Each month Brian James Polak (he/him) talks to playwrights about the things usually left unsaid. In conversations that dive into life’s muck, we learn what irks, agitates, motivates, inspires and—ultimately—what makes writers tick.
For the first episode of 2022, Brian speaks to Daniel Alexander Jones, who some might know as his performing alter ego, Jomama Jones, who has appeared in such shows as Black Light and Radiate. Daniel talks about his upbringing in Springfield, Mass., where he was exposed to the arts and performance from a very young age. A natural performer encouraged by a drama teacher, he acted throughout high school, but it wasn’t until he stumbled into his local library’s drama section and found for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf by Ntozake Shange that he glimpsed “something ineffable” that would change his life.
Daniel recently released two books with 53rd State Press: Love Like Light, a collection of his plays and performance texts from the last 25 years, and Particle and Wave, a conversation with leading Black feminist scholar Alexis Pauline Gumbs. His interactive website ATEN.life was released last fall.
The episode can also be found here.
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