Meet Park Lytle | Theatre Producer and Playwright

We had the good fortune of connecting with Park Lytle and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Park, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
I was born and raised in Seattle, Washington. Theatre in Seattle is a small but potent industry with a couple powerhouse institutions such as The 5th Avenue Theatre and Seattle Rep. I grew up heavily influenced by a handful of key productions in the mid 2010s such as Jasper in Deadland, Here Lies Love, Come and Come From Away, Seattle theatre is full of hidden gems that pushed me to explore my creativity and my search for unique spins on classic adventures. I feel like I’ve been a very performative person for as long as I can remember, but live performance was never something I considered a serious career for most of my upbringing.

Instead, I went to a small Jesuit college in Connecticut to study Economics as a business student. I was focused on getting a business degree and finding a path that would make me feel content. The only problem was that no part of my undergrad education made me feel alive besides when I was taking my theatre courses. I had the epiphany that I needed to work in theatre and entertainment arts a little too late into my undergrad and couldn’t pivot majors, but I was able to squeeze in a minor before graduating. That, honestly, may have been for the best. I left my undergrad wanting to act, but I felt very cognizant that having both theatre and business education was a unique opportunity, and that’s what motivated me to begin exploring producing and pursuing my MFA at CalArts. I wanted to take advantage of the path I discovered by accident instead of forcing myself down a path I thought I was supposed to take.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My producing work and playwrighting are both focused on wanting to create art designed to capture the spirit of adventure. One of the biggest influences on my artistic passion is derived from the book “Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World,” the story of Ernest Shackleton’s expedition on The Endurance across Antarctica. The insurmountable challenges and constant unpredictability of where his adventure would go next have pushed me to develop new stories in the same vein.

When I say “The Spirit of Adventure,” I classify it as a story that utilizes a colorful and unique backdrop, has a fast-paced narrative, and builds to a deep emotional catharsis. Whatever themes, tones, or genres are used to pursue that criteria are less critical to me. I’ve written absurdist comedies and tense dramas and produced grand spectacles and one-person shows. I’m focused on making sure whatever is made pushes the audience to see the world differently than when they entered the theatre, and to feel motivated to chase the adventures hidden in their own lives.

Last November, I could independently produce my first original work, “Jimmy Jenkenheimer: Adventure Super Master”. This was a near 3-year process of writing, workshopping, and finally staging for a limited run in West Hollywood. This was a story about an ambitious, though unrefined, Adventure Super Master, a hero with the power to travel into any piece of literature by striking himself as hard as he can in the head with the book’s cover. Jimmy was first conceived by me when I was 17, searching for a fun narrative device to make my book reports more interesting in High School, but I’ve been actively growing and tweaking the world ever since. He was my first big story idea, so the chance to make my playwrighting debut with him has always felt appropriate.

Getting Jimmy off the ground has been one of the biggest challenges of my life; for years, I struggled to figure out what to do with him. I wrote countless scripts, short films, TV pilots, and graphic novel outlines, but when I started my grad degree at CalArts, it was the first time I felt like I had the collaborators and structure to make something real out of it. Maybe the biggest lesson I’ve learned is that work is generated based on the environment. For years, I only really shared Jimmy with the people I made those original video projects with because I didn’t feel like anyone else would understand it. Getting the opportunity to surround myself with artists in pursuit of similar passions really made the difference for how I viewed the viability of this project.

It also didn’t hurt to have 8 years to iron out every detail. I’m incredibly grateful to have one clear concept that shouldered all of my inexperience and stiffness as a writer. I was so happy that I was committed enough to this idea that I could keep coming back to it year after year with new iterations and angles so that when I finally felt like I had honed my craft enough, I could pour through my catalog of clumsy adventures and forge them all into something special.

I don’t know if I’d recommend sticking with one story for as long as I did with Jimmy. Still, if I had to make any writing suggestions, it’s to get very good at writing cliches, unoriginal ideas, and uninspired content. Use the safety of the conventional to get a grasp on your voice and to learn your strengths. It is a good idea to hold off on getting creative with your writing until you can write uncreative stories very well. When I look back at some of my earliest scripts I get so embarrassed at how unoriginal they were, often ripping off episodes of sitcoms or 70s sci-fi films. Still, those scripts taught me how to keep the pacing of a story steady and how to let dialogue progress the plot of a story without feeling unnatural or tedious. You do have to write many horrible stories before you start figuring out how to get to the good ones, so I would always suggest you hold on to those extraordinary ideas for a bit longer to give yourself time to do them justice.

Of course, my biggest lesson as a producer and playwright is not to fear vulnerability. I don’t start any project without first writing down my insecurities. This list either becomes plot points in my next story or is the map around which I build my producing strategy. My next piece is about to enter its workshop phase, and it’s built entirely around all the things in life I fear. I made a long list of my superficial fears and then began brainstorming why I may be afraid of those things. I conceptualized those reasons into living embodiments, and these became my characters. This next play is a story of fear, its relationship with our lives, and how we coexist. It feels like one of the more vulnerable pieces I’ve written, but more than that, it’s opened up the floodgates for how comfortable I am with my writing. If your putting any thoughts or feelings into your writing that is in anyway designed to protect your insecurities, it’s time to tear up the script, the only way to stay engaging is to let your audiences feel the imperfections you see in yourself, because nine times out of ten they’ll feel the exact same way about themselves.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I’ve only been living in LA for three years, and the majority of that has been in Santa Clarita which is not exactly the bastion of LA’s culture. But around this time of year I would always have to recommend taking a trip up to the Antelope Poppy Reserve, they also bloom from February to April and the fields of orange poppy’s are truly breath taking. I’d probably end the day at Mom Can Cook Thai Food, some of the best Thai Food I’ve had outside of Seattle. I wish I had more to say and recommend but I’ve been so busy with my academics I’ve kinda been locked away from LA like Rapunzel’s castle. Hopefully I can pitch some more fun things after I have my degree.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
A major shoutout to the biggest collaborator in my life Sam Millette. Sam Millette is an MFAstage management student at CalArts that I’ve been working with since my undergraduate degree, she’s been my partner in theatre and life for the past 6 years and the biggest source of support and motivation that I have in my life.

I’d also like to shoutout Hunter Mahmoud Abal-Sadeq, Hunter is an MFA Directing student at CalArts and a very dear friend to me. I’ve had the pleasure to produce three of his most recent works and this collaboration has helped legitimize my confidence as a producer and feel ready to take more ambitious steps in my work once I graduate.

Website: https://www.parklytle.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/parklytle/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/park-lytle-3b0b44187/

Other: https://www.shackletontheatrics.com/

Image Credits
All Photos taken by Park Lytle