Cape Native Lisa Jason Brings “Bullied To Beautiful” To Cotuit for One Performance!

Do you know someone who was a “square peg” in high school? Maybe it was you who struggled to fit in and never quite felt accepted by your classmates. Perhaps your classmates made things so difficult for you that, as a teenager, your only escape was at home with your record collection.

This was the case for Cape native Lisa Jason. At the age of 17 she couldn’t stand living in her small town any longer and took a leap of faith and moved to New York to study ballet and music. Everything revolved around music. It saved her life.

Now, as an adult, an accomplished singer and a mother, Lisa Jason is returning to Cape Cod to share her story for one night only at the Cotuit Center for the Arts.

“Bullied To Beautiful” is a musical review that weaves stories of loneliness, ridicule, heartbreak, humor and strength together with a playlist like those mix tapes you made in your own bedroom as a child. Lisa has produced the show in and around New York and is looking forward to bringing it to the Cape.

“The response has been overwhelming,” Lisa told me over the phone, with a satisfied exhale. “We have had performances where audience members share stories before and after the show.”  She has had people reach out with their own stories of difficult school years when they tolerated teasing and abuse from their classmates.

“Music is a safe place,” Lisa told me. “Where words fail, music speaks,” she quoted. “It seems like a cliché, but it’s true.”

The playlist sways from songs by the Carpenters and Barry Manilow to Bette Midler and Johnny Cash, and even includes some original songs by Lisa Jason herself.

Once, Lisa was contacted by someone who had been to the show. They wanted her to know that, because of this moving performance about such a complex topic, they were inspired to reach out to an old classmate and apologize for being so mean to them back when they were children.

“Things have changed,” Lisa said, referring back to the time when she was in school. “We have anti-bullying laws and anti-bullying programs, but children are still being hurt.” She went on to tell me about an 8-year-old boy whose family tried to do the right thing by reporting the bullying he was enduring on a daily basis. Eventually, this young boy felt the only way out from his tormentors was to take his own life. 

“So what’s not working?” she asked.

Lisa Jason spends a lot of time with children through outreach and arts programs and she has seen the amazing change that can come over children when given the chance to talk and express themselves.

She recalled a time when she was in a dance recital in school with a boy whom she really liked. She finally felt like she was fitting in and things had changed for her… until one of her classmates laughed at her and said the only reason why this young man was being nice to her was because his mother paid him to be nice.

This moment sticks with Lisa to this day. “I had frizzy hair and a big nose. I was too skinny and I was clumsy. I was finally tired of the mean words.” In New York, people didn’t seem to notice the things everyone else had pointed and laughed at when she was growing up in her hometown.

Lisa, who truly is one of those people you meet whom you know is beautiful inside and out, wants to share her story of strength through music with you. She wants to open the door for conversations and inspiration and change.

“Bullied to Beautiful” is an ageless show that should be seen by adults and children alike, or anyone who has ever felt like they weren’t pretty enough or smart enough or talented enough.

Who: Lisa Jason

What: Bullied To Beautiful

Where: Cotuit Center For The Arts

When: Tuesday August 28 at 7:00

Tickets: CotuitCenterForTheArts.org

More About Lisa Jason

Lisa Jason’s “It’s Never Too Late” on Youtube

About Cat Wilson

Cat Wilson is "That Girl" on Cape Country 104 – a Cape Cod native and longtime Cape radio personality. She is a passionate supporter of Military and Veteran causes on the Cape and also hosts local music spotlight program, “The Cheap Seats” on Ocean 104.7.



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