Jasmine Thomas
@jasmine.g.thomas on the patio furniture she moved to the shade so we wouldn’t bake.
-Theatre-
Jasmine has always been a ray of sunshine and I was so happy to see that, as I met up with her on her back patio, that hasn’t changed. Covid won’t dim her smile or her sense of humor, and talking with her almost felt like we were hanging out in more peaceful times.
Then I would catch a glimpse of my reflection in her sliding glass door. I still have my mask on. And the world is in turmoil.
So not quite the same.
Interviewed 7.10.20
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Casey: So first and foremost, how are you doing?
Jasmine: I am okay. I feel like I'm better now then I was towards the beginning of quarantine. I think it was because I needed to just get out of Atlanta, and my sister moving in the middle of a pandemic allowed me to do that. Otherwise, I wouldn't be going anywhere. Just because I think I was really bummed with—I was trying to dedicate this year to take off from theatre and do more TV and film. So literally, pilot season and everything was happening, I was getting these great auditions, and then [that was] just done, you know? So that was a little frustrating and sad for me. But I was able to continue teaching online and figure out new creative ways—just online—to do all those things.
Casey: So has it been more up days or down days, do you think?
Jasmine: I would say I'm more on the upswing right now, but definitely probably the first month, month and a half, way more down days then up days.
Casey: What do you think is causing you to get back to a normal emotional state?
Jasmine: I think time. I don't know what it was about just getting out of Atlanta. I think I was just tired of a lot of things here and this was also during the time of when the town halls were going on. I was with my sister in New York and just with everything going on besides the pandemic, it just kind of sparked a new fire in me. Not just career-wise, but just like personally. Because with all the Black Lives Matter protests—I never thought that I would go to a protest, but after going to one, I was like, this is actually really empowering for myself and other people around me. I think it also gave me the courage to speak up more and not be so like, "I don't know, like I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings, or I don't want to speak out of turn." And now it's not like I don't care about that, but I'm just like, life is short. If there's something going on that I feel I need to speak up on, I should be able to do that. People's voices shouldn't be stifled.
Casey: So we talked about how you're working, you are still doing your job. What else have you been doing during quarantine? What else do you fill your days with?
Jasmine: It definitely took me a while to be like, "Hmmm...what do I want to do when I'm not working?" Because honestly, for the past two years I feel like I've put aside my hobbies because doing a day job and then performing at night and then on weekends, you just feel like you don't have time to do the stuff that you enjoy because it's like—I want to rest . . . I actually started hiking a lot more because I really enjoy hiking, just finding trails around here. And then the last one I went to that was a little bit further—just like out of Atlanta—was in north Georgia like 30 minutes out from Dahlonega. So that trail was really cool. Been playing the ukulele, which has been nice. I like journaling. I didn't do it every day before quarantine, but I've kind of gotten into a routine of journaling a little bit more, trying to spend less time on social media. I'm still on it, but I will delete the apps from my phone every couple of days and stuff like that just to like cleanse because my screen time has gone up a lot during this time.
Casey: I know we miss theatre, but is there anything that kinda surprised you that you miss?
Jasmine: Hanging out with people. It's so simple, but it seems like a luxury at this point. You know, like just missing people's birthdays. I love celebrating birthdays for some reason—just everyone's birthday. So having people's birthdays pass and not being able to do anything, or just being on Zoom, you know, it's different. My love language is quality time, so just being with someone is really just important to me.
Casey: I know that your day job is in arts administration, but are you creating anything right now?
Jasmine: I feel like I haven't been creating self projects, if that makes sense. I've been really interested in developing curriculum for youth acting classes and programming, and things like that. I did all the virtual curriculum for a certain camp for all summer, and writing scripts for that, which has been a nice outlet. I don't normally like writing, but if it's for, you know, eight and nine year olds it's actually really fun because it's so silly. Occasionally I'll have the energy to be like, "Yeah, I'll be a part of this Zoom performance or this reading that somebody wants to do." I think me being able to pick up the ukulele a little bit more has actually been a lot of fun. I don't write my own songs or anything, but just playing covers has been a good and different outlet for me.
Casey: Covid has been hard then we add Black Lives Matter protests, but also other unrest to that. How has that changed your quarantine experience? Has it changed your quarantine experience?
Jasmine: It has. I've had some hard conversations with people that I've known for a very long time. And some of those hard conversations have been good. There have been bad. I feel like I've lost some friends. I've gained some friends. I've reconnected with some friends. Lost respect for some people, gained respect for some people. So I think in that sense, it's changed my quarantine experience because I'm the type of person where I do like to keep in touch with people, so I wasn't worried about that during quarantine. But I think with just everything going on like—I don't know. It's so weird because the way that people talk about Black Lives Matter and the protests and stuff is like it just started, when it's been around. It's just started for some of you guys, I guess, but I don't know. I just have not been super scared to speak up. I think the only thing that's changed during quarantine with all of that is how I view relationships, and not everyone has to be my friend. I just know it's okay to be picky with the people that are in your life.
Casey: What do you think you'll take out of this time?
Jasmine: I feel like there's just so much that has happened. I think number one is that being stuck—it sounds weird because in the grand scheme of things I'm in my apartment—but I felt like I was stuck in Atlanta because around the end of the year I wanted to move somewhere that's outside of Atlanta … I grew up here, but I'm just ready to go. So I think that's one thing that I'll remember and probably something that I think about every day since quarantine started. I think what I was saying before about just standing up for myself more. I think those are probably the two main things.
Casey: What will you tell future generations about this?
Jasmine: Pay attention to your mental health. I feel like for the most part, I was pretty in tune with my mental health, but just being alone, being inside, not seeing the people that you normally see can take a toll on your mental health—physically, emotionally, everything. And it affects people in different ways. I hope it's inspired people to not put this weird taboo on mental health either, and that it's okay to talk about it, of course, with people you trust.
