Amina Alexander
Interview Highlights
One of the best things we can do for ourselves is find small moments of joy.
It’s important to have mentors who support you and allies who have your back.
Women - especially Black women - have to do a lot of psychological work to navigate situations, especially when working in white male-dominated fields.
The best thing we can do for theatre is to remove our egos and focus on collaboration.
Find Amina Online:
Website: https://www.aalexanderdesigns.com
Bio
Amina Alexander (she/her) is a freelance lighting designer based in New York City. She has worked in many areas of lighting design from fashion, theatre, dance and live music. Designs include Colin Quinn’s 'The Last Best Hope' (Off-Broadway), 'Stick Fly' at St Louis Rep Theater, 'Superhero' at The Sheen Center (Off-Broadway), and Alex Edelman's 'Just For Us'. She is the lighting designer/programmer for Simple Solutions Production Group NYC and Black Theatre Coalition Lighting Fellow for 2021/22.
“Let people create what they want to create… If we just keep doing that and remove our egos from situations, things would be a lot better.”
Meet Amina
Hayley: We are here with the amazing Amina Alexander. Amina, please introduce yourself, share your pronouns, and tell us a bit about what you do in the theatrical space!
Amina: My name is Amina Alexander, she/her. I’m a lighting designer in New York. Freelance lifestyle. I love creating cool art and collaborating with people and having people come and learn something new.
Amy: Can you tell us about how you came to theatre and lighting design?
Amina: I went to Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Astoria, and they had a stagecraft class. I originally wanted to do sound, and I sucked at it, which is fine. Then I went to grad school at York Community College in Jamaica, Queens, and I got a job at the performing arts center, which was my first job ever that I was making my own money. They needed somebody to do all things lighting, and I jumped in and learned. I could just try everything, it gave me a canvas. I didn’t know what I was doing, but I could figure it out. There was low pressure and I was getting paid for it, so that was really nice.
Then I started picking up jobs in the city, electrician calls, board op calls, things like that, just to keep my hands dirty. I went to grad school at Western Illinois University and got an MFA in lighting design. And I came back and was like, “All right. You’re here, you got the thing, now what are you gonna do?” I got a new tattoo, and I said, “All right, you’re in this field, you got a new tattoo, there’s no going back.” So then I kept going. That’s how I ended up in lighting.
Amy: Can you tell us about some of your favorite projects you’ve worked on?
Amina: You work in different capacities - board op, electrician, lighting the show. One of my favorite experiences was working with Dana Iannuzzi on SuperHero. I had the most fun I’ve had in a while. I lit it, hung it, programmed it, I did all the things. In a situation like that, I’m only in charge of myself and what I have to do, so if I choose to stay late and rehang the whole plot because I want to, I can do that. I had free rein to create and use my ideas and have that “collaboration experience.” I had a great time, wouldn’t trade it for the world, and the production photos came out great!
Here’s another cool project I worked on in a very small role. I'm the lighting fellow for Black Theatre Coalition, and Natasha Katz is my mentor through that program. She lit MJ, and my very first time meeting her in person was on that project. I was able to shadow her and sit at the tech table between her and the associate and watch them work. It was really cool to see how fast she can cue a musical… I mean, it’s a very nerdy thing to talk about.
Amy: Tell us all the nerdy things!
Mentorship Experiences
Hayley: Amina, can you tell us about influential mentors you’ve had and what you’ve learned from them?
Amina: Anybody who teaches me something new, I consider a mentor. Because let’s be real, the human race is harsh. The fact that somebody takes the time out to explain something or answer a question that you have genuinely goes a long way. My very first mentor, Kwame Clarke, gave me my job at York College Performing Arts Center, where I started in the lighting field, and we're still friends to this day. He puts me in my place, and he gives me life advice. He has a production company, and he’s opening a club/soundstage/restaurant called 275 Park.
Natasha Katz is amazing. I had my first interview with her on Zoom, and she genuinely wanted to help Black Theatre Coalition, which was nice. We both live in New York, she was born and raised here, we both have the same pathway of a woman making her own way through life and through a male-dominated field. We both had the same experience of being young in the industry - how are we going to make a name for ourselves and do the things we love without losing the passion for it? It’s really easy to say, “I don’t want to deal with this anymore” and walk away. But I don’t have that in me, I’m not a quitter. And I think she saw that in the interview, that’s why we hit it off so well.
And then meeting Natasha in person, watching how she works and seeing how respected she is by production managers, electricians. She genuinely talks about me to people. She’s like, “You’re great. Everyone should know about you.” Having somebody who honestly sees the potential and supports me is really nice. In her Tony acceptance speech for Fun Home, Jeanine Tesori said, “For girls, you need to see it to be it.” It didn’t hit me until she said that, but it’s a real thing.
