We caught up with the brilliant and insightful CJ Critt a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, CJ thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
A decade ago, I became aware of the growing climate crisis, and the declining bee population – sort of the canary in the coal mine – of eco-alarms. As a life long creative and a native born tree hugger from Oregon, I felt an urgency to address this crisis, but how to do it in a way that does not lecture, scold, or depress audiences? The goal – create a show that presents a diverse cast, entertains wildly, while slyly educating the audience into looking at mother nature and her bees in a positive way. as the heroes triumph and the villains meet their hilarious comeuppance.
With a career of work behind me, many musicals, staff writing job for Disney, teaching and recording for decades, I find joy is what lasts and sustains me as a person and artist. Create it, deliver it, and audiences will readily come on board.
Musical theater is a form of collective joy that feeds my soul and keeps audiences entertained and tapping their toes while absorbing a message or story, and this is what led me to dream up and develop The Pollinators, my over the top, pop rock, creature feature musical, that is a nod to period gem, Little Shop of Horrors with a dash of sex-positive Judd Apatow stoner comedy.
With a team of four composers – Rebecca Cordes and Barry Young here in DFW, Morgan Clarke of Toronto, CA, and John Prestianni of NYC, we have had numerous area readings at the Oak Cliff Cultural Center, The Wild Detectives and most recently at the KD Black Box Theater.
We await full production and collaboration with area theaters – but me, and the Bees, are ready!
CJ, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I got my start in New York City back when dinosaurs roamed the subways. Or over 40 years ago. Been there, done that, pretty much describes my professional past, from graduation at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, bad dinner theater and summer theater jobs, to Broadway as a cast member of Waltz of the Stork, Off Broadway revivals such as Plain and Fancy and Promises, Promises, to new works in regional theater such as Magic To Do, and wild comedy such as El Grande De Coca Cola, feeling at home on the stage comes naturally. And as a big blonde with good timing, I stood out back in the day and was fortunate to score dozens of network and local commercial jobs as an actress demonstrating the dishwashing detergent or drinking Dr. Pepper, etc, Not having to wait tables, I began to write and mount cabaret and theater productions in NYC before marrying and coming to Oak Cliff in 1990. Here I continued to work on stage and create new shows, but then I entered audio books as a narrator and have recorded over 200 titles from suspense to picture books. Writing for Radio Disney for nearly 16 years also brought me to coaching, and I have been teaching and coaching voice artists, young actors, and aspiring writers for the last 7 years. I wear several creative hats from copy editing, to pro narration, to creating lyrics on the spot, to helping actors learn the craft of voice acting. Most recently I have been recording anime character voices, from sweet grannies to deranged rulers for area studios like Sound Cadence and Funimation. All in all – it’s a life! And a creative one for sure.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
Joy in creating and joy in sharing that creation with others, is the best part of being an artist. There is no price tag on that. You can be well paid and have zero joy, work for nothing and feel validated and elated with a project and even pay to put on your precious work, and be simply thrilled that you got it all together and pulled it off. I am all for monetizing your work, but better yet, the power of joy will lead to income, often as not, and make one attractive to others offering work and opportunity.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
Some creative partners are not worth the investment. They may be super talented, but their need to self sabotage, ‘be right,’ or simply protect themselves from judgement, may mean they will never get to the finish line with you on a project and you may have to let them go, or re-think your time on a particular project – such as, see the reality of who and where they are, detach, do not take it personally (hard to do in the moment) and the reassess or simply move on. Not easy when in the midst of crisis (a crime they will engineer, no doubt) but…So worth it when that troubled soul is in the rearview and not driving you insane and actively holding you or the project back.
Contact Info:
- Website: website: http://cjcritt.com
- Facebook: Cj Critt
Image Credits
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