Stoked for Stokes
Roxi Goldblatt, the editor-in-chief of The Delta Nus, interviews Kristin Stokes, fresh off her final run as Annabeth Chase in The Lightning Thief and her 54 Below Solo debut. 📷 by Perle Goldblatt
When Kristen Stokes took the stage at 54 Below earlier this month, we walked in not quite knowing what kind of show to expect. When we left, we were once again blown away by her insane talent and brilliant presence.
We, like many others, mostly knew her from the Lightning Thief musical, where she perfectly portrayed “wise girl” Annabeth Chase.
Other things we knew about Kristin: She’s kind. She’s humble. She has killer Instagram instincts. She’s fun. She’s vegan. She loves her castmates. She’s wicked talented. And she’s quirky.
I (Roxi) first learned who Kristin was after I moved to New York and in with my sister Perle (The Delta Nus creative director) and our friend Selethel. These two women turned me from someone who enjoyed theatre immensely to someone who was consumed by it.
All of a sudden I was discovering off-Broadway and Broadway-adjacent and niche-musical theatre and casts and crews, etc. And cast albums.
Perle and Selethel saw The Lightning Thief when it was in New York long before it went on tour or came to Broadway. And they told me about it (I’m a huge fan of the books). And then they introduced me to the cast album.
I started following Kristin on Instagram and got these wonderful little glimpses into her life both in and out of the theatre (her tour announcement video where Athena called her inviting her on a quest was the cutest thing ever).
I first met her outside of the Broadway Fights Back/March for Our Lives benefit concert at Town Hall and she seemed surprised and humbled that while others were flocking the stage door, Perle and I seemed most eager to meet her.
I next got to interview her on press day prior to the tour starting as part of my former job as a Westchester-based journalist. Since the newspaper’s focus was regional, my article was actually about Chris McCarrell, who played Percy in the musical and conveniently lived in Sleepy Hollow.
The next time I met Kristin was on my birthday. I had messaged her on Instagram and asked her if it would be possible for us to visit her backstage. She agreed and it was AH-MAZING! (I’d never been backstage or on a Broadway stage before so it was kind of the perfect birthday present).
When Lightning Thief closed, I was curious to see what was next for the members of this cast. I figured many, especially the two leads, were not going to go back on tour (“You've got to end with Broadway,” Kristin said).
Then Kristin posted on her Instagram about her solo debut at 54 Below and we made plans to go. She took the stage, looking like a goth goddess in a long-flowy black dress and sang her heart out. She sang duets with friends (including Chris McCarrell and Jane Bruce (Jagged Little Pill)) and sang a wide selection of songs that gave glimpses into her life’s journey.
A few days after the show, we got together with Kristin to talk about her solo debut and what’s next for her.
Here is that exclusive interview: (Transcript has been edited for length and clarity).
The Delta Nus: How do you feel having made your 54 Below solo debut?
Kristin: It feels awesome. It's kind of a big feat because I have imagined having a concert, singing in the car, and I'm like: “Oh yeah, I could do this.” And then you're putting this together and you're: “Oh my gosh, so much outside work.” And I wanted to be as well-rehearsed as possible because that's the thing … Suddenly you're doing these songs and you're “I kind of know them” and then you sing them and you're “Oh, do I know them?” And every song you're like, “oh, but I gotta navigate how I'm singing it” and then the macro, how do I sing that song knowing I have this giant song coming up at the end?
It was a lot but it was so fun and it was so cool to do it. I had a lot of help. Wiley (DeWeese), who’s the music director on Lightning Thief … he was amazing. And Jason Blitman helped produce it. So he was a great person for me to (ask) what about this? Do I get to do this? If I had to do it all by myself, I don't know. I don't know how it would have gone. Stressful.
The Delta Nus: How did you decide who's gonna come up and sing with you?
Kristin: I think I had some people in mind. I wanted to do a duet with Chris (McCarrell) because we really didn't get to do one in The Lightning Thief. We were on stage with each other and singing group songs, but we don't have a duet. I wanted to make it an unromantic duet and then I was like, well, dur dur dur, we have to do Spring Awakening. It's so perfect for both of us. So that was kind of a no-brainer. That was one of those moments where I was like: This is fitting into the show, even if (it doesn’t quite fit) my overarching story.
