This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Christiani Pitts: Hey, I'm Christiani Pitts. Welcome to The Theatre Podcast with Alan Seales.

[0:11] Alan Seales: Hey, everyone. Welcome to 2026. This is Alan Seales, and you've reached a brand new year with a brand new episode of The Theatre Podcast. Our guest for this episode is Christiani Pitts, and this is a really cool conversation because she has a story that involves a gross miscommunication, a nightclub, and Dave Chappelle all before she was a teenager, and that kind of got her down the path of, like, well, I know I'm going to perform. I gotta do it. So Christiani, you might know from King Kong or Bronx Tale, but you didn't know her career started as a cow in a nativity scene where she decided she was the main character. We get into some fun stories about her early days navigating the industry and avoiding scams, how she manifested doing an action movie on stage, and the very specific challenges of acting opposite a massive puppet, otherwise known as King Kong.

We also touch on her current role in Two Strangers, Carry a Cake Across New York, and how she tackles mental health struggles physically rather than verbally. And as two parents, we talk about raising our kids who are smarter than us and why her daughter thinks she's actually the one starring in the show. So it's a fun, honest conversation. Find me online. Find me on Patreon or Spotify if you want to watch the video version. And now, everyone, please enjoy this episode with Christiani Pitts. Today's guest is a history-making performer who received critical acclaim playing Anne Darrow in the Broadway production of King Kong after previously starring as Jane in A Bronx Tale. On screen, she played Beverly in the Netflix romantic comedy Resort to Love and starred as Pernissa in Power Book 3, Raising Kanan with additional credits, including Elementary, Evil, The Good Fight, Blue Bloods, and Dead Ringers. She's currently starring as Robin in the new Broadway musical Two Strangers, Carry a Cake Across New York. Christiani Pitts, welcome to The Theatre Podcast.

[2:18] Christiani Pitts: Thank you for having me. That was awesome.

[2:20] Alan Seales: And that's it. I like, I'm like, I've never done, well, this isn't parenthesis, did it? Parenthesis? There we go. I like this. The air quotes. Is it? Are we carrying a cake? Maybe. Well, spoiler, you dropped part of it.

[2:32] Christiani Pitts: I do. Okay, wait, wait. You're carrying four boxes. It was a tiny bit of a spoiler.

[2:40] Alan Seales: Carrying four boxes that all make up the part of the cake. Is that how wedding cakes are actually built? I don't know this.

[2:48] Christiani Pitts: I don't know either. And someone asked me and I was like, I should look it up, but I haven't because if they don't make it that way, I don't want to know that.

[2:56] Alan Seales: Right. You know what I'm saying? So in our world, that is exactly how they make it. And it's really bougie. And then you bring it and then they set it up. I have never seen a wedding cake being assembled. I don't know. I should invent this thing. I'm going to call it the internet and then I'm going to go look it up and I should use that. All right. Yeah, I've never, I've never done that. Anyway. So other people have asked you like that.

[3:16] Christiani Pitts: Yeah. That's funny. Someone asked me that because they were like, why the pressure? Why does she make you do that? Why was it like that? So many questions. I was like, you know, I don't know. I don't know if that's really how it's set up, but in our world, it is.

[3:31] Alan Seales: All right. Well, we'll get back to Two Strangers, air quotes, carrying a cake across New York. But you have been writing, performing, singing since you were about 13, 14, right?

[3:37] Christiani Pitts: Even younger. Yeah. Even younger. I'd say probably like eight or nine.

[3:43] Alan Seales: Really? Yeah. Yeah. Like, well, how did that start?

[3:49] Christiani Pitts: I, so I always say started in church, but not like, yes, I sang in the choir, but I will never forget we did the nativity scene around Christmas and I was playing a cow and I was like, cow number, it was like five of us. So I was just one of the many cows.

[4:00] Alan Seales: Yep. Tree number three from the back.

[4:04] Christiani Pitts: Yep. Quite literally. And I will never, it sounds so silly, but I put on my little cow costume. I saw my, I was like looking at the tail. I was trying to find new things to do with the tail. I was like, oh, this is, I like came alive. Yes. I said, baby, this is about me. Like I literally was like, I didn't, you would've thought I was Jesus or Mary. You know what I mean? I was like, baby, this is my story. So, and I just, I don't know. I just, something about putting on a costume and then going out in front of people. Cause I had played dress up and stuff, but that's when I was like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. This is different. This is different. And then I, and then I used to watch like a lot of Nickelodeon and Disney and, and seeing like, that's a Raven and, and Tia and Tamara and all these people on TV that I was like, that's what I want to do. So at like 13 is when I signed with my first like agent and then I started doing professional work, but like younger than that, I was putting on shows in the basement. I was, you know what I mean?

[4:58] Alan Seales: Wait, wait, wait, but 13, 13, one does not just go out and say like, I'm signing with an agent now. Like, yes, one does.

