After graduating from high school, he joined the United States Army. "I went in as a ‘gung-ho’ young man, and I came out as a disenchanted, angry, more mature young man", he later said.
He then went on to study theatre at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he earned bachelor's and master's degrees, after which he taught theater at Santa Barbara High School for four years. Condon then moved on to San Diego, where he earned a master of fine arts degree in directing at the University of California, San Diego.