A rising talent in the bustling New York theater scene, Jason Jacoby is equally at home as an actor, puppeteer, singer, teacher, and writer. In 2019, Jason wrapped nearly 7 years in the Tony-award winning musical Avenue Q Off-Broadway at New World Stages, playing Nicky/Trekkie/Bear. No stranger to Avenue Q, he previously starred in Smithtown PAC’s and Skylight Music Theatre’s productions in 2012, directed by Rick Lyon and Donna Drake, respectively. He has studied puppetry with John Tartaglia, Matt Vogel, Marty Robinson, Peter Linz, Jennifer Barnhart, Kevin Clash, Donna Kimball, and Brian Henson.

Jason is also a gifted teacher. As the puppet/dance captain at Avenue Q, he is the ideal person to hire for directing or coaching regional and collegiate/student productions of the show. He’s lent a hand to productions at Penn State University, Cohoes Music Hall, The Waterfront Playhouse, Spotlight Theatre, and Shining Studios LI, and has taught puppetry at Pace University, The Studios of Key West, Park Playhouse II, and multiple classes for NYMF and Audience Rewards. He was also a puppet consultant for the Tina Fey stage-adaptation of Mean Girls. Other puppetry credits include Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas Off-Broadway and Nick Jr’s Puppet Pre-School.

A favorite “non-puppet” credit of Jason’s is when he appeared opposite Bruce Vilanch (Hollywood Squares) and Jerry Adler (The Sopranos) in Rubble at NYCFringe 2013, written by The Simpsons writer and The Critic co-creator Mike Reiss. Playing a multitude of characters, Jason was hailed as “nothing short of hilarious– comic relief in a comedy.” (nytheatre.com)

At Playhouse Stage Company in Albany NY, Jason has appeared in Sweeney Todd (“powerfully sung, electrically alive”, Nippertown), Cabaret (“shatteringly vulnerable as the Master of Ceremonies”, Times Union), The Producers (“utterly winning as the nerdy Leo Bloom”, Times Union), and Beauty and the Beast (as Lumiere).

Other credits include | Off-Broadway: Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas (u/s Puppeteers 1-5, The New Victory Theatre), A Class Act (Ed Kleban, J2 Spotlight), Rescue Rue (Apollo/others, NYMF 2014 & film version), G.B.S. (Sam, Clockwork Theatre, U.S. Premiere). Off-off B’way: Reckless (Roy/Tim Timko, The Gallery Players), Welcome to New Jersey (Martin, Vital Theatre), Men in a Bottle (John, TheaterVision). Workshops/readings: Le Hot Blu (Doc Henschel, NYTW), The Piper (Finian/others, Capital Repertory Theatre), Red Masquerade (Richard Trent/Tim, Shadowland Theatre), WoO (Scarecrow, Full of Noises), as well as numerous readings with Dialogue with Three Chords. As a voice-over artist, Jason can be heard in commercials for Budweiser and Mac Weldon, on TV in Pokemon and Flying Animals, and in film as the title character in the English dub of Ash Lad: In Search of the Golden Castle.

Born and raised in Montrose, NY, a small hamlet nestled off the east slope of the Hudson River, Jason took a strong interest in performing at an early age.  Heavily influenced by his icon, Jim Henson, Jason has been improvising puppet movies since the ripe old age of five. He starred in musicals throughout middle and high school, appearing in such works as Guys and Dolls, Damn Yankees, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, The Sound of Music, and Godspell. 

Jason holds a B.A. in Theatre Arts from S.U.N.Y. New Paltz where he appeared in Tartuffe (Valere), Sunday in the Park with George (Franz/Bob), Anything Goes (Billy Crocker), Lucky Stiff (Man 1), One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Cheswick), A Flea in Her Ear (Tournel), and Batboy: The Musical (Dr. Parker), and created/directed The Lovers, the Dreamers, and You: A Muppet Musical.

In addition to performing, Jason is a contributing writer and content-creator for New York Native Plants, an organization dedicated to combating climate change at the local level.

Click to view Jason Jacoby’s Resume!