Jungle Cohort Q&A

What *is* an artist cohort?

It’s a group of artists who are on staff year-round, rather than brought in for individual projects. They have full access to and input in the theater’s decision-making process, including show selection, budget creation and overall management. The Jungle also provides financial and production resources to support their independent projects. The cohort is a model of mutual aid—sharing experiences, knowledge, and work. The positions are part-time, which allows the cohort members to continue their outside work – we deeply value the connections that each of them brings to outside artists and organizations.

What’s the Jungle’s motivation in creating this program?

The traditional American theater model is led by a top artistic leader whose perspective (and all too frequently, biases) shape the work of that company. We feel strongly that it’s time for us to try a new model, with powerful input from additional perspectives. Jungle leadership still bears the ultimate responsibility for the consequences of the decisions, but with more voices in the discussion, we believe that the decisions will better serve our mission, our artists, and our audiences.

Who’s in the group, and how were they chosen?

The four artists in the inaugural cohort are Sequoia Hauck (Filmmaker/Director), JuCoby Johnson (Playwright/Actor), James Rodríguez (Actor/Dramaturg), and Angela Timberman (Director/Actor). You can learn more about them here. While no group can encompass all identities, experience levels and professional focus areas, we’re thrilled with the range contained within these four. In future cycles, we will be open to designers, technicians and craftspeople, and administrators as well – all of whom are also crucial parts of the theater-making process.

As the program continues, we’ll use an open selection process. For this first iteration, however, since we’re building the program with the artists as we run it, we hand-selected artists who, in addition to their individual artistic excellence, we knew would bring collaborative and complementary personalities, as well as intellectual rigor. That guarantees us a well-rounded group for spirited debate and collective decision-making, which is what we want.