My name is Carlton V. Bell II “cj” (they/them) I am a Black / southern / queer artist & cultural organizer. My craft utilizes theatre and film to investigate, fabulate, and document the Black queer experience / aesthetic. Through my leadership roles as a cultural organizer, I have raised over 2.5 million dollars for artists and arts organizations led by and serving people living within the margins of the margins. As an artist I am motived and committed to authentic representation and transformative storytelling for both stage and screen. I believe that we must utilize art / culture as vehicle for liberation strategies that empower and reinvigorate communities.
As a trained intimacy choreographer, director, and producer in both theatre and film; my practice utilizes storytelling approaches that prioritize collaboration and consent based practices. Named Al.com’s entertainer of the year in 2019, some of my other past important accolades include being a Finalist for the Barbara Whitman Award for the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society in 2023, Winner of the Southeastern Theatre Conference’s Sara Spencer Award for Child Drama, and Side Walk Film Festival’s Black Lens Filmmaker Award Winner in 2023.
Creating for the stage or screen is, to me, a practice in liberation and social change. I approach storytelling through three guiding principles: Investigate, Fabulate, and Document;
Investigate by uncovering the cultural specificity of language and context; as the descendant of enslaved people it’s important to highlight rich locality of characters by understanding their rituals, relationships, and restrictions.
Fabulate allows me to blend reality with extraordinary circumstances, drawing on symbols from African and African American spiritual cosmologies to reveal emotional truths.
Document centers on preserving our stories, reclaiming Black queer narratives, and honoring legacy—a continuous act of “Sankofa,” or going back to retrieve what’s been lost.”
