Jake Lockwood is a writer, director, educator and actor. He began his professional life as an Equity actor at Walt Disney World, performing at 27 different stages over a 20+ year career, with a heavy focus on improvisation and interactive theatre. Over the past 15 years, Jake has shifted to writing and directing, assembling a client list of internationally recognized entertainment companies such as Walt Disney Imagineering and Universal Studios. He has also directed and written for numerous regional theatres and youth groups. Jake serves as an adjunct professor of acting at Wright State University and is co-owner of We Bring the Funny, LLC, an Orlando based improv and interactive performance company.

Arts Integration with Jake

Jake works with teachers and students in early childhood through sixth-grade classrooms to explore the elements of live theatre and how they can be used to explore and communicate specific concepts in Ohio’s New Learning Standards. Through hands-on sessions teachers and students experience the creativity, energy and discipline of creating live theatre. The students then use the art form of theatre to create original performance pieces that allow them to communicate the curriculum concepts they are working to master. Using the classroom teacher as the academic expert and Jake as the theatre expert, the students write these original theatre pieces. Each residency results in a public performance to provide the students a public forum to communicate what they have learned and created. The performance also allows parents and administrators to witness an amazing new level of excitement about learning!