evening with cynthia nixon, she is directing not starring, in the play rashida speaking. >> it's hard to get rid of people today with all the tricks that human resources could pull out of their hat and superficial laws about harrisment and with all that resentment she has inside of her, a lot of tricks pulled from that particular hat. >> the race card you mean. you don't have to say that. ooh, okay! you understand? i guess! my mother thought she was training me to be an actress but i think she was likely at her heart a director because she taught me to see the whole picture. i think once you've had so many years as an actress as i have you get to see it from the inside which is useful. >> rose: tshering tobgay and cynthia nixon when we continue. >> and by bloomberg, a provider of multimedia news and information services worldwide. captioning sponsored by rose communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. >> rose: tshering tobgay is here, the prime minister of bhutan. he is the second person to hold the post since 2008. he led bhutan's first opposition party before elected in 2013, now working to steer his country through its transition to democracy. the himalayan kingdom is praised worldwise for measuring success according to gross national happiness rather than gross domestic product. it's also one to have the leading countries in environmental conservation. it's constitutional mandates of 60% of national forests be protected in perpetuity as bhutan seeks to modernize its government, it is being challenged to find a balance of pursuit of happiness and economic growth. i'm pleased to have tshering tobgay at the table and we agreed the next time would be in bhutan. so welcome. >> thank you charlie. >> rose: bhutan, for many it has the image of the himalayas, china india, and for some a kind of a shang ray la, but it's much different than that. >> it is kind of a shangri-la9÷mkdvym tju those who haven't been there because it's in the mountains, tucked away in the himalayas. we're not just one big monastery. we're not all monks. we are a people. all of the countries in the himalayas the beauty of our country is it rises very quickly from about 100 meters above sea level all the way to 7,500 meters above sea level in a very short span of time. >> rose: population of about -- >> 750,000. that's about eight football stadiums. so it's not much. but it's spread throughout the country, and our country is divided by very tall mountains, narrow valleys. so we do have problems getting from place to place. the country itself is about 30,000 kilometers, a little bigger than maryland. >> rose: most of the people are buddhists? >> most are buddhists and it is the state religion and we are the last surviving mahiana buddhist country in the world. there are many kingdoms along the himalayas, million practicing mahiana or tibetan buddhism and we are the last surviving nation whose state religion is mamiana buddhism. feudal till about 1933. >> and then the third king abolished the system. >> rose: first roads in '62. yes, in '61, we started constructing our first road about three years before i was born. charlie my mother worked on this road. the entire country had to come together because now we have 750,000 people, so, at that time, we must have had about 600,000 people 500,000 people, and our entire population had to come and work on the road so my mother was one of them. as most of our parents. >> rose: your dad was a soldier. >> yes. >> rose: but you were educated in the united states. >> i was educated in india first, then i did my high school in bhutan, won a scholarship to study engineering in america. i wrote to the best ten colleges, ten engineering colleges and i wrote to the university of pittsburgh because, at that time pittsburgh was voted the most livable city by thyme "time magazine." >> rose: city of three rivers. a beautiful city. i returned much later to cambridge massachusetts. >> rose: to get your master's. yes. >> rose: then you went back. i went back after my college, my engineering degree, i studied mechanical engineering. most bhutanese, in fact almost all of us after college, regardless of where we studied we've always gone back. i joined the civil service. >> rose: working in education? working in education, focusing on vocational training. then i got a degree in public administration. >> rose: then you felt the lure of politics. >> i didn't feel the lure of politics. nobody in bhutan felt the lure of politics (laughter) you mentioned, charlie, we are in transition. we are not in transition. we are full democracy with democratic institutions. we are a vibrant democracy. the transition took place in the 30 years leading up to 2008 when democracy was established. >> rose: how was that? our fourth king very gradually he was training us in the principles of democracy, in the principles of governance and he devolved power and authority from the throne to the people step by step gradually and it was only till sometime in 2005 we heard about democracy 2006 we knew he was serious. bibi 2006 the fourth king abdicated in favor of his son who is the king now. >> rose: the fifth king. and the entire country was unhappy. >> rose: so why did he do this? who educated him? who informed him? who influenced him to create a constitutional monarchy? >> well -- >> rose: this is the fourth king. >> what he told the people repeatedly is that no one person can be guaranteed to be good for the country and, for