We were lucky to catch up with Jaxx Theatricals recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jaxx, thanks for joining us today. Can you recount a story of an unexpected problem you’ve faced along the way?

Last year at this time, we had to move from our two-story theatre which housed a 99-seat theatre, a black box and large storage room into a much smaller space. In the summer of 2023, our landlord at the time requested we meet with him. When we met with our former landlord, there was a new “Director of Operations” working with him. They explained that they had been approached by new prospective tenants who were interested in the space.

We were in pre-production for Andrew Lippa’s “Wild Party” at the time. Not having a lease in place and operating as month-to-month tenants, we had a verbal agreement with our landlord that if he were to ever sell the building or need us to leave, he would give us 4-6 months’ notice, so we were intent on holding him to that. Once he recalled this agreement, the next couple months consisted of a back-and-forth bidding war between us and the prospective new tenants facilitated by the new “Director of Operations”.

It is important to note that we were always great tenants and occupied the space throughout the entirety of the pandemic. We never paid our rent late during that challenging time or any other throughout our tenancy. While other theatres were closing, our nonprofit continued due to LA County permitting youth camps to remain open.

After an offer to go as high as we possibly could with the rent increase, it was decided that it was still not enough, and we would vacate by the end of the year. We agreed that we would not have any contact with the prospective new tenants as the whole situation saddened us deeply and made us uncomfortable. This agreement was broken when the landlord told us that “contractors” had to take measurements of the space for the new tenants. We had already provided measurements. We were uneasy and our attorney agreed to be there with us when the “contractors” came. Thank goodness our attorney was there. The contractors were not contractors at all. Instead, it was the group of new tenants.

The awkward situation worsened when our landlord asked to speak with us privately to which we agreed. The landlord confessed to us that he had been lying and that the “Director of Operations” was in fact, the new ‘tenant’. The person ‘pretending’ to facilitate these bidding wars all the previous months and to whom we shared important trade information on how we managed to stay afloat in the precarious business of theatre in Los Angeles was the one taking over the theatre. It was such a betrayal of good faith. Our former landlord went on to admit that the new ‘tenants’ would all be working for him. We always had a good working relationship with our former landlord and asked why he did not propose this idea to us. He said that they approached him with their business plan and liked it. He went on to tell us that he might need us in the future if we were willing, because he was uncertain if the new arrangement would work out.

Around that time in the conversation as we sat in utter disbelief, our attorney informed us that the new tenants were taking pictures of our equipment. Jaxx had been in business for 17 years at that time. We have an extensive inventory of equipment and became even more uncomfortable and paranoid when we found out they were taking pictures of our belongings. Our attorney introduced himself as such. We asked everyone to leave and eventually they did. It was an ambush.

We are so grateful our attorney was there that day. In the end, we were out at the end of the year as promised and our final production in the space went on to achieving awards and critical acclaim.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Jaxx is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization comprised of a theatre company and arts education organization founded in 2006 by Justine Baldwin, Mark Espinosa and Jeremy Lucas. Baldwin, a kindergarten teacher and Lucas met while working on a production of The MUSIC MAN. The pair enjoyed working together and Lucas’ day job at the time was Artistic Director of a children’s theatre in Santa Monica. Baldwin asked Lucas if he and that company would consider mounting a production at her school. Lucas asked his boss and she agreed. The production was SEUSSICAL and the “Executive Producer”, Lucas’ boss offered the production the hat for the cat, a ficus tree and a roll of streamers. Baldwin ended up having to fund the production herself by way of the 99 cents only stores (may it rest in peace) and a slew of angels and helping hands. This was her school after all and despite her and Lucas’ hard work on the production it had to look and sound good too. The “Executive Producer” did not show up to see the show which laid the groundwork for Jaxx being born.

Espinosa joined the team upon producing their first professional production which was the critically-acclaimed Los Angeles premiere of Cy Coleman’s The LIFE. A few years later, JesusDavid TorresMorabito joined the team. In 2018, Morabito replaced Espinosa as Managing Director.

Jaxx has provided arts education programs at over 50 schools, theatres and camps throughout LA County in four school districts and the private sector. Professionally, it currently operates under the Actors Equity 50-seat showcase code with CABARET running in March, 2025.

Jaxx is most proud of being a Cultural Arts Envoy to the USA representing American Musical Theatre whilst producing Broadway-style revues with US Embassies around the world.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Our resilience is illustrated in the story of us downsizing from the larger theatre to a smaller one. It has allowed us to utilize an agreement with the Actors union to which we did not have access in a larger space. In the past year, we remounted Andrew Lippa’s WILD PARTY (Stage Raw Award Winner for Direction & numerous StageSceneLA awards), presented CHESS (numerous StageSceneLA Awards & a Discover Fringe Outstanding Production nomination) for the Hollywood Fringe Festival and most recently produced RENT. Our entire team’s drive to continue and succeed in the face of this adversity has been heart-warming.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Our biggest goal at this point is to get a show to New York!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.JaxxTheatricals.org
• Instagram: @JaxxTheatricals
• Facebook: @JaxxTheatricals
• Twitter: @JaxxTheatricals
• Youtube: @JaxxTheatricals
• Yelp: Jaxx Theatre

Image Credits

Corran Haug-Villalobos