All Faculty Profiles

Omari Chancellor

by Samantha Dunne

Gotham Teacher Omari Chancellor is living proof that the writing bug can bite you at any time.

“When you’re a kid, it’s kind of a one-size-fits-all thing. I liked to read, but I don’t think I knew that I was a creative person because I never really had the opportunity to explore that,” he says. “People are, like, ‘I was building worlds at six years old. There was Narnia in my bedroom’ and all sorts of stuff. I didn't have that.”

All that changed when Omari attended Roanoke College—a liberal arts school in Virginia. He enrolled in a poetry class and the rest was history (a subject he ironically didn’t take to as much).

“It gave me a sort of way into art,” Omari says. “I had this professor I really liked and so I took some of his creative writing classes and that’s how it started. He ended up being quite a mentor to me.”

His foray into the writing world hasn’t slowed since.

Omari says a lot of his ideas come from eavesdropping–on the subway, in the doctor’s office, on the basketball court–then piecing together different scenes from these slices of life.

“A lot of my work is based in humor,” he says. “A lot of it comes from jokes with friends, jokes I overhear, things that I find really funny about the world. I try to always add in some kind of thread of humanness, try to be a little bit deeper than just the comedy.”

Omari’s creative endeavors don’t end on the page. He’s also an actor, having studied the craft at New York University, and has graced both the stage and screen.

“It's all storytelling, you know?” he says. “I think [with] acting, there's a little bit more community involved. I think writing is a bit of a solitary sport, but it all feels like you're reaching the same end, which is telling a story.”

When it comes to filmmaking, he’s a part of a production collective that embraces the spirit of collaboration to work toward a similar vision–doing projects that feel irreverent, but come from a place of truth.

In either realm of artistry, though, he’s familiar with the language of rejection.

“If I had a quarter for every rejection, I could build a publishing house myself,” he jokes.

Because of this, Omari works to embolden his students with the knowledge that failing and being embarrassed is good.

“You just keep trying,” he says. “What's great about submitting your work is sometimes people will kind of be like, ‘Hey, you know, we did like it, but this time around, it's not for us.’ Or sometimes you get feedback. Or they might be like, ‘Hey, we this one's pretty cool, but do you have anything else that's kind of similar?’ If someone doesn't like your work, then move on to the next because someone will like it.”

Omari’s students are up for that challenge, resilient in the face of setbacks like these.

“People are really serious about the classes. When they get to me, they’ve already had an 8-hour workday. So, I can really appreciate people who are showing up to hone their skills and hone their practice. That’s amazing.”