[5:02] Christiani Pitts: Well, how did that, what was that story? Cause I remember, I remember the movie. There was a specific movie, The Bewitching of Ben Wagner. That was a Disney channel movie when I was like under 10 and they had, it was all about these, these kids. And then it was that movie. I remember very vividly saying, wait a second, this isn't real. These are actors and that's a job that I could do. Like it flipped. And my son, my older son who just turned 11, he had that about two years ago, it was two years ago, whatever the, the live action, the latest Haunted Mansion, Disney movie just came out. That little kid in the Haunted Mansion, he looked at me and was like, wait, dad, that's not, that's not a real kid, is it?

And I was like, what do you mean? Of course it's a real kid. He goes, no, no, no. I mean like, is that kid, and what is it an actor? And I was like, yeah, that's a job. He's getting paid for that. His mind is kind of like, I don't know. But what was, yeah. But do you remember that sort of thing? Like, you know, when you realized you could do it as a job?

[6:02] Christiani Pitts: Yes, I do. I, similar to your son, I had this moment, I was watching, it was, I was watching something on Nickelodeon and they used to always do like the slime games where they would take actors from show and then put them in real life scenarios. So I immediately knew like, oh, they're pretending to be these other people like at a very young age. And then I remember you could go to the studios in Florida and watch shows. And my mom, I don't know if it was a money thing or whatever, but we never went. But she was like, but you, maybe if you were an actor, they would have, you know what I mean? Like maybe there's a way. So not that she gave me the idea, but I think, I think I brought it to her and she just affirmed that like, yeah, this is a thing that you could do.

And so she took me to like all the little scammy, little modeling agencies. You know what I mean? We didn't know, Chow. We were doing everything that you could like, where they, you know, you pay us and we'll butcher. We said, we did those. And it was like, it's a scam after scam after scam. And then I moved to New Jersey when I was 10.

[7:01] Alan Seales: John Robert Powers. Was that one of the, I think that sounds so familiar. I think that was one that I tried to get into. And my parents put their foot down and was like, no, that's scammy.

[7:05] Christiani Pitts: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Why are we paying you $500 for two photos? Mine was like a thousand.

[7:10] Alan Seales: You were here. No, you were North Carolina.

[7:13] Christiani Pitts: Yeah, it was just so many scams and bless my mom's heart. She was like, so, so committed to my little dream. And I, so anyways, I moved to New Jersey when I was nine or 10. I did a Peter Pan. I played Wendy in Peter Pan at my school and an agent came to the show and he was like a New York agent and he saw the show and then he signed me. And I remember being like, I'm, I'm about to be on Disney channel. I thought that was the obvious next step. I said, great. So I'm ready. Nickelodeon here I come. I just signed with an agent. I had no idea what that meant, but yeah.

[8:00] Alan Seales: You just literally, you did Peter Pan. The agent came, signed you. And that, like, that just doesn't happen though.

[8:00] Christiani Pitts: I, you know, I guess not, I guess not, but what's so funny is he came to see me in King Kong and I hadn't seen that man since I was probably, I probably was with him from like nine or 10, no, no, probably like 10 to 13 or 10 to 14, something like that. And I hadn't seen him and he came to see me in King Kong and I was like, oh my goodness, like, thank you for taking a chance on me. But you know what I think, I went to a performing arts sort of elementary school in New Jersey. So I think he maybe had another client in the show or something like that, like another child actor. He was there for another person and, and yeah. And I remember my dad being like, this is a scam. And he was like, no, like, this is, these are my clients. These are my, you know, and, um, and then with him, I did a bunch of commercials.

[8:42] Christiani Pitts: Probably. He was like, oh, y'all not setting me up. You didn't answer my checkbook. No, that's how, actually how it goes. Yeah. But, um, but we did end up signing with him and I, and yeah, it, it kind of changed my life. Cause I think it validated my like dreams.

[8:54] Alan Seales: Wait, did your dad think it was a scam because you didn't have to pay him at first?

[9:00] Alan Seales: Yeah. So even though I didn't, I wasn't on Disney channel, I wasn't on Nickelodeon, I was actively working in New York City. And my dad loves to tell this story about one time. Um, I was supposed to go work a comedy show. Dave Chappelle partnered with somebody and like hosted a kid's standup night.

[9:16] Christiani Pitts: Go on. Okay. I was one of the acts. Interest is peaked.

[9:19] Alan Seales: Yeah. Okay. And baby, I'm, you know, I got a little, I got some chops. One of these days I want to do standup. I don't know.

[9:26] Christiani Pitts: Oh, okay. We'll put a pin in that. We'll come back to that.

[9:26] Alan Seales: Okay. So, um, so yeah, so, so I take it very seriously. I got the standup thing. My, um, there was some miscommunication between my, uh, babysitter and my dad and no one came to get me. So I arranged with the other girl that was in the show on like AOL instant message assumption. I was like, can I curse on here? I'm so sorry.

[9:48] Christiani Pitts: Yeah. On something. And I was like, um, can you come get me? I mean, we, I, I'm about to be a star and in 10 minutes, like you gotta come get me. So she, her, her mom, it's her mom or her babysitter. One of them takes us from New Jersey to New York to this nightclub to do this standup. Okay. My dad gets to the house. You're gone. Nowhere to be found. The babysitter, my dad calls babysitter. Where are you guys? Oh, I'm, I'm home. I didn't, I don't, it was some sort of miscommunication. So my dad panics. He's calling everybody. Somehow he finds out that I am where at a nightclub in New York. Mind you, I'm 12. I'm 11. I'm not old enough to be doing this, any of this by myself.

