J. D. Newman

J.D. Newman is a Professor of Theatre at Utah Valley University and former Chair of the UVU Department of Theatrical. He continues to serve as Director of UVU's Theatre for Youth and Education (TYE) Center and teaches theatre teaching, playwriting, and theatre for children and youth. Dr. Newman taught and directed theatre at Highland High School in Salt Lake City for eighteen years, during which time he earned his masters degree from the University of Texas and his Ph.D. from New York University. Newman is co-editor of the anthology Tell Your Story: The Plays and Playwriting of Sandra Fenichel Asher, and author of Playwriting In Schools: Dramatic Navigation, which is published by Intellect Books and received the 2020 Distinguished Book Award from the American Alliance for Theatre and Education. Newman has published plays with Dramatic Publishing, YouthPLAYS, Eldridge Publishing, and Leicester Bay Theatricals and has published four novels for young readers, which are available on Amazon. He continues to perform his original solo play The Man Behind the Curtain about Wizard of Oz author L Frank Baum in theatres, schools, and libraries throughout the United States.