Jerry Condit BFA Performance 1980
Jerry has spent the last few years photographing dramatic pictures of people who inhabit LA’s Skid Row. He explains, “I believe everything is theatre and it’s theatre of the streets. There are three writers that I’ve been strongly influenced by: Brecht, Beckett and Sam Sheppard. I see their work in the streets all the time.”
Like many of us, he became involved in theatre while in high school in Dearborn, Michigan, “I had a girlfriend in a play, so I started hanging out painting sets and I did get a role and I started doing more.”
Jerry was in the Navy from 1969 to 1973 and ended up in Norfolk, where he joined The Norfolk Theatre Center (no longer in existence). “That was really my education. I was introduced to a lot of contemporary playwrights and that was the foundation.” In 1975, he started at VCU, “I was 25 years old, so I was older than most of the kids. I was with teachers, some of whom which were my same age.”
He remembers Gary Hopper (Assistant Chair and Acting professor 1975 – 2010) directing him in Ionesco’s Exit the King. “He put me thru the mill, physically and mentally. Gary could really be a tough director, but he brought out the best in me.”
After VCU, Jerry started acting in living history recreations at Colonial Williamsburg, “That’s when I got more interested in photography. I bought a Canon AE1 and started shooting in streets in Norfolk and Richmond. I wasn’t really interested in making any money, which has been one of my problems over the years.”
Jerry’s attraction to “street photography” was galvanized when he moved to NYC, “The lower East Side was my stomping grounds. I was always attracted to people living on the edge.” He made his living as a “professional temp.”
In 1990, Jerry moved to LA, where he spent ten years at the LA Daily News. Ironically, not as a photographer, but in the advertising department. Still, “I continued to always have my camera.”
This led to his continued studies of people living on Skid Row. Jerry’s last job, before retiring, was with My Life Foundation, where he taught life skills to people with physical and mental disabilities. Ultimately, “I reached a burnout point and decided to live off social security.”
When this interview was held, Jerry was actually in Holy Cross Cemetery, where he’s photographing graves of famous and obscure actors, directors and other Hollywood types. He’s visited 20 cemeteries, but they’re not published, “Just doing it for my own good.” Even in retirement, Jerry still has his passion for photography.
Compiled by Liz Hopper (professor emeritus) and Jerry Williams (BFA ’71) for the September 2022 Theatre Alumni newsletter