Marshmallow Premiere

Los Angeles Premiere Of "Marshmallow"

[as originally published on gettyimages.com]

CULVER CITY, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 04: Actor Shaw Jones attends the Los Angeles Premiere of "Marshmallow" at the Culver Theater on April 04, 2025 in Culver City, California. (Getty Images)

The Fordham Ram

How “Wounded” Can Help Us Find Healing

Actors Jones, Taggart, and McCullough on opening night (Courtesy of Mia Tero/The Fordham Ram).

[as originally published on thefordhamram.com]

You know that feeling when a story hits you in a place that you didn’t realize you had? That is what “Wounded,” a play being shown at the SoHo Playhouse, does. It may be the way that it captures how buried grief can be, the revenge we seek against those who have wronged us or the dark humor that makes hard-hitting topics slightly more bearable. Although the story focuses on the difficulties of being gay in a world that lacks empathy, it goes beyond that, making us reflect on the wounds that we carry and the actions they can drive us to take. Even if you don’t relate to the prominent themes of loss, assault or queerness, this play will leave you reflecting on past moments and how playwright, Jiggs Burgess, captures the feelings we so often hide. 

Told with unflinching honesty, “Wounded” doesn’t shy away from the weight of sexual assault or past traumas. Instead, it uses comedy in moments of unexpected darkness to prove that laughter in itself can be an act of rebellion against even the darkest of times. Through this gripping performance and fearless storytelling, “Wounded” turns pain into something communal. We may have different thoughts racing through our heads while watching this play, but sitting together in this hidden gem of a theater, our personal tragedies can transform into resilience. The phrase “it takes a village” is usually in reference to raising a child, but we should not forget that it can also take a village to carry things from our past. This play offers a hand in this, not to erase what we have gone through, but instead to remind us that we don’t have to hold our emotions or past actions alone. 

Split into two acts that mirror each other in style, “Wounded” unfolds in two unchanging environments — with just two actors on stage at a time, and only three actors in total. At the center of it all is the main character, Carrol, a force that pulls the audience through each moment with a presence so demanding that additional action is not needed. Carrol is played by actor Craig Taggart, who does an amazing job of portraying the emotional turmoil of his character. In the first act, you are introduced to the character Katie, a mom grappling with the deterioration of her nuclear family and who is raising her disabled daughter alongside her overbearing mother. Katie is excellently played by actress Kristen McCullough. In the second act, we are introduced to Robert, a man struggling with addiction and guilt, incredibly played by actor Shaw Jones. You won’t find dramatic set changes or choreography that you may see in other plays, but you won’t be able to look away nonetheless. Every decision that the actors make is incredibly deliberate in unwinding the truth behind the story. 

The director, Del Shores, a former actor himself, believes that it is important to work closely with the actors in order to better portray the story. “I’m very big on the psychology of characters. I can’t really write or direct until I understand that completely,” Shores said. “I collaborate with actors to achieve that. You have to ask yourself as an actor, how did my character get here?” 

This process was shown clearly in “Wounded” since each actor has the task of embodying a character facing great internal conflicts. The actors had to delve deep into their characters’ pasts to understand and behave how the characters would given their world experiences. The pauses and expressions made by the actors feel raw and authentic. The depth of the characters is what makes “Wounded” so emotionally gripping. The collaborative approach of Shores ensures that audience members not only watch these characters but feel the weight of what they are struggling with. Because of this, you are left with a lasting impression that lingers long after the play is over. 

“Wounded” is playing at the SoHo Playhouse until March 16, and if you have the opportunity to see it in person, you won’t regret it. This play serves as an invitation to look deeper, to question everything and wonder if grief and revenge can ever be as simple as we want them to be… READ MORE

Most Magazine

Getty Images

6th Jam For Janie Grammy Awards Viewing Party Presented By Live Nation

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 02: Shaw Jones attends the 6th Jam For Janie Grammy Awards Viewing Party Presented By Live Nation at the Hollywood Palladium on February 02, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for Janie's Fund)

Authority Magazine

Shaw Jones On The 5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career in TV and Film

[as originally published on medium.com]

As part of our series about creating a successful career in TV and Film, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Shaw Jones.

Shaw Jones is a stage and screen actor known for his captivating performances. He can be seen on Amazon Prime with leading roles in the feature films Proximity — praised by Rolling Stone’s Peter Travers — and Blue, for which he has earned two Best Actor awards. On television, Shaw has built an impressive resume with appearances on Your Honor, Star Trek: Picard, The Upshaws, NCIS, Criminal Minds, Snowfall, Grace and Frankie, The Affair, 911, The Cool Kids, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, For All Mankind, and a recurring role on Jimmy Kimmel Live, among many others. In theater, Shaw is preparing to star in the explosive Off-Broadway drama Wounded at the renowned SoHo Playhouse, opening in March 2025. His previous stage credits include No Place to Be Somebody at the WACO Theater and portraying Lee Harvey Oswald in Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins. For more information, please visit: shawjonesactor.com.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?

