Jason Blitman
arts professional
Director | Producer | Podcast Host | Writer | Acting Coach
Jason produces and co-hosts the new bookish podcast, Gays Reading. Gays who read and start a podcast–how novel! Join book lovers Brett Benner and Jason Blitman as they dive into author conversations, interviews, book talk, and all things reading, like… literarily. Recent guests include: Kaveh Akbar, Dolly Alderton, Nathan Hill, Angie Kim, Armistead Maupin, Caroline O'Donoghue, R. Eric Thomas, Alice Winn, Chris Whitaker, and more.
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San Diego Musical Theatre
May 5 - June 4, 2023
Directed by Jason Blitman
Choreographed by Allison Bibicoff
Musical Direction by Richard Dueñez Morrison
Book by Douglas Carter Beane
Music and Lyrics by Jeff Lynne & John Farrar
Slap on your roller skates, pump up the glitter, and get hip to the muses in Xanadu, the laugh-out-loud musical stage adaptation of the 1980 film, starring Olivia Newton John. This Tony Award-nominated, hilarious, roller skating, musical adventure about following your dreams despite the limitation’s others set for you, is the rare musical with a big heart, an even bigger funny bone, and a tongue stuck firmly in its cheek.
Featuring: Cody Bianchi, Annie Buckley, Domo D'dante, Krista Feallock, Taylor Henderson, Meghan O'Brien Lowery, Jordan Markus, Daisy Martinez, Isabelle Jennings Pickering, Sarah Pierce, Wendy Waddell
San Diego Musical Theatre
September 20 - October 20, 2024
Directed by Jason Blitman
Choreographed by Katie Banville
Musical Direction by Richard Dueñez Morrison
Book by Hugh Wheeler
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
An infamous tale, Sweeney Todd, an unjustly exiled barber, returns to nineteenth century London, seeking vengeance against the lecherous judge who framed him and ravaged his young wife. The road to revenge leads Todd to Mrs. Lovett, a resourceful proprietress of a failing pie shop, above which, he opens a new barber practice. Mrs. Lovett’s luck sharply shifts when Todd’s thirst for blood inspires the integration of an ingredient into her meat pies that has the people of London lining up… and the carnage has only just begun!
Jason produces and hosts 76West a podcast from The Lambert Center for Arts + Ideas at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan, which can be found wherever you listen to your podcasts. Recent guests include: actor David Krumholtz (Num3ers, The Santa Clause), Chef Einat Admony (Balaboosta, Taïm), authors Gabrielle Zevin (Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow), Emily St. John Mandel (Station Eleven, Sea of Tranquility), Jenny Jackson (Pineapple Street), Steven Rowley (The Guncle), and more. Sound engineer is Matt Temkin.
THE LIGHTNING THIEF: THE PERCY JACKSON MUSICAL Off Broadway, Lucille Lortel Theatre TheaterWorksUSA Feat. Chris McCarrell, George Salazar, and Carrie Compere
Kristin Stokes: Solo Feinstein's/54 Below
SKYLINE: a new musical NYFringe Festival
SHOW BOAT Directed by Ted Sperling New York Philharmonic Feat. Vanessa Williams, Norm Lewis, Jane Alexander, Fred Willard, Bryonha Marie Parham
Ruth Messinger in Conversation with Colson Whitehead The Lambert Center for Arts + Ideas, Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan
DEAR EDWINA Cooper City Theatre
What Everyone's Talking About with Abigail Pogrebin feat. Ambassador Samantha Power The Lambert Center for Arts + Ideas, Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan
The Lambert Center for Arts + Ideas, Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan
SWEENEY TODD Directed by Lonny Price New York Philharmonic Feat. Emma Thompson, Bryn Terfel, Audra McDonald, Christian Borle
DOG & PONY Directed by Roger Rees The Old Globe Theatre Feat. Beth Level, Heidi Blickenstaff, Nicole Parker, Eric William Morris, Jon Patrick Walker
SHOW BOAT Directed by Ted Sperling New York Philharmonic Feat. Vanessa Williams, Norm Lewis, Jane Alexander, Fred Willard, Bryonha Marie Parham
PETE THE CAT Off Broadway Lucille Lortel Theatre TheaterWorksUSA
AvevA, Ethiopian-Israeli singer-songwriter The Lambert Center for Arts + Ideas, Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan
SKYLINE: a new musical NYFringe Festival
ARTIST IN RESIDENCE TinyRhino
Jason is an arts professional currently based in San Diego, California. Jason is a director, producer, podcast host, writer, and acting coach and produces arts and culture programming for The Lambert Center for Arts + Ideas at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan, is a director, producer, . Select Directing credits: Xanadu (San Diego Musical Theatre), The SpongeBob Musical and The Lightning Thief (SD Junior Theatre), Skyline, a new musical (NYFringe), Into the Woods (Fire Island Arts Project), Associate: Show Boat with Vanessa Williams and Norm Lewis and Sweeney Todd with Emma Thompson and Bryn Terfel (NY Philharmonic, PBS), Dog & Pony (The Old Globe), and assisted Michael Greif on readings of Dear Evan Hansen and A Walk on the Moon.
As the former Associate Artistic Director of TheaterWorksUSA in New York City, Jason cast the original Off-Broadway productions of The Lightning Thief, Pete the Cat, Dog Man and Junie B’s Essential Survival Guide to School, and produced and developed dozens of new work with writers including Kait Kerrigan, Bree Lowdermilk, Marcy Heisler, Zina Goldrich, Lauren Gunderson, Lauren Yee, and more. During his tenure in the artistic department at The Public Theater, he worked on 40+ productions including Tony Kushner's Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide…, Richard Nelson's The Apple Family Plays, and Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Kron's Fun Home. Jason produced three annual Carded, a celebration of TWUSA alumni concerts and Kristin Stokes's solo concert debut Solo, all at Feinstein's/54 Below.
Writing projects include the book and lyrics for Stone Soup, a modern retelling of the classic folktale with composer Jack Mitchell commissioned by Parkway School of the Arts; Pinocchio with musician Aaron Downs; and The Wonderful Edith of Oz, a unique two-actor adaptation of the Oz story.
Program highlights for The Lambert Center for Arts + Ideas include conversation events with Marc Shaiman, Julianna Margulies, Colson Whitehead, Elizabeth Gilbert, Nyle DiMarco, Michael Barbaro, and Don Lemon; musicians AvevA and Michael Winograd; Heidi Latsky Dance; new theatre pieces like Anna Ziegler's The Wanderers, the musical adaptation of From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, and Fallout, a new rock musical. In addition to in-person programming, Jason hosted virtual conversations with bestselling authors Kristin Harmel (The Forest of Vanishing Stars, The Book of Lost Names), Liz Scheier (Never Simple), and Jessica Anya Blau (Mary Jane), and produces and hosts the podcast 76West, available wherever you get your podcasts. Jason produced the Books That Changed My Life Festival with over 40 book-related programs including events with Chelsea Clinton, Stephen J. Dubner, A.J. Jacobs, Cynthia Nixon, Emma Straub, PEN America, and more.
Jason is currently the producer and co-host of the new bookish podcast Gays Reading.
Fun facts: Jason is a registered wedding officiant, previously served as a volunteer for the San Diego Zoo, and has completed three annual 30 Days of Yoga through Yoga with Adriene.
Workshops & Master Classes