the long-term interest of the country and the people, we have to accept democracy. we really didn't want democracy. i didn't want democracy. our country was doing very well. we had social progress, inc. mental, very -- incremental, very gradual, deliberate growth, our culture was vibrant. we had opportunities to take part in the decision-making process. we had the rule of law. everything was very optimistic we were all very hopeful, but he insisted we had to have democracy but the people were really against the idea. he said, look, i'm serious, we have to have democracy and for those of you who feel that you can serve in this capacity, please step forward and that was when, in fact, it was february 2007 i resigned from my job in the civil service and entered politics not because i felt the draw of poll six but i felt a -- politics but i felt a sense of service. >> rose: so you went from being a civil servant. >> yes. >> rose: to being a political player. >> well, it was a transition from being a civil servant to being somebody who is absolutely lost. we have no idea of the politics who incidentally had been in harvard before but studying public administration. studied negotiations and economics and all that. i didn't -- it didn't occur to me that i should study fundraising and campaign organization and management and political party organization. so there were many months i was absolutely clueless on how to go about my job and that showed in the election. >> rose: how many members in the opposition party? >> we got a whallopping five. (laughter) so the national assembly has 47 members and we ended up with two. >> rose: then in the next election? >> i was made opposition leader by my party. i think because i joined the party first, i had my colleague so we spent five years in opposition and the ruling party had 45 members. >> rose: we'll talk about the 2013 election more. tell me more about the royal family. it's pronounced -- is it wunchuks (phonetic). >> yes. >> rose: the sister of the president came, she went to stanford, then i think harvard. >> yes. >> rose: a lot of people have gone and gotten western educations and come back whether the royal family or people like you, true? >> yes. >> rose: and they come back because they love the place. >> well, we love our country. we love our royal family. i think many of us know about the sacrifices that our parents have made for our country, and all of us are very aware of the sacrifices that our kings have made for our country. our kings by the way, don't have any property. they have dedicated their lives for the service of the country and the people. our fourth king became king when he was 16 in 1972. he inherited a country that was impoverished and helped to develop the people, obviously, he wanted to have an economy going again obviously. but he refused to compromise the integrity of our environment and he refused to cut the forest or mine minerals. >> rose: 70% of the country is forest. >> 71. >> rose: 71? 71-point-something. >> rose: i actually read 72 but i was rounding it off. it has to be more than 65? >> the constitution requires 60% forest, we have 72%. >> rose: so you have clean air. >> 72% of our land is forest and is pristine forest. a lot of it is pristine. more importantly much of the forest, in fact all of it, ranges quickly from dense hot, humid, subtropical jungles through cool, temperate forests all the way to alpine forests and pastures, and all this happens within a very short distance as the crow flies 25 kilometers as the crow flies, 30. and yes, we have very clean air. >> rose: we'll talk about that too, because conservation is a very important part of what you believe in and we'll talk about that and how you do that. things are changing there. the gross domestic product is a bit more than a billion dollars? >> a billion point seven. >> rose: almost $2 billion. $1.7 billion. >> rose: and the principle industry is hydroelectric power? >> yes and subsistence farming. about 500 billionaires in america, i read recently. >> rose: and your gross domestic product is $1.7 billion. >> but we don't feel poor. >> rose: because? because all our children are given free education. free primary free secondary education. >> rose: free healthcare. good colleges and those who make it to college are given free college education. they have to work hard. we have free healthcare free medicine, free consultations. economically, yeah, i mean, we can do more but so far so good. however, we have increasing unemployment now. >> rose: you talk about unemployment. you talk about the debt. you talk about corruption. i mean, so you have modern problems. >> yes. it's not shangri-la. >> rose: it's not shangri-la. yes. >> rose: but when you campaign i mean, you made small promises -- >> clear promises. >> rose: clear small promises. >> yes. >> rose: and you basically said to them, as i understand it, yes, gross happiness is a good idea -- >> gross national happiness is a good idea snoop and that's the standard and says something about our culture, but we also have to be very real, we have to look at our problems work hard and we have to create a place where others want to come and invest in for our own economic future. >> yes. gross national happiness is a development philosophy articulated by our kings. >> rose: right. will have to, our fourth king has said gross national happiness is more important than gross national product, what you said during introduction. our