Interview with Starr C. Releford, company member

By Nayo Watkins

Nayo Watkins: Your name is Starr –

Starr C. Releford: With two r’s.

NW: Where did you get that name?

SR: It evolved during my first year in college ’cause I used to wear a do-rag before I grew my locks, and I wore it to the side and one day I put some glow-in-the-dark stars on it and so she gave me that name. But then, I write poetry and music, and as my music developed and as my poetry developed, I kind of found another meaning for it. And that’s when I added the other "r." And it means "spiritually tuned among rhythm and rhyme."

NW: And what is your other name?

SR: Carlton Releford.

NW: You have been with Carpetbag for about a year.

SR: Yes, ma’am.

NW: Did you have acting experience before that performance?

SR: Slight, as far as elementary school, doing little plays and that. I took an acting class in high school for a semester and the next year I did children’s theater, so we did an adaptation of "The Three Little Pigs" for an elementary school. Really, that’s about it. That’s all my acting.

NW: Are you from Knoxville?

SR: No, I’m from Kingsport, Tennessee.

NW: And what’s your major?

SR: Psychology/music.

NW: How do you envision theater is going to fit into your life?

SR: I see it, because I am enjoying what I am doing. I feel I am doing well for someone with as little experience as myself. It’s growing on me.

NW: Have you taken any acting classes?

SR: I’m learning as I go.

NW: The project that I am involved in is a research project essentially, looking at grassroots theater or, as we often call it, community-based theater – what it’s all about, its connection to community, what its meaning is in community. In your understanding, what’s the mission of Carpetbag? What does it do? What is it about?

SR: Cultural enrichment through workshops, plays and music. That’s why we have music in just about everything that we do, whether it is a play or a workshop.

NW: And cultural enrichment, how so? For whom?

SR: Well, for me, I don’t know about Linda and all the other members cause they are older than I am – I’m just 22 – so, for me, it’s for young people, pre-teens on up to young adults. You know, just getting them to be aware of their culture, what their culture and their heritage is about. And really for me, also, to bridge the gap between young people and old people. Try to find out what went wrong and how we can get back to the balance that we had back when I was young.

NW: And basically your work is within the acting ensemble?

SR: Yeah.

NW: In terms of the themes and topics, like this one, what is this one about?

SR: This one is "Nothin’ Nice." What it’s about is this guy named Lone Wolf. He’s 21 years old. He’s an AmeriCorps worker. He has a three- or a four-year-old daughter and basically the story revolves around him, and of course his family, but mainly him. He’s struggling, ’cause he’s trying to kinda be on his own, yet he is still under his mother’s wing. You know how it is when the mother does want her son to go out there and be on his own – but it’s kinda hard for her to let him go ’cause that’s her son. And so it’s just about life. About him adapting to his environment. Adapting to how things are going on around him, but yet there’s always a conflict. He has a daughter that’s growing up. He’s still dealing with the baby’s mother, they’re not together but they communicate because of the child. And later on, he finds out his mother has cancer. All kinds of things coming from all directions basically hitting him at one time. Forcing him to deal with it, forcing him to grow up.

NW: What do you think the message is? Let’s take somebody 18 – what do they get from this?

SR: I hope that they get from it family ties. You know, keep family close, cause you never know. No matter how rough it gets, there is always something that can bring you out of it, there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel. No matter how dark or how long the tunnel is.

NW: Do you think that is an important message for young people to get today?

SR: Oh yeah, ’cause there’s a lot of bull in the world. The way I see the world, the world is very twisted – especially America – and we are getting caught up in symbols and just things that don’t even represent us as a people, as a culture. I just feel that we are lagging behind, and especially the young people, because we are the future. And if we don’t recognize what we are fighting for, what we are here for, then it’s going to continue to get worse.

NW: What are you going to do with a psychology degree?

SR: I’m not sure yet. I know that I want to do something with children, with kids, and intertwine my music with that, too. I haven’t really figured it out yet but I know that’s my plan.

NW: In terms of working in ensemble with the whole group – how many people are in the group?

SR: Seven, including me.

NW: What’s the best thing about that?

SR: Meeting different people. The chance to touch somebody’s life. You never know, just by passing somebody you never know what kind of effect on their life it could have. I’ve slightly kept in touch with somebody I met from the SRDI [Southern Regional Development Initiative] workshop in North Carolina, and she was telling me I had said something to her and it just stuck with her. And the last time I talked to her was probably June, maybe, and she’s still talking about some of the things I said. I think that’s the best part, just being able to reach out to somebody. Everybody has problems. Everybody has issues. Just to see somebody that’s around your age, for them to see you and your problems and just being able to work through your problems – I think that gives them encouragement to keep on going through theirs.

NW: In terms of how you all create work inside the ensemble, and how those seven people work together – talk about that.

