Jonathan David Martin

Jonathan David Martin is multi-disciplinary director and performer working at the cross-section of technology, performance, and documentary. With Smoke & Mirrors Collaborative he directed "Tangible Hope Project" (Best Documentary Series-BNMWFest), the narrative VR experience, "City of Sand" (Oculus Launch Pad Grant Winner 2021), conceived and directed Point of Departure, wrote and performed in Head in the Sand, directed and developed The Alien Nation, co-created #HashtagProject, and performed in Olityelwe (Formally Ndebele Funeral).

As a producer he was founding Co-Artistic Director of Washington Ensemble Theatre in Seattle and the Associate Producer at Theater J in Washington DC.

At the University of Maryland, he is a faculty member in the Immersive Media Design program. There, he is leading research into the narrative and user experience design possibilities of AR/VR and training students from across campus for future careers that will utilize spatial technologies. He also leads a multidisciplinary research team on the interactive dance and robotics performance project DANCE^2 (Dance Squared). 

 


As a performer, he is a pioneer in performance technique for VR, drawing on a 20 year career as an actor and puppeteer on Broadway (War Horse and Life of Pi), TV, film, and regional theaters around the country. He starred in “Finding Pandora X,” a ground-breaking live performance VR experience that was awarded Best Interactive Experience at the Venice International Film Festival VR, the Audience Award at SXSW, and was named XR Must's Best Interactive Experience in 2020. He also starred in the VR experiences “Severance Theory: Welcome To Respite” (Venice Film Fest, Kauhsiung Film Fest, and Raindance Film Fest), "Gumball Dreams" (SXSW Audience Award Winner), "Uncanny Alley" (Venice Film Fest), and  “Loveseat” (Venice Film Fest).