COLLEGIATE THEATRICS: Lipscomb University's Jonah Jackson

As 2015 rolls in, there's a new semester set to challenge multitudes of young actors all over the country as some of the best and brightest continue their journey toward stardom. Certainly, Nashville institutions of higher learning are no different, as they are virtually teeming with outstanding young talents plying their trade and honing their skills on stages both academic and local.

Among those young actors is Lipscomb University's Jonah Jackson, a native of Shelbyville, Tennessee, and a candidate for a bachelor of fine arts with an acting major. A 2014 First Night Most Promising Actor, among his many credits are Lord Farquaad in Shrek: the Musical (Lipscomb University and Circle Players), Roscoe Dexter in Singin' in the Rain (Springhouse Theatre) and A-Rab in West Side Story (Lipscomb University). Just over the horizon for 2015, he has the roles of General Genghis Khan Schmitz in Seussical and Gerry in Dancing at Lughnasa on tap.

After fall semester finals and a busy holiday schedule, Jonah Jackson found the time to tell us about his college career and how it's affected him as an actor...

So, how's your college theater career going? Has it lived up to its advance hype? I am very happy with how pursuing theater in college has gone so far! It's definitely exceeded my expectations because going into college I really didn't know anything about theater other than that I wanted to do it. So there was definitely a steep learning curve coming in, but I have been blessed by being part of a department where I get a lot of opportunities to do really cool things in addition to shows and classes, like going to The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF) and spending five weeks in London over the summer (which were both absolutely incredible).

What's your favorite part of studying at Lipscomb University? Definitely the community. We're all insane, but we're insane together. And it's a joy to get to come together to create art. I learn so much from these people that I see as friends as well as professors and mentors, and I think it's great that we are pushed to make connections with people in the Nashville theater community.

Have your future plans changed since your college experiences? I would say that my plans have definitely changed since I got here. For example, I never thought that I would ever be in musicals before I went to college. That definitely changed. And I think that as a result of going somewhere that encourages students to be well-versed in all aspects of theater instead of one specific niche, I am more well-rounded and open to more possibilities. So you know, you come in with these grand ideas of going to New York or L.A. once you graduate and trying to "make it big", but the more you do the more you realize that that's not all there is. I would be fine staying around here and working for a while, and then going wherever I felt like I needed to go to be able to create and be fulfilled and make a living. Not saying that going to New York or L.A. is out of the picture by any means, but there are a lot of things out in the world to be experienced and grow from.

What collegiate theatrical moment looms largest in your mind? Something that will always be special to me is being cast in The Servant of Two Masters, which was directed by Robyn Berg, my very first semester of college. I came up from Shelbyville for general auditions, and since I couldn't make it to callbacks the next day, I got to read some of the sides with whoever happened to be around. I got the email with the cast list a few weeks later and saw that I was going to be in the show! It has always meant a lot to me because Robyn took a huge chance on me, some incoming freshman kid she didn't know who had a thick Southern accent, but seemed like he could be funny enough and memorize the lines. I learned so much from that experience, and have always seen it as my first real step into the world of theater and becoming part of the LDoT family.

What advice would you offer to high school students considering making the plunge? If any high school student asked me whether or not they should pursue theater, I would absolutely encourage them to go for it if they are passionate about it. I know you said not to worry about being profound or anything, but I think this is an interesting coincidence. I was actually in class this morning and heard something from Rainer Maria Rilke's Letters To A Young Poet that really stuck out to me: "So, dear Sir, I can't give you any advice but this: to go into yourself and see how deep the place is from which your life flows; at its source you will find the answer to the question of whether you must create. Accept that answer just as it is given to you, without trying to interpret it. Perhaps you will discover that you are called to be an artist. Then take that destiny upon yourself, and bear it, its burdens and its greatness, without ever asking what reward might come from outside." So, yeah. If it's on your heart and you feel like theater is what you are called to do, then take that plunge. And to anyone that does, I would tell them the motto that I was given on my first day of Beginning Acting and that I will remember until the day I die: Dare to fail gloriously.

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