Jasmine Brooks
New Stories
In my Black Women’s History class with Professor Ashley Farmer we were given the assignment to pick a black woman who has had a significant impact on either the BU community or Boston as a whole. This assignment gave the class an opportunity to investigate the life of a notable, black female figure and share […]
Black Girl Hair and Headshots
I had an audition the other day, and when I handed the auditioner my headshot, he looked at the headshot and the real life version of me and was confused. In my headshot, my hair is blow-dried and curled, and in person my hair was in a high bun. My make up was relatively the […]
A Letter of Thanks
My senior thesis. This weekend. aaaaaAAAAHHHH!!!!! This is probably the shortest tech week process I have ever been apart of. loaded in Monday. Tech days on Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday is open dress. Friday we open. WOW. Though there are many things I could look to as sources of stress, I want to instead flip […]
An interview with playwright, Olivia Z. Cote; director, Jasmine Brooks; and dramaturg, Elena Toppo of the World Premiere of Final Flight
Final Flight is a new play by Olivia Z. Cote that is being produced as apart of the Senior Theatre Arts Majors Productions’ season at Boston University, School of Theatre. I conducted the following interview with my thesis partners, Olivia and Elena, as a way for us to discover more about this play, Olivia’s process […]
Am I allowed to be casted in this?
It’s Spring (not according to Boston weather), so it’s that time of the year when theatre companies start releasing their seasons for the upcoming year. As I was browsing the internet, I noticed that Speakeasy Stage announced their season, and that they would be producing the New England Premiere Jocelyn Bioh’s School Girls, or the African […]
Baby Director Takes her First Steps
Last week I embarked on a new journey: my thesis! For my thesis, I’m directing a new play called Final Flight by Olivia Z. Cote. Already, this project has been filled with so much love and energy that it has made this experience really enjoyable thus far. The feeling of learning about a play with […]
The Room Where it Happens
(Not Hamilton. I wish, though.) Last night I went to the read through of Company One‘s production of Wig Out! by Tarell Alvin McCraney and I was so incredibly moved and inspired by the evening. First of all, the BU representation on the show is awesome. Current student Dev Blair and Miles Jordan, and alum […]
Theatre that made me MAD
**DISCLAIMER: This post reveals spoilers of JC Lee’s Relevance.** Over spring break I went to the MCC Theater’s production of RELEVANCE by JC Lee and this was the first time I have ever been truly ENRAGED by a piece of theatre. Never before have I felt the impulse to literally yell at a character in […]
Social Media as a Tool to Represent Underrepresented Theatre Makers
As conversations of representation have been had more and more over the past couple years, theatre makers of minority groups have been working extremely hard to ensure the voices of talented, powerhouse theatre makers are being represented. There has been a movement to create Google documents with names of on underrepresented and minority voices in […]
If Viola Davis can’t…
On Wednesday, Viola Davis, did an interview with Tina Brown for Women in the World and in the interview, Davis talks about her life, the #MeToo movement, and the disparities between her career and the careers of other great Hollywood actresses (such as Meryl Street). I, as were many people, was struck when Viola Davis shares […]
Unpacking POC in Theatre… Part 2!
Unpacking my thoughts… that’s what this blog is about, right? I recently just came across an article called “Why ‘Diversity is Encouraged’ Is Not Enough” on HowlRound that echoes a lot of the points that I was making in my previous blog post, “Let’s Get Specific,” that I would like to revisit and be in […]
Celebrating Black History Month in Boston
Happy Black History month! This Black History month I have made it my goal to support as many black artists as possible. The following list is compiled of artistic and creative endeavors that I have come across that feature black artists prominently, tell stories of black people, and/or are created/hosted by black people in Boston. […]
HYPE MAN Lives up to the Hype
On Friday, I was happy to see Company One’s production of Idris Goodwin’s HYPE MAN: a break beat play. Following the production, I was lucky enough to help host an event called Cahllege Mixah as apart of my position as College Coordinator at Company One. The night went amazingly. It was filled with tons of energy […]
The Grammys Failed SZA and Kesha
The Grammy Awards were last night, and like many people I’m disappointed by SZA and Kesha’s losses. SZA walked away empty handed, despite having five nominations, making her the most nominated female artist. SZA’s album CTRL was released on June 9, 2017 and premiered at No. 3 on the Billboard Top 200. Her album still […]
Let’s Get Specific.
Lately I have been feeling a little irked by hearing POC being talked about in a general fashion. For those who don’t know, POC stands for people of color. This term is used to encompass non-white people, and is often used in contexts that show the systematic racism that non-white people face. The area that […]
capture it.
I am very happy to go home after a long, tiring semester. I’m really excited to see my family and spend time with them. Though I am excited to go home, there’s been something on my mind about home that I haven’t really addressed. Over the past couple months, my grandmother’s memory has been worsening. […]
A Message to Myself
Dear me, You’re graduating college next semester. It’s hard to believe that it’s here. As the end of this chapter inches closer, I wanted to share some thoughts, advice, love that I think is useful for going into your last semester of college and beyond. Create a schedule. Have a routine. It’s important (especially as […]
Uplift: A Spoken Word Event
I’m really excited for an event happening tonight that I helped plan! The event is called “Uplift: A Spoken Word Event.” This event is a collaboration between Alianza Latina, Umoja and Black Artists Alliance. This night of spoken word will feature five poets who will all be sharing original work on identity, their culture, society […]
Unlearning Eurocentric Standards of Beauty 1: Hair
I’m really insecure about my hair. Growing up I thought my hair was ugly. As a young black girl who went to school to private school in suburban Connecticut, it was ingrained in my mind that long, blonde hair was the epitome of beautiful. I believed that my hair was inferior to theirs, so I […]
WHOSE STREETS?
Last week I had one of the most exciting, educational and influential nights of my time here at BU. I went to a screening of the film Whose Streets? directed by Sabaah Folayan and co-directed by Damon Davis. This film followed the events that occurred in Ferguson following the murder of Michael Brown Jr. The […]
Drama Lit Blog 2.0: BU School of Theatre 