Meet Javon Q. Minter, Storytelling Coach
An Interview with Shenny De Los Angeles
Q: As artists, especially from underrepresented communities, a part of our work is affirming others in a shared lived experience. That’s a part of what makes representation in art a radical form of healing, as it’s an invitation to help people witness themselves. When was the first time you witnessed yourself in a body of work or through someone else’s story, and how did that ignite you to tell your story?
A: This is a really tough question. I grew up black, AMAB (Assigned Male at Birth), gender variant/fluid/resistant, and soft in the ‘90s. I am truly grasping at straws to find a body of work that made me feel truly seen. In hindsight, I have to say the movie, Midnight In The Garden of Good and Evil. I didn’t have the language, knowledge, or support to know that my adoration for the Lady Chablis was rooted in my gender otherness. But I know [by heart] every single one of her lines and I identified with her defiant joy when she crashed the cotillion. The follow up to your question — “How did that ignite you to tell your story?” — is presumptuous as it assumes that the story that inspired me triumphed enough to give me room to tell my own story. In all honesty, I am learning everyday to tell my story. Everyday I recognize how far behind I feel in knowing the sound of my own voice. What ignites me, however, to keep finding my voice and to keep finding the language/medium to tell my own story, is seeing people who identify similarly, become younger and younger. I am inspired by the level of freedom that the generation coming up has that I did not. I am fired up — by and for them. I want to defend their voices and give them the tools that I have gathered over the years to be laser-sharp with their stories. In short, I was seen by an elder [Lady Chablis] and am carried forward by the youth of tomorrow.
Q: In learning how to strengthen your voice as an artist, what was a piece of feedback and/or advice that you received from a great mentor/coach that really stayed with you and not only made your artistic work expand but it also deepened your growth as a person?
A: One of the directives given by Aleshea Harris in the forward of her play, What to Send Up When It Goes Down is: “have fun, don’t play” to describe the acting of the play’s rituals. Her advice has certainly helped me to equally enjoy the work while committing to give my best to my work. This advice has also helped me in building boundaries and honoring my growth, within me and ahead of me. I believe Aleshea’s advice is also crucial to the autonomy of the artist and of the human being.
Q: Thinking about the world we’re living in, and how much of the focus is centered on the pain of life, it can feel very challenging to want to keep going and source our stories from a place of joy, curiosity, and wonder. In honoring your lived experience, what affirms you in this life? What keeps the drive and momentum in your body and soul? Even when the world hurts you, how do you believe enough in yourself to choose to live the life you know you deserve?
A: My Black Queer family affirms me, lifts me up, brings me joy, and holds me accountable. They are key to my thriving in this life. Within my community, I am not an “other.” I am unique without being an anomaly. I have released so much of the oppressive concepts/ideologies that cripple those of us of the queer experience. I have committed myself to giving myself the puberty I didn’t have. Stepping into the opportunity to re-parent myself and do right by younger Javon is what keeps me going. I am consistently moving away from being hurt by not getting what I deserved and moving towards consistently choosing to give to myself what I deserved and deserve. I believe that I deserve to be lavished on and if I promise to do that for myself — including, but not just, materially — then I will always have a full life to look forward to.
Javon Q. Minter (they/them) is a Storytelling Coach with Life Jacket. They are a queer Black gender fluid and resistant actor/director and educator, born and raised in pre-gentrified Bed-Stuy. Their artistic mission centers around the mantra “Art is Service,” and that it should be reflective of the world that we live in. They insist that attending, teaching, and revering theater that is not honestly representative and interrogative of our global community is not interesting and is no longer acceptable. Javon has taught theatre across New York City and regionally. They are a member of the National Alliance of Acting Teachers and currently on faculty at Circle in the Square Theater School as well as a teaching artist with New York Theatre Workshop and LEAP. Select acting credits include: What to Send Up When it Goes Down (Playwrights Horizons), boys don’t look at boys (New York Stage & Film), and what will happen to all that beauty (Playwrights Realm).
Shenny De Los Angeles (she/they) is a Resident Storytelling Artist with Life Jacket. Shenny is a Dominican-American interdisciplinary performing artist and writer who centralizes Black and Brown femmes in their stories, affirming the beauty of being alive. Shenny’s work has been featured at Mabou Mines Theatre, Latina Magazine, Blackstar Film Festival, Latinx Playwright Circle, and Caribbean Writers to name a few! Currently, Shenny is a WaterWorks Emerging Artist at Harlem Stage, where she is developing a ritual play, Sisters by Water, which explores the intimacy and nuance of sisterhood between Haitian & Dominican-American femmes. www.ShennyDeLosAngeles.com
Learn more about Life Jacket Theatre Company and The Storytelling Project.
