Kappy Kilburn is the Executive Director of The Human Race Theatre Company, a professional regional theatre company in downtown Dayton, Ohio, that has been challenging, inspiring, and entertaining audiences for over 40 years.
In this episode, Kappy shares more about her background and passion for the arts, what to expect from the new, thought-provoking season focused on Perception vs. Reality, and the future she wants to help create right here in Dayton, Ohio, through the power of storytelling and live theatre.
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Episode Transcript:
Evelyn Ritzi: Welcome to Creating the Future. I’m Evelyn Ritzi,
David Bowman: And I’m David Bowman.
Evelyn: And today we’re talking theater storytelling and the future of the arts with the executive director of Human Race Theater Company, Kappy Kilburn. Welcome to the show, Kappy.
Kappy Kilburn: Thank you. So good to be here.
Evelyn: We’re so glad that you could join us today. We’d really love to just start with you and your story. Could you share a bit about your background and your journey to becoming the executive director at the Human Race Theater Company?
Kappy: Sure. I’ve been thinking about this recently, and what a roundabout path I took to this because we’ve got our teenage theater camp starting next week at the Human Rights Camp DNA, and we all talked about designing a summer camp that we wish we’d had to go to that gave you the exposure to all the different departments, and I was like, I didn’t have that camp, but I sort of did that. I’ve been a carpenter, a stage manager, not an actress, a director, a scenic designer, a mass, an electrician, a producer, and now an executive director. And so it didn’t seem like the regular path to getting to where I’m at, but all of it was so very useful in having the tools to do what I do and be able to understand what the needs are and and and working with the different personalities and the different skill sets and all that kind of stuff. So, you know, I started out as a dancer and became more fascinated with what was happening backstage and over my head than I was with the dancing, and was lucky to discover pretty early on that I’m a terrible actress, and so that was never a pursuit of mine. I it just I wasn’t as passionate about it as I was about other things, and so I got out of the way of those that were passionate about it. And it took me a while to articulate it that my passion was really about making other people’s passions possible. So that that ended up meaning being the one that’s raising the funds and paying the bills and strategizing and budgeting and doing those kinds of things so that the the artists could do what they do well with the best resources and to the best of their ability, and I didn’t have to be the performer to do that.
Evelyn: That’s a very important role to have, and you grew up in Dayton, right?
Kappy: I did not, but my dad grew up in Middletown.
Evelyn: Okay.
Kappy: So he was born and raised there, went to Miami, and then joined the Air Force at Wright Patt and on the day he graduated Miami. He drove up to Wright Patt and signed up. Joked for years that he did it to get out of Ohio, so when I got the job here, he was like, “Well, I tried…”
Kappy: But then I loved visiting. By the time I came here, it’ll be eight years in October. By the time I got here, we don’t have any family left here in Ohio, but it it’s always felt familiar. My grandparents are interred down in Middle Tom, and so you know if I’ve got to go to IKEA, I swing through and visit them along the way. But it this is the the kind of community I grew up in, so it felt like coming home.
Evelyn: And you came to us from New York City. Yep, New York City.
Evelyn: Wonderful.
Kappy: Yep. By way of L.A. for 18 years, and then New York City. So
David: Made it to both costs.
Kappy: Covering the base. I’ve experienced the big difference between the two, and then landing in the middle.
David: Well, the Human Race Theater Company just celebrated a big milestone, 40th season. Can you tell us about the history of the Human Race Theater? What excites you the most about the organization’s history, but also where it’s headed next?
