JJ Jones

JJ Jones is celebrating his 40th anniversary doing mime!

James "JJ" Jones was born in Kansas City, Missouri and has been deaf since birth, but can partially hear with his hearing aid.  He first discovered pantomime at an early age by watching the Red Skelton Show, which was not telecaptioned (cc) at that time.  JJ first performed mime in school around the age of 10.

JJ learned more about mime just before he graduated from the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) in Rochester, NY.  While there, he attended many mime workshops by Claude Kipnis, Keith Berger, Dimitri, Bernard Bragg (from the National Theatre of the Deaf), Francisco Reynders (Marcel Marceau's classmate) and many other mime artists.  JJ improved his mime skills by observing the famous mime artist, Marcel Marceau.  JJ fulfilled one of his lifelong dreams by meeting his role models Red Skelton and Marcel Marceau in person.

JJ performs mime programs ranging from street mime to multimedia presentations. He also gives mime workshops for schools and colleges.  JJ has performed all over the USA at many schools, state fairs, and deaf events, such as deaf expos, deaf celebrations, Deaf Awareness Day, and Deaf Way II (the international deaf conference in Washington, DC in 2002). JJ has also begun to perform internationally, having recently performed at the first annual World of Mime in Paris, France honoring Marcel Marceau, and at the World Deaf Day in Bordeaux, France.  JJ also performed 3 different mime shows in London, England. He was interviewed by the BBC Deaf TV show called "See Hear."  It can be seen at his web site: www.jjmime.com

JJ has been a mime instructor at Maple Woods Community College for its Interpreter Training Program in North Kansas City, Missouri for over 15 years.  He loves to teach mime to children and student interpreters.

JJ uses mime techniques as well as multimedia to perform and educate. While JJ's performances are top-notch, he also gives workshops that teach expression and the art of mime as well as Deaf culture. He performs skits to music that are enjoyed by deaf and hearing alike. His varying pieces are funny as well as informative about the history of Deaf culture. He also incorporates street mime, improvisation and audience participation to create a fun and wonderful show that is not forgotten.

 JJ Jones and Chuck Baird grew up in same hometown in Overland Park, Kansas.  They both have taught over 500 deaf and hard-of-hearing people at Imagination Celebration at Fort Worth, Texas several times.  Chuck Baird always enjoyed watching JJ perform mime!  They both loved the ARTS!   JJ continues to keep Chuck Baird's name alive by dedicating one of his mime themes to Chuck, which is called "The Deaf Artist" (A Tribute to Chuck Baird), and which is performed at deaf schools and conventions.  To learn more about JJ the Mime, see his web site: www.jjmime.com