope you'll remember my face and, sign my autograph book. And this way I can go back and say, I interviewed her way, and I, now I have her sign her signature. Rita, and I wish you the best. The best of everything. Oh yeah. And congratulate you on your interview with CTV as I saw that you were smooth as slik.

Ordena Thompson 38:32

Thank you so much.

Elton Brown 38:33

I said, look at the lady. Go.

Ordena Thompson 38:35

Thank you.

Elton Brown 38:35

I just have to say that before we, we finally close, and I wish you the best. I am going to now dedicate time and money so that I can see some of your iconic performances. And I wish you a great afternoon.

Ordena Thompson 38:54

Thank you so much. You have me smiling from ear to ear with that comment and from your lips to God's ears about the audition book. I will always, if I'm asked, be truly honored to sign anybody to my name, to anybody's audition book, autograph book. Yes. Okay.

Elton Brown 39:15

Thank you for listening to SpeakUP! International! To contact our guest Stephens-Thompson, please send your inquiries to info@speakuppodcast.ca. Do you have a service organization you would like to announce to our communities? Please send us your name, company, name, website, description of your organization and the service you provide and your email address to info@speakuppodcast.ca. To listen to more of our podcasts go to www.speakuppodcast.ca or wherever you listen to your podcasts and look up, SpeakUP! International. You can find us on social media platforms, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Our logo has the woman with her hand pointing up mouth open. Speaking UP!.