[10:35] Alan Seales: So he says that he comes into the nightclub. He's freaking out. He's like, Oh, where's my child? And I'm downstairs with my headphones on like this. Like he said, I, the way he tells it is ridiculous, but he's like, he like brushes and they're like, Oh, she's in the basement. He's like, Oh, he goes down and I've got my headphones when I'm like this. And he's like, Tony, like takes the headphones off. And he said that I was like in the zone, listening to music dropping in. Like I was about to go do a Netflix special. Like you couldn't tell me there was like eight people in the audience anyways. That's when he knew that like, Oh, like she waits for nobody. She is not playing with us. How did you get to New York City? Buy your, what is wrong with you? Like, you can't do that. But I see that like, we need to stop playing with you and we need to invest in your career for real and like, not let this happen.

[11:28] Alan Seales: I love that. There's a through line that I've been able to pick out of stories like this over however many hundreds of episodes I've done that it's, it's parents enabling what the kids love, not forcing them to do it because they're not going to do it if they don't want to do it, but it's give it spoiling them to give them the tools they need when they love something. Yeah. And yeah. And your dad all of a sudden realizing like, well, I mean, she can get herself kidnapped and unkidnapped, but she's going to really be doing this.

[11:59] Christiani Pitts: Yeah. Yeah. She's not going to let anybody stop her. Clearly.

[12:03] Alan Seales: How did that night go?

[12:04] Christiani Pitts: It was great. It was great. I did a standup about, I forget the exact jokes, but it was like a whole bit about, um, I was like the only black girl in a summer camp and I would go swimming and I would get out and I'll be really ashy and everybody else didn't look like it was something about that. And it was really funny. And, um, yeah, it went, it was really, it was really fun and very affirming. And then I didn't really do any more comedy until, until probably the Netflix film was the first time I got to like, try to be funny again.

[12:30] Christiani Pitts: I started doing a lot of like dramas, a lot of like, oh no, stuff that I was like, this isn't what I do.

[12:40] Alan Seales: Well, what do you, what do you love to do? Like, I mean, you're on, on stage, you're doing this kind of dramatic stuff.

[12:45] Christiani Pitts: Yeah. I, but see in, in this show I get to do both and that feels great. Yeah. That feels really comfortable to try to get someone's, uh, you know, heart on the edge of their chest where they're feeling really choked up. They got the lump in their throat and then like, relieve it with a laugh. That to me is like, Ooh, that's a sweet spot. And I, and I hadn't found many roles like that for me. Like it was either one or the other. And then this one came along and I was like, Oh yeah.

[13:11] Alan Seales: What was it like for you playing against an inanimate giant gorilla?

[13:16] Christiani Pitts: Uh, where's the, is this the camera? Yeah. Yeah. Um, I'll let you finish. No, I mean like you're on stage with this massive, massive gorilla, which phenomenal puppetry, but we're watching you the whole time. You're pulling focus aside from this great gorilla. Like how did you find that balance? It was, it was really, really wonderful. And then really, really terrifying all at the same time because we rehearsed the show the entire time with the human who was voicing Kong, right? Because obviously you can't get that puppet in new 42. So it was like a, a shock.

[13:59] Christiani Pitts: We had to completely change everything before we had an audience with days to spare. And that was such a huge challenge. It went from being this really intimate, small, beautiful thing to being like, oh, I can't see the top of his head. I can't see him. You know what I mean? So it was really interesting, but it was challenging. It was very, very challenging because it became extremely technical. And I don't think that I personally was able to really melt the two together, the personal intimate connection and the technical connection. So probably about a month into our run.

[14:38] Alan Seales: Well, right. Yeah. Because, I mean, you're going through, what, a month, two months of rehearsal sometimes. And then normally your tech is only a couple days.

[14:46] Christiani Pitts: Right. And our tech was maybe a couple of weeks. But there was, I mean, teching that show was insanity. And it was tech. There was no more room for beats and moments. And how does this change in the space? There was no time for that. It was like, how do we get this 10,000 pound, ton, whatever, to this side of the stage? I mean, it was insanity. It was like being on a ... But you know what? I got myself there. I manifested it. Because before that, I was doing a Bronx Tale and I was like, I want to do an action movie on stage. That's literally what I said.

[15:24] Alan Seales: That's cool.

[15:26] Christiani Pitts: And I had no idea what that meant. An action movie on stage. You should be like, you could do like Bourne Identity, the musical. Let's manifest that.

[15:35] Alan Seales: Honestly? Sign me up. I think that'd be so cool.

[15:38] Christiani Pitts: What? Who's doing the music? Tom Kitt.

[15:43] Alan Seales: Okay. Work. Work. It's a very, very sexy Bourne Identity. That's right. Okay, yeah. Sign me up. We'll do that and see. Kevin DeLagula is going to do some comedy book writing. Get a little humor in there. Anyway. No, that's cool. That's cool. We need to get Lynn in there too for some lyrics.

[16:06] Christiani Pitts: Okay. Okay. I see where this is going. All these people may be a bit busy, but we're going to really try to lock in.

