Jonathan P. Jones

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: Get Woke. ArtsPraxis, 10 (1) (2023). Recent speaking engagements include 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.