interviewed by Gabriella De Brequet

T Loving is an interdisciplinary creator, producer of mischief and magic, justice instigator, and public health professional. Creating in the bend of whole truths through devised, ensemble, and traditional practice, much of T’s work focuses within/in service and prosperity of communities of color, LGBTQ, female-identified and gender nonconforming individuals, refugees, and migrants. They create through unpacking the body, juxtaposition, overlap, repetition, and disintegration and concentrate on unraveling false narratives and exploring liminal spaces.

Pronouns: they/them

When did you discover that you needed to pursue a career in the arts?

I don’t think I’ve ever decided to pursue a career in the arts, per se. But my junior year of high school was when I realized I wanted to cultivate a relationship with performance art.

Each year my high school did a spring musical. I was in Alpha Choir, so participation was required but as lead roles were shared among a small group of individuals, the rest of us weren’t necessarily encouraged to audition. Tired of being “(insert #) Tree from the Left”, my junior year I auditioned for the role of Adelaide in GUYS AND DOLLS and got it. Later that year, I was asked to audition for a festival touring production of SCARS & STRIPES with Actor’s Theatre of Louisville and landed it. Although these roles and productions were disparate in time, space, and subject matter, I saw numerous connections between them. The most significant residing in humanness— desire, trying, succeeding, failing, and going (whether pushed or choosing) into the fray again.

In performance art, I found new ways to connect to, discover, and understand myself and the world around me. It gave me access to examine, pick apart, and re/weave the threads that connect us. That’s what I’m pursuing.

What qualities do you look for when choosing to take on a project?

Primarily, I look for projects anchored in good people who are willing to take risks, explore beyond the page, and create and learn from and with each other. I’m interested in interdisciplinary projects—blurring genres, development techniques, and methods/mediums of presentation and projects that mess with traditional senses of what theatre is, how it looks, where it happens, who participates in the creation, and whom it is for. I look for projects that uplift truths, voices, and beings ignored/buried and challenge colonialist ideas and norms. I look for projects that implicate and instigate reflection on who we are, how and by whom space is taken (up), and how we re/create (shared) place.

Do you have any dream roles or projects?

Yes, yep, indeed. Currently, I’m soul deep in Britteney Black Rose Kapri’s Black Queer Hoe and can’t stop imagining, in slips and slivers, my being living this magic in performance.

Also, Ntozake Shange’s For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf; Audre Lorde’s Zami: A New Spelling of My Name (a biomythography in novel form that I’d love to explore as a performance work); Shakespeare’s King John (specifically the role of Constance); and Nicky Silver’s Fat Men in Skirts (as a director or Bishop or both?).

Are there any projects that you have done in the past that you would like to do again in the future?

Mostly no. I would like to work again with local writer, educator, and social activist, Lola Rainey, on an evolution of her American Haiko: PAIN, which focused on unpacking intergenerational trauma. I’m in sincere gratitude to have worked with her and To-Ree-Nee Wolf on this project that carved deep into me. They are both so talented, ferociously honest, and real in the most ‘fierce and deserving of all the mad respect’ kind of ways. I’m interested in unpacking a new generation of stories and more fully exploring trajectories of healing through this vessel.

But again, mostly no. I’m not interested in nor do I think it’s possible to recreate what has been. I’ve worked on amazing projects with magical people. Each project has offered opportunities for learning, growth, and cultivation. I don’t believe those offerings were given so I could come back to the same moment, but so I would have something to take forward into the world and build anew.

Do you have any exciting upcoming projects that you’re looking forward to sharing with the community of Tucson?

Yes. I’m currently working on a project located in queerness, gender, and culture focused on food as resistance. I was honored to perform a selection of original work examining and ruminating on Queerness, Color, and God, at Kore Press’s Queer Performance Salon, May 2018. I’m looking forward to continuing its development and sharing more with/in our community.

The spotlight series will be a continued series where we spotlight local female and non-binary artists in the Tucson Community.