Today we’d like to introduce you to Josie Nixon.
Hi Josie, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
In 2018 I stepped onto a stage with a short story script in hand, trembling and teary eyed. Reading the words I had written was a challenge in itself. There were 260 people staring at me, waiting for me to tell them a story about myself. Revealing parts of who I am authentically and vulnerably. I had people laugh, cry, and witness something deeper within myself and as someone who kept everyone at the surface for fear of what might be found in the depths of me, this feeling was novel and exhilarating. That experience on stage allowed me a glimpse into what would slowly become a passion, a mission, and a path in life that I didn’t know existed! I stumbled into a whole new version of me.
By 2020 a group of wonderful Co-Producers and I decided it was time to expand our project, branching out to multiple cities and it was gaining enough traction that I believed if I quit my job and pursued this project full time it could really work! In February of 2020 I went through with it, quitting my job for our two upcoming shows at the end of March…. No surprise what happened next. I lost everything when our venues called us, “your show has to be cancelled, people will be refunded their tickets but you won’t get your deposits back.” Understandably, the theater industry was about to be hit and they needed to do everything they could to survive. We all did.
Lockdown, isolation, leaning back into my former career of LGBTQ+ advocacy, led me to some great to new challenges. None of it compared to what I was truly after. A spotlight, a microphone, and a passion for storytelling. The beautiful part of nation wide isolation is that people were reminded that we need community to get through, we collectively started sharing our struggles, that we needed help! Then, just as quickly as that vulnerability came, it died as we re-entered the world.
“How are you today?” – “I’m fine” – the normalcy was back.
NO! EXPOSED was born in an effort to remind us that “We Are All Fucked Up” – a motto that I believe defies all aisles, boundaries, borders, and beliefs. We are now approaching 3 years of EXPOSED performances, over 170 stories told. Real, true, and intense stories that refuse to hide what makes us who we are. Everyone has a story to tell, if we just sit down, shut up, and listen, we’d learn that we are all connected through the details of our lives.
By the end of 2025, EXPOSED will have performed in 9 cities across 2 countries. Our home show in Denver now runs consistently and houses some of the most intense stories I’ve ever heard on stage. Always true, always raw, and always designed to push the audience to the edge of their seat.
Oh, and there is the whole bit about Juice the Trauma Clown…. but to get a better idea of how Juice hosts EXPOSED, you’ll have to check it out for yourself. Words don’t do it justice.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It’s a beautiful thing to know that every struggle I have faced and all those that lay ahead are overcome with passion and diligence. I am sure there are very few artists, if any, without their own struggles. What do they say?- Pressure makes diamonds… or least makes us crazy enough to pursue art. It’s has been the most challenging shift of my professional life. I am no longer selling a product, I am selling myself.
Am I worthy of your ticket price…. YES! I mean, I think so. No, YES I am definitely am.
Ask someone who’s done this longer and I bet they are at least a little more confident. There is no shortage of days that I wonder if everything I have poured into EXPOSED will be worth it. What I usually come to is that everything we’ve accomplished already makes it worth it. If I had to close up tomorrow I would count this show as a success. I have helped people and if that’s the most rewarding thing I receive then I’m happy with the results.
Aside from the philosophical struggles of an artist in our society, running a business has its own struggles. I love how conditional formatting and color coding a spreadsheet would makes me so full of pride. I manage people who I consider to be dear friends, a beautiful and complicated process. I stare at a computer screen more than any artist should, but who else will write out all the responses to an interview in Voyage Denver?
The struggles I face now are just in different categories than those I faced before starting EXPOSED. I wouldn’t go back if given the option, these are my struggles and I love them.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
What I am most known for is likely hosting shows, being a sort of glue that holds an event together and creates one story throughout an evening of performances. We all know what it’s like to go to a show that has a bad emcee… no matter how good the acts are they’re competing with awkward silences and no one on stage to get the audience on their side.
‘Juice’ is that for me, a way to bring an amazing event together for an audience in a way that makes each audience member feel connected to each other and to those on stage. Juice is an emcee, a clown, and a trauma clown. It depends on what event it is that I am working. When I’m hosting EXPOSED, that’s when Juice the Trauma Clown shines and brings levity to life’s darkest moments.
I however most enjoy writing and telling stories. It is what led me to starting EXPOSED. But where would we share our darkest stories without EXPOSED? Where can I tell the stories too intense for the wonderful storytelling events around town? I may have stumbled into it but I have a love and skill for helping pull a story out of people who might even go so far as to say they don’t have one to tell. I might not be a therapist but I am a good listener (thanks mom) and that has led me to this career.
There is no show like EXPOSED, whether that’s good or bad is up to you. There are plenty of storytelling shows for you to choose from; though none of them have Juice the Trauma Clown and very few allow you to say what we do on stage. Our show is like Post Secret turned up to 11, we have been called The Vagina Traumalogues and Trauma Church; but no matter the name we are special only because of the passion we put into this work.
Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
I try and read memoirs often, most recently finishing Demon Copperhead. I am reading “Hey White Boy” from Sunny Von Cleveland right now. He and I sat down together and talked about our aligned missions, I love reading books that inspire me. Many of our storytellers have written works out and I will always read them.
Podcasts I listen to are mostly NPR, Stuff You Should Know, and other storytelling projects. All of which help inform how I navigate through this world, learn weird stuff to tell friends, and connect to people around me. I pursue things that help me feel connected.
Past that, I sit down with anyone who will have me and try to learn them. Not the surface level, I am usually the person who asks questions that make other people at the bar move seats. We are all complicated creatures and I am here to witness those parts of you, tell you that you’re not alone, and then tell you stuff you should know to cheer you up. It’s wild how little people talk to strangers anymore, but I’ve met some amazing people by simply being open to it. People are my greatest inspiration.
Pricing:
- $18 Early Bird Tickets
- $25 General Admission
- $30 Day of Buyers
Contact Info:
- Website: https://exposedstorytelling.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/xposedstorytelling
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/xposedstorytelling
Image Credits
Photographers: Beau Ngu & Alexis Bolton
