Jessica Davenport, MFA
PROFILE
Interdisciplinary artist working primarily in performance, Stage Director, Playwright, Educator, and Arts Integration Specialist.
Professional and creative competency in Directing, Writing, Teaching, Arts Integration Implementation, and Developing New Performance work in collaboration across artistic disciplines, as well as producing, curating, coordinating, and facilitating Performance programs and events.
Teaching competencies in Interdisciplinary Arts Collaboration, Directing, Beginning and Advanced Acting, Character Study, Stage Movement, Playwriting, New Play Development, Theatre History Survey, 20th Century Drama, Departures from Realism, Introduction to Theatre, Experimental Theatre and Performance Art, Speech, Oral Communication, Costume Design, Make-Up Design.
EDUCATION
M.F.A., Directing, 2006, Weitzenhoffer School of Drama, University of Oklahoma
Thesis: Wrestling with Wealtheow’s Dream: Developing a New Work for the Stage Through Workshopping with Actors
Bachelor of Science, Drama-TV-Film Performance, Oral Roberts University
DIRECTING & PERFORMANCE
Installation, #iamlivingart, part of Living Art’s of Tulsa’s 55th anniversary exhibit, LIVING, 2024
Writer/Director/Performer, Sunday School, or Noise Level, Fundamental, The Medium, Springdale, AR, 2024 —An Immersive Theatre work supported by the Medium’s Creative Exchange Fund Producer Grant, CACHE, and the Tyson Family Foundation
Writer/Performer, Are You OK? Solo Performance Work, Positive Space, Tulsa, OK, 2023
Director/Choreographer, It’s Not Just One Thing, DanceChance Season 2, The Momentary, CACHE Studio, Bentonville, AR, 2023
Dancer/Performer, Wholly Thrown, choreography by Heidee Alsdorf, DanceChance Season 2, The Momentary, 2023
Dancer/Performer, Firelei Baez; To Breathe Full and Free, Flyover Dance Collective, Art Off the Walls series responding to the Installation by the artist Firelei Baez, The Momentary
Concept & Performance, Rituals for the End Times. Series of performance appearances as Figure A, Cache Artist Studios, Bentonville, AR; AHHA Tulsa, 2022
Performer/Dancer, Nick Cave’s SoundSuits, Format Festival, Bentonville, AR, 2022.
Concept & Direction, Installation/Performance, Under the Chandelier, She Makes Art Group Show, Liggett Studio, Tulsa, 2022
Concept & Performance, I am You & You Are My Home, Living Arts of Tulsa, 2022.
Actor, White Rabbit, Red Rabbit; solo show by Nassim Soleimanpour; Oklahoma Center for the Humanities; 2019
Director, Anti, Staged Reading, Reverb New Play Festival, Echo Theatre Company; 2017
Curator/Coordinator, SCRATCH Performance Works in Progress, Living Arts of Tulsa; 2017, 2018 Annual showing of new and developing performance work by local artists.
Noise Level 2.3, New Genre Festival 2018; Living Arts of Tulsa, Performance piece and Installation examining the concept of accumulation and its relation to human anxiety.
Creator, Figure A, Performance Piece, Living Arts of Tulsa; 2017
Member (Chair 2017-18), Performance Committee, Living Arts of Tulsa; 2016-18
Director, Hair, The Tribal Love Rock Musical, University of Tulsa; 2016
Coordinator/Director, Station Voices; 2016, Pop-up theatre performance based on stories and work created by Tulsa homeless youth through workshops at Youth Services of Tulsa’s Street Outreach. Performed at Guthrie Green First Friday Art Crawl and Living Arts of Tulsa’s Homeless Project, 7 Stories, 7 Doorways.
Director/Writer/Performer, The Box and the Boy with the Blue Nose; 2016-17 children’s theatre production touring Tulsa area schools through the Harwelden Institute.