Kappy: I think what excites me now is what excited me when I first heard about the company and applied for the position. So the Human Race was founded. In 1986, by Susie Bassani, Sarah Exley, and Carol Phillips, and just the the amazing genesis of great things that were happening, and and significantly being thought of, dreamed of, and and materialized by women in the mid 80s here in Dayton is phenomenal. There’s so much that’s being celebrated right now, but these women felt that Dayton deserved a professional theater company that was telling you know a wide range of stories. And Kevin Moore tells it really well because he can do Susie Bassani’s voice in How We Got the Main, the Human Race, and it was basically the three women and their husbands were having dinner, and you know, rhapsodizing about what who the work was for and what stories they wanted to tell, and that it was all encompassing, and everyone, Susie’s husband Pino piped up and said, “Well, if that’s the scope, you might as well just call it the human race, and that’s how we got the name. And in prepping for the 40th anniversary, we looked back through the original press release that announced the launch of the company. There was actually a birth announcement invitation that went out, inviting people to the press event that had a stork on the front of the birth announcement, and it said, “You’re invited to the birth of the human race. And inside that invitation were there five pillars of what they thought this company could and should be, and we’ve looked back and realized that those are so ingrained in our mission that we are still striving for those five pillars, And the work that the company’s done, whether it be the new work, the world premiere, the fostering of new voices, the being the first in the region to bring fresh new stories in, the daring to the work that’s been done. It was the first company in the region to do Angels in America, you know the landmark productions and the artists that that we have worked with or brought in to work with was really impressive, and I had worked at some historically significant theaters around the country, and I was really impressed. But I was also very deeply impressed with how much the Human Rights Company had embedded itself back in the community. So it wasn’t just about buy a ticket to our show. It wasn’t. I’m. I have long had this very big argument semantically about using the words audience and community. That’s wrong. That’s your audience. Your community is so much more and should be embracing, should be a part of the wrap around around that audience. But it is the people that you know, uses rehearsal for free. That was giving our actors a first audience, but it was giving audiences an access point that was almost free. But it was also giving back to another need in the community, and that was ingrained in the nature and the and the DNA of the company, and that was fabulous. It meant that we care about Dayton. We we are Dayton. We are part of Dayton. We are not a company that is striving to be elsewhere or something other. The stories we tell, the people we collaborate with, the communities that we serve and interact with, are what is important to us.
Evelyn: Absolutely, and and bringing people into the stories that and reflecting the community with the stories too, being told on the stage.
Kappy: Those voices and those stories are are you know chosen for Dayton, and and we always build everything here in Dayton. So it’s bi regional creatives, and it’s for and with this community, I like to hope. So,
Evelyn: Let’s dive into the experience of seeing a production at the Human Race inside the Loft Theater because it’s so unique in that it’s very intimate. It’s a smaller theater, right? It’s the round. There’s really no bed seat in the house, and I love going to see shows there. So, could we talk about how that close audience connection creates a meaningful, a meaningful platform for storytelling?
Kappy: I could go on for hours on that one. The it’s it’s interesting because it. It produces all of these wonderful opportunities and challenges, and I think art gets better when you’re problem solving in those challenges. So, it is you know three quarter thrust stage, so your audience is wrapped around almost a whole half of your stage, and so creative challenges are is everybody? Is there no bad seat in the house? Have you done the work so that everybody is is getting, you know, a similar experience? And the ceilings are low, so there’s oh, you know, we can’t do noises off because we can’t build a second story of a house in that space. So it is very informative in the pieces that we choose, our audiences are only at the most six rows away, and so you can’t sit back and sort of check out of the experience. I know for me, sometimes things like improv or audience participation in a show terrifies me. So I know that there have been some people that have asked, well, if I’m that close to the actors, am I going to have to, you know? And it it doesn’t cross that uncomfortable you participating, but it really it really helps give the audience the feel that they are part of what’s happening on the stage, and and it’s not just you know what we’re hearing from audiences. There have been there was a study in Canada about 10 years ago now, where they wired up the audiences seeing a couple performances of a show to see what was the physical physio physiological impact of watching a show, and they found that within a very brief amount of time, the audience members’ heartbeats synced up with each other, so it’s a very communal experience. And so, having that that intimate, you are, you know, you could reach out and touch what’s happening is very special. And the first time I saw the stage when I came out from interview, I knew this is where I wanted to be because the very very first professional theater I worked at after college down in Florida, 212 seats, three quarter thrust theater, a low ceiling. It was in a strip mall across the street from the Ritz Carlton. It’s since closed, but I was like full circle. I have come home, full circle. This is my storytelling space.
Evelyn: Wow.
David: The 2026 2027 season was just announced. So, without giving too much away, which shows are you personally most excited about, and what do you think audiences will connect with this season?
Kappy: Ah, so the one. the one-it’s really hard for me to say. I’m very excited about the whole season. The show we end the season with Job. Emily and I saw in New York almost two years ago now, and both of us sat there when the show ended, just fabulously stunned. It was smart. It was terrifying. It was funny, and then we debated what the ending meant for weeks to come. And so the fact that we’re able to regionally premiere it here next season is exciting.
Evelyn: Very exciting.
