We were lucky to catch up with Cornelius Boeder recently and have shared our conversation below.

Cornelius, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

I think the best part is that I feel like not a second of my day is ever wasted. It doesn’t matter how terrible or mundane your day is, you can ultimately use it for something and learn from it. It gives everything a sense of purpose. Every setback, every horrible experience I part of it and it makes it a lot easier to keep going. And if at the end of it all if you can make someone else’s day a little bit better because of whatever it is that happened to you, best case scenario.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Out of high school I studied Audio Engineering in Frankfurt, Germany. I then found my way into acting through working on music and sound for short films and wanting to explore being on the other side of the camera. I have studied and worked as an actor in Vancouver and New York since. Besides acting, I create a lot of my own work. I write scripts and plays as well as music. What I’m most proud of is staying true to my lane I would say. I’ve been working in film and theatre for quite a few years now and I was never big on self marketing and social media or anything like that. Probably because I was insecure about not having proof of my work being good enough on its own. I’m aware that that puts me at a disadvantage but I just always hoped that my work will someday speak for itself. My material and my performances are also often not the most readily accessible, but I always believed it would speak to someone and once I mustered the courage to actually put it out there, I was pleasantly surprised. I always preferred one person in the audience having a meaningful experience over everyone thinking it was pretty okay and thus far it has payed off.

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

I don’t want to pigeon hole myself here but there is definitely one thing that I personally would like to see more of. Which is ambiguity for lack of a better word. I strive to create an experience for the audience where the goal isn’t to distract them, teach them or feed them some sort of answer. The goal here is neither escapism nor a lecture. I want people to engage with my material or performance from a place of curiosity, wanting to come up with their own questions, answers, or even better, meanings. When we did ‘Scissors’ last year there were theories going around of why certain things in the story were presented the way they were, or what meaning the name had in the story. Now of course I have an answer, but to me it’s way more rewarding having an audience member ask questions after a show or present you with their theories. If everyone has the same “solution” or experience, you’re in trouble.

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

Basking in the fame and the glory that I don’t have. Just kidding.

But for real, I think the best part is that I feel like not a second of my day is ever wasted. It gives everything that happens a sense of purpose. Every setback, every horrible experience is somehow part of it and having something to put it towards makes it easier to keep going. And if at the end of it all you can make someones else’s day a little bit better because of whatever it is that happened to you it does make it feel a little less terrible.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.itsonthebox.com
• Instagram: @itsontheboxcollective

Image Credits
Kristine Cofsky Federica Borlenghi Ricardo Acioli Ryan Cairns Geetika Kumar