Jonathan Shmidt Chapman is an award-winning artist, writer, and Jewish educator. As the founder of the K’ilu Company, Jonathan reimagines Jewish youth and family engagement through theater and play. His projects have reached thousands of families and classrooms across the country. His book Let There Be Play: Bringing the Bible to Life with Young Children will be published by Behrman House in June. Jonathan was named the Covenant Foundation’s inaugural Jewish Family Education Fellow in 2023. He is also the recipient of a Pomegranate Prize, the Jewish Education Project’s Young Pioneers Award, and the Children’s Theatre Foundation of America Medallion Award. Jonathan served as Executive Director of Theater for Young Audiences USA, as well as the Producer of Family Programming at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. His theatrical works for children and families have been presented there and at the Kennedy Center and Seattle Children’s Theatre, and have been featured by NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, the New York Times, and American Theatre magazine. Jonathan co-authored Envisioning the Future of Theater for Young Audiences for the National Endowment for the Arts. He has served on the faculty at Northwestern University and New York University. He holds an MA in educational theatre from NYU. He lives in the Chicago area with his husband, Rabbi David Chapman, and their two children.
