Today we’d like to introduce you to Janice Robinson.
Janice, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
Ever since I could remember I’d really wanted to be two things: an actor and a pediatrician. I loved both ideas so much, but young children are very perceptive and I took note of the way adults reacted to me saying I wanted to be one versus the other, so I started to just tell people about the doctor part- still performing in school productions here and there (and loving it) but mostly keeping mum. It wasn’t until I was 14 that I finally told someone I really wanted to be an actor too, and that person was my father. He was incredibly supportive and even took me to a little talent agency where we’d ended up in Toledo, Ohio (we’re both California-born). He told me that we could try this, but that he did want me to go to college and then we could see where I’d landed in my decision.
Fast forward to my freshman year of college at The Ohio State University (I went in undecided, pre-med). I was up writing a Spanish paper at 4 a.m. and it hit me. This overwhelming sense of regret tucked in a really vivid vision of my future: I’d become a doctor and was relaxing at home at the time, sitting on my couch watching a show on TV, and started feeling this slow-creeping, deep, deep remorse for having not just gone for it because “I could do that!” but I just didn’t try.
The following happened:
• I immediately sent my dad a VERY long and emotional email
• He replied with, “I know.” along with a host of other wonderfully supportive and understanding words
• I felt a thousand times lighter knowing my new future and that he was behind me 100%
Days after that, I declared my theatre major and joined the program.
Some productions, graduation, and a big move later and I’m back in my home state pursuing the thing I’d dreamt about as a kid. I’m now five years deep, and I’ve never felt an ounce of regret over that decision.
Life is so weird.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I am in love with acting, wholeheartedly and in any capacity. I love being able to help breathe new life into a piece of art. Acting is such a singular yet collaborative art form on so many levels, and I’ve been so fortunate to have been able to do screen, stage, and voice-over projects in the past five years and to have worked with many wonderful creatives in the process.
I’ve been doing a show called “BILLIE: This Ain’t No Billie Jean King Story” (formerly “BILLIE: The Play”) since 2016. In the show, I play the titular character starting at age eight. As she grows up you see her family as they struggle with domestic violence, substance abuse, infidelity, monetary strife, mental illness… all while Billie chases her dream to be an MC like her idols in the burgeoning 90s hip-hop scene.
The play is based on the memoir of the incredible life of Precious “Billie” King, who then turned that memoir into a stage production. We’ve done multiple runs of the show over the years. It’s heavy and a LOT of emotional work to say the least, but it’s also very touching, funny, and optimistic as well. It’s so well-balanced a script, and it’s always wonderful to be asked to return to it.
There’s “José”, a short film written and directed by the visionary Tomás Gómez Bustillo, which recently screened at the LA Shorts International Film Festival. It’s a tale with touches of magical realism about a man named José (played by the wonderful Pepe Serna) who has committed an unknown crime and stays holed up in his TV repair shop. One night a very young girl, Maria (played by myself), comes across the shop while frantically searching for help as she goes into labor. José must decide if he’ll risk venturing outside the shop to help her or turn a blind eye.
Then we have “Elsinore” by the incredibly gifted and talented Katie Chironis-Grossman and her Golden Glitch Studios team. “Elsinore” is a time-looping adventure game set in the world of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. However, this game is played not through the eyes of Hamlet, but Ophelia (voiced by myself). Ophelia must race against time to prevent the deaths that occur throughout the play at Elsinore Castle, including her own. If she dies, time resets and she must live the day again. The game was released in July of this year on the PC gaming platform Steam.
Each of those projects is vastly different from the others. It’s difficult to make a blanket statement about what I hope people take away from them or anything else that I do. I think… overall, I hope that people have some sort of emotional reaction to my work. I want them to feel something. To perhaps understand something they hadn’t before, to feel seen and understood themselves… The possibilities are endless because everything is subjective, but at the root, art evokes feeling, and I’d like people to arrive at the end of my works having truly felt something.
In addition to acting, I also sing, dabble in dance, and write poetry. I feel that one day I may start to write scripts, but we’ll see where that goes. For now, writing’s a personal art. I think it’s healthy and therapeutic to have at least one for yourself.
What do you know now that you wished you had learned earlier?
Everyone’s journey is different and there are so many artistic avenues for anyone to traverse. It’s another difficult thing to give advice so broadly on something so personal and varying, even within the realm of acting, if we’re getting specific.
The one thing I will say is if you truly love it, if you need it, go for it. Don’t let your future arrive drenched in regret.
And also, no, it’s not too late.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
You can play “Elsinore” on your computer via Steam, or, if you don’t want to download the gaming platform, you can play it by getting the game directly from https://goldenglitch.itch.io/elsinore
And as for the play “BILLIE”, we’ve already done two separate runs of it this year alone, so I’m sure we’ll be back for more soon, and there will be updates on that on my website, Instagram, and on Facebook as well!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.janrobinson.net
- Instagram: @lilsebasjan
- Facebook: @JaniceRobinsonOfficial
Image Credit:
Carrie Robinson, Zachariah Schmitt, Stephen Zimpel
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