We’re all just a kid from somewhere….To Be Young, Gifted, and Black….I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul….I am my ancestors’ wildest dreams.
Actor. Director. Former Artistic Director (that former will be changing sooner than later). Budding writer. I’m Kevin or, as my friends call me, “Chris”. I approach my work each day with one goal in mind: be the best me I can be. It’s cliche but it’s true. The industry, like life, is competitive and often unforgiving but I’m learning that I’m not actually in competition with anyone, I’m running my own race. I believe, more than anything, in people. Human interaction is at the core of the arts. It is to be consumed through the eyes and ears, processed through the mind, and felt by the heart. Then, hopefully, we share the experience with others so they can have it as well….and so we can keep the arts alive. Make no mistake about it, we are a service industry, and any artist who doesn’t believe that is missing out on a major part of what we do. The way we serve is by making people feel something. Maybe you feel entertained, maybe you feel sad or happy, maybe you feel confused (you’re probably at a Shakespeare play), or maybe you feel I should immediately get off the stage and go work in a cubicle. That’s okay. Because, in an age of endless scrolling and screens, feeling something real is rare. Please, feel free to share with me, good and bad. I invite criticism just as much as compliments….maybe a little more, if I’m being real. Just as long as you share with me what you feel. Because that is the currency of what I love and what I value most about what I do.
When I was in high school, before every show, my theatre director would say this line to us. I’ve carried it with me in everything I’ve done, theatre or not, since I was a 14 year old kid, nervous, almost to tears, for his first show. She would say, “The talent, or talents, we have are a gift from God and using those talents are a gift back to God.” Let me recognize this: you might not believe in God. Or the spirit you believe in might not be named “God”. Or you might not believe in anything at all. That’s okay. I hope you can receive the meaning of it just as I did. Because, to me, the point wasn’t about God or the theatre or whatever show we were doing. It was about taking the risk of offering something to the world because there is a chance you might inspire others, in the same way someone once inspired you. Inspire one another. Love one another. We are all human. Our time here is limited.
