WHO:
Staceyann Chin
WHY SHE MATTERS:
Staceyann Chin, 43, has been challenging and shaping our perception of art since bursting onto the scene in the enormously popular Def Poetry Jam. This past December, Chin鈥檚 career took a turn, thanks to the birth of her daughter, Zuri, whose conception inspired Chin鈥檚 hit show MotherStruck! The stage memoir, which chronicled her journey to conceive as a single, lesbian woman, gained two well-known mothers as big supporters鈥擱osie O鈥橠onnell as producer and Cynthia Nixon as director.
How does the Staceyann of Def Poetry Jam compare with the Staceyann of MotherStruck?
When I was younger, in my 20s, I felt like I was a sledge hammer. Now that I鈥檓 in my 40s I鈥檓 aware that some moments require a scalpel and some moments require a sledge hammer.
Many women find that their careers take a downturn during their child-rearing years. Not so with you.
That鈥檚 the thing about memoir writing鈥攁s long as you鈥檙e living you have material.
The next challenge I want to take on is:
I look forward to writing the play when I really am old. When I talk about being old now, these 60-, 70-, 90-year-old women come and they laugh in my face and they say, 鈥淗a! You鈥檙e not old yet.鈥� I鈥檓 looking forward to writing all those stories about what it鈥檚 like when you age. Anger is not only for the young. It just looks different when you have streaks of grey.
