Jennifer S. Jones is a cradle Episcopalian currently residing in the Diocese of New York. She grew up in the Diocese of Virginia where she served as an acolyte, Sunday school teacher, and later as a spiritual retreat leader for St. Anne’s Episcopal Church of Reston.
She is a writer and actor with a diverse background in education and development. She holds an MFA from the Department of Dramatic Writing at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and a BA in Theatre from Connecticut College. Her plays have been seen at various theatres in and around the city, including her one-woman show Letters to Clio.

In performing her one-woman show, Letters to Clio, Jennifer has been consistently struck by the impact a personal story can have on others. Jennifer bases her plays on real-life experiences.  First, she goes into communities, researches their history and interviews individuals.  This research then becomes the basis for her storyline and characters, giving communities insight into their values, strengths and weaknesses.  Through this process, the plays’ audiences are able to empathize with the characters, while learning about others’ lives and experiences. Believing that through theater, we create our own reality, Jennifer creates stories that give voice to people whose voices are not being heard.
  
Using her own experiences with writing as a catalyst, Jennifer developed a spiritual retreat to provide a foundation for people to explore their own lives and communities. It is her hope that these plays will serve as springboards towards building mutual understanding, discussing problems and issues facing communities, and that the plays will ultimately lead to the construction of stronger communities.

In addition to her work in theater, she has been a teacher of English as a Second Language to corporations that are managing multi-national companies. Expanding on her work as an ESL teacher, Jennifer has also organized individual and group seminars on Intercultural Training for a Cross-Cultural World.

Jennifer is thrilled to be a part of the PLSE Advisory Committee and to have the opportunity to bring together people of differing backgrounds and communities for an open and honest dialogue about faith and the world in which we live.