Meet Nadiya Atkinson | Director | Visual Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Nadiya Atkinson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nadiya, what do you think makes you most happy? Why?
A short list: – Unicycling
– Snippets of coffee shop conversations (bonus points for different languages)
– Well-stocked and color-coordinated knick-knack shops
– Cats and art vlogs
– Queer space cowboys (and Star Trek, of course)
– Pieces of theatre that feel like a revelation
– Lists

A slightly longer not-a-list answer: I’ve been considering the unintimidating question, “What’s life about?” recently, especially in my quest to re-fall in love with humanity despite *gestures broadly*. What happiness boils down to for me is connecting with lovely people over making lovely things. Collaborating on a play, an event, or a song is one of the most joyful processes there can be. That’s what draws me deeply to art: it gives us the chance to share and build stories which cultivate hope.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
As a circus clown and floral-pattern aficionado, I direct and illustrate stories that are tactile, colorful, and embodied. In directing, I’m focused on new play development, creating immersive stories, from dramas with comedy improvisers to an installation-art immigrant adaptation of The Tempest. In illustration, I focus on imagining playful worlds inspired by folklore. My current schemes include developing a play about celebrating/reclaiming NYC subway stops, creating a sci-fi series about queer space mushroom foragers, and illustrating a children’s book on cat camping adventures.

One of the issues I’ve found in the industry is the pressure on finding a particular niche to occupy. There are clear delineations between mediums (theatre, visual art, and dance, for instance) and not much opportunity for cross section. However, I’m drawn to projects that are inherently cross-disciplinary, that allow me to bring different interests and inspirations together. A ceramics lighting exhibit activated by performers doing Hamlet? Absolutely. A María Irene Fornés site-specific painting display? Of course. There is immense surprise, play, and discovery found in the merging of traditionally disparate art-making.

I’ve learned to put collaborative storytelling at the center of my work: every project begins with a conversation for me to learn how to best serve my collaborators and the audience we’re attempting to reach, whether it’s a restaurant menu design or a new musical. Being a director means being an archivist, a therapist, a designer, and above all, a community organizer. I try to bring shows outside of traditional venues, into places that my pieces can converse with geographic limitations, with the communities inhabiting the space. I try to build rooms in which traditional leadership forms are dismantled through pink clown noses and Hall & Oates dance parties and collective Wikipedia spirals. Overall, I try to make art that embraces dimensionality in form, story, and conversation.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
A lovely question! One of my all-time favorite activities is researching places to explore on Google maps (mostly plant, stationery, and coffee shops, of course). I’m currently based in New York, but I yearn for those sunny SoCal days. One of those LA days would be dedicated to wandering around Little Tokyo, perusing the shelves for prints and figurines at Ginza-USA, getting soft-serve taiyaki at Somi Somi, and losing myself for hours in the stacks at Kinokuniya (for pen fiends, be careful of your wallet).

If you manage to make it to the other coast, my favorite spots in New York are mostly in the East Village and Greenpoint: Streecha for excellent Ukranian food, Cha’an BonBon for spectacular desserts, and Yoseka Stationary for any writing implement dreams.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I have enormous gratitude for all the teachers I’ve had who encouraged me to fall in love with zany exploration at the Eugene O’Neill Center, Williams College, and my past elementary school days. Even the short-term, workshop-based mentors I’ve had have left an indelible impact on my work today. In my junior year of university, I participated in a residency with Complicité, an innovative U.K.-based physical theatre company that completely redefined the limits of theatre for me.

And thank you to my community as well. Moving around for a large part of my life, I’ve began to define community as the people that have shared their interests, joy, and love with me, from note passing in 3rd grade to late-night art-building chats in college. Without the constant connections and path-crossing, I wouldn’t have the bits and bobs that make up both my inspiration and worldview.

Website: https://www.nadiyaatkinson.com

Instagram: @babushkas_tea_shop

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nadiya-atkinson-632668159

Youtube: @fishmarkettheatreco.