Sarah Jones
UNICEF Spokesperson on Violence Against Children
SARAH JONES is a Tony Award® winning playwright, actor, and poet. Her multi-character solo shows include Bridge & Tunnel, which was originally produced Off-Broadway by Oscar-winner Meryl Streep.
Her ability to transform herself into multiple characters allows her to convey diverse perspectives to audience members. Her talent for making universal experiences feel exceptionally personal has taken her to India, Europe, Indonesia, and South Africa to perform for audiences such as the United Nations, members of the U.S. Congress, and the Supreme Court of Nepal.
Ms. Jones’s special relationship with human rights work began when she attended the United Nations International School. Her exposure to multinational students fueled her ability to imagine a wide range of characters with relatable experiences. After attending Bryn Mawr College, Ms. Jones moved back to New York to launch her career, with the critically acclaimed Surface Transit. Her second show, Women Can’t Wait!, commissioned by Equality Now! to address the human rights of women and girls, was performed at the United Nations for the International Conference on Women’s Rights. A subsequent commission by the National Immigration Forum yielded Waking the American Dream, a performance embracing the fictionalized experiences and struggles of twelve immigrants. This show became the inspiration for her critically-acclaimed, long running Broadway hit, Bridge & Tunnel. For more information please see: www.sarahjonesonline.com
Work with UNICEF:
In May 2007, Ms. Jones traveled with UNICEF staff to Bali, Indonesia to perform before hundreds of delegates at the 116th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. Ms. Jones’s created a new and original performance piece in under one month designed to educate Parliamentarians on the detrimental effects of violence against children and steps that can be taken to address violence against children. Many members of Parliament commented that the performance was the highlight of the meeting and Ms. Jones has been asked to perform in several countries as a result of the performance.
On September 7, 2007, Ms. Jones performed for the UNICEF Executive Board during the special session on Child Protection.
The success of her performance at the IPU, as well as Ms. Jones’s expressed commitment to educating audiences about violence against children, makes her an ideal candidate to represent UNICEF as a spokesperson with a possible view to becoming a Goodwill Ambassador. Her outstanding capacity to capture the essence of her subjects and translate them into performances allows even the most remote audiences to connect with the stories she tells. The audience becomes personally engaged in a way that merely reading statistics cannot achieve. This essential ability to effectively relate to audiences would spread UNICEF’s mandate and would engage new audiences in UNICEF’s mission to protect children from violence. Sarah Jones has the ability, through her educational as well as entertaining performances, to show audiences that an end to violence against children is possible.
Ms. Jones is available to travel, including to conflict affected countries to represent UNICEF.
Ms. Jones speaks English, French and Spanish though she performs in English.