current king said gross national happiness is development of values. gross national happen necessary is carefully balancing material growth, which is very important, economic growth, which is important, this is important but balancing economic growth with inclusiveness, social progress, with culture, with preservation of environment all within the framework of good governance, that takes hard work. >> rose: globalization is a good thing for bhutan? >> necessary. >> rose: sessional? essential. and if used well, good. >> rose: so how will you change your country? >> how will i change my country? charlie, my job is to serve my country, it is not to change it. >> rose: well, if you have problems, like unemployment. problems like corruption. if you have problems like the rupi shortage. your job is to change corruption, change poverty, change -- >> let's get things in perspective. we have unemployment problems but our unemployment rate is 2.6%. >> rose: and here it's 5% to 6%. >> our problem is youth unemployment which is about 9.6%. youth unemployment. so we need to create jobs we need to have industries, we need to have investment to create jobs for them. so while this is a problem, i acknowledge it as a problem and i don't want to see a single bhutanese boy or girl unemployed, but we also have to be deliberate in the type of industries we create, the type of jobs that we create. corruption is not a problem more than it is a risk. >> rose: so you're saying it's not that it's there, it's that it could be there. >> it is there but not at levels that most people are -- most people experience. in international corruption index, perception index, we rank number 30, which is we can do better than that yeah? we should climb up the ladder. but it isn't really a problem. it is potentially a problem. a problem that will keep the pouri nour mohammadi and perpetuate a growing gap between the income. >> rose: where are you on the perception of happiness? >> i'm not sure how bhutan is measured. in fact, bhutan is not measured internationally in happiness. we have done our own surveys. in 2010 we surveyed something like 7,500 people and did a very very comprehensive survey. >> rose: what did you find? zero to one scale, one being very happy we ranked ourselves .743. so not too bad. >> rose: but you were saying to the people of bhutan, we have to work hard. >> yes. >> rose: and to say that to them, you must be suggesting they have not worked hard enough and they may have become complacent. >> yes, we can't take things for granted. our economy is small but we have been given everything -- health education, infrastructure, social security, our culture, our environment, and you mentioned conservation, which is very important. we have to work to keep -- we have to work hard to ensure that our culture is vibrant. we have to work hard to ensure that our environment is protected. but most importantly, we have to work hard to ensure that our future generations also enjoy free education and free healthcare and that we have an economy that can support all this. >> rose:-year-old -- where would you like to see your country in ten years? >> self-reliant, economically self-reliant but self-reliant in a manner that our economy is green and sustainable. >> rose: you're carbon neutral now? >> oh, we're carbon negative. >> rose: carbon negative! yes! (laughter) from estimates we sequester 3 million tons of carbon a year and generate only 1.5 million tons of carbon a year. and the carbon we generate is from farming most of it is from agriculture, farming and livestock. >> rose: that's where you generate the carbon. >> yeah, most of it. >> rose: what can you do about the poverty? >> create jobs. most of our poverty is in the rural areas. so improve agriculture. improving agriculture and productivity. we're trying to promote natural farming, promote organic farming so our farmers can get more money, improve their income. in the urban areas, our young boys and girls who have completed schools and colleges, we have to get them good jobs. >> rose: what is the program you have with the worldwide life fund? >> called bhutan for life. >> rose: what's that? 72% of our country, as you know is under forest cover. the constitution requires 60%. we declare we will be carbon neutral for all time to come. more than half our country, 51% of our country is protected as national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, nature reserves and we have ten of these protected areas, but the beauty of bhutan is that all these protected areas are interconnected with biological corridors. >> rose: biological corridors. yes. >> rose: what's that? undisturbed tracts of land where animals and birds can migrate and go from park to park rather than being isolated in one particular area. so when we say more than half our country is protected, it means animals can traverse the entire length and breadth of our country. tigers for instance, have been spotted at 100 meters above sea level in the south in the jungles, and tigers have been spotted at 4,000 4,200 meters above sea level. >> rose: what kind of tigers? oyal bengal tigers. and our camera traps have spotted tigers with cubs. >> rose: wow... so now we need to protect all this. >> rose: by forestation? we have 700 species of birds in our country, in the small country and the white bell bellied herron there's only about 150 in the world. in bhutan we've counted every one and there are only 29. so we have to protect