Jason is very excited to begin his 13th season of working for ALT and his 12th season as ALT’s Academy Director. He has been volunteering with ALT since 1999 and is a proud graduate of the ALT Academy program. He graduated from WTAMU in 2006 earning a degree in Mass Communications with an emphasis in Advertising and Public Relations. He is on the Advisory Council for Panhandle PBS and is an active volunteer in the community.
Jason loves working with students of all ages and has directed or choreographed numerous Academy productions including Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame, HONK!, A Christmas Carol, Into the Woods, Annie, Mr. Popper’s Penguins, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Little Women, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Disney’s Aladdin Jr., Godspell, Ramona Quimby, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Winnie the Pooh, Nancy Drew: Girl Detective, Disney’s High School Musical, Stuart Little, Shrek the Musical, Disney’s The Little Mermaid Jr., Charlotte’s Web, Alice in Wonderland, Children of Eden, 13, James and the Giant Peach, Bye Bye Birdie, The Little Match Girl, Tom Sawyer, Honk!, Schoolhouse Rock LIVE!, Pippi Longstocking, The Music Man, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, Seussical, the Musical, and You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.
Jason has also had the pleasure of directing Legally Blonde and Little Shop of Horrors for the ALT Mainstage, choreographing for the ALT Mainstage productions of The Addams Family, A Christmas Story, Peter Pan, 9 to 5 and Footloose, for the ALT Adventure Space productions of The Full Monty, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and Urinetown, as well as Disney’s High School Musical, Annie, Thoroughly Modern Mille, Back to the 80’s and Sandie Revue for Amarillo High School. This season, Jason instructs Show Stoppers Show Choir and Senior Company.
Jason has performed in over 40 productions at ALT and was most recently seen as Bob/Gunnar in Pageant Play and in the ensemble for Mamma Mia. He is most remembered for his ALTA award winning performances as Ritchie Valens in Buddy, The Buddy Holly Story, Cheche’ in Anna in the Tropics, Kenickie in Grease, the Jury in Chicago, Frank Finger in It’s Only a Play and Bert in Mary Poppins. Other favorite performances include Trekkie Monster in Avenue Q, Leaf Coneybear in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Melvin P. Thorpe in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Guisppi in The Light in the Piazza, Carmen Ghia in The Producers, Wolf/Cinderella’s Prince in Into the Woods, El Gallo in The Fantasticks, and Ceyx/Orpheus in Metamorphoses.
Jason has been quite busy the past few years. He was a recipient of a Funspired SWI Award for his positive impact on the community, was recognized by the National Youth Awards for Outstanding Direction for Shrek, the Musical (2014), Godspell (2016), Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (2017), Seussical the Musical (2018) and Into the Woods (2019), won NewYork.com’s national contest where he was named the 2015 Ultimate Broadway Fan, was a winning contestant on anepisode of NBC’s Hollywood Game Night hosted by Jane Lynch, has helped cover the 2015, 2016, and 2017 Tony Awards, was honored in 2016 by the Amarillo Chamber of Commerce as a Top 20 Under 40 award winner, was named 2016 Headliner of the Year by the Amarillo Globe News, and was featured as the Top 4 finalist in Live with Kelly’s Cohost Contest where he competed live on the show in New York City. Most recently, Jason was inducted into the WTAMU Communications Hall of Fame.