Why am I here? Why does it mean to be an artist to me?

To be an artist in theater is to create a performance so cathartic that it becomes emblazoned in your audiences’ mind for a long time. To carefully craft a performance so raw and full of emotion that one simply cannot resist it. To laugh, to cry, so love – it is we as artists who control these narratives in visual performance.

As a black artist in theater, I see my job even more extensively. I strive not only to provide that cathartic release to my audience, but for the very actors, whose performances I am accentuating for the stage, and for fellow artists of whom I surround myself with. Being introduced to theater at a young age, I remember first witnessing the power theater specifically held to me. The art of storytelling through performance, lighting, sound, and intricately built sets had an effect on me like no other. The first show I ever saw, Burf of a Nation (Or From Covfefe with Love) by Carla Stillwell and Leonard House at the Greenhouse Theater Center in Lincoln Park, had me so overcome with emotion that I cried; I cried so hard my eyes were sore even the day after, and my my heart was heavy. At the time, I was in an After School Matters program specifically designed to teach kids about backstage theater; I had only signed up because I was in desperate need of money and the program was at my high school, so I wouldn’t have to travel. That show alone, and everything I have felt because of it, made me realize that this was what I wanted to do. I want to make people laugh, cry, whoop and holler, but most of all, to convey connection.

Lighting as an element of theatrical production is used to accentuate the story, to create environments and visual-scapes to further tell the story. I, as a lighting designer, crave to convey the characters' thoughts and feelings through light. Mixing and melding colors to show a range of emotions and even varying mind states, silhouetting and creating halos, playing with shadows – these are all techniques I use in my own design to help shape the story to its fullest potential. I focus on richness and tone to draw the audience in, succumbing them to their own emotions without ever truly confronting them head-on. For me, it is all about creating a show so full of emotion that the audience has no choice but to feel it, too.