Today we’d like to introduce you to Brian Jenkins.
Hi Brian, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
the wulfeater started nearly ten years ago when my wife Danisha Jenkins and I were playing in our band Black Jet Radio. We had recorded an album that ultimately served as the foundation for this interactive musical theater experience. Many of those ideas and demo recordings materialized into songs in the wulfeater. Also during that time, Danisha and I participated in the Occupy movement and these early political experience helped to shape the philosophy of our storytelling in the show. At the time, we were living in the Midwest in a community that was deeply suffering from the fallout of the American auto manufacturing industry. I vividly recall the anger and vitriol we faced from fellow community members at the prospect of challenging the American economic system. I was utterly shocked at how quickly people defended the very systems of power responsible for their own suffering. This observation led to a foundational plot point within the wulfeater and the question of how far we as a society will go to keep the lights on no matter who it hurts.
Fast forward a decade, Danisha began performing in local community theater here in San Diego where we met our collaborator Julia Roskopf. Julia and Danisha had recently performed in Sweeney Todd together, and outside of theater, Julia performs her own music under the moniker Lillen Wade. We wanted to include Julia because she brought a different tone and musicality to the wulfeater. Where my writing is a bit heavy and dark, we thought Julia’s training as a pianist and her own blend of electronic and etherial would compliment the works we had already started on.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Danisha and I have been working on this story for over a decade. Much of that time has been spent pursuing graduate degrees; Danisha earned her PhD in 2021 and I am in the process of completing my MA. Danisha’s scholarship focuses on the institutional power and control while my pursuits focus more on the social construction of identity. We merged these two academic interests into the theory and philosophy that’s foundational to the wulfeater. Pursuing these degrees while raising our three children and balancing full time jobs was most certainly the biggest struggle along the way. It’s been an exhausting decade filled with sleepless nights and countless weeks where I wasn’t sure we were going to get there. Danisha, however, is the most perseverant person I have ever met and I often relied on her to tell us we could do this when the work load felt insurmountable. When I would contemplate putting something on the back burner or taking a pause, she would tell me, “the time’s going to pass no matter what.” While we both arguably have an unhealthy relationship with productivity, she was right and it was that mantra that’s kept the gears turning all this time.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I mentioned previously that my background is in documentary film. My first feature film, Answering the Call – the American Struggle for the Right to Vote (2016), starred the late Congressman John Lewis and told the story of my uncle John Witeck’s participation in the voting rights struggle in Selma, Alabama. That experience led me to think more broadly about power, hierarchy, and injustice. My most current film, But I’m an Aztec, is set to premiere in late 2025 and explores the history and debate surrounding the Aztec warrior mascot at San Diego State University. This film was produced as part of my master’s thesis at San Diego State in Gender and Sexuality Studies.
In addition to my film work, I am also graduating in May from San Diego State with my single subject teaching credential in Social Science. In her book Feminism is for Everybody, bell hooks called upon scholars to take the feminist scholarship and pedagogies of the university and introduce them to all other aspects of society. My experiences in film and exposure to queer and feminist studies at San Diego State has inspired me to take what I’ve learned and apply it as a history teacher in the public school classroom and also my film and theater work.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
I am definitely not in the position to handout loads of advice on writing a musical as the wulfeater is my first attempt at this! But I would say that from the perspective of an audience member who likes to see lots of shows, I would tell someone just starting out to never lose focus on the story. Most shows fall short because the care and intention to the story was an afterthought. Too often, I leave a show wondering how much of its contents were the product of a first draft. I also think musical theater suffers from an industrial complex where the majority of what we get to see is pumped out on a factory assembly line resulting in an overabundance of stories that lack depth and soul. In my opinion, Hadestown is an excellent example of a show that breaks this mold. Regardless of my own critiques, when you watch that show, you can’t help but feel the care and love behind its creation by Anaïs Mitchell. This leads to my last piece of advice: write the story or the show that you desperately want to see.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thewulfeater.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thewulfeater
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61560874403561
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE4i-vETYwb2Dul8DUAX9_Q
Image Credits
Photographs by: Sarah Dinse, Julian Jaime, and Brian Jenkins