Amina’s Creative Mission and Creative Work
Hayley: Amina, can you tell us about your creative mission? What do you hope that your art will accomplish?
Amina: I'm still figuring that out. SuperHero brought me a lot of joy. If I can do stories like that and have people recognize that this is a story that needs to be told, I think that’s the path I’ll go down. It was a very fantastical show, but it was set in realism, so being able to play with that idea is something I want to continue.
Amy: What are some of the things you think about when you’re telling a story through lighting?
Amina: How I feel. I try to connect with the main character. Where should we go? That’s always the question I’m asking the director - where do you see this person right now in this moment? Connecting emotionally. There’s an R&B artist, Alex Isley. She talked in an interview about how she played a game in high school where she would put a color to a song. That’s something I want to carry with me. In theatre, acting, dance, events, anything. We’re here, this is the scenic design, what is the initial color that you go to emotionally? That’s something that I want to keep practicing and keep putting out.
I also think about - if it’s music, how hyped should we feel right now? Are we at a 12 or are we at a 3? It’s amazing what we can do, and it’s amazing how you have to switch your brain. We’re not audience members. We get to go outside and interpret the sunlight in an emotional way, compared to somebody who’s like, “It’s sunny outside, I can go for a walk.” But we see things, things aren’t what they are to a normal person. Like a streetlamp - you walk down the street in the middle of the night and you’re like, “Wow, this street gives me spooky vibes or country vibes.” How would you interpret that in what you do?
Amy: I love that! What a cool way to see the world.
Hayley: The light affects everything, I hadn’t thought about that.
Amina: And how you interpret it. We're all nerds. Welcome to the lifestyle!
Thoughts on Womanhood and Identity
Hayley: Amina, how does womanhood fit into your identity?
Amina: I’m 4’11”, I’m petite, I’m a Black woman, and I’m skinny. So those are all factors in a male-dominated industry. I didn't realize it until I walked in to do a show. I had a great experience, loved the directors, the production team, the creative team. The crew were all male and two women. And Natasha told me before I walked into the situation, “Union crews are different in every state.” Sometimes you’ll go to a state, and they look at you as soon as you walk in the room like, “Where’d you come from? Why did they hire you?”
I got that as soon as I walked in, but I remembered what she said. And I was like, this can go one of two ways. I can either go cry in the bathroom, or I can suck it up and try to make the best of it. And know that they’re gonna react in a certain way, but I have to perceive it in a certain way. So there was a lot of grunt-y huff-y puff-y going around just to do a thing. But I made it fun as best as I could. You can’t get mad at me because I’m not mad at you. But the fact that I had to do all that psychological work in order to get a light hung…I was pretty exhausted by the end of it. But if I didn’t have somebody tell me that before I walked in, I would have cried in the bathroom.
Hayley: It’s such a good reminder to get from your mentors, that “Oh, it’s not me, it’s actually them.”
Amy: And it’s amazing that you were able to manage your feelings in that situation. That’s hard.
Amina: Thank you. I was still able to make it a creative experience and a learning experience for myself. There were ideas that didn’t work, and there were ideas that I had to lean into because they didn’t work. I know how taxing all the lighting jobs can be. So when I walk into a design role, I’m aware of that. And I don’t want somebody to feel tired or not want to do something for me. Because it takes a team.
Being smaller is also a thing that not a lot of people talk about. Men are weird. A lot of situations that I walk into, mostly Black males do the whole “childlike” thing. “What are you doing here? Who hired a child?” And I’m like: Bro, I know a lot more things than you. Not to toot my own horn, but I boost myself up in my head because I know that reaction is coming.
And I’m blessed to have my Black male friends understand that that’s a thing. So when I’m working with them, they’re already eyeing the situation, and I’m like, “You caught that?” And they’re like, “Yup, we caught it.” So if I need to go throw this floor plate on the ground to get some aggression out, they’re like, “You got it, Amina - throw that floor plate!” I have some very good friends that I can go to and say, “Why are they doing this??” Some men are just like that. But it’s not okay! There’s a balance. And it’s teaching me a lot about myself.
Hayley: As a gal who cries in the bathroom from time to time, all the respect. And you highlighted something important, which is that allyship can help make it easier.
Amina: I’m sorry if you guys have to go through that too, but this is why platforms like this are important.
Amy: Exactly, we all go through it, right?
Hayley: We’re in a very male-dominated and very white male-dominated industry.
Amina: It’s changing slowly. But it’s changing. And it’s nice to walk into the room and catch the eye of another woman, another Black woman, and it’s like, “I see you.”
