We’re looking forward to introducing you to Jamaica Johnson. Check out our conversation below.
Jamaica , it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: What are you being called to do now, that you may have been afraid of before?
For many years I’ve been consumed by the feeling of needing more, wanting more, proving more but fighting with the motivation to do so. I’ve crawled into a shell to protect me from the anticipated pain of the world. I’ve grown afraid to pour into art how I always had when I was younger. And in loosing that, I sometimes feel that I’ve lost myself. Truth is FEAR of failing at the things I reach for has caused me to shelter myself and coddle myself from feeling that emotion. But what I had to come to realize is that it has also prevented me from blossoming into who I’ve always known I was meant to be. Last year I can say I sat through the hardest years of my life. I suffered loss after loss and ultimately watched my love for life fade as I suffered in constant grief. Grief of family members, grief of friends then grief of bonds and the most hurtful, grief of myself. I found myself living in constant fear of disappointment, more grief, more loss so much that the fear ate at me from the inside out, decaying everything I’ve ever once loved. After living in that, I am coming out on the other side having learned that it is a privilege to feel the pain that shapes us into powerful beings and molds our story. It is a privilege to breathe another day and over come sorrow. With realizing those privileges came hunger. My hunger is now ready to feast off of my fears that once consumed me. And the grief I felt will become the beauty of change I provide in myself, in my art and in my community.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Hi, I am Jamaica Johnson. A playwright, poet, artistic director, actress, stage director, model. I am an artist. There is no box. there is no certain one thing that I do. I am a lover of art and a giver to my community. I have taken the last few years off the heal from a double hip injury as well as treating a tumor in my leg. But during that time I’ve also started to do the work towards a plan for what I hope shapes a different future for the youth in my community. After spending almost 8 years as a youth councilor, youth ambassador, youth acting coach and advocate I knew in my heart that my purpose has always been to serve the youth. The younger generations we must work hard put our all into to shape our future. I do believe that art is a vehicle of change and change is the only constant in the world. I think that with art the youth will find ways to serve their communities and better yet serve themselves with better purpose. This is why I am working on an organization founded by myself called, “Art In All”. A program to be offered at local schools, after school programs and as a summer program to teach students the different skills of art and how art influences and sends a message.
What makes me and what will make this program special is that it is founded by someone who is not. I am not special, actually to be honest I am quite ordinary. I didn’t come from any special background, I didn’t grow up with a family able to afford expensive courses and acting classes, I’ve seen violence the same way the youth in Pittsburgh have, I’ve suffered loss just like everyone else, I’ve lost myself in ways I thought I never have, Ive even given up on my art at some point. In those ways I’m just ordinary but what you can say makes me special is that ability to look through a lens and see the beauty in the ordinary, the art in what black youth think is just normal, and the art in the pain that the average person has all once felt. Understanding and living through the times the most people hide from, or keep secret, I have learned to see as beauty and art. And I want to help the youth see that same vision. Turn the youth away from negative media influence and away from the constant violence we see in Pittsburgh and bring them towards learning how to have a positive impact and turning what they feel into art forms through ( acting, writing, singing, drawing, dancing…)
That is why it is “ART IN ALL”, because the ‘average’ person who views their life of just ordinary, can go through this program or see productions of this program and realize that everything they held inside, and every burden that weighed their shoulders and everything about themselves they thought was just “ordinary” is a beautiful form of art.
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. Who saw you clearly before you could see yourself?
My momma! And she may not see it the way I do but she has a sight that sees through me. When I first started acting I was in the 3rd grade. I was signed up for a program at my elementary school in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, Miller African Center Academy. The program was called Creative Dramatics, ran by the Pittsburgh Public Theater. I was signed up because I exceeded in my academic classes but struggled with anxiety and often would not speak or be social. I remember blossoming through the program and my love for theatre and acting flourished. What my mom had once just signed me up for intending to break my shell, ended up being a commitment that I wasn’t willing to let go. It was hard because we couldn’t necessarily afford it. For years my mom fought through physically, financially and mentally to support me through my goals. For a while she looked at it as a hobby but soon after I was in high school and began to write social justice spoken word and urged her to let me compete her eyes twinkled with realization that it is my calling to speak to the people through art.