Collaborator/Writer/Performer, The Invisibility Project; Echo Theatre Company, Tulsa; 2016
Performance and Movement Direction, Medulla, collaboration with Tulsa visual artist Mery McNett, Living Arts of Tulsa; 2016
Performer/Collaborator, Window of Vulnerability, Living Arts of Tulsa; 2015 Performance Art piece in 2 parts, concept by Amy Luznicky
Performer, Si Caelum/ If Heaven, Tulsa Modern Movement; 2015, Performed as a part of the Oklahoma Dance Film Festival, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas
Director, Day We Were Born by Jaisey Bates, Oklahoma City Theatre Company, OKC Native American New Play Festival; 2015, staged reading
Director, Costume Designer, Plaza Suite by Neil Simon, Tulsa Project Theatre, 2015
Director, Costume Designer, Same Time, Next Year by Bernard Slade, Tulsa Project Theatre 2015
Concept and Direction/Performer, Noise Level 1; MoreColor Art Show, Tulsa; 2015, Original multi-discipline performance piece created through Living Art of Tulsa Artist-in Residence Program
Director, Co-writer, Afternoons with Emery; 2014, Collaboration with Tulsa Modern Movement in the creation of a new dance theatre work for touring local public schools through the Harwelden Institute, Tulsa
Performer/Collaborator, Water Ballet, Living Arts of Tulsa; 2012, Dance performance gallery piece in collaboration with visual artist Erin Turner and Tulsa Modern Movement
Concept and Direction, Iamb, a Shakespeare Mash-up, Living Arts of Tulsa New Genre Festival Cabaret and Tulsa Shakespeare Festival; 2011
Playwright, A Garden in India, Riverside Baptist University, Riverside, CA; 2009, Original play commissioned by Riverside Baptist University, based on the life of 18th century missionary William Carey. Included residency conducting summer work shops with actors for play development. Also included design, construction and implementation of over 50 shadow puppets.
Director, Costume Designer, Julius Caesar, Oklahoma City Theatre Company; 2006
Writer/Director, Beowulf, Oklahoma City Theatre Company; 2006, Original adaptation for touring in schools. Included the design and construction of costumes and shadow puppets.
Writer/Director, Wealtheow’s Dream, Weitzenhoffer School of Drama, University of Oklahoma; 2005-06, Thesis project focused on the development of a new play based on the Beowulf myth and researched methods of creating new work through workshopping with actors.
Director, Equus by Peter Shaffer, Weitzenhoffer School of Drama, University of Oklahoma, 2006,
Director, The War in Heaven by Sam Shepard & Joseph Chaikin, Weitzenhoffer School of Drama, University of Oklahoma, 2006
Director, Zoo Story & The Sandbox by Edward Albee, Weitzenhoffer School of Drama, University of Oklahoma, 2005
Director, A Moon for the Misbegotten by Eugene O’Neill, Weitzenhoffer School of Drama, University of Oklahoma, 2004
Director, Ghosts by Henrik Ibsen, Weitzenhoffer School of Drama, University of Oklahoma, 2004
Director/Adaptor, Partings- a multi-media adaptation using the Shakespeare Canon, Weitzenhoffer School of Drama, University of Oklahoma, 2003
Director, The Seagull by Anton Chekhov, Nightingale Theatre, Tulsa, 2003
AWARDS, GRANTS, FELLOWSHIPS
Producer Grant, Creative Exchange Fund (CXF), The Medium; 2023-24, sponsored by CACHE and the Tyson Family Foundation, in support of development of theatrical performance & installation NoiseLevel, Fundamental, or SUNDAY SCHOOL
Artist Inc, Tulsa Fellow; 2018, professional development program and fellowship of artists including training seminars addressing specific business needs of artists of all disciplines.
Tulsa Arts Alliance Award; Living Arts of Tulsa; 2018, for work at Living Arts of Tulsa.
