Jason Langley (he/they) is an award-winning theatre director with extensive experience as a director, actor, dramaturg, mentor, lecturer and performance coach. He is adept at conceiving, creating and realizing innovative, large-scale musical productions, as well as the smaller-scale fringe play. Whether commercial or independent sized, Jason’s productions are always thoroughly detailed, from pre-production through to performance and invariably impactful both textually and visually. As a theatre-maker, he practices organized leadership in a caring, collaborative, nurturing manner, knowing how to play to people’s strengths and minimize their weaknesses.

At age eleven, Jason directed the school play, a tawdry kitchen-sink drama he chose more for it’s thrilling use of colourful language than for it’s literary contribution to the theatrical canon. Thankfully he has since learned to make more sophisticated choices.

Jason has directed theatre, music theatre, concert, cabaret and touring productions regionally, nationally and internationally. Highlights include The Boy From Oz (The Production Company), Brigadoon (State Theatre, Arts Centre Melbourne), Here Lies Henry (London), Wonderful Town (Sydney Opera House), Say Hello First (The Old Fitz), Dusty (Festival Theatre, Adelaide), Footloose (His Majesty’s Theatre, Perth) and Evita (Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre).

He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Performing Arts from The University of Western Sydney, Theatre Nepean, where he studied acting and directing as well as gaining a fundamental comprehension of and appreciation for all aspects of production and theatre-making. Due to this interdisciplinary training, Jason is comfortable leading creative and production teams whether experienced, emerging or at tertiary level.
He has dramaturged and/or directed many new Australian works, nurturing new and mid-career writers in addition to mentoring young theatre-makers.

Graduating into the industry, initially establishing himself as an actor, Jason performed in musicals such as Monty Python’s Spamalot (Her Majesty’s Theatre - Melbourne), Merrily We Roll Along (Sydney Theatre Company), No Way To Treat A Lady (Darlinghurst Theatre Company) and plays such as Mothers And Sons (Ensemble), Under Ice (Griffin), Lady Macbeth Of Mtsensk (Belvoir), Out In The Open (Darlinghurst Theatre Company) and Playgrounds (Sydney Theatre Company). His many years of experience onstage have informed Jason’s directing approach immeasurably, affording him a language and ease with actors as well as empathy for the actors’ process. It has also made him accomplished at coaching actors into strong performances whether experienced professionals, emerging artists, celebrities, reality television stars, students, non-actors or children.

Jason has guest directed and lectured at tertiary drama institutions - the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA), the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), the Australian Academy of Dramatic Art (AADA), the Australian Institute of Music (AIM), the Queensland Academy of Excellence in Musical Theatre (QAEMT)  and the Central Queensland Conservatorium of Music (CQCM).

In the youth arts sector he has been a director/creator for the Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP) and the Talent Development Project (TDP), as well as helming the Met West Youth Drama Festival as Artistic Director for three years.
He has also sat on industry assessing and advisory panels for the Darlinghurst Theatre Company, Hayes Theatre Company, New Musicals Australia, Music Theatre Futures, Home Grown, Kookaburra, WAAPA, VCA, AADA and Theatre Resources Unlimited NYC.

Jason was born and raised on Dharug land in Western Sydney and now resides on the unceded lands of the Gadigal and Wangal peoples of the Eora Nation. He would like to pay his respects to their elders, past and present, and acknowledge the value of their continuing culture as an integral part of this country’s artistic heritage. Jason feels honoured and privileged every day to partake in Australia’s 65,000 year-old tradition of storytelling.