Echoes of Serenity: The Art of Funerals
Jayla Ebanks
Jayla Ebanks (she/her) is a Senior at NYU Tisch majoring in Performance Studies with a double minor in Producing and Business of Entertainment Media & Technology. She is currently working as a Videography Assistant with NYU GPH. She previously worked as a Client Services Intern for Black Theatre United’s Broadway Advertising and Marketing Internship Program, Digital Content Intern for The Broadway League, and a Publishing Marketing Intern for Concord Music Publishing. She also worked as a Production Assistant for The Real Housewives of Potomac Reunion 8. She continues to work as a Producer and Videographer on films, music videos, and other projects. Jayla also serves as a Graphic Designer for The Collective and is a member of the MLK Scholar Program and Tisch Dean's Scholar Program, proving her work is dedicated to inclusivity, diversity, and equity within the industry.
Project Description:
The assignment was an anthology essay of 2,000+ words that contributed to our class anthology “Everyday at NYU” that did the following: 1) Considers some ‘everyday’ aspect of NYU Student life (N-number, tapping ID, taking notes, signage, eating in the cafeteria, etc. 2) Uses two texts from the syllabus and two from independent research. Although this is not relatable to all NYU students, it would resonate with students who have had significant losses that would affect their everyday lives at NYU. Experiencing these difficult losses, inspired me to choose this topic for my essay.
Faculty Response by Jayel Gant:
In this course we considered, read, and talked through the ways that performance appears in everyday life; from the clothes we wear to the ways we choose to walk, eat, and sit. This assignment is the culmination of a semester-long workshopping process with me (the professor) and peers in the class. Midway through the season, students chose ideas that inspired them to write through quotidian encounters they faced as students and we developed them to be published in a collective anthology at the end of the year.