Reflections Ep. 18

Kennedy Engasser always had a dream as a kid of being an actor on tv. She’s always been intrigued with the performance arts. She remembers being a writer for as long as she can remember. She wrote poems in the fifth grade and watched poetry videos as a kid. Her high school didn’t have a poetry club though, so she joined her local poetry collective. She made it to the team for “Brave New Voices” as the youngest member of the Florida slam team. Later she was named the “Best Spoken Word Artist in Tampa” on Youth Speaks.

Kennedy has always had a very clear vision for her life and her ambition is palpable. She is an actor, poet, songwriter, and digital artist. She has a fearlessness and boldness that leads to a healthy optimism and innocence which encourages the teams she is a part of. 

But with a healthy dose of ambition always comes a need to slow down and enjoy the process. Kennedy says she wants to enjoy each of the little moments that are a part of her future endeavors, instead of striving to get to the outcome so soon. 

Kennedy wrote and directed her first one act play her senior year of highschool, and it turned out to be a comedy, which surprised her. It was about three roommates who got the wrong cake delivered to their place. The audience loved it! Up until this point, Kennedy felt like the only way to get people to listen and care, or to win in a poetry competition, was to share her trauma. It seemed like the darker you got, the farther you got in the game, but this play showed her a different way. It expanded her writing in ways she needed. 

When she first started writing the one act play, it was difficult because she didn’t know how to do it, but someone advised her to just just pick a date and go for it.

“Choose a date. That is the date of the show. Then figure it all out”

Sometimes we as artists just need to pick a date and figure it out from there. Deadlines can be incredibly important for artistic projects and practice. They can get us to places where we actually share our work with the world.

In the future Kennedy wants to continue script writing and acting. She would love to write or act in something one day on Broadway, and really, if she gets to make a living with writing, poetry, and acting, from doing what she loves, she will be elated.