SR: I haven’t really had the chance to create a piece with the group. Really the only thing I’ve done is added my own little – I don’t know what word I’m looking for – I’ll just say stuff. I’ve added my own little stuff into the company as far as my music goes. For example we did a piece called "Cric? Crak!" which is a short story, three short stories told in Haitian form. We did a song at the end of it and they asked me to put some chords to it on the piano, ’cause I play by ear. So that’s really the only thing I’ve done as far as creating, but they have their own way of working and it’s beautiful. I mean everybody has problems and they argue – I haven’t really seen them argue that much. It’s like when they do start to argue they recognize and deal with it in another way.

NW: What are the arguments about? Are they about creative work? Are they about personalities?

SR: I’ve talked to them differently in different situations one-on-one and they kind of point out other people’s flaws, but they also point out their own flaws, too. That’s what I like about it. They don’t just try and talk about people and leave themselves out like they are holier than thou.

NW: Mostly they’re about artistic work?

SR: That’s all it is. Decisions, artistical work, what you missed, what you do in rehearsal, you did this during the play, I liked that, I didn’t like that –

NW: What’s the most difficult thing about working in an ensemble with people, with actors and performers?

SR: Just learning to adapt to everybody’s personality. Everybody has a different personality, which you don’t have to like, but you have to respect. Really the thing I hate most about ensemble is that we don’t do it enough. Cause we rehearse and we rehearse and the show finally comes, and then that’s it. For awhile. The last time I did something with the company was in May. That’s really the only thing I don’t like about it. I just wish that I could do it more.

NW: What year are you?

SR: I’m a sophomore.

NW: So you’ve got a couple more years to go. Maybe you’ll stay involved..

SR: I want to.

NW: You seem to bring a natural talent to the work – with no training, no theater classes. Is what you bring to it accepted, do you feel part of the team?

SR: Oh, yeah. They make me feel like family from the first time I met everybody. They just opened up, and that’s what allowed me to open up, too.

NW: The times that you all do performances or appearances in communities and so forth, what’s the best thing about those times?

SR: The same thing, just meeting people. Learning and teaching. ’Cause sometimes if we stay for awhile we get to tell them about some things that we know and they tell us about some things that they know. We just get to exchange ideas and personalities and sometimes culture. I met some – I don’t want to say the wrong thing – I met somebody from another nationality in California and we sat and talked and he let me know some things about their culture and I let him know some things about mine. It was nice.

NW: So your experience goes beyond the performance?

SR: Right. You learn a lot, you really do. It’s all about reaching out to people and people reaching out to you.

NW: If you just deal with your community here in Knoxville, what do you think Carpetbag does for this community?

SR: Well, I haven’t really been with the company long enough to really go out into the community that much. The work that I have done has been with kids, and the kids open up to us. They really do. Some of them don’t, of course, ’cause there is just that struggle in opening somebody up, but most of the time the kids just open up and give up 100%. It’s just kind of funny, ’cause I know where I grew up in Kingsport, there’s not a lot of cultural diversity. There’s not a lot of ethnicity around this whole area, this northeastern area, so I’m glad there’s Carpetbag here to let these people, the African-American community, recognize their heritage. ’Cause we don’t get a lot of it. You have to go to North Carolina or Atlanta or somewhere like that to find it.

NW: What’s the best thing that Carpetbag does, as far as your experience? What’s the best part of the work for you?

SR: I would say the music. The music. Because, just because they’re older, they’re not stuck in their ways. They are open to new things, new sounds, new music. I’ve kind of learned that by playing some of the instrumentals I play and watching Linda bob her head to it. Or watching Bird or Jeff tap their foot to it. You know, it makes me feel good to know that somebody that’s not even from my generation can feel something that I’m bringing out from my mind and my soul. The music.

NW: Your minor is music?

SR: Yeah.

NW: What are you planning on doing with that music? Somehow it’s going to fold into whatever else you do?

SR: I want to do an album. An album of spoken word, poetry, positive and uplifting hip-hop. Not rap, ’cause rap is to me the negative side of hip-hop. And hip-hop is a culture. It is part of a culture. Hip-hop and rap are supposed to be like black awareness. Just to recognize the struggles of the black man and the black woman since the beginning of time till now.

NW: Do you write the lyrics? Do you write poetry?

SR: Yes

NW: Do you participate in the Café Noir?

SR: Yes.

NW: Talk about that and what you think that does for this campus community.

