Johamy Morales
"I often think about how the individual, the work place, and our communities are all part of a larger ecosystem; that we are all connected. I envision a world where we start to attend to all the organisms in our ecosystem by challenging one another, holding ourselves accountable and instilling empathy. It is our responsibility to empower our youth through our actions, building curiosity, and instilling knowledge."
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Johamy Morales (she/her) is a 20 year veteran of Theatre for Young Audiences and is dedicated to producing new works, community engagement and social justice through the arts. Johamy currently serves as the Associate Artistic Director for Seattle Children's Theatre (SCT) and a Board Member for Red Eagle Soaring. Most recently she served as the Director of Education and Engagement at SCT. In 2020, Johamy led the development and creation of the Active Audience Guide for A Kids Play About Racism that served over 280k students and educators, nationally and worldwide, and the project was awarded the Social Impact Theatre Innovation Award from the Sheri and Les Biller Foundation. Recently she served on SCT’s Artistic Advisory Circle, Reimagine: New Plays by BIPOC in TYA advisor, and as a Trustee for Theatre Communication Group (TCG) where she advised on the Rising Leaders of Color program and TCG’s Education Conference for four consecutive years. Prior to working with SCT, Johamy served as the Education Director for Creede Repertory Theatre in Colorado and directed the Comparative Arts Department and the Junior Musical Theatre Program at Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan. Johamy is an alumnus of the Allen Lee Hughes Fellowship at Arena Stage and the British American Drama Academy in Oxford, England, where she studied Contemporary & Classical works. Johamy toured with the cast of New World Jukebox where she performed in Grahamstown National Arts Festival in South Africa and with San Diego State University in, Carnaval de Calaveras, with performances in Oaxaca, Veracruz, and Mexico D.F. In 2017 and 2022, Johamy was invited through the US State Department, the US Embassy & Consulate of India, and several NGO’s to promote awareness of gender violence and global diversity in India. As an educator, artist, and director Johamy has worked with various schools and nonprofit organizations both nationally and internationally including Theatre for Young Audiences/USA, American Alliance for Education & Theatre, Colorado Creative Industries, Child’s Play: Write Now, First Stage, Theatre Alliance, Seattle’s KING FM 98.1, Arts West, Seattle Theatre Group, Bay Area Children’s Theatre, Alliance Theatre, Hope College, Fort Lewis College, University of San Diego, La Jolla Playhouse, Esperanza Charter School, and Columbus Refugee & Immigration Services. Johamy holds an MFA in acting from The Ohio State University, with a specialization in devising new works, and a BA in Theatre from San Diego State University.
Diversity Statement
As a Mexican-American woman growing-up in Southern California, I struggled to not become another statistic in my community. Throughout my childhood I lived in an underserved community where Hispanic women had a small window of opportunity to go to college, due to lack of education and exposure to the arts. Theatre opened a door of artistic possibilities and more importantly lead me to my personal mission of educating, exposing, and mentoring underserved communities through theatre. For these reasons I am inspired and motivated to continue bringing professional theatre experiences to people of all ages, regardless of their economic status and cultural background.
I believes that by building a more diverse community of theatre artists and technicians, we can enhance the quality of theatre, educational opportunities, storytelling, and improve theatre making. I truly believe that educational theatre is a source of inspiration, and the stage is a place for reflecting the diversity of our communities to our audiences. By recognizing, representing, and celebrating diversity in our storytelling, our differences become a unifying force, rather than a divisive one. As a women of color I define diversity as a non-homogeneous group made up of both visual and non-visual differences in gender, race, sexual orientation, ethnicity, age, mental health, political persuasion, education, socioeconomic status, religion, gender identity and (dis)ability, which represents a mix consistent with your theatre, community and our nation. |