Living IncogNegro

The benefits of being white-skinned and speaking with what's called a Gen m accent, which is another way of saying a non-regional standardized way of speaking. It couldn't be more clear and it just seems to be getting more palpable day by day in the most awful way. You know, I'm thinking about loved ones getting snatched away, the possibility, the very real possibility of that happening. Both, fam...

If I could be in a movie with just other mixed actors, that'd be amazing. So it doesn't even matter. I think, what if we all got together? That's still my big question. Like, would a rift form in the vortex or would something crazy happen? That's almost the way it feels to me, at the idea of getting together with a whole bunch of mixed people. So, gosh, I mean, if I was going to say somebody in pa...

There's a lot of different stars I'd like to work with and when it comes to the movie, it's use the right tool for the job situation. Right when you're casting somebody, you're like, "I love this actor, but this is the person who fits the best for whatever reason." But two people come to mind. I don't know if he was ever in any movies. He must have been. Ron Cephas Jones, may he rest in peace. He...

Other cultural shifts that I'm seeing are how the government is making it harder and harder for artists to do their jobs, right, especially if our work is collaborative. And the less we're in touch with each other, the more our ability to express things and express them well and profoundly and in a unified way, the more that's weakened, you know. So many people, we have our echo chambers, right? B...

So it’s summertime and things happen. One of the main things that happens is humidity. If you have curly hair, I would say, give into it. You know, we spend so much time, money trying to fight what is natural during the summertime. Especially if it's hair, you can find something where you can let your hair be your hair and tell other people just to back off if they're going to give you a hassle ab...

So I've seen two trailers for Sinners and I've heard some buzz and from what I know about it, A: I'm terrified. And that's partly because it's like the same way I was extra terrified way back in the day with the Omen movies, Damien, Omen 1 and 2 and things like that. I think that has something to do with my quasi-Catholic cultural upbringing. They get you scared from a real young age, but of all o...

The Summer that Changed me, and Brought Me Closer to the Truth, as remembered by Gin Hammond So when I was a kid, my family would go to the Del Mar Fair. There was this timeshare and we'd hang out there and we would also go to a place called La Costa. I remember there was a spot under a fence my brother and I would shimmy through (and we'd just be running around the fair all day, just the two of u...

Gin Hammond Hated Horror Movies ... Until She Saw THIS and now it's her Favorite Summer Movie Because I did dialect coaching for the musical Bruce, which I personally adored. I don't generally enjoy horror, scary things, but because I got to know so much abou all of the behind-the-scenes stuff going on in Jaws, especially when the production company was trying to shut down production. This poor ac...

Not only is George Takei's like not a secret. It's inspiring and we can all learn lessons from his truth and braver.y I love George Takei. And if you are watching and you say, oh, isn't it "Ta-kie"? I remember watching one of his videos and he says, Takei, it rhymes with gay so that's how I remembered. I've been a fan from way back, but I think one of the reasons I'm drawn to him, and no matter wh...

Gin Hammond breaks her silence on Trevor Noah What I could say about Trevor Noah is endless. First. I love his book, Born A Crime. I can obviously relate to it except his is, even his situation is even way more intense than mine was. So I loved reading about that and how his mother Patricia's love really sustained him and gave him such a huge perspective on life. A healthy perspective on life that...

Gin Hammond reveals her connection to Lin-Manuel Miranda 's 'Hamilton' Broadway Show So when Hamilton first came out, it was after the play version of a show that I wrote called Returning The Bones came out and in [my book] Returning The Bones, it's a sort of a historical fiction family thing, I talk about the family lore about being related to Alexander Hamilton. I'd researched Alexander Hamilton...

If I was talking to a MAGA person. I would try and do that thing where you try and see yourself in the other, this comes up in all sorts of different religions, spiritual modes, things like that. Allegedly, it comes up in Christianity. And I think that remembering that our neutral when we're babies, when we're very small, it's a place of love. And it's easy to lose hope with a MAGA person saying,...

