Jonathan E.

"Fun-i-fyer" (my own term) of all things educational!

New York City

• I perform bubble presentations and magic shows for children on weekends to keep myself busy and bring in some extra cash!
• You can see and hear just a bit of other projects I've done on my website, howdydoodat.com!
• My entire life I've been called a "kid magnet" or a "pied piper" or "the Willy Wonka of teaching artists" for my natural rapport with children.

My name is Jonathan Ellers and I have a Master of Fine Arts degree in Theatre. As my tagline reads, I consider myself a "fun-i-fyer" of....well....just about anything. A teaching artist for 30 years, I've used creative drama, scripted scenes, music, movement and dance, puppetry, magic, crafting, games (which are truly the first theatrical experiences most of us have, as they involve character ("It," or "Monkey in the Middle" for instance), changes in status (winning, losing, catching up, losing ground, etc.) and a heavy dose of "pretend") illustration, and other tools in the Swiss Army Knife of educational tools that is "theatre." I use all these tools to "fun-i-fy" the teaching of natural science, literacy, physics, immigration, history, geometry, kinetic art (art the moves, or art that YOU move) and more. My specialty is taking a specific topic and developing a fun and active set of projects that help students mostly enjoy themselves while learning about YOUR topic at the same time. As a skilled crafter, carpenter, and stage painter I have also helped after-school programs build and paint (modeling for, and then supervising the students as they do much of the work themselves) stage scenery and props for various theatre productions. I am a proven sorter-outter of problems and a real-world Macgyver who can generally use what is either on-hand or comes easily-to-hand to accomplish small miracles.