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Next Theatre Company Concludes Nationwide Search
Jason Southerland Named New Artistic Director
EVANSTON– The celebrated Next Theatre Company, Chicago’s destination for socially provocative, artistically adventurous work, has announced the appointment of Jason Southerland to the post of Artistic Director as the company continues its 28th season.
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Jason Southerland Takes the Reins
An interview with our incoming Artistic Director
by Amber Bel’cher
We are so excited to introduce you to Jason Southerland, Next’s incoming Artistic Director. After a nationwide search, nearly 100 submissions, and extensive interviews with the Board, staff and Artistic Associates, Jason emerged as the perfect fit. Originally from California, his involvement in theater began in childhood. He sought to explore how the art he had come to love both informed and responded to our complex world. With that in mind, he went to the University of California at Berkeley where he attained a B.A. cum laude in Political Science. Next, he
attended the American Repertory Theatre/Harvard University for Advanced Theatre Training where he studied directing under the tutelage of exciting artists like Ron Daniels, Bob Scanlan, and Robert Brustein.
Upon graduating, he founded and served for 10 years as the Artistic Director of Boston Theatre Works, dedicated to new and progressive works for the American theater. During his time there, the company produced twelve world premieres and developed over sixty scripts through commissions, development agreements and BTW Unbound, an annual festival of new plays. As a director, Jason has staged several award-winning productions including the New England premieres of Homebody/Kabul, Not About Nightingales, Angels in America: Parts I & II and The Laramie Project. Other notable regional premieres include Pulp, The Sweetest Swing in Baseball, Four Baboons Adoring the Sun and I Am My Own Wife. Jason also spent five years in New York City, where he worked with BACA Downtown, Circle Rep Laboratory, Lehman/Engel BMI Workshop, Alice's Fourth Floor and the Sanford Meisner Theatre. Regionally his credits include productions at a variety of places from Albuquerque CLO to the University of Kent at Canterbury. He is a two-time winner of the Joe Hardy Directing Fellowship, received a Drama League Fellowship, was honored with an Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Direction for his 2008 production of Angels in America and was chosen by Boston Magazine as #3 on their list of the "40 Bostonians to Watch."
And watch we will. His first day at Next will be November 17th. In the meantime, I sat down with Jason to gain some insight into his artistic voice and point of view as a director.
What was your “aha” moment, the moment when you realized you had to make theater?
JASON SOUTHERLAND: I was 13 years old and was sitting in an off-Broadway theater with my high school drama class from California watching March of the Falsettos. It was the first time I saw what theater could be instead of what I thought it was. Living in Los Angeles, all I really saw were the big national tours, so to watch an intimate musical where I felt like a participant in the story and not just an observer was a life-changing moment.
As a director, what excites you? What is your approach?
JASON: When I read a good play for the first time, I immediately begin to hear it and visualize it in my head. So the first step is to assemble other creative people who can embody what I hear and see and also enrich what I think about the play. My philosophy is to fill the room with bright and talented people, and then free them to be as creative as possible. It’s the collaborative nature of our medium, and the joy of standing in the back of the theater and hearing an audience appreciate all that we set out to accomplish that makes it rewarding.
Why is producing new plays important to you?
JASON: I appreciate the opportunity to give voice to new ideas and new artists by fostering the development of new plays. New work can challenge us and encourage us to learn something about ourselves and about our world. It’s important for theaters like Next to develop these artists and to share their work with our audience.
Artistically, what do you think is the next frontier in American theater?
JASON: While I think there are many new frontiers, for me, well, it’s the Adding Machine. One of the things that draws me to contemporary theater is that we are just adapting to the jump-cuts and the quick pace of new media and learning how to re-imagine them for live theater. At the end of the day, theater is about dreaming. And when I work in theater, my motto is dream big. Don’t rule anything out; don’t let anybody tell you it can’t be done. Dream big and then figure out how to make it work.
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