Derek Anson Jones was born on February 24, 1961 in Washington, DC. He attended the Sidwell Friends School, where he first met future playwright Margaret Edson. Jones would later go on to direct Edson’s play Wit, which The Long Wharf Theater produced in 1997.

A graduate of Brown University and the Yale School of Drama, Mr. Jones won several awards throughout his career as a director. In 1996, he received the NEA/TCG Directing Fellowship. In 1997, the Connecticut Critics Circle awarded him Best Director for his work on Wit. In 1999, Jones was nominated for a Drama Desk Award and won the Lucille Lortel Award.

Jones worked extensively in regional theater, directing at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis and at New York Stage and Film in Poughkeepsie.

His career and life were cut short on January 18, 2000, when Anson died of AIDS. He was 38 years old.

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