“The women in my family have always had secrets…The women have had things they had to hide. For their family’s sake. For their safety’s sake. For the sake of their reputations as women. For a long time, wanting to be an artist was one of my secrets. It was not a responsible idea. It didn’t follow the plan. It was not realistic. It would get me nowhere,” begins artist Jessika McQueen, whose creative passion led her to drop everything and move to NYC to attend theater school. After training for three years, Jessika started a production company, and hopes to, as a carrier of the “secrets” of her female lineage, restore a sense of dignity and freedom to her foremothers. First and foremost an actress, McQueen also produces, writes, directs, and plays piano. All of these mediums she considers “very serious love affairs.” Conceptually, her work is about finding common ground. “Whether it is between myself and my character, my character and the other people in their world, their world and the audience’s world, different views, different beliefs — it is about bridging that gap. Finding what is shared. Finding the connection. There always is a connection, and sometimes it is so, so, so hard to find.” One of her favorite ways to achieve common ground is through humor, through the medicine of laughter. Having worked frequently in both Toronto and London, today she makes her home primarily in New York City. Her major creative challenges include self-doubt, not trusting her own voice, and trying to do a million things at once. “I need to remind myself quite often that sometimes it is better to do fewer things exceptionally well than to do as many things as humanly possible somewhat well.” McQueen’s production company, Wrong House Productions, has had two major theatre projects as of late called “Sketchy Weekend” and “The Winter Play.” Sketchy Weekend, an all-new, all-original sketch comedy show, fully written, directed, produced, and acted by Wrong House ran this past September at TADA! Theater in Manhattan. Meanwhile, their evening length “The Winter Play” is a collective project penned by McQueen and two other women at Wrong House. “We are all very adamant about representing women in a way we don’t often see on the stages and screens.” You can see this production from November 28th through December 9th at Teatro Circulo Theater in the East Village. McQueen is also playing the lead role, Ally, in an independent film titled The Monk Shop, starting production end of the month.
www.thewronghouse.com/sketchy-weekend