This story was originally published by ArtsATL.
As individuals, Tinashe Kajese-Bolden and Keith Arthur Bolden are highly respected leaders in their fields — but, as a duo, they are an undisputed Atlanta power couple. Tinashe is the co-artistic director of the Alliance Theatre, while Keith is an associate professor of theater and performance at Spelman College. Both actors as well, they’ve been married for 17 years.
It was at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign that the two met. Tinashe, who hails from Zimbabwe, came to the United States to pursue a theater degree. There, in 1998, she met Keith, who wanted to be a film critic. When the college’s first Black professor came to university 101 classes and persuaded him to audition, he changed course.
It was not love at first sight for the Boldens, however. The two were friends for three years: He was in the graduate program, and she was an undergraduate. As actors in hand-to-hand combat classes, they were often fight partners, and their relationship began largely sparring with rapiers raised. Keith said with a laugh that he joined the class to get closer to her. “That was very intentional. I wanted her to see me as an artist.”
Credit: Photo courtesy of Keith Arthur Bolden
Credit: Photo courtesy of Keith Arthur Bolden
They also worked together on a production of George C. Wolfe’s “The Colored Museum.” After graduating, the two toured with children’s theater and started cutting their teeth in regional theater. They settled down in New York, got married in 2007, then moved to Los Angeles until the opportunity at Spelman College brought them to Atlanta. Every move prior had been motivated by Tinashe, but this was Keith’s turn, and they moved with a 9-month-old baby in tow.
“Keith jokingly said we could be anywhere as long as we’re together,” Tinashe said.
Neither was terribly familiar with the city. “When I was in college and taking theater appreciation classes, the Alliance was a big deal because it was one of the leading theaters run by an African American, Kenny Leon,” Tinashe said. “It was always on my radar in New York when I auditioned for shows, but I had never spent much time here. I’d visited but didn’t have a network or family support here.”
For his part, Keith knew about the Alliance, as well as Tyler Perry and Turner Broadcasting — but he didn’t know what was about to happen for film and television. The couple has been fascinated to watch that growth.
“This has been the best move we’ve made as a couple and as artists,” Keith said. “We left New York too soon and got to Los Angeles too late, but Atlanta is just right.”
Their careers expanded along with the city. After directing gigs all over Atlanta, Tinashe became the BOLD associate artistic director at the Alliance before ascending to the co-artistic director job in 2023. She has also assisted the Reiser Atlanta Artists Lab, helping incubate new work, and led the Spelman Leadership Fellowship mentorship program, in which a regional theater partners with an HBCU to offer artistic opportunities.
Besides his directorial work, Keith has appeared in TV series’ such as “Cobra Kai,” “Black Lightning” and “Lovecraft Country.”
Credit: Photo courtesy of the Alliance Theatre
Credit: Photo courtesy of the Alliance Theatre
Being in the industry as a couple has both pros and cons. “There’s a shared vocabulary and shorthand we have with each other — the knowledge of the sacrifice and the tax it has on our spirit and psyche,” Tinashe said.
She loves the diversity of people her children are exposed to as part of the couple’s careers. “We get to work in a field with a wide swath of generations and backgrounds and cultures — and to have that be able to be in our home and in our conversations around our kids is a glorious thing that opens their imaginations.”
On the flip side, child care is something the two have to navigate. Their nontraditional work hours and gigs often take them away from home. “My wonderful wife is extremely brilliant, a genius and has such amazing energy that people walk into a room and want to be around her,” said Keith. “Her time has become more limited, and I miss her, but I know she is doing the work that matters.”
Are they able to give each other constructive criticism? “Oh, yes,” said Tinashe, with a laugh. She’s aware, though, that there is feedback she gives Keith as a director and feedback as a wife.
Keith feels that learning to problem-solve and fight has been really important. “When we first got together, we set ground rules on how we would argue. We try not to yell … as a hot-tempered man, I step away because I don’t want to say something I would regret — and she gives me space for that.”
Both recently had the opportunity to direct Katori Hall’s “The Mountaintop” — Tinashe at the Alliance and Keith at American Stage Theater Company in St. Petersburg, Florida. Tinashe’s preproduction started before Keith’s, so it took away the pressure of comparing processes.
Keith, who calls Tinashe the best director he knows, said his wife’s research and preparation for her production helped him prepare for his own. “The long discussions about King and his legacy — the conversations about previous productions that we had seen — those conversations were robust and eye-opening. Tinashe’s concept is different from mine. However, her concept has helped me fully realize my own. I have seen hers about five times. I just love her work.”
Credit: Photo courtesy of Keith Arthur Bolden
Credit: Photo courtesy of Keith Arthur Bolden
The couple live in Mableton, and they have two children: Kingsley, 7, and Kingston, 11. The Boldens enjoy attending cultural events, as well as pop-up events and concerts. “When we take our kids to see different things, it’s education for us and also a family affair,” Keith said. He feels it’s also vital to show up and support other colleagues and their projects.
Both have been inspired by the innovations of Atlanta artists and make note of an entrepreneurial will, a think tank of artists getting together for new work. Tinashe cites startups such as Working Title Playwrights and SheATL, which have emerged from a grassroots of artists creating opportunities that were not here before.
“Artists have said that they are choosing to live in Atlanta for a reason: to tell these stories,” she said. “That makes for an exciting energy in our ecosystem. It’s easy to get eclipsed by [talk of] what the Alliance is doing, or the new Theatrical Outfit [show]. But when you get out in the streets, artists are having conversations about the intersection of film and dance and theater and are trying to create a clear identity of the Southern artist. Keith and I are sitting in these places where you see the embryo of a lot of new artistic ideas. ”
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Jim Farmer is the recipient of the 2022 National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Award for Best Theatre Feature and a nominee for Online Journalist of the Year. A member of five national critics’ organizations, he covers theater and film for ArtsATL. A graduate of the University of Georgia, he has written about the arts for 30-plus years. Jim is the festival director of Out on Film, Atlanta’s LGBTQ film festival, and lives in Avondale Estates with his husband, Craig, and dog, Douglas.
Credit: ArtsATL
Credit: ArtsATL
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