(upbeat jazzy music) (upbeat jazzy music continues) (upbeat jazzy music fades) - In this edition of "WLIW Arts Beat," an opera singer's powerful journey.

- [Deonna] Maybe some people have gone through one or more things that I've gone through and they're bitter and they're not allowing their light to shine.

Hopefully, when they step out, their world is better.

(upbeat jazzy music) - [Diane] The art of aerobatic flying.

- [Emerson] One of the great things about flying, when you're up there, climbing, descending, loops, rolls, it's fun.

You can just do what you think you wanna do.

- Deep will I endart mine eyes- - [Diane] Immersive Shakespeare.

- I really loved digging into the meaning of the text and like translating every word, not just every line, but like he chose each word for a purpose.

Teach me how I forget to think.

- It's all ahead in this edition of "WLIW Arts Beat."

Funding for "WLIW Arts Beat" is made possible by viewers like you.

Thank you.

Welcome to "WLIW Arts Beat."

I'm Diane Masciale.

Singer Deanna Marie has had to overcome many struggles to be where she is today.

We head to Oklahoma to get an inside look at her show, "The Deonna Marie Experience," which takes viewers on an inspiring journey through her life.

(upbeat jazzy music) (upbeat rock music) - I'm like, oh my goodness, my stomach just dropped.

Oh Lord.

And usually like, I'm not really nervous, but that first, you know, that little, uh oh, and then it kind of, something kicks in like, okay, let's go something.

(contemplative music) ♪ From the womb ♪ ♪ I was born ♪ ♪ Born into a world of ♪ I grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan and I had two parents that were addicted to drugs.

I was bred to work hard, you know.

I got my first full-time job at 12 and my first apartment at 13.

And then when I was 18, I had developed a drug addiction myself.

And that took me on a ride for five years.

Five long years.

And then after that, one day, I woke up clean.

And so, after that, I started singing.

But my first voice teacher, he told me I was an opera singer and I told him, "Nah, I know Black people don't do that."

We don't do that.

Uh uh, he Black, you know.

So I said, okay.

(soulful operatic music) I didn't know it was gonna take me between 10 and 15 years.

I didn't get the memo.

You see what I'm saying?

(dramatic opera music) I didn't really know at the time.

But now looking back, singing to me was like a life jacket thrown to me every time I was drowning in life, whatever that was, to try to push me under, rather it be, you know, sexual abuse, neglect, my parents leaving, not feeling smart enough or pretty enough or just enough.

♪ So I tell me, sweet little girl ♪ ♪ Inside my world, we made it ♪ ♪ Everything is all right ♪ Music was just there to save the day.

♪ Sweet little girl ♪ ♪ You can be sure ♪ "The Deonna Marie Experience," from the crack house to the opera house.

It's a roller coaster of feelings.

Now, I'm gonna give you a quick lesson in drug dealing.

Don't do it.

It's illegal.

(Deonna screams) It's a story of hope, fearlessness and achievement.

I am important.

I am worthy.

I know that this is not just for me.

I am worthy of my heart's deepest desire.

And I said, "I want my show to be somewhere different, somewhere eclectic."

I want like unicorns like galloping around.

And this is kind of what I said.

And I was like, Factory Obscura.

That's the place.

(upbeat jazzy music) - What most people recognize us for is our built experiences like Mix-Tape, which is a fully immersive world that you're invited to come in and touch and interact and explore, climb, crawl, slide, do all the things.

We also create these immersive experiences through performances and events like Deonna's show.

And it felt like a really important story that needs to be heard.

- Good evening.

You know, this is "The Deonna Marie Experience," and this is an experience that I want everybody to be free.

Y'all see what I'm saying?

So can somebody say, yeah, girl?

- [Audience] Yeah, girl.

- And you can see that when you're watching her perform that she really is meant to be on the stage.

- You know, I mean, I had two jobs.

Money wasn't a problem.

And you know, and what else do we do?

- The first year was amazing.

I enrolled in college is what you did.

- [Deonna] Oh yeah.

No, no, no.

We had two jobs and something else.

She's amazing.

She's an amazing person, amazing human.

I couldn't have done any of this without her.

- When I met Deonna instantly, like, I ran over to introduce myself to her 'cause I was like, she's just magical being, and we started talking and then we would like sit together and then one day she's just telling me her story and I was like, "Oh my God."

- Shoddy would come in.

