For the love of theatre

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Justin Martin

By Colin Bowyer, Communications Manager - April 9, 2025

Come time to choose a major before enrolling in his freshman year at college, Justin Martin picked engineering, but he wouldn’t stay an engineer for very long. Martin switched soon after, enrolling in a theatre arts class at Charles Sturt University, Bathurst in New South Wales, Australia. It was his teacher J McCutchen, who had a connection with OSU’s theatre arts program, granting him the opportunity to study abroad at OSU in 2001.  

Studying theatre at the School of Visual, Performing, and Design Arts as an international student permitted Martin to learn about the expansiveness of American drama in a welcoming and supportive environment. 

“OSU gave me a whole new perspective on theatre,” said Martin. “At Bathurst, I was learning more about audiences, like how to talk to and entertain them. At OSU, it was more about the script. Classes were focused on acting, writing and interrogating the intentions of playwrights and what they’re doing with a script.”

While at OSU, Martin studied with Charlotte Headrick, now professor emerita at OSU, who became a long-time mentor. “Charlotte was, and still is, a huge part of my life,” said Martin. “I learned more from her in the short time I had at OSU than from really anything else.” 

Immediately, Martin started working on theatre productions. Though his time at OSU was brief, Martin assistant directed and stage-managed a number of plays, including Buried Child, and Pentecost.

“We had such an amazing group of actors,” said Martin. “Our productions were big, yet inclusive. I felt that I could really start to spread my wings as a director.”

Martin went back to Australia, graduated from Bathurst, then, got into the esteemed Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne, where he jumped right into the director’s chair, studying and working on smaller, local productions at The Ensemble Theatre before getting a job at the Sydney Theatre Company under Kate Blanchett. 

Martin’s big break was in 2011, when he became an associate director for Stephen Daldry on Billy Elliot: The Musical, working for two years on Broadway, and touring throughout North America, Korea, Amsterdam, and Australia. Daldry would later become his mentor and directing partner for future productions. “There was a massive learning curve going from smaller productions to a multi-year tour,” said Martin. “At the end of it all, I was exhausted, but had come to appreciate theatre as a job, and not merely a hobby.”

After a break, Martin returned to London to associate direct a series of critically acclaimed plays with Daldry, including The Audience, Skylight and The Inheritance Parts 1 & 2. Many of these productions also had subsequent runs on Broadway. He also continued to direct in his own right including The Jungle and The Fear of 13 (starring Adrien Brody). In 2023, Martin’s award-winning West End production of Prima Facie starring Jodie Comer transferred to Broadway, breaking box-office records and earning 23 awards, including The Olivier for Best Play, as well as Tony and Olivier Awards for Comer.

Most recently, he co-directed Stranger Things: The First Shadow with Daldry in the West End, which he’s now preparing to bring to Broadway in 2025.

“Ironically, my initial goal for going to theatre school was to work at my local theatre company, not Broadway,” said Martin “Which I realize is the opposite of what most people would probably want.”

In addition to directing live theatre, Martin also worked on the first two seasons of Netflix’s The Crown, BBC Two’s Together, for which he received a BAFTA TV Award for Best Single Drama, and Sky Atlantic’s The Lovers. 

Despite all of his success, Martin continues to reflect positively on his time at OSU. 

“I was only in Corvallis for two terms,” said Martin. “But it was one of the most formative moments of my life. It was the first time where I saw myself as a director. And was championed as one. I will never forget it.”

For students already interested in pursuing theatre as a career, Martin explained that “it’s possible, but you’ve got to really want to do it. It’s got to be your obsession.” To those who aren’t interested in theatre: “don’t give up on it,” said Martin. “Theatre is sometimes based on old ideas, but it can also be fun and a way to connect to the world around us today.”