Kara Young on Racine in ‘Is God Is’: “It Felt Like Jumping Off a Cliff, But You Had Wings to Fly”

In the explosive theatrical world of Kara Young, transformation is never just technical, it is instinctive, physical, and deeply lived-in. In her recent reflection on stepping into the role of Racine in Is God Is, Young describes a process that was less about control and more about surrender, momentum, and trust.

In an interview with Black Girl Nerds, Young recalls how the experience blurred the line between rehearsal and reality:

“Stepping into it, I think so many things surprised me on the way. It’s so kind of hard to go back to think about our shooting times because Mallori and I are in every scene. And to the point where we don’t know that we’re in the work, but we’re totally in the work. And so, it’s like a freedom, a freedom to fly, a freedom to whatever comes at you fast you take and go with it. And it was that, where we were just going, going, going, going. And so probably what it felt like was just jumping off of a cliff, but you had wings to fly.”

For Young, portraying Racine meant entering a space where repetition dissolved into immersion. The pace of production, shared with her co-star Mallori Johnson, created an environment where performance was not constantly “started” and “stopped,” but instead sustained at an almost breathless rhythm.

That intensity, she suggests, is what unlocked the emotional core of Racine. Rather than carefully constructing each moment, Young leaned into immediacy, allowing instinct to guide her through the character’s volatility and emotional stakes.

“There’s a freedom to fly,” she emphasizes in her reflection, a phrase that captures both the danger and exhilaration embedded in the work. In her telling, the role demanded full commitment without the safety of overthinking, a kind of artistic free fall where preparation meets surrender.

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Is God Is, known for its bold structure and heightened emotional landscape that forces its performers into a shared current of urgency. Within that current, Young found something paradoxically liberating.

Her metaphor of “jumping off a cliff, but you had wings” distills the experience into its essence that risk is balanced by trust. It is a fitting image for both the play’s narrative intensity and Young’s own approach to performance, where fear and freedom exist in the same breath.

Is God Is premieres in theaters nationwide May 15th.