She wore like a wife beater with no bra and she had on some baggy jeans and some Tims and a fitted, oh my God.

It's good to have worked with someone that I trust.

- Or you can put it back.

- It just gives you the permission to be okay to be vulnerable, you know.

And I didn't wanna tell her, but I needed what she had and what she, and she had plenty.

Just needed a little bit to get the sickness off.

I have to tell her.

We played cards and she blew crack smoke right in my face.

Mama.

Mama, I got something to tell you.

I- (Deonna sniffles) Mama, Mama, I get high, too.

I get high, too, and I'm sick, Mama.

Crack is a drug.

It's a powerful drug.

Any worries, any fears, any insecurities, any stress of any kind is dissipated in an instant ♪ You've got the sweetest gentle form ♪ ♪ The taste that I adore ♪ I had gone through so much stress and this little white pebble, like, took it away.

So I made a love song about one of the loves of my life.

♪ Reality ♪ ♪ Oh, crack rock ♪ - The first four or five years of my career focused on substance use and mental health.

And I'm also 11 years in my own recovery.

I mean, anyone who's ever experienced heartbreak knows what addiction is, knows what a part of addiction is like, right?

When you say, your friends all say, "How could you text that person again?

How could you go back to them?"

Right?

♪ Oh, crack rock ♪ ♪ Where have you been all my life ♪ ♪ You make me feel ♪ - We all have this thing and we just judge each other on, it depends on what we think is best or not.

And I used to with my mom all the time.

Like, I hated her.

Like, why don't you just pick your kids?

Why don't you just be my mom?

And I forgave her instantly in that instant, that first hit of her crack pipe that I took, I was released from the burden of you see.

- The idea is to humanize.

We need to humanize each other, not stigmatize and write each other off.

And so, seeing someone tell their own story about it is how we do that.

♪ Oh, crack rock ♪ ♪ Where have you been ♪ - I got pulled over by the police making a drug run for my mama.

The police officer said that I had a warrant out for my arrest.

♪ Oh, crack rock ♪ ♪ Where have you been ♪ The judge calls my name and he tells me that I had over 50 parking tickets in the same spot.

Ms. Cattledge, I sentence you to 60 days in the Kent County Jail.

I went to jail for parking tickets and I had a bunch of crack on me that day, too.

That's crazy.

When I got in my cell, I'm sitting there and I'm crying.

I was the lowest and loneliest I had ever been in my life.

But I had this overwhelming urge to sing.

♪ I don't know about tomorrow ♪ ♪ I just live from day to day ♪ And I just started singing and I don't even know where it came from.

It just came out.

I'm like, what is this?

♪ It's sunshine ♪ ♪ For its skies may to turn to gray ♪ I went out and I looked up to hundreds of adoring fans.

They were clapping and they were crying.

I was a celebrity in jail.

It'd be the first time.

It's gonna be late.

And I was booked in busy, highly sought after singer in jail, yep.

I was somebody in here.

I didn't wanna go back out there.

I didn't wanna be a junkie.

I just was afraid.

Please, I don't wanna go back to my mom's.

I don't know what to do.

♪ I do believe in second chances ♪ ♪ I believe in the impossible ♪ I don't wanna put limits on it.

I think that at this point it's limitless.

There will be, you know, music and a book and I'm hoping a television series, a documentary, perhaps a movie.

Honestly, at the end, I want people to leave better.

Meaning I want people to, maybe they judge somebody with addiction.

♪ Whenever I feel ♪ Maybe some people have gone through one or more things that I've gone through and they're bitter and they're not allowing their light to shine.

Hopefully when they step out, their world is better.

You know what I mean?

I am worthy of my heart's deepest desire, and guess what?

You are, too.

That's all.

(audience cheers and applauds) - Hear more at deonnamarie.com.

(upbeat jazzy music) And now, the artist quote of the week.

(upbeat jazzy music) (upbeat jazzy music continues) Up next, we head to the Red Stewart Airfield in Waynesville, Ohio to learn about aerobatic flying.

Pilots become artists as they create captivating shapes in the sky.

Take a look.

(upbeat jazzy music) (dramatic string music) (plane engine whirs) - One of the great things about flying, when you're up there climbing, descending, loops, rolls, it's fine.

You can just do what you think you wanna do.

(dramatic music) And like other mediums, it has certain things that it does well and it has certain limitations.

You know, managing the airplane's energy to do what you want it to do is a fun challenge.

