Susan Jonas
Dr. Jonas held leadership positions as a dramaturg, curator and producer, and has worked as a director, adapter, playwright and educator. She was Producing Director at Classical Theatre of Harlem, Managing Director at Ensemble Studio Theatre, Director of Humanities and Education at Classic Stage Company and Resident Dramaturg, Director of Educational Outreach at The Acting Company. A Theatre Arts Analyst at the New York State Council on the Arts for a decade, she has also taught at Princeton, Brooklyn College, S.U.N.Y.-Stonybrook, and, most recently, New York University. She has guest lectured extensively at theatres, universities and advocacy organizations. Jonas co-authored the 2002 “Report of the Status of Women in Theater,” and co-founded “50/50 in 2020,” a grassroots organization committed to achieving parity for women in theatre, which was named “New York Theatre Experience’s 2010 “Person of the Year.” She is also the Founder/Director of The Legacy Project, dedicated to preserving the neglected legacy and history of women theatre artists, and Knickerbocker Studio, an interdisciplinary program for highly-motivated diverse high school students. She is co-editor of Dramaturgy and American Theatre, on the editorial board of Dramaturgy Protocol, and has written for a variety of theatre publications including American Theatre. Her work has been produced at Williamstown Theatre Festival, Lincoln Center Institute, The Acting Company, Manhattan Theatre Club’s Writers-in-Performance, as well as regional theaters and universities. She curated the inaugural season and co-founded On Her Shoulders, a staged reading series of classics by women hosted by the New School for Drama. Jonas is a proud board member of the League of Professional Theatre Women and Works by Women, on the Advisory Boards of The Women’s Project, History Matters and America-at-Play, and a member of Women in Theatre and Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas, where she co-founded the University Caucus and edited the first edition of The Sourcebook. She did her undergraduate degree in Comparative Literature an Creative Writing at Princeton University and received a D.F.A. from the Yale School of Drama.
