Bio
Jane has appeared in six Broadway shows, including Fosse, which earned her a Drama Desk Award nomination; Jerome Robbins’ Broadway, which earned her a Tony Award nomination; Anything Goes; Sweet Charity; Guys and Dolls; and On Your Toes. Regionally, she has performed around the country in a variety of productions including A Chorus Line, A Little Night Music, The Wild Party, as well as the play Counsellor-at-Law, for which she won an Ovation Award and an L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award. Lanier’s film and television credits include the film Michael starring John Travolta, recurring roles on Murder One and Medium, and a guest appearance on Glee.
Lanier’s choreography credits include Broadway’s revival of Guys and Dolls, Off-Broadway’s Gotta Dance, Johnny Guitar, and Nightingale. Regional credits include: Big Rosemary, Chicago, Mamma Mia!, Emma, The King’s Speech, The Cher Show, Little Fish, The Wild Party, and Smokey Joe’s Cafe. She earned a Jeff Award nomination for Chicago and, for The Wild Party, she won L.A. Weekly and Back Stage Garland Awards and was nominated for an Ovation and NAACP Awards. Her directing credits at various regional theatres include Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, A Chorus Line, Bad Dog, Cabaret, Pajama Game, Anything Goes, Hair, Elegies for Angels, Punks, and Raging Queens, Smell of the Kill, and The Swan.
As an educator, Lanier previously served as an associate professor and head of musical theatre with a dance concentration at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, as a visiting professor at Elon University, and as a guest instructor at SMTD. Her prior university experience also includes teaching and choreography at UCLA and Pepperdine University.
Jane is one of the few sanctioned reconstructors for the Verdon Fosse Legacy. Having worked with Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon in the 1986 revival of Sweet Charity, she now passes down their work to the next generations of dancers. Reconstructing Sing Sing Sing for the musical theater students here at SMTD and The Frug, Dancin’ Man, and Blackbird for Ball State University. She directed their summer intensive’s presentation in NYC and ran the first Chicagoland area of their summer intensive both during the summer of 2026.
She has two sons who both live and work in the Bay Area.
