By Elizabeth Bunnell

On a small stage at the Fayetteville Town Center on Mar. 28 Daveed Diggs, a famous actor, rapper, and performer, continuously made the crowd of laugh out loud with his anecdotes about substitute teaching, dealing with stress in college, and explaining how a clerical error led to his involvement in “Hamilton.” Diggs visited Fayetteville as a part of the University’s Distinguished Lectures Committee. 

Diggs is most well-known for his roles of Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson in the “Hamilton” musical. Additionally off the stage and on screen, he stars in the film Diggs “Blindspotting” with appearances in “Soul,” “Wonder,” and the live-action adaptation of “The Little Mermaid.”

Diggs’ involvement in the arts started from a young age before he had any monetary gain from the business. 

“If you’re going into the arts to make money, you should do something else,” Diggs said. “It’s way easier to make money in other ways, so you must love it.”

Before Diggs joined the cast of “Hamilton” he worked in the Bay Area as a substitute teacher or he would occasionally go into classrooms to teach poetry workshops. 

“Even when I was in “Hamilton” in New York, and just walking around the street in LA, every once in a while, some kid who was in middle school at that time, who’s now like, a grown up working professional comes up to me and is like, ‘Mr. Diggs, you were my poetry teacher, man,’” Diggs said. 

Diggs’ job as a substitute teacher eventually led to his involvement with “Hamilton.” The school district Diggs was subbing in accidentally placed him and Anthony Ramos in the same classroom for the day. Ramos portrayed John Laurens and Phillip Hamilton in the popular musical. 

“One of the things we did was freestyle with the kids, which is when we both had this revelation that we both had this bizarre skill set,” Diggs said. 

Diggs ended up giving Ramos a ride after their day of substitute teaching together and Ramos later introduced Diggs to Lin Manuel Miranda, the creator of “Hamilton.” If Diggs and Ramos had been assigned different rooms to teach on that day or if the district didn’t make the error, Diggs career and life would have had a completely different trajectory.

In 2015, while working on “Hamilton,” Diggs met Emmy Raver-Lampman, who became his longtime partner. Raver-Lampman was a member of the original ensemble as “Woman #6” and then took on the roles of Eliza Schuyler and Angelica Schuyler in traveling productions.

“Hopefully the best part of a job is that you’ve met someone that is really cool,” Diggs said about meeting Raver-Lampman on the set of “Hamilton.”

The couple welcomed their first child together in March 2024. Diggs’ child has changed his outlook on balancing work and family life. At one point during the lecture he said to the audience, “I’m having so much fun with you guys, but I miss my family.”

Each semester the DLC hosts multiple events with different speakers, such as Jennette McCurdy, John Green, Bill Nye, Gloria Steinham, and Venus Williams. Diggs was the second lecture hosted in the Spring 2024 semester.

“I thought he gave a lot of good advice and insight,” DLC Event Logistics Chair Alexandria May said. “He wasn’t just cool, but he actually had a lot to say and did a good job of keeping everyone engaged.”

May explained that Diggs’ event was her favorite lecture that she had attended and appreciated how laid back he was with the audience and DLC chair members. May explained he ate at Tiny Tim’s Pizza and walked into the front door of Fayetteville Town Center carrying a pizza box. 

The most impactful moment of Diggs’ lecture for May was when he said that no matter what you always have the power to make choices. 

“He said that you can always make the opposite choice of what you’re doing. Yes, every choice has consequences, and things are going to happen because of those choices, but it’s just going to lead to another choice,” May said. “If you’re not doing what you want to do, or there’s something that you want to change in your life, you can change it, there’s nothing stopping you from making that decision.” 

Diggs’ lecture lasted nearly an hour and a half, but students had the opportunity to obtain VIP tickets to hear even more from Diggs. The VIP Q&A event was held at the very beginning, thirty students were chosen for the tickets and they were allowed to submit their own questions for Diggs to answer. Then the moderated lecture took place, where Judy Kamau, a senior at the University of Arkansas, discussed with Diggs. Next, another Q&A session took place that was open to the whole audience. Lastly, VIP ticket holders had the opportunity to take a picture with Diggs after the event. 

Throughout Diggs’ lecture he emphasized the importance of enjoying the present and letting go of stress, particularly directed towards college students. 

He told the audience, “your life is only just beginning.” 

At the end of the lecture Diggs encouraged the audience by offering pieces of advice.

“If you’re actively trying to do hard things, you’re going to fail at a lot of those things, and that’s great,” Diggs said. “You don’t learn anything from the successes, really. You learn way more from the things that don’t work out.”