Kappy: It’s sort of you know the the theme of the year is oh my goodness what did we perception versus reality the theme of the year is perception versus reality and there’s a lot of that who’s telling the truth and who is not in that piece what became of us is just a lovely lifelong journey between siblings that had different experiences to immigration, and the playwright specifically does not designate where they’re from, what the home country. It’s called the old world and the new world, and you never know. You can cast it however you want to to you know to touch base on what might be relevant in your area or to your community, and it’s a lovely piece. I’m very excited about Midsummer Night’s Dream because we a we have not done a Shakespeare in a while, and b E Emily has got adaptation she has done that sets it in the the sort of 50s Annette Funicello beach blanket bingo gidget era surfer culture of California, and it just so is such a perfect environment for for that play and the shenanigans in it, so we’re really excited about that. Also, it’s public domain, so I don’t have to pay for the rights for it. And we’re remounting reindeer sessions —
Evelyn: Which is so funny.
Kappy: You all came. You saw part of the rehearsal.
Evelyn: Yes, I’ve come to. Yes. Hilarious holiday season production.
Kappy: It’s our Blitzen the Reindeer and his anger management therapist piece, and this is a piece that you know we’re hoping to to be able to share news soon about its journey elsewhere beyond, and that we birthed it here is super important. That more and more writers, we have we have a world premiere in the season, and I think it’ll be like our 19th or 20th world premiere in the history of the company. And that these pieces have had lives elsewhere, and will always say that it was world premiered in Dayton, Ohio. is amazing, and that world premiere is Salem Blood to Drink, and it’s a new piece by Maggie Lou Rayder. We did a reading of it last season, and it’s funny. It’s smart. It’s fresh. It is the Salem witch trials from the women’s perspective, the women who are being persecuted’s perspective? Yeah. So it has a lot to say about women’s values in the world and their rights and what is truth and what is, you know, hidden under the rocks and but it’s funny and smart and scary and perfect for October.
Evelyn: You always fit the seasons perfectly, and
Kappy: Emily does a great job. And I think she’s really hit this season out of the park because there’s a there’s a through line to it that if you subscribe and experience all five shows, there’s a fulfillment in experiencing that she’s put them in an order where there’s a growth to that conversation throughout the year, which is cool.
Evelyn: Emily being the artistic Director
Kappy: Emily Wells, my work wife, artistic director.
Evelyn: It’s not on my list of questions, but I love to talk a little bit about the the artists. And you know, there’s a good proportion that are resident artists and work locally that you can see over and over again appear on the Human Race Theater stage. So, could you talk a little bit about how you go about casting and and bringing that like local flavor to the stage?
Kappy: Yeah, Emily Emily spends a lot of time Either meeting actors and seeing them in auditions, we do a two-day-long general audition. We did it earlier in June, thinking about next season, and then she does auditions for each individual show. She goes and sees work around. She reaches out. We both reach out to colleagues for suggestions and ideas. I think she had, I want to say, over 100 video submissions from people who couldn’t get to Dayton for the session but could be here for the work. And she watches all of them and and works with these actors and gets to know them. And So, she and I esthetically, as far as the work on the stage and the people that are involved, fit perfectly together as partners in that. We both believe in the same things. Yeah, that diversity and representation on the stage matter. That authentic voices matter. Same from playwrights, directors, all the designers, but a goal that we saw we were getting close to, and then really sort of set the marker to maintain, was that over the last several years, approximately 75 to 78% of all of our staff, creative teams, designers, artists, actors, crew call this region home. Now, when we say this region, we kind of mean between Columbia and Cincinnati. That they’re coming from here, but that these are artists that we are specifically making sure we represent, so that they can continue to stay in the region and do this work and make a living at it. Yeah, because we pay union contracts, we pay livable wages, we pay health care and pensions on many of those contracts, and so they’re able to get enough work that they can stay here. Because if they can’t make a living at it, they’re a either going to leave the art form or they’re going to leave the region.
Evelyn: Right.
Kappy: And we are. I am constantly concerned about workforce challenges coming up. We’ve already seen it in the technical elements, you know, with skilled carpenters and painters and designers and stuff like that. And and I’m worried that as we see the generation that started college or was finishing high school during COVID, comes out of school and into the workforce. That we will have lost a significant chunk of that generation to other fields.
Evelyn: Yeah, and I’ve noticed before in some productions some Wright State students on the stage too, which I think is phenomenal.
Kappy: We had two in Hay Feed. And we had two in Dracula, and just being able to work with put those kids on contract, they get a professional experience. They’re not treated like student interns or subs in the show. They are part of the company and the cast, and to be able to provide that opportunity and be a part of their growth is really amazing, and those kids are talented,
Evelyn: Super talented. Yeah, yeah, amazing.