our ecological system. it's very rich in biodiversity and it is pristine. we have to protect it. the government spends about $3 million per year for park management but that's not enough. >> rose: your argument is this ought to be an attractive thing to create, to have a world like this that's green and that has these advantages for business to come to. >> it's not for business. that's the bonus. our kings have given us a very rich environment. we have to enjoy this environment and we must do our part to nurture it and hand it over to the future generations, not just for our future generations but for the world. this is a natural asset, a natural resource that belongs to the world. now, we have competing demands. we mentioned employment, economy, schools, hospitals, and the government is spending about $3 million a year to manage the parks. we need more. we need something like $10 million. we know that in about five years revenues from other parts of the economy hydropower, especially, we'll be able to raise en&ugh revenue to finance the whole management of our parks. so we need a transition fund and bhutan for life is a transition fund creates a transition. raising money with w.w.f. to allow us access to funds to spend during the first few years in addition to the $3 million that we have committed, we're already spending and as the transition fund, as we deplete the transition fund, as we invest it complete it's investment. the bhutanese government will complete our investment and eventually we'll take over. this is a project finance a classic financing model but project phi nance. >> rose: let's talk about your relationship with other countries. the first visit that prime minister modi made the prime minister of india, was to you your country. >> barely three weeks after swearing in. >> rose: and independence (indiscernibleia has given funds to support hydroelectropower? what are the benefits? >> india is our neighbor and we are extremely close. our friendship is based on good will, trust, understanding, very good cooperation. our relation with india transcends political parties. it was -- the architecture of our friendship is our leaders and our kings. they have been very generous so a lot of our development, they provide a lot of development assistance and a economically they are the main investors in the hydropower projects. we have a role model relationship politically but in terms of economic cooperation the center piece is hydropower so we work together to build the hydropower stations. it's somewhat the cleanest. india buys all our excess power. >> rose: what about china? china is our neighbor. we have good relations with china. >> rose: but not as good as you do with india? >> not as deep. we have a 420-kilometer border that has not yet been finalized with china. >> rose: you have some disputes there, don't you? >> well, we are discussing the border and we need to finalize the border. >> rose: how's that going? we've had 22 rounds of discussions and i think they were serious discussions. >> rose: does bhutan because of the royal family as well as you receive your education here in part, do you feel it's kinship with america? >> oh yes. yes. >> rose: what's the relationship like? >> from hot dogs through baseball and football to friends and people like you. i've seen so many of your shows. >> rose: thank you. many of my professors, many of my -- some of my best friends are from america. >> rose: most prime ministers who come here continue challenge the president to play basketball, you know that, don't you? (laughter) when he's bigger than you are. >> he hasn't taken up my challenge! (laughter) i must clarify. >> rose: which part? the basketball part. >> rose: you didn't challenge him. you said you'd like to play with him one-on-one. >> i didn't play a lot of sports when i was at school. i did play a little basketball and i enjoy basketball. i like the n.b.a. >> rose: how long will you be the prime minister? >> i have three and a half years to go. >> rose: is that it? mm-hmm. >> rose: so you're not going to run. is there a term limit on being prime minister. >> only can be prime minister for two terms, but you have to run. >> rose: you ran in 2013 so this will run through -- is it four or five years? >> five years. >> rose: through 2018 and you run for reelection and that will be another five years so it's 2023. >> mm-hmm. >> rose: right? so you will run for another term. do you love it? >> i will campaign. >> rose: hope to get elected. yes. >> rose: how many people -- do i love it? service is a fantastic thing. it's a fantastic job. >> rose: does that come from your religion? does it come from your parents? does it come from the culture? >> i think it comes from the culture. it comes from our religion, our community but most importantly it comes from our kings. >> rose: really? mm-hmm. this is why most of us wear our badge for kings and i wear it as a reminder. >> rose: people in bhutan love their kings. >> we love our kings. i wear this as a reminder. every decision i make, i ask myself is this the best decision? all my decisions can't be correct. i ask myself, is it the best decision for my country and my people? >> rose: and will my king admire what i do? >> he's like a conscience. >> rose: he's a conscience. yeah. >> rose: and the princess is also involved. she's involved at the royal institute of legality or something. >> law. >> rose: law. mm-hmm. >> rose: what do you hope to accomplish on