Jeremiah Downes he/him

Visiting Assistant Professor of Theatre and Film

• Phone: 309-794-7729
• Email: jeremiahdownes@augustana.edu
• Office: Brunner Theatre Center

Jeremiah joins the faculty of Augustana College having previously served as Head of Musical Theatre and on the faculty of Chadron State College (NE), West Virginia University, Western Michigan University, and Emory & Henry College in association with Barter Theatre in Virginia. He was Director of Theatre at Wyoming Seminary’s Summer at Sem Creative Arts program in Northeastern Pennsylvania, where he led a dynamic and rigorous upper school summer theatre program for five years. He currently serves as Director of the Junior Cabaret & Performance Fellows at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center alongside Grammy and Emmy award winning artist John McDaniel.

A multi-hyphenate music and theater artist, he has spent the better part of two decades dedicated to the singing actor and to the music-theatre, directing, teaching, and creating. A staunch ally for the musical theatre writer, he has produced and developed works by Joey Contreras, Ryan Scott Oliver, Charles Gilbert, and Kait Kerrigan and Bree Lowdermilk as Founding Artistic Director of Philadelphia Music Theatre Works and independently.

Appearing Off-Broadway at fifteen, he would go on to perform in leading roles and world premieres alongside some of Broadway’s finest, both in New York and regionally. Instrumental in the development and inception of the Walnut Street Supper Club in Center City Philadelphia, Jeremiah served as music director and entertainment manager there for three years. He appeared nightly on stage as the headlining vocalist, pianist, and personality, where his keys poured over everything from Gershwin to Pat Benatar.

He has written the music and lyrics for Highways & Daydreams, the musical adaptation of Richard Donner’s 1992 film Radio Flyer, Dancing As Fast As We Can, and Seven. His songs have been performed by artists from the worlds of Broadway and commercial music, including original words and music for Broadway actress Sarah Bolt’s one-woman show (1812 Productions). An evening of his words and music for the theatre was produced by Farmers Alley Theatre (Kalamazoo, MI), and a live cast recording is available online through all major streaming outlets. He is currently writing a new American opera, RIZZO, inspired by Joseph R. Daughen and Peter Binzen’s book The Cop Who Would Be King, and the book, music, and lyrics to a new musical, Suddenly.

Jeremiah continues to teach professional singers and actors from his New York City studio, where he has worked with Broadway-level clients for over twenty years. He is a graduate of the musical theatre performance programs at the University of the Arts and Oklahoma City University, with additional graduate study in stage direction. For more: jeremiahdownes.com

Member: Actors’ Equity Association, ASCAP, Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (Associate), American Federation of Musicians (Local 802), Dramatists Guild of America, National Association of Teachers of Singing.

Specializations: Contemporary Musical Theatre, Musical Theatre Writing and Development, Singer-Actor Pedagogy, Vocal pedagogy, Musical Theatre Performance, LGBTQIA+ and Queer Theatre