Christopher Nigel Jones (born September 10, 1963) is a British-American journalist and academic. He is the chief theater critic and Sunday culture columnist of theChicago Tribune.^[1] Since 2014, he has also served as director of theEugene O'Neill Theater Center's National Critics Institute.^[2] Jones has appeared on the news broadcast ofCBS-2 Chicago as a weekly theater critic.^[3]

In 2018, Jones was additionally namedBroadway theater critic for the newly acquiredTribune related publication, theNew YorkDaily News. In 2021 he was named Editorial Page Editor of theTribune,^[4] while he continues to review theater both in Chicago and New York.

In 2001, Jones was featured in an article inAmerican Theatre magazine about the 12 most influential theater critics in America.^[5] In 2016, theNew York Times cited Jones as an important reason thatBroadway shows try-out in Chicago, noting the role his reviews have played in helping producers improve productions for New York runs.^[6]

A native ofBury, England, Jones attended the United Kingdom'sBury Grammar School andUniversity of Hull, from which he graduated with honors in 1984 with a jointBA in Drama and English.^[7] He moved to the United States to pursue hisMA in Theatre atOhio State University, which he received in 1986. He earned hisPhD in 1989 with his dissertationPopulism, the Mainstream Theatre, and the Plays ofWilly Russell.^[8]

From 1990 to 2000, Jones taught atNorthern Illinois University, rising from assistant professor, to associate professor and then as professor and associate chair of the School of Theatre and Dance.^[7] From 2000 to 2002, he served as associate dean ofThe Theatre School at DePaul University, where he remains an adjunct professor.^[9] He left his tenured post in academe to join theChicago Tribune full-time in 2002.

Jones started his career as a critic in the 1980s by contributing film reviews, interviews, and reports for WCBE-FM in Columbus, Ohio, and also served as the long-time film critic for theColumbus Alive alternative weekly newspaper.^[10] Beginning in the mid-1980s, he began writing forVariety andDaily Variety, developing a particular specialty in reviewing out-of-town tryouts ofBroadway musicals, for which he became nationally known.^[6][11][12] During this time, his arts criticism was also often published in theLos Angeles Times, theNew York Times, theWashington Post,American Theatre magazine as well as other newspapers and magazines.^[13] He is among the most prolific critics in the nation, reviewing about 200 Chicago shows a year and covering all the major Broadway openings.^[14] In 2018, he also becameBroadway theater critic for the Tribune Publishing ownedNew YorkDaily News.^[15]

Jones has twice served on the jury of thePulitzer Prize for Drama.^[16][17] For some two decades, he has chaired theAmerican Theatre Critics Association committee that annually recommends a theater for theTony Award to anoutstanding regional theatre.^[18]

In 2015, Jones was a co-winner of theGeorge Jean Nathan Award, the most prestigious award for drama criticism in the United States. Chosen annually by an interdisciplinary faculty committee headed by the English department chairs at Cornell, Princeton and Yale Universities, the Nathan Award honors scholarly and journalistic dramatic criticism. In making the award, the committee highlighted Jones' review ofThe Project(s), an American Theater Company docudrama exploring the lives of Chicago public housing residents.^[18][19]

His other honors include the Gold Medallion from theAmerican College Theatre Festival, for his work with young theater critics.^[12] He has received fivePeter Lisagor Awards from the Chicago Headline Club for arts criticism and arts and entertainment reporting^[20] and the Illinois Theatre Association's 2012 Award of Honor.^[21][22] In 2013 he was awarded the James Friend Memorial Award for Literary and Dramatic Criticism by theSociety of Midland Authors for his "exemplary contribution to theater, culture and the arts."^[23] In 2016, he was the Maegene Nelson Visiting Scholar atTexas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas.

Jones is married to Gillian Darlow, who is the chief executive officer of thePolk Bros. Foundation in Chicago. Together they have two sons.^[24]

Telling the story of Chicago's theatrical history, his book,Bigger, Brighter, Louder: 150 Years of Chicago Theater (published in 2013 by theUniversity of Chicago Press,ISBN 9780226059266) showcases the plays, writers and productions that went on to shape the country's theatrical landscape.^[25] A tryout ofA Raisin in the Sun with then unknownSidney Poitier, a "lost" interview withTennessee Williams, the first performance of the musicalGrease, and the biting wit ofClaudia Cassidy andPeregrine Pickle are collected among dozens of reviews, each featuring commentary by Jones that puts the excerpt into cultural and historical context.

In 2015, Jones wrote the introduction toHow to Write About Theater, a book published byMethuen. (ISBN 9781472520548)

Jones authored,Rise Up! Broadway and American Society from 'Angels in America' to 'Hamilton', a book published byBloomsbury in 2018. (ISBN 9781350071933)

• 1963 births
• American theater critics
• Living people
• Ohio State University College of Arts and Sciences alumni
• Alumni of the University of Hull
• Writers from Manchester

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from April 2022