This portfolio reflects the professional work I’ve done as a director, musical director, comedian, composer/lyricist/playwright, performer, and teacher over more than twenty years. Although that may seem like an unusual variety of roles, I consider it a huge advantage in my teaching work, not only because of the breadth of my experience, but because I give my students the tools to build the career they want for themselves, driven by a curiosity about their art and the world around them. I’m very lucky to have carved out a fulfilling professional niche for myself, and as the industry shrinks and gatekeeping continues, the ability to envision their own unique creative path becomes a superpower in my students.
Direction
Bodies as language. Joy as resistance.
The Hecubae, an adaptation of Hecuba by Euripides produced by Bare Boned Theatre at the Raven, reflects my roots. Despite my comedy focus, I’ve always kept one foot in traditional theatre. I encourage students to ground themselves in the skills they can build there.
In a similar vein, much of the scripted work I’ve directed has straddled those two worlds, such as the comedy musicals Miami Nice and Choice!
I encourage my students to find and hone their personal comedic voice. In both theatrical and comedic work, one way I’ve done that is by centering queerness, such as in the one-man show Altered Boy…
…and in the devised sketch show ‘Tis the Seasonal Depression.
As a director of theatre, musicals, and sketch comedy, I’m often called upon to be adaptable to difficult situations, a quality I foster in my students. Never was this more clear than during lockdown, when I directed several student sketch revues, including 2 Cute 2 Unmute, a Second City Conservatory graduation show, via Zoom.
Here’s video of a sketch from that revue that demonstrates the students’ ingenuity in utilizing the technology that was brand new to them at that time.
Adaptability was essential during my whirlwind time directing for the Second City Mainstage in New York, where I directed two original sketch revues, one archive revue, and three improvisational shows in the space of a year and a half. Here’s a short series of clips from our holiday revue, Wreck the Halls.
Writing and Composition
Another quality I value in theatre is beauty, such as in my recent musical Mary Rose (composer and co-lyricist), which was nominated for non-equity Jeff Awards for Best New Work, Best Leading Actor in a Musical (Stephanie Stockstill), and Best Supporting Actor in a Musical (Kevin Webb).
But often even my most beautiful work contains strong comedic elements, such as my song cycle Planted about modern gay relationships.
Here’s a clip from a festival production of Planted.
Music Direction
Although I enjoy music directing for traditional musicals, serving in that role for sketch revues offers an added layer of challenge. I compose and arrange the music, as well as helping sketch performers, who are often not musicians, execute the material. I hope to impart a sense of the big picture, essential in this role.
Below is a clip of one of my more challenging examples, a barbershop quartet in which I coached non-singers in the tight harmony. Song starts at 0:48.
I encourage my students to utilize all their talents in their art-making. In Circle Theatre’s production of The View Upstairs I served as musical director as well as playing the role of Buddy.
Performance
I’ve had a long career as a performer in Chicago, in both comedy spaces and traditional theatre (such as The View Upstairs above). Other highlights include Mr. Bobo in Coraline and Jesus in Jerry Springer: The Opera.
I teach my sketch students how to find their voice as both writer and actor. Here’s a clip from None of this Matters, So Steal where I play the pianist at a gay bar who has seen a lot.
And a short made during lockdown that married COVID-19 with a classic historical queen.
Another essential comedic tool for building a comedic point of view is improvisation. Here is a short improvised song that I performed with the Improvised Sondheim Project, one of several long-running teams I’ve been a part of.
It’s our job to mold our career and artistic practice into an artistic life, following our own sense of curiosity while keeping an awareness of the industry. That’s what I’ve done, and it’s the future I wish for all of my students.
Theatre & Comedy Education
The variety of my experience has led me to a pedagogy that emphasizes the student’s unique voice, achieved by developing the skills that excite and inspire them. The foundation of this is an understanding of context, both historical and current. That is most evident in my teaching of the American Funny course, which examines the history of American comedy through an academic lens, using that as an inspiration for practical, generative artistic work. Below is my course outline (please note: this pdfs are most readable using Safari, otherwise you may want to download).
Below is a more fully explicated version of an exercise from this course. It focuses on helping the students access a camp sensibility.
Although I love history, sometimes the focus of a class is simply art-making. Below is a single day breakdown for an intermediate/advanced improv class where I ask students to focus their curiosity on their scene partners, all with the goal of building emotionally rich scenes.
For many students, part of their journey is developing leadership and mentoring skills, especially if they are interested in directing and/or producing. To that end, earlier this term I proposed an Artistic Producing Mentorship Program, geared toward students with those goals in mind.
Part of my focus on empowering individual student-artists is a commitment to equity and justice in the theatre. In the article below, I tackle the specific issue of anti-fat bias in theatre, which is rooted in ableism, sexism, and white supremacy.
Thank you for considering my work. I strongly believe the breadth of my experience in theatre and comedy, as well as my years of pedagogy, make me an excellent candidate for this position. I’m passionate about supporting students as they hone their curiosity, build their artistic point of view, and launch their careers. I’d love the chance to discuss more in person.
-Jeff