Atlantic Ave June 2023

You get to look at
yourself through
so many different
lenses, and it helps
to solidify who you
are as a human…
or it changes you.
lived or may still be living, and Thompson describes how he
tackles both.
“Smokey (Robinson) was around, Smokey saw the show (Ain’t
Too Proud). There’s a respect that has to happen when it’s a real
person. You always want to do justice and honor people that
went through hell and high water for us to even do a show about
them, especially when they are heroes in our community. There’s
a care, a very gentle way you have to hold that role in your hands.
I wasn’t going to walk into the Smokey Robinson role and make
up my own voice. With a character that’s not a real living person,
you can kind of throw them around and try different things.
What you can do with a fictional character is figure out how to
find their humanness and realness. It’s the difference between
pottery and clay-making. Someone that’s actually lived… it’s
already been started, so you have to continue to mold it. With
fiction, it’s brand new. You have to slam that clay down and
make sure it’s stuck on there before you can get going.”
Mainstream media has an opportunity to redesign the future
when it comes to thoughts and behaviors concerning race in
America. The growing number of Black performers on Broadway
around the world, proves live theater has gotten the message.
“I think it’s the greatest responsibility and the greatest
opportunity I have - that by just existing, I can guarantee the
chance for the next me… and for the next me to not have to think
about whether they would be cast. I don’t think any actor of
color takes the responsibility of representation lightly. I started
off thinking Fiyero was not a part to go after because there were
so very few of us, and now I can add my name to that list and
make it a little bit longer. To be in those shoes is both exciting
and a weight, but it’s a weight worth bearing. It’s something
we have to do, and something we get to do. There’s good things
happening on the horizon, but we still have to work for it to
continue - not only on stage, but also with crew members and
creatives. There are a lot of incredible people fighting that fight
every day, and I’m glad to be amongst them.”
To embody an entity that you were not born as, night after
night, you must lose yourself and reinvent your way of thinking.
“I think all of these characters live in me constantly, and
I’m always learning something new about myself through the
people I play. I think that’s one of the gifts of being an actor. You
get to look at yourself through so many different lenses, and it
helps to solidify who you are as a human… or it changes you.”
Christian Thompson’s impressive resumé combined with
his effervescent capacity for greatness, proves he can only
accelerate from here.
“I want to see how far I can take it. I think that little kid at
eight years old who said, ‘this is what I want to do,’ would be
very disappointed if he knew that I got to this level and then said,
‘alright I’m good here.’ I was fortunate enough to understudy a
lead role in Ain’t Too Proud on Broadway but haven’t had a lead
myself yet. There’s a lot that I’m excited about with my writing,
which is a brand-new wrinkle in this career of mine - you know,
there’s always a new goal. I’m constantly trying to remind myself
to enjoy the moment I’m in, but striving for the next thing,
whether that be a Tony Award or another show. But the big
epiphany I had in the past year or so, is to not put a cap on what’s
possible, and try to enjoy the ride while I see what comes true.”
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www.AtlanticAveMagazine.com | JUNE 2023 | 55