Igrew up in Memphis, Tennessee as one of four siblings. I had an older brother, an older sister and a younger sister who were all very different. Growing up, I was sort of a jack of all trades; good at many things, but not great at any one thing. I think I lacked the self-confidence to take me to the next level, especially in sports.

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

I really loved Elvis Presley growing up, especially being from Memphis. I would lip sync Presley’s hits with my dad’s old acoustic guitar hanging from my shoulder in what I would like to think were memorable performances in my family’s living room.

Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

One of the more interesting moments in my career occurred when I was doing an intense scene with Bryan Cranston on the show, Your Honor. As I’m shooting the scene, I organically added in a few moments and lines that were not in the script. When the scene was over, Bryan applauded me on my bold character choices. He advised me to always follow and trust my instincts. Due to Bryan’s approval, the pieces I added were kept in the final cut.

It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

When I was a new actor, I was auditioning for a scene in a casting director’s office. At one point in the scene, the character picks up the phone, screams in it, and slams it down. Unplanned, I rushed over to the casting director’s desk and used their private phone. It did not go over well. The lesson I learned was to never touch anything on anybody’s desk.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

I have three projects right now that are very exciting to me. The first is an original play, Wounded, which I’m doing in New York at the Soho Playhouse this coming February and March. It’s emotionally demanding and I’m looking forward to the longer run of this production. I’m also finishing pre-production on a short film project I co-wrote with a friend. It’s a true story based on an experience I had as a young boxer who has a match at a maximum-security prison.
I’m also writing a one-man show about parenting my son during his cancer battle.

You have been blessed with success in a career path that can be challenging. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure?

My advice to new actors is to take the word ‘failure’ out of your vocabulary. If you follow your heart, work as hard as you can and persist, there is no failure. There will be struggles and challenges, but no failure.

We are very interested in diversity in the entertainment industry. Can you share three reasons with our readers about why you think it’s important to have diversity represented in film and television? How can that potentially affect our culture?

I think diversity is extremely important in art. Seeing life and the world through other people’s perspectives is how we learn about our own. art, with regard to film and television, gives us the ability to experience other people’s lives and emotions — showing us what it means to be human. Seeing other’s overcome adversity, or situations we cannot imagine, is moving. It imbues humanity in anyone who sees such art… READ MORE

Times Square Chronicles

 Jiggs Burgess and Shaw Jones in “Wounded”

OFF BROADWAY: Wounded at Soho Playhouse Successfully Surprises Its Audience

[as originally published on t2conline.com]

I miss the New York Fringe Festival. Admittedly, with that many shows presented each year it was three weeks of hits and misses where there were probably more misses than hits, which is why Fringe Encore Series at the Soho Playhouse is a welcome annual event.

Wounded by Jiggs Burgess is one of the nine productions running through February 11th that proves that less is more – only nine well received productions rather than the hundreds of untried presentations. Directed by Del Shores it is a fast paced show that although peppered with wit and laughs also contains a good amount of tension and angst.

Craig Taggart photo courtesy of Beard Collins Shores Productions

Carrol is a moderately successful book writer (his book was turned into a film with Meryl Streep) but is also a damaged individual who buries his pain in food. Played by Craig Taggart, his first appearance on stage is an over the top gay character who emits laughter from the audience with his histrionics and exaggerated antics. As he prepares for an afternoon meeting with his old school mate Robert, played by Shaw Jones, he chirps greetings to the birds that nest in his southern home and barks at the neighbor’s dog who he accuses of eating his cats.

Shaw Jones photo courtesy of Beard Collins Shores Productions

Robert had a successful career after getting a scholarship at a prestigious university; but, a tragic accident has devastated his life and prospects to the point where he hopes that Carrol may help him find work and put him on a better path. While Mr Taggart plays his role with a never ending antic energy of none stop chatter, Mr Jones at first plays his part very subdued, quiet and passive which allows us to be even more surprised when he explodes into anger and threatened violence.

These two characters have hidden painful secrets that are revealed slowly, replacing the jovial atmosphere seen at the start of the play into a tension building drama with a satisfying conclusion.

The set design by Mr Taggart fills the stage with a bounty of appetizers and goodies that both shows Carrol’s obsession with food and also allows director, Mr Shores, to use these samplings as props and diversions that both bring laughter and divert tension.

Wounded is definitely worth traveling downtown below 14th Street. Tickets are available at International Fringe Encore Comedy Series — SoHo Playhouse and plays through February 11th.

Vents Magazine

From Setbacks to Spotlight: Shaw Jones’s Journey of Resilience and Passion

[as originally published on ventsmagazine.com]

Shaw Jones is a stage and screen actor known for his captivating performances. He can be seen on Amazon Prime with leading roles in the feature films Proximity—praised by Rolling Stone’s Peter Travers—and Blue, for which he has earned two Best Actor awards. On television, Shaw has built an impressive resume with appearances on Your Honor, Star Trek: Picard, The Upshaws, NCIS, Criminal Minds, Snowfall, Grace and Frankie, The Affair, 911, The Cool Kids, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, For All Mankind, and a recurring role on Jimmy Kimmel Live, among many others. In theater, Shaw is preparing to star in the explosive Off-Broadway drama Wounded at the renowned SoHo Playhouse, opening in March 2025. His previous stage credits include No Place to Be Somebody at the WACO Theater and portraying Lee Harvey Oswald in Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins. With a story as inspiring as his performances, Shaw sat down with us to share insights into his journey from humble beginnings to celebrated roles.

