playwright + director
Thanks for dropping by! My name is Jackson Rodriguez Castello, and I am an early career playwright, musical writer, director, and occasional singer-songwriter based in Dallas, Texas and St. Louis, Missouri.
I began writing my first musical, Stumped, the summer after my sixth grade year of middle school with no formal training and chords in the key of C. Five years later, Stumped took the stage in the summer of 2022 for its debut production at Resolute Theatre Project, directed by my long-time mentor, Amy Cave. My more recent works include an irreverent eighteenth-century musical comedy, Diamond Whore, a thought-provoking gay living room drama called The Ram, an exploration of college-aged newlyweds in Married Housing: A Christian Sex Comedy, and an adaptation/fusion of Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina and Childhood called Every Unhappy Family. Check out my Instagram to follow the journey!
As a director, I have headed sold out and critically acclaimed productions of shows such as She Loves Me, The Revolutionists, Pygmalion, and The Importance of Being Earnest. I am finishing my time working towards a BA in Directing for the Theatre at Webster University’s Sargent Conservatory of Theatre Arts.
What I’m Doing Now
After working as the spring Production Intern in Associate Artistic Director Michael Baxter’s office, I am thrilled to be part of the summer 2026 season at The Muny as a Stage Management Intern! I have the joy of being a part of all seven rehearsal processes for Hairspray, Shrek, South Pacific, Newsies, Ain’t Too Proud, Meet Me in St. Louis, and Something Rotten!.
Featured Project
Married Housing: A Christian Sex Comedy
-
Married Housing is a raunchy college comedy I’ve developed over the past year with Director Nat Harper and an incredible team of actors. It’s a piece for and about twenty-nothings: young people committing their lives to each other without knowing who they are alone yet.
-
You can read the most recent revision of the play for free on New Play Exchange, and you can watch the preliminary staging at Webster University on YouTube!
-
Yes! After several rounds of revisions and a successful preliminary staging, I am eager for this show to find a home for its very first production. Contact me!