Nicki Ward

Founder & Creative Director @Ground Queero -Nichola Ward

CA

Born in London, Nicki\'s earliest education in theatre arts was in the UK. In addition to acting in formal theatre projects as part of the Royal Court Theatre Youth group.She was also a regular in West End comedy clubs where she performed stand-up.She also received significant training by virtue of a connection with the Magic Circle. This grounded her skills in magic, showmanship, circus arts, close-up, cabaret and stage work. This eclectic foundation continues to add excitement and fusion to her work as a performer:\"Jackie\'s not a Real Girl\" is an acting tour de force of vocal masking, comedy and tragedy.\"Naked Page\" is transgressive, combining magic, poetry and suspension bondage to create danger.Her Raconteur work is deceptively simple and emotionally accessible.As a writer, her published works span over twenty years. This includes traditional essays, published poetry, graphic novels and narratives. Most recently this has expanded into animation, micro poetry and digital media.As Founder and Creative Director of Ground Queero, she says.Grounded in craft, our projects have always been disruptive of definition. In that spirit, our vision of “queer” is a fusion of the traditional and transgressive meanings of the word. as well as a modern reclaiming of gender, orientation and disability “otherness”.Our first performance project was a fusion of ideas: Emerging artists (old and young)- Established artists (old and young) performance and literature in mutual celebration. At the time, multi-generational, multi disciplinary platforms were not available, so we created our own.Ground Queero continues to be the platform for many ground-breaking projects: From graphic novels that are performed, to live Japanese suspension bondage supporting poetry, to Artificial Intelligence animated literature. Multi Media/Social Media as virtual performance space. in other words, Ground Queero is a convent for the unconventional.