David: Well, could we talk a little bit about accessibility because you really put an emphasis on removing barriers to see shows. You got the Pay What You Can program, where people can donate cans of food or cash to see a dress rehearsal, also Parents Night Out, which is a really cool idea. Can you tell us a little bit about that and why it’s such an important part of your mission?
Kappy: Thank you for that. But the the pay what you can is almost 35 year old program in collaboration with the food bank. Parents stay out is going to be going into its fourth season, I believe, and it was a brainchild of Emily’s. But we had started talking about what are the barriers to participating we’re not seeing, and so things like the ASL interpretive performance, we used to schedule one for every production, but you had to come to that performance to be able to take advantage of it. We’re working on getting the technology into the space so that you come whenever you want. You’re not dependent on us. You don’t even have to tell us you have the need. The resources are there for audio and visual interpretation, that technology keeps changing so fast that we’ve had a hard time locking down into one that that will grow with us. But but what else were we not seeing? And one of those was that you know childcare logistics and costs make it very difficult to have a regular night out. You know, if the show’s two hours long, you’ve got an hour to drive in or drive out plus dinner beforehand. That’s five hours for a babysitter, plus the cost of your tickets, plus parking, plus your dinner. And and if it turns out that our tickets were the least expensive part of that whole thing. How else can we help? And so Emily noodled through and came up with this idea of Parents’ Day Out, where if you are a wrangler of some kind, I’m an aunt, I’m not a parent, but I would so do this with my niece if she was local. You buy your tickets to the Sunday matinee, whatever price point you can afford, and you register your kids with us. You drop them in our rehearsal room with our teaching artists, and while you’re seeing a show that is highly unlikely inappropriate for a five to 12 year old, or over their head, or you know, to to the material is the topic is too tough. Maybe they get to spend that time with the teaching artists doing theater games and storytelling exercises, and y’all are done at the same time. Everybody’s home in time for bath, dinner, and bedtime on a Sunday evening. And thanks to the generosity of our community, the kids’ part is free.
Evelyn: Wow.
Kappy: We pay for the teaching artists, we pay for the supplies and materials, and the kids get this opportunity. And it’s become popular, so popular that it’s part of a. You can get a subscription series, so you can plan out your year of parents’ day outs in advance. You know, and watching these kids get to know each other, but also then growing in in their love and appreciation of arts. They may never be involved, but they’ve been introduced to the fun of it at an early age, and and we think that’s important. And I really got excited when Emily shared the idea because I had been listening to ex quote unquote expert consultants around the country for the last couple decades talking about we got to get the young people into the theater. I 100% agree. Introductions, get them in, get them the experience. It’s valuable. I 100% believe that. I live it. But these experts would then, these consultants would then talk about get them in till they’re 21, and then when they’re 50, go to them as donors. And I was like, well, what do you do with them between the age of 21 and 50? And they basically said, ignore them. They’ve got family. They’ve got new jobs. They’ve got kids. They don’t have the time or the resources. And I was like, I’m not married. I don’t have children. I’m looking for fun things to do. Also, I know a lot of parents that are looking for an entertaining, valuable night away from the kids. So if we can make that easier, otherwise, why would anybody come back and be a supporter of it? When they turn 50, if we’ve ignored them for 30 years.
Evelyn: Yeah, and I think it’s noticing that there’s barriers beyond just a ticket price, right? And providing extra value on top of it is what makes you also unique.
Kappy: And I think because of our size, you know, we’re a smaller, mid-sized theater company. We adapt easily. We can pivot quickly on things like that, we can experiment on ideas like that, and we, you know, we can have the one-on-one conversations and surveys with our audience and listen to their feedback. It’s the reason why, in the last couple years, we changed the show times on weeknights. We provided valet parking this season, or started offering valet parking at every performance because I had subscribers that were having to think about not renewing their subscription because parking or they can’t drive at night anymore, or so we’ve shifted and added a matinee, provided the valet parking. So if there’s an accessibility or movement issue, you are right at our front door. Yeah.
Evelyn: Beyond live performances, Human Race also provides a variety of arts learning and engagement opportunities out in the community. And you briefly mentioned the summer camp too, so I want to make sure we hit on that too. But tell us about being a community collaborator and the different programs that you have,
Kappy: There’s a lot going on. Tiffany and Emily just have a really good sense of of looking at each production because we tie we tie everything we do back to our mission and the work that’s on our main stage. So if we can connect a particular production to a need in the community, how do we build that? Any events around that, or partnerships or collaborations around that? And that might be, you know, the social service organization that we connect to for the pay what you can, so that their members or their community can come participate in that evening. It’s who are we creating art with? It’s it’s talking with Muse Machine, Dayton Live, DPAA, DCDC, these other arts organizations about who’s doing what in the arts education arena, and rather than compete against what those organizations are all doing so very well. Where are the holes? How can we fill a particular niche that is maybe unserved?
