We were lucky to catch up with Amère Blackwell recently and have shared our conversation below.

Amère, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

The most meaningful project I’ve done this year has been The Wild Party at the Jaxx Theatre. I grew up doing musical theatre and performing onstage, I consider it my second home. I have not stepped foot onstage since covid lockdowns in 2020. Not knowing what covid would do, I shifted my focus on film acting. I spent the majority of 2023 doing film but when the strikes started, I saw an opportunity connect back to the theatre. I did a play over the summer and made me realize I miss performing for a live audience. I then auditioned for the Wild Party and ended up getting cast as Nadine. The musical is about a 1920s party gone wrong, so the music score is sexy and jazzy, and our choreography is hot and exciting. As we get closer to opening I realize how much I’ve missed about theatre. The cast and crew have been amazing. I believe as an actor it is the oldest form of our art and getting the opportunity to connect to the roots has been rewarding.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am an Actor primarily, but also a Musician and Makeup Artist (what a combo right?). I got into the performing arts at a young age. I started in dance at age 4, I then got into Piano lessons at 5, Wanted to be a singer at 8 so I practiced all on my own until I got lessons at age 11. At that point my mom wanted to combine a few activities and asked me about musical theatre, which combined most of those. I was over the moon at the idea and 11, I was casted as Tree #3 in the Wizard of Oz. I was so excited about getting to be onstage, I relentlessly practiced the choreography and songs. I had 3 lines in 1 scene and I memorized the entire scene, incase something happened. My dedication caught the directors attention and I got casted as a supporting character in their next show. Around this time I also started getting into makeup and fashion and started creating wild outfits, which was influenced by my time in theatre. Though my main career path has been in Acting, I still feel passionately about fashion, Makeup, and Music. I work costume design & hair and makeup on film sets as a side gig. I am a classically trained pianist and musician and keep up with my instruments on my free time.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Connection and self discovery. I finding bits of myself in the characters I play, and letting them influence me. I love picking up traits of characters I’ve created, its like them leaving themselves with me. I love to step into someone else’s psyche and understanding why they do what they do. Then being able to use my work to connect to other people and invoke something within them in an indescribable feeling

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Not every problem needs to be fixed immediately, and an uncomfortable feeling is not necessarily a problem. Growing up my mom was a huge problem solver, had a problem? she could fix it. She passed that down to me which is a great skill to have when working in a group. I personally felt that anything that felt uncomfortable was a problem that needed to be solved. Going through acting school taught me that conflict was okay. it was okay to not always feel great, and comfortable. Some of the most interesting work I’ve seen has come out an uncomfortable feeling which someone is allowing themselves to exist in. It has helped me out in life to acknowledge how I feel, but not immediately try to make it better. I don’t need to be better, I just need to exist

Contact Info:

• Website: https://amereblackwell.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amereblackwell/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj6_xOtAVIrZEJzrhJZpvFw

Image Credits
Gabriel Acosta, Bret Green