[16:09] Alan Seales: Listen, this is Jason Bourne. Everyone stops for Jason Bourne.

[16:13] Christiani Pitts: Correct. We can have a male and a female.

[16:18] Alan Seales: I was going to say, is it giving Jasmine Bourne?

[16:20] Christiani Pitts: Jasmine Bourne. Is it? Is it?

[16:24] Alan Seales: Or we can just make another character. What if it's completely gender agnostic and it's just whoever's on for that role at the night.

[16:32] Christiani Pitts: Work. Work. That's what I'm saying. That's just what it is. Very much Olaf. Do you remember Frozen?

[16:37] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[16:38] Christiani Pitts: I just recently worked for- Do I remember that little thing? That little show that was incredible. I just did a show with Ryan and she was the first-

[16:44] Alan Seales: Ryan Redman, yeah.

[16:44] Christiani Pitts: Yes. She played Olaf and she sang some of In Summer to my daughter. Now I'm the coolest mom in the world for that.

[16:55] Alan Seales: Right. Right. Right.

[16:56] Christiani Pitts: Don't go anywhere. We're going to take a quick commercial break.

[17:00] Alan Seales: All right, everyone. Now we're back. How's it like being a mom on stage now eight times a week? You're balancing it?

[17:07] Christiani Pitts: Yeah. Yeah. I'm trying. I'm trying. This being a mom has really helped inform the character, which is really cool, even though she's not at all somebody's mom, but she needs a lot of mothering. And so it's really cool to do that sort of work outside of the show. But yeah, it's difficult. It's difficult.

[17:27] Alan Seales: This is the first show you've done after being a mom.

[17:29] Christiani Pitts: Yeah. Yes. Yes. It's the first theater I've done after being a mom. I was really fortunate enough that the third season of my show was filming while I was still pregnant. And they were so awesome to keep shooting. And then they went back and then I had my daughter and they went back and did all my scenes. Isn't that so cool?

[17:50] Alan Seales: That's very cool.

[17:51] Christiani Pitts: So we were on a soundstage and then there was like a little, you know, one month old upstairs. It was so cool. So cool.

[17:59] Alan Seales: I've heard of studios doing things where like, as the woman starts to show more and more that they'll do the wide shots first and then they'll go in for the closeups.

[18:08] Christiani Pitts: Yes. I personally thought they were going to write my pregnancy into the show. I was really looking forward to that. They said, no, don't make sense. Wrap it up and then let's keep going. You know what I mean?

[18:17] Alan Seales: Wrap up this pregnancy.

[18:18] Christiani Pitts: Yeah. Thank you, girl. It's been great. Let's get going. No, they were so wonderful about it. But yeah, this is the first time I've been on stage since. And it is insanity. But everyone's so like, everyone makes my daughter feel like she's in the cast and that she's like in the show.

[18:36] Alan Seales: And how old is she now?

[18:37] Christiani Pitts: She's three.

[18:38] Alan Seales: Oh, that's such a great age. She's going to never forget this.

[18:41] Christiani Pitts: Oh, no. And you can't tell her she's not Robin. So when I get home, she'll take, she'll put my wig on. This is no, no exaggeration. She'll put my wig on. She'll say, Mommy, I'm Christiani, you're Sam. And then she'll make us do moments from the show.

[18:53] Alan Seales: Really?

[18:55] Christiani Pitts: I'm like, why do I always have to be Sam? Can I, can you be Sam?

[18:59] Alan Seales: You are her hero. That is so sweet.

[19:02] Christiani Pitts: It's really, it's really one of these days I'm going to get it on camera. But yeah.

[19:06] Alan Seales: Oh, my goodness. Yeah, that's, that's like its own little whole little social media thing right there.

[19:10] Christiani Pitts: I know. I've been thinking about wanting to share those moments of like, but I don't want to my thing is I don't want to make it look pretty because it's hard. And I am nervous about slicing a get together a video of me picking her up from school, going to the gym and being on Broadway and being like, look, because it's not like if I'm going to do it, I want to make sure I'm being very honest of like, this is these are the resources I use. This is how what a day looks like when I just don't got it. And I have to sleep until it's time to go to work. Like, you know what I mean?

[19:42] Alan Seales: Yeah, yeah. No, I was literally about to say it's like, as a parent myself, I've got two boys that I feel like I don't share a lot of them. I share very little of them because I'd rather be with them in the moment and model that behavior for them rather than being like, hey, you did something cute. Let me share it with other people like this is our thing.

[20:04] Christiani Pitts: Yes. Yeah. I mean, so, you know, I say that kind of flippantly of like, yeah, that'd be a great moment. But like, I actually like that you don't share it. Because that's something that you and your daughter have that she will always remember and value.

[20:16] Alan Seales: Yes. And I can tell she does you can just see those little moments where her little like rich where she's just internalizing something and you're like, Oh, yeah, that's about to be like, that's going to be huge.

[20:27] Christiani Pitts: Would you push her to be on stage too?

[20:29] No, no, I will. I it's like what you said earlier, like I will totally lean into whatever it is that she seems like she wants to do. Like she loves theater right now. But she also like love Spider Man in a way where I'm like, Oh, you want? Oh, you want to be Spider Man? Got it. So I'm leaning in. And what does that look like? I think it looks like gymnastics? Perhaps? I don't know.

