When two roads become one

Christina Eskridge

Christina Eskridge remembers the day quite clearly. 

It was 2018 and she was onstage performing at the Lincoln Center Education in New York City as part of their Big Umbrella Festival.  

“The show I did was called, ‘Up and Away’,” recalled Christina. “Essentially, it was an opportunity for families with children on the Autism Spectrum to enjoy theatre that was exclusively for them. We built it around sensory experiences, so the audience members could pick and choose what they wanted to interact with.” 

The memorable show turned on a light bulb in Christina’s head. 

“It was the first time I realized theatre can be used for health,” said Christina. “We’re not curing Autism, but we are improving the quality of life of these kids and their families because it was something built just for them.” 

Intrigued, determined and feeling inspired, Christina began to brainstorm new ideas, ask questions, try her hand in new shows, work as a teaching artist and more. This in turn, helped her come to a conclusion about her revelation of using theatre for health: 

“A theatre piece is about showing the human condition,” she said. “And then you fuse that with health expertise.” 

So, what exactly do you get when you combine theatre and health? That would be Elevate Theatre Company, a company started by Christina that is a space for audiences and artists to explore health and well-being through the art of storytelling.The company was officially launched in 2020, but the initial spark? That very performance at the Lincoln Center. 

“For the last eight years, I had been trying to figure out where these things [health and theatre] intersect,” said Christina. “There’s a reason why I had been diligently pursuing both on a regular basis. Elevate is it.” 

Christina’s journey to Elevate began back in high school in California. She was a soccer player and a performing artist, who later on, attended UCLA for undergrad. There, she played soccer her freshman year and explored several avenues on the academic side. 

“I didn’t know what my major was going to be,” recalled Christina. “I liked performing arts, but I didn’t want to major in it. Spanish was what I really liked, so I majored in that, but I didn’t know what to do with it.” 

In a roundabout way, Christina landed in healthcare post-undergrad doing medical interpreting for a small, free clinic. She later moved on to a larger non-profit in the Bay area, but again, found herself feeling a little stuck and frustrated with the public health system. 

“I was doing Medicaid applications for prenatal women at the time,” said Christina. “There are rules like you can only make a certain amount of income if you want to get full coverage, but that doesn’t encourage someone to be self-sustaining. Then, the coverage only lasts for the mother until the baby is born. It’s a whole thing and is just so…messed up.” 

Wanting to help women and non-English speaking patients, Christina wanted to be part of a larger, system-wide intervention around health. So, she returned to school to get her Masters in Public Health at UC Berkeley. 

On the side, staying true to her love of performing, Christina continued with the arts while she was in school. 

“I was sort of a moonlighter,” laughed Christina. “I would come to class with glitter on my face, but performing and the arts were a gift I would give myself. It was nice being able to take a voice lesson or a dance class while in school.” 

A Masters degree later, Christina still found herself on those two parallel tracks. 

“I was performing part-time and working full-time in public health and all of a sudden I thought, ‘I’m not getting any younger and I need to figure out this performing side of my life because it’s something I’m passionate about,” she said. 

So, off to New York she went to study at the Conservatory Arts Academy (CAP21), quitting her job to start a whole other life. But, the world of health continued to follow Christina and a few months after getting settled in the Big Apple, she was asked to do some freelance consulting for the company in California she was working for before moving. 

“I thought this could still be an okay thing,” said Christina. “I was using my Masters, but I was also pursuing theatre.” 

Which today, brings us to Elevate, where Christina’s two worlds have been officially fused together into an actionable organization that brings health experts and performers together to create new content and promote different public health topics. 

“I see Elevate as a trailblazer in the world of public health,” said Christina. “Making health and theatre a viable field of study, intervention and way we can think about healthcare, public health, medicine and more. We want to be a group that’s mainstream when it comes to accessing reliable health information that doesn’t involve having to read an academic journal or going through a bunch of research. It would already by laid out in a user-friendly, interactive kind of way.” 

In October, Christina picked four topics that were important to her and the Elevate community for the Elevate Winter Series. Christina pursued plays that were either “off-the-shelf” or she had them commissioned to be written. She also worked with local artists and artists around the country to put on virtual performances and found panelists related to the four topics for a discussion. The four-part Elevate Winter Series has been viewed over 1200 times and over 600 tickets were reserved by audience members in New York and beyond. 

“It all feels incredible and overwhelming,” said Christina. “We’re building this community of amazing people and fusing public health and theatre together on a regular basis. There’s an appetite for it and I’m just excited seeing and feeling that spark, and seeing two things I’ve been passionate about for years come together as one.”  

And despite launching her organization during a pandemic, something Christina admits was scary, Elevate is already on its way to having a seat at the table for important health conversations.  

“I’ll never forget, I had this whole plan at the beginning of 2020, and that plan still happened, but we changed the way it happened,” said Christina. “And today? We’re working on tackling some other pretty big health topics like food scarcity, gun violence and more, while working on how to augment those conversations with expertise. But, oh, you better believe we’re just getting started.” 

To stay up to date, learn more or to join the Elevate community, please visit their website here, follow @elevatetheatrecompany on Instagram and subscribe to their YouTube channel at Elevate Theatre Company.