About

I am a theatre educator and director with over 25 years experience. I created the Drama program at Oak Hill Academy in Lincroft in 2002 and have taught drama to Pre-K through 8th grade ever since. At Oak Hill, I have directed 22 full-length productions and numerous short pieces for holiday assemblies, special events, and in-class performances. I also created the school’s Thespian Troupe and Dance Ensemble.

Prior to Oak Hill, I earned a Bachelor's degree in Theatre Arts & English (dual major) from Drew University and a Master's degree in Educational Theatre from NYU. In college, I developed a passion for Shakespeare performance with children during a study abroad program in London with the NYU Tisch School of the Arts. The following year, I returned to London with the NYU Educational Theatre program to study with influential theatre educators such as Cecily O’Neill, Warwick Dobson, Audrey Coldron, and Nancy & Lowell Swortzell. Additionally, I taught theatre in high school classrooms in Tooting, London, through an internship at Ernest Bevin College.

My experience outside the classroom includes leading outreach programs in Harlem, Brooklyn, and the Bronx. I also taught ballet, tap, and jazz classes for young children at The Children's Aid Society in Greenwich Village.

A bonafide Jersey Girl, I live in Brick, NJ, with my husband, Jim - who is also a theatre education & director - and our family of three children and one pug.

I am theatre teacher, director, and researcher with over 25 years experience. Currently, I teach the theatre curriculum that I developed for grades 7-12 in the Holmdel Township Schools and direct the school plays for Holmdel High School and the spring play at WR Satz School.

I am an adjunct professor at NYU, Artistic Associate for the New Plays for Young Audiences Series at the Provincetown Playhouse (NYC), and the creator of Young Playwrights Guide, a playwriting resource for young writers and their mentors. Prior to classroom teaching, I was Director of Education for Writers Theatre of New Jersey and produced the annual New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival. You can read some of my research in Youth Theatre Journal, ArtsPraxis and the Routledge Companion to Theatre and Young People.

I earned PhD and Master's degrees in Educational Theatre from NYU and graduated magna cum laude with University Honors from Niagara University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre and English (dual major). Some awards I've received for my work include the Lowell S. and Nancy Swortzell Graduate Scholarship (2008), a NJ Governor’s Award for Arts Education (2009), an Award of Excellence from the NJ Theatre Alliance (2018), I was also inducted into the Liverpool Central School District Fine Arts Hall of Fame and am on the board of directors for both New Jersey Thespians and the Oscar Hammerstein Museum & Theatre Education Center.

I'm married to Bridget, the award-winning Director of Drama at Oak Hill Academy in Lincroft, and together we co-direct a troupe of three children and one pug… some of whom take direction well. www.jimdevivo.com