As a professional performer, director, producer or supervising board of directors member, Eric Karson has been involved in theatrical stage productions for the past 40 years covering a wide spectrum of literary material and styles of production for over 100 plays including classics, musicals, comedies, dramas, children’s and avant-garde theatre.

Prior to his career as a director, writer, producer, cinematographer and occasionally an actor in motion pictures, he worked in theater exclusively for ten years as a director and actor.  Some of the title roles Karson portrayed included Robin Hood, Aladdin and Romeo.  He portrayed the role of Lucky in “Waiting for Godot” at the ART Repertory Company at age 19. He portrayed Mercutio in the Robert Ellenstein production of “Romeo and Juliet.”  Just prior to beginning his career as a motion picture director he was given special permission to produce “Viet Rock” by Megan Terry and an avant-garde musical production, that was an extraction from the Lawrence Ferlinghetti book of poetry “A Coney Island of the Mind”, which he also directed.  Both shows created a sensation on the Los Angeles experimental theatrical scene.

At age sixteen Eric was placed in an apprentice program for theater after declaring his interest in theater to his writer father and actress mother.  During the program of learning he filled every crew position required for production and performed roles in selected plays. This included 52 productions over a four-year period, including 9 Shakespearean classics and standards such as “I Remember Momma”; Comedies “The Seven Year Itch”; Dramas included “The Glass Menagerie” and “Inherit the Wind”; Musicals included “On the Town” and “Call Me Madam.” 

As a performer his experience includes a summer at the Hollywood High School special program for the Performing Arts during which he portrayed characters ranging from Caesar in Shakespeare’s “Anthony and Cleopatra” to the singing and dancing role of Will in the musical “Oklahoma.”

From 1982 through 2002 Mr. Karson served as a Board Member of the Los Angeles Repertoire Company.  During his involvement this company distinguished itself as a premiere theatrical company in Los Angeles which mounted, on average, four productions per year.  These shows generally received positive reviews and encompassed theatrical styles from classic Shakespeare and Shaw to musicals such as Steven Sondheim’s “Assassins” produced at the Los Angeles Cultural Center.  The company also created shows such as “One Too One” for children, which toured the schools throughout greater Los Angeles.  The last production of the company while Mr. Karson was on the board was Shakespeare’s “King Lear.”

Formal education includes P.L.T. apprentice theatre program, Hollywood High School Performing Arts Curriculum, and a degree in Fine Arts and Professional Studies from California State University Northridge in Los Angeles.  Major in Dramatic Arts, Minor in Speech, Education and History.