[20:49] Alan Seales: Interesting.

[20:53] Christiani Pitts: But she inventor she could be like, you know, Women in STEM.

[20:56] Alan Seales: Yeah, I know. That's right. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. But I yeah, I'm gonna encourage her to do quite literally whatever she wants to do.

[21:04] Alan Seales: That's good. That's good. I think not just you guys like having your inside thing of just like reenacting the show or and then whatever the next show you have, she's going to continue I think to kind of do all this.

[21:16] Christiani Pitts: Yes. Yeah, that's brilliant. It's cool. I was really lucky to do a show called get rolling with Otis, which is a it's a cartoon on Apple TV. Your boys are too old for it. I think I said 11 and held nine and a half.

[21:27] Alan Seales: Okay, they'd be like that turn this off. Because it's for like, babies and toddlers.

[21:33] Christiani Pitts: But I was so excited to show it to her. And ironically, I'm a cow. You just put that together.

[21:38] Alan Seales: Oh, Jesus Lord. I've never made that connection. I'm a cow.

[21:48] Christiani Pitts: Oh, holy. It has come around. It has come around. I'm seeing a little tail.

[21:56] Alan Seales: Oh, my God. Never.

[21:56] Christiani Pitts: Oh, my goodness. Whoa, I'm playing Rosalie a cow. And I got a baby cow. Holy moly. I'd never made that connection.

[22:03] Alan Seales: There you go.

[22:09] Christiani Pitts: But I tried to show it to my daughter and like be like, Oh, she's gonna love this. That's mom. He's like, No, that's a cow. I'm like, No, yes, but okay. So she's very literal.

[22:15] Alan Seales: That's a cow.

[22:23] Christiani Pitts: When you do the voice, do you do is it your voice? Or do you?

[22:27] Christiani Pitts: It's my voice? Yeah. And I'm like, she can't tell. I don't know. I think I think she probably could if she really listened. But I think the idea of me saying like, that's mom, and she clearly sees a cow. I think she was like, Are you okay? Kids are so literal.

[22:41] Alan Seales: Are you good?

[22:46] Christiani Pitts: Yeah, that's a cow. It's funny. They're like my kids. My kids like we'll be watching something and I remember the first the moment that sticks out the most was we were watching greatest showman after I had just interviewed Hugh Jackman on the carpet for music man opening. And I was like, and I showed him a picture. I was like, Hey, look, Dad, you know, I just talked to that guy. And they were like, so and now, now whenever we see people on TV, they're like, Dad, you know that guy? You know that girl? Anybody?

[23:15] Alan Seales: Yeah. I'm like, well, I've met them. I don't know them. Like we're not friends. Like, okay, cool.

[23:19] Christiani Pitts: Oh, but they didn't forget it.

[23:23] Alan Seales: No. And they may be saying that to you. But at school, they're like, Yeah, my dad.

[23:28] Christiani Pitts: That's their norm. That's their norm, though. That's their totally their norm. Like we live in Brooklyn. So like Peter Dinklage is in our neighborhood.

[23:34] Alan Seales: They don't know who any of these people are amongst apart from anyone else.

[23:38] Christiani Pitts: Right, right, right, right. Which is kind of nice. That's probably better that way.

[23:42] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[23:42] Christiani Pitts: Yeah. I mean, they just don't care. Like, really? Oh, man, last night. Last night, we were talking about we're talking about our current with my 11 year old. I was putting my 11 year old to bed. We were talking about our current presidential administration. No joke. No joke. And he asked me a question about about like, why people don't like some people voted for him. And I and I was like, I gave a very neutral answer because I want him to perform his own things. And, you know, talking about like, he's stripping away human rights. And I don't mean this to get like very political, but oh, I'm there. But but my 11 year old, he looks at me, he was like, Why would you do that? Everybody's the same.

[24:20] Christiani Pitts: Everybody's a human talking about being literal. And I was like, exactly. You that makes me so proud. I told him I was like, it makes me so proud that that is your first response. That's your first thought.

[24:31] Alan Seales: And that he knows that to be true.

[24:34] Christiani Pitts: Yeah. Oh, wow. That is. Well, one, you're clearly doing a very wonderful job.

[24:39] Alan Seales: Thank you.

[24:39] Christiani Pitts: And two, I need him to go ahead and join the administration because baby, it's just that simple.

[24:45] Alan Seales: Okay, it is that simple. Like, and the fact that an 11 year old can say that so clearly, and know it to be true.

[24:53] Christiani Pitts: Oh, it came, it came from, it came from conversation. He's got a bunch of stuffies, a bunch of stuffed animals in his bed. And, and once we took a trip to Japan, or about a year ago, and and when we were Japan, we got a stuffed animal that was made in Vietnam. And most of the times he noticed, he's like, most of stuff we get in the United States is made in China. Why? Why is this one made in Vietnam? And we were talking about like, socioeconomics and different and like all sorts of the way that countries partner, you know, trade with each other and like China versus Japan versus, you know, other countries. And, and his mind was just like, and then we started talking about all this stuff. And like, I was like, yeah, our current presidential administration is kind of destroying relationships with blah, blah. He's like, well, how come things don't get made in America? I'm like, well, they do. But it's, you know, it's a lot more expensive because of X, Y, Z. Like he was asking the right question.