this visit? >> my priority, i have been preoccupied by many things -- stabilizing the economy looking at how we can deepen the economy, strengthen the economy, looking at how we can structure the civil service so that we can get more done. i just spent two weeks, a grueling two weeks working on performance agreements with our civil servants, delivering on our promises that we made during the campaign, and the danger is that conservation of our environment may be left out. so i blocked two weeks just to focus on conservation and bhutan for life and how to look after our protected areas that is more than half our country. >> rose: so you can have industrialization to whatever level possible and not do injure or violence to -- not do injury or violence to the environment. >> yes, but we do not need to have industrialization that even harms. you can have industrialization that is good. hydropower, for instance is not just good in bhutan but the power we export to neighboring india would replace otherwise dirty fuel. i have been promoting something called green data. >> rose: what's green data. data centers that run on green energy and this is a big possibility in bhutan. >> rose: how is the internet -- >> so just an example that all industries don't have to pollute. >> rose: how has the internet and technology which came late in like, late 1999 or something like that, how has that changed bhutan? because you didn't have television until -- >> well i tell you how it changed bhutan. >> rose: -- the same decade. television and the internet in the same decade. >> charlie you mentioned that after the first elections there were just two of us in opposition. >> rose: yes. actually, there were more than two because i used technology to its maximum. i blogged i had a twitter account, facebook and that became my principle platform to reach to the people. so technology has allowed us to leapfrog generations. but, of course, we've got to use it responsibly. >> rose: buddhism is a very kind and loving religion. >> supposed to be. >> rose: some say that bhutan becomes more competitive and will it have some impact on this sort of great religious -- >> you can be competitive and compassionate together. if the competition is between the two of us -- >> rose: dog eat dog or whatever -- >> -- i suppose it's not good. but if the competition is with myself, if i raise the bar myself, that's good, right? >> rose: yes. i've heard you were a very good bicyclist and i've read a story how you were injured and in intense pain and finished the race. >> i'm not good, i'm stupid. there's a difference. (laughter) there's a race that goes across our country, 268 kilometers, over four passes. all the passes are above 3,200 meters above sea level. the final pass you climb from about 1,000 meters in one go all the way up to 3,200 kilometers. i fell off my bike and broke my jaw literally. literally, and somehow the stupidity in me -- >> rose: you continued. -- i continued and i completed the race. >> rose: it's an honor and pleasure to have you here. >> charlie, i've had a very good time. eth an honor to meet -- it's an honor to meet you. >> rose: thank you. cynthia nixon is here, an emmy award, tony award and grammy award atore, best norfor playing miranda in sex and the city. she just completed her play rasheeda speaking. welcome. >> thanks so much. >> rose: you like the directing because of its control and -- >> you know, soy started out -- >> rose: you're the boss. i started acting when i was 11 and i didn't go to acting school except for my mom. my mom was a teacher because she had been an actress. my mom was my teacher, my mom my director and i enjoyed that relationship so much and it's sort of like you enjoy being on one end of the equation and you do it for a long time. i have been doing it for a bunch of decades. >> rose: and you're a better director because you've acted with -- >> i'm a better director and also i think my mother thought she was training me to be an actress but i think she was at her heart a director because she taught me to see the whole picture and i think once you've had some years asen actress as i have you get to see it from the inside and it's useful when you pull yourself back and see it as a director. >> rose: so you're actor and director. >> not both. >> rose: i read a wonderful story, noticing you had some attributes as a director when you were -- >> right. so scott elliott who runs the new group where this plays on, i was doing a benefit reading for him maybe three years ago or something now and i guess i had a lot of opinions about well you're going to ask us to do that well we're going to stand here, you know, a lot of opinions. >> rose: sure. and he shadeo the group well i guess you will be directing next year's benefit reading because you're directing this one now already, and we all laughed. we thought it was very funny. but then he called me up six months later and said so what are you going to do for next year's benefit reading. i said i thought that was a joke. he said, it was a joke, but i was serious, too. so i did that for him. he said you did a great job with that i'm going to give you a slot in my season. he's an been an credible advisor, mentor, friend and has helped me every step of the way. >> rose: tell me about rasheeda speaking. >> it's a four-character play takes place in a very tense hour and 35 minutes and it's about a surgeon's office and primarily about two women who work there. one is