There was one event I was working on, I was heading up all the lighting things. The show started, and the whole three blocks lost power. All the sound and video died. Including the elevator, and all of the stuff was stored in the basement. So I said to my male coworkers, “I’ve got some bad news, guys.” And they were like, “We don’t want to hear it.” So I walked away. Then they were like, “Amina, where are all the cases?” And I said, “I was coming to tell you that we lost power to the elevator and all the cases are downstairs. You said you didn’t care and you didn’t want to hear me. So I walked away.” And they were like, “Oh, okay, let’s send a team to go get it.” We could have solved this 20 minutes ago! But I’m not stressing, ‘cause you said you didn’t want to hear me. Situations like this, I’ve learned not to take it on. ‘Cause it’s not my fault.
Hayley: That’s a really important lesson.
Amy: Yes! When to take ownership and when not to. Amina, can you talk about how you see your gender and identity as benefiting your work?
Amina: Yes. Collaboration is a big thing. Women collaborate so much better than men do. I’ve sat in rooms with both men and women as an assistant. Watching how women can just be like, “I feel this thing. I hear what you’re saying. But let’s see if we can find a middle ground.”
As a lighting designer, I love to present options. Like, “Here’s A, B, and C. How are you feeling about this?” Being able to have that conversation is a big thing. It’s nice to be able to say, “This is how I’m feeling, but things are subject to change.” And being open to that change. Some men just get closed off and are like, “You don’t like it. Well, I’m gonna change it with an attitude.” Well, no. Let’s not do that. Because everyone interprets things differently. It’s about finding the best option. We’re gonna play tag until one of us is It.
Amy: That’s a great way to put it!
Amina: That doesn’t mean that our ideas are invalid. It just means that this one best fits the situation. Don’t get upset about it.
Amy: Right, it’s not about you, it’s about the collaboration.
Amina: It’s about the whole thing.
Hayley: Best idea wins.
Amina: Right. You know, we have 90 minutes or we have two and a half hours to fit all of our ideas into this “thing.” Not everyone is gonna have the best idea all the time, but you’ll have something in that” thing.” Women just collaborate better. It’s the bigger picture. We’re maternal people, and it’s about the greater good of this thing we’re creating. And just the lack of ego that women have. I’ve been in situations where men just wave their egos in my face, and it’s like whoa. I’m not here for that. It’s not a contest.
At the end of the day, we’re all trying to create something, have it be interpreted by people, and go home and be well rested. I’m not gonna sit here and fight with you over something that’s gonna make me lose sleep. It’s 11:00, we’re trying to get out of here. Get it together!
How to Improve the Theatre Industry
Amy: Amina, what changes would you like to see in the theatre industry?
Amina: Ooh! I think if we all just remove our egos.
Hayley: That’s a good one.
Amina: Let people create what they want to create. You either like it or you don’t, but the fact that they have had a space to have their work accepted and worked on in a professional way is what matters. If someone was like, “I’ve got this bright idea. Let’s throw dogs onstage.” And we hire the best sound designer, the best lighting designer, the best scenic designer. This person’s dream has come true. This is her show, somebody in the world loves it, and she can now tell her grandkids, “I did a thing, and here are the production photos.” If she doesn’t do anything else in the world after that, she had this one thing that had the full support of everybody. If we just keep doing that and remove our egos from situations, things would be a lot better.
Thoughts on Work/Life Balance and Lessons Learned
Hayley: Amina, how do you balance your creative work with the rest of your life?
Amina: I don’t. I got out of grad school in May 2021, and this year I have been a part of big shows. It surprised me. Never would I have told myself that I would have seen a Broadway tech rehearsal. That alone was more than enough. But then Grammys, Tonys, off-Broadway, huge Paris fashion shows, huge New York fashion shows - like what?? It’s finding the time - which I haven’t done yet - to sit back and be like “Girl. What did you just do? And where do you go?”
But in my daily life, it’s finding the joy in a moment. If somebody cracks a joke and I’ve gotta laugh hard to feel some joy, I’m laughing hard. Cheek to cheek. I tell my mom this all the time, she’s like, “You spend too much money, you have food at home.” And I’m like, “If I gotta buy an iced coffee from Dunkin to find some joy in my day, I’m doing that exact thing.” I don’t care how much money it is. I have to, or else every day would just be work and stress. And all the societal things. The world sucks - I’m buying an iced coffee.
Finding joy in a tech rehearsal is a big thing. I remember during Suffs at the Public with Natasha, she lost her Apple Pencil. We were sitting there, she got up, she didn’t know where it went. She lost it for a whole day. We checked everywhere - in the vents, under the chairs, everywhere. An Apple Pencil is like $120, you don’t want to lose that. So we get back to our preview station, and she’s like “Let me look.” And she reaches in her bag and pulls out the Apple Pencil. I swear, I lost it for a good five minutes. I could not stop laughing. We were so stressed about this thing. And here it is. It was so funny. She was like, “I’ve never seen you laugh that hard.” It’s moments like this that bring me so much joy.
