Jessa Watson

Reviews and Production Photos

(to see individual show pages, click here and click the pink show links)

Rabbit Hole
San Jose Repertory Theater
May 15 - June 10, 2007

Jessa Watson as Izzy

(Photography by Pat Kirk. Click on photos for larger view)

Click Here to see full set of production photos

"Lindsay-Abaire eases us into the situation, opening with a cleverly comic scene between Becca and her sister Izzy (Jessa Watson), the family's party-hearty bad girl to Becca's practical, "perfect" elder daughter. Watson is a delightfully selfish and immature Izzy, only semiconscious of the effect of the story she's telling, as one outrageous revelation leads to another." - Robert Hurwitt, Chronicle Theater Critic (San Francisco Chronicle)

"Jessa Watson is very good as Izzy, Becca's kooky sister. She adds glitter to the play as the free-spirited wisecracking character. Her progression from immature wild child to mature adult is brilliantly drawn." - Richard Connema, Talkin' Broadway Regional News

"Izzy is the free-spirited, wild-child of a sister (Jessa Watson). Watson, clad in kooky, Forever 21-style couture, adds sparkle to the play’s wisecrack banter, its kitschy winks to American pop culture icons (from Jerry Springer to Applebee’s). These pinpricks of irony and wit give the play some refreshing comic relief." - Mercury News

Under My Apron
Midtown International Theater Festival
July 22 - August 7, 2005

(Photography by Real Photo NYC: Click on photos for larger view)

"Jessa Watson manages to be likeable yet vain, as an obscure actress turned waitress in “Recognize Me?”- Margaret Cross, Broadway World

"With a talented ensemble of seven, [this show] distinguishes a host of distinct personalities in 23 quick sketches. And, the actors work beautifully together as an ensemble, delivering rapid-fire dialog, which is both witty and familiar, much as the skits on The Carol Burnett Show were... Jessa Watson demonstrated precise timing and excellent pace." - Jo Ann Rosen, NYTheatre.com

Suds, the Rockin' 60s Musical Soap Opera
National Tour, Revival
May 2003- May 2005

"She is joined by some hilarious “angels.” Jessa Watson is an angel-in-training with an innocent, Mrs. Poole-like voice whose heavenly hormones get turned on while describing the Big Man whom Cindy should be on the lookout for." - San Diego Playbill

"The real payoff was the crackerjack quartet of Equity actors, whose suave moves matched their smooth vocals and daringly zany choreography. The result was a frothy confection of pure, tongue-in-cheek escapism that bounced along to the merry beat and left you smiling all the way." - Palm Springs

"Fortunately, the performers at the Cuillo Centre are so winning and the music so infectious that they are justification enough for the whole exercise. [Jessa] Watson is [a diva's] equal on vocals, with standout renditions of such numbers as You Don't Own Me and Big Man." - Palm Beach Post

"The singing often is zesty and colorful, whether solo, duet, trio or group. Harmonies often ring. After “Shout,” the second encore song Friday night, the audience was standing and applauding." - Green Bay Gazette

Nu
Sledgehammer Theater

Jessa Watson as Director

(Click on photos for larger view)

"After a brief pause (no intermissions here), we view Part II, "Echoes Traveling," conceived and directed by [Jessa] Watson. All six actors are clad in white, a sad violin (sound design by Paul Peterson throughout) accompanies a woman trying to break free from a constraining past but finding no great solace in her future. She is whispered about, rejected, her life (represented in strips of paper) is torn to shreds and dropped like petals around her. She finds and loses love, friendship. She breaks down and cries. She claws her way out. She nearly drowns in blue-gray light. But something tells us she will emerge stronger for the experience. If this piece parallels Watson's own life path, she is heading in a very good direction -- both personally and professionally." - KPBS

"Conceived and directed by Sledge artistic director Kirsten Brandt and associate artist Jessa Watson, "Nu" melds supple, malleable lighting by David Lee Cuthbert, borrowed music and jangled sound by Paul Peterson, with movement and gesture for six actors. The three discrete parts involve an office-set melodrama employing masks, a dancelike exploration of the risks of intimacy, and an ambitious visualization of a Sylvia Plath poem. Though the results are uneven, "Nu" continues Sledgehammer's quest to create an innovative physical language for its core ensemble. When all the elements cohere, as they sometimes do in Watson's "Echoes Traveling" and Brandt's "Wintering," their "Nu" has a power beyond words. This evolving rhetoric of gesture will no doubt appear in other more conventional plays staged by the company down the road. So if you care about Sledgehammer, "Nu" is a must-see. Watson's "Echoes Traveling" proceeds in dance terms, its musical underpinnings by Dirty Three and the Mulhill Orkestra forming a kind of emotional triptych supporting the transformation of a woman from outsider to lover back to outsider with a future. Costumed all in white, with an impressively erotic and undulating dance by Sara Plaisted at its center, "Echoes Traveling" has a winning simplicity and ardor. Two steps to the right, and Watson, who's a radiant actor, would have to be called a choreographer." – San Diego Union Tribune

