Tom Jacobson
Encyclopedia
Biography
Jacobson has had more than 70 productions of his works performed around the country. He studied acting at Northwestern UniversityNorthwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
, and graduated with a Master of Fine Arts in 1985 from the playwriting program at the University of California, Los Angeles' School of Theater, Film and Television.
Jacobson has described himself as a "47 year old male Angeleno from Colorado, Pennsylvania, Florida and Oklahoma of Norwegian/Swedish/German/Polish/ Hungarian/Czech/French/English/Irish/Scottish background who went to college in Chicago and graduate school in Los Angeles and works in a natural history museum and lives in a loft in Koreatown with his husband who is a Latino abstract expressionist artist."
Career as Playwright
A prolific writer, Jacobson has penned more than 33 plays, although not all of these works have been produced at the time of writing. Jacobson's historical references, literary allusions, wit and transitional style have garnered comparisons with fellow playwright Tom StoppardTom Stoppard
Sir Tom Stoppard OM, CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, knighted in 1997. He has written prolifically for TV, radio, film and stage, finding prominence with plays such as Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Professional Foul, The Real Thing, and Rosencrantz and...
.
Many of Jacobson's plays deal with homosexual characters and gay history. He has written several works with all-male casts, though his plays The Friendly Hour (2008) and Pipestone (unproduced) are all-female ensembles.
Jacobson has called his 2005 play Ouroboros his best work, citing its powerful emotions and innovative structure.
Currently two of Jacobson's plays are being performed in Los Angeles: The Chinese Massacre (Annotated) at Circle X Theatre
Circle X Theatre
Circle X is an award winning not-for-profit ensemble theatre company located in Hollywood, California. Circle X's productions have been described by critics as "refreshingly original and imaginative" and "consistently stellar".-Overview:...
, and House of the Rising Son at Ensemble Studio Theatre-LA. Both productions have been favorably reviewed.
Recognition
In 2009 Jacobson was selected to receive a National Endowment for the ArtsNational Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
production grant, intended to fund the first production of his play The Chinese Massacre (Annotated).
Jacobson has been nominated for a number of awards, including a 2010 Playwright—World Premier Play or Musical Ovation Award for his work The Twentieth-Century Way. That particular play was nominated for a total of five Ovation Awards, as well as four Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards, and a GLAAD Media Award
GLAAD Media Awards
The GLAAD Media Award is an accolade bestowed by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation to recognize and honor various branches of the media for their outstanding representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and the issues that affect their lives...
(2010).
Four of Jacobson's plays – Bunbury (2005), Ouroboros (2005), The Orange Grove (2005), and Sperm (2004) – have been designated Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
Critics Choices.
Additional Work
Apart from his theatre works, Jacobson has also been a co-literary manager of The Theatre @ Boston Court, artistic director of Ensemble Studio Theatre-LA, and a board member of Cornerstone Theater Company. Jacobson was a founding member of Playwrights Ink, a non-profit association (based at the University of Wisconsin) made up of theater artists dedicated to the development of playwrights and their work.Jacobson also teaches playwriting and related courses for UCLA Extension
UCLA Extension Writers' Program
UCLA Extension Writers' Program is a unit within UCLA Extension [1], the not-for-profit and self-supporting community outreach arm of the University of California, Los Angeles. Located in the Westwood Village area of the city, the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program offers more than 475 annual...
. Of his teaching philosophy, Jacobson has said, "Writers learn everywhere – every experience, every person we meet teaches us something about the world, something we can remember, ruminate on, and write down … Perhaps the most important thing I can teach [my students] is how to ask the right questions and really listen to the answers – to find the truth hidden inside the lie."