Sam Jones, a theatre, history and art history triple major, graduated from St. Ambrose in May 2018. While at Ambrose, he played many great roles, such as the Emcee in Cabaret, Richard in Richard III, Richard Roma in Glengarry Glen Ross, and countless other fantastic parts.
He is currently living in Chicago with some roommates (including Ambrose Alum Jordan McGinnis '17) and has spent the last few months narrating boat architecture tours on the Chicago River. However, he spent his summer acting in Love's Labors Lost at the Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis.
His advice for theatre graduates is: "Get out into the world and do theatre in other cities and meet actors from around the country as soon as possible. It can definitely be hard to figure out where to settle down as an actor, but there is an incredible amount of value in just getting out and doing festivals, or whatever it may be, and making connections in a bunch of different cities, so that no matter where you go, you will have a base network to get you started."
Sam Jones '18
Get out into the world and do theatre in other cities and meet actors from around the country as soon as possible. It can definitely be hard to figure out where to settle down as an actor, but there is an incredible amount of value in just getting out and doing festivals, or whatever it may be, and making connections in a bunch of different cities.
He said the most valuable information he learned at St. Ambrose was, "Everything Cory Johnson ever taught me should be tattooed on my body. And, generally speaking, I've always been very thankful for the professors at Ambrose for pushing us to become well-rounded theatre artists. There are so many ways to get involved in theatre in a big city, and you never know what doors will be opened to you if you just get yourself out there and in the theatre community. Not to mention, you just have a greater appreciation for the work that every single person puts in to get a show on its feet. In some ways, the most important thing that everyone at Ambrose taught me is compassion."
Jones plans to move to New York next year to expand his horizons and hopefully become an Equity actor.
"I just hope in five years I'm doing work that really matters and that I love," he said, "and I'm still living and working with people that I love, as well."
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