Spring Gala

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins is a creator, showrunner, writer, and executive producer—a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist for Drama. He is making a striking TV debut as creator of FX’s upcoming drama series Kindred, premiering December 13 on Hulu.

Kindred is Branden’s thrilling adaptation of Octavia E. Butler’s seminal 1979 sci-fi novel of the same name, which tells the story of Dana, a young Black woman and aspiring writer who finds herself being violently pulled back and forth in time, from contemporary Los Angeles to a nineteenth-century plantation intimately linked her family history. This is the first screen adaptation of any of Butler’s work.

Previously in television, Branden was a consulting producer on HBO’s Emmy- and Peabody-winning Watchmen, as well as well as Prime Video’s sci-fi western, Outer Range.

Best known for his theater work and considered one of the most important American playwrights working today, Jacobs-Jenkins consistently pushes the boundaries of the artform through his groundbreaking plays including An Octoroon, Girls, Gloria, Appropriate, and Everybody. Among countless honors for his work, he is the winner of an Obie Award, the recipient of a MacArthur “Genius” Grant, a 2020 Guggenheim fellowship, a 2020 USA Artists fellowship, the Charles Wintour Award, the Windham-Campbell Prize for Drama, and the Tennessee Williams Award. His ongoing work as a Residency Five playwright with the Signature Theatre culminates with the world premiere of his newest play this coming spring (May 16-June 25, 2023).

He currently serves as Vice President of the Dramatists Guild council and sits on the boards of Soho Rep, Park Avenue Armory, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, and the Dramatists Guild Foundation.  This fall, he joined the faculty of Yale University as Professor of Practice.

Born in Washington, DC, Jacobs-Jenkins is a graduate of Princeton, NYU, and Julliard.