Jonathan P. Jones

Program Administrator

Music and Performing Arts Professions

jonathan.jones@nyu.edu

(212) 998-5196

Jonathan P. Jones, PhD is a graduate from the Program in Educational Theatre at New York University, where he earned both an M.A. and a Ph.D. He conducted his doctoral field research in fall 2013 and completed his dissertation in spring of 2014, Drama Integration: Training Teachers to Use Process Drama in English Language Arts, Social Studies, and World Languages. He received an additional M.A. in English at National University and his B.A. in Liberal Arts from the NYU's Gallatin School of Individualized Study. Jonathan is certified to teach English 6-12 in the state of California, where he taught Theatre and English for five years at North Hollywood High School and was honored with The Inspirational Educator Award by Universal Studios in 2006. Currently, Jonathan is an administrator, faculty member, coordinator of doctoral studies, and student-teaching supervisor at NYU Steinhardt. He serves as editor for ArtsPraxis (a peer-reviewed journal emphasizing critical analysis of the arts in society), on the editorial board of Applied Theatre Research and Youth Theatre Journal, as well as Chair-Elect for the board of directors of the American Alliance for Theatre and Education (AATE).

Jonathan has conducted drama workshops in and around New York City, London, and Los Angeles in schools and prisons. As a performer, he has appeared at Carnegie Hall, the Metropolitan Opera, Town Hall, The Green Space, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, The Southbank Centre in London UK, Bord Gáis Energy Theatre in Dublin, and the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. Production credits include co-producing a staged-reading of a new musical, The Throwbacks, at the New York Musical Theatre Festival and serving as assistant production manager and stage director for the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus (2014-2019) most recently directing Quiet No More: A Celebration of Stonewall at Carnegie Hall for World Pride, 2019.

Recent publications include Assessment in the Drama Classroom: A Culturally Responsive and Student-Centered Approach (Routledge, 2024), Let Them Speak: Devised Theatre as a Culturally Responsive Methodology for Secondary Students in Routledge Companion to Theatre and Young People (edited by Selina Busby, Charlene Rajendran, and Kelly Freebody; Routledge, 2022), and Editorial: E Pluribus Unum, ArtsPraxis, 11 (1), (2024). Recent speaking engagements include Assessment in the Drama Classroom: A Culturally Responsive and Student-Centered Approach, Workshop Facilitator, AATE National Conference: Rooting Change, Chicago, I.L. (2024), Reimagining Drama Curriculum: The Gradual Release of Responsibility Framework, Workshop Facilitator, AATE Theatre in Our Schools (TIOS), Washington, D.C. (2023), The Bear That Wasn't: A Process Drama Investigating Identity, Workshop Co-Facilitator with David Montgomery, Dorothy Heathcote Now, sponsored by the University of Aberdeen and Midland Actors Theatre (2023), The Last Book in the Universe: A Process Drama Unpacking the Consequences of Book-Banning, Workshop Co-Facilitator with David Montgomery, Dorothy Heathcote Now, sponsored by the University of Aberdeen and Midland Actors Theatre (2023), Assessment in the Drama Classroom, Workshop Facilitator, Dorothy Heathcote Now Online, sponsored by the University of Aberdeen and Midland Actors Theatre (2023), and Classroom Justice: Culturally Responsive, Student-Centered Assessment in the Drama Classroom, Workshop Facilitator, AATE National Virtual Conference: Illumination, Seattle, W.A. (2023).

His directing credits include I See Fire: Anthems for a New Era (featuring the London Gay Men’s Chorus), Light: A Holiday Celebration (featuring Justin Vivian Bond), Hamlet, Twelfth Night, Julius Caesar, Elsewhere in Elsinore, Dorothy Rides the Rainbow, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Bye Bye Birdie, The Laramie Project, Grease, Little Shop of Horrors, and West Side Story. Assistant directing includes Woyzeck and The Crucible. In 2008, he was awarded a fellowship through the National Endowment for the Humanities and participated in the Teaching Shakespeare Institute at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C.