[25:42] Alan Seales: I know. I was like, now that I'm getting goosebumps now thinking, telling you the story.

[25:46] Christiani Pitts: Yeah, geez, like his awareness, his attention, the things that he's choosing to pay attention to, and then know that like, I can ask my dad about this. I can find out like, it's not nothing is off the table.

[26:02] Alan Seales: You're raising a future leader, I'm afraid.

[26:09] Christiani Pitts: I'm afraid the way that that thought process is, is we need, we need more of that.

[26:14] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[26:14] Christiani Pitts: Yeah. Anyway. All right. Two strangers. No more politics. Let's talk about two strangers. So what is, what is your favorite thing about this show? Because I think this is like this slow building, I want to call it a cult hit. I think it's going to be this underground kind of cult hit that just continues to build.

[26:24] Christiani Pitts: That's odd. I receive that. I receive that. I think my favorite thing is probably, well, there's a few, but I love the heart that went into the development of this piece. So the writers have been best friends since they were nine. Did you know that? Speaking of kids, no, I did not. Yes. They have been best friends since they were nine. So that is the fabric of the piece. Even though it's about strangers, the amount of like love and like genuine friendship that is like in the fabric of the piece is one of my favorite parts. They are two brilliant minds who just so happen to like grow up together and like cultivate this beautiful like brotherhood even. And yeah, and that's just in the piece. And it's so, it's so funny.

It's so like, there's so many things I love, but I will, I will stick to my two favorites, which is that what's, what's sort of embedded in the piece. And then two, that my character specifically is dealing with some mental health issues and it's, and it's explored in such a hands off way that we are not force-feeding the audience anything. We actually, the word mental, the words mental health or the word depression, we'd never talk about it. It's just her experience. It's her lived experience. And as an actor, I get to sort of tell that truth and go on a journey with the audience that is not overly explained. I love that so much. And it's such a challenge because the show is very funny. And so you never know if people are going there with me or not. I can't tell. I can't tell. And then the

[28:00] Christiani Pitts: I get to speak to people after the show and I get to hear from people and I'm like, oh, okay, great. Awesome. We're doing both things. We're like letting people laugh, but we're also sort of like shining a little bit of a foot, not even a flashlight, just maybe just a little reflection on like, it's okay to not be good. It's okay. Things are kind of, kind of scary right now. And that's fine. And that sometimes not being okay looks like going to work every single day, going out with your friends, showing up like that can also be a sign of I'm not doing so well. Yeah. And we don't that's we don't really see that on stage. So it was so cool to play a character who is going through the like, for the most part, she looks fine.

Yeah. So yeah, long winded answer. Did you talk about that with the creative team specifically about like, you know, this character has characteristics XYZ and then purposely in the story, we're not bringing it out. So like, when you're developing this character, it's part of who this person is. But but she's dealing it just like everybody else who suffers from mental health.

[29:04] Yes, it was nice to talk about it with as we were creating her and creating the show, or developing her, I shouldn't say not creating, developing her. It was nice to talk about because then we were able to like infuse certain layers, like why she's making certain decisions because of what she's experiencing. And so even though what she's experiencing isn't in the script, it's justifying the decision, excuse me that she made that is in the script. So then it informs the way it's played informs the way she responds to the other character to the characters that aren't actually seen, but are very much a part of the show to the city itself. I'd say New York City is like the third character, and how she responds because of her state.

It's just all kind of we talked about it in such great length. And then I think there are ways where it did creep into the writing where it was important to make things a little more explicit. And then other places like no, we're not going to we're not going to say it. It's about how you play it's about where you move your something as simple as how you distribute the weight in your body in response to something, which will not even indicate well, which will like, make sure people understand like, oh, that's extremely uncomfortable.

[30:16] Right, right. leaning back or Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you're right. Yeah, it really is. And it's so I just, it's really, really fun to play because it's so like, also the beauty of being in the Longacre is like, it feels very intimate, regardless of where you're sitting. Yeah. So people can like, lean into those moments, too. I love the the set. The set is is come with simplistically complex.

[30:43] Yes, come on. We're gonna steal that quote. You're gonna see it on the side of the building. Oh, I've never been I've never been a pull quote before. Make it happen. I should really good. The set is simplistically complex. Yeah, with a podcast. But it's really, really cool how everything's put together. And like, I've, I've actually been wondering this and I've never known how do you rehearse a turntable before you have the turntable?

[31:10] Well, they got that they were quite bougie. We had a turntable in every rehearsal space. We've been in even in Cambridge. Yeah, I know. I was shocked because I was ready to like, plug it out, walk in place. And then when we get to tech, actually move but no, we had a turntable in every rehearsal. I remember Yeah, like in high school productions or whatever, you know, you were in rehearsal, like you see the steps. Yeah, mark down a boy like now I'm on the second floor. Literally, yeah, you know, we were theater baby. So we committed. We weren't just gonna walk. We're gonna be like, no, no, no, let's take our time. Yeah, show the levels. Pull up those crinolines. Yeah, there you go. I got it.

