Jade Litaker
Interview Highlights
It’s important for Black people to be able to see themselves represented onstage as characters who can win.
Black femininity is complex because Black women are excluded from white femininity.
The empathy and patience we develop as parents are assets to the theatre industry.
Theatre must be made more accessible through ticket pricing and technology.
Find Jade Online:
Instagram: @jadenyc95
Jade’s Current and Upcoming Work:
Check out Jade’s Cosette on Instagram! Take a moment to reimagine who Cosette can be, and then hire Jade for your upcoming production of Les Mis! :-)
Bio
Jade Litaker (she/they) is an actor, singer, and mom. They were in the Off-Broadway comeback performance of BARE: A Pop Opera in 2019 and have since done MANY performance art pieces in the Off-Off-Broadway circuit. She was seen in RENT as Joanne before the pandemic, where they were described as "satisfyingly consistent." She has provided vocals for demos, studio albums, and classrooms all over NYC.
“I’m working on challenging perceptions of how Black women can be, what Black women can accomplish, and who can fall in love with Black women.”
Jade’s Creative Journey
Hayley: We are here with the talented and fabulous Jade Litaker. Jade, please introduce yourself, share your pronouns and tell us a bit about what you do in the theatre world.
Jade: My name is Jade Litaker, I use she/they pronouns. I am a singer at core who learned how to act and has rhythm. I will not call myself a dancer.
Hayley: Jade, how did you come to your creative work?
Jade: It’s interesting because I do not consider myself good at impressions as an adult, but as a kid, I did impressions of singers all the time. One of them was Audra McDonald. I would watch Annie and make fun of her. It wasn’t because I was like, “This lady can’t sing.” It was because I was like, “Wow, this lady is so cool, I want to be just like her.” When I was a kid, singing was just a thing that I did for fun. Then when I was 12, a teacher said, “You should consider auditioning for this festival, only a couple of kids get chosen every year.” I did it, then I auditioned for an All-State opportunity and I was picked for that. Then I began classically training, and I was like, “Okay, I’m not just poking fun at Audra anymore. Now I kind of want to be her.”
I was 12 or 13, and I found what I was supposed to be doing. I was painfully shy, so I wasn’t auditioning for regional theatre or anything like that. But I was really interested in it, and I loved training and performing in choirs and doing competitions. When I was 15, a teacher found out that I was scoring really high at competitions, and he asked, “Why have you not done a musical at the school?” And I felt like, everybody auditions, I don’t know if I would get in. I thought, “What’s the point? I can do chorus and competitions and coach and feel fulfilled.” Then I auditioned, and the last two years, I did musicals and I got leads, and I thought, “I like it here.”
Then I went to college and I was studying opera. I liked it, but there’s something about musical theatre. I felt, “There’s more to be explored here.” So I switched over to musical theatre. And then my senior year, I gave birth to my son, and I was like, “I don’t really know what I want to do. I know that I want to sing, but I don’t know if I want to do opera or be in musical theatre.” Ultimately, my path has unfolded, and it’s been mostly musical theatre and mostly pop rock-centered shows, which is fine. But I think a part of me really wants to have a legit role on my resume.
Hayley: Jade’s got a phenomenal Cosette.
Amy: I believe it. Life is long. And the thing about opera is that in ten years, you’ll age into all the roles you’re right for, right?
Jade: That is so true. I don’t know where they would put me right now. That was part of my issue of why I wasn’t rushing toward it, like “Where would I even go?” But as long as I’m singing, generally I’m fulfilled. Pretty low maintenance.
Jade’s Creative Mission
Hayley: Jade, what is your creative mission?
Jade: When I think about my mission, I think about Audra and Anika Noni Rose and Nikki Renée Daniels. I think about icons in theatre who are so themselves the whole time. And when young Black girls look at them, they can see themselves as Bobby or as Carrie Pipperidge. They can see themselves as the person who wins, as the flawed character who is trying to figure it out. That’s very true to the human experience.
Even now, in 2022, I still get called in for roles that are just plot devices and not real people, and I think as a Black theatre maker, that’s very common. My mission is to challenge people’s thinking and make them realize that chubby people can go on adventures and have people fall in love with them. They can also happen to be Black. They can also happen to have many flaws and things that society sees as issues.
At this point in my career, I’m trying to establish myself as somebody who can tell those stories. It’s challenging, because I’m still getting started. I just started working professionally in 2019, so there are not too many people who know me yet. I’m working on challenging perceptions of how Black women can be, what Black women can accomplish, and who can fall in love with Black women.
That’s my mission right now, and I’m thinking about what I can do to support it, because casting - they are just looking at my headshot. That’s fine, there are stories for Black people that still need to be told. But there are also stories where the race isn’t stated for a certain character. Well, if that character is winning and I can sing it, why not?
