Faculty List

Assistant Visiting Professor of Theatre

Jason Cannon (proud member of Actor’s Equity and AFTRA) holds a BA in Theatre and English from Greenville College, an MA in Drama from Washington University in St. Louis, and is completing his thesis this fall for an MFA in Directing from Lindenwood University . He is a co-founder and President of the Board for the Kevin Kline Awards (kevinklineawards.org), which promote and celebrate excellence in professional theatre in St. Louis.  He is also currently Literary Manager/Associate Director for HotCity Theatre (where he produces an annual New Play Festival, hotcitytheatre.org).  Over the past ten years Jason has worked primarily in St. Louis as a professional actor, director, playwright, producer, and educator. 

As an actor he has over 40 professional credits (playing everything from Hamlet to Orson Welles) and has appeared with the Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis, Stages St. Louis, the Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Black Cat Theatre, Vanity Theatre, RiverCity Theatre, Historyonics, Hothouse Theatre, CityTheatre, Metro Theatre Company, St. Louis Shakespeare Company, the New Jewish Theatre, NewLine Theatre, (Mostly) Harmless Theatre, and the Science Theatre Caravan (formerly Muny First Stage).  Jason has also shot several industrial films and made his feature film debut opposite Aaron Eckhart in Bill. 

Jason has directed for RiverCity Theatre (Hamlet), HotCity Theatre (A Clockwork Orange, Daddy’s Dyin’ Who’s Got the Will?), the GreenHouse (Skin in Flames, Chesapeake), Spotlight Theatre (No Exit), Vanity Theatre (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?), Spotlight Productions (Oliver, Wizard of Oz), Kirkwood Theatre Guild (Picnic), Hothouse’s Staged Reading Series (The Awakening, Sold), New Jewish Theatre’s Salon Reading Series (Unexpected Tenderness), Alpha Players (Chess), Hawthorne Players (Tom Jones), Washington University in St. Louis (Bloody Poetry), Fontbonne University (The Seagull), and Lindenwood University (The Triumph of Love).
As a playwright Jason had his first full-length script premiere in November, 2004, with Historyonics, who produced his play The Eagle and Child:  JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis.  This play has received two subsequent productions, at Belmont University in Nashville, TN, and at Jason’s alma mater, Greenville College in Greenville, IL.  Jason’s second script, Aesop’s Greatest Hits, a romp through the world of fables written for young audiences, toured throughout St. Louis area schools with the St. Louis Shakespeare Company. As an educator Jason has taught undergraduate and graduate acting classes at Fontbonne University and Writing at Washington University in St. Louis.  He has also taught Shakespeare, acting, stagecraft, stage combat, audition technique, playwriting, and improvisation for various camps and arts organizations including COCA, the Boys and Girls Club, the West County YMCA, Marian Middle School, and the St. Louis Science Center.

Contact:
Jason Cannon
Visiting Assistant Professor of Theatre
University of Missouri-St.Louis
239 General Services Building
phone: 314.516.4850
email: cannonja@umsl.edu