We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Thomas Brazzle. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Thomas below.

Thomas, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

During the pandemic I worked as the Project Director and Film Producer/Director for a collaboration with the CDC Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts and Out of Hand Theater. The project was to use the arts to educate communities about vaccine safety and efficacy, while building confidence in hesitant communities around the COVID-19 and Flu Vaccines. Being in Georgia, where one of the first major outbreaks of COVID occurred in Albany, GA influenced our approach to this project. We understood there is a history between the Black/African-American Community and the health system in our country. The mistrust and gas-lighting from the health system towards Black Americans is very much documented and known within the Black community. As a Black artist I wanted to recognize this, as well as highlight that the pre-conceived notion that the media made about the communities in Albany, GA about them being anti-vaxxers was not true. We interviewed church leaders, community leaders, and everyday citizens of Southwest Georgia in predominately Black communities about their experiences during the pandemic and where their hesitations stemmed from when it came to vaccines and the public health system. We found deep truths and nothing remotely close to anyone being against vaccination. It was about the lack of clear information, leadership and understanding around the public health response to the virus. Also, the history of Tuskegee and other moments in the long line of troublesome narratives were reasons enough. We took this information gathered from these heartfelt stories and crafted a new story inspired by these experiences that focused on bringing communities together as well as public health leaders to find empathy and understanding for what we all lost and have to gain by working together to be healthy and safe for our families and communities. The film was a dramedy that focused on a fictional family coming together for the first time after the pandemic, and each character has their own inner demons and secrets that come out during the film. I worked with the screenwriter to craft the narrative, produced and directed the film and it now has been funded by the Department of Public Health in Georgia to tour the state of Georgia at vaccination events promoting public health equity and vaccine confidence. The feedback has been wonderful and has started conversations around how the arts and public health can work together to bring more ‘trusted messaging’ to communities. At events we have had people that have watched the film go and immediately get their vaccine at the event. We have even had others go and tell family members, and share the film because they finally felt seen and heard.

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 got started as a child actor in Dallas, TX because teachers told my mother that I was such a vibrant presence in class but my energy needed an outlet. In other words, I was a class clown. After doing summer acting and voiceover classes I started performing all the way through college. After spending a year studying abroad in London and Barcelona, I returned to the U.S. to focus on creating new work in both theater and film. Although I am known as a regional stage actor having performed at The Guthrie in Minneapolis, Shakespeare and Company, Cincinnati Playhouse, The Alley and many other theaters across the country, I focus now on elevating the stories of marginalized communities and activating social justice through art by producing works with my production company Whet Ink Productions, and serving as the Operations Manager for Out of Hand Theater. I am a videographer, director, producer, writer and actor. I graduated from Stephen F. Austin State University in 2008 with a BFA in Theater, and in 2014 from The University of Connecticut with a MFA in Acting.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Artists make such wonderful works with so little when you really look at the ecosystem for artistry in our country. We are resilient and want to make an impact on our community and world. That is why we create. I am speaking from the standpoint as a theater and film artist. The first thing I believe society can do is recognize how much your life is impacted by art, and find ways to invite artists to uplift the work you already do. This will uplift our communities in many ways. I think about my time in New York City. Financially it wasn’t the best option for artists, but in terms of an ecosystem for opportunity and places to go to build your craft and create new work, it excels in my opinion. There are plenty of rentable studios, at surprisingly reasonable rates, to rehearse with your peers. There are plenty of libraries and museums to do research, that actually invite artists through grants and other opportunities to access their archives. Theaters of all sizes create opportunities for new artists to put up their work and be seen, through festivals, RFPs and other opportunities. Being in Atlanta, I see the stark difference in an ecosystem that has had decades of artistic vibrancy (NYC) compared to one that is still in its infancy (Atlanta). This is shown in how artists are spoken to and treated here financially and respectfully. In Atlanta, I see the narrative time and time again that these artists chose this life and therefore aren’t necessarily worthy of compensation. I see grant money going to certain demographics instead of a diverse or array of demographics. I see the theaters lacking in creativity and aesthetic. Everyone is trying to find their voice, but the ecosystem isn’t developed yet for that. We need more creative spaces that are accessible and affordable for artists to create in Atlanta. We need more creative capital, so artists aren’t all going to the same ‘well’ to find funding to create. We need a celebration of unique voices from our resident theaters here. Too many times do I find shows feeling as if they all are running on the same aesthetic across the theaters here, and that’s because we use the same directors, artists and honestly production designs across all the various theaters. The film scene here has overshadowed the theater scene, because it is more financially stable and opportunistic in Georgia, but there needs to be balance. To create balance the ecosystem must find ways to create space and opportunity for artists to thrive.

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

Much like the goal of my production company, my personal artistic mission is to help craft stories from marginalized perspectives, and re-think the preconceived notions of theater by reshaping the classics through intersectionality. I want my art to reflect the people and society that it exists within. I find that I am an arts activist. I want my art to activate the audience with a call to action and create empathy and understanding in our world.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thomasbrazzle.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tbrazzledazzle
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thomas.brazzle
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-brazzle/
• Other: www.whetink.com

Image Credits
Sarah Kitchens, Kevin Sprague, Beth Hall, T. Charles Erickson, Ava G. Lindenmaier