Oh, no. Yeah, no, we were it was quite bougie. We had the turntable, we had a mock of the set. So everything Oh, we didn't have suitcases in the rehearsal space. But we had boxes that emulate everything opened up. It was very functional. Very cool, which is really helpful for me because I didn't do it in London. So I think I might have needed all the things.

[32:09] Yeah, it makes sense. Because it's because like you said, it's simple. It's seemingly so simple. But it is so complicated. Yeah, you if you open the wrong suitcase, you're maybe you're screwed or because the because it's moving. If you are like if you get a little disoriented, which happened in rehearsal, and then you turn around, you're like, Oh, wait, I don't know, which I'm in the Bronx now. I need to be literally I need to be in Queens and there's no time for me to get there. There's nobody else in the show. Okay. Yeah.

[32:39] Shoot. Is that is that hard for you to kind of be on stage? This is a two hander. I mean, like the two of you are on stage the entire time. Yeah, like is that is that hard versus other things you've done where you I mean, you get to go off and and grab a sip of water or whatever you're doing? Like, how do you prepare for that versus other things?

[32:56] I'm so, so very in tune with like my body and my health and it's just because there is no downtime. So just saying like super, super healthy, super, super just kind of locked into my physical body. I have to I really, in this show more than anything I've ever done, I have felt so like grounded and connected to myself, which I think is helpful, because there's nowhere to hide. But and transparency, there are moments where we'll be doing the show and I'll kind of just have a moment where I'm like, okay, nobody else is coming out. You know what I mean? And I'll just be like, okay. And it gets a little overwhelming. But it's also again, credit to these beautiful writers and our and our incredible director.

It's it's both written really well. And it's directed really well to the point where it doesn't ever feel like again, it just moves so fast that you look up and then the act is over. And you're like, Oh, okay, here we have water hidden on stage. Yes. Yeah. Yes. Okay. I have not yet. Okay. I don't want to spoil it. But there is an act. No, it's not a spoil. Yes. I drink beer on stage was actually water. Oh, good. Good. Good. Good. In act two, at least. Yeah. And quite literally the end of the show. But I love it. I just I remember like one of the most lack of attempts to hide it, I guess was gruff in just in time. He's just like, I'm just gonna chug this water so I can have more ammunition to spit all over the audience.

Yeah, more. Yeah. Yeah. Dude's got it. Dude's got like a play. A two hander play is one thing a two hander musical. I don't know how you do it. I really don't know how you do it. Wild. I do like, yeah, it's it's it's wild, but it's so doable. And also I will say again, credit to developing those other characters who are in the piece. They're so developed, that when we're talking to them, or when we're referencing them, it feels like they're coming out. Like I had friends who saw it in Cambridge. And we're like, girl, I couldn't believe your sister didn't come out. Like I knew she was coming to tell her side of things. No, girl. No, that's funny. Get that opportunity. Don't go anywhere. We're gonna take a quick commercial break. All right, everyone. Now we're back. What is one of the most interesting or significant pieces of audience feedback that you've heard?

[35:20] Oh, that's a good question. Interesting or significant? I think one of one of the most interesting things is recently I had someone come and share with me that they're, they were there with a group of kids, they were, I'm assuming a teacher, or some sort of caregiver, and teenage kids. And that one of the children was being raised by their grandparents, because something happened to her parents. And that she, the caregiver was telling me that she recently reconnected with her father who she hadn't seen. And she said, I knew nothing about this show, outside of the first song that went viral. And so I brought these people thinking we were getting a very different experience. And she was like, I just want you to know that that little girl who and I signed her playbook, I took a picture with her, but she was like, rushed off.

She was like, I want you know, that little girl had to like muster the strength to come and speak to you because she was weeping. Oh, she felt like that, like she was, she didn't know her story was about to be on this stage about this white man singing in New York. That's all she knew with that, you know. And I think to me, that was like, easily the most interesting thing that's happened because we're not the goal is not to represent anybody. That's not the goal. They didn't set out to do that. However, because they wrote these regular people, like these two characters are so regular, nothing extraordinary about these people. And because of that, they, they're, they're everybody. And that was so affirming.

And I really wish I could have given that little girl a hug, but she was off. She ran away with her friends, but that was probably the most interesting that happened recently. And it's very interesting. And I think also people wanting, asking more questions that don't get answered in the show. And I love, I don't answer them. I'm like, well, what do you, what do you think? That's open to interpretation for a reason.

[37:23] For a reason. And, and of course you have people who don't like that. They want, they want things concrete. And I think there's so much theater that does that. And this show is not that. And I, I personally love that. I love the conversation afterwards or people say, well, I just know this is what happened. I'm like, well. Good for you. Yeah. That's, that's great. I love that. Yeah. I love it. I love it when people make their own definitive decisions when things are left open-ended.

[37:48] Yeah. Yeah. Because that's, that's the whole point.

[37:50] That's the whole point.

[37:51] That's the whole point of all that. I love that.

[37:53] That's the whole point. All right. So as we wrap down here, wrap down, I always say that wind down, wrap down. We wrap down. Oh, I've got plot in 60 seconds. We're going to play a little game.