At NYU, Jonathan's courses have included Acting: Scene Study, American Musical Theatre: Background and Analysis, Assessment of Student Work in Drama, Development of Theatre and Drama I, Devising Educational Drama Programs and Curricula, Directing Youth Theatre, Drama across the Curriculum and Beyond, Drama in Education I, Drama in Education II, Dramatic Activities in the Secondary Drama Classroom, Methods of Conducting Creative Drama, Theory of Creative Drama, Seminar and Field Experience in Teaching Elementary Drama, Seminar and Field Experience in Teaching Secondary Drama, Shakespeare’s Theatre, and World Drama. Early in his placement at NYU, Jonathan served as teaching assistant for American Musical Theatre: Background and Analysis, Seminar in Elementary Student Teaching, Theatre of Brecht and Beckett, and Theatre of Eugene O'Neill and worked as a course tutor and administrator for the study abroad program in London for three summers. He has supervised over 50 students in their student teaching placements in elementary and secondary schools in the New York City Area. Prior to becoming a teacher, Jonathan was an applicant services representative at NYU in the Graduate School of Arts and Science Enrollment Services Office.

In addition to his responsibilities at NYU, Jonathan teaches Fundamentals of Public Speaking, History of Theatre, and Introduction to Theatre at CUNY: Borough of Manhattan Community College.

Selected Publications

Books:

Assessment in the Drama Classroom: A Culturally Responsive and Student-Centered Approach (Routledge, 2024)

Paradigms and Possibilities: A Festschrift in Honor of Philip Taylor. (2019)

Book Chapters:

Let Them Speak: Devised Theatre as a Culturally Responsive Methodology for Secondary Students in Routledge Companion to Theatre and Young People (edited by Selina Busby, Charlene Rajendran, and Kelly Freebody; Routledge, 2022)

Education at Roundabout: It’s about Turning Classrooms into Theatres and the Theatre into a Classroom (with Jennifer DiBella and Mitch Mattson) in Education and Theatres: Beyond the Four Walls (edited by Michael Finneran and Michael Anderson; Springer, 2019)

Peer Reviewed Articles:

Discoveries beyond the Lesson Plan: A 'How to' (with David T. Montgomery). Education in the North, 31 (2): Drama Conventions in Educational and Applied Sciences, 14-30, DOI: https://doi.org/10.26203/r6e1-6j98 (2024)

Audience Response to COVID Monologues: Research-Based Theater on the Societal Impact of COVID-19 (with Emily Hurley, Saraniya Tharmarajah, Genevieve de Mahy, Jess Rassp, Joe Salvatore, and Steven Harvey). American Journal of Health Promotion. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/08901171231216204 (2023)

"And So We Write": Reflective Practice in Ethnotheatre and Devised Theatre Projects. LEARNing Landscapes, 14 (2), 173-185, DOI: https://doi.org/10.36510/learnland.v15i1.1061 (2022)

Call to Action: Elevating Activism in Performance. The Teaching Artist Journal, 16 (1-2), 52-60, DOI: 10.1080/15411796.2018.1470390 (2018)

Speaking Engagements:

Establishing Communities of Practice among Pre-Service Drama Teachers: Revisiting Learning to Teach Drama: A Case Narrative Approach, Research Roundtable Presentation, EdTA Teacher Education Conference: Building CommUNITY, Minneapolis, MN (2024)

Assessment in the Drama Classroom: A Culturally Responsive and Student-Centered Approach, Workshop Facilitator, AATE National Conference: Rooting Change, Chicago, IL (2024)

Assessment in the Drama Classroom: A Student-Centered Approach, Workshop Facilitator, Face to Face 2024: NYC Arts In Education Roundtable Virtual Conference. (2024)

Communing with the Ancestors, Keynote Lecture. Amplify & Ignite: A Symposium on Research and Scholarship. American Alliance for Theatre & Education, sponsored by the Program in Educational Theatre at NYU Steinhardt. (2024)

We Will Not Be Erased: Combating Censorship and Book Bans in Theatre by, for, and about Youth, Panel Moderator, AATE Leaders of Color Institute (LOCI)/ Theatre in Our Schools (TIOS), Washington, DC (2024)

Assessment in the Drama Classroom: A Student-Centred Approach, Workshop Facilitator, LondonDrama. (2024)

Reimagining Drama Curriculum: The Gradual Release of Responsibility Framework, Workshop Facilitator, AATE Theatre in Our Schools (TIOS), Washington, DC (2023)

