Colleen Longshaw Jackson is a Cleveland, Ohio native. She is currently the director of community partnerships and programming at Cleveland Play House. At Cleveland Play House, Jackson was part of the team to develop and implement the CARE program (Compassionate Arts Remaking Education). CARE is funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education. CARE uses theatre education to teach social emotional competencies and to increase English Language Arts scores in the K-12 student population.

Jackson is a Certified Trauma Professional, a certification she uses in conjunction with anti-racism and equity, diversity and inclusion facilitation and training. She works to dismantle white supremacist culture within organizations by helping organizations to identify existing ideologies and work to destroy the root of oppression and systems in place to keep them thriving.

She is an inclusion, diversity, equity and access training facilitator and trainer. She centers her EDI work around helping arts organizations and educational institutions. Her group facilitation techniques help to navigate communication around difficult topics and create a plan to keep those lines of communication open. She helps organizations with strategic planning and empowers faculty, staff and students.

Jackson became a member of the Actor’s Equity Association in 2003 and continues to work as a professional actress. Her work as an actress and commitment to the craft make dismantling oppressive systems within theatre a burning priority and one which she is passionate about improving.

Credits include: “Kiss Me, Kate” (National Tour), “The Groove Factory” (New York Music Theatre Festival), “Hairspray” (Northshore Music Theatre, Porthouse Theatre), “Pipeline” (Cleveland Play House), “The Full Monty” (Northshore Music Theatre), “The Piano Lesson” (Cleveland Play House), “Starmites” (Porthouse Theatre), “Made in America” (Dobama Theatre), “A Christmas Carol” (Great Lakes Theatre), “The Color Purple” (Karamu House), “Dreamgirls” (Cain Park), “Once On This Island” (Porthouse Theatre), “Big River” (Porthouse Theatre), “Avenue X” (Cain Park), “Godspell” (Porthouse Theatre, Cain Park), “Aida” (The Beck Center), “The Buddy Holly Story” (Carousel Dinner Theater), and “Twelfth Night” (Ohio Shakespeare Festival).