Harper Talks Episode 40 - Jeremy Lucas

Harper Talks Episode 40 — Jeremy Lucas (.mp3)

A self-proclaimed “theater kid” from the age of 7, Jeremy Lucas’ passion led him to pursue theater education at Harper College, Illinois State University, and ultimately earning his BFA from Roosevelt University.  Jeremy joins Harper Talks and discusses his education, founding Jaxx Theatricals, a full inclusion theatre company and performing arts education              nonprofit in Los Angeles, his international experiences as a Cultural Arts Envoy for the U.S. Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Exchange Program where he helps bring American musical theatre all over the world, and the honor of being named a 2024 Harper College Distinguished Alumnus.         

Transcript

Harper Talks: The Harper Alumni Podcast
Show 40: Jeremy Lucas – Harper Talks — Transcript

[00:00:00.380] - Marie Lapidus 

I'm Marie Lapidus sitting in this episode for Brian Shelton, and you're listening to Harper Talks, a coproduction of Harper College Alumni Relations and Harper Radio. Today on Harper Talks, I'm excited to speak with Jeremy Lucas. Jeremy is a graduate of Harper College and a co-founder and Artistic Director of Jaxx Theatricals. Jeremy joined me in the WHCM studio in Building A while on campus to receive the 2024 Distinguished Alumni Award. Thanks for being here. We're very proud of you. 

[00:00:32.960] - Jeremy Lucas 

Thank you, Marie. I'm honored to be here. Thank you for having me. 

[00:00:35.550] - Marie Lapidus 

Absolutely. I would like to lead into this because we already mentioned Jaxx theatrical, so I think people will get a a clue of what we're going to be talking about. Were you always a theater kid? 

[00:00:47.130] - Jeremy Lucas 

Since I was seven years old. 

[00:00:49.020] - Marie Lapidus 

How did you get started? What did you do when you were seven? 

[00:00:52.600] - Jeremy Lucas 

My family, we were at church, and I had walked by the What is it call it, the church? The auditorium. It's probably not the name. They were rehearsing for the best Christmas pageant ever. I stopped and I said, What is that? What's going on in that room? The rest is history. That was the beginning. 

[00:01:16.130] - Marie Lapidus 

That was the beginning. 

[00:01:17.240] - Jeremy Lucas 

That was seven years old. It truly is a calling. 

[00:01:19.890] - Marie Lapidus 

Seven years old. That's fantastic. Before we go into the details of how it was for you here, why did you pick Harper? Or why or how did it lead to Harper for you? From the seven years old, we're going to jump right into college. 

[00:01:38.610] - Jeremy Lucas 

Yes. I had visited two state schools. I don't know if I should name them, but the towns that I visited, being a city mouse, as I fancy myself, I could not see myself living in those little towns. 

[00:01:53.760] - Marie Lapidus 

Yes. 

[00:01:55.010] - Jeremy Lucas 

And so it was pretty late that I made the decision. And then luckily and grateful, I was able to get into Harper for my first year. And so I went here for my freshman year of college. 

[00:02:04.360] - Marie Lapidus 

For your freshman year. And so while you were involved in the speech team here, you were involved in the dance team, in theater. What was your time like here when you were here for that one year?  

[00:02:15.900] - Jeremy Lucas 

It was great. I had so much fun. I had acting classes with Mary Jo Willis, dance classes with Gretchen Schmalz, and actually my best friend Lauren, who nominated me, who's here with me today, she was able to take the dance classes with me as a community member. Then I was on the speech team with Coach Patty Ferguson, and that's where I had the most fun because we would travel and compete at speech events, and then we'd have overnight stays traveling. That was a lot of fun my freshman year. 

[00:02:47.970] - Marie Lapidus 

You mentioned all of these faculty that I don't know because I started after you were here. 

[00:02:53.910] - Jeremy Lucas 

It's a long time ago. (laughs) 

[00:02:55.350] - Marie Lapidus 

It's been a little bit. But tell me a little bit more about your relationship with the faculty. Did they guide you more into theater? What was that relationship like? 

