Life & Work with Gregg T. Daniel

Today we’d like to introduce you to Gregg T. Daniel.

Hi Gregg, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
One of our Founding Members, Jason Delane Lee and I found ourselves working on a popular UPN channel sitcom years ago (UPN no longer exists). I was working as a dialogue coach with the show because of my desire to learn about directing four camera sitcoms and how they function. Jason was a stand in for several of the characters on the show. He & I got to talking about “theater” once I learned he hailed from Chicago and I from New York, two of the most theatre rich cities in our nation. Clearly, our love of theatre and our knowledge of plays, actors, directors, etc. brought us together. How it all segued into discussions about founding a theatre company was certainly not immediate. In fact, having been a member of theatre companies before, I wanted to resist any effort to being part of another company (much less being a founding member of one). Pretty soon, our talks centered on theatre began to involve both our wives who are both actresses. The bottom line is, to do the kind of work we wish to do as performing artists, to work with the kinds of talented actors, designers, playwrights and technicians we wish work with, you have to bring together a company of like-minded, passionate people. Especially as artists of color, there are many BIPOC stories worth exploring but aren’t receiving the kind of attention they deserve. We wanted to counter the exclusion of those stories by becoming catalysts for creating and supporting them.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It’s never a smooth road for a small non-profit theatre company. It takes a tremendous amount of resources to locate a suitable performance space, fund to produce and market a play, etc. Giving the nature of the money a company makes off ticket sales, you’re almost guaranteed to never make enough money to rent a space, pay designers, build a set and hire actors. Naturally, grants and fundraisers help the overall picture, however you’ll still find yourself on the short end of the financial stick and must continue to search for other sources of funding. This may sound cliche, however it’s for the love of theatre that keeps us going. When we’re able to hold a dialogue with our patrons whether it’s through a workshop or seminar or a staged production, it makes it all worthwhile. It’s an affirmation that individuals want to be engaged in stories that resonant in their lives or come to know others through new stories.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Lower Depth Theatre is a small non-profit theatre company that produces and presents everything from complete mainstage shows to virtual short play festivals. We place heavy emphasis on the conception of new plays and facilitate their development through playwright workshops, staged readings, mentorship, and commissioned projects. We are especially proud of the fact that we use the power of storytelling and theatre to give a platform to the issues that deeply affect our BIPOC communities here in Los Angeles and beyond. We provide safe spaces where people can challenge the dominant narrative, critically discuss issues affecting BIPOC communities, and build empathy across traditional racial and cultural barriers. We ensure that many of the artists and leaders who are telling and shaping these stories, including playwrights, actors, and directors, identify with the communities who are the most deeply affected by the issues we are addressing. Lower Depth’s highest priority is uplifting voices that often go unheard at every stage of the theatre process.

However, what truly sets us apart from other theatres is that our company is like a tight-knit little family. Our four founders, Veralyn Jones and myself, and Yvonne Huff Lee & Jason Delane Lee, are two married couples. In fact, I officiated at Yvonne and Jason’s wedding. Our Managing Director, Courtney Oliphant, is married to our former Program Coordinator, Doug Oliphant. Pre-COVID, we held monthly company family dinners where we could spend time and share a meal together. These dinners were our way of staying connected to each other and to our purpose of creating theater. Our company structure is unlike some traditional membership theatre companies. We maintain a list of passionate guest artists whose talent we can consistently pull from when needed.

What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
I’ve learned to have faith that the art we engage in really does matter and can make a difference. We’ve learned that sharing stories centered on unrepresented communities and the individuals who live there can and does help bring us together. We engage in shaping new narratives while engaging in an ongoing dialogue with our audience. We’re living in a time when major power shifts are happening, where our nation is engaged in a kind of self-reflection on attitudes regarding race, sexuality, equality and justice. Theatre is capable of framing and putting a human face onto these huge questions we’re facing as a society and as a nation.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: lower-depth.com
• Instagram: Instagram.com/ldte/
• Facebook: Facebook.com/LowerDepth
• Twitter: Twitter.com/ldte

Image Credits
Coy Gutierrez Meg Oliphant