Jack is the former Artistic Director of Rough Magic. He left his native Indiana at 18 to attend anacting conservatory in NYC. Afterwards, he had the great fortune of doing a bit of professional work ranging from children's theatre tours to Off-Off Broadway plays and showcases. At 25, however, he went back to school at UNL. 'Making nice' with the theatre folk of the capital city, he found himself amongst exciting artistic collaborations such as: The Angels Theatre Company, Theatrix and Rough Magic Productions. Favorite roles while in Lincoln include: Henry in The Real Thing, Brian in The Shadowbox, Carl in The Baltimore Waltz and Kyle in Touch. As a director, he mounted such productions as Pterodactyls, Burn This, The Illusion, Kid-Simple, Corpus Christi, Mr. Marmalade, staged readings of Strindberg's Miss Julie and MATCH by Marc Chun, as well as co-directing Summerstock II, Stranger Than Fiction, GO(!) and JUST ADD WATER. In keeping with Rough Magic's mission, a brand new piece called K.,about the life and works of Franz Kafka, a collaboration with playwright Gregory Peters, premiered on the boards of Lincoln in August of 2006. Jack had the terrific fortune of collaborating once again with Mr. Peters on his The Epic of Gilgamesh as Told by Mr. George Smith, Associate Curator for the British Museum (Deceased), another brand new play featuring the talents of twelve of Lincoln's finest actors, as well as an amazing team of designers and producers. Jack bids Rough Magic, and the Lincoln theatre community at large, a fond farewell and wishes you all the best. He is pursuing his MFA in Directing at Illinois State University.
Jack Carpenter