Portfolio
Recent original work and performance projects
Daybreak: a new play about awe
by Erin Lekovic & Jacob Watson
songs by Laura Stratford
Read more on New Play Exchange.
Listen to our song demos.
Public staged reading coming soon in February 2026.
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a new play about awe
by Erin Lekovic & Jacob Watson
songs by Laura StratfordRead more on New Play Exchange.
Listen to our song demos.
Public staged reading coming soon in February 2026.
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A psychiatrist and a patient meet in a dream… but who is who?
Premiered at Artistic Home Theatre’s annual short play festival, Cut to the Chase 2025: What is Real?
Written by Siah Berlatsky
Directed by Jacob Watson
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A Socialite, a Residency Diva, an Inbox, and a Wisdom Dispenser relax on a lake at an artist residency. The audience watches from pool noodles.
Written and Directed by Jacob Watson
Created and performed at Swarm Artist Residency in West Branch, IA in 2023.
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Community Created Performances are original music theater works created and performed by community groups using a core element of opera: storytelling through song. Participating groups throughout Chicago, regardless of background or experience, create and develop these original works which are driven by the participants and supported by Lyric Opera professional artists and staff.
Collectively, we asked, “what is the untold story of this community?” Over 16 weeks, we created, rehearsed, and performed original works based in the participants’ real-life experiences.
Performed at The Harris Theatre in Chicago, 2016 & 2017.
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Gray Area asks the difficult questions about where our ideas about consent come from, how they get enacted in our lives, and what happens when our reality doesn’t live up to our ideals. How do we navigate these murky waters, and -- when something goes wrong -- how do we, and our communities, heal?
Conceived by Jacob Watson, Micah Bernstein, and Vince Pagan
Written by Micah Bernstein and Elon Sloan
Produced by the FYI Performance Company
Premiered at Envision Unlimited in Chicago, May 2017.
Psychoanalysis!
A psychiatrist and a patient meet in a dream… but who is who?
Premiered at Artistic Home Theatre’s annual short play festival, Cut to the Chase 2025: What is Real?
Written by Siah Berlatsky
Directed by Jacob Watson
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Always Greener is a radically different musical that shatters the barriers between the disabled and non-disabled worlds. Five individual artists, in collaboration with Tellin' Tales Theatre, are creating Always Greener, an original musical that foregrounds the world of people with disabilities, using adaptive and inclusive casting, design, and direction.
Book by Tekki Lomnicki & Erin Austin
Music & Lyrics by Noa/h Fields
Based on a concept developed with Thrisa Hodits, Jacob Watson, and Tellin’ Tales Theatre
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a dance-music-theatre collaboration
Created by Ava Untermyer, Agasthya Shenoy, and Jacob Watson
for HybridSalonHGSE
Performed at the Bok Center for Teaching + Learning at Harvard University, April 2018.
Anticipation (Lake)
A Socialite, a Residency Diva, an Inbox, and a Wisdom Dispenser relax on a lake at an artist residency. The audience watches from pool noodles.
Written and Directed by Jacob Watson
Created and performed at Swarm Artist Residency in West Branch, IA in 2023.
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FYI designs participatory theatre experiences that activate the creative potential of health education to improve the wellbeing of youth and their communities. FYI is focused on using creative approaches to improve the sexual health of young people in the Chicago area. Together, we create health-based performance workshops in close partnership with youth partners and other Chicago-area organizations.
As a founding Member, actor, director, curriculum designer & facilitator, 2011-2017, I:
Designed the organization's landmark Creative Capacity Building training series for adults
Cultivated partnerships with a diverse array of organizations, both locally and nationally
Devised, acted, directed, and toured in two participatory plays for young people
About Me
I’m an artist, educator, and facilitator working at the intersection of performance, learning, and community.
I grew up near Boston, where I first began acting in experimental plays, messing around in Photoshop, and creating imitations of my favorite T.V. shows. After earning my B.A. in Theatre from Northwestern University, I worked across Chicago as a director, designer, teaching artist, and program manager.
After college, my friends and I founded the FYI Performance Company at the Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health, where we spent several years inventing and publishing on new forms of theatre-based sexuality education.
Through this work, I became interested in how artistic practices can inform our thinking and improve our communities.
These questions led me back home to pursue an Ed.M. in Arts in Education at Harvard University, where I focused on theories of learning, cultural change, and organizational systems. (Learning about learning is quite the trip!) Over the years, I’ve worked to infuse creativity in theaters, schools, universities, cities, and communities across the country.
I’m now back in Chicago, where I work as an actor, writer, director, and producer. I most recently performed in two world-premiere rock musicals. Beyond the stage, I continue to work as a researcher, facilitator, and consultant in the education sector through my creative consultancy The Practice.
If you’re looking for a collaborator, performer, facilitator, or creative partner—I’d love to connect.
Currently, I’m also the Senior Director of Experiential Learning at UpStart, as well as a Researcher and Education Specialist at Convergence Design Lab, and an organizer for the midwest-based Swarm Artist Residency.
Project media and documentation
Alone/Together, or Time Passes, or Isn’t it Interesting this Boredom? (Original Film)
Adapted and directed by Jacob Watson
Gray Area Promo Video
Lyric Opera: Chicago Voices (2016)
Lyric Opera: Chicago Voices (2017)
hi, you found my secret bonus content! (design archive)
while I mostly write/direct now, I also used to design sets, props, and lots of other things. and it’s still a big part of what guides my approach. to see cool projects I’m proud of from that era, click here. but shh…don’t tell anyone.
if this isn’t what you’re looking for, just scroll back up :)