black, one is white and they're friends. and the play -- >> rose: they have different experiences and different responses. >> right, but also the thing that happens at the very beginning of the play is the doctor says i don't want jacqueline, who is the african-american woman, to work here anymore i've got to get rid of her and you have to help me take notes about her behavior and compile a case. she thinks she's stuck between a rock and hard place and thinks she can work it. her self-interest and her boss wants to do it and jacqueline catches on and the two women step by step we see they're really sweet, they have tremendous chemistry together just devolve quickly till they're at war with each other. >> rose: the interesting thing for a first-time director, it's one place, one set. >> yeah, and i think that's one of the thing that scott elliott said, it's deeply psychologically complex. the tone is constantly shifting, very shock at times, very funny at times sometimes minutely wildly realistic and other times it sets off into something of a fantasy world. >> rose: are there there every night? >> no, i am not. i'm at home with my children, not there every night. that's one of the good things about being a director. >> rose: you have to check back? >> you check back in but these women tonya and diane, these are extraordinary talents. >> rose: did you get them to come? >> i did. >> rose: i'm sure you did. and, you know, what the main thing you want to do once you've got a form to it is you want to let them live and breathe and help them, you know, just set them free to find their way because the way in which they can deepen it between themselves and themselves and their characters, you know, is nothing you could ever impose. you just have to let them live it. >> rose: we have a couple of clips. take the first clip. this is when jacqueline asked eileen if she is threat ming her job. >> now you. what? you swear on the bible? don't believe in the power of the bible? >> that's not the point. well, i have a whole set of questions for you. >> really? yes ma'am. well, i'm not swearing on the bible. what questions? >> i want to know whether you believe me or not. >> i told you. want to know what you and the doctor were talking about in the early morning. >> i told you, work stuff! want to know whether you're threatening my job. >> i'm not! here's the bible. i don't do that. you got something to hide? i don't! >> rose: now, does race come into this early or later? >> race comes in, in the first few minutes when we have the doctor who is white and eileen who diane weis plays. they're talking about an employ and you don't know much about that person until the rates card. >> rose: the race card's played. >> until eileen says, oh, you're worried he's going to play the race card and he says, we don't talk about that. so if you've seen the poster an know tonya pinkens is in the play you know she's the person spoken about. >> rose: take a look. it's hard to get rid of people today with all the tricks human resources can pull out of their hat and those superficial laws about harassment! and with all that resentment she has built up inside of her! wow! going to be a lot of tricks pulled from that particular hat. >> the race card, you mean. you're not to say that. ooh, okay. do you understand? (laughter) >> i guess. we don't go there okay. yes. that's not what i'm about. oh i know that! not that there isn't cause... >> rose: tell me about the two characters. >> so, i mean i think one of the important things about this play is it's about unconscious racism unconscious bias. >> rose: and office politics. and office politics and massagemisogyny and ageism and a whole set of prejudices that we have and i think that eileen, the character that diane weis plays, she doesn't think she's capable of being racist and as evidenced by the fact that she has this really wonderful black friend who she loves and adores and who loves and adores her back, but i think when, you know, self-interest is a powerful force and when eileen is forced to choose between her friend and her job she chooses her job. yeah. >> rose: surprise, surprise. yeah. >> rose: this is at the signature center. >> it's a new group at the signature theater. >> rose: how big is the theater? >> 199 seats. >> rose: there are lots of theaters around new york. >> yeah. >> rose: and most people don't know about them. >> i suppose. >> rose: but new yorkers know. new yorkers know. i've acted there in 2006, it's an extraordinary theater. we celebrated -- last night we had a party celebrating the 20th anniversary of the theater and i think the rasheeda speaking is really emblematic of the stuff they do. it's not safe it's not politically correct it's shocking, it has you on the edge of your seat. you get out of there and you want to discuss it because one of the beautiful things about the play and the production is it's not like this is a good person, this is a bad person, you know. you keep shifting -- whatever color you are, you keep shifting, oh well, i'm on her side, well i'm on her side, well, i'm on his side well, now i'm on her side. was that right? was that justified well? that person wasn't speaking telling the truth right then do i think it's justified. would i have done that? well, i don't know if i would have dope that in that situation but i guess i see why that person did. >> you were on broadway when you were 14? >> i was. >> rose: how did you get that job? >> i auditioned