"This could be the start of a new, physical vocabulary for Sledgehammer Theatre. Three pieces, Mr. Phosphorescent (office politics), Echoes Traveling (a woman tries to shed a chrysalis-like past), and Wintering (from Sylvia Plath's Ariel) use gesture, movement, and music in ways resembling Meyerhold's "biomechanics" and Anne Bogart. The body talks. At times the stage flashes with voiceless communication. For such an important project, you wish directors Kirstin Brandt and Jessa Watson and their cast had world enough and time to forge their theatrical lexicon in some Grotowskian retreat." – San Diego Reader

"That is what Kirsten Brandt, Jessa Watson, and the cast and crew at Sledgehammer Theatre experiment with in their world premiere of Nu. And as with most of Sledgehammer’s experiments, Nu is a great success. The evening consists of three fairly brief one-acts, each telling quite different stories but with a similar theme – focusing on seemingly ordinary people who are unhappy in the manmade prisons that they find themselves in, and strive to find some escape. Jessa Watson’s piece, Echoes Traveling, is a visually sublime creation beginning with a group of people confined and contorted in their own private torments against which they seem to be slowly struggling. One woman, Sara Plaisted, breaks free, rejoicing in her new freedom and eager to free all the others. The gorgeous choreography that follows their release is threatened by a disturbing creature lurking behind a screen, unseen by them, intent on forcing them back into their shells." - San Diego Playbill

"Visual poetry is part dream, part visceral inspiration, and to a larger extent:  blood, sweat and tears.  Sledgehammer Theatre brings their set of visual poems and world premiere, Nu, (French for naked/nude) to San Diego audiences in a bearing of the soul that helps us discover the truth to our inner selves. Echoes Traveling (conceived and directed by Associate Artist Jessa Watson) begins with the fluid movements of the ensemble. All too apparent to the others in the representational group, one appears to escape from the mold and move to freedom (of choice and action). Contortions from the remaining group seem to indicate their discomfort with the one who has escaped from the confinement of conservative restrictions. The piece seems to shout out a warning to liberal beings that when you break from the pack, you may suffer the loss of their protection and may be branded — like a scarlet woman — as a traitor, and marked for humiliation and restriction in society. Although there is a surface theme of prohibited love, the play maintains the universal theme of the fear of exploring individuality on many different levels. Brandt and her company succeed in moving from linear storytelling in this non-verbal theatrical local debut. Let your eyes and ears feast upon the physical text of this local debut." - Gay and Lesbian Times

Berzerkergäng
Sledgehammer Theater
Summer 2003

Jessa Watson as Director*

(Photography by David Lee Cuthbert. Click on photos for larger view)

*WINNER: Outstanding Production
(KPBS Patte)

Click Here to see full set of production photos

"The story's sweep is daunting, to say the least. And yet Brandt and her collaborators – directors Michael Severance and Jessa Watson, the creative team of David Lee Cuthbert (lighting and sets), Corey Johnston (costumes) and Jeff Mockus (sound) and a cohesive, disciplined ensemble of 13 actors – deliver a mostly cogent and sometimes stunning, evening of theater. When the focus is on the ancient myth, "Berzerkergang" soars like the bird of prey that Erda wields to protect her fallen daughter. We feel the pulse of humanity and the promise of the divine, the cosmic battle between heaven and earth in which mere mortals must meet their fate. At its best, this is stirring, provocative theater." – San Diego Union Tribune

"The stylized, provocative, choreographically precise direction of Jessa Watson and Michael Severance has Brandt's creative energy all over it. David Lee Cuthbert's lighting is another triumph, as is the sound design of Jeff Mockus and Corey Johnston's costumes. All the performances are spine-tingling, especially Laura Lee Juliano as Brunhilde, Ruff Yeager as Wotan and Janet Hayatshahi as the enigmatic Erda. This is inventive theater of mythic proportion… brash, bold and courageous." - KPBS

