We were lucky to catch up with Jason Lythgoe recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jason, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I spent my 3rd-8th grade years as part of a Children’s Theatre group in Southern Ca in the late 80’s/early 90’s. I truly fell in love with being onstage during that time. I had great roles in some classic musicals and developed life lasting friendships. I had spent a few years having fun and enjoying what I was doing, but it really hit me then…I wanted to do this forever. When I graduated from the Rep Theatre group, I spent my high school and early college years assisting them as a tech, acting mentor, stage manager and teacher. I learned then, that I could not only be fulfilled by performing and being on the stage, but also passing off the love of what I do to future generations of performers. And after many years of balancing the creative life with that of corporate cubicle daytime world, I made a decision to only go after jobs that I was truly passionate about. And for the last 15 years, I have been able to live that dream in CO Springs and Durango, CO.

Jason, 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 grew up in Southern California in the 80’s and 90’s. I did my first show when I was 7yrs old and have been onstage my entre life. I was a part of the Fullerton Children’s Repertory Theatre group that was a staple of SoCal youth theatre for almost 40 years. I truly fell in love with theatre when I was in 7th grade and have been on the stage ever since. After leaving Cal State Fullerton, we started the “6 Chairs and a Couple of Artists” company in Long Beach, and was a member of the Hunger Artists Theatre Group for a handful of years before splitting off and forming the Insurgo Theatre compnay and March-Hog Productions in Orange County. After almost a decade mired in the storefront theatre movement, I moved to Colorado and took the next steps in my theatre career. I was able to leave the normal day jobs behind and I started teaching and working at the Colorado Springs Conservatory, the Denver Center Theatre Academy, Theatreworks and the CoSprings Fine Arts Center, and even Cave of the Winds. I had found a new creative home in Colorado! Over the years of teaching and being a youth theatre mentor, I am extremly proud of the number of students I have helped to find their passion. Theatre classes aren’t just theatre lessons…they are life lessons. Confidence, public speaking, working with others, adapability, humility, work ethic, and the list goes on and on. These skills aren’t just necessary for the stage, but also life! I aim to create not only better perfromers….but also better humans!

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I think overall, it’s the creative fulfillment and the sharing of that creativity with audiences. Whether in a show myself, or directing one with the kids, having an audience share in that story be affected and enteratined is so very rewarding. Not all of us are able to express our emotions or let the people around us know how we feel. But watching an actor on stage going through things, expereincing pain, loss, joy, love, etc…it helps us understand ourselves and others. It helpls us connect and teaches us more about being alive.
It brings to mibd one of my favorite quotes from Irish Playwright, Oscar Wilde –
“I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being.”

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

Mental health is truly an important and essential part of our day to lives and how we understand the world around us and the people we share it with. In a stage carreer spanning 38 years and still going strong, I have created countless characters and must become other people for shows. When using our own emotions and past experiences to create those characters, we are constantly reliving memories and emotions associated with great and not so great life moments. Performers and the creative community have a higher percentage of mental and dissociative disorders than other types of occupations. The struggle to get by everyday is real, but the desire to connect with others and share those emotions and experiences with others, is my driving force to continue. If you have a creative person in your life….support them, love them, and encourage them through their journey.

Contact Info:

• Website: durangoarts.org

Image Credits
all photos by Jason Lythgoe excpet for the movie set photo. That was Cornelius Hurley