Pop Culturalist Chats with Cristina Pitter

Cristina Pitter is an artistic force to be reckoned with. She has several projects that would be impressive on their own: she is the founder of The Ashe Collective, an interdisciplinary art collective that focuses on storytelling inspired by ancestral roots and identities; she has a solo show, decolonizing my vagina; she’s a member of Pipeline Theatre Company.

Pipeline Theatre Company has a new production that they are premiering: Playing Hot. So, we chatted with Cristina about current her role in the jazz concert-play and what’s coming up in her career.

PC: What made you want to be a performer?
Cristina: I’ve always been enthralled with the arts and music. I started as a fine artist, and wanted to work for Disney. I would, by hand, copy drawings of all the animated stuff. Musically, my dad played guitar and my grandmother put me up for dance lessons. It all really came back to storytelling and the many different ways I enjoy telling stories with all of these different mediums…and not being able to settle with just one. [laughs]

High school was really the game changer for theater. I really enjoyed that medium and platform. I made it work for me because I’m very much not a person that can fit typical characters; people often don’t know what to do with me. So, they make it work….or rather I make things work! [laughs]

PC: Tell us about Playing Hot and your role within the show. 
Cristina: I first came on in 2016 with the first workshop. We rehearsed for two weeks and only played one night. It was incredible. Jaki [Jaki Bradley] and Kevin [Kevin Armento] are fantastic souls. With the combination of music and really honoring where jazz comes from…as a person of color it meant a lot to see the whole cast be asked about feedback and [see them asking] “How do we honor this?” knowing that they are two young white creators and the story is rooted in black history. Seeing that develop, be worked on, and get to such a beautiful place where we now with Marcus Miller as our musical director–he’s brilliant–and C.A. Johnson who is an awesome queer, black woman from New Orleans is incredible. Having the most authentic team and the most passionate team that really cares about this is really wonderful.

My role in it is ensemble; we’re all ensemble. We have different tracks. I’m playing the main track of Buddy Bolden’s mother.

PC: Have there been huge changes from workshop to where it is now? 
Cristina: The core is still the same in terms of the structure, but how we convey the truth of how jazz and black history in New Orleans and how it’s a constant negotiation between appropriated or appreciated (and wanting to shine a more specific lens on that) has been the biggest change.

That’s lifted up in the best way possible while other things stay the same: different little segments of weaving in culture of today versus the time period where jazz was born. Some of the music has changed and seeing that fleshed out with a different band is always incredible.

PC: Is there a part that you are excited for audiences to experience?
Cristina: Yes, two parts. I’m hella excited for the dance party that starts right from the beginning and our dance explosion right in the middle. And there’s a moment at the end that makes you think about how you took in art, how you take in storytelling, and [leaves you] really reckoning with your place in the world.

PC: Aside from Playing Hot, you also perform your solo show. Are there challenges to being a part of a production versus your own show? 
Cristina: It’s funny because my solo show, decolonizing my vagina, is a solo show, but it is so rooted in collaboration. I could not have done it without the amazing direction and feedback of Jordana De La Cruz, who directed the first two iterations; the music and guidance of Starr Busby, who is another incredible performer and artist. Knowing that they were all so supportive and willing to be a sounding board to have different ideas pushed back knowing ultimately I’m the one creating it and crafting it…nothing is ever solo. Any kind of storytelling is collaborative, and it would be disrespectful to think otherwise. I may be the one creating it, but I’m still drawing on experiences I had with other people. It’s more than just my story.

I want to resonate with folks and hopefully give them inspiration to tell their own stories. So, that is the same collaborative energy and love I find in [any] work I do. I don’t do anything I don’t want to do. I want to be able to be in a room that is passionate and supportive and transparent. Pipeline is that. Playing Hot is that. Coming off Behind the Sheet was that. There’s so much going on in the world, and we all want to be nourished and entertained. But, I also want people to leave having something shift in their mindsets and their hearts, dare I say.

Both [a production and solo work] are equally important to me, and I need both. And it’s nice to jump into a project that has it’s own creative team, and I don’t have to worry about doing those things. [laughs]

PC: Looking ahead, is there a particular story or type of expression/art that you would like to explore in a solo show or theater production?
Cristina: I’ve been dabbling my toes into the world of burlesque and performance art for the past year-and-a-half. I’m looking forward to developing more pieces with my favorite nightlife folks: the Fuck You Revue which is produced by Fancy Feast and Zoe Ziegfeld. They actually gave me my start into the nightlife world. And the awesome group Switch ‘n Play which is another queer, drag and performance art collective here in Brooklyn. They’re both outstanding and really pushing the envelope and making safe spaces for queer expression. I love that. I want to incorporate more of my art in that field.

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

Last TV Show You Binge-Watched
Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce

Favorite book
I don’t have one, but I immediately thought of The Giver.

Favorite Movie
Chocolat

Favorite Musical
Chicago and Cabaret

Place You Most Want to Go to
The Islands. All of the Caribbean Islands.

Person You Would Most Like to Meet
Lin Manuel-Miranda. We’re, like, one degree of separation away from each other, and I think we would be great friends!

Learn more about Cristina Pitter by following her on Instagram and Twitter. For more information about Pipeline Theatre Company’s production of Playing Hot, click here.