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COM Outlook . Fall 2013
and Andrew Lippa (
Big Fish
) for about
three years, which opened up a whole
new world to me,” he added. “I got to
watch how Hal Prince instructed these
amazing master classes that taught
young directors how to create and
direct new work. It was an invaluable
learning experience that would soon
lead to my first producing project.”
In 1995, a year after completing his
residency, Dr. Jackowitz received an
enticing phone call from a producer
who said, “I’m producing a new show
and wondered if you were interested
in being one of the producers?” Al-
though he had yet to produce any sort
of professional play at this point, Dr.
Jackowitz was indeed interested.
“It was for an Off-Broadway play
called
The Food Chain
, which was
written by the absolutely twisted and
brilliant playwright Nicky Silver,”
said Dr. Jackowitz, who was work-
ing as an in-house internist at St.
Joseph’s Medical Center in Stamford,
Connecticut during this time. “The
producer let me read the script,
which made me laugh out loud, so I
called her and said, ‘I am very inter-
ested, let’s talk.’ I said, ‘Listen, I have
to be honest. I really don’t know how
to produce a show because I have
never actually done it before.’”
The producer quickly allayed his
fears by saying, “Don’t worry, I will
show you the ropes. I will take you
under my wing, introduce you to
everybody, and take you to every
marketing and ad-campaign meet-
ing.” Then came the bombshell: “All
you have to do is write me a check for
$50,000 and you can be an associate
producer on the show.”
Initially flummoxed by her re-
quest, Dr. Jackowitz responded hon-
estly, saying he didn’t have $50,000
to spare. “She then asked me the
seminal question of my career, which
was, ‘Can you raise $50,000?’ I didn’t
know if I could, but she gave me
48 hours to make some phone calls,
so I contacted several of my doctor
friends and others and told them
what I wanted to do,” he explained.
“I asked if they would be interested
in investing $10,000 in an Off-Broad-
way play, and they said yes.”
Emboldened by his fund-raising
success, Dr. Jackowitz called the
producer back the next day and asked
how much he would have to raise to
be an above-the-title producer. “With
a $50,000 investment, I was going to
earn an associate producer credit,”
he stated. “So I asked her how much
I would have to raise to have my
name listed above the title. She said
$75,000, so I replied, ‘Put me down for
$75,000.’ I ended up being an above-
the-title producer in an Off-Broadway
play on the first show I ever did,
which was a remarkable feeling.”
To his amazement, it was the big-
gest hit of the Off-Broadway season
and ran for about a year. “I was on
cloud nine and thought, ‘Wow, I can
really do this; it’s a piece of cake.’ But
when I produced my second show,
I learned that not every one you
produce gets an above-the-fold
New
York Times
Art and Leisure Sunday
feature—and that
The New York Times
doesn’t always love your show,” he
added. “It closed in six weeks, and I
was devastated. I learned very quick-
ly about the two extremes involved
with being a New York producer.”
Dueling Careers…
Maintaining Harmony
Over the 18 years that have passed
since Dr. Jackowitz produced his first
professional play, he has learned how
to adeptly juggle his robust theater life
and his thriving medical career. But
that wasn’t always the case. “Early on
it was easier, especially when I was
working as a house doctor (now called
a hospitalist) at St. Joseph’s Medical
Center,” he explained. “I had two 24-
hour shifts a week, so I would work
extremely hard two days a week and
was then able to focus the rest of my
time on my theater projects, which
was ideal. But once I went into full-
time practice, it became a lot harder.”
He recalled one hellish week in
2000 that required him to conjure an
“I kind of imagined all of this happening when I was young; I imagined being this guy. I don’t
mean to sound cocky in any way, but I envisioned the dual life of working in the theater and
being a successful doctor, which is why I’m so content.”
Dr. Jackowitz (top row center) at the premiere of Daddy Long Legs.
