This article originally appeared in the Allegan County News and has been republished with permission. If you are an Allegan Public Schools graduate and would like to be featured in an article, contact our Communications Director.

By LESLIE BALLARD
Allegan County News

Jason H. Thompson, 1997 AHS alumni, believes that “mentorships have meant the most to my career,” a highly successful one in the field of theatrical production design. “The generosity of the people I was taught by has been incredible.”

Jason and his wife Kaitlyn Pietras own PXT Studio, a Los Angeles based production design business serving an impressive list of clients including The Walt Disney Company, Hollywood Bowl, Geffen Playhouse, Stars on Ice and Cleveland Clinic.

“Sue Beuse was the spark for everything,” he says of his first mentor. In ninth grade he was in the Allegan Community Theater’s production of Brighton Beach Memoirs with Sue. He went on to act in plays she directed in high school and to join her Forensics team.

In the forensic competitions, students had to perform an eight-minute scene from a play with no props.

“It was such a cool thing being exposed to so many plays and the best scenes from them. I read so many plays to find those scenes and found out about others through watching the people we competed against.”

That background served him well when he went to Michigan State University where he transitioned from his initial plan to be an actor to concentrate on stage managing and then lighting design, which he found more fulfilling and also enabled him to work on more projects.

During his internship at the Wharton Center for the Performing Arts, he worked on over 40 shows, making professional connections with the touring company production teams while also honing his skills. He laughs as he recalls sitting in the management office passing out paychecks to the Miss Saigon cast and crew. “Everyone loved me.”

At this time he met Chris Parry, another individual who played an important role in his career. Parry, a theatrical lighting designer, was nominated for three Tonys, winning for Tommy. Parry encouraged Jason to go to UC San Diego for his graduate studies.

“He knew Howell Brinkley was looking for students who wanted to learn and were ready to learn,” so he went on to study with a man the New York Times described as “one of the most sought after lighting designers in theater.” Howell earned nine Tony nominations, winning for Jersey Boys and Hamilton.

Falling in love with San Diego, Jason worked at the La Jolla Playhouse while in school. Many people don’t realize that over 30 Broadway shows such as Jersey Boys and Come From Away began at La Jolla, according to Jason.

While at the Playhouse, he met Howell’s friend, projection designer Michael Clark “who became a huge mentor and proponent for my success.” After completing graduate school, Jason went to New York to work as Clark’s assistant on Dracula: The Musical. “I got some great experience in my first professional job.”

His work with Clark, who as a projection designer creates video content for shows, meant another transition for Jason. “Now projection design is common. Then only about five people were doing it. I was in the right place at the right time.”

He spent nine months working in Washington DC, which he describes as a “huge theater town” with New York City being within easy reach. He started doing his own designs but still worked as an assistant on other productions.

Missing California, Jason moved to Los Angeles where he slept on the couch at some friend’s house for awhile. He worked on Jersey Boys at La Jolla Playhouse and went to New York when it moved there. He did about 20 shows there, and “I traveled all over the place – London, Vegas – when the shows went on tour. I also worked on shows at the Pasadena Playhouse and would go back and forth to DC and New York.”

“I was exposed to professional theater at a very high level.”

He describes theatrical production as an apprenticeship system, so the quality of his mentors enabled him to build his career designing his own projects where he was “put into a big room with designers I looked up to and admired.”

In 2011 Jason forged two important partnerships. He began working with Kaitlyn Pietras who eventually became his wife.

He also met Yuval Sharon, who is now the Artistic Director at the Detroit Opera and the founder and co-artistic director of The Industry in LA. Jason has been working on various projects with Yuval ever since.

“I have traveled all over the world because of him. He wants people to experience opera in different ways, to reinvent the way people see opera with modern storytelling techniques.” Jason worked on the traveling “landmark” production of John Cage’s Song Books, which was staged at Carnegie Hall (“a huge thrill for me to stand on that stage”), the Vienna State Opera House, Frankfurt, and was in Sweden when the pandemic hit.

Jason views the pandemic as a pivotal time in his profession as people still wanted to hold events but couldn’t do them in the traditional ways. He did live streaming and produced a lot of virtual events for clients such as the Stanford Schools of Business and Medicine, using robotic cameras and multicamera shots.

“Virtual productions during the pandemic meant you could get the best talent more easily because they didn’t have to travel to leave the office.”

He and his wife have incorporated what they learned during the pandemic in their design work to create a different experience.

Jason “really enjoys working with Yuval,” who is described as an unconventional director who uses settings such as parking lots and warehouses for live productions. As a co-member of The Industry, Jason has been helping stage a number of productions for them.

Hopscotch was one that took place inside of cars. “Imagine how amazing for you and three others to be in a car with an opera singer with those acoustics!” The 24 scenes were streamed back to a central hub where they could all be viewed simultaneously. “You had to be there to witness that show as it was unique – a one-time only event.”

These experimental productions appeal strongly to Jason. “It’s exciting to move the audience around the performers instead of vice versa. I like works that break through the proscenium.”

“When it’s happening live – you miss it, it’s gone.” That also excites Jason about these new approaches.

He also worked on Shanghai Disney Park in 2017 and was production designer (sets, lighting and video) for Chicago Lyric Opera’s productions of operas by three new composers.

Last summer Jason worked with Yuval on the unusual production of Valkyries Act 3 at the Hollywood Bowl and Detroit Opera. “It’s fun when you create something that’s never been done before, and we’re delighted to see audiences also be entertained by it.”

He and Kaitlyn started co-designing as a team about six years ago. “Working and designing together helps us balance our life, especially with our son Ferris who turns five on March 13. We are creating something greater than we could do alone with two of us working on a project rather than one.”

In addition to their studio, they also have a video equipment company, which enables them to do fewer big shows to spend more time with Ferris.

In 2024 Jason and Kaitlyn will be working on a new work based on the play Grounded which will premiere at the Washington National Opera before the Metropolitan Opera premiere the following fall.

They are also booked for a couple of potential projects at the Metropolitan Opera with acclaimed Tony winning director Michael Mayer.

The creative duo has collectively won two Los Angeles Ovation Awards and four LA Drama Critics Circle Awards. Jason views the awards as a great advertising tool. “A nomination gets your name out there and puts you on people’s radar. Just being nominated means you’ve already won.”

An award Jason “didn’t win but would love to” is the Knights of Illumination Award. “They have a cool ceremony with a broadsword as the prize.” This award hasn’t returned since the pandemic ended.

Jason still has an uncle (Lee Heckman) and grandfather (Harold Heckman) in Allegan and his parents live in Portage and sister in Vicksburg. He rarely visits but gets together with family when working with the Detroit Opera.

“It was so great to grow up in a small town. I feel fortunate it started there and wish I could give my child that small town experience.”

“I’ve had a dream resume. Not a lot of people have done what I have in theater. I’m happy I’m still able to do this after so long and to have been fortunate to have worked at some of the most impressive places and houses in the world.”

“How did I get to this place? It’s all because of Sue Beuse. When I get a Tony, I can thank Sue in my speech.”