J E N N Y K O O N S
about
Projects: The Importance of Being Earnest (Pittsburgh Public + Baltimore Center Stage), The Whitney Album (Soho Rep), Regretfully, So the Birds Are (Playwrights Horizons + WP), Oedipus (Deaf West Theatre + The Getty Villa), Head Over Heels (w/Sam Pinkleton, Pasadena Playhouse), Hurricane Diane (Huntington Theatre), Now Becomes Then (Actors Theatre of Louisville), Men on Boats (Baltimore Center Stage), Speechless (New Blue Man Group North American Tour), The Tempest (The Juilliard School), Between Us: The Deck of Cards (Denver Center for the Performing Arts), A Midsummer Night's Dream (The Public Theater Mobile Unit), Burn All Night (American Repertory Theatre), Theatre for One: In This Moment (Pershing Square Signature Center), Gimme Shelter (Why Not Theatre, Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games commission), Theatre for One: I'm Not the Stranger You Think I Am (Arts Brookfield), A Sucker Emcee (National Black Theatre, LAByrinth Theater Company, SPKRBOX Festival, Norway), Queen of the Night (Diamond Horseshoe Nightclub, Drama Desk Award), The Odyssey Project 2012 (site-specific NYC).
Adaptations: The Importance of Being Earnest, Oedipus, Head Over Heels (with Sam Pinkleton), A Midsummer Night's Dream
Jenny was a 2021 Vision Resident at Ars Nova and an artist in residence at Philadelphia School of Circus Arts, SPACE on Ryder Farm, and The Invisible Dog Art Center. She has developed work at Steppenwolf, The Playwrights Realm, Atlantic Theater Company, Roundabout, Lark Play Development Center, and New Black Fest, among others. Jenny was the 2017 curator of New York City Center's Encores! Off-Center Lobby Project, co-curator of the 2016 Toronto ThisGen Conference, and co-founder of Artists 4 Change NYC (National Black Theatre). Jenny is a 2017 Lilly Award recipient and proud member of the SDC.
Jenny has been a facilitator and educator in creating anti-racist spaces and engaging in conversations around race and equity for over a decade, in both non-profit and artistic spaces. She is a steering committee member of The Ghostlight Project, founded and leads Let's Talk About Hard Stuff, an AAPI anti-racist affinity space, and is co-author of the open letter to Biden/Harris demanding cabinet-level representation for Arts and Culture.
Interviews + Articles: Deaf West Theatre's Oedipus video interview, The Immersive 5 with Director Jenny Koons
(No Proscenium), A Midautumn Night’s Dream with Jenny Koons (The Interval), There Is No Line: Director Jenny Koons on the Politics of Participation (The A.R.T. Magazine).