Jessika Malone is the Founding C0-Artistic Director of Kindling Arts. 

 

As a producer, director, deviser, teacher, intimacy director, and community organizer, she creates catalytic experiences that invite people back into their bodies and into relationship with each another, cultivating connection and aliveness in the face of escalating technological mediation and social isolation. 

 

She has been named a “serious theatrical talent” by The Nashville Scene and productions under her direction have been hailed as “fascinating and mesmerizing” [Broadway World] and “guaranteed to keep you talking long after the lights come up” [The Tennessean] as well as “guaranteed to provide an experience that will last way beyond the current season. Maybe well on into the century” [Nashville Scene].

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She previously served as the Producing Director of Fusebox in Austin Texas, the Associate Artistic Director of the Actors Bridge Ensemble, and a Co-Founder of the Sideshow Fringe Festival.

A two-time Fred Coe Artist-in-Residence at Vanderbilt University, she holds an MFA in Directing and is a Licensed Professional Counselor. Her work lives at the intersection of creative practice and social and emotional health. 

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Her most recent work includes co-producing the inaugural  Live in America festival in 2022 and producing and directing the world premiere of BAR FIGHT! - an all-new, immersive performance celebrating queer underground fight clubs in a pop-up karaoke bar setting. 

She is currently developing The Bads, with playwright Nate Eppler, a loud, funny, punk-rock ghost-story sleepover about Double Exes, a basement-famous, all-girl alt-rock quartet with one night to finish the song that’s supposed to change everything.