美国国家公共电台 NPR From D.C. Theater To '24': The Rise Of Actor Corey Hawkins

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

The actor Corey Hawkins honestly seems to be everywhere. He is perhaps best known for playing rapper Dr. Dre in the movie "Straight Outta Compton."

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON")

COREY HAWKINS: (As Dr. Dre) All right, so look. Your rhymes ain't tight, it ain't making the record.

GREENE: Now in theaters, you can see Hawkins in the new "King Kong" movie. On television, he's the lead in the action drama show "24 Legacy¹."

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "24 LEGACY")

HAWKINS: (As Eric Carter) We're blown, the whole squad².

MIRANDA OTTO: (As Rebecca Ingram) What?

HAWKINS: (As Eric Carter) Bin-Khalid's people found us. They have our new names, and three of them just broke into my house.

GREENE: I told you he's like everywhere, and as if that were not enough, Corey Hawkins is now co-starring on Broadway in the new production of "Six Degrees Of Separation." NPR's Elizabeth Blair spent some time with Hawkins recently and found out that he was raised to think of his art as a way to engage as a citizen.

ELIZABETH BLAIR, BYLINE³: Corey Hawkins remembers the moment he knew he wanted to be a performer. He was 9 years old auditioning⁴ for director and choreographer⁵ Debbie Allen at the Kennedy Center in Washington.

HAWKINS: I was going in for the part of Teeny Tiny Tappin Theo. That was the kid's name (laughter).

BLAIR: It was Allen's musical "Brothers Of The Night" about a reverend who doesn't approve of his 12 sons' all-night dancing.

DEBBIE ALLEN: And I was looking for who was going to be this very special, the youngest of all the brothers Teeny Tiny Tappin Theo?

HAWKINS: I didn't know how to tap at all, but I wanted to be a part of the show. And I just brought these brand new tap shoes. The, like, stickers were still on it, and (laughter) it was just the silliest thing. And my mom was just like you can do it, you can do it. And I just remember (imitating tapping) like just tapping my feet.

ALLEN: He was just so alive. He had confidence. He danced so well.

HAWKINS: Halfway⁶ through, Debbie Allen jumped out of her chair, and she was like you better tap, oh, my God, oh, my goodness. And she was just going crazy, and I was like oh, my God, this is amazing. And it just gave me a bit of a - like a high.

BLAIR: Not only did 9-year-old Corey Hawkins tap, he sang.

(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "BROTHERS OF THE NIGHT")

HAWKINS: (As Teeny Tiny Tappin Theo, singing) Sunday, Sunday, Sunday will be every day of the week.

BLAIR: In the meantime, Corey Hawkins' mother was a single mom raising two kids and working full time as a D.C. police officer. Monicamarie Hawkins also remembers Debbie Allen's enthusiasm.

MONICAMARIE HAWKINS: She loved him. She actually wanted him. She was like, mom, can he come move with me?

BLAIR: Debbie Allen admits she was pretty possessive.

ALLEN: His mother and I had a big fight (laughter).

BLAIR: Allen works with a lot of young people, and she knew Corey Hawkins had something special. When he was a teenager, Allen tried to convince his mom to let him star in another one of her shows.

ALLEN: I remember the mother saying to me he can't be in the show, Ms. Allen. I'm not sure about his grades. I said, you better listen to me. This child is going to go the distance. No, you cannot take him from me. His mother has been a police officer, you know, all this time. So it was like - I think I told her this, well, you might as well put him in jail now.

BLAIR: Corey Hawkins never landed in jail. But he did learn a lot about law enforcement growing up, and that has served him well playing the lead in the action drama "24 Legacy." In one episode, his character, a former U.S. Army Ranger⁷, intentionally⁸ gets himself arrested.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "24 LEGACY")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: (As character) You're going to let them arrest you?

HAWKINS: (As Eric Carter) Look, I'm a black man standing⁹ on the corner of Third and Decatur. Trust me, it won't be that hard.

ALLEN: It's not.

(SOUNDBITE OF POLICE SIRENS)

ALLEN: Since Corey Hawkins' mother is a real police officer, he convinced the show to give her a small part in the episode. When the handcuffed Corey is let into the station, Monicamarie Hawkins is the officer at the front desk.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "24 LEGACY")

HAWKINS: (As Police Desk Clerk) Hey, Paul. What you got?

BILL KELLY: (As Officer Paul Vernon) Vagrancy¹⁰ and resisting arrest.

HAWKINS: (As Police Desk Clerk) That's not a good way to start the day.

BLAIR: And she shoots the young vagrant¹¹ a look of disgust - Corey Hawkins.

HAWKINS: I'm like, I've seen that look before (laughter). I've seen that look before.

BLAIR: Monicamarie Hawkins has been an officer with D.C.'s Metropolitan¹² Police Department for almost 28 years.

HAWKINS: My dad didn't want me to be a police officer, but that's the path that I chose because I like helping¹³ people.

HAWKINS: I don't think I've realized how much she sacrificed, and how dangerous it was and how she couldn't - she - there might be a day when she wouldn't come home, and I wouldn't know what that was, you know. And - because D.C. was a scary place, and in some instances still is.

BLAIR: It was his mom's work that first gave Corey Hawkins the idea that entertainment and serving people could be connected.

