We recently connected with Brandi LaShay and have shared our conversation below.

Brandi, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

My first risk taking moment as it relates to the world of Theatre was in September 2017. I moved to St. Louis, MO from Orangeburg, SC. Orangeburg is a small town, perdominately Black with two major HBCU’s in the center of the town. For undergraduate school, I attended Claflin University; which means I hadn’t moved away from my home town.

I had discovered professional theatre my Freshman year, in 2013 and took it serious ever since. I majored in Mass Communications just to find a major in humanities that I could settle with and breeze through. However, once I graduated, I did not want to be in communications, I wanted to be in theatre. Because, there are little to no artistic outlets in Orangeburg, let alone South Carolina, my next step was to look else where.

2-months after graduating, I had a friend send me an application to intern at the St. Louis Black Reportory Company, also known as the St. Louis Black Rep. I applied. I got accepted and just on that knews alone, I prepared, worked, packed up my car about 3-weeks after receiving the news and drove to the mid-west. I didn’t have any family or friends there, knew nothing about what I was getting into. I lived there 2 years, working full-time in theatre, teaching and acting. It was the bravest thing I ever did and 7-years later, it was the best thing I could have done!

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

I am Brandi LaShay, I am a full-time Theatre Artist and Performance Practitioner. Under this title, I fulfill the roles of actor, director, writer, researcher, curator, teachor (or professor), and facilitator. My main focus is to develop a healthy co-existence, cultural awareness, authentic expression, self-reflection and inner healing with theatrical practices, methods, curriculum, and ideologies. My work is activated in spaces such as theater institutions, universities, public school settings, or through activism and non-profit organizations.

I discovered the career of theatre in 2013, as a Freshman college student at Claflin University, in Orangeburg SC, but I’ve been speaking publicly and performing in church my entire life. Shout out to the “Black Church” because that was a launching path for myself and many of my peers. Once I graduated Undergraduate school, I moved to St. Louis, MO to work at the St. Louis Black Repertory Co. for 2-years as a resident artist and education assistant. In 2019, I applied, auditioned and was accepted to the University of Louisville, where I received my Master of Fine Arts – Performance and certification in African American Theatre at the ONLY African American Theatre Program in the United States. Once I graduated in 2022, I began my journey as a full-time theatre artist, often looking for ways to curate a healthy artistic space for other artist and to continue to develop my performance praxis, which at the time was my thesis manuscript. Since graduate school, I have worked in the Louisville Arts community as a performer, director, resident teaching artist, adjunct professor, writer and Museum Theatre Director. My work reiterates and innovates a safe space for artists to have maximum exploration in their own works. I consider myself a storyteller for the people; so if I equate that to problem solving, I use my works to reiterate and expand on history that can easily be lost, (especially with the current state of education and politics)

What sets me apart from the others is that I am the first in a lot of what I do. I am the first to innovate stories and creative spaces. I may not be the first in the world, however in Louisville, my mind curates things that I assume has been done before. However, when I look at how hard I have to work, I realize a lot of that hard work comes from creating not only the work but the blueprint for someone to do that same work.

I am most proud of my 2024 accomplishments. I am seeing the work produce great fruit. I wrote and rhythmic historic piece for the opening of an event called “Keepers of the Dream” which was performed at Kentucky Performing Arts Center, I directed my first main stage show “Single Black Female” written by Lisa B. Thompson, as the Associate Artistic Director at Redline Performing Arts, which sold out every night! Most recently, I transferred my Museum Theatre Praxis, into a course curriculum at the University of Louisville and developed a class called “Museum Theatre & the Black Diaspora”. The course was extremely successful and ended with an exciting new partnership with a local museum, known as the SPEED Art Museum. I’m proud of everything I do, I co-wrote and directed a Show called “Broken Wings, Still Fly” and that’s returning for a second year, I’m mentoring high schoolers, teaching adult acting classes, and even preparing to act in the world premiere of “Who Killed Alberta Jones” written by Larry Muhammad. I do exciting, difficult, impactful work through the arts, so truly, I am proud of it all.

What I want people to understand about my work is that theatre is a medium in which people can examine polarizing concepts and ideologies. The use of theatre based practices in any career field will serve as an innovative tool. There are critical thinkers like myself who are not in theatre to JUST be on broadway. I want that, sure! But theatre changes the way to look at the world, ourselves and the community around us. I have proven that my work will develop a:
“Healthy Coexistence, cultural awareness, authentic expression, self-reflection and inner healing!” [BLT]

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Yes! Freedom!

I have this freedom for myself and I use my work to help others, especially creatives, unlock their own freedom. The freedom that I am referring to is an internal freedom and as long as I refuse to “conform to the things of this world”… it will be an eternal freedom.

There’s a quote from 19 Keys that states: “Creatives are the most destructive people, because they are the revolutionaries. They are the ones that “choose to create” because they refuse to let things remain the same.”

I have a type of freedom that is different from what the world around me considers normal. I have the freedom to think for myself – critically, to create, innovate, ask questions, problem solve, re-structure perspective, and even show up fully as myself. I am not “programmed” therefore it gives me more power and creativity to change the world’s “programming”.

Yes this work comes with pros and cons, like insistent income, loneliness, maybe even destructive self-talk. However, I’d rather navigate those things than work to navigate some of the horrid things that eventually become a part of one’s identity.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Here are my list of things that society can do to support artist, creatives and an thriving creative community:

#1. Look for solutions: If you are experiencing any type of work, social, political, personal, cultural, communal issue in your life. Be determined to look for solutions in that area. Don’t let it stay the same. If you don’t have a solution, I can guarantee you that 100% of the time, your life dilemma will be reflected in some type of artistic practice, ideology, performance, experience or creative medium.

It would be easy to say, go see plays, go to museums, google events, like, share and subscribe on social media, read this book, listen to this podcast, DON’T TAKE OUR FUNDING!!! However, NO. That’s not the first thing I will tell you.

However, what I will tell you is that the arts/ theatre is a problem solver and I challenge every person to explore: How will you be determined to learn how to solve problems, internally and externally? If you explore this question, more support for cratives and the arts will come naturally!

#2. DON’T TAKE OUR FUNDING! I figured the economics of things shouldn’t be the first thing I mention, but it definitely is the second.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5cXkStts7mDVYrROHiB9AP
• Instagram: @_brandi.lashay
• Facebook: Brandi LaShay
• Other: https://ideasxlab.com/blog/2023/8/17/enslaved-kentucky-women-the-focus-of-new-series-of-monologues

Image Credits
Alex Gordan Photography Stephen Cohen Photography Clare G. Photos UofL Theatre Arts