What's Your Most Recent Memory of Racism? Gin Hammond reveals... So you know, there's something every day about racism. One thing that is still reverberating in me right now, however, is a personal relationship I have with somebody who is a darker skinned black woman, and she has basically lost it…. It's very hard to be the sensitive artist that she is and be in this world as a dark-skinned black...

What are my first memories of racism? It depends on the kind because there's so many different kinds. There's a vast array, right? There's just feeling like looks were odd when I was a kid. Me being little and held by my dad. I think my dad got a lot of attention, especially when it's just the two of us, right? So this black man with this little white baby girl, and people are like. "Does she belo...

The Most Exciting Theater moment for the Audience A moment that I'm really excited about audiences responding to at film festivals and beyond is the moment where I am doing a fake TikTok video dressed up in who knows what ancient clothing. I just kind of pulled down a box of costumes and asked my 14 year old son, "Hey son, you want to do a video of me doing this?" And I come around the corner and...

Gaming has a passionate fan base. Share a Pro Tip You've learned about Passionate Gaming Fans from your time as a Gaming Voice Actor   Something that I've learned about the fans is that they are meticulous in how they are receiving the voices of the characters. They have to hear the voices so many times that they're hearing those voices when they're not even playing sometimes. And that makes...

When someone comes to you for dialect coaching, can you walk us through the steps of the process? So when somebody comes to me for dialect coaching, whether it's an individual actor or a theater's hiring me or whatever, of course, do a lot of research, as much research as I need to do. And I chart things out. I have all of these sheets. that I made but my favorite is what's called the listen for s...

As a voice coach, Can you share a story about a performance problem and how you helped them? I helped a few people with issues that manifested physically, which is to say they were having issues with either an element of their work or how the piece was being directed, how they were being directed, and very often because of something called the vagus nerve which Ties in very much with all of the vo...

Some of my racial heroes are.... An inspiring conversation with Gin Hammond One of the people that I think about most regularly, who's a hero for me. Marian Anderson, the opera singer. First of all, a lot of people told her that, you're black, you can't sing opera. It's just not done. It's a Western European art form and all of that. And she defied all of that through her art. And she inspired mil...

People will message each other and say, “Hey, what you said, I really get that.” Maybe friendships can form individually, and through these conversations, connections, nets, understanding can happen and introspection can happen that leads to moving the needle a little bit on the dial about how people who are mixed are regarded. I think, especially with the recent election, with all of the garbage...

People that I want to have in the conversation, pretty much anybody who feels mixed racially and or culturally. I've been fascinated at how people who self identify as trans also feel like they can really identify with what this is about. So I guess people who feel like their exteriors don't really match their interiors and who want to talk about that. I think there are delineations within that, r...

There's a lot of strong emotion behind passing and that can change on different days, depending on your environment.  So for people who are passing, I would like to say,  "Allow yourself to feel different things on different days. Especially because your environment does change and influence how you feel."  If you want to be in rapport with a group of people who are not feeling like...

What's the biggest message to the Living IncogNegro theater audience? Gin Hammond explains... I think the biggest message I wanted audience members to receive from the performance of Living IncogNegro was not to assume that you absolutely know what you're seeing when you see somebody who seems white-ish. There might be a lot more going on under the surface. I think another thing that I wanted peop...

Which racial quotes inspire you the most? Gin Hammond responds When white people have quotes and thoughts, share their thoughts and quotes about racism, I think it depends on the track record, right? Do they have a long history of putting their money where their mouth is? Do they have a long history of deep engagement? So for example, I think Melinda Gates does. And she saved a lot of lives. I thi...

I don't have a favorite song that I like to sing. There is a chant that I do, which it's a Sanskrit chant that was taught to me by my black yoga mentor, Regina French, who's now living in India. She is also known as sister Shree and it is a chant that reminds me that we are spiritual beings. It sounds very West Coast to say that, but it ties me to her, how she went out of what was the norm conside...