Jeremiah Downes

I'm a musical theatre expert whose knowledge, experience, and insight deftly traverse the academy, the industry, and sociology of the art form and genre. Including the pedagogy, history, literature, and anatomy of the style and mode.

I’ve spent 20 years as a professional actor and musician in New York City, Philadelphia, and regionally. And, almost a decade in higher education leading bachelor of fine arts programs domestically. I currently serve as Visiting Assistant Professor of Musical Theatre at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, as Director of the Junior Cabaret & Performance Fellows at The Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center, and continue to maintain a studio for professional singers and actors online, in New York City, and New Jersey.

Works and creative research have been highlighted on NPR, in Music + Lyrics by Ryan Scott Oliver: Volume 1 (Hal Leonard, 2010) and The Complete Book of 2000’s Broadway Musicals (Rowman & Littlefield, 2017), and published in The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Magazine, Philadelphia City Paper, Pocono Record, Playbill, Musical Theatre Educators’ Alliance Journal, among many others.

I hold degrees from two of the nation’s top musical theatre training programs and have served on the faculty of West Virginia University, Western Michigan University, Emory & Henry College, and New York Film Academy. I’m a member of Actors’ Equity Association, ASCAP, Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (Associate), American Federation of Musicians (Local 580), Dramatists Guild, and Musical Theatre Educators’ Alliance.