J.J. Cobb - Director, Honey in the Rock
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J.J. received her Bachelor of Arts from California State University at Fresno, and her Master of Fine Arts from the University of Arizona. She is currently an Assistant Professor within the Performing Arts Department at Eastern Connecticut State University, where she teaches all areas of Acting, and specializes in Site-Specific Performance. At the university level she has directed eighteen shows, and has served as voice and movement coach on many others. For Eastern, J.J. has directed Thieves’ Carnival, The Distance From Here, and Hasty Bauble – A Cheapside Adaptation of Wycherley’s The Country Wife.
Though she thoroughly enjoys academic life, J.J. continues to work professionally as a director, voice and period styles movement coach, playwright, and Equity actor.
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She directed Freakshow and A Midsummer Night’s Dream for The Scioto Society, Othello for Woodward Shakespeare Festival, and The Odd Couple for the Valley Artist Series. Both of J.J.’s scripts, Echoes: Voices From The Church Farm (Site-Specific), and Il Ristorante (Site-Responsive), have been produced professionally. Her many performing credits include regional stage, commercial voice-overs, and independent film. Most recently, she appeared in the American premier of Hotta Kiyomi’s The Island. In 2007, she was selected as a Teacher-in-Training to study directly with famed vocal coach, Kristin Linklater.
J.J. has guest-lectured and taught Master Classes at Vassar College, Elon University, University of Toledo, and State Center Community College District of California. She has led workshops on Laban-based Character Development, Vocal Partnering, Casting a Role, and Sense Communication between Directors and Designers. She has been the recipient and co-recipient of numerous grants over the last 5 years: U.S. Department of Education Title III funding, two American Association of University Professors Faculty Development grants, two CSU-AAUP Curriculum Development grants, and an AAUP Research Grant to fund her next Site-Specific project – The Melting Point: Hawaii. She has also had the pleasure of having her book reviews of A Balancing Act by F. Emmanuelle Chaulet, and Essential Acting by Brigid Panet published in the New England Theatre Journal.