Today we’d like to introduce you to Kambri Crews.
Kambri, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I once lived with my deaf parents in a tin shed in Montgomery, Texas. Now, I own and operate the performance venue and bookshop Q.E.D. in Astoria, Queens. Getting from there to here has been a tumultuous, wild ride so I wrote about it in my 2012 New York Times best selling memoir Burn Down the Ground.
In Texas, I was always active in the theater arts and was an avid reader. Living in the deep woods was isolating enough and was more so when coupled with having a deaf family and not enough money to go around. So I spent summers alone in the woods, creating ways to keep myself busy. I turned my bedroom into a fully functional library complete with the Dewey Decimal System and regular customers. And when I was ten years old, I wrote and produced a puppet show with puppets I made from paper mache. I built a concession stand, made tickets and programs and invited kids from my bus. And that’s basically what I do now, every day in NYC with my theater and bookshop.
After graduating high school from Richland in North Richland Hills, I moved to Ohio, where I went to night school to become a paralegal and worked in banking during the day. I went from being a teller to Assistant Vice President overseeing commercial loan workouts and foreclosures by the time I was 26. My family had broken apart and I was so deathly afraid of being poor and finding myself living in a shed again that banking had fulfilled a lot of stability I craved. Banking gave me a beautiful set of “Golden Handcuffs,” which is what I called a 401K and health benefits.
So, I was dogged and confident and rising through the ranks but my heart was always in the theater arts. Once I got my Associate’s Degree, my nights were freed up and the first thing I did was an audition for a local theater’s production of “Noises Off!” I snagged the role of the ingenue and won Best Supporting Actress for my performance at the annual awards ceremony. That was it. I was hooked and banking was not for me. So, I packed up my VW Cabrio, quit my job and moved to New York City with no job and no plan.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The summer before my senior year in high school, my father attacked my mother. I was not only a witness who was traumatizing. Thankfully, I was able to stop the attack and call 911 had to interpret his Miranda Rights in sign language. Something that is looking back is just…not right. Domestic violence was treated much differently back then, in the late 80s/early 90s.
That fracturing of my family and the PTSD I suffered afterwards led me to abandon my traditional college dreams. I graduated high school summa cum laude and had excelled but I needed help, both with therapy to deal with the fallout of the attack but also basic skills to help me fill out college applications. It all felt so overwhelming and so instead of college, I got married at 17 and moved to Ohio after graduation to be near my then husband’s family.
I moved to NYC in 2000 and then bore witness to the attacks on 9/11. A few months later, our post office and office complex in Rockefeller Center had received anthrax addressed to Tom Brokaw. So it was all a very dark and scary time, but I had finally made a home for myself in NYC and no one not even a terrorist was going to stop me.
It was just a few months after 9/11 that my dad attacked another woman and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. That fresh attack some 14 years after I’d witnessed my dad attack my mother brought all the old pain and memories back. But now I was an adult and I was capable of facing it all head-on and dealing with it. Truthfully, the 2nd attack helped me rebuild my life and my relationship with my dad. So, no, the road has not been easy, but it’s interesting at least.
QED Astoria – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Q.E.D. is the only independent, woman-owned and operated venue for the arts in Astoria, Queens in NYC. It’s a labor of love, really. As a small community space, I’m very proud to pay artists, producers, teachers and creatives for their work and provide a free space for performers of all types at our open mics.
For almost 20 years, I’ve worked in stand up comedy as a producer, promoter and performer. So at Q.E.D., the programming is mostly stand-up comedy shows with performers ranging from the beginner to the very famous. But we also have arts and crafts workshops, writing classes, board game meetups, storytelling, movie screenings, watch parties and more. With 100 or more events each month, there’s something for everyone. Plus, being in Queens, New York, our programming is extremely diverse to match the community we represent.
Most people ask what Q.E.D. stands for. It is an abbreviation of the Latin phrase “quod erat demonstrandum,” which translates to “that which was demonstrated.” I was a math nerd as a kid and at the end of geometry proofs, you write “QED” to say that you’re completed the proof and, “See above. I’ve shown my work.” At Q.E.D., we’re showing our work on stage as performers or lecturers or teachers. If you ever do a crossword puzzle, you’ll thank us for this bit of info. It’s an oft-used clue. But if you want it to stand for Queens Ed, that’s cool, too.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I used to burn the candle working harder, faster and longer than my competition to “make it” not really knowing what “making it” even meant. Fame? Fortune? Sure, I think we’d all be okay with that. Having my book hit the New York Times bestseller’s list really helped put a bow on things. There, I can always point to that and say, “I did it.”
But now I think that as long as I had a roof over my head and lived relatively debt-free and have the things I need and enjoy like a library and garden and painting and friends, I’m in a good spot. Growing up without enough to eat, living with violence and chaos, that’s really all I need. A place to call home.
Contact Info:
- Address: 2716 23rd Avenue
New York, NY 11105 - Website: www.QEDAstoria.com
- Phone: 3474513873
- Email: qedastoria@gmail.com
- Instagram: @qedastoria
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/qedastoria
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/qedastoria
- Other: www.kambricrews.com
Suggest a story: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
