Jillian Jetton (she/her) is a director & performance maker. Raised in the Bay Area and based in New York by way of Philadelphia, her background spans scripted, devised and physical theater, video art, and experience design.

Jillian is a member of the Spring 2024 Mercury Store Directing Lab, and a 2019 Leah Stein Dance Company REAP Artist. Directing credits include original works FLESH FOG and HEATWAVE, ≈ [Almost Equal To] by Jonas Hassen Khemiri, and The Gap by Emma Goidel. She is currently developing a new musical co-written by Lila Blue and Ren Dara Santiago about radical painter and mystic Hilma af Klint. The piece had a reading at The Tank in April 2023, and a workshop at the Lake Lucille Project, co-directed with Brian Mertes.

Jillian has helped develop works by Pearl D’Amour, César Alvarez, Stacey Rose, Mia Rovegno, Young Jean Lee, Headlong, and Pig Iron Theater Company, among others. She has worked in various capacities with Yale Rep, Berkeley Rep, Soho Rep, New Dramatists, Dramatists Guild, Theater for a New Audience, Piehole, Team Sunshine Performance, and more. As an educator, Jillian has taught playmaking and playwriting to learners of all ages. MFA Sarah Lawrence College, BA Brown University, Headlong Performance Institute.

Publications, Interviews, Etc.

MFA Thesis: Iterative Performance: Resistance & Opportunity in the Rhythm of Returns
“Devised Theater” Guest Artist Lecture, Introduction to Playwriting & Screenwriting, Berkeley City College
SLC Performance Lab Podcast
- Miguel Gutierrez, Interviewed by Jillian Jetton & Andrew del Vecchio
- Will Frears, Interviewed by Jillian Jetton and Michelle Cowles
- Zach Morris, Interviewed by Jillian Jetton and Aliya Hunter
“The Deep Waves of Jillian Jetton,” Mira Treatman, thINKingDANCE
“Mieke D, Tony Moaton, and Jillian Jetton,” interviewed by Elena Aaroz in Innovations in Socially Distant Performance, Princeton University
“Young Jean Lee’s Cruel Dramaturgy,” Patricia Ybarra, Modern Drama, Vol. 57 (citation)