Shoutout LA featured Lyme Disease: the Musical’s writer and producer, Ellen Thompson. Click here to see the article, or read the reprint below.

Meet Ellen Thompson | Writer & Producer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ellen Thompson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ellen, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
I became an actor and writer because I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. The most fun I had growing up was when I was acting in plays and hanging out with theater people. You could say I was following the fun more than anything when it was time to pick a career. I knew going into the arts wasn’t the responsible choice, and that I probably could have had a much easier career path if I did something else, but I simply didn’t have any other ideas.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?

I’ve been a writer my whole life, and I grew up performing in musical theater. After college, I was an actor for 20 years, until I got too sick with Lyme disease to continue. I don’t miss acting at all, however. Being an actor is a really tough life. As a writer and producer, I don’t have to wait to be chosen to make art, and no one comments on my weight or my hair or tells me to get a spray tan, which is nice.

When I got sick in 2014, I spent ten months seeing six doctors who couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me. I was dismissed and disbelieved by doctors and people I thought were my friends. Then I got diagnosed with Lyme disease and learned that nearly everyone with Lyme goes through the same thing, being doubted and accused of faking being sick. I wanted to tell that story and bring more awareness to Lyme disease, but I found it too painful to write non-fiction. So I wrote the book and lyrics for a dark comedy, “Lyme Disease: The Musical,” and collaborated with Emmy-winning songwriter Hughie Stone Fish, who composed the music.

Lyme disease is a bacterial infection primarily spread by a tick bite, so “Lyme Disease: The Musical” has dancing bacteria and a tick narrator. I try to make myself laugh with my writing, and it’s a bonus if the audience laughs, too. I produced “Lyme Disease: The Musical” in the Hollywood Fringe Festival last summer, and it was nominated for two Robby Awards and five Broadway World Los Angeles Awards, including Best New Play or Musical. The script was also a finalist in the ScreenCraft Stage Play Writing Competition. The production will be available to watch online in the next few months at www.lymemusical.com, and we’re currently mixing the original cast album.

Before I produced “Lyme Disease: The Musical,” I wrote, produced, and directed a ‘90s-inspired hip-hop music video, “Pay Attention (For Lyme Disease: Prevention),” which won two awards from Accolade Global Film Competition and two awards from Best Shorts Competition. While I’m proud of the awards and nominations, I’m more proud of surviving 20 years as an actor and eight years of Lyme disease. I wouldn’t take any of it back, because it led me to write and produce “Lyme Disease: The Musical.” I got to work with some of my best friends, and I met and worked with incredible people, including fellow Lyme disease activists.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I would take them to The Magic Castle in Hollywood first. It’s super fun to dress up, have cocktails, and watch hilarious magic shows in a haunted gothic mansion. Plus, you have to know someone to get in, and it doesn’t get any more L.A. than that. But I wouldn’t take a visitor to just one Hollywood castle. No! I would also take them to Yamashiro for dinner in a hilltop Japanese-style castle with gorgeous views and an adorable night market with shops and live music. I would take them to Burbank for the Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood, where we would visit the working studio lot and sound stages and take a picture sitting on the couch from “Friends,” like true tourists. I would get a group together and go to Escape Hotel Hollywood, which is a beautifully designed haunted hotel-themed floor of escape rooms. Later, we would hit up the In-N-Out Burger drive-thru for a late-night snack, because it’s actually a crime to not take a Los Angeles visitor to In-N-Out.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d like to dedicate my Shoutout to my parents, Jim and Victoria Thompson. They always encouraged me to be creative, and they did a lot of driving me to dance classes, music classes, and play rehearsals. Most parents aren’t thrilled when their child says they want to be an actor, but mine let me move to New York when I was 17 to study acting at NYU. Writing was in my blood, however. My father is a songwriter and former news journalist who worked in TV and radio. My mother is the best-selling author of over 50 historical novels and a professor in an MFA Writing Popular Fiction program. And I get her as a mentor for free! I wrote and produced “Lyme Disease: The Musical” last year, and my parents were executive producers for the show and cast album. Without their encouragement and support, I might not have the confidence to produce my own work and withstand the criticism that comes with that, so I’m very grateful I got the parents I did.

Website: www.ellen-thompson.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/ellenfabulous

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ellenfabulous

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ellenthompsonofficial

Other: www.lymemusical.com

Image Credits
Matthew Hsu, Charlie Weinmann, Pearl Amanda Dickson