In this episode, Eric sits down with award winning actress, director and art patron Phylicia Rashad. They discuss her experience of growing up in Houston, Texas during legal segregation, travels with her Family as a young girl. Her early exposure to art through her mother’s many interests and love for art. Her experience of studying Theater at Howard University during a time of social upheaval. Moving to New York City, acting in plays and performing on Broadway, breaking into the entertainment industry... to eventually acting in Television shows including The Cosby Show, where she played the beloved role of Clair Huxtable and Films including CREED I, II, & III and The Beekeeper. They explore how she first discovered her love for acting and cultivated her craft, the support she had from her parents to pursue a career in the arts, evolving as a performer and working in different mediums... including her passion for directing plays!

...To now serving as Dean of the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts at Howard University — where she’s enjoying her role; working with faculty, administrate, staff members, students and presenting windows of access and opportunity. They explore the role that James Porter played during his time at Howard. His devotion to the Art department and art history. His works and efforts as instructor, artist and art historian and continuing to celebrate his legacy through the annual James A. Porter Colloquium. Howard University’s extensive collection of African American art and how the students live amongst the art. They explore her own personal collection of visual art. Stifling of human creativity as being deliberate and the role of and necessity of creativity and freedom to explore creativity for human development. Publishing her Mother’s book of poetry and reviving her mother’s work at Brainerd Institute Heritage of educational and cultural practices; by promoting literacy through the arts for pre-school children.


Guest Bio: An accomplished actor and stage director, Phylicia Rashad became a household name when she portrayed Claire Huxtable on The Cosby Show, a character whose enduring appeal has earned her numerous honors and awards. She has appeared in NBC’s This Is Us, in the popular Fox TV series Empire, and in Tarrell Alvin McCraney's Peabody Award-winning series David Makes Man, on the OWN Network. 

While television was a catalyst in the rise of Ms. Rashad's career, she has also been a force on the stage, appearing both on and Off Broadway, often in projects that showcase her musical talent such as Jelly's Last Jam, Into the Woods, Dreamgirls and The Wiz. In 2016, Ms. Rashad was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame and received the 2016 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Leading Actress in a Play for her performance as Shelah in Tarell Alvin McCraney's Head of Passes at the Public Theater. Ms. Rashad received both the Drama Desk and the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her riveting performance as Lena Younger in the 2004 Broadway revival of Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in The Sun. Among Ms. Rashad’s film credits are Creed and Creed II, Just Wright, Tyler Perry's Good Deeds, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Enuf and the 2020 release, A Fall From Grace.

Ms. Rashad made her critically acclaimed directorial debut at the Seattle Repertory Theater with August Wilson's Gem of the Ocean. She has also directed Stephen Adly Guirgis’ Our Lady of 121st Street, The Roommate, Blues for an Alabama Sky, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (2014 NAACP Theatre Award for Best Director), Immediate Family, Fences, A Raisin in the Sun, and Four Little Girls.

Respected in the academic world as well, Ms. Rashad was appointed Dean of the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts at Howard University in May of 2021. Ms. Rashad also holds the distinction of being the first recipient of the Denzel Washington Chair in Theatre at Fordham University. Ms. Rashad’s commitment to excellence in the performing arts has been recognized by the numerous colleges and universities that have presented her with Honorary Doctorates.

Ms. Rashad has also received countless esteemed awards including the BET Honors Theatrical Arts Award, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre's Spirit of Shakespeare Award, and the Inaugural Legacy Award of the Ruben Santiago Hudson Fine Arts Learning Center. She also serves on several important boards including Brainerd Institute Heritage (which is steering the restoration of Kumler Hall at the historic site of Brainerd Institute in Chester, South Carolina) and DADA, the Debbie Allen Dance Academy.

Phylicia Rashad graduated Magna Cum Laude from Howard University and is the mother of two adult children.

Artwork on display:
Richard Wyatt, Jr., Maya Angelou, 2014, graphite on paper, 9.5 x 12 inches.
Elizabeth Catlett, There is a Woman in Every Color, linocut 19.5 × 26.25 inches.

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