Multi-Discipline Artist in Residence Award, Living Arts of Tulsa; 2014, residency in support of the development of a new multi-discipline performance project, Noise Level 1.
The University of Oklahoma Theatre Guild Harry Hoelscher Memorial Award for Outstanding MFA Student; 2005
OU College of Fine Arts Interdisciplinary Grant; 2004-05, Awarded to fund in part the production of an original adaptation of The Oresteia
OU College of Fine Arts Interdisciplinary Grant; 2003-04, Funded a multi-media Graduate performance project using Shakespeare’s text as source material, involving students from departments of Art, Film, Music, and Drama
Member, Alpha Psi Omega National Honorary Dramatic Fraternity
TEACHING
Guest Director/Adjunct Instructor, Theatre Experience, 2016-17 University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK.
Guest Artist/Residency, New Play Development, 2008 Riverside Baptist University, Riverside, CA.
Adjunct Professor, Theatre Appreciation, Speech; 2008-09 Rogers State University, Claremore, OK
Instructor, Directing, Character Study, Scene Study, Acting for Non-majors, Understanding Theatre; 2003-2006, University of Oklahoma, Graduate Teaching Assistant
Teaching/Secondary Education
Director of Theatre; Arkansas Arts Academy, Rogers, AR; 2018-19
Drama Teacher; Taught Drama I, Adv. Drama, Drama II; North Intermediate High School, Broken Arrow, OK; 2012-13
Director of Theatre, Union High School, Tulsa; 2000-03
Other Teaching Artist/Arts Integration/Educator Experience
Fellow, Oklahoma A+ Schools; 2014-Present, Leading and Facilitation of Professional Development throughout Oklahoma to schools and teachers through workshops, strategic planning, and demonstration classes, with emphasis on integrating the arts throughout the curriculum.
Education Committee Member; Living Arts of Tulsa; 2017-18
Teaching Artist, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR; 2017, 2018
Here We Are Movement/Theatre Workshops; in collaboration with Tulsa Modern Movement; 2017. Series of workshops with participants from The Center for Individuals with Physical Challenges, using movement and theatre to explore identity and belonging.
Integrating Theatre in the Curriculum, Professional Development teacher training; The Kennedy Center’s Any Given Child Program; 2016, 2017
Theatre, Creative Writing, and Performance Workshop; Youth Street Outreach, Youth Services of Tulsa; 2016
Performance Instructor, New Arts Camp; Living Arts of Tulsa; 2015-18
Coordinator/Facilitator, ArtCore Studios; Living Arts of Tulsa; 2015-17, Multi-disciplinary Collaborative arts program for middle and high school students.
Teaching Artist, Tulsa Arts and Humanities Artists-in-the-Schools and Harwelden Program, Theatre emphasis; 2014-2018
Coordinator/Facilitator, ColLABorate; Living Arts of Tulsa; 2014. A workshop intensive series for artists focused on multi-discipline collaboration for the creation of performance work
Teaching Artist in Residence, Theatre/Visual Arts, Jingle Feldman Arts Infusion residency, Marshall Elementary School, Tulsa; 2014-15
Teaching Artist-in Residence, Theatre/Visual Arts, Jingle Feldman Arts Infusion Residency, Robertson Elementary School, Tulsa; 2014
Theatre Residency, Barthelmes Conservatory, Drama Outreach program, Remington Elementary, Tulsa; 2014
Arts Resource Coach, Project CREATES, Tulsa; 2009-2011Facilitated Arts Integration in elementary and middle schools in Tulsa Public Schools, including teacher professional development workshops.
Elementary Creative Drama, Legacy Home School Co-Op, Tulsa; 2008
Drama Workshop Instructor, University of Oklahoma Outreach; 2004-05Taught series of Acting workshops to local middle school students in the Norman Public Schools Gifted and Talented Program.
Major Theatre Teacher, Tulsa Summer Arts; 2004Taught Play Production, Shakespeare, and Mask and Movement to Middle School students.
