Jill Balch-Coon is a dynamic theatre artist, educator, and director with over 25 years of experience inspiring students and audiences through the power of performance. Since 2021, she has served as Assistant Professor of Performance at Alabama A&M University and Director of the Johnson Little Theatre, where she launched Bulldog Players Productions and brought to life a wide range of productions and creative projects on campus. Her directing credits also include Twelfth Night and Much Ado About Nothing for The Orion Amphitheatre’s Bard in the Yard series, and she leads The Bulldog Beat, AAMU’s musical theatre recruitment and touring group. Jill now brings her artistry and teaching to The University of Alabama in Huntsville as a theatre adjunct.
Known for her warmth and energy in the classroom, Jill creates spaces where students feel supported, challenged, and part of a thriving artistic community. She has a particular passion for voice and dialects, empowering performers to unlock new levels of authenticity and versatility in their work. Before AAMU, Jill directed an impressive range of productions at Brooklyn High School of the Arts and worked as an actor on stage and screen, with roles including To Kill a Mockingbird, Twelfth Night, and television work on As the World Turns.
A proud Huntsville native, Jill holds a BA in English and Theatre from Birmingham-Southern College and an MFA in Acting from the University of Florida. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Education with a concentration in Curriculum and Instruction. Jill is a member of SAG-AFTRA, Actors’ Equity, and the American Federation of Teachers, and is also a registered yoga teacher