Jo Lampert
Playing feminist icon Joan of Arc is a tall order, but Brooklyn-based performer Jo Lampert not only accepted the role, she owned it. As the star in the world premiere of David Byrne’s rock-pop operetta “Joan of Arc: Into the Fire,” Lampert received rave reviews from Vogue, The New Yorker and fans alike. Despite being the show’s major presence, she says that collaboration is key to her success. “I’ve found that the reward, alongside the beautiful rush of live performance, is in the coming together,” she says. “The gathering of ideas, creating alongside others, communing with fellow artists and also with an audience, is what makes the work feel the most full.” Lampert, a Tisch School of the Arts grad, has been performing professionally since 2010 as part of traveling acts like tune-yards and in New York, where she is an associate artist of the investigative theater collective The Civilians. “It’s incredible to realize how strong our community can be if we each come to it as our strongest individual selves,” she says. “There is such power in that. Our self-acceptance, and thus, our ability to reflect others, can allow us to have greater momentum and electric connection in our personal relationships, our fields of work, and our capacity to be leaders, should we choose to be.” —TB
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