While studying film in grad school, a lot of my professors had taken on the “grassroots/indie” approach to their art and influenced the students as well. Meaning, if you want it on the big screen you have to execute guerilla style film making and do everything yourself. So being a writer and actor, when I first moved to Los Angeles, my natural inking was to write a play, cast it, direct it, produce it, market it, etc.
For me, that robbed me of the time I needed to be creative. As my luck would have it, I went to a book reading for Ntozake Shange and she said something that saved me from a lot of future stress. To paraphrase her, ‘write something so good, others will want to perform it, buy it and/or produce it.’ So after studying arts all through high school, undergrad and grad school, I found myself back in the library reading the timeline and art of some of my Sheros.
I sought to study the greats and determine how they were able to create timeless art that others yearned to bring to life and share with their perspective audiences. That is my mission. Especially with my play, “Hope’s Return”.
Nikki Skies 