Branden Jacobs-Jenkins facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Jacobs-Jenkins in 2018
Born	(1984-12-29) December 29, 1984 (age 40) Washington, DC, U.S.
Occupation	Playwright
Education	Princeton University (BA) New York University (MA) Juilliard School (GrDip)
Notable awards	Fulbright Award MacArthur Fellow Obie Award Steinberg Playwright Award Tony Award Pulitzer Prize for Drama

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, born in 1984, is a talented American playwright. He writes plays for the stage. His play Purpose won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, a very important award. Two of his other plays, Gloria and Everybody, were also finalists for this prize in 2016 and 2018.

In 2023, his play Appropriate opened on Broadway, which is a big deal for a playwright. He won his first Tony Award for this play. He won a second Tony in 2025 for Purpose. Other well-known plays he wrote include An Octoroon and The Comeuppance. In 2016, he was named a MacArthur Fellow, which is a special honor.

Growing Up

Jacobs-Jenkins was born in Washington, DC. He grew up in the Takoma area of the city. His father, Benjamin Jenkins, was a dentist who worked in prisons. Branden and his adopted brothers and sisters were raised by their mother, Patricia Jacobs. She went to Harvard Law School and owns her own business.

As a child, Branden loved reading. He especially enjoyed books by Black authors, like the famous playwright August Wilson. During his summers, he visited his grandmother, Helen Jacobs, in Arkansas. She was a schoolteacher and helped him be creative. When he was 13, he made it to the finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. He missed the word "pinyin".

He attended St. John's College High School in Washington, DC, and finished in 2002.

College and Teaching

After high school, he went to Princeton University. He earned his bachelor's degree in anthropology in 2006. Then, he went to New York University Tisch School of the Arts. He got his master's degree in performance studies in 2007.

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins has taught playwriting at several universities. These include Hunter College, New York University, Princeton, and Yale University. He also studied at The Juilliard School, a famous arts school. Before becoming a full-time playwright, he worked at The New Yorker magazine. There, he edited articles and wrote reviews.

His Plays and Career

In 2013, Jacobs-Jenkins joined the Signature Theatre's Residency Five program. This program helps playwrights by promising to produce three of their new plays.

Early Works

His play Neighbors first showed Off-Broadway in New York City in 2010. It was also performed in Los Angeles and Minneapolis. In 2011, it premiered in Boston.

He received the 2014 Obie Award for Best New American Play. This award was for two of his plays: Appropriate and An Octoroon.

An Octoroon is a modern version of an older play called The Octoroon. It was first performed in 2010. Later, it had runs at the Soho Rep in New York and the Polonsky Shakespeare Center in Brooklyn.

Appropriate

Appropriate was produced Off-Broadway in 2014. It was nominated for the Outer Critics Circle Award. Critics praised the play for being both serious and funny. It explores family drama in a unique way. The play opened on Broadway in December 2023. It won three Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Play.

War

His play War first showed at the Yale Repertory Theatre in 2014. It was directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz. War later opened Off-Broadway in New York City in 2016. Jacobs-Jenkins wrote this play while he was studying in Germany.

Everybody

Everybody was produced Off-Broadway in 2017. This play is a modern take on a very old play from the 1400s called Everyman. What's special about Everybody is that the main role is chosen by lottery each night. This means a different actor plays "Everybody" in every performance. Jacobs-Jenkins said it was an "insane idea" but it made the show unique. Everybody was a finalist for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Gloria

Gloria was performed Off-Broadway in 2015. The play is about a group of ambitious assistants working at a magazine in New York City. Gloria was nominated for several awards, including the 2016 Lucille Lortel Award. It was also a finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The Pulitzer committee called it a "play of wit and irony." It moves from being a funny satire to a thrilling story. Gloria was also staged in London in 2017.

Recent Plays

His play Girls premiered at Yale Repertory Theatre in 2019. It is a modern version of an ancient Greek play called The Bacchae. It includes dance music and live video.

In 2023, his play The Comeuppance opened Off-Broadway. It tells the story of a group of friends in their thirties who meet again at a high school reunion.

His play Purpose moved to Broadway in February 2025. This happened after it had a very successful run at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago.

Where His Work Is Seen

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' plays have been performed in many famous theaters. These include The Public Theater, Signature Theater, and Soho Rep in New York. His plays have also been shown at the National Theatre in London.

He is currently on the board of Soho Rep in New York City. In 2019, he started teaching playwriting at the University of Texas at Austin. In 2021, he became a professor at Yale Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Awards and Recognition

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins has received many awards for his work.

In 2010, he won a Fulbright Award. This allowed him to study and develop plays in Germany. He also received the Helen Merrill Award in Playwrighting in 2011. The same year, he won the Paula Vogel Award, which is given to promising new writers.

In 2015, he won the Steinberg Playwrights Award. This award recognized his plays as "fiercely intelligent, ambitious, and boldly theatrical."

He received the Windham–Campbell Literature Prize in 2016, which came with a large cash award. He also received the 2016 PEN/Laura Pels Theater Award.

In 2016, he was named a MacArthur Fellow. This is a very prestigious award that comes with a significant amount of money. The foundation noted that his plays often use history to comment on modern society. They explore how race and class are handled in public and private life.

As mentioned, he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2015 and 2018. He then won the prize in 2025 for Purpose. In 2020, he also received fellowships from USA Artists and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.

Personal Life

In 2019, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins married actor Cheo Bourne. They have a daughter together.

List of Plays

• Neighbors (Off-Broadway, 2010)
• War (Yale Repertory Theatre, 2014)
• Appropriate (Off-Broadway, 2014; Broadway, 2023)
• An Octoroon (Off-Broadway, 2014)
• Gloria (Off-Broadway, 2015)
• Everybody (Off-Broadway, 2017)
• Girls (Yale Repertory Theatre, 2019)
• The Comeuppance (Off-Broadway, 2023; London, 2024)
• Purpose (Steppenwolf Theatre Company, 2024; Broadway, 2025)

Awards and Nominations