"Brandt’s highly original creation is an ambitious work that has divine potential. Several great characters and all the remarkable visuals are this tragedy’s greatest strengths. Directors Michael Severance and Jessa Watson beautifully blend the talents of their design crew with the story, and maintain a steadily increasing dark and somber feel to the play that befits an immortal corporate environment whose top executives know they are eventually doomed." - San Diego Playbill

"Codirected by Michael Severance and Jessa Watson, this is Sledgehammer's most capable work since the mad-dog days of founder Scott Feldsher. Directors Severance and Watson craft some stunning images and stylized movements worthy of (and here the highest praise) Anne Bogart." – San Diego Reader

"From a theater junkie to you, this is a smattering of the best—assuming, of course, that your tastes don’t run to Joey & Maria’s Comedy Italian Wedding, Triple Espresso and Beehive. There’s nothing wrong with those shows—except that they’re about as deep as a mud puddle and as exciting as a frozen chocolate pie. Consider something outrageous and controversial, something to give you chat fodder long after the lights come up. The world premiere of Kirsten Brandt’s Berzerkergäng, it’s a mad, murderous, incestuous world. The plot is based on ancient Norwegian “eddas,” the same stuff used by Richard Wagner when he wrote his 15-hour Ring Cycle. It all starts with the theft of some gold (a computer disc) from the Rhine Maidens. Brandt sets her saga in corporate America, where the one-eyed god, Wotan, is a CEO. He’s grooming his daughter Brunhilde to be his successor. When she crosses him, he takes away her immortality and sets her in a Ring of Fire, to be rescued by a rock singer named Siegfried. Admittedly, it sounds complicated, but Berzerkergäng is funny, outrageous and a fabulous spectacle with superb performances, super costumes and a phenomenal sound design." – San Diego City Beat

" 'Berzerkergang' is near flawless and wholly impressive. Directors Michael Severance and Jessa Watson have given us a play that fluidly combines elements of music and dance. Simple, synchronized movements, like the Rhine Maidens' ethereal swaying and the heavy, swinging steps of the giants, add infinitely to the characters." - San Diego Daily Transcript

"Co-directors Jessa Watson and Michael Severance balance the scenes with heroic attention to the storyline and succeed on many levels." –Gay & Lesbian Times

"This is a solid production placed on a steeply raked stage with a two-story backdrop consisting of three doors on two levels bordered by interesting side panels that offered a change of scene simply by changes from front to back lighting. Directors Michael Severance and Jessa Watson crafted an interesting and challenging production." – Robert Hitchcox, TMC Press

Richard III
Sledgehammer Theater
October 12 - November 11, 2001

Jessa Watson as Queen Elizabeth*

(Click on photos for larger view)

*WINNER: Best Ensemble
(San Diego Critics Circle and KPBS Patte)

"Sledgehammer regular Jessa Watson impresses yet again, this time as Queen Elizabeth, husband to the dying King Edward IV, sister-in-law to Richard III, and mother of two sons who would succeed their dying father. With eyes that are somehow devilish and angelic at the same time, Jessa is a riot while comforting her husband on his deathbed via video linkup. Later she stars in one of the most gripping scenes where Richard confronts her shortly after having her two sons executed in the Tower of London, and then practically seduces/rapes her as he demands her daughter Elizabeth in marriage." - San Diego Playbill

"... actors who deftly handle the lush and brutal language [include] Jessa Watson..."-KPBS

The Importance of Being Earnest
North Coast Repertory Theater
June 6 - August 22, 2001

(Click on photos for larger view)

(Above photo by Ken Jacques, photos below by Randy Rovang)

Click Here to see full set of production photos

"The always-hilarious Jessa Watson stars as the outwardly prim and proper Gwendolen who can barely contain her passion for her “Earnest” played delightfully by James Saba."- SD Playbill

" As Gwendolen, the object of his ardor, who wouldn't dream of marrying anyone who wasn't named Ernest, Jessa Watson is both beautiful and uproarious, the perfect, fluttery foil for her arch-rival and best friend, Cecily." - KPBS

" Julie and Jessa share the best scene of the show where they meet, become instant lifelong friends, soon grow jealous and catty as they believe themselves engaged to the same Earnest, before becoming lifelong friends again." -SD Playbill

Travesties
North Coast Repertory Theater

Jessa Watson as Gwendolen*

*WINNER: Best Ensemble
(San Diego Critics Circle and KPBS Patte

"Especially dazzling is the vaudevillian musical duet between Jessa Watson's Gwendolen and Julie Jacobs' Cecily." - KPBS