SR: I do go, I do attend school here. Again there’s not a lot of cultural diversity on campus either. I don’t know if that is due to the lack of students or just the mentality of the students, but there is not a lot of recognition of who we are – of what we are. So, I think that the Café Noir kind of brings another mood to the campus, ’cause there’s a lot of "thugs" that go to school here. Wannabe thugs that think they’re hardcore or whatever. You can hear that when you ride down past the dorms and hear all the music playing outside. Everybody wants to listen to all the hardcore rap and then when you try to play something soft and mellow, then they want to call you a punk or something like that. It’s not even that, it’s just you want something else. I believe that Café Noir brings just another mood, another feeling. Somewhere where you can go to and really relax and just enjoy something else. Because, not only is it for poetry, it’s for any kind of rhymings. If you write rap lyrics, R&B lyrics, gospel lyrics, short stories, essays – you can even come in and read your research paper that you wrote for one of your classes. So, that’s basically what the whole Café Noir is about, just to enlighten others around the yard, around the campus and around the community that there is something else that’s going on.

NW: How is it organized? I mean, who leads it?

SR: It was led by Margaret Miller, and she’s not with us anymore. She went to D.C. to do her own thing. But she left it basically to the young people, and that’s what they wanted us to do. Linda and Margaret wanted us to take over the Café Noir. For one, they’re busy with other things. But for two, that will give us something to do. Since we’ve kinda been touching it a little bit, it’s been growing. We’ve been doing different things.

NW: How are decisions made with that? Who can read?

SR: It’s open mic. Whoever’s speaking, ‘cause we have different people that m.c. every time – whoever’s m.c.-ing will come around with a pad and pen. We just ask, come and whisper in your ear, and ask if you are going to read – and if you are we just ask you to sign your name down. Write your name on the little pad and whoever’s m.c.-ing will call your name out.

NW: In terms of your total involvement with Carpetbag, how do you assess what is working, what is good?

SR: You mean as far as the pieces?

NW: As far as whatever is important to you.

SR: How do I decide what is good? I believe my spirit lets me know that. That’s the best way I can answer that. Let’s see, if I’m doing something I just get this little tingling like I know I shouldn’t be doing this. Sometimes I do it anyway. But I have a spiritual consciousness about myself.

NW: Is there anything else you would like to add?

SR: They’re just good people. They are good people and I love working with them.

NW: Is it a conflict for you in terms of school?

SR: Sometimes it is. I don’t like this education thing, just because it just doesn’t seem like me. I don’t like to be taught other people’s cultures. I want to learn about mine. For example, this is supposed to be a HBCU, Knoxville College, it’s supposed to be a Historically Black College or University, but there’s more people of different cultural backgrounds and ethnicity teaching us instead of our own people. I don’t know, the educational system to me is wicked. And crooked. I went to a youth convocation in ’96. We had this – I can’t even remember his name – but he was teaching us about the black aspect of life. He would just point out different things. That’s the kind of thing that I like. Not saying that I don’t like learning, that I don’t want somebody out of my culture teaching me math. It’s not about that. It’s just that some things they can’t teach us.

NW: So, has it been a learning experience?

SR: This is. This is, cause everybody in here has their own knowledge about something. Jeff, he’s the political man. He know – every time I talk to him he’s always talking about Bill Clinton, Al Gore – and sometimes it does conflict with my classes. Sometimes I’ve got to talk to my teachers, "I’m going out of town. I need my assignments."

NW: Do you think the things that you are learning with the theater will carry over for your other life? Any thoughts on that?

SR: I haven’t experienced it yet, but it sure will. It sure will. I can’t think of a word right now to describe – I guess the one word would be "family." Like I said, I’ve only been with them for a year and I don’t get to talk to each one of them on a daily basis or on a regular basis – so I’m pretty sure that in time, as they grow on me and I grow on them, I’ll learn more things that I can adapt to my music, as well as my acting, as well as my personal life, spiritual life, whatever.

Nayo Watkins is an arts and community consultant who lives in Durham, N.C. She is sole proprietor of Bodacious Consulting and Organizing. Her work has included helping to build collaborations and partnerships between artists and communities that explore the relationship between art, culture, activism and empowerment. She served as coordinator for the Mississippi American Festival Project and for the N.C.-based Alternate ROOTS Community Artist Partnership Project. She was writer/facilitator for "Parables to Policy," an Internet project of Southern Rural Development Initiative and was consultant to the Mississippi Young Person’s Cultural Exchange. Prior to becoming an independent consultant, she served as executive director of the African American Dance Ensemble (Durham), At the Foot of the Mountain Theatre (Minneapolis), and the Mississippi Cultural Arts Coalition (Jackson), and as program assistant for the Afro-American Studies Program of the University of Mississippi. As an artist, Watkins is a poet, essayist, playwright and performer. Her poems and essays have appeared in literary anthologies and journals. As a playwright, she draws upon oral histories and participatory research to create plays rooted in place, people, culture and community. Productions of her commissioned plays have been staged in Port Gibson, Itta Bena and Oxford, Mississippi, and in Durham and Wake Forest, North Carolina. Her work is included in the repertory of actors John O’Neal, Cynthia Watts and Yolanda King.

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