What if Shakespeare had color?
What if Juliet wore sneakers? What if she didn't have a nurse but instead a cool-ass aunt who lived in Brooklyn? And what if Mercutio and Tybalt were... I dunno... dating!
Well, enough with the what ifs! Because it is all true thanks to Dana L. Davis and her new diverse reimagining of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, ROMAN AND JEWEL--and we get to reveal this stunning cover and interview Dana about the new book coming January 2021.
But before we speak with Dana, let’s share a little bit about this mesmerizing new love story!
But before we speak with Dana, let’s share a little bit about this mesmerizing new love story!
Cover Illustration: Robert Ball || Art Direction: Erin Craig ||
Cover Design: Elita Sidiropoulou |
Jerzie Jhames is up for the lead role in the hottest new show heading to Broadway, Roman and Jewel, a Romeo and Juliet–inspired hip hopera featuring a diverse cast and modern twists on the play.
But her hopes are crushed when she learns that R&B megastar Cinny won the lead... and Jerzie is cast as her understudy. Falling for male lead Zeppelin Reid is a terrible idea—especially once Jerzie learns Cinny wants him for herself. But when a video of Jerzie and Zepp practicing goes viral and the entire world weighs in on who should play Jewel, Jerzie learns that while the price of fame is high, friendship, family, and love are priceless and worth risking it all. ROMAN AND JEWEL comes out January 2021, Inkyard Press Pre-order now!Find author Dana L. Davis... |
An interview with Dana L. Davis
Triada: This sounds so good (and IS a phenomenal read)! What inspired a re-telling set in the world of Broadway?
Dana L. Davis: A few things converged all together at a strange time for me. I had terrible writer’s block and I was feeling the burden of a lot of things going on in my career. I could do nothing. Not even listen to music or watch TV. Like, I’d drop my kiddo off at school and literally sit in my car staring out into space. It was sad. Lol. (I can laugh about it now) But one day, I was reminiscing on a musical I did in college called Once on This Island and wanted to hear one of my favorite songs from it, "Waiting for Life." I searched it out on YouTube and was surprised to see the musical was back on Broadway. I played the song, sung by Hailey Kilgore, the actress starring in the revival, and I just started crying in my car. Her voice! It woke me back up. I was like, this is why I create. Because real art moves people. The “nothing” ended that day. And I started listening to Broadway music, remembering how much I loved it. I was reinvigorated. And when I decided to start writing again, I figured, why not right a terrible wrong. The greatest love story of all time didn’t have any people of color in it! So why not fix that? That’s the short version of how it all began.
Triada: That’s fascinating! I love how you put that: the “nothing.” What does that mean to you?
Dana L. Davis: Sometimes we find ourselves in a place where we are not being creative and we beat ourselves up about it. I decided not to do that anymore. I decided that particular phase or space, is equally important to our creative phases. The pain. The agony. The defeat. I mean…if we didn’t feel those things, we wouldn’t know the joy of winning and the joy of being inspired. So I gave that space a name—The nothing. And from the “nothing,” came what I feel is my greatest writing achievement. This book.
Triada: And the cover! My God, Dana, it’s breathtaking. How did it come to be?
Dana L. Davis: My publisher Inkyard Press wanted to do something extraordinary for this book because they think it’s pretty special. So they hired an illustrator, Robert Ball, who worked with Erin Craig and Elita Sidiropoulou to create this stunning cover. I’m in love. I think it represents the book so well.
Triada: I love it! Juliet is beautiful! And can this Romeo be real?
Dana L. Davis: Ha. Trust me, I spent so many hours in the world of Roman and Jewel, I believe he is existing somewhere in an alternate dimension.
Triada: Now you've mentioned before that during your time of “nothing,” a lot of things were going on in your career. What did this time look like?
Dana L. Davis: Well, I was feeling disenchanted with the poor representation of women of color in film and TV. Acting is my day job if you will. I think Hollywood has a go to narrative when it comes to stories that feature Black women. And I was coming up against so many roadblocks. I played a teenager until I was 33 years old. And it was easier to find roles that fit my range as an actor during that time. But I’m in my 40s now, and many of the parts that were available to me required me to be sassy, or angry, or saying lines over and over like: “Boy, bye!” I mean, don’t get me wrong... There is a time and place for "boy, bye!" LOL.
