Year after year, Ken Jones gives his students at Northern Kentucky University the same advice.

“Don’t mix up your dream with your goals,” he says. “Always have the dream, because in this world the greatest thing you can do is dream, but you need goals to get to that dream. So, make smaller steps using goals to get to your dream. Don’t put so much pressure on yourself.”

His advice is reflective of his own journey. A writer and self-proclaimed theatre nomad, Jones came to NKU as a professor in 1987 before rising through the ranks, eventually becoming chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance in 2003. Thirteen years later, NKU entered a new era when university administration propositioned Jones to spearhead a new school in the College of Arts and Sciences. After a year of planning, organizing and logistics, Jones became the founding director of NKU’s School of the Arts (SOTA), under the condition that he would be allowed to step down after three years. Since its founding, SOTA has grown into a pillar in the Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky region as well as Kentucky.

“SOTA has created a big arts footprint. We’re the largest theatre program in the state of Kentucky, and I think that’s because Greater Cincinnati is so close. They have so many arts organizations, and we work with every single one of them,” Jones says. “We have our students working in internships, whether they’re theatres, museums, art galleries—we work with them on an intimate basis. I think that’s where SOTA has had a great impact and makes us different from other schools.”

Now, SOTA produces more than 100 events each year including plays, musicals, art showcases and exhibitions, lectures, jazz ensemble and orchestra concerts, choir performances and more.

Jones has directed nearly three dozen plays and musicals with SOTA but says one of the most meaningful moments of his tenure was when he became a Rosenthal Distinguished Professor of Theatre and Dance.

“I’m so incredibly grateful to the Rosenthal family for their support of me over the years,” he says. “It has opened so many doors for me as an artist, and it also impacted my life knowing that somebody has had that much trust in me.”

Jones was also honored with the 2003 Frank Sinton Milburn Outstanding Professor Award, which recognizes a faculty member who demonstrates excellence in teaching, scholarship and service over their career. Faculty are nominated for the award by students and their peers.

“The Frank Sinton Milburn Outstanding Professor Award was something that had a great impact on me,” he says. “That was a huge deal—talk about motivation. It really woke me up, just for people to think I’m a really great professor. And also, when the university made me a regents professor, that allowed me to do these crazy projects and still be a teacher, and I’m so thankful for that.”

Overtime, Jones realized he was living his dream, teaching the next generation of artists while doing what he loves: writing and directing. Looking back on his 39 years at NKU, Jones says he is most proud of the success he’s witnessed in his students’ careers.

“Out of all the things I’ve done, I think the thing I did the best at was when I see one of my students from 30 years ago, 20 years ago, 10 years ago, being very successful in their lives and in their careers,” he says. “These people were just freshmen in my shows, in my classes, trying out for my improv team, and now they’re touring around and they’re out there making their careers. I think that’s what I’m most proud of, and I guess my legacy would be living through them.”

One of those students is Roderick Justice. Now a Tony-recognized arts educator, Broadway producer and the artistic director of The Children’s Theatre of Cincinnati, Justice was once a student in Jones’ improv class. He says the classes he took with Jones changed his life by preparing him for his career and shaping him as a person.

“I would not be where I am without Ken Jones,” Justice says. “I don’t know that I would be in theater anymore without Ken; I would have to do something else because he gave me all the tools I needed to make the steps possible to get to where I am today, to meet the people who shaped my career into what it is now. He was the person who introduced me to that, so I don’t know what I would be doing, I certainly would not be where I am today.”

Jones says he always tried to utilize NKU students in his independent productions, and Justice was involved in many of his projects as a student and as an alumnus. He was an integral part of the group that Jones took to Sibiu, Romania, for the International Theater Festival in 2008. Justice says the group’s performance at the festival is a moment from his time working with Jones that he will never forget.

“We were able to create something that was truly unique because we were able to bring an American musical across the world with just a couple of suitcases, minimal props and our voices,” he says. “We became, as was Ken’s vision, we became the orchestra, and I thought that was so incredibly clever. To be able to bring a musical theater act over there, but also to do so in a way that was unique and had never been done before.”

This spring, Justice is joining Jones’ final production with SOTA as head choreographer of “Mamma Mia!”. The musical will feature choreography created by SOTA alumni from across Ken’s teaching career—some from even as long as 30 years ago. Justice says he came up with the idea as a way to celebrate Jones while also providing a unique opportunity for students to learn from choreographers who were all trained under him.

Over the course of his career, Jones has created 30 plays, nine musicals and 16 screenplays, among countless other writing and directing credits. He has received countless awards for playwriting, screenwriting and directing, as well as two Emmy nominations and a 2024 Pulitzer Prize nomination. And although he has achieved more in his career than most could ever dream of, Jones says his greatest accomplishment is being with his high school sweetheart and wife of 38 years, Christine.

“I think the proudest moment of my life is when she actually said she would go out with me,” he says. “I would have then, and I still would now, give up every award I’ve ever won, give up every play I’ve ever published, give up every movie I’ve ever made, every Disney thing I ever worked on, if I could be with her. And here we are so many years later with three exceptional children, Kyley, Haley and William!”

In retirement, Ken is looking forward to devoting more time to some of his passion projects. Most recently, he optioned a movie he wrote with one of his former students. He also plans to make his 2024 Pulitzer-nominated play “Billy and George” an even bigger production with his co-writer Daryl Harris. And while continuing to direct in the region and around the country, he hopes to bump into some of his fellow Norse.

To purchase to tickets to “Mamma Mia!”, visit the SOTA box office website.