Speaking about how 'The Dissenters' came into being, the 'Will & Grace' actress says that she and friend Mandana Dayani wanted to meet their heroes and to share it with other people.
- May 14, 2020
AceShowbiz - "Will & Grace" star Debra Messing has teamed up with I Am A Voter co-founder Mandana Dayani to launch a podcast to salute activists.
The first episode of "The Dissenters" will be posted on 21 May and the show will feature chats with Jane Fonda and Together Rising founder Glennon Doyle.
"We're both nerds, we're very much into activism and organising and we realised all of these people that are inspiring us, we wanted to share with other people," Messing tells Deadline, referencing her friend Dayani. "We wanted to meet our heroes."
"We laugh and we cry, we're vulnerable and we have no idea how each interview will unfold," Messing says. "It's very much dispelling the idea that these people are on pedestals. Most of these people had no intention of getting any notoriety, it came out of a need to do something... We wanted to show there were dissenters everywhere; it's not just in the political or social justice lane, it's in the fashion lane and it's in sports."
Messing jumped at the idea of co-hosting a podcast when her Broadway play Birthday Candles was shut down by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We were two weeks into the four-week rehearsal process; it's devastating," she adds. "Luckily, the artistic director loves the play so much that he said we will do it when we can. He said the fall and I don't know when it will be safe to go back to Broadway, but the fact that there's a commitment to doing it, it's a magnificent play."