[00:03:06.610] - Jeremy Lucas 

Yes, I remember Mary Jo being very charismatic. I took to her really well, and that was the acting classes. I loved her acting class. Gretchen, I took jazz dance with her, and I think ballet, and I loved dance. Learning from her was really fun and fundamental and definitely useful for my future dance classes. Then the most fun I had, I think, was on the speech team, and I learned so much just going on these speech meets, not I was on the speech team in high school, too, but then it was in college. It's a whole different ball game. That was really fun. She and her boyfriend, and her husband, Tim, were very much mentors to me. I remember having a really good time with them and learning a lot. 

[00:04:01.110] - Marie Lapidus 

Absolutely. I wanted to ask you, besides your theater classes and dance and speech that you did, what was your actual major here? Was it just Gen Eds? Just an AA that you were getting? Did you take other classes and you were bored because you love theater? 

[00:04:18.210] - Jeremy Lucas 

I did get some general Eds out of the way. I do remember that, and those were fine and good. I think I was a theater major. I don't really remember because I had the intention of going to a state school, and then my sophomore year, I went to Illinois State, which wasn't as small of a town as those other ones that I initially visited. I was happy there, and that was a great experience as well. But at Harper, I guess I would imagine I was a theater major. 

[00:04:46.190] - Marie Lapidus 

Okay. Then I think you have next step. After Harper, you said you went to Illinois State. Was there Roosevelt at some point? 

[00:04:56.810] - Jeremy Lucas 

Yes. My junior and senior year, I graduated from the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. I believe it was the first year of the program that was integrated theater with music, voice, and dance. I think it was the inaugural class. 

[00:05:14.690] - Marie Lapidus 

Okay. Exciting. Of that program. Exciting. Then after that, you founded Jaxx Theatricals. 

[00:05:20.930] - Jeremy Lucas 

Yes.  

[00:05:21.810] - Marie Lapidus 

In LA. What does Jack's Theatricals actually do? What is that about? 

[00:05:29.070] - Jeremy Lucas 

Our mission is to develop creativity, inspire self-expression, and promote self-esteem through fully inclusive arts education, youth outreach, and live performance. In that time, we're 18 now. We're 18 years old. We're grownups. We've worked at over 50 schools, theaters, and camps throughout LA County, four different school districts, arts education programs after school, and school. Then we also, unrelated but related because it's still arts related, is we're cultural arts envoiced to the USA representing American musical theater. We go around the world and produce Broadway style reviews with introducing musical theater to different countries who don't really understand or know what our truly American art form is here. 

[00:06:23.880] - Marie Lapidus 

Okay. It's a lot. It's a lot. I want to go back a little bit to what you're doing. You are providing arts education into the elementary schools, middle schools, high schools? 

[00:06:37.980] - Jeremy Lucas 

High schools, all ages. 

[00:06:39.290] - Marie Lapidus 

All ages, all throughout California or throughout the United States? 

[00:06:43.560] - Jeremy Lucas 

Well, LA County. La County. That's specific to LA County. Yes. Okay. 

[00:06:48.240] - Marie Lapidus 

You have students coming. Do they do that during school time or is it an after-school an activity? Both. 

[00:06:55.200] - Jeremy Lucas 

We have both kinds of programs. It's all about what the school has funding for or what they I want, but we do both. 

[00:07:01.460] - Marie Lapidus 

Okay. You have lots of students. Have you had students graduating who've gone on to do theater? I mean, you are in LA, so begs the question, right? Do they go on and do theater work? 

[00:07:16.010] - Jeremy Lucas 

Yes. Our students are at some of the top musical theater schools in the country now, which is really exciting. 

[00:07:22.880] - Marie Lapidus 

Yes. That's fun. 

[00:07:24.060] - Jeremy Lucas 

Yeah, super fun seeing them take off. 

[00:07:26.410] - Marie Lapidus 

Well, it's just fun for us to see you come back as a Distinguished Alumni. It's going to be fun for you to do a Distinguished Alumni. Yes. And have them come back and talk about their experiences. How exciting. How exciting for that. So my next question for you is about your cultural arts envoy for the US. So you've been traveling and representing the United States. Where have you gone? Where has that taken you? 

[00:07:55.630] - Jeremy Lucas 

So the first one was in Bakhu, Azerbaijan. And we worked with two schools there. The second one was in Suva, Fiji. That's my favorite one I've done so far. That was with two professional groups. It was with the singers from Disney's Moana film. Then a professional dance group in Fiji. Then most recently in 2022, I went to Tunisia, and we worked with two or three groups there. The really special thing is across the world, there are singers, and there are dancers, and there are actors. But teaching the singers or showing the singers that they can dance and the dancers can sing, and it's all based in acting is really the most special thing that represents American musical theater is integrating the three art forms into one, which is musical theater. It's my favorite gig. It's the best. We have a great time doing it. 