The Bear That Wasn't: A Process Drama Investigating Identity, Workshop Co-Facilitator with David Montgomery, Dorothy Heathcote Now, sponsored by the University of Aberdeen and Midland Actors Theatre. (2023)

The Last Book in the Universe: A Process Drama Unpacking the Consequences of Book-Banning, Workshop Co-Facilitator with David Montgomery, Dorothy Heathcote Now, sponsored by the University of Aberdeen and Midland Actors Theatre. (2023)

Assessment in the Drama Classroom, Workshop Facilitator, Dorothy Heathcote Now Online, sponsored by the University of Aberdeen and Midland Actors Theatre. (2023)

The American Alliance for Theatre & Education: Current Projects and Resources, Panelist, International Drama/Theatre and Education Association (IDEA) Online World Festival: Together We Go On. (2023)

Classroom Justice: Culturally Responsive, Student-Centered Assessment in the Drama Classroom, Workshop Facilitator, AATE National Virtual Conference: Illumination, Seattle, WA (2023) Slide Show; JamBoard

Cultivating Spaces for LOC in Educational and 'Professional' Theatre Settings - Opening Keynote with Daphnie Sicre and José Casas, Panel Moderator, AATE Leaders of Color Institute (LOCI), Washington, DC (2022)

Locating Order in the Chaos: Revisiting Assessment in the Drama Classroom, Workshop Facilitator, AATE Theatre in Our Schools (TIOS), Washington, DC (2022) Session Recording Part 1 and Part 2

Story Drama Demonstration - Biblioburro: Children around the World Access Books through Story Drama, Workshop Facilitator, AATE National Conference: Arriba el Telón, Providence, RI (2022)

Origins, Inspirations, and Aspirations, Featured Guest, Fluency with Dr. Durell Cooper, Podcast (2021)

Stage to Page: Reimagining the Teacher/Practitioner Role in Scholarship, Panel Moderator, AATE Theatre in Our Schools (TIOS), Washington, DC (2021)

Process Drama Demonstration: First Ice, Workshop Facilitator, University of Regina, Regina, SK, Canada (2021)

Pandemic Positives: What Do We Keep? Looking Backwards to Move Forward, All-Conference Panel Moderator, AATE National Conference: Monuments and Landmarks, Washington, DC (2021)

Activism and Race within University Teaching and Research, Featured Guest, Conversations in Social Justice Podcast, York St. John University, UK (2021)

Performance as Activism, Invited Lecture. Research-Based Theater Seminar, Washington, D.C. Citizen Diplomacy Fund Rapid Response COVID-19 Research-Based Theater Project, The COVID Monologues, part of the Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund for US Alumni Rapid Response made possible by the US Department of State and Partners of the Americas (2020)

Drama and Education: Why and How, Keynote Lecture. Drama and Education Conference. Shanghai, China (2020)

On Creativity, Invited Lecture. University of Anbar, Iraq (2020)

Call to Action: Elevating Activism in Performance, Paper Presentation. NYU Forum on Performance as Activism. New York University, New York (2018)

Key Strategies for Educational Theatre in Elementary School Education, Keynote Lecture. 2017 Shanghai Bolun Educational Technology Conference. Shanghai, China (2017)

Editorials:

Editorial: E Pluribus Unum. ArtsPraxis, 11 (1). (2024)

Editorial: Collective Visioning. ArtsPraxis, 10 (2). (2023)

Editorial: Get Woke. ArtsPraxis, 10 (1). (2023)

Editorial: Radical Imagining. ArtsPraxis, 9 (2). (2022)

Editorial: Look for the Helpers. ArtsPraxis, 9 (1). (2022)

Editorial: Communing with the Ancestors. ArtsPraxis, 8 (2). (2021)

Editorial: Into the Traumaverse. ArtsPraxis, 8 (1), i-xviii. (2021)

Editorial: I Can’t Breathe. ArtsPraxis, 7 (2a), i-xix and 7 (2b), i-xix. (2020)

Editorial: No End and No Beginning. ArtsPraxis, 7 (1), i-v. (2020)

Editorial: On Mindfulness. ArtsPraxis, 6 (2), i-v. (2019)

Editorial: A New Colossus. ArtsPraxis, 6 (1), ii-v. (2019)