Fall Arts Preview 2024: Oceanside Theatre Company’s new leader Kevin ‘Blax’ Burroughs aims to represent (original) (raw)

Kevin “Blax” Burroughs was 10 or 11 years old when he saw “Disney On Ice” at what’s now known as Pechanga Arena in San Diego.

“I was watching all the ice skaters,” he remembered, “and I said ‘Mom? Where are the Black ice skaters?’ I take that wherever I go.”

Now 29, Burroughs is at the helm of Oceanside Theatre Company (OTC). Born and raised in San Diego, he has amassed many years of experience at theaters all over town as an actor, singer, director, choreographer and lighting director. Burroughs was named associate artistic director at OTC a year ago and was promoted to artistic director last December.

“Wherever I go, even if it’s just a one-time gig, I want to amplify BIPOC artists,” Burroughs said, referring to the acronym for Black, Indigenous and People of Color.

“Representation is the biggest factor of my career. With Oceanside being ethnically diverse, I want to make sure that all of those communities are being heard and respected and have a chance to tell their stories. I want to bring life into Oceanside Theatre Company, but also represent people who actually live in Oceanside,” he said.

Burroughs is in the middle of his first season curating productions at OTC. He opened 2024 in March with the California premiere of Douglas Lyons’ Black family comedy “Chicken & Biscuits,” which also marked Burroughs’ first time directing a straight play. He was most gratified by the audience that turned out for the show’s engagement at Oceanside’s Sunshine Brooks Theater.

“We ran numbers and over 70 percent of the audience was brand new to OTC,” he said. “The idea of bringing in new people from the community, expanding our audience and bringing in new voices is one of my biggest goals.”

In addition to the theatergoers, all but one member of the cast for “Chicken & Biscuits” were performing at OTC for the first time.

Burroughs, who is a graduate of the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts in Paradise Hills, followed up in May with OTC’s staging of the 2008 rock musical “Next to Normal.” The Pulitzer Prize-winning show deals frankly with the effects of mental illness on a family.

“Mental illness was being brushed off even just a couple of years ago,” Burroughs said. “Now we need a piece like that the most. You watch the show and glance at someone else and they’re crying, and you realize it’s OK not to be OK. It’s OK to feel your feelings.”

Next up at OTC this fall is the West Coast premiere of “Stranger Sings! The Parody Musical,” which spoofs the Netflix series “Stranger Things.”

“I love stupid things. I love camp. I love having a good time. I love laughing,” Burroughs said. “The idea to do one of my favorite shows on Netflix and have a parody of it was like ‘Sign me up!’”

Burroughs will direct the show written by Jonathan Hogue, with previews beginning Oct. 4.

His first season as artistic director will wind up in December with the debut of Idris Goodwin’s holiday mashup “Manny and the Wise Queens,” directed by Jacole Kitchen. It’s the story of a depressed teen who is guided home on a hip-hop journey by two wise queens.

“I look at being an artistic director as solving a giant puzzle,” said Burroughs. “I love to try and figure out how to make things click. The idea of creating a season and creating a sense of community and artistically fulfilling other artists as well as myself is very important to me. I want to make sure that the art is not just a job.”

Burroughs says he discovered that theater was “where it’s at” in 2010 while a student performer at SDSCPA. That year, the school partnered with San Diego Repertory Theatre on a production of the musical “Hairspray.” It was several years later, after he’d graduated, that he returned to SDSCPA to choreograph a production in place of his former dance teacher, who’d been injured.

“The whole process of creating movement and creating pictures and a vision opened up a new way to look at the theater for me,” he recalled. “I started to appreciate that more than being on stage.”

Going further, “It opened up my eyes in different ways to view a show and how it gets put up. It makes me look at things from all angles. Having all these experiences in different sides of theater I can understand how a person feels and I can make that person feel they’re respected.”

In his current leadership role, Burroughs is mindful of those he leads, but also of his own personal responsibility.

“Part of the job of being a BIPOC artist, period, is making sure that your voice is heard the way you want it to be heard,” he explained. “The social and racial issues you’re trying to bring to light need to be told in the way you want them to be told. That’s the most important part of my inspiring artists to speak their minds.

“You shouldn’t feel scared to speak your mind,” he continued. “The opportunity to have the freedom and comfort level to speak your mind in a room full of artists is important. I’m a loud person. I’m going to speak my mind. I’ve always spoken my mind, even as a child. Respectfully.”

As he navigates the second half of his inaugural year as artistic director at Oceanside Theatre Company, Burroughs acknowledged that it can be hard to be a leader and a risk taker.

“Absolutely,” he said. “Sometimes it’s like ‘Am I doing the right thing? Am I putting my energy in the right place? Is it worth it?’ Sometimes you fail and you learn from that.”

Those are lessons Burroughs no doubt shared with the graduating class at SDSCPA earlier this summer.

“I spoke at their commencement,” he said with pride. “It was insane to feel that. Talk about full circle.”

‘Stranger Sings! The Parody Musical’

When: Oct. 4-20

‘Manny and the Wise Queens’

When: Dec. 6-22

Where: Oceanside Theatre Company at Sunshine Brooks Theater, 217 N. Coast Highway, Oceanside

Online: oceansidetheatre.org

Originally Published: September 8, 2024 at 5:00 a.m.