Growing up in the rural community of Beckford Kraal, Clarendon, Joan McKenzie recognised her passion for acting from a tender age.

As a sixth-grade student, Joan would always find ways to mimic persons around her which soon caught the attention of her sixth-grade teacher who encouraged her to explore a profession in acting.

“From a tender age I was always mimicking persons around me and then my teacher in grade six saw this in me and she told me that ‘Hey, I think this is your passion’. But growing up I only knew about teachers, lawyers and doctors. I didn’t know about acting and theatre back then. She later told me about Edna Manley College and then I started to do my research from there,” said McKenzie.

The 24-year-old actress and educator noted that her passion for acting grew when she joined the theatre arts department at Edwin Allen High School.

“In high school my drama teacher worked hard with me. She would always call me to perform at devotion and other school events. I did my first production in grade 10, which was for a school trip. The production was a great experience for me because I was the one who wrote and directed it. From there I said I’m going to have a production for myself,” she said.

After completing high school, Joan set her eyes on a career in the theatre industry, but it was not without challenges.

“I’m coming from an environment where drama is seen as just a hobby, that’s just something you do after school to laugh. When I told persons that I wanted to go to Edna Manley College, they would say that you’re going to college to give jokes,” said McKenzie.

She told Our Today that her greatest motivation was her mother, who encouraged her to pursue her passion.

“Mommy was always there to say, ‘Hey, you can do this’. She was my biggest motivator and that is why persons started to gravitate towards me because of my mom’s story. My mom’s name was Hope, and my mantra is now ‘never lose hope’, because I lost her physically, but her words still motivate me,” she said.

After losing her mother to a heart condition in the third year of her bachelor’s degree at the Edna Manley College, Joan noted that her grief propelled her to start her production, Joan_Kenzie Productions in 2019.

“In my second year of my bachelor’s degree, I lost my mom, so I took out this grief and pain into writing. I took out every grieving into me starting back a production,” she said.

From acting in her community church group to the big screen in the Jamaican film, Granny Worries, Joan noted that it has always been a passion to start her production.

“What excites me most about theatre is the feeling I get when the audience responds to a play. Most times I will receive messages that ‘you’re my role model’, ‘I really like your story’ and ‘your story is touching’. It warms my heart to know that people appreciate what I do,” she noted.

As an upcoming actress, Joan noted that her venture in the theatre industry has its challenges.

She expressed that: “It has been difficult financially to get sponsors. I have to fund all of my productions myself. It is challenging for young people to receive sponsorship because most times people don’t take young people seriously.”

While it has been financially challenging for the actress, she explained that she has gained valuable experience working with popular Jamaican actors such as Oliver Samuels and Everaldo Creary.

“This year has been a good year because I got to work with veterans in the industry like Oliver Samuels so that was really a great experience. I can definitely say that I am making progress,” she said.

She further noted that she aims to have her theatre and drama school to educate and train young thespians.

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