Uncovering Boston’s rich culture with one street.
Photo by Karalynn Ojeda-Pollard
By Kareemah Muhammad
Mitchka Herard is sharing her lens on millennial creatives of color with the production of Dudley Street, a series she wrote and will now direct. Dudley Street is a scripted web series about five friends who are finding out all it takes to actualize their dreams as creatives, while facing life’s pressures. Mitchka, who is from Boston, wrote the series after noticing there are not many stories on the lives of millennial creatives of color and wanted to showcase the culture within her city.
Directing the series will be a first for Herard, who has been writing since middle school and discovered her signature voice when it came to storytelling as a student at the University of Massachusetts Boston. With her newfound style of writing, Mitchka wrote a comic book story called Euphora in 2018 and shortly after wrote the Dudley Street series. With the series, Mitchka wants to address common misconceptions and social strains within the black community and believes there needs to be a lot more acceptance for us to grow as a culture.
Mitchka shared her journey with us when it came to writing the series and what the Dudley Street series means to creative communities of color.
Interviewer: Where are you from?
Mitchka: I was born in New York and raised in Dorchester (Boston).
Interviewer: What’s signature about Dorchester?
Mitchka: Boston is fairly small compared to other cities so, everyone kind of like, knows each other in a way. If you don’t know a person directly, you probably know them indirectly through someone else. I think it’s dope in a way because, I guess it’s more intimate. Dorchester also has a lot of culture to it that people wouldn’t know if they weren’t from here. A lot of people think that Boston is just like super white but it’s definitely more than that. Like when people come to neighborhoods like Dorchester and like other neighborhoods like Roxbury, they kind of just see all of that culture.
Interviewer: What is the Dudley Street series about?
It’s about a group of friends, five friends who are all creatives of color. One of them is a dancer, one’s a singer. Another one does spoken word. Another one is an artist. There’s another one who does comedy. They’re dealing with internal struggles and societal struggles as well. I use scenarios that I felt were relatable, that people of our age often go through.
Interviewer: Why the name Dudley Street?
Mitchka: Dudley Street is actually in Roxbury. That’s where a lot of the black culture is prominent in Boston. It had like a nice ring to it.
Interviewer: What are some scenarios that characters go through?
Mitchka: One of them is having trouble paying for her semester at college and she’s trying to support a (sick) family member that she’s living with. She can’t really juggle all of these things she’s going through. She has to kind of resort to an alternative source of income. There’s another character who’s like going through… he’s like seen as the funny friend but he’s going through depression. He’s scared to voice that to his friends because he doesn’t want to be, you know, seen as anything other than the person who can make everyone else happy.
Interviewer: What inspired you to create the series?
Mitchka: I tried starting like a collective of artists and writers and I remember there was this one kid who was like telling us this random story. I kind of just thought to myself when we were all like vibing in the group chat, I’m like, why isn’t there a show about like just black creatives? I thought it would be like a super dope idea. And so I kind of just like sat down one day and wrote the pilot.
Interviewer: Why do you feel it’s important to share stories that represent creatives of color?
Mitchka: It’s important for them to continue to pursue these dreams that make them happy because at the end of the day I think we’ve been through a lot as a culture and we deserve to put ourselves first. I think a lot of us feel like we have to put others before ourselves a lot of the time but … I like that right now there’s this big thing about self-care. I think that it’s important for us to continue speaking about that and continue producing that message about self-care and just being happy…doing what you love.
Interviewer: What excites you about directing the series?
Mitchka: I’m excited about being able to – help the actors evolve and have each other help to create this. Just being able to connect with them in a way that will help build the story and… add more meaning to it.
Interviewer: What are some things you’ve done to help you with your directing?
Mitchka: I feel like me just watching more movies and watching more shows and just studying the way that they were filmed. That definitely helped me more to get different perspectives about different filming techniques and what I could do.
Interviewer: What are some shows you’ve watched that helped you?
Mitchka: Shows that are similar to what I’m aiming for like Insecure and Friends … those are definitely helpful.
Interviewer: Why do you feel it’s important for millennial women of color to share our stories?
Mitchka: I feel like society often tries to shut us out. Even now it’s still like the people in this industry who are like at the top are like the you know, white males but there’s definitely a lot of power in black women. I think that it’s important that we see that there [are] more relatable women out there. We need a lot more of the positive so that we can positively influence the next generation and show them that they can accomplish what the set out to [do]. Women of color can make it in film and are more than what society paints us out to be.
Interviewer: What are your hopes for the Dudley Street Series?
Mitchka: I plan on submitting it to different networks. If anything, I’ll still continue making episodes. I do feel it has the potential to go far.
Interviewer: What’s one thing you would tell millennial black women who are creatives?
Mitchka: It’s hard out here, it’s a struggle but as long as you’re willing to do what you love, it’s worth it.
To keep up with Mitchka and the Dudley Street series follow @dudleystreetseries_ on Instagram.