Jacob is the co-founder and Managing Director of Mortar Theatre.
Mortar Theatre will produce Jacob’s latest play, Under America in Fall 2010. Set just prior to the demolition of the Cabrini Green housing project (above), it began with a scholarship from Lee Blessing, was selected by the Driehaus Foundation for the Sundance Chicago Roundtable, and helped Jacob win a Tennessee Williams Scholarship to attend the Sewannee Writers’ Conference.
His first play produced by Edward Albee, Jacob has enjoyed productions nationally. Having received Lee Blessing and Tennessee Williams Scholarships, Jacob was a finalist for the Christopher Brian Wolk Award. His first feature screenplay was a finalist for admission into the 2010 Sundance Screenwriters Lab. High school dropout turned doctoral recipient, Jacob has earned degrees from Clackamas Community (AA) and Reed Colleges (BA) and Northwestern University (PhD). It is from this unique vantage he writes. Currently, he is a Senior Network Playwright at Chicago Dramatists, co-founder and Managing Director of Mortar Theatre, and faculty at UIC and the School of the Art Institute.


