Teaching Testimonials

MAYAA BOATENG

"Because of Daniel Alexander Jones I am able to pursue the artist's path with confidence and curiosity. With his brilliance, creativity, and steadfast care and responsibility to his students, Daniel has an unparalleled gift in awakening students to recognizing and embracing their unique voices as artists. We are pushed to develop a critical eye about the world and to use our voices to speak to what calls to us by telling the stories that need to be told." 

Mayaa Boateng is an actress. She holds a BA from Fordham and an MFA from NYU. She has taken NY theatre by storm and will reprise her acclaimed role in Fairview in Spring 2019.

KEENAN HURLEY

“It's hard to express how much Daniel's teaching has impacted me. Not only did he offer a wealth of knowledge and history on performance, but he teaches how to investigate an idea, how to conduct yourself as an artist with integrity, and how to be in touch with your heart as wade through the work. He has been a true mentor to me and I return to his words often.”

Keenan Hurley is a New York based writer, theater maker, and designer.

Keenan Hurley is a New York based writer, theater maker, and designer.

DARBY DAVIS

¨Daniel Alexander Jones is a masterful teacher who taught me how to be free in my craft, trust my body, and dive deeper into my work.¨

Darby Davis is a company member with the Flea Theatre and is an actor, teacher, choreographer and singer in NYC.

Darby Davis is a company member with the Flea Theatre and is an actor, teacher, choreographer and singer in NYC.




AKILAH WALKER

“Being a student of Daniel Alexander Jones was one of the earliest and most significant catalysts for me fully realizing myself as not only an actress, but as a multi-faceted artist and creator. Under his guidance, I was able to create the beginnings of my first solo-performance piece--an experience that led me to continue to write my own path for myself in this industry. Witnessing DAJ carve out his own undeniably unique space as a creative force in the American theatre industry continues to light the way for me and I'm sure countless others behind him. Blessed to have shared space!” 

Akilah Walker is an actress onstage and in film based in California.

Akilah Walker is an actress onstage and in film based in California.




FRANCES YA-CHU COWHIG

"Daniel Alexander Jones played a transformative role in my development as a playwright. Conversations in playwriting workshops often feel stilted because they are limited to discussion of form and craft and avoid the Big Questions. Daniel asked questions that created space for me to interrogate the content and ideas implicit in the types of stories I was choosing to tell. I am a braver and bolder writer because of him, yes---but more importantly, I am a more engaged and sincere writer because of his guidance." 

Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig is a celebrated playwright, author of The World of Extreme Happiness and Lidless.

ERIC TAYLOR

“Let it be known that learning from Daniel was by far the best about going to a PWI. Being under Daniel's mentorship taught me what being a true artist was all about. He gave me not only the words to describe my dreams but the knowledge of how to bring them into reality. Daniel showed me how becoming a full person, brave enough to culture a community of love, is the true artist's journey.”

Eric Taylor is an actor, writer, filmmaker and cultural activist in NYC.

Eric Taylor is an actor, writer, filmmaker and cultural activist in NYC.

ELJON WARDALLY

"Daniel Alexander Jones challenges students to break free of the norm, embrace the theater and to look at the world as a place where art can be found everywhere."

Eljon Wardally is an award-winning playwright and filmmaker, whose project Docket 32357 has received wide acclaim.

JENNY RACHEL WEINER

"Daniel Alexander Jones is a teacher in the greatest sense of the word: he uses his gifts, his breadth of knowledge, his experience, his insight to propel his students into an inspired and awakened sense of themselves, their craft, and the world around them. Every class with DAJ felt like a revelation; I uncovered deep truths about myself, my history, my belief system and the way I interact with my art, I was given the permission to think bravely and without limits, and I was encouraged to look back at what's come before as well as forward toward what's to be, continuously challenged to see my own place within that framework. Daniel inspires his students to excavate truth, to ask questions, and to find the lifeblood in theatre-making."

Jenny Rachel Weiner is an award winning playwright and screenwriter. Her critically acclaimed play Horse Girls ran to packed houses in NYC and Chicago. She is a graduate of Juilliard’s Playwriting Program.