Ari Jacobson

Since graduating from UMass Amherst in 2006 with a double major in music and theatre, Ari Jacobs first moved to NYC, where he performed in Off-Off-Broadway shows such as Dark of the Moon and Israel Horovitz’ Line (the longest running play in OOB history), before being cast in the Virginia-based American Shakespeare Center’s touring company, where he performed in and served as musical director for Hamlet, Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead, The Comedy of Errors, and A Christmas Carol. He has acted Off-Broadway with The National Yiddish Theatre (America’s longest continuously producing Yiddish theatre, which celebrated 100 years in 2015) in a performance of The Adventures of Hershele Ostropolyer which was selected to be filmed for NYC’s Library for the Performing Arts.

For several years, Ari performed on cruise ships as a solo guitarist, entertaining audiences in Florida, the Caribbean, New Orleans, LA, Mexico, and, most recently, Australia and the South Pacific. Ironically, upon returning to land, his next stage role was a sailor in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific!

After performing in New York, the Boston area, and much of the rest of the country (and the world), Ari is now happy to call DC his home. With the Alliance for New Music Theatre, he has performed as Gregor Samsa in Kafka’s The Metamorphosis (both in DC and at the Prague Fringe Festival), as Dr. Gall/Marius in R.U.R.: A Retro-Futuristic Musical, and was a featured performer in the staged reading of In Flanders Fields.

In other DC theatre, Ari performed at The Kennedy Center as Mikey Thomas in Shear Madness, and played both Vance the Emcee and Sylvie the stage manager in Swing Time, a vocal-jazz celebration of big band classics; he performs regularly with the cabaret series Outstanding Voices of DC; and he was featured in the Jazz-Opera Love Songs of the Liberation Wars, a musical exploration of the 1943 RJ Reynolds tobacco workers strike.

Ari has been active in early childhood education for over fifteen years, and is a passionate advocate for the positive effects musical education can have in the lives of children from an early age. He provides music for pre-schools, baby/toddler classes, birthday parties, and private lessons all around the DC area.

Also a singer/songwriter, Ari often performs in bars and restaurants throughout the DMV. His original album Songs About You can be heard, along with pictures, video, commentary, and info on both his musical and theatrical work at arijacobson.com. To stay up-to-date with Ari’s upcoming endeavors, join his e-newsletter at tinyletter.com/AriJacobson.