Conversation with Jesse Morrow

Originally published on The JOLT News on September 18th, 2025

Did you get a chance to see the South Puget Sound Community College Theater Collective’s production of “Lizzie” earlier this year? Jesse Morrow rocked the stage as Lizzie Borden and has been featured in numerous productions throughout Thurston County. Chatting with Jesse, her passion for theatre was evident and the joy she has in her craft is contagious.

The early years

Growing up in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Morrow has been a performer for as long as she can remember.

“My family used to talk about when I was 5 or 6 years old and would sing 'Mulan' while on the swing with full vibrato.” Morrow said. “That was the one place where I would let people listen to me sing.”

Before starting a family, Morrow’s mom was heavily involved in theatre herself. When she had kids, she took a hiatus from the stage. When Morrow was in fifth grade, her mom returned to the stage in Kalamazoo Civic Theater’s production of “Camelot” and kept acting from there.

Morrow started to do backstage work for some of her mom’s productions and made her way on to the stage in her eighth-grade year as a lead in “Honk! Jr.”  

“Performing was always a safe way for me to explore my feelings," she said.

Never looking back, Morrow kept pursuing the stage and got her degree in theatre performance. After college, Morrow moved to Washington for the beautiful scenery and has remained here since. 

Discussion on acting

Throughout her time in Thurston County, Morrow has had the opportunity to play roles on her personal bucket list, as well as discover roles that found their way into her heart.

“You get different things from all the different roles that you play, and I find magic in all of them," she said.

As an actress, Morrow described how she takes pieces of each role with her throughout life. “

Walt Whitman once said ‘I contain multitudes’ and that is really what being and actor is … it’s exploring all the pieces of yourself.”

She added, “We are not always aware of how much we are capable of, and I think that playing roles that you think are different from you, bring out those pieces of yourself.”

When Morrow played Dot and Marie in the musical “Sunday in the Park with George,” she had to explore two different generations at the same time, one of them being a 98-year-old woman.

This was a dream role for her, but there were elements that were a little daunting.

“I was a little nervous about that, but I actually kind of sunk into that as I started to physicalize it and find her voice, and I fell in love with her," she said. 

Finding the quirks of the challenging roles is very fulfilling for Morrow, and those tend to be the roles that stick with her.

Connection and empathy through theatre

The arts take on many different forms in our world, allowing us to interact with it either in person or through technology, or sometimes both. Theatre is one of those things that really cannot be fully experienced on a screen.

“Theatre is one of the places where we are still going to try and connect with each other," Morrow said.

This connection happens backstage among the cast and crew, individually as someone learns from and connects with their role, and in the audience.

Morrow added, “It’s somewhere we want to be vulnerable and meet each other, and it’s a safe space to do that … it’s really special.”

As connections are created in the theatre, a new level of understanding and empathy naturally emerge.

“It’s another reason we need the theatre … to tell stories from more people because the more we see and experience other people’s journeys, the more we can have compassion on one another," Morrow said.

In our polarized society, it is easy to focus only what differs us, but as Morrow says, “Art and theatre are places where we can meet each other.” In meeting each other in the arts and discover our commonalities, we realize the things that differentiate us are not “bad” but provide opportunities to explore something new and diversify our lives.

As we diversify our lives, we naturally want to celebrate and empower diversity and become invested in getting to know how we can uplift and support one another as we face different challenges. I think that is a crucial aspect in the meaning of life.

May we never lose this connection with one another. If you find yourself lacking in patience, empathy or find that your heart is full of anger, go to the theatre and let the experience and community heal you.

A conversation with Jesse Morrow | The JOLT News Organization, a 501(c)(3) Nonprofit