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 the new Chair and Professor of the Theatre Arts Department at California State University, Long Beach; and Artistic Director of their California Repertory Company (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. 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.
NEWS
CONTACT: jjanisheski@gmail.com
PUBLICATIONS
MEDIA
MEMBERSHIP
CV
Click to download PDF of current CV
He is the new Chair and Professor of the Theatre Arts Department at California State University, Long Beach; and Artistic Director of their California Repertory Company (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. 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.
NEWS
- Jeff is the new Chair of Theatre Arts Department and Artistic Director of Cal Rep at California State University, Long Beach
- His new collaboration with Australian playwright Stephen Sewell, The Olympians, premiered in Sydney this June
CONTACT: jjanisheski@gmail.com
PUBLICATIONS
- People, Space, Time and Text: A Contemporary Acting Approach Fusing Stanislavski and Viewpoints, a chapter in the forthcoming Palgrave book The Training and Education of Actors edited by John Freeman (Head of Theatre, Falmouth University, UK)
- 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
- ADSA (Australasian Assoc. for Theatre, Drama and Perf. Studies)
- Forum for Theatre Training and Education (FTTE), a committee of International Theatre Institute (ITI)
- Performance Philosophy
CV
Click to download PDF of current CV