A creative genius arrives on the scene
By Lisa Shadburn
How does someone channel the drive, focus and creativity it takes to produce their own theatre production just a year after finishing high school? According to 2025 Scripps Ranch High School (SRHS) graduate Jaden Richardson, “You don’t wait around for greatness to happen. You make greatness happen.”
Being in a room with Richardson, one can’t help but feel the overflowing enthusiasm, talent, determination and positive energy that has helped him tap into his own greatness, becoming an accomplished playwright at only 19 years old.
In August, Richardson’s production titled “Oops We’re Live” went onstage in Julian to sold out crowds, only eight months after Jaden began writing the script. In fact, he was so determined to make the show happen that he booked the theatre in January before he even had a script written. Richardson took that deadline as motivation to make his dream happen and worked around the clock to make his project come to life.
Richardson not only served as writer, director and producer, but he also did the set design, props and lighting design as well.
How can one person do so many things? Richardson realized that he had a village of supportive people around him who offered to help. From his grandmother, who provided him with rehearsal space in her barn in Ramona; to his friends Nathaniel Fería and Noah Valdez, who helped to edit and co-write the show. Richardson was grateful for the amount of people who stepped in to make the production come to fruition.
He also realized that a benefit of directing actors in an original play is that it provided a lot of creative leeway during rehearsals, and he welcomed input from the actors – most of whom were fellow SRHS graduates – to help make the roles their own.
When asked what inspired him to pursue theatre and become a writer and director, Richardson credited his positive experience at the SRHS Falcon Playhouse and the support of SRHS theatre teacher Patrick Garcia, who Richardson said allowed him and other students to have opportunities to not only act, but also to get experience in set design, props, tech, leadership positions and even directing.
In remembering his time with Garcia, Richardson reflected, “I applaud him for how he has set up the playhouse,” and for how he inspires kids to ask, “how can I make this better? … That is the mindset I’ve adopted for everything in life.”
Since “Oops We’re Live” closed, Richardson hasn’t wasted any time. As a student at San Diego City College, he recently started a Drama Club at the college, has continued to act in local theatre, and is back in the creative seat, writing plays with the goal of opening his own production company.
“Oops We’re Live” is available to watch for free on YouTube. You can bet that it will be the first of many theatrical successes for this talented young playwright.