In Tribute
Playwrights: I hope you got to know Joanne. If not, it’s impossible to really express what a huge loss this is for our organization and, more importantly, our community.
-Kristoffer Diaz
There's some consolation knowing that her soul is at rest at New Dramatists, the sanctuary she helped sustain for so long. Although it's more likely her soul will be restless rushing from one reading to the next and loving young writers into existence.
-Willy Hotzman
Joanne was one of the first people I met interning and then later as a playwright. She filled every encounter with so much giving. Over the years, I've thought about her a lot. She was someone that stayed with you even after a brief encounter. Always with her little dog. Who I know she missed so much. And now we are going to miss her so much.
-Basil Kreimendahl
She was such a light and I am gutted right now thinking about our world without her.
-Joshua Allen
In many ways, I felt, she was/is a kindred spirit.
-Melisa Tien
Joanne was one of the most vibrant and intellectually curious people I ever had the fortune of meeting. She showed up for everyone's work - from the residents to the interns. Joanne's financial generosity was in itself remarkable, but it was her generosity of spirit - of taking the time and of taking you in - that made her contributions to the theater truly astounding.
-Mike Lew
I loved hanging out with her and know her impact on all of us is immeasurable. She'll be deeply missed, as she was very loved.
-Michael John Garces
What a lady. She had such understated class and a great sense of humor. Plus beyond down to earth. We were lucky to know her, to walk the path with her. She really made a difference.
-Quiara Alegria Hudes
Joanne was a remarkable force in this world. I will miss her regular posts of emma and her presence in the community.
-Peter Sinn Nachtrieb
I didn’t know Joanne personally, but was the recipient of her generosity at a time in my writing life when I needed it most.
-Rose M. Goldemburg
How I loved Joanne. Thinking back to her Key West residency I had the luck to go on. And so so much more.
-Catherine Filloux
A friend and a lovely woman.
-Sherman Yellen
She was a lovely woman and I know she was a great, devoted friend to ND.
-Paul Meshejian
Joanne was an amazing person—to playwrights everywhere, yes, but also just simply as a person. I’m so glad to have had her as a friend.
-Stephanie Fleischmann
She was the best kindest most wonderfullest human.
- Sheila Callaghan
She was so so supportive of the work and the playwright, from sometimes even before the beginning of one’s residency, all throughout, to beyond....
-Cori Thomas
Someone who supported artists by getting to know each and every one of us as people.
-Stefanie Zadravec
She was so joyful and full of delight.
-Karinne Keithley Syers
She was amazing human being. A huge blow to the community.
-Caridad Svich
Joanne could (and did) sustain an army of artist souls with her encouragement and support.
-Chisa Hutchinson
I know I will miss her presence in this world.
-Kirsten Greenidge
Love to everyone at ND. Joanne certainly loved us.
-Kara Lee Corthron
She was a beautiful and generous person.
-Lynn Rosen
Joanne was the embodiment of generosity of spirit--amplified, magnified, human-sized. Her gifts to the theatre, and New Dramatists in particular during difficult times, will continue to ripple through the building and through generations of writers.
-John Walch
she was PURE LOVE
-Dael Orlandersmith
I first became friends with Joanne Jacobson almost ten years ago when she auditioned for one of my plays. I can't think of a kinder, lovelier, more supportive person --especially to artists, and even more especially to playwrights.
-Young Jean Lee
No matter if you were a fancy playwright or a virtually unknown writer, she always made you feel like you belonged. She was the face in the crowd that you knew was always cheering for you. She's a blessing and we all loved her.
- Qui Nguyen
I love Joanne and will miss her so much. There is no one else like her.
-Jason Grote
So feisty, and such fun; cooler than any of us: a spark: so missed.
-Anne Washburn
i met joanne on a flight to louisville kentucky in 2016--we were both on our way to the humana festival, and when she found out i was a playwright, the first thing she said was "have you applied to new dramatists yet?" i said i just had, but that i also knew it was a long shot, statistically speaking. she looked into my eyes and said "keep applying. even if it doesn't happen this year, keep applying. you'll get in." i'm so sad i won't have the chance to see her in the church to say thank you, for that and for the stories she shared with me that day about what was clearly an incredible life. what a loss for the community.
-Jiehae Park
I couldn't possibly express in a few words what a dear friend Joanne Jacobson was to me. She absolutely adored playwrights: providing a retreat in her Key West home (and fully subsidizing the associated travel and expenses), funding commissions and fellowships, offering her beautiful presence at readings and productions. I'd written my play Breath, Boom in Key West (because I'd gone several times, our running joke was to call it "Kia West"). Afterward she wanted to read it, and she loved to tell the story of how she tried to print it but the pages went flying everywhere and she could never figure out the order because I hadn't numbered them. (I had.) I could share a thousand funny playwriting anecdotes like that but our relationship went far beyond the theatre. We were close. We shared our personal stresses and our personal joys. My heart aches to know I'll never again hear her latest Emma story or her protective scolding or her laughter. There will never ever ever be another Joanne, and I am so so lucky to have called her my friend.
-Kia Corthron
Joanne Jacobson treated me like a playwright when I was sure I was a fraud, and I remember thinking, "well, if this smart and generous woman thinks I'm a writer, I better start acting like one." Mine is just one tiny life in the myriad lives she changed and championed in small and large ways. She will be so missed. I can only hope to love and cheer as fully as she did.
-Deborah Stein
Joanne was the best: loving, super-supportive, with a huge wry sense of humor. I think she came to every reading or workshop I did at the Church, which meant (and still means) the world to me as an out-of-towner. In fact, Joanne made me feel at home wherever I was -- in the city or even my home port in the SF Bay Area where she supported a bunch of us at one of Erik Ehn's Pataphysics retreats at the Green Gulch Zen Center. Her huge heart extends beyond all kinds of borders. I will miss her dearly.
-Eugenie Chan
I first met Joanne when she produced a play of mine in Los Angeles in 1992. We won five Dramalogue Awards including "Best Play." I spent several happy occasions with her at her home in Key West and in New York at her apartment, helping her move in and get everything delivered. In every way, she was supportive, generous and the best kind of friend. Most of all, she adored writers and expressed her love for us in everything she did for New Dramatists.
-Jack Heifner