How did your upbringing or hometown influence your interests and career path?

Manners were a huge part of my upbringing, which I believe made an impact on my life. My parents taught me to respect other people, no matter their background, upbringing, or position in life.

Can you share any childhood experiences that you feel shaped who you are today?

One of the most powerful experiences I had was being bullied as a child. It mainly started in middle school. I attended an all-boy prep school. I was a late bloomer, physically, and lacked self-confidence because of it. After being beat up a few times, I went to my father and told him what was going on and asked him for help. He got me started in boxing, where I excelled. My path was the golden gloves boxing tournament and then onto the Olympics, which led me to the second most important experience of my childhood. I severely broke my back snow skiing. I was extremely close to being paralyzed from the waist down. I underwent two major surgeries and was able to recover, albeit slowly, having to learn how to walk again. It gave me the courage to face extremely difficult situations and find strength within myself to push through no matter what emotional or physical pain I felt.

How did you get your start in acting?

My first experience trying to get an acting job was auditioning for Interview with the Vampire. I tried to get all my classmates in Dallas to go with me, and they were all on board until the week of. They all bailed on me, and I decided to go anyway to New Orleans. While I was in acting school, I had read in USA Today that they were having open auditions in New Orleans. I didn’t have any credits yet, but I decided to book a flight and fly there for the audition. I didn’t even have a headshot—just a photo of myself with my name, height, and weight on the back. When I told the casting directors that I’d flown in from Dallas, they looked at me like I was crazy, but then they told me that they were impressed by my effort and to never give up on that level of drive. I did not get the job, but that experience taught me to always strive and give everything I’ve got. My first acting job actually came while I was still in acting school. A teacher of mine had a friend that was shooting a movie, and he brought some of the scenes to class to work on as an exercise. The teacher showed his friend the tapes from class, and the director asked me to come in and read for the lead. I ended up booking the role, costarring with Willie Nelson and Robert Vaughn.

Were there any specific mentors or teachers who inspired you along the way?

Laura Gardner for stressing organic, natural acting and digging deep emotionally. Richard Lawson for teaching me to act using all the colors of my emotional palette, from the light to especially the dark, and to embrace my faults and use them in my art.

What have been some of your proudest moments or accomplishments in your career so far?

Being awarded with a full run of the play Wounded at the Soho Playhouse this coming year. And also having my late father, after seeing my work in a short film, being impressed by my work and telling me that he finally understood why I wanted to be an actor.

Can you describe your creative or professional process when approaching a new project?

Becoming the character is one of the most important things for me. The physicality of the character, the wardrobe of the character. I do an incredible amount of research on what makes up and drives the character. In essence, I have to be wearing the right shoes of the character. I then go into myself and find what I have in common with the character and bring that to the forefront and blend it with the traits of the character.

Have you had the chance to collaborate with any industry icons or professionals you’ve admired?

I recently worked with Bryan Cranston. He was extremely kind and giving as an actor and was very complimentary of my work and instincts. John Hawkes is another actor whom I admire that I had a chance to work with. He was very helpful to me and gave me some incredible insights into his process for me to use.

Have you ever worked on a project that was particularly challenging or rewarding?

I recently went to New York and did an Off-Broadway play. It’s a two-person play. It’s an extremely intense play. My goal as an actor is to move people emotionally, and with this role, I got to do that.

What motivates or inspires you in your work today?

I always strive to be a real person in a real situation. No matter what is happening in the scene, I always want my performances to be organic and natural.

How do you handle rejection or setbacks, especially in such a competitive industry?

Rejection is constant in this industry. But if I’ve done everything I can for a role and do not get it, I’m okay with that. I only struggle when I know I could’ve done more. I also pursue other creative outlets, like writing.

What are you currently working on, and what excites you most about it?

I’m starting rehearsals for the production of Wounded at the Soho Playhouse, which starts in March. Doing live theater and putting all of myself out there for people to see is the most rewarding thing I do. Walking that tightrope live on stage with my costar is extremely thrilling. I’m also working on a short film about my days as a young boxer. It deals with bullying and ultimately fighting at a maximum-security prison. It’s a true story. And I’m also writing a one-man play that deals with the true story of my child battling pediatric cancer while struggling with addiction.

What advice would you give to someone aspiring to enter your field?

Be yourself! And say “yes” to all acting opportunities.

What legacy or impact do you hope to leave on the industry?

I was put on this earth to move people emotionally as an actor. If I can do that, I’ve done my job, and I’m content. I also want to show my sons that if you work hard and never give up, you can succeed at anything… READ MORE