Jim DeVivo has 20 years’ experience as a teaching artist specializing in new plays for and by young people. He is currently the Director of Education for Writers Theatre of New Jersey, the Teacher/Director of Theatre at Lacey Township High School, and an adjunct instructor of TYA at New York University. For Writers Theatre, Jim produces annual statewide and local playwriting programs including the New Jersey Young Playwrights Contest & Festival. He is also an Artistic Associate for the New Plays for Young Audiences Series at the Provincetown Playhouse and a member of the advisory board for the Middlesex County (NJ) Vocational Technical High School of the Arts and the Union County (NJ) Academy for Performing Arts.
Jim has presented his work at national conferences for the American Alliance for Theatre and Education (AATE) and the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) regarding his work in playwriting and new play development for young people. Jim's work with teachers includes workshops in drama-in-education practices at the NJEA Convention and at secondary schools across New York and New Jersey. He is a frequent reader/adjudicator for local and nationwide writing and recitation contests, consulted on the theatre exit exams for the NJ Department of Education, and is an independent Academic Mentor with Sportika's BrainStorm Tutoring & Arts.
Jim was awarded the Lowell S. and Nancy Swortzell Graduate Scholarship in 2008, received a NJ Governor’s Award for Arts Education in 2009, and is a member of the Liverpool Central School District Fine Arts Hall of Fame. His dissertation proposal was a finalist for the Phi Delta Kappa Dissertation Award in 2015.
He is also a proud father of three.
Jim holds a B.F.A. in theatre and English from Niagara University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Educational Theatre from New York University. His doctoral research focused on the impact of New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival participants’ future work and education. Jim is a theatre generalist with research interests in history and critique of theatre for young audiences, theatre history, and new play development.