Over the next 2 weeks, we will be highlighting the FLEX actresses who make up the “Lady Train” team’s starting lineup. Check back for more Q&As with members of the cast!
Name: Christiana Clark
Role in FLEX: Coach Francine Pace
Basketball position on the team: Coach
What do you have in common with your character?: I’m also a former athlete - volleyball, basketball, softball. I find myself coming into the big cousin/auntie phase of life, so the passing on of life experience to up-and-coming young Black women is present and important to me.
What is your character’s “pump-up” song?: "He's All Over Me" by Whitney Houston, Shirley Caesar and Georgia Mass Choir, from The Preacher’s Wife Soundtrack
A personal memory from high school: At the start of my senior year, my family moved to a small town in Pennsylvania for my Dad’s job, so I went from the south side of Chicago to a tiny one stoplight town on the edge of Amish country where horse and buggies shared the roads. It was a complete 180 of existence and I can still smell the manure and pig smell from the mushroom farms. One of the most significant things about that year was that they didn’t have volleyball, so I did the school play and then the musical and was awarded "most improved actor."
Another stand-out moment related to doing theater was in my senior year. It being the town that it was, I was one of the only two Black students in the entire school, and while waiting in the hallway to audition for The Sound of Music, a parent of a student I had worked with during the fall play asked me what I was doing and made a point to say that “you know, historically…" I never forget how unwelcome that made me feel. As I have journeyed through this career, the importance of representation and fully flashed diversity is charged by that memory.
3 adjectives to describe FLEX: Energetic, Captivating, Real
Favorite 90s style: Bright colors and geometric design prints.
Stay tuned and read the LCT Blog for more exclusive Q&As with members of the FLEX cast! And get tickets to FLEX - now through August 20 at the Newhouse.
Photos by Ambe J. Williams