The look of pride in my mom’s eyes as I spoke on panels about gun violence, panels about supporting the youth, opening ceremonies for community events and more, made me sure she knew I was fulfilling my calling. My mom always told me I was destined to change the world. I never thought anything of the sort was possible. At first I just thought it was doing the things that I love and speaking on things that I’ve experienced. As a teen I never noticed the true impact of what I was doing. I never understood why people would wait to talk to me after such events. I always just thought I was just another person.
I felt the most profound impact my senior year when covid hit. I was producing a play that I wrote and directed and the day before opening, everything shut down. I thought all of my hard work and everything I had to say though my writing had gone away and was non longer important. The shut down went all the way into the first semester of college. I was only about two months into college when I lost Deondre, one of my best friends, to gun violence. It shattered my world. I wanted to run away from everything. I woke up and decided one morning that I’d join the military. At least it was still serving a purpose and serving people in some way is what I thought. I felt like putting the pain out of sight and out of mind was the answer. But the realization came when I was gone at basic training and Isaiah, my closest friend that I’ve ever had, was shot and killed. I only had 2 minutes on my phone that Sunday, and that 2 minute call shook my world for the rest of my life. But what it called me to see, is the real problem of gun violence in Pittsburgh youth is an everlasting battle and a long fight. And that I can be the vessel to start the work through art. My mom held me up and through that realization when I thought in that moment I had lost my calling and everything I once was.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
I have learned that suffering is a state of mind. And that feeling like you are suffering is like feeling as if the life events and the things that are happening to you is a consequence. But it is not. I have struggled for years with the question “why?”. I am a very technical and logical person and I search for an answer in everything. I had to learn that some things just happen. And it isn’t usually anyones fault and I shouldn’t blame myself but that I should take a lesson in anything that I go through and know that suffering does not last forever. I started thinking of suffering as just another obstacle, something to learn from and grow from. Suffering really is growing pains. And sometimes you cannot grow or change your point of view without falling back and looking at things from a different angle. Suffering will teach you to look within, it will expose who are truly in your corner to help you, and it reveals parts of yourself that you had never seen before.
Success, even when earned through hard work and dedication will never teach you to see the ugly about yourself nor teach you to turn that ugliness into something beautiful.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. What do you believe is true but cannot prove?
I deep down believe that karma is always in full effect. I can’t prove it! But I abide by the thought. I believe in good karma and bad karma. I believe when you are honest, kind, thoughtful, helpful and caring good things are in store for you even if it feels delayed. I also believe that if you’re good deeds are performative a don’t an honest act of service or care then it docent count. I do believe that no matter how bad someone treats me it is not my job to meet them where they are but know that they may already reap the karma they have caused and it simply isn’t my business to insert myself in. It is not my job to prove a point but it is my absolute obligation to stay true to who I am and my core values.
Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. If you knew you had 10 years left, what would you stop doing immediately?
First thing I would do is stop caring about how I am viewed to society. Second thing I’d do is drop my nine to five and solely push my endeavors towards risking it all to be able to teach and write everyday. I’d count down the days, I’d waste no time and probably schedule every second of my day to only do things that serve my greater purpose of serving my community. It makes you think that when we have no exact time frame on life we tend to stray from our greater purpose but if we knew when time was up maybe as artists we would press harder.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @whodetlady
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamaica-johnson-6274661ba?trk=contact-info
- Other: https://www.iup.edu/news-events/news/2023/02/directors-for-nine-days-in-the-sun-at-iup-talk-about-iup-pptco-association.html
https://www.pghplaywrights.org/history/2022-productions/double-v/double-v-program/https://onstagepittsburgh.com/tag/jamaica-johnson/https://www.stephchambersphoto.com/singles/myugxipj0nn7vqln2xbgm8z0mtznl5
https://www.nahma.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/20200813-PR-poster-winners-FINAL-3.pdf
https://www.post-gazette.com/ae/theater-dance/2020/03/10/2020-Pittsburgh-winners-August-Wilson-Monologue-Competition/stories/202003100073
Image Credits
Mandela, Zen, Victor Musgrove,
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