The big way I find balance is by finding joy. It’s mostly food, it’s mostly “I need an acai bowl” or “I’m feeling stressed in this moment, I’m eating cake.” It’s little things like that. There’s no real answer, just bits and pieces. And schedule in a day off.
Amy: I’m working on that right now, it’s really hard.
Amina: It’s hard. But the same way we can schedule work and block off shows, we gotta schedule time off. Even if you don’t stay home and sleep, just do something that you wanna do outside of work.
Hayley: I’ve started doing “no-write days,” because I just get obsessed with my writing. And I’ll block them out a month in advance, it’s like “This is a day off.”
Amina: Yeah, you just go sit outside and drink orange juice, something like that.
Hayley: Exactly. Go for a walk. Amina, what is something you wish you had known when you first started your career?
Amina: I don’t think I would change anything. I honestly think your path is your path, your timing is different from everybody else’s. I hung my first light when I was 19 years old, I’m 29 now. So it’s been all these years, and I’m now getting my foot in doors. Which is fine, I guess I needed those 10 years to figure out, “Is this something that I really want to do?” And I’m discovering myself, my personal life, my career, I’m discovering what it’s like to network and meet people and have genuine relationships with the people that you work with. That has set me up for the confidence that I have now when I walk in a room. So I wouldn’t change anything.
Final Thoughts
Amy: What are you most proud of in your life and your career?
Amina: In my career, I’m most proud of being genuine to the people that I work with. That goes way further than how good your work is. You show up, and you just be a good spirit in a stressed room. People see that. You contribute to the energy in the room.
I was at an R&B throwback party at Chelsea Music Hall called Brown Sugar Bounce. It was all these beautiful Black people in a room just vibing, and I was with my best friend. I saw another friend of mine, and he was like “You’re not dancing?” And I said, “Honestly, I’m here to witness what’s going on. I just want to take this all in and watch everybody do the thing.” And he was like, “As long as you feel comfortable and you’re having a good time, that’s the energy that gets picked up by everybody else. It’s a whole collective, that’s what it means to contribute to the collective.” And I was like, Life lesson! Thank you! So I take that with me.
And then personally - I’m an aunt, I have two nieces and five nephews. My youngest niece is 6 years old, and my huge thing for her is that she’s able to have things that I didn’t have, like access to the arts and being able to try things and to be as emotional as she wants to be. I also have a twin sister, and my niece was born two days after us. So whenever it’s our birthday, it’s her “celebration day.” That’s what she calls it. This past year, we took her to see Hamilton ‘cause we got her obsessed with the Hamilton album. She’s been singing it since she was 2 years old, word-for-word, in the mirror, all the hand gestures, all the things. So we took her to see Hamilton for her “celebration day,” and she loved it.
We take her to R&B concerts, we take her to festivals - she shouldn’t be there because she’s probably too young.. But I feel like it’s important for her to see these things. So 1) she can go tell her friends how cool we are, and 2) to have the life experience that some of us wait way too long to get. The other day, there was a kid in her school bullying her, and they called her ugly, and I freaked out, I told her, “I’m coming to Pennsylvania. I’m on the train right now.” She was like, “It’s okay Amina, calm down.” And I’m like “NO! ‘Cause no one’s gonna undo the work that we already did. We spent so much time calling you beautiful and making you look in the mirror.” It’s a lot of work to affirm a child, a girl child. Little boys just feel like they can say something, and that’s a lot of undoing. They don’t understand that.
You tell a little boy one thing and their egos step in and they want to fight and call you names. As an aunt, I’m not having that. I’m very passionate about it, because you’re not gonna undo the work that I’ve done. I got all emotional. That’s my duty, to give her all the things I never had.
Hayley: Amina, is there anything else you want to share?
Amina: Just keep being a good person every day. As women, we beat ourselves up for not completing all the tasks we wanted to do in a day. And it has to stop. We wake up the next day, we have the opportunity to try again. And even if you don’t do it that day, be super gentle on yourself and change your narrative of how you talk to yourself. At the end of the day, when everybody goes to bed and you’re sitting up, what does that voice sound like? Be gentle with yourself, talk gently with yourself, try again the next day. Get some iced coffee. Everything’s gonna be okay. And if it’s not okay now, it will be okay.
Hayley: Thank you so much, Amina, for giving us your time and your energy.
Amina: Thank you. I love that you are giving people a platform to tell their stories. I’m here for it.
Amy: Thank you! It makes us happy, this project brings us joy.