for that job. i had already been acting in film and television for about two years starting when i was 11 and 12 but then i auditioned for the play and loved the old movie with katharine hepburn and jimmy stewart so it was a real thrill for me. >> rose: how often did you work with mike nichols? >> i worked with him twice in my career but our paths would cross and one time he was -- a really fun thing he had me do he directed the film primary colors, but he actually had me for whatever reason read with the young men who were auditioning. i des he wanted a girl to read with them so he thought of me. >> rose: but wasn't there something about you working in the theater and going back and forth and m3ke got involved in that. >> he cast me in both of those. he cast me in tom's play when i was 17. we took it to boston big hit, brought it into new york, on broadway, big hit. then pulled me out of that to be in hurley burly p we took it to chicago, big mitt off broadway big hit. moved it to broadway, big hit. the woman who had taken over for me in the first play the real thing, she had to leave. her replacement they weren't happy with. by happenstance mike also produced whoopi goldberg's show and no one heard of her and he brought her to their attention and he said come out with the hurley burly cast. they're fun. it was right at this time. so i sidled up to him at the after-theater dinner and said i hear you're looking for somebody to replace the character in the real thing, i could do both of those parts, as we always joked -- there had always been a joked between he and i that i could and he said i'll call your agent in the morning. >> rose: how did you do this? there were two blocks apart and hurley burly was a very long play and the character in the real thing was only in the second act and only one scene so i was in the first act of hurley burly, changed my clothes, went two blocks down, in the second act of the real thing took my curtain call, changed clothes, went back to the first play again, i was in the last scene of hurley burly which is like 11:00 at night, took the curtain call and was in two different broadway those in two different theaters. >> rose: anyone else ever done that? >> i don't think so. there's now an equity rule against it. >> rose: at the time you had to get the approval of the union. >> yes. they had to hire two understudies but there's a recall now against it, you can no longer against it. i just did the real thing this fall as an actor. >> rose: yeah. so i played jeremy iran's daughter. i played my character's mother apart -- a part previously done by christine branski. >> rose: time tom stoppered is a genius with words. is it easy? >> what's interesting to us working on the real thing at this time sam gould who directed it, he said, you know i thought, being an american cast we would have to focus more on the language. you are all stage people and have no problem with the language but i want to make sure everything is painful and grounded. i can leave you alone on the language but i want to make sure everything you're saying and going through really costs you. >> rose: do you think of yourself as a stage person or actor? >> i think of myself as a stage person. >> rose: do you? i totally do. even though i got my start in film and tv. >> rose: is the stage good to you. >> yes. >> rose: because you've had one role after another. >> when i was in sex and the city, you know people started casting me in leads on stage and -- >> rose: different roles some. on broadway. well, no, it's a matter of bringing people in. when more people know who you are the more they come to the theater so they've an incentive to mutt p you to above the title. i got cast in a terrific movie on television and i said to the guy this is a perfect part for me but i don't know how you would ever know that. i was playing a woman from the ozarks and my family is from the ozarks and everybody thinks of me as a new yorker. he said i love your acting for years and he said they give me a list of people with that much notoriety and you had never been on the list before. if you had been on the list i would have put you in things but you never did. that's what sex and the city did for me. >> rose: do you work all the time? >> no, i don't work all the time. recently a couple of years ago i had a period where i was not working much. it coincided with a lot of things happening in my life. my mother was very ill. we moved, we got married my wife and i, so it was sort of good timing in terms of on the personal side but also i had just done wit, shaved my head and maybe that had something to do with finding a part with me although what can you do with your hair so short. >> rose: you're close friends with mayor deblasio? >> yes. back to when he was a public advocate on the city council. he was always such a staunch ally for us in the public schools. >> rose: you campaigned hard for him. >> yes. >> rose: how the he doing? i think he's doing amazingly. i mean he is just -- he is what i knew he would be. he is a big, bold progressive and he has an incredible -- an incredibly ambitious aagenda. when i look at things he's done in such a short time, make my head spin. the idea in one year we go from having, you know, full-day public pre-k and after-school for any kid who want it. i think also 200,000 units of preserved or built affordable housing that will have maybe even a greater impact on the city. >> rose: you said progressive