[00:08:57.690] - Marie Lapidus 

Excellent. When you are going to these countries, have you learned languages? 

[00:09:03.270] - Jeremy Lucas 

My husband is better at learning the languages. The first time in Azerbaijan, I had a translator because they spoke for not very much English at all. Then in Fiji, obviously, they would teach us Fijian words, which was fun. Mula. In Tunisia, Tunisian speak, I think it's Tunsi first, and then they learn French, and then they learn English. Their English was quite good. Okay. No real language barriers, like occasionally words. But they would teach us mostly JD. I know a little French. I took French in high school, I know a little, but my husband JD was really good about learning Arabic. 

[00:09:50.210] - Marie Lapidus 

Oh, wow. 

[00:09:50.690] - Jeremy Lucas 

Much better than me. 

[00:09:52.310] - Marie Lapidus 

Wow. Yes. 

[00:09:53.340] - Jeremy Lucas 

I shake. 

[00:09:55.910] - Marie Lapidus 

Then did you pick up any of their Share cultural music and dances where you get to experience that as well? 

[00:10:06.150] - Jeremy Lucas 

Yes. And that's actually something really special. Each place is so happy to share their culture. And so it's so different from the American view on culture. They just want to share it, and they love to dress this up. They really are so proud of showing us their culture. So We love it. 

[00:10:32.300] - Marie Lapidus 

Do you get to take students with you, or is it just you are going as a group? 

[00:10:38.640] - Jeremy Lucas 

Jd and I go there, and then we teach them everything from how to put on the show, the singing, the acting, the dancing, all the different numbers from the musical theater repertoire. Then JD is really good about showing them the technical aspects, like lights and microphones. We really produce a big show. 

[00:11:01.170] - Marie Lapidus 

A big show. Do you get to stay there the whole time and produce a show? 

[00:11:04.930] - Jeremy Lucas 

Yes. 

[00:11:05.460] - Marie Lapidus 

Oh, that's interesting. Yes. That's exciting to do that. Yeah. With a translator the whole time. 

[00:11:11.930] - Jeremy Lucas 

Well, just the first time. 

[00:11:13.140] - Marie Lapidus 

Just the first one, yes. 

[00:11:14.410] - Jeremy Lucas 

Just the first time. 

[00:11:15.430] - Marie Lapidus 

Yes. How long does it take to do a production like that? How long are you usually there for? About a month. About a month? Yes. 

[00:11:23.580] - Jeremy Lucas 

Okay. This next one we're going on will be November, December. We're going to do two. We'll do one in the capital city of Tunis, and then we're going down to Gabis, a city in the Southern part of the country. 

[00:11:39.120] - Marie Lapidus 

Okay. You get to really... You've gotten the experience to do theater, and you get the experience to travel internationally and show off our musicals, which is exciting. My next question for you is, your work with Jaxx also focuses on helping students with different abilities to be involved. How did you get started with that, and what does that mean? 

[00:12:03.440] - Jeremy Lucas 

Ironically, or not, our first registrant, the first student who ever registered, her name was Elizabeth Langworthy. She's got to be in... She's probably near 30 now. She has down syndrome. I remember with our cofounders, who has experience working with that and if we were prepared to do that and talking to the parents. It was a definite yes. That paved the way for a long period of time of having students with different abilities. We had students with Echolalia and all different types of autism all over the spectrum. It was really just a win-win because the arts were their savior. They were able to express themselves so freely and especially our student with Echolalia, which is you can repeat. He would often repeat Brittany Spears, and he would do it so well, but he could do that with musical theater. He'd watch different performances and be able to- Repeat. Repeat and really shine. It's like if he was pretty nonverbal, he could sing like a bird. There was a long period of time where Jaxx had all different kinds of students. We don't as much anymore. We still are fully inclusive, and we still do have students with different abilities, but it was more at the beginning of Jaxx when we had a lot. It was very special. 

[00:13:46.220] - Jeremy Lucas 

It was really cool. 

