Jeff has a performance background as an actor, choreographer, director and producer and a long history of collaboration with luminaries from Adam Rapp to Anne Bogart. He focuses extensively on international collaborations: over the past twenty years he has taught and directed in Australia, England, Japan, Korea, Russia, Vietnam and the US.
He is currently Professor of Theatre Arts at California State University, Long Beach; and for four years was Chair and Artistic Director of Cal Rep. From 2012 to early 2016 he was Head of Acting at Australia’s leading drama school, the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) – the only American to run this prestigious program; in 2013, Hollywood Reporter ranked NIDA as number 8among the top 25 theater schools in the world. Graduates include Cate Blanchett, Judy Davis, Hugo Weaving and Baz Luhrmann. In 2013, Hollywood Reporter ranked NIDA as number 8 among the top 25 theatre schools in the world.
From 2008-2011, Jeff was Artistic Director of the National Theater Institute (NTI) at the Tony Award-winning Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Connecticut, America’s preeminent organisation dedicated to the development of new plays and music theatre. From 2004-2008, he was Associate Artistic Director at New York’s Classic Stage Company (CSC) where he directed a range of plays (from Shakespeare to emerging writers), curated a festival of new work, and created their Young Company education and outreach program which connected to 1,000 students in 18 high schools across the city.
Jeff holds an MFA in Directing from Columbia University, and a BFA from Amherst College. He trained in Japan for over three years with butoh’s co-creator Kazuo Ohno. He co-founded and co-directed the biennial New York International Butoh Festival; from 2003-2007 he presented the work of over fifty butoh-inspired artists from Europe, Japan, South America and the US.
He is a recipient of the Theater Communications Group New Generations/Future Leaders fellowship, and the Japan-U.S. Partnership for the Performing Arts/Japan Foundation.
CONTACT: [email protected]
NEWS
PUBLICATIONS
MEDIA
MEMBERSHIP
CV
Click to download PDF of current CV
He is currently Professor of Theatre Arts at California State University, Long Beach; and for four years was Chair and Artistic Director of Cal Rep. From 2012 to early 2016 he was Head of Acting at Australia’s leading drama school, the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) – the only American to run this prestigious program; in 2013, Hollywood Reporter ranked NIDA as number 8among the top 25 theater schools in the world. Graduates include Cate Blanchett, Judy Davis, Hugo Weaving and Baz Luhrmann. In 2013, Hollywood Reporter ranked NIDA as number 8 among the top 25 theatre schools in the world.
From 2008-2011, Jeff was Artistic Director of the National Theater Institute (NTI) at the Tony Award-winning Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Connecticut, America’s preeminent organisation dedicated to the development of new plays and music theatre. From 2004-2008, he was Associate Artistic Director at New York’s Classic Stage Company (CSC) where he directed a range of plays (from Shakespeare to emerging writers), curated a festival of new work, and created their Young Company education and outreach program which connected to 1,000 students in 18 high schools across the city.
Jeff holds an MFA in Directing from Columbia University, and a BFA from Amherst College. He trained in Japan for over three years with butoh’s co-creator Kazuo Ohno. He co-founded and co-directed the biennial New York International Butoh Festival; from 2003-2007 he presented the work of over fifty butoh-inspired artists from Europe, Japan, South America and the US.
He is a recipient of the Theater Communications Group New Generations/Future Leaders fellowship, and the Japan-U.S. Partnership for the Performing Arts/Japan Foundation.
CONTACT: [email protected]
NEWS
- Jeff is developing/directing a new one-person show, written and performed by three-time Olivier Award-winner Philip Quast in Sydney, Australia
- Jeff organized a 2-week intensive workshop on devised theatre with LA theatre directors Bruce Lemon and Jessica Hanna
- Read about that workshop - scroll down to the bottom of this article.
- Jeff presented on a panel at the Butoh Next Symposium at The Segal Theater, Graduate Center, CUNY last November
- In the Penal Colony - his sold-out co-production with Long Beach Opera - was LA Weekly's pick of the week
- Read LA Times profile on his opera, In the Penal Colony
- Read Broadway World review
- Press-Telegram review
- Long Beach Post review and Facebook Live video
- View video promo of In the Penal Colony
- Jeff's chapter on his approach to actor training is featured in the Palgrave book, Approaches to Actor Training: International Perspectives, edited by John Freeman
- “The X of Antigone X” -- Jeff's interview with Paula Cizmar is published along with her play, Antigone X
PUBLICATIONS
- “An Actor’s World: People, Space, Time and Text,” a chapter in the Palgrave book, Approaches to Actor Training: International Perspectives, an international survey of contemporary theatre training edited by John Freeman
- “The X of Antigone X” an interview with playwright Paula Cizmar published along with the script of her play, Antigone Xby NoPassport Press – 2018
- Ancient Technologies for Modern Times, Jeff's essay published in the TCG anthology, NY, 2016
- The Mad World of Stephen Sewell, an introduction to Stephen Sewell’s play The Olympians which Jeff directed, published by NoPassport Press, NY, 2016
- The Dark Heart of a Dream Play, an introduction to Stephen Sewell’s play Kandahar Gate which Jeff directed, published by NoPassport Press, NY, 2014
- Empire of Stillness: Six Essential Aspects of Japanese Noh, published in online academic journal “The Conversation,” 2014
MEDIA
- Kandahar Gate, Afghanistan, and Australian Theatre, Australian Broadcasting Company/ABC Radio interview with playwright Stephen Sewell and Jeff on their collaboration Kandahar Gate, 2014
- Five Minutes with Jeff Janisheski, profile on online website The Brag, 2014
- Breakfast for the Star in You, interview on actors and nutrition, ArtsHub, 2014
- Enter Actors’ Paradise, interview on Acting course, syndicated across 20 NewsLocal newspapers, 2014
- The next step to stardom for aspiring performing arts students, interview on auditions, Sydney Morning Herald, 2013
- On the Scene, short interview on Sydney theatre in Metro section, Sydney Morning Herald, 2012
- On the Clock, profile on Jeff and his work at NIDA in national newspaper, Sydney Morning Herald, 2012
- Various interviews with local/national radio stations from 2012-2014 to promote NIDA and his Acting program: Radio Hot FM Hobart; National Indigenous Radio Network; East Side FM; Radio 2UE
MEMBERSHIP
- Forum for Theatre Training and Education (FTTE), a committee of International Theatre Institute (ITI)
- Performance Philosophy
CV
Click to download PDF of current CV
