Biography

Jaclyn Biskup is a director, producer, and arts administrator working in theatre, digital, and film. She received an Emmy nomination and was a Peabody Finalist as a producer for her work on the digital series, THE SECRET LIFE OF MUSLIMS, and previously worked as the interim co-artistic director at The Brick Theater and was the outgoing creative producer at New Ohio Theatre. As the founding artistic director of The Mill, she has directed and produced over 20 productions, including the Chicago premieres of VENUS (Suzan-Lori Parks) and THE PRIVATE OF LIVES OF ESKIMOS (OR 16 WORDS FOR SNOW) (Ken Urban). In NYC, work directed includes LUCKY BREAKS (Yevgenia Belorusets), THE EMPLOYEES (Olga Ravn Novel), COME HERE TO ME (Dianne Nora), JOURNEY AROUND MY BEDROOM (Dianne Nora), WORSE THAN TIGERS (Mark Christler), NICHOLAS, MAEVE, MARIANNE (Matthew Stephen Smith) -- one of Indie Theatre Now's 20 Best of NYC Fringe, HOT STEAMS (Zach Wegner), IT’S JUST WEIRD NOW (Halley Feiffer) and DAYS OF RAGE (Hyeyoung Kim and Shoshana Greenberg.) Her work has been seen at The Brick, Theater Lab, New Ohio Theatre, MCC Playlabs, New Dramatists, Rattlestick, Dixon Place, Town Stages, and the NYC International Fringe. Assistant director to Tony Award-winning director Anna D. Shapiro on the Broadway productions of THE MINUTES (Tracy Letts) and STRAIGHT WHITE MEN (Young Jean Lee). She has also assisted on productions at Steppenwolf, The Public, and The American Musical Theatre Workshop. Her digital projects include "The InBetween" with Erika Henningsen for Broad Stream and PBS NOVA, as well as collaborations with Delta Air Lines, Caltech, Harvard, and others. She is a Drama League alumna, a New Georges Affiliated Artist, and a first-generation college graduate who holds a BA in Theater from Northern Illinois University and an MFA in Directing and Theatrical Production from Northwestern University.

Artist Statement

I believe that the theatre is an inherently political space, and therefore, I create work to effect positive change in our society. The power of mimesis allows art to illuminate, reconstruct, and ultimately reinvent our world. I consider myself an intersectional feminist and see this as inextricable from my work as an artist. Feminism is a world-building philosophy that seeks to expand freedom for all people. As a feminist artist, my work actively challenges outmoded representations of gender, sexuality, race, and class. The common misconception is that politically minded theatre must be dogmatic or didactic.  My work is neither. My mise-en-scène employs arresting visuals and complex emotional portrayals of character to create dynamic performances that spark dialogue, unveil potential, and stay with the audience long after they leave the theatre. These stagings disrupt preconceived ideas that maintain the status quo and instead open up off stage possibilities for all people.