New West Theatre’s new artistic director Jeremy Mason is going to stay the course, building on the success of the longstanding, popular Lethbridge theatre company.
Mason, who took over the position April 1 from Nicholas Hanson who has left to pursue other opportunities, is looking forward to the challenge. Hanson not only is a full time professor at the university, but is working on his PHd as well as has a family, so he decided to step down.
“This will be our 23rd year. New West is in a great position now,” Mason said. Their last production of the season, “the Kitchen Witches,” which brought Mason back to the stage for the first time in a long time in an adult production, was a hit, breaking attendance records. And their musical/ comedy revues are a popular southern Alberta draw.
“We’re the biggest company in Alberta outside of Calgary and Edmonton and we’re bigger than some of the companies in Calgary and Edmonton,” he enthused.
Mason, born in Cranbrook but raised in Lethbridge, has been the troupe’s general manager since 2009. He attended LCI and graduated from the University of Lethbridge with his BFA in 2005. He lived in Calgary from 2007-2009 before returning home to take on the general manager’s job, however he has been involved with New West Theatre in some capacity as an actor or director since 2003. He has helped implement New West’s popular summer youth camps as well as their Theatre for Young Audience productions for which he has been an actor and a director.