Anthony Martinez Briggs
Photo by Zamani Feelings
Tell us about you and your work
I am Anthony Martinez-Briggs aka US, I use they/he pronouns and I've been hard at work. I’ve been making music collaboratively with ILL DOOTS for nearly a decade, recording original music, playing live shows across the country on independently funded and organized tours, creating live, original music for the stage, as well as developing and providing collaborative song writing workshops for communities across the nation under our “I Love Learning” programming. I’ve been bringing my own unique energy, lived experience, and passion to professional stages as an actor since 2013. I'm a Wilma HotHouse company member and an associate artist with Bearded Ladies Cabaret. I’ve taken time to work behind the scenes in several capacities as well, as a sound designer for several projects (notably garnering a Barrymore nomination with Team Sunshine on the production Bienvenidos Blancos), as director and editor for several music videos, and as graphic designer for album covers as well as posters. I’ve been a teaching artist for 8 years now having taught all age ranges from elementary school to adults, in subjects such as acting, playwriting, devising, storytelling, and rap technique. Wearing so many creative hats has afforded me the opportunity to intersect with a wealth of amazing communities. Therein lies my thesis if you will, the future of my work as an artist, the future of theater, and furthermore the future of our communities, especially so many of those that have been battered and marginalized by the oppressive forces that exist across the world, must strive towards intersectionality. I do not intend on ever honing in and limiting myself to perfecting one craft, I’d much rather find ways for them to be in conversation with one another; the theater is dying in America because it has for many years limited the scope of it’s responsibility and it’s potential for intersecting with other artistic forms, and I for one know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the divisive nature of the world today and the manipulation of masses by political systems and mass media is tearing our communities apart.
My/our work is about crossings boundaries, my/our work is about creating platforms for the marginalized, my/our work is about equity, my/our work is about challenging ourselves and how we think, my/our work is about love, my/our work is about processing, my/our work is about nurturing the self, my/our work is about nurturing our fellow human.
What inspires you?
Collaborating with humans, nature, stories, unanswerable questions, meditation, & of course we can never forget Hip-Hop.
What does community mean to you?
There are many recurring patterns in the natural world. God's designs. I think the community is the reoccurring, evolving pattern of humans in relationship to one another. It's your family beyond your family. It's your hood. It's your people, the ones who have your back and you have theirs. At its best, it should feel like the people you call home.
Favorite film
District 9, Parasite, Cidade de Deus. Will Ferrell comedies.
Favorite song
There are too many songs that I love deeply to have a favorite. Right now it's "Too Good" by Arlo Parks and "Fellowship" by serpentwithfeet
Favorite place
Either someplace that is loud with funky music or quiet with nature. Also, you can never go wrong with any place that includes the arms of a loved one.