Hayley: Right, like white doesn’t need to be the default.
Amy: And thin doesn’t need to be the default.
Jade: Exactly. When Les Mis announced auditions for the tour, I was like, “I’m going in for Cosette." And I asked a friend for their thoughts, because I didn’t want to look stupid and then be called in for Madame Thenardier or something. There is nothing wrong with that. But I do think chubby women can be Cosette and shine and be beautiful and be amazing. My friend challenged me and said, “You need to do this. You need to do what you’re good at, and you’re a good soprano.” So I said okay.
I never heard anything, and I knew that I wasn’t going to, given who was casting it and how many people have walked in Cosette before and what they looked like. I knew I wasn’t going to get a callback. But I did get the courage to post it on Instagram, and I think that challenged a lot of people and forced them to acknowledge that someone like Jade could win. Someone like Jade could tell this story about an unproblematic soprano who is just existing. And we should be allowed that.
Hayley: Absolutely. Thank you for sharing that - you’re doing really important work, and I think you’ll inspire lots of people. You inspire me.
Amy: That’s such a cool way to use social media platforms, to give people a different vision of what characters can be, of what actors can do.
Jade: I totally agree. Someone that I think of often in this mission is Sis. She’s a beautiful woman with a beautiful voice who happens to be trans, and she is leading an iconic role in musical theatre, which is just incredible. When I think about what my goals are, I always try to think about people like her or Audra - really iconic Black women in theatre who are succeeding. Because if they can do it, I can do it.
Amy: Absolutely.
Thoughts on Womanhood and Identity
Hayley: Jade, how does womanhood fit into your identity?
Jade: This is really complicated. When I share this experience with other Black women, they know what I mean. Society programs us into thinking that womanhood, femininity, is so white-centered. I’m an extremely feminine person. But I’ve had a lot of difficulties feeling feminine because I wasn’t white. And I wasn’t able to relate to a lot of what white women were going through in relation to their femininity because it didn’t include me. In fact, it excluded me.
A lot of Black women are either sexualized or masculinized by white people and society. When someone refers to me as “they/them,” it kind of represents my rejecting that and not relating to that. But the experience of a Black woman walking through life is true to my experience. So I do feel like a Black woman, but I have difficulty relating to what is considered “feminine,” if that makes sense. Usually Black femmes or women who may feel othered by society know exactly what I mean and share that experience. But I hope that makes sense.
Hayley: Thank you for sharing that and doing the labor of explaining it to us.
Jade: Of course.
Amy: What does femininity look like to you? How do you express being feminine?
Jade: It’s interesting, because I’ve always been someone who struggled with expressing my femininity, and then theatre just made that worse.
Amy: It’s such narrow roles.
Jade: Yeah, it made it so much worse for me in terms of being seen as feminine. A lot of my dream roles are ingenues, and to be told, “That’s not you” - that’s really damaging. It’s like, (sings) “I think this is affecting me mentally.” With musical theatre, I really had to figure out: What is “feminine” to me? As an adult, I’m still trying to figure it out. Like the other day, I was thinking, “I can’t wait till it’s warm out because then I can wear all the skirts and dresses I want.” Does that make me feminine, or does that make me a person who likes clothes? I don’t know.
I’m listening to a lot of podcasts about decolonizing your mind and your way of thinking about certain things. And I think I’m decolonizing the way that I think about femininity, so it’s really hard for me to think about what makes me feel feminine. Other than the fact that I just walk the planet and am feminine. But yeah, musical theatre needs to stop. I’m afraid that a lot of the conversations over the last two years were happening in vain.
Amy: I hope not. I think work always has an influence. It might not be the influence we want, or as strong as we want, but the arc of the moral universe bends toward justice, right? I’ve got to be optimistic.
Jade: I absolutely agree with you, I would like to think that. I just don’t think it’s showing right now. Talking is wonderful, but I think there also needs to be intention behind it. We’re seeing that sometimes, and as you said, progress is progress, even if it’s slow.
Hayley: I would like to see more than the needle waver.
Jade: Totally. But I think until we get more people in charge who have that perspective, we might be waiting a bit.
Thoughts on Mentorship and Parenthood
Hayley: Jade, have you had influential mentors who have helped you along your journey?
Jade: Yes, I’ve had so many people in my life who have been mentors and friends. I was mentored a little by Brittney Johnson when the pandemic first began. How she navigates the industry is something that should be in a handbook for all Black children to read, because she’s so smart and wonderful. My friend Lauren Elder, who was in Hair and Side Show on Broadway, she’s really great.
My current agent, Arbender Robinson, he’s a Broadway veteran. Every piece of advice he gives me, my brain just soaks it up and I’m so grateful for the input. My vocal coach Alexa Green, she’s always giving me really valuable takeaways and opinions. And I have a beautiful new friend, Analisa Leaming, who is a Broadway actor and life coach who has been working with me on self-esteem in addition to controlling and managing my feelings so they don’t control me.
