Stir Q&A: Jai Djwa looks at what's in a name, and a name change, at the Vancouver Fringe Festival
Actor-playwright brings his friends’ stories into personal tale in Hi, My Name Is Jai
Jai Djwa took five years to find his new name.
Hi, My Name Is Jai is at Performance Works from September 10 to 12, 16, 18, and 19 as part of the Vancouver Fringe Festival.
WHY WOULD SOMEONE change the name they’ve been answering to their whole life? Jai Djwa knows, and is here to tell you in a new solo play that he’s been working on for more than two years.
The digital strategist and artist, who also works on digital art projects and composes music for film, dance, and theatre, walks you through what ultimately turned out to be an empowering process. And he spoke to a wide range of friends—one who now goes by the name of an infamous cartoon villainess—to see what their name change was like.
Along the way in the show, he talks about the larger sense of identity of new immigrants to Canada and the experience of being biracial.
In the day before the day opens at the Vancouver Fringe Festival, Stir asked him about his new moniker and what it means in the days.
You have changed your name and you talk to a bunch of friends who have done the same. What are some of the most common reasons you found?
“Well, it’s not the common idea of numerology or some kind of crazy desire to throw out your life. I found that sometimes changing your name is when you want to make a political statement, or escape family trauma or a repressive country. Some people want to find a part of their family that they feel closer to than their birth family. Or maybe even changing your gender.
“There are so many reasons. The psychology of names means your name is your identity. Many people do it for the reasons I did, to change the way they see themselves and to bring themselves more into alignment with who they are. Names aren't fixed to us, but we can fix them by changing them.
“I see it like it is a recognition. My way to match the person that I am inside with who I am on the outside. It’s like my new name is my new friend. It's soul-matching!”
How long did it take you to find your "new" name, and how long did it take to get used to it--or for others to start calling you Jai?
“It took me five years to find my new name and it was a real process. The best part is that you can avoid my mistakes and learn how to change your name by coming to the play. It involved Chinese mystics, dictionaries, and a plunge into my family history in Indonesia.
“Also, because I am biracial, I learned a lot about the difficulty in integrating both sides of my family into one name. My father is Chinese-Indonesian, and my mother is from Newfoundland. My national dress could be a sarong and a sou’wester! Add in a step-father from India and the complications mount.
“And getting used to people calling me Jai was fun. When I hear my name, it is super exciting. It feels like a secret I share with all my friends. And it’s such a thrill to hear my name. Interestingly, it opens a lovely area of creative space where I can access more creativity, like writing this play.’
How did the idea of name changing seem well suited to a theatre show. And how did you go about gathering stories and writing it?
“I had friends that had changed their name, and I first started asking them. It was a great chance to catch up, but at first it was just to find out how they did it. Only later did I start to see the stories as something that needed to be shared. I wanted to make the act of changing your name to be normal, not weird.
“I also asked around, which is how I found Cruella De Ville. Her story of changing her name to Cruella is amazing and I love telling that one!”
What was it like coming up with a new signature?
“It wasn’t something I had thought of until the moment I had to sign my papers as Jai. I have tons of random bits of paper lying around where I was practising my signature. I mean, I can’t even remember how I came up with my first one, so making a new one was really fun. Do you want your signature to have lots of loops? Really straight ahead? A complete doodle? Super fun to figure out.”
What advice would you give someone who's considering a name change? Is it worth the effort—and paperwork?
“Oh, totally worth the effort. ‘Five stars and would recommend!’ I love my name now in ways I never did before. Plus, the multiple meanings behind it, which you learn about in the play, makes it all worthwhile.
“But the best advice in changing your name comes from one of the people I interviewed, Nova Ami. She told me, ‘Well, I would say try it on first. Sit with the name before you actually change your name and let it be with you for a while. Experiment with sharing it with people close to you. And then before you say, I have to change it to this name legally, just really own the name and see if it's the right fit.
"I couldn’t have said it better! Our names are central to our identity but thinking about it now, I also recognize that changing my name was accepting who I am. I am Jai!."
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