We were lucky to catch up with Hailey Jones recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hailey, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
In June of 2022, my dad died suddenly on his way out to California to come visit me. During his unconscious four days in the hospital, my mind became flooded with jokes. The two weeks leading up to his funeral & celebration of life, were filled with even more dark humor. The hospital staff loved it, but many were uncomfortable. The twist is that my dad owned comedy clubs, and I felt like the dark humor was the most honorable way to honor his passing. That same summer, I went to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival performing for a show I had been cast in. When I arrived, I suddenly knew where my pages and pages of dead dad jokes could grace a literal stage of grief. I grieved & wrote, and then performed a show that encompasses my journey through comedy, my dad’s legacy, our relationship, and ways of navigating the different stages of grief. I always knew I was writing the show to share my story and as a part of my grieving process, but I also hoped that it would help other people deal with their big losses in life… finding the light in the dark. Two years now of doing the show, I have had the honor of talking with many people who have appreciated this show, cause they too are apart of the dead parent club.
Hailey, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Born & raised in Kansas City, I grew up going to work with my dad at a comedy club & seeing theatre that my aunt was invovled in. I’d practice my routines on the stage at the club & I remember once particular production at the Unicorn where my aunt was running spotlight and I just thought “Well, this is it. This is where I am intended to be.” … When I was named it was said that “Hailey Lauren Jones” sounds like a stars name. While I’m far from a star, I was destined to be a creative from early on. As I grew, I took acting classes at Theatre for Young America, took part in school performance opportunities, and spent many hours journaling about what the manifestations of my dream would look like. My family moved to Massachusetts when I was in high school, and I got some pretty fun roles in the school plays. When college came around, I applied for all the well known programs, and got rejected from all of them. It was heart-breaking, but it lead me back to Kansas City, where I attended school at UMKC (GO ROOS!). I made my way through the department, participating in everything I was able to do. I ended up running the University Theatre Association to provide more opportunities for undergraduates, and that got me a great deal of production experience. After I graduated with my BA in Theatre Performance, I found my way to Northern California where I went to Dell’Arte International: School of Physical Theatre. This year clowning around in the Redwoods profoundly impacted me as a performer. Post this year, I wrote, produced, performed, directed, orchestrated many ensemble devised productions around Kansas City (2012-2017). During this time, I also got to cast in several touring shows with Theatre for Young America, working side-by-side with my former acting teachers (which was a huge accompllishment for my inner child). I ended up traveling quite a bit throughout this time as well, taking epic adventures abroad, for some character building and self-healing. During this time, I also developed devising summer camps for kids in rural communities (mostly in California). In 2017, I decided I was ready to leave Kansas City to live off-grid in a school bus conversion in Southern California. It was here that I took a job at a local theme park (Skypark at Santa’s Village), where I got to fulfill my life long dream of being an elf! During my second season, I developed my own one woman/clelf/clown-elf show, which would later become a book A. Jolly Elf (AJollyElf.com)… It also helped launch my now business of being a character entertainer, murder mystery writer, custom show creator (HaileyJonesandFriends.com). When my suddenly dad died in 2022, I ended up taking a break from any work that wasn’t paid, and did my healing through writing a grief comedy about my life story, my relationship with my dad, dealing with loss called (Dead) Dad Jokes: A Literal Stage of Grief. I’ve performed that in Los Angeles, Kansas City, & at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (twice) in Scotland. I am proud of how my path has lead me to be a self-employed entertainer, with the freedom to travel and play internationally.
Heart-Centered Comedy is kind of my brand. I bring a lot of myself to my work, it’s all original and very Hailey. I also hope that there’s a healing component to my work with the audience. Like it’s not just a ha-ha laugh, but it’s something that sits with you and gives you a hug somehow later on. A. Jolly Elf is an elf that was lost, while she’s a fan of Santa (who isn’t), she was raised by reindeer and would never fit in totality into the narrative of a corporate Elf (whether workshop or shelves). My little children’s book A. Jolly Elf doesn’t have a clear beginning middle or end. It’s told like how kids tell stories, which is here’s a moment in time and how it relates to other things. I’ve had the honor of performing the show at schools, in theaters, hotels, and living rooms. And it’s always been a been a blast!
I also specialize in customizing entertainment. In my murder mystery format, I can create a show with a theme specifically geared for the community it’s for, with four other performers we’ll improvise based on what the audience also brings, including killing which ever character they want to die. In my smaller format for private parties, I will take a survey from all the guests coming and write all the character cards, story line, based on all their input, creating a game that is written completely for them. It’s fun cause it’s hard to determine what’s the story or what’s something they created. It’s all good fun packing in inside jokes.
My customize entertainment makes the experience feel personal and close.
I think my solo show is also a special offering to the world. Not many people can make their dad’s death hilarious, especially without cutting away important aspects of the story. I feel like I have done a good job honoring memories, celebrating legacy, and being playful, yet honest about the hard stuff. It feels like a special gift every time I am able to perform that show.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Producing shows is always a risk in resources, in my 15 years of production experience, I still am always nervous as to if anyone will show up to the shows. For the last two years, I have produced (Dead) Dad Jokes at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It is always a particularly humbling experience. You do all the typical actions to get people to your shows. Posters, Social Media, Submitting to all the Festival Sites… And then stand on the street for two or so hours a day trying to get people to come to YOUR SHOW over the thousands of others that are going on in the city. You have fifteen minutes before your show to get the stage & tech set, and hope that the room will fill up. You do this everyday for a month. Sometimes two people come, and sometimes the house is packed with forty! It’s an emotional rollercoaster of highs and lows. I love the festival because it is particularly humbling, and just a reminder that as my business mentor Scot Nery says “career is not linear”. And sometimes performing for two people can be just as rewarding as performing for forty. It’s a release that there is no perfect formula, nothing to figure it out. It’s just kind of accept it is what it is, I am what I am, and all of it growing and changing all the time… and that we’re all just doing our best.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
GO SEE SHOWS. Your attendance in live theatre is ESSENTIAL. Social media posts don’t really nurture a performer the same way that having an active energy exchange in a room for an hour or so can do. Go see live theatre, bring friends, share the events, pay for tickets, make donations. Also, I’ve found also that if you’re hiring a creative, to just get clear on what you want and then let them deliver. There’s so many possibilities they can offer and improve your events by employing them. Also… get kids out to see live theatre and entertainment, get more performers in schools.
Contact Info:
- Website: theHaileyJones.com / HaileyJonesandFriends.com / AJollyElf.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heliumjones/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theHaileyJones
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVW6R3t1XxcK9gKcItkM5HA
Image Credits
All photos of Hailey Jones