HAWKINS: She definitely loves the arts, as do a lot of her partners. They do this thing called Friday Nights Out or or Beat the Streets where they bring all the kids together, they set up these stages, they raise money and they let the kids perform. And it's a big thing. Like, the whole neighborhood comes out. They bring their lawn chairs. People come out and cook, and it's all sort of art-driven.

BLAIR: After graduating from the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in D.C., Corey Hawkins got a full scholarship to study drama at Juilliard. At first, he was worried the school would turn him into a classically trained robot. But then he read a book by the president of that school Joseph Polisi "The Artist As Citizen."

HAWKINS: It just inspired me, you know, in a way that it wasn't just about the sort of fame and the legendary¹⁴ alumni, you know, which can be a little intimidating¹⁵, but it became about the work and what we're trying to say with our art, you know?

BLAIR: In the book, Polisi writes that the artist has a social responsibility to make the world a more livable place. It's something Hawkins thought a lot about during his training, and it's partly what drew him to the character he's playing now on Broadway. In "Six Degrees Of Separation," he plays Paul, a young African-American man who cons¹⁶ an upper class New York couple. He pretends to be the son of Sidney Poitier.

(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION")

HAWKINS: (As Paul) My father, being an actor, has no real identity.

BLAIR: The couple is smitten¹⁷. The wife is played by Allison Janney.

(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION")

ALLISON JANNEY: (As Ouisa) I just loved your kid so much. I wanted to reach out to him.

BLAIR: But eventually, Paul gets caught and arrested. The couple try to help him but can't because they don't know his real name.

HAWKINS: He gets lost to the criminal justice system because why? Because they don't know his name, which is so heartbreaking, you know? It's like that is the world we live in where young black men are just numbers, and in our society they're statistics.

BLAIR: Corey Hawkins understands this character, and as an artist wants to validate¹⁸ him. It's something he watched his mother do with kids in D.C. whether you're an officer or an artist, do it as a citizen. Elizabeth Blair, NPR News.

1 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

2 squad   

n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组

参考例句：

• The squad leader ordered the men to mark time.班长命令战士们原地踏步。
• A squad is the smallest unit in an army.班是军队的最小构成单位。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 auditioning   

vi.试听（audition的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• She was auditioning for the role of Lady Macbeth. 她试演了麦克佩斯夫人的角色。
• Which part are you auditioning for? 你试音什么角色？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 choreographer   

n.编舞者

参考例句：

• She is a leading professional belly dancer, choreographer, and teacher. 她既是杰出的专业肚皮舞演员，也是舞蹈设计者和老师。 来自辞典例句
• It'stands aside, my choreographer of grace, and blesses each finger and toe. 它站在一旁，我优雅的舞蹈指导，并祝福每个指尖与脚尖。 来自互联网

6 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

7 ranger   

n.国家公园管理员，护林员；骑兵巡逻队员

参考例句：

• He was the head ranger of the national park.他曾是国家公园的首席看守员。
• He loved working as a ranger.他喜欢做护林人。

8 intentionally   

ad.故意地，有意地

参考例句：

• I didn't say it intentionally. 我是无心说的。
• The local authority ruled that he had made himself intentionally homeless and was therefore not entitled to be rehoused. 当地政府裁定他是有意居无定所，因此没有资格再获得提供住房。

9 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

10 vagrancy   

（说话的，思想的）游移不定； 漂泊； 流浪； 离题

参考例句：

• The tramp was arrested for vagrancy. 这个流浪汉因流浪而被捕。
• Vagrancy and begging has become commonplace in London. 流浪和乞讨在伦敦已变得很常见。

11 vagrant   

n.流浪者，游民；adj.流浪的，漂泊不定的

参考例句：

• A vagrant is everywhere at home.流浪者四海为家。
• He lived on the street as a vagrant.他以在大街上乞讨为生。

12 metropolitan   

adj.大城市的，大都会的

参考例句：

• Metropolitan buildings become taller than ever.大城市的建筑变得比以前更高。
• Metropolitan residents are used to fast rhythm.大都市的居民习惯于快节奏。

13 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

14 legendary   

adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学）

参考例句：

• Legendary stories are passed down from parents to children.传奇故事是由父母传给孩子们的。
• Odysseus was a legendary Greek hero.奥狄修斯是传说中的希腊英雄。

15 intimidating   

vt.恐吓，威胁( intimidate的现在分词)

参考例句：

• They were accused of intimidating people into voting for them. 他们被控胁迫选民投他们的票。
• This kind of questioning can be very intimidating to children. 这种问话的方式可能让孩子们非常害怕。

16 cons   

n.欺骗，骗局( con的名词复数 )v.诈骗，哄骗( con的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The pros and cons cancel out. 正反两种意见抵消。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• We should hear all the pros and cons of the matter before we make a decision. 我们在对这事做出决定之前，应该先听取正反两方面的意见。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 smitten   

猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去分词 )

参考例句：

• From the moment they met, he was completely smitten by her. 从一见面的那一刻起，他就完全被她迷住了。
• It was easy to see why she was smitten with him. 她很容易看出为何她为他倾倒。

18 validate   

vt.（法律）使有效，使生效

参考例句：

• You need an official signature to validate the order.你要有正式的签字，这张汇票才能生效。
• In order to validate the agreement,both parties sign it.为使协议有效，双方在上面签了字。