Sensational. Nurturing. Inspirational. Admirable. Welcoming. Amazing. If there were more superlatives in existence, chances are they would be used to describe Roshunda Jones-Koumba, the Houston teacher who has been named the 2022 Excellence in Theatre Education Award winner. The award is presented annually by Carnegie Mellon University and its Tony Award partners at The Broadway League and American Theatre Wing.
Jones-Koumba, or "Miss Jones" to her students at G.W. Carver Magnet High School for Performing & Visual Arts in Houston, will accept her honor at the 75th Annual Tony Awards on June 12 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Although no stranger to recognition for her work as a theatre arts educator, Jones-Koumba is modest when it comes to accepting recognition. She chooses, instead, to focus on her students and gives them credit for the success they've had as an award-winning troupe of thespians for the past 17-plus years.
"My kids are hungry," she said. "I love their determination and their drive. They motivate me to do better."
It would be difficult to imagine that she could do any better. A self-described hard worker (a trait that comes from her parents), Jones-Koumba grew up as an only child in Wharton, Texas. Despite being a small town, Wharton offered a healthy theatre program. Oscar-winning screenwriter Horton Foote ("To Kill a Mockingbird") hailed from Wharton, and the town formed an adult theatre group called the Footlighters in his honor. Jones-Koumba became involved in the group and, ultimately, helped to create on offshoot of the group for students — the Litefooters.
It was in her nature — and her bloodline — to nurture the next generation of theatre enthusiasts. Hailing from a family of educators, she knew she wanted to be an educator since she was young. Her middle school and, later, high school teacher, Marjorie Tydlacka supported Jones-Koumba as a prose and poetry author.
"She believed in me," Jones-Koumba said. "She made me see that the sky was the limit, no matter what I wanted to do."
She enrolled at Prairie View A&M University, and majored in English with a minor in theatre arts. Her hope was to become a high school teacher and become involved in theatre programs at the high school level. Her major changed, however, when a professor named C. Lee Turner pulled her aside and told her to follow her real dream first.