Meet Cristina A. Bejan | Author & Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Cristina A. Bejan and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Cristina A., why did you pursue a creative career?
I never decided to pursue an artistic and creative career. It just happened! Ever since I can remember holding a pen, I have been scribbling away in notebooks writing poetry and plays. To create has always been my natural impulse, so even throughout school, university, grad school, serious job after serious job, I was always making time and holding space for the creative in my life. But it never felt intentional – this time was just naturally there. If anything, I wrote my spoken word poetry and plays – produced shows in festivals – became a regular at open mics – out of survival. I needed to share space with other creatives in order to survive the siloed capitalist patriarchal “adult” world I was existing in. My creativity for me was like gasping for fresh air while soaked in the misogyny and narrow-mindedness of the conventional day-to-day. More fundamentally, I have always been creative, and I guess that the straight-jacketed professional world failed to stop me. I have always just been me doing my thing. And, finally, I feel free to do so. (I do want to give a shout-out to my mom who took my family to the theatre, dance performances, and art museums so regularly it was like our religion. I am sure that this exposure from birth had an enormous impact on me and gave my artistic spirit some great fundamentals as well as the courage to soar.)

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
2023 has been an amazing year so far. Five of my plays have been published, in addition to launching the Romanian translations of my history and poetry books on my Romania National Book Tour in March. My most recent publication is “FINALLY QUIET: Four Plays from Bucharest to Washington DC,” published by immigrant- and women-led No Passport Press. I am planning on launching that anthology and my other recently published play “Buchenwald” (Colorado’s Next Stage Press) next year at the Drama Bookshop in NYC. Both are in the store’s inventory. Long before I published books, I was a playwright and theatre artist of many dimensions. I went to college to become an actor. It was excelling as a student and branching out into more subjects that set me on the path to graduate school. At that point I knew I wanted a PhD in the Humanities. Winning the Rhodes and subsequently a Fulbright, with additional grants, made that dream possible. All throughout my entire life I was always active in theatre. I started writing and producing plays at age 14. At Oxford I ran a women’s voices theatre company. When I moved to Bucharest to pursue my doctoral research with the support of a Fulbright, I got involved with the local theatre scene. That changed the course of my life as it ultimately led to the realization of the arts & culture platform Bucharest Inside the Beltway, which I currently run in Denver. It was only after I returned to the United States after my PhD that I went to my first open mic in Washington DC. That’s the moment I became a spoken word poet and began presenting my poetry under my stage name Lady Godiva. It is my stage name that sums up my artistic motto: shining a light on the hard truths, fighting for justice, and bringing the unspeakable up for discussion. The legend of Lady Godiva is that she rode naked on a horse through her old English town to protest her husband’s tax exploitation of its residents. I would like to believe my creative work is as fierce and honest as Lady Godiva. I also don’t have an MFA, which sets me apart from the status quo. I received two graduate degrees for free from an excellent university. I am not going into debt or uprooting my life to get yet another degree. I love my life in Colorado too much.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I absolutely love Denver and I would definitely take my best friend to the following places! My new favorite restaurant is definitely Cabrón Carbón – Taquería & Galería. We have a vibrant Eastern European community, and I am a big fan of the discotheque parties thrown by Nick Voronkov. At every one, I feel transported back to my many nights spent dancing in a basement Moldovan nightclub in central Bucharest when I was a graduate student. Of course, I go the theatre a lot and I do not have a favorite – I love all the theatres in town. I will take the opportunity to plug And Toto Too, as it is devoted to women’s and queer playwrights. As a yogi (since 1999) and former yoga teacher, I go to Urban Sanctuary for my yoga fix. And – of course – all authors and poets love Mutiny Information Cafe, and I am no exception. So, with my best friend, we would eat well, dance it off, catch some theatre, relax with yoga, and finally get some coffee and flip through records and old books at an iconic Denver spot.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I just gave a shout-out to my mom in my first answer! She is number 1 for sure. I would like to thank my father (a scientist) for my work ethic and discipline. It was watching him at his work desk growing up that I learned what it takes to write and publish books. My parents have watched every play that I have worked on (as playwright, actor, director, etc.) that they could realistically attend. I am also deeply indebted to my teachers and professors. I have been a nerd my entire life and have been very fortunate that my educators saw that and nurtured it. I was encouraged to be in the library, to explore ideas, to apply for scholarships. Although it is impossible to choose one, I will highlight my Philosophy Honors thesis supervisor at Northwestern University: Souleymane Bachir Diagne. Born in Senegal and educated at the Sorbonne in Paris, Professor Diagne took me under his wing when my original supervisor went on leave. He was enormously generous and intellectually rigorous with my project. It was under his supervision that I was accepted for the Rhodes Scholarship to pursue a PhD at Oxford University. And ever since he has been so kind and supportive of my creative work. One of my fondest memories is being hosted by his family for lunch when I visited New York City, as he is now a professor at Columbia University.

Website: cristinaabejan.com

Instagram: @cristinaabejan_ladygodiva

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cristinabejan

Twitter: @LadyGodiva___

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cristina.adriana.908/

Youtube: @cristinaabejan

Other: TikTok @cristina_ladygodiva Threads @cristinaabejan_ladygodiva Bluesky @cristinaabejan.bsky.social

Image Credits
all credits belong to Cristina A. Bejan