J. M. Meyer Email & Phone Number

New York, New York, United States

Manage the W.E.T. theater venue on 86th street. Serve as associate producer on all BEDLAM performances. Head of staff.

United States

Thinkery & Verse seeks to perform classically inspired, politically aware plays that challenge us to be empowered, globally-oriented citizens with a keen awareness of the high stakes of modern life. While our primary mission is to create new plays, one of our key creative methods is to perform our plays in repertory with classic works, thereby challenging our writers and actors to achieve new heights of creativity and aesthetics. I serve as co-artistic director alongside Karen Alvarado… Show more Thinkery & Verse seeks to perform classically inspired, politically aware plays that challenge us to be empowered, globally-oriented citizens with a keen awareness of the high stakes of modern life. While our primary mission is to create new plays, one of our key creative methods is to perform our plays in repertory with classic works, thereby challenging our writers and actors to achieve new heights of creativity and aesthetics. I serve as co-artistic director alongside Karen Alvarado. Together, we have collaborated with artists from Basra to re-imagine the experience of the British occupation (BRIDE OF THE GULF, four-stars reviews from Scotsman and The List UK), we used collapsed-casting techniques for a barnstorming adaptation of Shakespeare's MUCH ADO, we workshopped a new musical that examines how the financial system punishes working-class women (RITA, THE CLEANING LADY), we toured Manhattan living rooms with a play that attacks white complicity (PRICELESS SLAVE), we explored the religious and social dynamics of being a Latinx US soldier (AFTERSHOCK/LA RÉPLICA), and debuted a radical rewriting of Euripides entitled DIONYSUS IN AMERICA. We are currently working on a play that explores an unsolved double-homicide known as the Hall-Mills murders. Show less

The military units collectively described as ‘special forces’ have come to occupy a place of primacy in the military hierarchy; they play an ‘elite’ role formerly reserved for dashing pilots and flamboyant cavalrymen. Despite an ever-increasing budget (and the siphoning of the brightest recruits) the results have been marred by high casualty rates, murderous breakdowns in discipline, limited tactical success, and tremendous strategic failure. What explains the proliferation and popularity of… Show more The military units collectively described as ‘special forces’ have come to occupy a place of primacy in the military hierarchy; they play an ‘elite’ role formerly reserved for dashing pilots and flamboyant cavalrymen. Despite an ever-increasing budget (and the siphoning of the brightest recruits) the results have been marred by high casualty rates, murderous breakdowns in discipline, limited tactical success, and tremendous strategic failure. What explains the proliferation and popularity of ‘special forces’ units, first in the British empire, and now in the United States? Why do individuals choose to join these units? And under what conditions do political leaders adopt their tactics and strategies? My dissertation, One Way to Live, leverages theoretical insights from anthropology and evolutionary psychology to compel a reassessment of the micro-foundations of military history. The result, in part, is a myth-shattering biography of Major-General Orde Wingate, a highly influential special forces soldier that Winston Churchill declared ‘a man of genius’ for developing what he (and George C. Marshall) considered low-cost, high-risk, and high-leverage operations in three theaters of the Second World War. The dissertation also shakes off the largely unquestioned assumption that the military strategies of modern states have ‘tamed’ the glory-seeking roots of human coalitional violence. As one of Wingate’s chief enablers once put it, participating in violence remains a potent temptation for those seeking to prove that they are “worth their salt.” One Way to Live offers a novel theoretical contribution to security studies while contributing new knowledge to the extant historiography of modern war. Show less

As an interdisciplinary PhD student at UT Austin, my main responsibility is to conduct and publish original research on issues of organized violence and political violence, with a special emphasis on the British Empire, special operations forces, the interactions between regular and irregular forces, and the decision-making of individuals involved in organized violence. I began my studies in the Government department, but now rely on the advice and guidance of professors from the Government… Show more As an interdisciplinary PhD student at UT Austin, my main responsibility is to conduct and publish original research on issues of organized violence and political violence, with a special emphasis on the British Empire, special operations forces, the interactions between regular and irregular forces, and the decision-making of individuals involved in organized violence. I began my studies in the Government department, but now rely on the advice and guidance of professors from the Government, History, Psychology, and Philosophy departments. I have also taught two undergraduate courses at the University of Texas at Austin. The first course I taught was an upper-division seminar called 'British Soldiers in Palestine,' where we studied organized violence in the region of Palestine from roughly 1914 to 1947; as I often do with complex subjects, I introduced the students to the subject matter through the use of comparative biographical studies. I especially enjoyed introducing the students to the T.E. Lawrence archival materials at the Harry Ransom Center. I also taught a lower-division, state-mandated course called 'Introduction to American Government.' In this course, we explored the development of local, state, and federal government institutions through a historical perspective, with a particular emphasis on the United States Constitution, and how past historic episodes can help explain modern political behavior. Our key text was Akhil Reed Amar's "America's Constitution: A Biography." Show less

Austin, Texas Area

My work as a playwright and an actor has been featured in the Austin Chronicle, The Austin American-Statesman, KUT radio, and the BBC online. My stage play "American Volunteers" won the 2010 Mitchell Award at the University of Texas, and subsequently made the long-list for the Dylan Thomas Prize in the United Kingdom. I performed at the White House thanks to Aquila Theatre's ongoing outreach program, "Ancient Greeks/Modern Lives." My plays have also received support from The Great Plains… Show more My work as a playwright and an actor has been featured in the Austin Chronicle, The Austin American-Statesman, KUT radio, and the BBC online. My stage play "American Volunteers" won the 2010 Mitchell Award at the University of Texas, and subsequently made the long-list for the Dylan Thomas Prize in the United Kingdom. I performed at the White House thanks to Aquila Theatre's ongoing outreach program, "Ancient Greeks/Modern Lives." My plays have also received support from The Great Plains Theatre Conference, the Cohen New Works Festival, Austin Scriptworks, University Co-Op, and Frontera Fest. In 2015 I performed with the Veteran Artist Project at the Lincoln Center Home Show. In 2016 I performed off-broadway in Sophocles' Philoctetes with Aquila Theatre. In the spring of 2016 I began a six-month fellowship with BEDLAM theatre thanks to the Mission Continues project. Show less

Austin, Texas

Objective: To empirically understand conflict and violence through rigorous social science analysis.My responsibilities included the publication of original research, data collection, and quantitative and qualitative analysis on questions pertaining to organized violence, political violence, terrorism, and other historical subjects, especially in geographic regions associated with the interwar British Empire. I also studied the violence associated with illicit markets along the… Show more Objective: To empirically understand conflict and violence through rigorous social science analysis.My responsibilities included the publication of original research, data collection, and quantitative and qualitative analysis on questions pertaining to organized violence, political violence, terrorism, and other historical subjects, especially in geographic regions associated with the interwar British Empire. I also studied the violence associated with illicit markets along the Mexico-U.S. border. Show less

Doctor Of Philosophy - Phd, Political Science And Government

Activities and Societies: NSF Graduate Research Fellow (2011-2014), Junior Fellow at British Studies Program (2013-2020)

Master Of Arts (M.A.), Political Science And Government

Ba With High Honors, English And Government

Dean's Distinguished Graduate, 2010. George Mitchell Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Achievement, 2010. Honors thesis in Government.