Jake Brasch

(he/they) is a queer, sober, Jewish clown from Colorado and a recent graduate from the playwriting program at The Juilliard School. The World Premiere of their play The Reservoir is being presented in a co-production between the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Alliance Theatre, and Geffen Playhouse. A second production will be staged at Berkeley Rep in the Fall.

Jake won Vineyard Theatre’s 2025 Paula Vogel award, Kennedy Center's 2024 Paula Vogel Playwriting Award and is the inaugural recipient of the 2024 Terrence McNally Recovery Commission. They’re a 2024 Page 73 Writers Group member, and a 2023-2024 Alliance/Kendeda Finalist. They're a proud recent graduate of Ensemble Studio Theatre's Youngblood. Jake holds commissions from Manhattan Theatre Club, The Acting Company, and the EST/Sloan Project. He holds a BFA from NYU Tisch (Experimental Theatre Wing/New Studio on Broadway).

Plays in development include: How to Draw a Triangle (Manhattan Theatre Club, The Recovery Project @ Florida Studio Theatre, NYSAF), Spin (Juilliard, LAByrinth Theatre Company), Salutations, I'm Creative Dave (Page 73), Trip Around the Sun (South Coast Rep, South Carolina New Play Festival), and Family Weekend.

With playwright Nadja Leonhard-Hooper, Jake is a Co-Founder of American Sing-Song, a collective that writes and performs filthy hour-long comedic musicals. Their musical GERALDINE: A Foul and Fishy Operetta was presented in 2024 as part of ARS Nova ANT Fest and HOLE! was presented in 2024 at The Ensemble Studio Theatre and CAVEAT. HOLE! will have New York performances at The Bell House before heading to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for the Summer.

Jake has long worked as a birthday party clown throughout the New York Area and is developing CLOWNTOWN, a comedy series about his clowning career. He is also adapting his play HOW TO DRAW A TRIANGLE into a coming-of-age film about queerness, musical theatre, and occupational therapy.

Jake is a pianist and composer. He’s written music and lyrics for several films, musicals, plays, and podcasts. They are also developing a Grotowski-based physical dramaturgy pedagogy for playwrights.

Jake has three brothers, 24 pairs of glasses, and lives in Brooklyn with his Marvin (his soughdough starter) and his brilliant husband Tyler.