Drag THINGING!, Belonging, and Honoring Your Anger With CYRO

Original Air Date: November 9, 2020

Honor your anger. Honor your pain.

CYRO’s words resonated deeply with me – like a bell used to awaken your spirit.

This isn’t just an interview.

It’s an awakening. It’s a residence. It’s a healing.

I am so grateful that CYRO took the time to sit down and share their passionate and powerful wisdom with all of us.

Leah Kirby, also known as CYRO, creates theatre that incites change and incorporates non-western techniques in order to explore social, economic, and political issues through a non-traditional format. 

They are an activist, theatre maker, actor, writer, and drag thing named CYRO. 

CYRO is a Queer, Non-Binary, DRAG THING! 

They bring strength, beauty, and awareness to the stage with acts like 'Run Rabbit', exploring the struggles of gang induction and violence within black communities, and 'I am not your', a piece that delves into black masculinity within a non-binary body and shows the beauty it can exude by stripping back the facade. 

They use spoken word, movement, composition, Lip syncing, and storytelling within their work to incite change through artistic calls to action.

I am telling you: this interview is everything you have been looking for in a THE Celebration episode.

Do yourself a favor. 

Hit play.

You can learn more about Cyro through their website, or you can follow them on Instagram.

tomearl.me/cy

Listen to "Drag THINGING!, Belonging, and Honoring Your Anger With CYRO" on Spreaker.

Drag THINGING!, Belonging, and Honoring Your Anger With CYRO

Honor your anger. Honor your pain.

CYRO’s words resonated deeply with me – like a bell used to awaken your spirit.

This isn’t just an interview.

It’s an awakening. It’s a residence. It’s a healing.

I am so grateful that CYRO took the time to sit down and share their passionate and powerful wisdom with all of us.

Leah Kirby, also known as CYRO, creates theatre that incites change and incorporates non-western techniques in order to explore social, economic, and political issues through a non-traditional format. 

They are an activist, theatre maker, actor, writer and drag thing named CYRO. 

CYRO is a Queer, Non-Binary, DRAG THING! 

They bring strength, beauty and awareness to the stage with acts like 'Run Rabbit', exploring the struggles of gang induction and violence within black communities, and 'I am not your', a piece that delves into black masculinity within a non-binary body and shows the beauty it can exude by stripping back the facade. 

They use spoken word, movement, composition, Lip syncing and storytelling within their work to incite change through artistic calls to action.

I am telling you: this interview is everything you have been looking for in a THE Celebration episode.

Do yourself a favor. 

Hit play.

You can learn more about Cyro through their website, or you can follow them on Instagram @cyrodragthing

Listen to "Drag THINGING!, Belonging, and Honoring Your Anger With CYRO" on Spreaker.

If you'd like to learn more about T.H.E. Celebration Academy.  Here's 30 days of Free Membership.

Racism, Whiteness, and Evolving

Today, our guest is Fanshen Cox DiGiovanni, who works in film and entertainment as both a creative and a gamechanger in the world of representational diversity. We talk about whiteness and white supremacy, race and racism, forgiving ourselves and others, call-out culture, and the importance of emotional stamina.

This was a deep and vulnerable conversation where Fanshen and I dialogued and worked through important conversations. I really appreciate where we went with this interview

Fanshen is an award-winning playwright, actor, producer and educator, as well as Head of Strategic Outreach at Pearl Street Films. In this role, she advises Pearl Street’s owners, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, on taking specific steps towards inclusive representation in the entertainment industry. One of her first initiatives on the job was to co-author the Inclusion Rider, and she was recently named one of 12 ‘Hollywood Disruptors’ by The Wrap. She frequently performs her one-woman show, One Drop of Love, across the country.

She served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cape Verde, West Africa, and has designed curricula for and taught English as a Second Language to students from all over the world.

Listen to "Racism, Whiteness, and Evolving" on Spreaker.

If you'd like to learn more about T.H.E. Celebration Academy.  Here's 30 days of Free Membership.

Courage Talks - Part II

Welcome to Part 2 of the Courage Talks. If you experienced last week’s episode and many of my previous work this year, you’ll know that this is my Year of Courage.

I have tried to explore the definition of courage beyond just heroic and dangerous acts of valor. While this is certainly courage, I also wanted to highlight what courage looks like in our everyday lives.

This year I have been asking guests about their own personal experiences of courage.  Many of these interviews happened after a fun and leisurely visit or dinner at my house, so the sample of guests is pretty wide-ranging.