And every day's a little bit different.

(plane engine whirs) My name is Emerson Stewart and I'm a flight instructor at the Red Stewart Airfield.

I grew up right here.

I was, think I went for my first airplane ride when I was four days old.

I started flying a glider when I was 13, sold it when I was 14, sold an airplane, and got my glider rating when I was 16.

And I've been flying ever since.

My Grandpa Red was the fellow that started the airport back in 1946.

It was a pretty simple little place for a while.

The thing that makes the airport unique is that we're still doing the same thing we've always done with the same equipment we've always done it with.

We started off with little light airplanes in the '40s and we're still using the same sorts of little light airplanes.

Part of what makes the place special is the people that work here are excited to make the place go and wanna be here, helping to make the place continue.

- Red Stewart Airfield is awesome.

It's uncomplicated.

It's in the middle of a corn field, and years ago, they decided to put a little grass strip of runway in there.

You show up, you make sure the airplane's ready to go.

You jump in, turn the key, and you're flying in next to no time.

- I guess the obvious thing is it's a grass strip.

It's very low tech.

It's old fashioned airplanes.

Most of the airplanes out here don't even have an electrical system.

You gotta hand start 'em.

It's pure flying.

My name is Brett Hunter.

I run a little flight department over in Springboro, Ohio.

And on the side, I do some aerobatics, including air shows.

- Everyone shares one thing in common, their enthusiasm and passion for flight.

And when they arrive here, all the formalities disappear.

You don't have a battle of egos or anything like that weighing the atmosphere down.

It's fantastic.

- Hello, I'm Robert "Tico" LaCerda, and I started flying aerobatics back around 1990 or so.

First time I'd been in a small airplane, it was also the first time I did aerobatics.

We did loops and rolls and loved it from the very get go.

(upbeat music) (relaxed country music) (plane engine whirs) (relaxed country music fades) (upbeat country music) - Saturday evening of Labor Day weekend, we have an annual air show.

It's good to get people out, give 'em a little entertainment and show 'em what little airplanes can do.

- It's a unique air show in that it's a very up close and personal air show.

Accessibility for the performers to the fans and vice versa, I think is unmatched.

- Well, you wanna start with something that grabs their attention, something loud and maybe dramatic.

(upbeat dramatic music) You wanna finish with something that grabs their attention that they remember you with.

(upbeat dramatic music) Somewhere in the middle, try not to repeat anything.

- [Emerson] Part of the fun of planning it is you figure out what your airplane does well, what it looks nice doing, and you figure out how those pieces can fit together.

- And during the season, yeah, you'll work on the sequence, and if you're gonna add anything new, create something new, you wanna practice that individual part way up high.

Find out where the problems are, where the gotchas are.

Start bringing it down low where the altitude makes a big difference.

(plane engine whirs) - [Emerson] So, transitioning into say that.

I'm not thinking of it as, you know, oh, we're diving now.

It's exciting.

I'm thinking of it more, okay, I have altitude and I'm gonna trade it and I'm gonna turn it into air speed.

At the bottom of that dive, you pull back, and so, now you're converting it back to altitude.

- [Brett] Positive Gs can feel like an elephant sitting on you.

Just to lift your arm is an effort, and negative Gs feels like all the blood's rushing to your head, so you actually wanna try to relax.

When you're getting started for the year, coming off a cold couple winters, you know, you need to get G tolerance.

You need to make sure that you're in tune with the airplane.

- What this particular aircraft does very well is a knife edge pass, which is basically, you're tilting the airplane up on its side and going along the ground in a nice edge.

- Well, airplanes are convenient and make it nice to go point A to B straight line and a little faster than your car.

But it's a lot more fun to go see what an airplane can really do, see what you can do.

Upside down, I don't know, it's just, you can't do that in a car and get away with it more than once, right?

It's a bit of like a rollercoaster, but you get to design it and it's smooth.

- They're gonna do approaching port rolls.

Look for it.

Here we go.

Watch.

- It's fun showing off for the crowd.

We're careful about the way we do things, but yeah, if it makes people smile and entertains them, absolutely, yes, it's satisfying.

- I would describe aerobatic flying as being an art.

I mean, it's a lot of science, right?

But it doesn't feel like that at the time.

It feels like I'm up here drawing shapes in the sky.

(plane engines whir) - It's an affliction.

It's not an addiction.

