Cori Thomas possesses a remarkable capacity to channel the intimate essence of unlikely characters and place them in extraordinary circumstances.

Ms. Thomas is a New York based actor, playwright, and currently a New Dramatist Resident. In 2013, she founded Pa’s Hat Foundation, which focuses on educating former child soldiers in Liberia. Thomas embraces her multicultural roots in her work, constantly seeking to represent the diversity she sees and experiences in the world. Born to a Brazilian mother and a Liberian diplomat, Thomas spent her childhood in seven different countries before returning to the U.S. for schooling. Ms. Thomas’ work embodies a constant willingness to learn and grow. Her stories invite the transcendence of stereotype in the bold pursuit of what one might call The American Dream.

Ms. Thomas has been commissioned to write a play to launch CST’s new Catalyst Collaborative@MIT program, Untold Stories: Catalyst 2042. The commission will focus on a scientist of color, woman scientist or emerging young scientist, and will be featured in CST’s 2017-18 season:

“What I’m finding particularly interesting is seeing how passionate scientists are about what they do. And how similar science is to art. I think most art comes from a question, or something that bothers you, or something that you want to solve within you and express outwardly. And that’s what a scientist is doing. So I think that I’ve come to see that scientists are artists, it’s just a different realm…”

Tell me about what inspired you to write When January Feels Like Summer.

It was an incident that happened. I was on the subway and I was sitting across from two young men. And they were speaking very, very disrespectfully about a young woman they knew who had bad teeth. And they were using bad language and foul words, they were being extremely offensive — I was offended. And so I reached into my pocket to put my iPod earphones in to just block them out because I didn’t want to listen to it, and I discovered I didn’t have the iPod with me.

So I was forced to listen to them and the most amazing thing happened. As I listened to them I started to realize a few different things. One- that this was an actual friend of theirs, they were concerned about her; also that they were really not saying anything bad even though they were using bad words to say those things. And so something about that experience just changed me. I realized we walk through the streets and we see people and we make immediate judgements about them based on different things. What they look like, their race, how they speak, all sorts of things, even though we don’t really know who they are, and because we decide these things we don’t give them a chance and want to dismiss them.

So, I think I wanted the play to reflect that somehow in as many ways as is possible. It doesn’t bother me if you’re somewhat offended by the characters in the beginning, because it’s my hope that because you paid for a ticket you’re gonna be forced to spend time with them and get to know them and hopefully see past the first image that you see and misgivings you had. I hope mostly you will realize my intention is to not offend but to illuminate and unearth stereotypes, judgements, and misgivings.

That theme really resonates with the Hindu deity, Ganesha, the remover of obstacles. Can you speak a bit about how Ganesha came to be a significant element in the play?

It’s a long story that would give away the ending, but let’s just say, I was not happy about the direction the play was taking. (I never plan my plays and plots so am as surprised as you when events take place.) I was dreading what was about to happen and just happened to have a Ganesha statuette on my desk but had never really investigated what it even stood for. So in the interest of procrastination, I Googled Ganesha and lo and behold found out what he stood for and how to save the unfortunate ending I was anticipating.

You have an amazing way of creating such diversity in your plays, especially in your representation of occupations we rarely see on stage. Can you speak a bit about how two Burger King employees, bodega owners, and a sanitation worker came into being in this piece?

A NY Sanitation Department position is a highly sought after union job with great benefits, same as being a cop or working for the Fire Dept. Why did I choose this job for Joe? I read an article in NY Magazine and was so impressed by what the job entailed. It had never occurred me to think about the people who pick up our garbage. The Sanitation worker is part body builder and part scientist. People who hold the positions take great pride in building up to the ability to lift quite a bit of weight; knowing how to dispose of things, etc. And they have an incredibly intimate relationship with their “house to house” route. The booty found on the streets is great too. In certain neighborhoods in NYC you find amazing things on the street. I am the proud owner of a lamp and 2 stools found on the Upper West Side. The NY Department of Sanitation positions are sometimes inherited and passed down from one generation to the next: somewhat like a rent controlled apartment. A job with the NY Department of Sanitation is a position of honor and brotherhood for its employees. When a position becomes available, the competition is fierce. Only fairly recently, perhaps 1960’s and beyond that – after Affirmative Action was instituted – is when you began to see a more significant number of people of color doing the job. In Liberia after the war I remember walking down a street and walking block after block looking for a garbage can and finding none. Why? There was no Department of Sanitation in effect. Garbage was burned in the street. That too gave me something to think about.

Similarly, a job at a fast food restaurant is considered an honest job in the food service industry. It does not require a degree but one must be honest and able to provide customer service. It is part food service and part retail. And there’s lots of free food. The food most teenagers enjoy eating. Why did I choose it as a job for Devaun and Jeron? My own brother’s first job was at a Burger King. My Dad was the Liberian Ambassador to the UN at the time but had been stationed in many countries. He had a Ph.D in Theology. My mom has a law degree. We grew up living around the world and had an embarrassingly privileged lifestyle but my father was proud that his son was earning his own pocket money and was learning what it was to be responsible and what it was to have to serve others. We all marveled that he also had mop duty occasionally. A mop was never brandished by him at our house. At our house before the coup d’etat in 1980 we had servants who could have done anything for us, yet my Dad insisted we make our beds every morning and learn to cook. It was important to me these two young men in the play held honest if low paying jobs like my own brother did rather than selling drugs or leading lives of crime. My brother and his best friend graduated from college and went on to form a rap band The Future Sound. Their album was released by Atlantic East West in the 90’s. It was called The Whole Shebang Volume 1. Those familiar with rap culture know it was the first job Damon Dash ever produced.

In NYC the bodegas are primarily owned and run by immigrants of Indian, Arab and Hispanic descent. Why did I want Nirmala and Ishan/Indira to be Indian? I spent a summer living with an Indian family. Hearing their accent and eating their food and learning their culture. I also have many many talented Indian actor and actress friends, I loved writing them juicy roles to play.

The subway and New York itself play a large role in the intersection of these characters’ lives. Can you talk a bit about how the city — your home — influences your writing.

In the same way my life and multi-cultural family history informs my writing, so too does the city I live in. On a metaphorical level, the subway is a beautiful way to signify movement and travel, physical and spiritual.

So you’ve had the opportunity to see When January produced a few times now, what are some things you’ve learned from other productions?

Each production has emphasized a different aspect of the play and had a different tone. Some have focused on the humor and others the pathos and seriousness under the humor.  It’s interesting to see the way the audience reacts. Mostly, the reaction is the same if the audience has gone on the proper journey which is being open and allowing the play to take you on its journey with as little judgement as possible. I wrote this play challenging my own quickness to judge and dismiss people who offended me, I think and hope and wish for the audience to do the same, whatever the particular judgements.  I am struck by how I’ve gotten the chance over and over to realize I am saying what I am saying in this play for reasons that have not changed and that what I am saying, to me, is still valid.

What feels important to you right now as a playwright and artist?

Speaking my truth with my own voice. Also, trying not to allow outside opinions and voices to influence that while still being sensitive to the world and its changes. I feel like my best writing occurs when I stay out of the play’s way. Much easier said than done.