Daveed Diggs, Beyond the Conversation
On Feb. 20, in the Titan Student Union Pavilion, Associated Students Inc. organized one of their recurring ‘Beyond the Conversation’ interviews, where hundreds of students anxiously squirmed and giggled in their chairs b…
Written by Gregory Ferraro for GF Creative House BlogFirst posted on Gazette by Gregory, the original blog.
On Feb. 20, in the Titan Student Union Pavilion, Associated Students Inc. organized one of their recurring ‘Beyond the Conversation’ interviews, where hundreds of students anxiously squirmed and giggled in their chairs before the multifaceted powerhouse Daveed Diggstook the stage. Diggs has a unique gift of blending the arts of rapping, acting, writing and live performing in his critically acclaimed roles in films like Blindspotting and The Little Mermaid. He most iconically known for his originating dual characters of Marquis de LaFayette and Thomas Jefferson from the Broadway masterpiece Hamilton, by Lin Manuel Miranda.
Diggs recalls meeting Lin Manuel Miranda, “Due to a clerical error,” while working as a substitute teacher for third graders with Anthony Veneziale. “With a third-grade class you have to come up with something new to do with them every fifteen minutes,” Diggs joked. He recalls Veneziale saying, “We should freestyle with the kids…and teach them how to beatbox.” That day, Diggs said,
“I end up giving him a ride home because his wife’s car had broken down, and I was driving him back to the city and he says, ‘Hey! You should meet my friend Lin Manuel!’ and that’s how that happened. That’s how I was in Hamilton.”
This role earned Diggs a Tony Award, a Grammy Award, a Lucille Lortel Award, and a Theatre World Award.
Diggs also touched on a need to, “Use your art for activism.” He shares that,
“Profit is prioritized over everything – everything! And now that is true within our government as well. It’s been true, but now it is very explicitly true, they ran on that platform and won popular vote!”
“The thing about using your art for activism is that if that is your expressed goal, not to say you won’t profit off of your art, but you are removing that from the expressed goal.”