The airplane thing, for sure, I wish it were as reasonably priced as gardening, but yeah, no, it gets in your blood and you can't get it out.

It's a constant itch.

(plane engine whirs) - I like to do aerobatics.

Aerobatics are fun.

They're thrilling.

But I like to just go fly around.

Sometimes I'll just go fly around low and see the sights.

I don't know.

I'll go out by the lake and it's kind of fun.

Sometimes, you can find an eagle or something.

(plane engine whirs) (bright music) - For more information, check out stewartsaircraft.net.

Now, here's a look at this month's fun fact.

(upbeat jazzy music) (upbeat jazzy music continues) In this segment, we take a trip to Norfolk, Virginia to experience an immersive staging of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet."

Hearing from the show's leads, we find out more about the production.

(upbeat jazzy music) ♪ High hats and narrow colors ♪ ♪ White spats and 15 dollars ♪ ♪ Spending every dime ♪ ♪ On a wonderful time ♪ ♪ If you're blue and you don't know where to go to ♪ - [Rebecca] So it seems like it's going to be kind of immersive out in the PLOT, right?

- [Noelle] Deb Wallace, the director, she really likes to incorporate a lot of things in her shows, not just the acting, but she's a big fan of having, like, movement.

(upbeat big band music) (upbeat big band music continues) - Yeah, there's gonna be dancing and fighting and singing.

- Draw if you be men.

- Part, fools.

You know not what you do.

- I have to ask, though.

I wonder if it's kind of a torturous process like learning, like memorizing Shakespearean lines 'cause that's next level, right?

- The hardest- - Man.

- The hardest part for me is honestly if the character speaking in poetry, not just reciting it like it's poetry.

- Yeah.

- And finding those emotional levels and how to portray it as just spoken text rather than kind of falling into I am reciting poetry.

I'll look to like, if looking liking move, but no more deep will I endart mine eye than your consent gives strength to make it fly.

- I really love digging into the meaning of the text and like translating every word, not just every line, but like, he chose each word for a purpose.

Teach me how I should forget to think.

- [Benvolio] By giving liberty unto thine eyes.

Examine other beauties.

- 'Tis the way he that is strucken blind cannot forget the precious treasure of his eyesight lost.

Show me a mistress that is passing fair.

What doth her beauty serve but as a note where I may read who passed that passing fair?

Farewell, my cuz.

The more you dig into it, the more you realize, like, you can literally tell the audience exactly what's happening if you get detailed enough with how you communicate it.

- Do you have a favorite part of this show?

A moment that really sticks out to you?

It's just something you're really excited for the audience to see?

- Honestly, it is gonna be so cheesy of me, but the balcony scene.

- [Rebecca] Yeah.

- A thousand times goodnight.

I still can't believe I get to do the balcony scene, like, oh my God.

- [Rebecca] Yeah.

- [Noelle] What is happening?

- That was a really funny rehearsal.

Love as school boys from their books.

We were supposed to be off book and then we were rehearsing the balcony scene and my very first line I'm like, (Noelle laughs) line.

- [Rebecca] Oh, that's hilarious.

- And it was, but soft- - But soft, what light- - That took care of, yeah.

I'm not even, anyway.

- [Rebecca] It happens.

You know.

- It instilled a lot of confidence in the rest of the cast.

Let me stay until thou rememberest.

- 'Tis almost morning.

I would have thee gone.

Goodnight.

Goodnight.

Parting is such sweet sorrow that I shall say goodnight till it be morrow.

- [Enver] This has been awesome.

- [Noelle] Yeah.

- [Enver] And everyone involved is like equally committed.

- [Noelle] Yeah.

- [Enver] And just down and very talented, and I don't know, we're just really lucky to have this group of people.

- [Noelle] Yeah, absolutely.

- [Emerson] On stage and behind.

That doesn't matter.

Everyone involved.

- [Noelle] Yeah.

(gentle music) - Discover more at neonnfk.com.

(upbeat jazzy music) And here's a look at this week's art history.

(upbeat jazzy music) (upbeat jazzy music continues) That wraps it up for this edition of "WLIW Arts Beat."

We'd like to hear what you think, so like us on Facebook, join the conversation on X and visit our webpage to watch more episodes of the show.

We hope to see you next time.

I'm Diane Masciale.

Thank you for watching "WLIW Arts Beat."

(upbeat jazzy music) Funding for "WLIW Arts Beat" was made possible by viewers like you.

Thank you.

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