Special Projects & Dramaturgy

Projects I played a small part in with big pride.

The Triumph of Isabella
University of Maryland/Victoria & Albert Museum (2019)

This international collaboration digitally reunited paintings depicting a performance event that occurred in Brussels in 1615, which are now dispersed in museums across Europe. The digital versions were displayed and contextualized in a year-long exhibit at the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library and brought to life in three performances at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. The performances featured live actors, dancers, and musicians along with augmented-reality demonstrations designed to recreate the energy of the original event. The centerpiece was a multimedia immersive experience featuring multiple synchronized projectors displaying animated images from the paintings, moving in 360° on screens 18 feet tall.

Jonelle wrote scripts and narrative elements for both the augmented reality and multimedia immersive components of this project during her coursework in Theatre Iconography with Dr. Franklin J. Hildy.

Magic in Rough Spaces
Rorschach Theatre (2020/2022)

Magic in Rough Spaces is the annual new play development series from Rorschach Theatre. The program conducts a nationwide call for the most exciting new plays in American magical realism — imaginative works that embrace staging the impossible. Three plays are selected for a weeklong development process with a cast, director, dramaturg, and designer tailored to the needs of the play. At the end of that process the plays are presented in a free staged reading for the public.

Jonelle served as the dramaturg for MERCURY by Kate Attwell (2020) and THIS PROFOUND ABYSS by Jennifer Barclay (2022). During those processes, Jonelle served the play by providing research, context, and literary support to the playwrights and directors.