"And Jessa Watson again joins Julie Jacobs for the most amusing scene of this play, this time singing through their love-hate-love relationship in a succession of witty stanzas." - San Diego Playbill

"Especially delicious is the musical duet between Gwendolen (Jessa Watson) and Cecily (Julie Jacobs), who sing their Wilde lines with classy vaudevillian finesse." - Gay & Lesbian Times

Devil's River
Sledgehammer Theater
February 16-March 11, 2001

Jessa Watson as Charlotte/Ensemble*

(Click on photos for larger view)

*WINNER: Outstanding Actress in a Drama
(San Diego Playbill)

Click Here to see full set of production photos

"Jessa Watson is sensational in multiple roles -- she's fierce, funny, fragile, and has the only authentic-sounding voices in the show." - SD Reader

"This world premiere is ambitious, kaleidoscopic, darkly funny, challenging, and diffuse. Fraught with Old West imagery, it boasts a Fort Apache set, Native American animal masks by Angela Agnew, a medicine wheel, and an ever-present character named. The work seems to spring from the same fertile ground as Beth Henley's Abundance, seen at South Coast Repertory in 1989. Conceived and directed by Sledgehammer artistic director Kirsten Brandt, the ensemble creation is equal parts feminist/political diatribe, folkloric tall tale, and raucous send-up of the rootin' tootin' Wild West and the larger-than-life types that promoted and settled it. The work's stated purpose is to discover what it is to be an American. One of Brandt's funniest and most successful scenes is set in the U.S. Senate, where pompous politicians far removed from the problems in God's Country ponder and pontificate on them. The politicians are Mr. Bunkerhunt, (Walter Murray) Mr. Weyerhauser, (Jessa Watson), and Mr. Speaker (Tim West). The brilliantly calibrated scene contains jarringly funny topical references and is peppered with repetition of a phrase from poet e e cummings: "by gosh, by golly, by gum, by gee, by jingo." Most of the aforementioned actors perform multiple roles. One of West's characters is the patriarchal Olaf Swenson, an immigrant farmer whose longing for a son has sent several wives to early graves. Determined not to be impregnated, Swenson's appetizing yet emotionally frayed new wife (Watson) is charged with caring for numerous female Swenson progeny, represented by an unending string of unclad rag dolls. Visually, the production is stunningly beautiful Devil's River is an important if not entirely ripe and satisfying milestone in what is apparently Sledgehammer's new vision." – Backstage West

"The performers are fearless, Brandt’’s direction is fluid and frenetic, and the scenic and technical elements are marvelously portentous and evocative." – CO Weekly

"Jessa Watson is sensational throughout the play, monopolizing all the best roles. As Charlotte, she does "crazy" all too well. In the next scene she portrays a singing-challenged saloon prostitute who is easily intimidated by the main character. Though not the focus of the story, Jessa manages to make an otherwise so-so story into a very enjoyable one with her bad singing and clever acting. And in just about the final act she transforms into a male congressman who has the best lines as "he" pokes fun at congress and the most recent presidential candidates (as hard as that may be to do!)." - San Diego Playbill

"Sledge artistic director Kirsten Brandt assembled a cast of seven for this ambitious work, a spirited, ensemble-created montage of scenes that in its best moments combines the comedic swagger and satiric bite of the San Francisco Mime Troupe with the raw physicality of contemporary dance theater. Early on, Tim West impersonates patriarchal Olaf, the stalwart swamp settler who quotes Ben Franklin and drives his third wife, young Charlotte (the wonderful Jessa Watson), to multiple motherhood and madness. West, Watson and Murray team up high above the crowd in the sharpest scene, a mock session of Congress." - Union Tribune

Cloud Nine
Diversionary Theater

Jessa Watson as Maude/Lin

"[Others] shine as well in their transformative roles: Jessa Watson from a grim and repressed old widow to a young liberated lesbian mother."

"Performances are in every case exceptional. [Jessa] Watson takes on years and a sour face as Maud, then blooms as Lin." - Bill Fark, North County Times

The Party
The Fritz Theater

Jessa Watson as Director

"Director Jessa Watson brings a deliciously brisk, lively pace to the proceedings. An appealing actor, Watson is quietly, deftly developing into a Director To Watch. It's all great fun, even if the play doesn't really go anywhere or say anything new." - KPBS

Jessa Watson • jessa@jessawatson.com • www.jessawatson.com

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