A Sit Down With Cyn
A Sit Down With Cyn: monolouges for black girls
What is in the book?
Thirteen original monologues for the black girl living during Generation Z. With a mixture of comedic, dramatic, and reflective pieces, the book explores the growing pains of adulthood, microaggressions, mental health, family dynamics, and social identity through the raw and mature eyes of a young black girl.
Why did you write this book?
Like any other artist, I began to explore the craft of acting with monologues. Often with the ones, they would hand to me in acting school and the ones I would find on websites like actorama or monologueblogger. Monologues were never written with me in mind. In college, I was introduced to black playrights for the first time, and through an African American Theatre class, I explored the classic works of August Wilson, Lorraine Hansberry, Lynn Nottage, and many other black playwrights that gave voice to the Black American experience and storytelling. I found monologues that I could dive into. Louise, from Seven Guitars, was my go-to audition piece throughout my college education. Can you imagine an 18-year-old embodying the prowess of no-sense women in her 40s?
why is this book More than just words?
The book includes 13 monologues and also 13 pages of film stills and storyboards. As a storyteller, I turned the words I wrote into scripts and they became the backdrop to vignettes I created for a select number of monologues. The Vignettes combined and turn into A Sit Down With Cyn: Short Film.
What motivated you to do a project like this?
I wanted to give a complete body of work and to me, that meant also turning these words into a film. I joke around sometimes and call this project my “actbum”. Really, it’s a one-woman show. It was the best way for me to combine my two worlds of writing and acting. This was my first project exploring what it meant to have a producer, editor, and director hat.
Tell us about “Clogged Drain”?
“Clogged Drain” is a true fucking story! I’ve had white female roommates before in college and it was a hit or miss. When it was a hit it was the worst time. When I came to LA I had a white female roommate for my first year. We signed for the apartment, furnished the place together, and came up with house rules for our other roommates. After a year, our shower drain was clogged so I called maintenance to fix the problem and they hit us with a $40 bill on the account. I paid my half and noticed she left a balance. So like a roommate, I reminded her of the bill and she hit me with: “I’m not paying to plumb the drain, that’s you and all your wigs. I collect all my hair as I shower.” I swallowed all of my emotions and just nodded my head.
There's not really a word to describe that feeling when someone subtly minimizes you because of you’re blackness. It's just a wave of silent anger in your chest. Her bias against me became very loud and clear. Other incidents happened between me and her including her getting all up in my face so I had to go for my safety… and hers.
monologues. for us. by us
As part of Generation Z coming into adulthood, I began to write down my experiences of adulting, dealing with microaggressions, mental health, and finding my voice as I learned more about myself and childhood experiences. When I wrote, I wrote small stories. Some were comedic and some were tragic. Some were releasing and others were just reflective. I wrote about 18 of these stories and realized they were the monologues I’ve wanted to say all my life. I knew other girls like me wanted to say these words too.
Black actresses of this generation needed new monologues that reflected their current experiences. Something that they could relate to, embody, and recite. With this book published, I hope that it can be a resource for a little girl who is looking to explore and dive into the world of truthful storytelling.
Did you draw all the storyboards for A Sit Down?
Not all. I did everything except the animation (My Therapist Said “No More”) and Young 21. The first one I outsourced on Fiverr and the person I worked with gave me this beautiful storyboard that I decided to include in the book. The latter, the director I worked with Xavier Dubose, did that one. I enjoyed drawing the storyboard. It was a nice way to see your vision on paper and explain it to other artists. Also, it made the process surreal to see the images you have on paper come to life in the editing room.
Are all the monologues you filmed in the book?
No, some didn't make the cut in the final project. Others didn't make the deadline when I submitted the final draft of the book. In the book, you get thirteen monologues and five screengrabs and storyboards. Two vignettes were filmed that doesn’t appear in the book. It works out because I want you to see the film to see everything I created.
I’ll show one of the vignettes not included in the book here. It’s called SBW.
What is your favorite monologue?
It would have to be My Therapist Said “No More”. The scenarios in that monologue happened! Those events, and the feelings that come with them, have shaped me in the last few years. Of course, when they were happening in realtime, I was very upset. I thought it was very interesting how comedic the monologue tuned out to be. Just goes to show you that with time…you can always laugh things off! Also, I just looooove the animation. I think the animated me has her head turns and eye rolls on point!
Will you do another “Sit Down”?
I thought about it! Especially after this year. I would call it, A Sit Down With Cyn: The Year 2020! I want to see how releasing this goes. Learn from it and then apply it to other projects I have in mind. My next focus is editing a script I wrote last year. It is about a Haitian-American girl dropping the traditional path of becoming a doctor and pursuing a career as a Makeup Artist. I think there's a growing audience that craves stories of different black experiences and the industry is starting to tap into it.
