Today we’d like to introduce you to Cassia Thompson.
Hi Cassia, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Words have always been my first love. I began reading early, speaking even earlier, and have always held a fascination for arts and language. From a young age I was encouraged to learn as much as I can and to lean into my creativity. I was also encouraged to find ways to connect with others. The latter part has always been a struggle for me. Frequent moves all over the Southeast and Texas combined with a rich inner life made me rather solitary. Then I found theatre.
Or, rather, it found me. I was sitting in my fifth grade music class, at what was my 6th or 7th school, listening to my music teacher describe what was to be the Christmas musical that year. Santa was sent to a weight loss camp run by Betty Body who was determined to slim Santa down. It was 2005 and fatphobia was everywhere. As she spoke through the plot, I felt something I never had before. I felt a hot, glowing balloon expand rapidly in my solar plexus. Everything faded out except this feeling. It was thrilling and terrifying and I felt compelled to audition for Betty. I never did anything spontaneous, but I asked my teacher right then if I could call my mom to ask to stay after school and audition.
My mother was over the moon that I wanted to do something so out of my comfort zone. By the time I was in the auditions a few hours later, that hot compulsion was replaced by a clear-headed calm. I somehow knew exactly what to do and gave over. From there, I flirted with theatre again in the 8th grade, following that expansive feeling. By the time I was halfway through my time at my performing arts high school, I knew that I wanted to spend my life pursuing the arts.
After all this time, I’ve come to understand that that bright expansion I felt was a road opening. What I fell in love with about performing was that it offered me a common language with other people for the first time. I loved sharing moments and emotions with my scene partners and the audience. When I’m in what I call the “energetic feedback loop” I feel connected to, affected by, and able to affect others. It’s a place where I don’t feel alone.
As I’ve grown older, this feeling has refined. Now I not only take the opportunity to connect with others, I try to do my best to offer new perspectives. Most of my work has been in classical theatre, particularly Shakespeare. I love mining the language to see what is still true, what hasn’t changed. And I take what I find to show to contemporary audiences that we haven’t changed so much. Humans have always been complex, warm, funny, dark, confusing, and layered. I always feel like I’ve achieved something when someone tells me that they really heard something for the first time or that I provided a new perspective on what they “thought” they knew. Language met human connection and has led me to places and moments I could never have imagined.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Nothing about this road has been smooth! And how could it? Not one person gets through life without challenges and doubt. I am marginalized in many ways. I am a neurodivergent and disabled queer Black woman. The struggles to go with each of those descriptors could fill a book. I do not believe that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, but I do believe that moments of resistance and challenge make us more interesting and, hopefully, more empathetic humans.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I have mostly worked in classical theatre and am particularly known for my Shakespeare experience. I consider it a special skill to read between the lines and offer perspectives of characters that are supported in the text but is not usually explored. What if Juliet is very brainy and her connection with Romeo starts from the fact that he surprises her with linguistic skill? What if Bianca isn’t a ditzy, boy crazy girl, but someone who is trying to win and gain her own power within a patriarchal system? What if The Strange Lady isn’t a cold, unreadable statue but is able to beguile and deceive through bold and mercurial ways of engaging with Napoleon.
These are all references to shows that I have done. Shows that I am proud of. In each of these shows, people have told me that I inspired them to look at the text differently and to engage with the plays on their own to see what else they missed. I consider that the greatest compliment anyone could ever give about my work.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Many things! My close relationships, learning new things, baked goods. They are disparate things on the surface, but I think anything that connects me to my body or lights up my mind will always make me happy.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://cassiathompson.com
- Instagram: @cassia.thompson
