Lazarus Simmons
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Lazarus Simmons •
Lazarus Simmons
he/him | Actor, Producer, Educator, and Arts Advocate
About the Artist
Lazarus Simmons is an actor, producer, and educator whose artistry has been shaped by a lifelong relationship with theater. Born in Missouri and trained at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (BA in Dramatic Art) and Rutgers University (MFA in Acting), his work moves fluidly across stage, film, teaching, and community building. He is a founding member of First Fight Films and Brick Factory, and currently serves as Program Coordinator for the Rutgers Theater Department, where he mentors students, produces major events, and advocates for an arts culture rooted in growth and connection.
The Work
Lazarus’s artistry is fueled by what he calls the battle between fear and love. “At the moment, I have a lot of fear and a lot of love,” he reflects. “They are fighting for dominance in me in almost every given moment. I think a lot of art, if not all of art, wrestles with this dichotomy.” Through performance, teaching, and producing, he seeks spaces where art can reveal those contradictions and help audiences wrestle with them too.
He also names money as one of the greatest barriers for artists: not only the costs of creating or attending art, but the way capitalism shapes our relationship to art’s value. Rather than centering capital, Lazarus reframes value through experience, education, and growth: “Sometimes this means my growth will be monetary. Other times it means I get to experience something new and exciting—albeit with very little pay.”
For Lazarus, community is the most potent force in his creative journey. He distinguishes between the community you are given (church, school, hometown) and the community you choose—the collaborators you create with. “If these two communities were ever in conflict, I would always choose the latter,” he says. “I want nothing more than to find a community to collaborate with on a consistent basis—where the art itself and the goals of the art reign supreme, and nothing so small as our egos are in the pilot seat.”
Why It Matters
Lazarus reminds us that art is more than representation—it is about nuance, contradiction, and humanity. He challenges us to look beyond surface identities toward deeper, complex stories that disrupt assumptions and reveal truth. As he says: “A play about a Black guy is cool, but a play about a liberal Black guy fighting for his second amendment rights because of the return to Jim Crow laws in the South would have me hooked.”
At Scene | Unseen, we honor Lazarus for his honesty, his vision, and his insistence that art can be both a mirror and a compass—guiding us toward who we are and who we might yet become.
