Sizzling Storyteller Ardre Orie Talks 'The Heart Of A Man'

A playwright is getting to the heart of the matter during mental health awareness month with a play centered around creating safe spaces for men.

I have this theatrical production coming up and it is really about mental health awareness for the month of May. It’s an all men’s cast, it’s dynamic and just a dope concept. And there’s me behind it, a Black female. I wrote and I am executive producing this, but it is really about men being able to have a safe space to share. Many people say, ‘Well, why would you as a woman want to tell men’s stories?’ Well, because I’ve been married for 21 years and it’s a manifestation of a lot of the things I learned from my husband throughout this time, but I also realize that if the men in our lives are healthy, then they can be strong enough to provide a great foundation for us. But if they’re not healthy, then we can’t have the best types of relationships and exchanges that we can have. And so that is really my why behind this. Lastly, The Heart Of Man was kind of a response to [the killing of] Philando Castile, and of course, everyone else was deeply troubled and I thought, ‘Well, what can I do? How can I help?’ I felt very helpless. And so it made me start to really say, ‘What is it that men are feeling? What are you experiencing? And is anyone even willing to listen? And are we as women listening?’ So that’s kind of the roots of the production.

Tell us about the men in this cast, I feel like I saw Scotty from Grillz By Scotty in there…

Correct, you saw Scotty from Grillz by Scotty. You saw Stevie Bagg, Jr. who’s currently on BMF, and Jason Louder who’s also currently on BMF. We have someone recently who was recently featured as a writer on Beyoncé’s last album as part of the backup choir; you name it. These guys are true actors, Karon Riley, who’s married to Terry J. Vaughn, comedian Rodney Perry, Maurice Johnson; those are some of the standouts.