Our Team

Jonathan Shmidt Chapman

FOUNDER

Jonathan Shmidt Chapman is an award-winning artist, writer, and Jewish educator whose work brings together sensory theater, play, and early Jewish learning. As the founder and artistic director of The K’ilu Company, Jonathan leads a collaborative body of work that invites young children and the adults who guide them to step inside Jewish stories through imagination, movement, and shared experience.

Through K’ilu, Jonathan partners with educators, organizations, and networks across North America to support early childhood and family engagement through immersive experiences, professional learning, and capacity-building initiatives. He is a highly sought-after keynote speaker, artist-scholar-in-residence, and workshop leader, regularly presenting at national conferences and gatherings focused on Jewish education, early childhood learning, and family engagement.

Jonathan is the author of Let There Be Play: Bringing the Bible to Life with Young Children and In the Beginning: My Storybook Bible (Behrman House), which articulate the pedagogical foundations that shape K’ilu’s approach. His partnership work through K’ilu includes collaborations with ElevatEd, the Jewish Grandparents Network, and Jewish United Fund Chicago, supporting educators and communities through training, curriculum development, and field-wide initiatives.

In addition to his educational work, Jonathan is an accomplished theater artist for young audiences. His recent projects include The Birthday of the World, developed in collaboration with the Alliance Theatre, alongside earlier works presented at Lincoln Center, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and Seattle Children’s Theatre. His work has been featured by NBC Nightly News, The New York Times, and American Theatre magazine.

Jonathan’s leadership has been recognized with numerous honors, including The Covenant Foundation’s Pomegranate Prize, the Foundation’s inaugural Jewish Family Education Fellowship, The Jewish Education Project’s Young Pioneers Award, and the Children’s Theatre Foundation of America’s Medallion Award.

He lives in the Chicago area with his husband, Rabbi David Chapman, and their two children. Learn more at jonathanshmidtchapman.com.

Jordan Zelvin

ASSOCIATE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Jordan Zelvin is a Chicago-based artist, teacher, puppeteer and Jewish storyteller. With a B.A. in Educational Studies and Theatre from Denison University, Jordan has extensive experience in child-centered, play-based learning, as well as, immersive theater/dramatic play as a means to discover identity, community, and life-long curiosity. Always viewing storytelling as a collaborative experience, she works at the intersection of her own identities in everything she does.

She has collaborated as both an independent and teaching artist with the Alliance Theatre, Writers Theatre, NTYA, Oil Lamp Theater, Redtwist Theatre, Strawdog Theatre Company, Stage 773, The Second City, The Annoyance Theatre, iO Theater, The Revival, and numerous schools and Shuls across the Chicagoland area, providing innovative theatre programming for children, families, and teachers.

Along with her role as Associate Artistic Director and Lead Teaching Artist for the K’ilu Company, Jordan is the co-founder of Chronic Collective Chi, a company member of PlayGround-Chicago, and a comedian with Malarkey Comedy.

Creative Collaborators