It’s nice to have a supportive team who say, “You want to do this? Let’s do it.” Having mentors who believe in you is the best thing in the world. I’m trying to do that a little bit more for myself too.
Hayley: How do you balance being a mom with your creative work and the rest of your life?
Jade: I’m so glad to meet more moms in theatre.
Amy: It feels like there are so few of us!
Jade: I’m trying to find more. As I navigate auditions and shows, I’m always looking for parents. It’s nice to have that community, and I don’t really have it yet in theatre. So I'm looking.
It’s really hard. I’ve never really been a time management person. I am just not very Type A, I’m very relaxed and laid back. And when you have a kid, you have to kind of have it together. So when I had him, and I was in my senior year and I had my thesis to do, I really had to get it together. I had to challenge myself and be disciplined enough to have a schedule and a routine and stick with it. Five years later, I’m still struggling with it. Time management has never really been my friend, but it is probably the best thing that I can put my energy toward to make this a little easier to deal with.
Motherhood did change me as a person. I’ve become a lot more patient, not just with him but with myself. It’s forced me to have more empathy. I am able to not take things so personally. I think that’s really helpful in this industry - not just in dealing with auditions and rejection, but in finding a character’s story. Putting yourself in the character’s shoes and understanding that maybe they’re not doing the best things, but there’s a reason behind it, and you’re able to support that. That’s why villain characters are so tricky, because you’re forced to find the humanity behind a monster. Being more empathetic has absolutely helped me with that.
Amy: I love that. We need to talk about the ways that being parents informs our creative work and makes it better. It’s not just an obstacle or another thing we have to juggle.
Jade: I absolutely agree. I can’t say, “Everyone should be a parent.” But I do think that having a tiny child will tell you a lot about yourself.
How to Improve the Theatre Industry
Amy: Jade, if you could change the theatre industry to make it a better industry to work in, what would that look like?
Jade: Something that RENT did many years ago was $20 tickets. We need to bring that back. There is no reason why Hamilton has such a high volume of Black people in it and none of us can go and see it. There’s probably reasoning behind it, but I think that’s so weird. People actively training and theatre professionals should be able to see it. I saw on Instagram that some of the cast members of Company are partnering together to make the show accessible.
Hayley: Yes, I’ve had a few friends see it for free. They’re doing ticket giveaways on Instagram. It’s wonderful, I’d love to know more about how that happened.
Amy: When I moved to New York, the RENT tickets were still $20. And now the lottery and rush tickets start at $50. That’s not accessible, and literally the point of those tickets was to be accessible.
Jade: Yes. This is a controversial opinion, but we gotta get over the bootleg thing. I would spend all my money on pro-shot musicals. I would buy a pro-shot of literally anything I was interested in that was on Broadway. And I’m sure other people would too. But until more pro-shots are available, we’ll have to work hard to make theatre accessible, and part of that temporary solution might include bootlegs. There are people all over who don’t have any exposure to musical theatre other than this. And if you’re not going to price tickets in a way that is accessible for everybody, it’s classist. It’s elitist. I understand, people need to be present during the show. But there are some people who don’t get to see the show, period.
Amy: That's a good point. There are multiple ways to make theatre accessible. And there are multiple ways that it feels like the industry is actively trying to not make theatre accessible.
Jade: I saw a bootleg of Mean Girls and thought, “I want to see this! This looks really fun and cool!” And then I bought tickets and saw it. What opposite effect do they think is happening?
Hayley: It will still never be the same as the live show to see it on a bootleg or even a pro-shot. You can’t replicate live theatre. So to your point, Jade, the people who can afford it or want to afford it will work to save money and go see it, sometimes even because of the bootleg.
Amy: In today’s world, everything is online. People are making musicals on social media. There is no way that we could possibly - nor should we - try to confine musical theatre to these specific physical spaces.
Jade: Exactly. I see professional actors sharing their performances and experiences online. I think that’s valid.
Final Thoughts
Hayley: Jade, what are you most proud of in your life?
Jade: I used to be really afraid of being an individual. I didn’t want to stand out and make waves. Something I’m proud of now is that I was able to find my voice in the pandemic, and I was able to find things that I truly care about. Now I’m able to be extremely candid about issues that are important to me. I think I was so afraid of conflict that I was not able to share how I truly felt about things, and I had a deep fear of being vulnerable. I’ve sat with it long enough that now, I’m really proud of the person that I’m becoming, that I’m growing into.
Hayley: Thank you so much for sitting down with us today and getting vulnerable with us, Jade. We are so grateful and humbled to hear you talk about your experience, and we really appreciate it.
Jade: Thank you so much for having me. Support Black actors, support trans actors, support Black trans actors. Bye!
