Playwright Jacob Marx Rice returns to the Finborough Theatre following his production of Chemistry in 2019. He is a playwright and screenwriter, based in Queens, New York. Chemistry also won the Excellence in Playwriting Award and FringeFAVE at the NY Fringe Festival, Producer's Pick at the Cincinnati Fringe Festival, and Producer’s Encore Pick at the Hollywood Fringe Festival. Jacob’s film adaptation of the play was a semifinalist for the Nicholl Fellowship from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and is currently in development with the production company Anonymous Content.  Jacob’s plays have been produced and developed at Actors Theatre of Louisville, The Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center, Ensemble Studio Theatre, The New Ohio, The Flea Theater, Atlantic Theatre Stage 2, and others. He has won the Jean Kennedy Smith Playwriting Award from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Faculty Award from the NYU/Tisch Department of Dramatic Writing and a Sloan Foundation Screenwriting Grant. Jacob was the 2017 Playwright Observer at the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference. He also wrote the screenplay for See Through featuring Tony-nominated actor Lauren Ridloff (The Sound of Metal, Marvel’s Eternals), which has been featured at the Austin Film Festival, the Cannes’ Festival’s Short Film Corner, and film festivals across the United States.

Director Alex Howarth’s productions at the Finborough Theatre include Jacob Marx Rice’s Chemistry. He was recently named as one of '’Ten Stage Sensations to Watch Out For in 2023’ by The Guardian.
He conceived, directed and co-wrote We Live By the Sea which has been seen internationally including ‘Brits Off Broadway’ at 59E59 Theaters, New York City, where it received Critic’s Pick and Top Theatre of the Year in The New York Times; and at the Adelaide Fringe, Australia, where it won Best Theatre, Critic’s Choice and the Grahame F. Smith Peace Foundation Award for promoting human rights. It was nominated for the Fringe First at the Edinburgh Festival, and Best Production and Best Ensemble at the OffWestEnd Awards.
His own play Cassie and the Lights (VAULT Festival, Adelaide Fringe and Underbelly) was nominated for the BBC Writer’s Room Popcorn Award and the SitUp Award for social change, as well as winning Best Theatre at Adelaide Fringe. It will play at 59E59 Theaters, New York City, this June.
He adapted and directed the world stage premiere of What's Eating Gilbert Grape, working alongside the film's writer, Oscar nominee Peter Hedges.
Recent credits include Medea (Guildhall Amphitheatre) which won the Owl Schreame Award for Innovation in Classical Theatre, The Greatest Hits of Lily and John (The Other Palace), Sweeney Todd (Italia Conti), Richard II (Central School of Speech and Drama), the European premiere of [title of show] (Edinburgh Fringe), The Memory Show (Drayton Arms Theatre), Back to Blackbrick (Arts Theatre and Tour), Outlier: A New Opera (Tete a Tete Opera), Misterman (New Wimbledon Theatre and Brockley Jack Theatre), Two Sides (Arcola Theatre), Oh! You Pretty Things (Southwark Playhouse), The Fall (Old Red Lion Theatre and Tour), Beans on Toast (Theatre503 and Tour), and The Red Light (Union Theatre).
Associate and Assistant Direction includes assisting Richard Eyre on La Traviata (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden) and Jeff Clarke on Orpheus In the Underworld (Buxton Opera House).
He leads research and development periods for new writing and has worked extensively in theatre with people with disabilities, having created performances with deafblind adults for the charity Sense, and recently co-created one man show Strictly Lawrie with disabled artist Lawrie Morris.