Dial M For Murder – Actor Spotlight – Jason Manella

“Dial M For Murder” is Jason’s first Bygone Theatre Production; he will be playing Captain Lesgate.

Jason Manella aka Captain Lesgate
Jason Manella aka Captain Lesgate

Bio

For almost half a decade, Jason has been fervently persisting his goal of becoming a performance artist. Jason is not only an actor, but also a writer and a musician. Since moving to Toronto in November 2012, Jason has been in various short films, such as Whiskey Peak as Kid Callaway through Humber College, and Lucky Day as James through Sheridan College. Jason recently participated in the 2013 Toronto Fringe Festival in Stephen Briggs’ stage adaptation of Terry Pratchett’s Monstrous Regiment as Carborundum the Troll through Socratic Theatre Collective. The highlight of Jason’s life thus far has been graduating College, being in three Stage Productions, and getting married to Rebekah Manella; all within the span of two months. Jason would like to sincerely thank all of his family, friends, fans – and would especially like to thank God for the continual blessings and support.

1. How did you get started in theatre?

I started in Theatre through the Youth Group I joined in high school called Youth Evangelizing Others (YEO) The YEO team would put on youth retreats for grade-schoolers – and we would use skits as ways to get the kids involved with the retreat and to get them really thinking about their faith. After being told by various people that I had a natural knack for acting, I decided to audition for the Summer play that year. It was Grease – and I was cast as Roger. I haven’t stopped acting since.

2. What is your favourite part of the creative process?

My favourite part of the creative process are all the mistakes that are made during performances. They are what make theatre for a performer nerve-wracking: keeping actors on their toes – and then when something does screw up – how real moments occur while the actors do their best to stay true to the scene. It’s truly amazing the discoveries one has to make to keep the play moving and also be true to the writer’s intention – all the while covering up a mistake.

3. What are some challenges you face as an actor?

Challenges I face as an actor? Getting noticed and making money – but don’t we all have those problems?

4. Any advice you want to give to others pursuing acting?

Stop trying so hard – Do. Or Do Not. There is no try. People only pass Judgement on others when they pass it upon themselves. Act Better. Breath. Never Give Up – Never Surrender!

5. What are you most excited for in regards to “Dial M For Murder”

Killing my wife. Or at least trying to. Again…

6. What are some of your Favourite Movies?

The Road to El Dorado. Artois the Goat. Star Trek – Into Darkness. Finding Nemo (and pretty much every other Pixar Movie). Braveheart (gimme a break – I’m a red-head) Inception. Etc etc etc

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Author: BygoneTheatre

Bygone Theatre was founded as a collective in October of 2012, and became an incorporated not-for-profit company in October of 2015. Our mandate is to produce theatre written or set in the early 20th century, focusing on historical aspects in design and incorporating a classic cinema aesthetic. ​ In 2019 Bygone Theatre was nominated for 14 Broadway World Toronto Awards, including Best Community Theatre and Best Play (Equity). We took home a total of 5 awards, 4 of which were for The Rear Window, including Best Direction of a Play (Equity); Best Original Lighting Design; Best Leading Actor (Play, Equity); and Best Featured Actress (Play, Equity). We took a hiatus our 2020/21 season because of the COVID19 pandemic, and used that time to develop our charitable initiatives. In August of 2021 we were nominated for the Toronto Star Readers' Choice Award for Best Live Theatre. Part of our mission involves inclusion and accessibility, and we strive to allow artists of all backgrounds and levels of experience the chance to have hands-on experience in whatever capacity they are most interested in; this has included youth outreach programs for high school students interested in production design, and acting opportunities for those who have never performed onstage.

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