MORE DETAILS ABOUT MY CURRENT WORK AND A FULL C.V.
JO
CROSS e.mail: jecross19 [at] yahoo.co.uk mob.:
079756565473
I am a Bristol based actor, writer, activist, para-academic and drama workshop facilitator. I identify as she/her and am proud of my east London background.
AN
ACTOR:
Theatre Training (Guildhall School of Music and Drama) followed by Theatre in Education training at
City of Birmingham College of Education. I spent some twenty years teaching in
East London (South Hackney and Kingsland Schools). I continued to develop
my theatre skills at Chat’s Palace
Community Theatre in Hackney.
2006
– 1017 I worked as a freelance education facilitator working for Bristol City’s
Museums, Galleries and Archives, also developing actor/character led schools’ workshops at the
Red Lodge, Blaise Castle and MShed.
2021-22
I was employed as an actor on “The
Creative Histories of Witchcraft”, a collaboration between Will Pooley of
Bristol University’s History Department, playwright Poppy Corbett and poet,
Anna Kisby Compton.
WHAT
I CAN DO:
Develop and deliver bespoke drama workshops across the age range
for collaborative/ developmental purposes. Below part of a drama workshop I delivered at Trinity Centre
Bristol, exploring ageing and identity:-
Play
the part of an older woman - so long as
it’s not a stereotype!
With Rebecca Braccialarghe in “How Many Things Can You Think About” 2021 Café 5, Easton.
A
WRITER: 2021 saw me awarded support from Theatre
West for my script “Age Queer” under their Arts Council funded, Zooming
Ahead scheme for Women Writers. A Zoom
performance was followed up by a live performance at Bristol’s Trinity Centre last year.
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Feedback:-
From Heather Lister : That was wonderfully moving, funny and
inspiring (from the P.O.V. of someone 70ish!!) I enjoyed all the performances;
it is beautifully written, original and ingenious in many ways and I cannot
think of any ways in which I think it could be improved. I'll look out for a
future performance. Thank you!
From James Peries
: Very much enjoyed the detailed history of the early 80s for the
characters; all felt very true.
Established very strongly the history, activism, and engagement that
gets negated when older (in others' eyes). 'Elders' recruiter being a funeral
director in his day job a good twist! Decline of Norma at the end was strongly
written and acted. Thank you.
From Jean Cooper Moran : Jo's 'Age Queer' play was a superb idea,
with realistic and robust themes, humour and a touching friendship between
these chippy characters. The actors all jumped into character immediately; the PO's
monologue at the beginning was gripping. The dramatic sequencing and dialogue
were true to life and held our interest throughout. Bobby Sands was a tragic theme, and
foreshadowed Nora's own last act as a 'refusenik' - great phrase. I accepted the use of sadism in the earlier
scenes pointed up the internal conflicts of being gay, and the terrors and
rewards of joining that community. My brother would have identified with
Alan. Brian the happy lanyard was a well
acted and telling character. God save us
from the 'home' at the end of life...
2021 I wrote (within three weeks!) “How Many Things Can You Think About (When
You’re Lying Under an Immigration Removal Van)” for Odd Lot Theatre, this
performed as a fundraiser for Bristol Refugee Rights at Café 5, Easton.
Current project. A show for solo performance, working title The Benefit.
Elevator Pitch: In this gothic satire on human frailty – and the art of tailoring - a black gentleman’s overcoat passes through a turbulent, 20th century, European city attracting a random mix of owners along the way. Who gets to feel the benefit of this most universal of garments and who’s left out in the cold? And what purpose does our coat serve when it surfaces in the 21st century?
WHAT I CAN DO: Develop
script for a variety of media. Serve as
‘writer in the room’ on projects as they develop.
AN
ACTIVIST AND PARA-ACADEMIC
I have kept this simple blog going for the last, few years. A progression from my doctorate and building on my concern for the subordination of later life in U.K. society, my experience of spending most of my life in multicultural Hackney where I raised my dual heritage family and myself being a ‘child of the 60s’ appalled at the monocultural assumptions about older people.
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From my ‘Artivist in a Box’ performance in Broadmead Galleries 2022.
My
doctorate was in Applied Aesthetics: how
cultural diversity can best be understood through our everyday, aesthetic lives;
the sensuality of the very stuff that
defines who we are, this being particularly important as we grow older.
WHAT I
CAN DO Advise on or review representational practices, whatever the media,
which include older people.
Devise
and deliver drama / storytelling workshops using artefacts of any type for the
purpose of exploring their aesthetic worth and
significance to a project.
I
keep updating and expanding on my skills base attending Meisner and
improvisation workshops, script writing workshops (recently with Matt Grinter) community
theatre workshops with Acta under their Elevate scheme and recently workshops
organised by Bristol Old Vic’s Ferment team.
I have served as the lead on Bristol City Council’s DIY Artists' Network Equality and Inclusion
sub-group, as a Theatre Bristol agent
and am a trustee of Travelling Light Theatre. I am a member of the actors’ union Equity, Diverse Artists’ Network and Bristol Old Vic’s
Artists’ Forum.
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