Evelyn: Right.
Kappy: So, Emily now does some each semester Master Classes with UDOLLI. We do in-school programming with Dayton Leadership Academy, and we’ve done some stuff with DECA and Dominion Academy after school camp theater camp kind of programming. There’s nothing like a room full of fourth graders cheering each other on and getting certificates for having completed the semester. You know the school year long programming, and that energy is phenomenal, and they’re, you know, taking bows and demonstrating everything they’ve learned and the pride in the accomplishment from them. That some of them aren’t given that opportunity elsewhere in any other form, sports or other arts or whatever.
Evelyn: Don’t you do a book pairing with the library?
Kappy: We do. Tiffany sits down with the library and talks about what are the books that that connect to or speak to or reference somehow each of the productions, and they’ll do an end cap promoting. You know, here’s your reading list before or after you come to see the show. Because for us, it all starts on the page with the playwright, so literacy is very important part of that, and and a belief that everybody’s voice deserves to be heard, and so how can we share the tools to empower that? And if it’s giving you examples of other writers who might have similar stories, and you can say, oh, they did that. I I’m not alone,
Evelyn: Right?
Kappy: And then see that same kind of messaging on stage is awesome.
Evelyn: I think what draws me to the Human Race productions is that it’s usually a topic that maybe I don’t know a lot about, and so it’s building empathy and understanding through seeing these stories acted out, but then to have a reading, you know, source to go to after the show or before the show to just dig into it more. Like I really nerd out about that. That’s super fun.
Kappy: And we try to have materials in the lobby. So, for instance, in our before it shut down with COVID in our 2019 20 season, we were doing Gloria, the piece about Gloria Steinem, and we partnered with Artemis to have signage in the restrooms and in the lobby, and resources available. Brunner Literacy Center was one of our partners for Hay Fever, and so having their information encouraging organizations or our audiences to support. These other vital resources, and and just sort of giving a spotlight. I mean, it’s often interesting in my grant writing and and fundraising, is that you know if we’re talking about corporate funding, that’s often marketing dollars, and I don’t have the numbers that the Schuster Center, the Broadway season does, because that theater is humongous. I have 212 people per night, but the concentrated impact and the extra care that’s given in making those connections and supporting that those parts of our community, I think, gives it it elevates.
David: Oh, absolutely. So, when people talk about what makes Dayton special, the arts are often center stage in that conversation. What role do you think live theater plays in helping a city like Dayton really continue to thrive?
Kappy: Do I give you my real answer or my soapbox answer? I will say that I know that the state of Ohio and the city of Dayton and related parties are really good about articulating the important role of the arts and culture of this region as a significant player in the quality of life, I don’t often see them convince the companies that come in and recruit that way giving back to support the arts. That’s my soapbox answer. You can edit that out if you need to, but that’s my current advocacy mission charge. I I think you touched on it a minute ago when you were talking about empathy and seeing perspectives that you might not encounter in your own circle. I think getting a room full of people whose heartbeats can sync up and and we reconnect, particularly in this post-COVID era and this post-techno or this technology era, where we’re often separated or we’re often isolated. We have we can track the health benefits of being in a room together with other people, and whether they’re friends or family or they’re strangers, but you’re experiencing something together, that’s truly at the heart of what it means to be human. We’ve always been a communal kind of being, and I think for all of the arts, it is it is giving us tools with which to say things we can’t necessarily articulate for ourselves, but that painting did it for me,
Kappy: Or that song did it. You know, the running joke about you know musical theaters weird because nobody bursts into song in the in real life. I do all the time, so I beg to differ. However, you know the good musical theater. Somebody bursts into song because there is not enough language to articulate the bigness of the feelings or the experience, and I think art gives us that ability to express and think through and feel through hard things, good things, challenging things. I know it’s so often articulated to feel a little. This is all just about fundraising, but I do. I am the human I am because of the arts experience that I’ve had. I know I’ve had a rough couple years. We’ve all had rough couple of years for various reasons, and I know that experiencing the artwork has been my grounding, has been my recovery, has been my joy, and nothing makes you happier than having a really good laugh with other people,
Evelyn: Or a good cry.
Kappy: Yeah, exactly.
Evelyn: I know. One I think of, it’s reindeer sessions. Oh, I won’t give it away.