rather than liberal. is there any reason you said that? >> i think it's generational. he is a liberal, you know. >> rose: but everybody today says -- >> everybody today says progressive. i think, right, i think that liberal got tainted with well you say one thing but maybe it's -- maybe it's more of a pose but i think progressive implies progressive in every sense in that liberal has a rich person taint to it whereas progressive is like everybody in every class. >> rose: a rich liberal. the liberal with the limousine. >> rose: but that was kind of a notion of contempt, i i thought. >> that's what i'm saying. you know, there was an old song, love me, love me, love me, i'm a liberal. meaning i say these things out of one side of my mouth. not really, whereas i think progressive movement we understand, you know. it's not a pose. it comes from, you know i care about the public schools because my kids are in the public schools. it's a movement made up of people who these policies directly affect. >> rose: this is a good time for you in your life? >> it is an amazing time. yeah. my mom died, you know, in 2013, and that was very painful and you know, it takes you a while to come out of that. we were so close. and i'm sorry she didn't get to see this chapter in my life. i think she would have been so thrilled to see my directing and, you know and for me, you know the older i get, i'm going to be 50 next year and, i don't know, there is something about sort of telling stories of women over 40 that i think is just -- i think these stories are so ripe to be told. >> rose: i do, too. and i think, you know i look at tanya and diane and i think these are extraordinary performers and they deserve extraordinary roles as they have. >> rose: absolutely. and, you know, in the early parts of your life, that experience of being a child or being an adolescent or being a young adult, you know, it's so chronicled, and then it's sort of like you get to the age where you can get married and have kids and the stories sort of fall all off the table, and it's, like people are -- you know the older people get the more interesting they get i think. >> rose: i certainly hope so. i think so. i think so. i think we need to hear about what it's like to be in your if i havecies or -- in your '50s or if i have -- in your 50s 60s or 70s. >> rose: you have more experience, experienced more highs and lotion and lows and challenges. >> and put it in perspective. >> rose: what about film? i don't think so. >> rose: it's a tougher job. it's a much the tougher job. i'm interested in acting and theater and i feel like i dwell in that world and i feel like the world of film and cameras and lighting and that kind of thing. i mean maybe in ten years, i'll say something different to you, but right now i feel good in the rehearsal room with a bunch of actors and tables and props and i even feel -- i'm starting to feel okay being in a theater, you know with a lighting design snore what did you learn from -- >> rose: what did you learn from mike? >> i learned from him about the importance of polishing every moment. you're not going to work it to death, but that every moment needs your attention. >> rose: i've had the good fortune in my life to go to a range of events and to sit with people who are very good at the thing we're watching, you know, whether it was a former super bowl coach watching a super bowl or watching baseball with a major league manager joe torre in this case. what i would have loved to have done is gone to the theater with mike and be in a place where we can talked when we were watching so he could explain the damn thing to me in a very interesting way of how he saw it through the prism of an extraordinary director. >> a million things about mike nichols, but the way he could boil something down to its essence. >> rose: yeah. i remember i had done two readings of the sea gull and one of the readings someone was talking about the scenes and it was very highfalutin, and he saidhouse the story of children of rich successful artists and how intimidated they are. many treegd he said, there was meryl streep and carolyn kline and they are rich successful artists and they have children and immediately he knew what he meant. it's not about art. it's something about very basic. it's about when you're a giant, how do your children deal with that? >> rose: we remember him well. i saw diane. she looks great, too. >> yeah. >> rose:ongratulations. thank you. >> rose: for more about this program and earlier episodes, visit us online at pbs.org and charlierose.com. captioning sponsored by rose communications captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> rose: funding for "charlie rose" has been provided by: the coca cola company sponsoring this program since 2002. >> and by bloomberg, a provider of multimedia news and information services worldwide. this is "nightly business report" with tyler mathisen and sue herera. some being patient? the federal reserveby gins byegins its two-day policy meeting. will the fed raise rates and for how much and for how long? many blame the winter weather for poor housing starts but is there something bigger at play? oracle becomes the latest company to see its profits hit by a stronger dollar. all that and more tonight on "nightly business report" on st. patrick's day. tuesday, march 17th. good evening, everyone. and welcome. it was a day unlike other days before a federal reserve press confereny it is quiet and