But I wanted stories that reflected the kind of Black woman I am. And there were and are parts like that, but very few, often times cast with lighter skinned Black women. It’s not an easy discussion to have, but it’s the truth—the darker skinned Black actress has a tougher time in Hollywood. I began to feel hopeless. Like, how do I get Hollywood to see that Black women can be more? We can be anything. We can be songwriters. We can be Juliet! Writing this book helped me to take back my power. I actually got the inspiration for the main character when I learned about Nija Charles, a Black girl killing it in the music industry writing hit songs for Beyonce and Jay-Z and Cardi B and countless others. These are the Black women whose stories should be told. Why don’t we do a story about a young Black song writer? That’s why my main character’s name is Jerzie--because she’s inspired by Nija Charles who is from Jersey. I love Nija’s positive and uplifting rise to prominence in her career.
Triada: Currently, there are protests and demonstrations against police brutality and systemic racism going on across the country and world. Could you say more about Hollywood's part in systemic racism?
Dana L. Davis: There are many moments, but one stands out above them all. I was once working on a TV show as a series regular where I wore a Black Barbie shirt to work. The shirt featured a Black Barbie with a beautiful fro. When someone commented that my character should wear her hair like that, the executive producer of the show said, to a room full of cast and crew, “No. We don’t want this character to be ghetto.” And everyone laughed. I was humiliated.
This same executive producer was writing storylines for my character that I felt to be stereotypical and degrading. When I approached him about it, and also that I wanted my character to be a more integral part of the show and not the Black sidekick, he basically said if I didn’t like what he was creating, I could leave the show. So when I did exactly that, I left the show, he trashed my name to the network and around Hollywood. Certain casting directors refused to even see me because of the terrible things this man said about me, and the network has never worked with me again. A network I love. I never got to tell the network my side of the story which was heartbreaking.
One time, a producer wrote a line where a character pulled out my hair and my character was supposed to scream, “Ow! You pulled out my weave!” I was the only Black girl in the scene and I refused to say the line. It was degrading. I stood up for myself and my career suffered because of it. It’s not fair. White actors do it all the time. But as a Black actor, I was labeled difficult because I wanted a voice. I deserved one. I still do. But this is how Hollywood behaves. I hope it changes. I hope this new Civil Rights Movement creates change. We need it.
Triada: How does it feel to promote a book right now?
Dana L. Davis: I look at it like this: if I get any sort of platform, I’m happy to be using it to present a story with a positive representation of Black characters during a time where Black people are feeling hurt and angry with the way we’ve been misrepresented. Black Lives Matter. We are mothers and fathers and sons and daughters. We love our children, we work hard and we create beautiful art. Our lives matter. Our stories deserve to be told.
Dana L. Davis: A few things converged all together at a strange time for me. I had terrible writer’s block and I was feeling the burden of a lot of things going on in my career. I could do nothing. Not even listen to music or watch TV. Like, I’d drop my kiddo off at school and literally sit in my car staring out into space. It was sad. Lol. (I can laugh about it now) But one day, I was reminiscing on a musical I did in college called Once on This Island and wanted to hear one of my favorite songs from it, "Waiting for Life." I searched it out on YouTube and was surprised to see the musical was back on Broadway. I played the song, sung by Hailey Kilgore, the actress starring in the revival, and I just started crying in my car. Her voice! It woke me back up. I was like, this is why I create. Because real art moves people. The “nothing” ended that day. And I started listening to Broadway music, remembering how much I loved it. I was reinvigorated. And when I decided to start writing again, I figured, why not right a terrible wrong. The greatest love story of all time didn’t have any people of color in it! So why not fix that? That’s the short version of how it all began.
Triada: That’s fascinating! I love how you put that: the “nothing.” What does that mean to you?
Dana L. Davis: Sometimes we find ourselves in a place where we are not being creative and we beat ourselves up about it. I decided not to do that anymore. I decided that particular phase or space, is equally important to our creative phases. The pain. The agony. The defeat. I mean…if we didn’t feel those things, we wouldn’t know the joy of winning and the joy of being inspired. So I gave that space a name—The nothing. And from the “nothing,” came what I feel is my greatest writing achievement. This book.