In this second part of the Courage talks, you’ll hear the thoughts of people from different backgrounds, professions, and perspectives dive deep into who their courage role models are, what courage looks like, and how you can become more courageous.

Even after talking about courage, every week, for the past year, I still found so many gems listening back to these interviews.

I hope you enjoy this concluding part of the Courage Talks!

Featuring:

Sadiya Sassine
FB: Sadiya Sassine

Rasha Goel
IG: @RashaGoel

Adam: Adam Blake
IG: @adamblakeactor  

Na'ilah Mu'ied
IG: @poeticnubia

Tress Glenn:
IG: @TressGlenn  

Anna Sambrooks
IG: @anna_sambrooks  

Rayesa Gheewala
IG: @rayesagheewala  

Ione Butler
IG: @ionebutler

Listen to "Courage Talks - Part II" on Spreaker.

If you'd like to learn more about T.H.E. Celebration Academy.  Here's 30 days of Free Membership.

Courage Talks - Part I

If you regularly tune into my work, you’ll have heard me say many times that this is my Year of Courage.

We often associate courage with heroic and dangerous acts of valor alone, such as saving someone from a burning building or putting yourself in harm's way.  While this is certainly courage, I also wanted to highlight what courage looks like in our everyday lives.

Throughout this year I have asked my guests what courage looks like in their life.  At the same time, during 2018, I have been asking friends these same questions. During a dinner party, or while people were over at my house, I’d invite them to step into my studio, where I would walk them through the same set of questions around courage.

During this two part episode, you get to hear their responses.  Ranging from diverse backgrounds, professions, and perspectives, the participants of this episode dive deep into who their courage role models are, what courage looks like, and how you can become more courageous.

I am so excited to share this year long process and journey with all of you in this double episode. I hope you enjoy part 1 of Courage Talks!

Featuring:

Sadiya Sassine
FB: Sadiya Sassine

Rasha Goel
IG: @RashaGoel

Adam: Adam Blake
IG: @adamblakeactor  

Na'ilah Mu'ied
IG: @poeticnubia

Tress Glenn:
IG: @TressGlenn  

Anna Sambrooks
IG: @anna_sambrooks  

Rayesa Gheewala
IG: @rayesagheewala  

Ione Butler
IG: @ionebutler

Listen to "Courage Talks - Part I" on Spreaker.

If you'd like to learn more about T.H.E. Celebration Academy.  Here's 30 days of Free Membership.

Poet, Actor, and Womanist Jessica Raquel

This week’s guest is our Expression Session feature -  poet, actor and womanist Jessica Raquel.

Jessica is a proud 2018 Florida A & M (FAMU) graduate. She is passionate about genuinely telling the narratives of Black Women through acting and poetry, and has performed in venues across the world - most recently at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland.  

During our time together Jessica shared about womanism, her wonderful experiences at her HBCU, the groundbreaking work they did in Edinburgh, and  having courage and purpose with the work we create.

Jessica also performed 3 inspiring poems during our interview - they will especially appeal to our lyricist followers.

And we’re excited to hear even more from her when she Features at Sunday’s Expression Session.

Her new album “Sample” is available on Soundcloud

You can also follow Jessica on Instagram

Listen to "Poet, Actor, and Womanist Jessica Raquel" on Spreaker.

Jessica Raquel will be our feature on this week's edition of the Live and Online: Expression Session.  Register below! 

If you'd like to learn more about T.H.E. Celebration Academy.  Here's 30 days of Free Membership.

A Hilarious and Deep Convo With Actress & Comedienne Travina Springer

On this week’s episode I interview actress, comedienne and my good friend Travina Springer. Travina is hilarious, so we spent most of the interview cracking up. But that didn’t keep us from really exploring our inner lives - in between my learning how to say the word comedienne, we talked about loving yourself, our creator, and Travina's 'love' of being single.

I am a huge fan of the way Travina authentically uses social media to story tell.  She shared her insights and reflections on how she is able to show glimpses of her life on social media without letting it become overwhelming.

She also shared her origin story of becoming an actress and comedienne.

Travina’s stand-up is featured on the reboot of BET's Comic View, while her recent acting roles include Life in Pieces, Unfair & Ugly, and Booty Candy.

If you like your interviews to have both heart and humor, you'll enjoy this episode a lot - check it out.

Travina likes making new friends so you can follow her everywhere (on social media, not real life, please) @travinaspringer.

Listen to "A Hilarious and Deep Convo. With Actress & Comedienne Travina Springer" on Spreaker.

If you'd like to learn more about T.H.E. Celebration Academy.  Here's 30 days of Free Membership.