Kappy: You can. What part is it?
Evelyn: The ending. Uh huh. There’s a surprisingly poignant, you know, message with that. I won’t give it away. But but
Kappy: That is exactly why that is one of my favorite shows we’ve ever done is because it is we jokingly call it our counter programming holiday show because it is not the kind of thing you get a whole bunch tickets for your family and you all go as with grandma and the grandkids to see. Don’t do that. I will not apologize if you bring your kids to this show because the language and some of the themes, but but that show in particular hits all of the boxes of it’s funny. There’s a redemption journey in it. There is love and friendship built. There is rebuilding of. Family, and there is that hope and redemptive moment at the end. That is just this is what Hallmark movies strive to do every year with their Christmas shows, and we’ve done it about a rainy day alive. Uh huh.
Evelyn: I was like, why is everything getting blurry? I know, my eyes were welling up. I know. You know, and that’s part of the reason why. Like, I enjoy coming to a show by myself, and you are, you know, surrounded by people. But I, I like taking it in solo sometimes too. So, encourage anybody that has not been to a show yet, because you can’t find someone to go with, just go on your own.
Kappy: And we have $10 rush tickets. Yep. You know, it costs very little to come try it out. Yep. And the great thing about a season of theater at a company like ours is, it may not all be your cup of tea.
Evelyn: It’s true,
Kappy: But I can guarantee you that what happens on that stage is top quality.
Evelyn: Always
Kappy: I mean, strong production values, top quality artists, and the story just. I’m not a mystery reader. I don’t like mystery book novels, so I don’t really pick them up. But I like this or I like that, and that’s kind of what the joy of a season of five shows are. Is you might discover a new form of mystery novel that you do love.
Evelyn: Right. That’s part of the reason why I love curation too. It’s like we’re in this society where you could spend an hour just scrolling through Netflix trying to find something to watch and still not end up with something good. But having that, you know, you’ve curated these productions that are they have a through line, right? The perception versus reality in a season, and you know there’s always going to be a takeaway, and you just trust the process, and there will be something for everyone.
Kappy: Yeah. And if you think of it this way, Emily or I are at every performance. We may not stay for the whole thing, but every performance in the season, one or the other of us is there. So why would we pick a show we didn’t want to see over and over and over again while it’s there, if we didn’t like it, if we if there wasn’t something about it because we do we see it a lot.
Evelyn: Yeah, is it a little bit different each time too? Yes, the nature of live theater. Of course,
Kappy: Of course, you know it might be a table, a leg falling off a sofa, or it might be a wig fell off, or last year, this past year, with seasonal shorts. You know, by the time the run ended, because of various different things that were going on in the real world, I had one actress on a scoot knee scooter and one actor on crutches, and we were adjusting that show from night to night to accommodate, and you could have come back five, six times, and it would have been a different show from opening tonight.
Evelyn: That’s great.
David: Well, we’ve covered a lot of ground, Kappy. We’ve covered theater and community and storytelling, but there’s one final question we always like to ask our guests, and that is, what’s the future you want to create?
Kappy: I want to create a community that that continues for various reasons to do what this community did after the Oregon District shooting, during COVID, during the tornadoes, this community came together and held each other up. I want, I would like to see that on a day-to-day basis that it doesn’t take a trauma or a crisis. I don’t know that that’s the answer I like, but I think that in communing together through art, we listen. I think that’s the that’s what I want. Is I I would like to continue working towards building a community that listens to each other and listens to strangers, and listens to the new, and learns to keep an open mind, or continues to have an open mind, because I think there’s a lot of that here in Dayton. I think there’s a lot of it that’s not, but I think that the opportunity for us to be able to have the voice amplified to tell our own story and listen to others, and understand the commonalities, and support the differences. I think, I think there’s a lot of that already here, but to continue to build on that, and and for the arts to help continue Dayton to grow strong economically, you know, to bring the businesses in to rebuild downtown, I spend a lot of time down here, and I love it down here. I’d love to have more people come hang and discover. The the uniqueness.
Evelyn: We’re Dayton. We we have our own way of of doing things, and so appreciative of the way that you continue to create the future.
Kappy: Thank you. I’d also love to convince my niece that first flight was Dayton, not North Carolina, where she lives.
Evelyn: 100%
Kappy: It’s a continuing argument. She’s 10. I should probably not be fighting with her about it, but still.
Evelyn: Well, thank you so much, Kappy, for joining us.
David: Thanks, Kappy.
Kappy: This was fun.
