Irvin Mason Jr. is a Queer director, actor, poet, and teaching artist born and raised in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. His work intersects expressive movement, live music, emerging technology, and Afro-Caribbean traditions and rituals to breathe new life into physical storytelling. He is a graduate of the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television, founder of The Color Box Production Company, and co-founder and co-artistic director of Jumbo Shrimp Productions.
This year, Irvin was awarded a series of fellowship and observership opportunities. He served as an observer to Schele Williams on the Broadway revival of The Wiz. He was the SDCF directing observer to Maggie Burrows on Little Shop of Horrors and Lili-Anne Brown on Rent at the Muny. He was a directing fellow on Pup! A Chew Story (NAMT). His recent directing credits include: Ain't Misbehavin (Gallery-Players), Stuck (Chain Theatre), and Pipeline (Gallery-Players). Assistant Directing: Gospel According to Heather (AMAS). When Irvin is not in the rehearsal room, you can find him teaching New York City youth about all things theater and performance.
As an actor, Irvin performed in a variety of plays, musicals, and web series. Some of his favorite roles include playing the titular role in Henrik Ibsen's Brand, Travis Younger in A Raisin in the Sun, and the role of Chad in the web series SOCiAL.
"I want to ensure that the stories being told within theater, specifically within American Theater, reflect the diverse populations of the world. This is why I continue to pursue a career in directing theater, specifically musical theater. I want to dismantle the foundation that American theater was built on and create space for new voices to tell their own stories. As a director, I want to cultivate the next generation of theater makers and create a space for emerging artists, especially those from underrepresented communities, allowing them to discover the worth of seeing their identities unapologetically displayed on stage. That is what is so magical about the work I create and choose to work on, they are a true reflection of myself, as I continue to discover self-worth and the joys of life!”
As a Black, Queer, and Caribbean person, I continue to create theater because I am interested in seeing people like me as heroes and warriors and bosses and cowboys and scholars and aliens and Glindas and Phantoms and, and, and... rather than as someone discovering or hiding those identities.