[00:13:47.670] - Marie Lapidus 

Yes, I was on your website and I was reading about your theater and how inclusive you really are and how you welcome everybody. It's really special, I think, because I feel like in Hollywood, at least, and maybe on Broadway, I don't really know because I'm not a theater person, but it feels like there's this very particular look and very particular ability that you have to have. And I think maybe in theater, it's a little bit different because theater is live versus on TV or in movies. But it's so great to be able to offer people who of different abilities to have the same experiences and show them off and the abilities that they may have that we don't even realize. I think that that's fantastic that you're giving them that opportunity. So it'll be also fabulous to see them as distinguished alumni come back after they've been participating in theater as well. It's so exciting. I really like that about what you're doing. Before you had that first student, did you ever even think that that would be the path that you would be taking? 

[00:14:57.070] - Jeremy Lucas 

No, definitely not. I didn't. It was my day job from acting was I worked for a company in Los Angeles doing the same thing, musical theater with kids. That was the first time I realized it was something that I could do and was an opportunity for me and something I really enjoyed doing. I love showing anyone, really kids to adults. I really love American. I love musical theater. I love American musical theater. I'm a total theater kid, a Broadway nerd. So getting to share that is a gift and a dream. So I really enjoy it. But no, I had no idea that that was inside me. 

[00:15:44.130] - Marie Lapidus 

So your development as an entrepreneur into figuring out your target markets. Sorry, I'm a business professor (laughs). Like your target markets and all of that. So how do you feel about you being an entrepreneur and starting a nonprofit and doing all of these wonderful things that you do? 

[00:16:04.730] - Jeremy Lucas 

It's a lot of work. I have so much to thanks to my husband, who's sitting across the room from me right now. JD, he's our managing director. I'm the artistic director. We're a great team. We love working together. He's just as passionate as I am. We're blessed. We get to do what we love. We have an adult theater. That sounds weird (laughs). We have a professional theater component as well. We're doing Rent right now. This past year, we've done Andrew Lippa's Wildparty Chess. Now we're doing Rent. Kids, adults, it's a gift that we're getting to do all this, and we truly love it. 

[00:16:46.950] - Marie Lapidus 

Okay. Personal question. What's your favorite musical? 

[00:16:50.310] - Jeremy Lucas 

West Side Story. West Side Story. What's yours? 

[00:16:53.880] - Marie Lapidus 

Not a huge musical, I suppose. But I will say Sound of Music. I don't know. Do we consider that a musical? 

[00:17:05.840] - Jeremy Lucas 

Yes. 

[00:17:06.170] - Marie Lapidus 

Yes, right? Because there's a lot of music and dancing. Rodgers of Hammerstein. Yes. Victor Victoria. Julie Andrews, I think, just overall is somebody I would watch in just about anything, so whatever that she's doing. I don't know beyond that. I think my friend really loves Kinky Boots, so I have not seen that one. 

[00:17:31.280] - Jeremy Lucas 

Really fun. 

[00:17:31.990] - Marie Lapidus 

Yes. She has dragged me to some musicals, but I don't know. There's some that I just really love, and some I'm just thinking, yeah, no. 

[00:17:41.680] - Jeremy Lucas 

Right. 

[00:17:42.420] - Marie Lapidus 

So today you're going to be officially our 2024 Distinguished Alumni. What does that mean to you? 

[00:17:53.910] - Jeremy Lucas 

It's an honor and a privilege. Also something I never expected. I was telling Lauren that I'm doing Rent right now, and the cast of Rent, the musical, is younger, and they call me Father Jaxx. That, coupled with this Distinguished Alumni Award, I feel like I've entered a new era of the elder who should have wisdom. Hopefully, I do. It's ....What an honor. What an honor and what a fun new era I'm moving into as an elder person of the theater. 

[00:18:38.570] - Marie Lapidus 

I don't think you're elder. I think that's for way longer ahead of us, way into the future. But I think that- 

[00:18:48.610] - Jeremy Lucas 

You're kind. 

[00:18:49.150] - Marie Lapidus 

Well, I think it's probably that you're entering the stage of mastery, right? You're from growing into the mastery where you can now share with everybody else the mastery that you have. So let's call it that. 

[00:19:04.340] - Jeremy Lucas 

I like that. 

[00:19:05.360] - Marie Lapidus 

Right. The mastery stage, not the elder stage. But that's all about how you view age. I am the person who says whatever age I woke up today, that's the age I am.

