B I O G R A P H Y
Jason Hale is an American theatre director and teacher of acting, with over 30 years of experience as a professional actor, director and producer in New York City, at theatres across the United States and internationally. Jason recently directed John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men for the Turkish National State Theatre in Adana, Sam Shepard's Fool for Love at Tatbikat Theatre in Ankara, and the multiple award-winning (BEST ACTOR, BEST COSTUMES, and FIRST PRIZE BEST UNIVERSITY PRODUCTION) production of Clifford Odets' Waiting for Lefty for Bilkent University Department of Theatre. Also in Turkey, he directed the acclaimed 2011 production of Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie at the Turkish National State Theatre in Ankara. The production ran for two years and was selected to play at the Sabanci International Theatre Festival in Adana and Istanbul in April 2012 and the Cyprus International Theatre Festival in September 2012. The production has garnered several awards including two BEST ACTRESS AWARDS from the Ankara Arts Council and Sadri Alisik Anatolian Theatre Actor Awards and BEST THEATRE ARTIST OF THE YEAR AWARD from the Baykal Saran Theatre Award. In 2012, Jason was selected by the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs, and the Council for International Exchange of Scholars to become a roster candidate to teach internationally as a US Fulbright Scholar Specialist. Jason is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC).
Jason has earned an M.A. in Directing from Antioch University and worked for many years as an assistant to director John Uecker and as a personal assistant to writer James Purdy. He assisted Mr. Uecker during the 1996 world premiere production of Tennessee Williams' later short plays, The Traveling Companion and The Chalky White Substance. He went on to direct and co-produce several rarely produced Tennessee Williams one-acts and other new plays at various theaters in New York City. He has directed internationally in Turkey and Mexico and at many diverse theatres in New York City such as La MaMa ETC, St. Mark's Theatre, Triad Theatre, Bank Street Theater, Theatre for the New City, 45th Street Theatre, Phil Bosakowski Theatre, CSV, Kraine Theater, Stella Adler Studio Theater, New Actors Workshop Theater, RAW Space, and the Times Square Arts Center. Regionally he has developed and directed new works at theatres in Pennslyvania, Wisconsin, Connecticut, and Long Island, New York.
As a teacher of acting, Jason is a uniquely qualified teacher of the Viola Spolin improvisational technique, having worked and studied privately with Ms. Spolin’s son, director Paul Sills, for many years. Jason is in demand internationally as a teacher of this technique, having trained students in this work throughout the U.S., and from Mexico to Turkey. He has also used Ms. Spolin’s improvisational work as the basis for actor training at the Theatre Project Ensemble, a New York City non-profit theater company he co-founded. There the technique was also used to develop new plays and original "Story Theater" productions. Mr. Sills was the company's artistic advisor and members included Cordis Heard, Garry Goodrow, and Gerrit Graham.
In addition to Jason’s skills as an interpreter of the Spolin technique, he also has a thorough knowledge of modern acting theory, having taught in such diverse schools as the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, New York University- Tisch School of the Arts, New Actors Workshop, Antioch University McGregor, HB Studios, School of Visual Arts, New York Film Academy and in many workshops with the Screen Actors Guild, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center and several theaters and groups across the U.S. Internationally, he has guest taught in Turkey, China, Poland, Ukraine and at ACTUANDO SIN ACTUAR, an international acting method festival in Auguascalientes, Mexico. Jason is currently Theatre Department Chair and Assistant Professor at Bilkent University in Ankara Turkey.
As a professional actor, Jason has performed in theater, film and televison. He is a1993 graduate of the New Actors Workshop in NYC where he trained as an actor full-time with Mike Nichols, George Morrison and Paul Sills. As a longtime member of the Actors' Equity Association (AEA), Jason has performed in over 50 classical and contemporary plays at both Off and Off Off Broadway theater groups in New York City and at such regional theaters and ensembles as the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble, Baltimore Theatre Project, Touchstone Theatre, Pennsylvania Stage Company, Blue Circle Theater Company in Door County, Wisconsin, Montauk Theatre, Bearsville Theatre, and the Tamarind Theater in Los Angeles.
Jason has earned an M.A. in Directing from Antioch University and worked for many years as an assistant to director John Uecker and as a personal assistant to writer James Purdy. He assisted Mr. Uecker during the 1996 world premiere production of Tennessee Williams' later short plays, The Traveling Companion and The Chalky White Substance. He went on to direct and co-produce several rarely produced Tennessee Williams one-acts and other new plays at various theaters in New York City. He has directed internationally in Turkey and Mexico and at many diverse theatres in New York City such as La MaMa ETC, St. Mark's Theatre, Triad Theatre, Bank Street Theater, Theatre for the New City, 45th Street Theatre, Phil Bosakowski Theatre, CSV, Kraine Theater, Stella Adler Studio Theater, New Actors Workshop Theater, RAW Space, and the Times Square Arts Center. Regionally he has developed and directed new works at theatres in Pennslyvania, Wisconsin, Connecticut, and Long Island, New York.
As a teacher of acting, Jason is a uniquely qualified teacher of the Viola Spolin improvisational technique, having worked and studied privately with Ms. Spolin’s son, director Paul Sills, for many years. Jason is in demand internationally as a teacher of this technique, having trained students in this work throughout the U.S., and from Mexico to Turkey. He has also used Ms. Spolin’s improvisational work as the basis for actor training at the Theatre Project Ensemble, a New York City non-profit theater company he co-founded. There the technique was also used to develop new plays and original "Story Theater" productions. Mr. Sills was the company's artistic advisor and members included Cordis Heard, Garry Goodrow, and Gerrit Graham.
In addition to Jason’s skills as an interpreter of the Spolin technique, he also has a thorough knowledge of modern acting theory, having taught in such diverse schools as the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, New York University- Tisch School of the Arts, New Actors Workshop, Antioch University McGregor, HB Studios, School of Visual Arts, New York Film Academy and in many workshops with the Screen Actors Guild, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center and several theaters and groups across the U.S. Internationally, he has guest taught in Turkey, China, Poland, Ukraine and at ACTUANDO SIN ACTUAR, an international acting method festival in Auguascalientes, Mexico. Jason is currently Theatre Department Chair and Assistant Professor at Bilkent University in Ankara Turkey.
As a professional actor, Jason has performed in theater, film and televison. He is a1993 graduate of the New Actors Workshop in NYC where he trained as an actor full-time with Mike Nichols, George Morrison and Paul Sills. As a longtime member of the Actors' Equity Association (AEA), Jason has performed in over 50 classical and contemporary plays at both Off and Off Off Broadway theater groups in New York City and at such regional theaters and ensembles as the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble, Baltimore Theatre Project, Touchstone Theatre, Pennsylvania Stage Company, Blue Circle Theater Company in Door County, Wisconsin, Montauk Theatre, Bearsville Theatre, and the Tamarind Theater in Los Angeles.