Minor Theater Teacher, Tulsa Summer Arts; 1999. Taught Shakespeare, Acting, and Costume Design
SPECIAL TRAINING
Moving Into Language: Shakespeare, Charlotte Bydwell, 2021
Meisner Technique, Machele Dill; 2016
Contact Improvisation; Ari Christopher, Tulsa Modern Movement; 2013-2018
Creating Multi-Disciplinary Performance Work, Cloud Eye Control Performance Company, 2015
Theatrical Creation/Devised Theatre; Split Knuckle Theatre Company; 2014
GAGA, movement technique of Batsheva Dance Company; Amy Morrow; 2013, 2017
Shadow Puppetry, workshop week intensive; Wendy Morton Ko Theatre Festival, Amherst, Mass, 2005
Viewpoints Actor Training; Thomas Keating; 2005
Sculpting/Molding/Casting; Sohail Sheheada; 2005, Special Study in Advanced Theatre Crafts
Acting and Directing Shakespeare, Dropping In; Tina Packer, Shakespeare & Company; 2005
Shakespeare and Voice; Andrew Wade, Director of Voice, Royal Shakespeare Company; 2005
Mask and Puppet Construction; Sha Sha Higby; 2004
Teaching Acting, Educational Theatre Association; 2000
TECHNICAL, DESIGN, AND PRODUCTION (selected)
Costume Design/Construction, ongoing work as freelancer and for my own creative projects, 2000-present
Mask/Costume Design/Construction, The Oresteia, University of Oklahoma; 2005, Designed and built costumes and over 5o masks
Costume Designer/Puppet Wrangler, Pahappahooey Island; 2005, 2007, Nationally aired children’s television series
Lab Theatre Production Manager, University of Oklahoma; 2004-05, Scheduling, upkeep of space and runs of shows in 80-seat theater
2nd Assistant Director, Esther Film Trailer; Impact Productions, Tulsa; 2004
Part-Time Performing Arts Center Manager, Union Performing Arts Center, Tulsa; 2002-03, Technical Support (lights, sound, video, backstage) for community and touring events. Assistance in general upkeep of the theater.
Costumer, A Christmas Child, Impact Productions, Tulsa; 2002, Building, pulling, and shopping for costumes for full-length feature film. Wardrobe supervision on set.
Costumer/Wardrobe Supervisor, Storytime Circus Theater, Impact Productions, Tulsa; 2000, Costume Building for Children’s television program. Supervised Wardrobe on set.
Resident Wardrobe Mistress/Costumer, Impact Productions, Tulsa; 1996-1998
Costume Building/Maintenance/Budgeting for international touring production The Masterpiece
Costume assistant/stitcher for pre-production and on set for film productions Resurrection and Hymns.
Costume Assistant, Weston Playhouse, Weston VT; 1995
Cutter/Stitcher/Dresser, Orlando Shakespeare Festival, FL; 1995
Stage/Props Assistant, Universal Studios, Orlando FL; 1994
Costume Assistant, ORU Theatre, Tulsa OK; 1992-1994
SPECIAL SKILLS/INTERESTS
Inter-Disciplinary Performance, New Play/Performance Development, Devised Theatre, Ensemble Collaboration in the development of New Performance Work, Arts Integration Implementation, Arts in Education, Acting (Stanislavski, Meisner, Viewpoints), Departures from Realism, Acting and Text for Dancers, Performance Art, Advanced Voice for Stage, Stage Movement, Maskwork, Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed and Social Theatre, Yoga, Dance (Modern, Ballet), Contact Improv, Arts Integration and Public Education, Creative Drama for Children, Costume Design and Construction, Costume History, Millinery, Mask Construction, Object Theatre, Puppet Construction, Shadow Puppetry, Prop construction, Set Design/Construction, Scenic Painting, Make-up Design, Video Production, Video Editing (Final Cut Pro, iMovie).