Jonathan Price (SGCNZ NSSP 2009, SGCNZ YSC 2010)

Jonathan Price grew up in coastal Christchurch. While attending high school at St. Andrew’s College, Jonathan directed and performed in a 15 minute excerpt from A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the SGCNZ Canterbury Regional UOSWSF with fellow SGCNZ alumni Patrick Carroll and Will Robertson. The piece went through to the National Festival in Wellington – Jonathan’s first visit to the city where he now lives and works – where he was selected for SGCNZ National Shakespeare Schools Production 2009. There he met directors Willem Wassenaar and Dr. Lori Leigh, both of whom were to become future teachers, collaborators and friends. In 2010, Jonathan travelled to London’s Globe Theatre as part of the SGCNZ Young Shakespeare Company.

After moving to Wellington in 2010, Jonathan began training with Long Cloud Youth Theatre under the direction of Willem Wassenaar and Aaron Cortezi. He completed a First Class Honours degree in Theatre and English Literature from Victoria University and has studied mask, clown and physical theatre at the John Bolton Theatre School. Jonathan was a founding member and director of Bright Orange Walls theatre company, with whom he created and performed in their acclaimed found-space Shakespeares, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2014) and Twelfth Night (2015). He has performed in Don Juan (A Slightly Isolated Dog), An Awfully Big Adventure (Capital E), Indian Ink’s The Elephant Thief, and Jekyll and Hyde at Circa Theatre. He frequently works as a deviser and improvising actor throughout Wellington, and has taught and directed on the 1st-year Solo block at Toi Whakaari NZ Drama School.