We recently connected with Kaci Hamilton and have shared our conversation below.

Kaci, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

This spring I got cast in the musical “Menstruation: A Period Piece” by Miranda Rose Hall at the Los Angeles LGBT Center. It’s a queer love story about a lesbian named Claire in her late 30s who is contemplating having a baby with her partner. As a result she starts questioning, among other things, her period, and what it has meant all these years and what it means now. The play takes place in both the real world and in Claire’s uterus, and I played four parts of her menstrual cycle: a military leader cell commandeering the period, a peppy coach hormone inspiring follicle growth, a sultry follicle stimulating hormone, and a domineering progesterone intent on growing a baby. This description does not do the play justice. It was an absolute technicolor romp in and out of the female body and such a celebration of all forms of love and that there is no one definition of family, happiness or partnership. This play was so special. I truly adored my entire cast and crew and they have become a part of my village. It was also a lot of firsts. My first play since 2019 (gasp), my first musical, my first multi-character project, the first time I participated in telling a queer story. While Claire’s story may not be mine, I am a black immigrant woman, so it felt doubly important in this time, with so many rights being under attack, to make art about inclusion and representation, and to be an ally to a fellow marginalised voice.
The way I got the audition was also a bit of serendipity. I had auditioned for something in early 2020 and one of the producers remembered my tape and recommended me for “Menstruation”. Three years later! I couldn’t believe it. Every actor dreams of hearing, “You auditioned for me a couple years ago and I never forgot you, and now I have this project that I think you would be great for.” I was so bolstered by that. To know that my work resonated in that way was such confirmation that I’m on the right path.

Kaci, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m a Jamaican actress, writer and voiceover artist. I had a whole career as a journalist in Jamaica and Orlando and then I got laid off and decided I didn’t want to wake up and be 60 never having gone after my dream of being an actress. So I went to acting school, struggled in New York for seven years and then moved to LA. Within a year the pandemic happened. And like everyone, I asked, “What now?” So I went back to my roots and I started writing. When I had gotten laid off, writing kind of broke my heart, and I honestly wasn’t sure my two passions would ever coexist. Three years and thirteen drafts later, my pilot script, “A Jamaican in Alaska” got accepted to the Stowe Story Lab in Vermont and I was a finalist for the SAGIndie Fellowship. It’s based on my experience going to college in Alaska – yep, Alaska – and it’s been so empowering telling my story, and getting the writing juices flowing again. During the pandemic, I also launched my own sleep podcast, “Jamaican Me Sleepy”, where I narrate classic bedtime stories and fairy tales. That started as a passion project, but it just recently led to my booking my first audiobook. I’m starting to feel that pre-pandemic energy again. And yes, with SAG and the WGA on strike, it feels like standing on the edge of a precipice, like a balloon about to burst. But I want to be a part of the better version of Hollywood. I’m ready to stand with my fellow members and fight so we can all come out winners on the other side.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I’m committed to getting my pilot made into a TV show. Then again, I wouldn’t kick the movie version out of bed. I’m like Seabiscuit, I just need that little opening, that hint of a victory, and then it’s off to the races. That would open the door to the thing I want to do – start my own production company and bring stories to life. I am an artist and a storyteller, that is my life force, my raison d’être. It fuels everything I do, and I’m going to keep doing that until, as we say in Jamaica, “You hear a voice say ‘stop’.”

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Funding, funding, funding. We live in a world where things cost money. And art is one of those things. No one talks about how expensive TRYING to be an artist is. Supplies, and time, and space, these things can be crazy expensive in an artist’s life, and it really should not be by the grace of private entities that art survives and thrives. More state funding dedicated toward artistic programs will make it a national resource, and will allow more artists to do the very things you want them to do: make art! Musicians need studio space and equipment, actors need props and wardrobe and space and time, traditional artists need paint, and clay, and marble, and iron. If society prioritises the creative realm, the rewards will be exponential. We forget how pervasive art is. Your favourite band t-shirt, that really cooly dining room chair, your Spotify playlist, that’s all art, so whether it’s donating to arts programs, lobbying your senator, or starting a scholarship, the more resources we put into making art possible, the more beautiful the world will be. It’s that simple.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.kacihamiton.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/thesweetbacon
• Other: www.instagram.com/jamaicanmesleepypodcast

Image Credits
Main photo by Jesse Schloff. All other photos by Lex Ryan.