Queen, (Kween S. Shantey) never studied theater in college nor attended a prestige school of the Arts.  She’s actually a Business major with a minor in Marketing Management.  She knew at the age of two she was going to be a superstar yet back then she called it a “Punk-rocker.”
     Her earlier roles in any type of plays were in elementary school starring in “Rumpelstiltskin” and middle school as the narrator in Lorraine Hansberry’s, “A Raisin in the Sun”.  Thereafter her acting skills, practice and dreams were limited to improv comedy and impersonations for friends, family, co-workers and few strangers.
     She wouldn’t see a stage again until the new millennium (2000).  From middle school to adulthood you would think her acting opportunity had come knocking.  She was performing again in front of audiences but not as an actress but as a poet.
     Queen, (Kween S. Shantey) made her professional acting debut in an Off-Broadway show titled, “How Black Folks got Stuck between the Rock and a Hard Place” in 2002.  Her performance landed her lead roles in two more Off-Broadway productions, “Say it Loud, being Black and been Proud” and “To be Young, Black and Gifted with Rap”.  She toured with the three productions for three years.  Along the way she starred in the award-winning movie, “Independents Doin Major Things” and “Word”.
     Combining her writing skills as a poet and passion for acting Queen (Kween S. Shantey) wrote her first one-woman show, “Open Scars”.  The shows first time debuting at an Atlanta Play Festival (2006), “Open Scars” won an award for “Best Production 2006” and Queen won “Best Female Lead Actress.”
     “Open Scars” has been modified into a film and will be available on her website www.justqueen.com and www.myspace.com/justthqueen.  Not bad for a “wanna be” punk-rocking marketing major!

    To look at Queen you probably wouldn’t be able to tell much more than the obvious, she has a beautiful smile.  Behind the smile there was once a very shy and timid young girl who wouldn’t dare speak her mind, behave inappropriately nor rock any boats.  Things definitely changed!  Her smile masks an ex-gang member, dope dealer and inmate of a mental ward.  Growing up in Colorado Springs, CO, Queen struggled with her identity and acceptance amongst her peers.  Her fellow gang family guided her into some much negativity it ended in several deaths and jail sentences along with pushing Queen straight into the lines of the United States Air Force to escape the dead end lifestyle..
     While serving and protecting the country, Queen found herself again, struggling to fit into standards that just didn’t seem conducive to her true personality and spirit.  She had no where to turn and an entire force was against her unwillingness to conform.  Queen being on the edge, ready to explode and willing to attempt suicide for the third time (hoping she would cut her arm vein in the right direction this time) decided to let the pen and pad be her repentance.  She sequenced her sentences so great they came off poetic.  She started to perform her pain at an open mic on the military base called the “Lyrical Lounge” in front of the very people causing her turmoil and turning her smile upside down. 
     This was the beginning of Queen finding an outlet to her anger, violent thoughts, demons, and truths.  Her smile had been taken for a weakness far too many times, now she simply will not shut up about anything?  Queen being fed up with the uniformity and limitations of the Air Force, decided not to re-enlist rather perform her poetry full-time.  She had a yard/bake sale selling every item in her apartment while offering brownies and grilled kabobs while the people shopped.  With a little under $1,000 in profit from the yard sale, she hit the road making her Chevrolet Blazer her home for two years.  The circumstances gave her writing more substance.  She gave the poetry honesty and the poetry gave her  hope.
     If you happen to see this smile, be warned it is contagious and remember it, for it belongs to a jewel named Queen…