Jenny Magnus
Adjunct Faculty
website: www.curioustheatrebranch.com
Education
BA EIU
Professional Experience
Co-founder of The Curious Theatre Branch, co-curator of The Rhinoceros Theater Festival, co-founder of The Curious School. She has written 5 plays, 23 performance works, countless songs, has had work produced at Museum of Contemporary Art, Steppenwolf Theater, Chicago Cultural Center, Gallery 37 Storefront Theater, Theater on the Lake, as well as many small theaters in Chicago, and has toured the US and Europe. She was named among the Artists of the Year by the Chicago Tribune in 1998, has been on the New City Chicago list of 50 most influential artists for 5 years (2001-2005), received artists' fellowship from Illinois Arts Council, and has released 4 CD's. She is currently Adjunct Professor in the Department of Interdisciplinary Arts at Columbia College, visiting artist in the graduate Writing Program at the School of the Art Institute, visiting artist teaching in the theater department at the University of Chicago, and has taught at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, the University of Illinois-Chicago, and the Chicago Public Schools.
Research Topics - Expertise
Writing from the Body, Meditation Practice in Performance, Solo Performance
Grants/Fellowships
IAC Fellowship Performance Art 1998
For Curious Theatre Branch: MacArthur Foundation, Dreihaus Foundation, Donnelly Foundation, Kaplan Foundation, Alphawood Foundation, CityArts, IAC, Sara Lee Foundation
Bibliography
Allain, Paul: The Art of Stillness, 2003 Paulgrave MacMillan
Breath Sweeps Mind, ed. Jean Smith, 1998 Riverhead Books
Barba, Eugenio and Savarese, Nicola: The Secret Art of the Performer, 1991 Routledge
Barthes, Roland: Writing Degree Zero, 1967 Jonathan Cape Ltd
Bogart, Anne, Landau, Tina: The Viewpoints Book, 2005 Theatre Communications Group
Callery, Dymphna: Through the Body, 2001 Routledge
Catron, Louis E.: The Elements of Playwriting, 1993 Macmillan
Gordon, William J. J.: Synectics; the Development of Creative Capacity, 1961 Harper and Row
Landy, Robert J.: Persona and Performance, 1993 The Guilford Press
Magnus, Bryn and Bieganski, Ron, FreeStreet Youth Theater; www.freestreet.org
Mamet, David: Writing in Restaurants, 1986 Penguin Books
Ramacharaka, Yogi: The Science of Breath, 1904 Yogi Publication Society
Weber, Robert J.: The Created Self, 2000 W.W. Norton and Co.
Artist in Residence
NEOMFA 2006, Evergreen College 2007
Selected Theater/Performance
Room (2006)-RhinoFest, national tour
How to Carry Love (2005)-RhinoFest
CANT (2005)-RhinoFest, NaCL Catskills
What Abandon Meant (2002)-Steppenwolf Garage
Round and Round (2001)-Lunar Cabaret
The Lucky Ones (1999)-Lunar Cabaret, Steppenwolf Garage, Halle East Germany
The NowHow (1998)-Lunar Cabaret, Cleveland Public Theater, Berlin
The Strange (1998)-Lunar Cabaret
The Trips :A Madras Parable 1996)-Links Hall, The Lunar Cabaret, Halle, East Germany, Steppenwolf Studio
The Willies (1994)-Organic Theater Greenhouse, The Curious Theater Branch, The Chimne y,Berlin
IN (1993)- Curious Theater Branch
Open Syzygy (1992)-Lower Links, NAME Gallery
Kings-X (1991)-NAME Gallery, Curious Theater Branch
Madras Parables (1990)-Cabaret Voltaire
(more extensive list available upon request)
Teaching
Columbia College Chicago- writing/performing for Interdisciplinary Arts MA and MFA students
(Fall 1997 to present)
School of the Art institute-Graduate Writing Program-Text as Body, Body as Text
(Spring 2006 to present)
University of Chicago- Intermediate Playwriting with Beau O?Reilly
(Fall 2005)
Chicago Public Schools- Arts Literacy 5-8, writing/performing in classroom
(2004-present)
Metropolitan Correctional Center- writing, performing for female inmates in Federal prison
(Spring 2003)
University of Illinois-Chicago-Studio Arts: Seminar "Making" process theory in the arts
(Fall 2002)
University of Illinois-Chicago- Studio Arts: critique of MA students in performance, film, painting
(Fall 1997)
The Curious School- performance, writing, directing, grant-writing tutorials for all levels of artists
(1996- present)
Directing
Radio vs Theater the Final Smackdown Ira Glass/Beau O?Reilly ?RhinoFest 2005, 06
Wide Open Beaver Shot of My Heart Ian Belknap-RhinoFest, Solo Festivals-Fall 2005
Play/Dead Jugar/Muerte FreeStreet/Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives-2004
Caravan Melysha Sargis Meraee, (Rhino Fest-2003)
11 Dollar Prophet Antonio Sacre ( Lunar Cabaret, NY Fringe Fest-2000)
Brown and Black and White All Over Antonio Sacre ( Lunar Cabaret, NY Fringe Fest-1999)
Radio Tears This American Life (Ira Glass, Beau O'Reilly-Steppenwolf Studio-1996)
Music
Lost/Stars- International touring performance Kurt Weill concert- 2001-03
Whoopsadaisy- solo album (1997) Eighth Day Records
Maestro Subgum and the Whole: cabaret rock and roll band
Don't Flirt! (1995- Ponk Records)
At the Warthog Museum (1993- FOT Records)
Lost Lost Lost (1992- FOT Records)
Jiggle The Constable (1991- Yoni Yay! Recordings for Pleasure)
Stormin and a Fever (1990- Yoni Yay! Recordings for Pleasure)
Hot Old Wadda (1990- Yoni Yay! Recordings for Pleasure)
A Soft Fist in a Hard Place (1989)
Diamonds in the Dumpster (1988)
National tours 1991-1994, selected clubs in Chicago, NPR, WBEZ
Administrative
Co-Founder, Managing Director Curious Theatre Branch 1988-present
Grant writing, bookkeeping, curation, tour booking and management, event producing, all day-to-day activities of small not-for-profit corporation.
Co-curator, Managing Director, Co-Artistic Director Rhinoceros Theater Festival 1990-present
Grant writing, bookkeeping, box office, accounting, supervisor to interns, all duties related to independent theater festival
Co-Producer, Performer No Danger of the Spiritual Thing: 100 Years of Beckett year long festival
Nods
Among Artists of the Year by the Chicago Tribune (1998)
New City Chicago list of 50 most influential artists (2001-present)
Artists' Fellowship Performance Art from Illinois Arts Council (2001)
Kettle Moraine High School Hall of Fame- (2005)