We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Marcus Hopkins-turner a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Marcus, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
I had the opportunity to be a part of a piece entitled Hands Up. It was a collection of monologues that centered around police violence in the black community. I worked on this piece in the fall of 2021 on the Hertz Stage of the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, GA. While police violence is not new in this country there had been a more pronounced lens placed on it in 2020 and a very vocal stand against it. This production felt like a response to this. As a whole it was extremely moving but even in its individual pieces the work was absolutely striking. The impact on individuals is what made this piece so meaningful to me. Whether it was a conflicted police officer who happened to be a father to a black son or a young white woman struggling to find a way to make constructive and positive changes in her immediate community, we were able to start conversations and bring people face to face with the issue. It was artfully placed in the audiences laps and we were all forced to sit there in it.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I was born in southwest Atlanta GA right off of Cascade Road. I attended Benjamin E Mays High School where I played sports and was in the choir. I then went on to attend Morehouse College where I received a degree in music. It was at Morehouse that my passion for performing and creating was cemented as a member of the Morehouse College Glee Club. After college I would work to find my way on various stages throughout the city of Atlanta. These performances ranged from opera chorus performances with the Atlanta Opera to an immersive play experience in a nature preserve with an audience that followed us into the night filled forest.. I eventually took my talents from the stage to the screen appearing in various independent films and on shows including 61st street and Chicago PD. I have also had the absolute pleasure to found BLACT ATL alongside fellow artists Tina Fears and Brittani Minnieweather McElveen. An artist collective that exists to connect black artists to the greater Atlanta community through acts of service and to also provide these same artists with a safe space to learn, grow and create. We have our 5th annual Holiday Toy Drive that serves Kimberly Elementary School in southwest Atlanta and is a partnership with Aurora Theater in Lawrenceville Ga.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
I want to continue to build a strong and thriving Atlanta Artist community. Or be a part of the strong and thriving community that the artists before me built. In every way that I possibly can I want to have an impact on this community and help it become a force. Outside of my performing and community service I have formed a small production company that focuses on telling black stories in a non traditional way. Example: We have a puppet show titled “All Grandmas Biscuits Got Gravy…Or Do They?” that follows a young black male puppet as he deals with dating, a job he hates and wacky friend group. We have also completed production on a short about a young woman and her friend who are thrown into a high stakes spades game to save the lives of her family from an eccentric group of criminals. So impact is the goal in my own unique way.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The magic. I believe there is still magic in story telling and performing. The energy of an audience during a live performance of a play or a musical. It feels like both the performers and the audience are on this journey supporting one another and when it’s on it’s a beautiful feeling. I did theme park work and museum work for some time and seeing the face of a child as they see something they have never seen before brings an indescribable joy to me. So yes I believe in the magic of what I do. And I believe in helping others discover the magic of this world and of our humanity through art.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.blactatl.com
- Instagram: @blactatl. @blackactordad. @baddadproductions
- Youtube: Bad Dad Productions LLC
Image Credits
Casey Gardner Ford-Sister Act Aurora Theater