Triada: And the cover! My God, Dana, it’s breathtaking. How did it come to be?
Dana L. Davis: My publisher Inkyard Press wanted to do something extraordinary for this book because they think it’s pretty special. So they hired an illustrator, Robert Ball, who worked with Erin Craig and Elita Sidiropoulou to create this stunning cover. I’m in love. I think it represents the book so well.
Triada: I love it! Juliet is beautiful! And can this Romeo be real?
Dana L. Davis: Ha. Trust me, I spent so many hours in the world of Roman and Jewel, I believe he is existing somewhere in an alternate dimension.
Triada: Now you've mentioned before that during your time of “nothing,” a lot of things were going on in your career. What did this time look like?
Dana L. Davis: Well, I was feeling disenchanted with the poor representation of women of color in film and TV. Acting is my day job if you will. I think Hollywood has a go to narrative when it comes to stories that feature Black women. And I was coming up against so many roadblocks. I played a teenager until I was 33 years old. And it was easier to find roles that fit my range as an actor during that time. But I’m in my 40s now, and many of the parts that were available to me required me to be sassy, or angry, or saying lines over and over like: “Boy, bye!” I mean, don’t get me wrong... There is a time and place for "boy, bye!" LOL.
But I wanted stories that reflected the kind of Black woman I am. And there were and are parts like that, but very few, often times cast with lighter skinned Black women. It’s not an easy discussion to have, but it’s the truth—the darker skinned Black actress has a tougher time in Hollywood. I began to feel hopeless. Like, how do I get Hollywood to see that Black women can be more? We can be anything. We can be songwriters. We can be Juliet! Writing this book helped me to take back my power. I actually got the inspiration for the main character when I learned about Nija Charles, a Black girl killing it in the music industry writing hit songs for Beyonce and Jay-Z and Cardi B and countless others. These are the Black women whose stories should be told. Why don’t we do a story about a young Black song writer? That’s why my main character’s name is Jerzie--because she’s inspired by Nija Charles who is from Jersey. I love Nija’s positive and uplifting rise to prominence in her career.
Triada: Currently, there are protests and demonstrations against police brutality and systemic racism going on across the country and world. Could you say more about Hollywood's part in systemic racism?
Dana L. Davis: There are many moments, but one stands out above them all. I was once working on a TV show as a series regular where I wore a Black Barbie shirt to work. The shirt featured a Black Barbie with a beautiful fro. When someone commented that my character should wear her hair like that, the executive producer of the show said, to a room full of cast and crew, “No. We don’t want this character to be ghetto.” And everyone laughed. I was humiliated.
This same executive producer was writing storylines for my character that I felt to be stereotypical and degrading. When I approached him about it, and also that I wanted my character to be a more integral part of the show and not the Black sidekick, he basically said if I didn’t like what he was creating, I could leave the show. So when I did exactly that, I left the show, he trashed my name to the network and around Hollywood. Certain casting directors refused to even see me because of the terrible things this man said about me, and the network has never worked with me again. A network I love. I never got to tell the network my side of the story which was heartbreaking.
One time, a producer wrote a line where a character pulled out my hair and my character was supposed to scream, “Ow! You pulled out my weave!” I was the only Black girl in the scene and I refused to say the line. It was degrading. I stood up for myself and my career suffered because of it. It’s not fair. White actors do it all the time. But as a Black actor, I was labeled difficult because I wanted a voice. I deserved one. I still do. But this is how Hollywood behaves. I hope it changes. I hope this new Civil Rights Movement creates change. We need it.
Triada: How does it feel to promote a book right now?
Dana L. Davis: I look at it like this: if I get any sort of platform, I’m happy to be using it to present a story with a positive representation of Black characters during a time where Black people are feeling hurt and angry with the way we’ve been misrepresented. Black Lives Matter. We are mothers and fathers and sons and daughters. We love our children, we work hard and we create beautiful art. Our lives matter. Our stories deserve to be told.