Omi Osun Joni L. Jones holds the distinction of being the first Black full professor hired in the communications department of the University of Texas at Austin in 1990. Holding a doctoral degree in educational theatre, she created a 1993 performance titled sista docta to reflect on her experiences in that singular role and challenges faced by other “Blackademics.”
Now, Jones returns after retiring from her 30-year academic career with a new performance titled sista docta/REBIRTH, less to reflect on her three decades as a professor in favor of examining — out loud with an audience as witnesses — where she’s at and what comes next.
“My job,” Jones said of the upcoming performance Friday evening at the Buena Vista Theater, “will be to be as present as possible to what is truly going on right now.”
That includes leaving behind her academic identity, embracing the uncertainty and changes of the aging process, and “being retired, the absence of regular work and regular anything” leaving her not knowing what each day will bring.
Still, Jones said such uncertainty is a kind of freedom. “It’s exciting and confusing, and it’s nice to be in the confusion and not feel like I’ve got to land at some definitive point,” she said.
Lately her mind is as occupied by memories of the past as it is by imaginings of her potential future, but her aging body keeps reminding her of the present. Dabbling in quantum physics has shown her that past, present and future might coexist in ways we don’t normally comprehend.
“In my view of time,” Jones said, “what we think of as future is now, what we think of as past is now. It’s all exactly right here.”
Leaving the constraints of academia behind has freed her to explore subjects far beyond her normal areas of expertise.
“I feel free to do so because I am now not constrained by a discipline, or any other expectations,” Jones said.
Frank body talk
And some days, Jones doesn’t know what to expect from her 68-year-old body, experiences she is more than willing to share with audiences.
“I am going to talk about dry vaginas, I am going to talk about sagging breasts, I’m going to talk about some of the things that people don’t often talk about, and they are so intimately linked with aging and with a woman’s aging body,” she said. But with the frank talk comes hints on how to deal with such infirmities.
“There are women out there who don’t know that if they just use some coconut oil as a daily part of their grooming regimen … it will simply bring comfort, ease, less tenderness and scratchiness,” Jones said.
As past performances show, Jones uses her body to focus the flow of her performances, speaking not only with voice but with movement to an accompanying drummer. Being open about how life slows as age increases will only help foster understanding of what people face as they move past middle age.
“We really don’t talk about aging,” she said. “A mind that is slower, a body that is slower. What’s required of the body as it ages? There seems to be all of this enthusiasm when older people seem so young — well, okay — but they can also seem old and be just as important, vibrant.”
Most importantly, Jones said, neither she nor her audience will know exactly what to expect during sista docta/REBIRTH. “I don’t want to set up for myself an expectation that relies on an external response. That has been the trap of the academy,” she said, asking that whoever attends be open to exploring with her in the moment. “It [will have] that kind of ‘evolving in front of you’ feeling.”
Against erasure
UTSA’s Democratizing Racial Justice project is sponsoring Jones’s visit, thanks in part to a $5 million gift from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Events Coordinator Gabriella Sanchez said it’s important to offer a stage to Jones, “a mother, a Black queer wife, and a curious sojourner,” particularly in light of recent efforts to curb diversity, equity and inclusion programs in Texas schools.
“Jones embodies a direct challenge and testimony,” Sanchez said. “Her performance promises a powerful testimony to resilience and self-love despite systems designed to harm and silence.”
The performance, 7 p.m. Friday at the UTSA Buena Vista Theater downtown, is free, but reservations are requested.