[00:19:19.220] - Jeremy Lucas 

Right. I like that. Yes. 

[00:19:20.520] - Marie Lapidus 

So I want to take that. I love that. And I'll give you that as well. Thank you. Whatever age you want to be today, that's your age. Thank you. 

[00:19:27.070] - Jeremy Lucas 

Edit out everything about the years. Exactly. 

[00:19:31.140] - Marie Lapidus 

Next question that we do typically closer as we're wrapping up, but I think you might have a lot of advice for us. So we ask all our guests on the show, what advice do you have for current Harper students? 

[00:19:47.100] - Jeremy Lucas 

This is great because I just spoke to Kevin Long's acting class, and so I'm going to say the same thing, but it's to do, especially current Harper College students and all the way into definitely throughout your 20s, do everything you can in terms of do all the shows you can, audition for everything. Don't turn down the ensemble roles. Do the ensemble roles. Study, study, study. Take acting classes. I understand that there's some things that Harper has here, some things they don't have. If you don't have dance classes, go find the dance classes in the community. Ask for scholarships if you need having an arts education school, 99.9% of the time we'll give the scholarship or give the discount, or if you need the financial aid, we will give it. I know other schools will do that, too. Study, study, study, get the voice teacher. You can't afford the voice teacher. There's so many things you can find online to work on your voice and work on your craft, especially now ...That I didn't have growing up, obviously. That, study, be prepared, and audition for everything, and do everything. Don't take all the work you can because it will lead to something else, and every experience will make you better. 

[00:21:14.250] - Marie Lapidus 

That is really great advice. I do want to ask you, as a master and experienced person in this art form of acting, what are some of the different opportunities? I mean, you are doing a different opportunity of running your own theater company and providing all of this education and being able to travel and do all of that, all tied to theater. People think, Oh, theater, I'm never going to make any money. What do you see as a professional in that arena as opportunities for students? 

[00:21:47.220] - Jeremy Lucas 

Yeah, I was telling them, additionally, if there's something else in the theater that interests them other than just being on stage, not that they can't be on stage. They absolutely can and will if they put their heart and soul into it. But we need lighting designers, and we need sound engineers, and we need arts administrators, arts administration people, and stage managers. There's all these other different kinds of jobs in theater or in film or in music. If you want to be involved in the arts in some way, you can. If there's anything, any of the costume design, if any of that stuff interests you, pursue that. Then that's another avenue to make a career or your side hustle, your day job. We're working with an actress right now who loves performing, but her day job is stage managing. That's fantastic that she can do the art, which often sometimes doesn't pay as much as stage managing or lighting designers and sound engineers, specifically. If you have any technical interest, you'll always work if you have those skills. There's a number of things that you can do to work in theater and in the arts. And film, all the same thing. 

[00:23:11.320] - Jeremy Lucas 

Film, there's all the different aspects of making a film, editing, all kinds of things. You can do it. If you want to do it, you absolutely can. 

[00:23:22.610] - Marie Lapidus 

Well, I hope all our students are listening because we have all of that. We have all of those programs, the technical side of video production an audio production, theater, being on the radio and even doing that is an experience as well. So that's really great. That's really, I think, great advice for our students to just really be broad in all the experiences that they have. And even if you are focused on going into theater or movies or acting or whatever, just broaden your horizons and make sure you know something else that can work with you as you go and be involved in that theater that you love in some other aspect. That's really exciting. Thank you for coming on the show. 

[00:24:07.000] - Jeremy Lucas 

Thank you for having me. 

[00:24:08.190] - Marie Lapidus 

We're very happy to have you here. I think it's very exciting to have our alumni come back and tell the students about their experiences and opportunities that they have and show them just different paths that everybody takes to get to wherever they are. 

[00:24:23.490] - Marie Lapidus 

Jeremy Lucas is a Harper College graduate, co founder of Jaxx Theatricals, and now a Harper College Distinguished Alumni. If you've enjoyed Harper Talks, please subscribe. And while you're at it, rate and review us so that others might find us. Harper Talks is a coproduction of Harper College Alumni Relations and Harper Radio. Our show is produced by Shannon Hynes. This episode was edited by Kobe Pozo. Our online content producer is Matt Byrne. Our theme music was created by Aiden Cashman. I'm Marie Lapidus. Thank you for listening.