Artistic Statement
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Nabra Nelson
Artistic Statement
I first started playwriting out of a need, not simply a desire, but a need to contribute to the preservation of my Fadija Nubian culture. After receiving my Theater degree with an emphasis in Directing (and Physics minor) at UC Santa Barbara and working as a freelance director for a few years, I began a deep artistic reflection process. I asked myself what story I needed to tell. The answer to that question was a story that had not been written yet in play form – the story of my people. That is how my first full-length play, Nubian Stories, was born.
Since then, the answer to the question “What story do you need to tell?” has continued to be “Stories that I do not see on stage.” And what I do not see onstage nearly enough is complexity. When I began writing, the lack of Nubian representation, and the urgent need for it, was clear to me. But I do not write exclusively about the Nubian identity. It is not solely my specific identities that I want to see onstage. It is complexity of identity that I long to see explored onstage. It is ethical complexity, socio-political complexity, the true complexity of our world today.
To me, representation means seeing art that helps you explore your identities. As a Muslim, mixed-race woman who ethnically identifies as Black African, Indigenous Nubian, Arab, and White, it is clearly difficult for me to see myself represented onstage. But I do not need a Nubian-American Muslim woman onstage to see myself represented. I need to see fellow mixed race folks, fellow women of color navigating the world, fellow people with intersectional identities questioning and reconciling who they are.
My plays lean into complexity and explore intersectional identities and complex scenarios that inspire audiences to ask questions about themselves and the world around them. I want my plays to shift culture by putting the messiness of the world onstage and urging people to accept that complexity instead of trying to simplify it. My identities cannot be simplified. They are not easy to understand. Everybody is complex. Everything is messy. Through my writing, I find the beauty and humor in that mess.
Since then, the answer to the question “What story do you need to tell?” has continued to be “Stories that I do not see on stage.” And what I do not see onstage nearly enough is complexity. When I began writing, the lack of Nubian representation, and the urgent need for it, was clear to me. But I do not write exclusively about the Nubian identity. It is not solely my specific identities that I want to see onstage. It is complexity of identity that I long to see explored onstage. It is ethical complexity, socio-political complexity, the true complexity of our world today.
To me, representation means seeing art that helps you explore your identities. As a Muslim, mixed-race woman who ethnically identifies as Black African, Indigenous Nubian, Arab, and White, it is clearly difficult for me to see myself represented onstage. But I do not need a Nubian-American Muslim woman onstage to see myself represented. I need to see fellow mixed race folks, fellow women of color navigating the world, fellow people with intersectional identities questioning and reconciling who they are.
My plays lean into complexity and explore intersectional identities and complex scenarios that inspire audiences to ask questions about themselves and the world around them. I want my plays to shift culture by putting the messiness of the world onstage and urging people to accept that complexity instead of trying to simplify it. My identities cannot be simplified. They are not easy to understand. Everybody is complex. Everything is messy. Through my writing, I find the beauty and humor in that mess.