And then I knew I wanted to sing with my friend Jane (Bruce). She's an amazing singer-songwriter. We worked on a show together a couple of years ago and she's incredible. I just knew that our voices would sound good together cuz we have a similar folk, rocker vibe going on. And so I was on the hunt for a song that we could sing together. And then I also wanted to showcase my friend Preston Allen, who wrote that “Agent 355” song. All the songs in that show are amazing. And that's just how he writes. He's just an amazing songwriter. And I wanted to showcase him as well. And that's a song I don't get to sing in the show and so I had to have my girls up there with me.
The Delta Nus: You’ve been Annabeth Chase for the past six years. What’s next for you?
Kristin: I'm excited to do a bunch of other new projects. I'm excited for the next new musical that I get to help develop in the next six years. I just love that type of stuff. The (solo concert) was also kind of fun. Everyone mainly knows me from Lightning Thief and singing these types of songs. So here's all the other colors of things that I love and listen to and so I'd love to be able to do other types of musicals.
The Delta Nus: You’ve been at this awhile and you just finished a Broadway run. What advice would you give to people starting off in this business?
Kristin: It just takes a lot of energy, a lot of stamina and mental toughness. You gotta keep pursuing it. There's going to be a lot of setbacks and there's going to be so many things that everyone's telling you that you should be or this is the in thing now. You just gotta trust that you are the in thing. You have to lead your own way, follow the projects that you like. I feel like I got to Broadway by saying yes. I just feel like you never know where something is going to lead to and if I'm getting the green light for a project... like Lighting Thief, it started off as a kid’s one-hour production, but they kept offering me more and more opportunities. It was really fun too. I think if it would have been horrible people or a bad show and things that don't fit with my energy, this doesn't align with me, but if things are aligned with you, you gotta go with it. You never know what's gonna happen. So hone your skills and then just keep saying yes.
The Delta Nus: And what do you do to ensure positive mental health when you’re not working?
Kristin: I do a lot of yoga, meditation. I try to keep active creatively. This concert was a wonderful thing to kind of dive into literally immediately after (Lightning Thief) closed because it was a way to funnel all this creative energy that I have. And I try to get on board or help with friend’s creative projects. I try to plan things and give myself structure. I think that's the hardest thing. You are given structure every day and then all of a sudden, there’s nothing, so I need to make sure I have a structure.
The Delta Nus: How did you hone your social media skills?
Kristin: It's such a fun tool. It's kind of like a live journal. This is what I'm doing. I just think about the things that I would be curious about, or I think about my friends who aren't in New York or whatever. This is what I would want to show them or this is something funny. And then it's also kind of like its own medium where I'm pseudo-directing my life. And if it's big, I want to capture this moment. Also, I have Ashley Latimer. now we can talk about her, to thank too, because when we were off-Broadway… They had me be the social media captain so that was kind of how I got on board with being so active social media-wise. Ashley was doing a lot but she couldn't get everything and so when she wasn't there it was always me. All the videos, all the photos, all that stuff when Ashley isn't there is all me and then I'd send it to her and she'd post it. And so we became like this little team or she'd give me assignments. And so just kind of by working with each other, she's such a mastermind, that rubbed off on me.
The Delta Nus: You’re also a songwriter, right?
Kristin: Yea. I have a bunch recorded that I made a while ago. And I used to have a band as well that I was a part of. And so that's kind of back to your question, like, what am I going to do creatively? Kind of go back to my songwriting and hopefully get back on the drums.
The Delta Nus: How many instruments do you play?
Kristin Stokes: (Laughing) I mean, barely two. I play guitar, but I just get so nervous. And then drums I was just learning when we went on tour.
The Delta Nus: Anything to add?
Kristin: I'm excited to see what's next. Everything is wide open and I've kind of been dropped off with a lot of dreams coming true. And so now it just feels exciting. It feels like I've punched through the wall. I was saying that for so many years, I felt like I was punching a brick wall and I had just started to see a dent and then all of a sudden, I did it so now I'm the other side, it feels great. It's still going to be a lot of freaking work. But I'm pumped. I got Broadway cred now. I've got amazing agents. I'm going to get all those concert videos up and keep making content and it's gonna be fun. I'm excited to see what happens.