[38:05] Oh Lord.

[38:05] Christiani Pitts: So.

[38:06] Alan Seales: So bad at games.

[38:07] Christiani Pitts: Well, this is fun because you can make it up. There's, there's no rules except you got to have fun. All right. And you have 60 seconds. I guess that's another rule. All right. So I have a list of 17 popular musicals. Give me a number one through 17 that will correspond to the musical on my list. I will tell you what you picked. You give me the plot to that in 60 seconds or less.

[38:26] Christiani Pitts: Oh Lord. Jesus. Okay.

[38:29] Alan Seales: One to 17.

[38:30] Christiani Pitts: One to 17. Excuse me. Six.

[38:32] Alan Seales: Six is Les Mis. Go.

[38:34] Christiani Pitts: Six seconds remaining.

[38:34] Oh Lord. Okay. There's a revolution and, um, and, and it's a big one and it takes place in France. And there is a young girl named Ephonine who's the only person I know much about. And she has a really beautiful song. And, um, and, um, I think everyone should go see it. Oh no, Jean Valjean is in it. And, uh, and you know, he's a big deal. And, um, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And, um, um, all I literally know is that it's done.

[39:02] 24601.

[39:03] Yes. That's it.

[39:04] Alan Seales: Near the end of the day or another day older.

[39:06] Christiani Pitts: Correct. And, um, um, Ephonine sings about being on her own. And, and shaves her head.

[39:14] Alan Seales: Yeah. Right. Yeah. I've never seen it.

[39:17] Christiani Pitts: Really?

[39:17] Alan Seales: No, I've never seen it.

[39:19] Christiani Pitts: Wow.

[39:20] Alan Seales: I know. I didn't even see the movie.

[39:22] Christiani Pitts: You're not missing much.

[39:23] Alan Seales: But I feel like I am because I want to play Eponine.

[39:26] Christiani Pitts: Okay. Okay.

[39:26] Alan Seales: But I probably should know about it if I want to play it, huh?

[39:29] Christiani Pitts: Yeah. Yeah. Okay. You need to go see it. Go see it. Watch yourself.

[39:34] Alan Seales: Watch the film.

[39:35] Christiani Pitts: Send me your reaction video and let me know what you think.

[39:37] Alan Seales: Okay. Why should you be weeping?

[39:40] Christiani Pitts: I mean, the story is good.

[39:42] Alan Seales: Yeah. Oh, is it?

[39:44] Christiani Pitts: Yes. The story is phenomenal.

[39:46] Alan Seales: It is a bit of a hit, I'd say.

[39:47] Christiani Pitts: Yeah, it's a little bit. I think it's going places. Uh, okay. Three standard closing questions.

[39:53] Alan Seales: Okay.

[39:54] Christiani Pitts: First one simply is just what motivates you.

[39:56] Alan Seales: Oh, family. Family. I love my family. I love feeling like I'm making them proud. They really invested in me as a kid. And so to know that I'm still doing this, it feels really good. And I feel like I want to make it so that I can take care of them. They hear that mom and dad, that scammy money paid off.

[40:13] Alan Seales: That's good. That's good. All right.

[40:15] Christiani Pitts: I'm going to get your scam back.

[40:16] Alan Seales: What advice would you give to your younger self and younger people listening now starting out down a similar path?

[40:21] Christiani Pitts: Oh, I would advise people to understand that, um, you are never going to be everybody's cup of tea. And that is perfectly fine. There are things about you that make you special, that make you a star, that make you unique and lean into those things. Because those are the people who have more success. It's the people who find the things that light them up. Right. And they invest in that versus trying to be what everybody else wants you to be. Because it's not, it's not who you're supposed to be. So I just advise you to lean into that.

[40:51] Alan Seales: All right. All right. Uh, let's see. The answer to the next question, obviously, is going to be Les Mis. But if you only see one show for the rest of your life, but you can see it as many times as you want, what would you see?

[41:01] Christiani Pitts: Aida.

[41:02] Alan Seales: Aida.

[41:02] Christiani Pitts: Easy. Imagine I say Les Mis. I've never seen them. Les Mis.

[41:06] Alan Seales: Over and over again. Aida. Easily.

[41:09] Christiani Pitts: Yes. Good one. Good one. Good one. Good one. All right. Where can we connect with you online? Where can we find you?

[41:13] Christiani Pitts: You can find me at Christiani World on Instagram. Christiani Pitts on Facebook. I'm still on Facebook. Everybody want to laugh at me. I don't care. I am on Facebook. I am proud and I will read your messages. And that's really it. I have TikTok. I don't use it.

[41:30] Alan Seales: Yeah, that's where you can find me.

[41:31] Christiani Pitts: Well, I am online at Red's Instagram, TikTok. I'm on Facebook too. I don't read messages as often as I should.

[41:37] Alan Seales: We are here in the welcome to timesquare.com studio. Thanks for the use of this lovely space. Thanks to Jukebox the Ghost for the intro and outro music you are hearing now. And Christiani, thank you so much for joining us.

[41:50] Christiani Pitts: Thank you so much for having me. This is so much fun. So much.