Jacqueline Thompson is a theatre maker passionate about creating art to promote social change. Thompson received a Master in Fine Arts in Acting from the University of Louisville as well as a graduate certificate in African American Theatre in 2012.
After graduation, Thompson returned to her hometown of St. Louis and has been an integral part of a thriving arts community. As an actor, she has performed in a myriad of productions regionally. Some credits include Insidious and Dot (The Black Rep) Old Hearts Fresh, A Midsummer’s Night Dream (Shakespeare Festival St. Louis), Gees Bend (Mustard Seed), A Kid Like Jake and A Christmas Carol ( Repertory Theatre of St. Louis) Afflicted (Metro Theater) Intimate Apparel (New Jewish Theatre) and A Human Being Died that Night (Upstream Theatre).
As a director, selected projects include Shakespeare Festival St. Louis, Shakespeare in the Street project. (2015) SITS is a grassroots theatrical skill that invites St. Louis neighborhoods to tell their stories. A Festival-selected creative team leads the neighborhood in developing an original play based on one of Shakespeare’s works—a play with themes that reflect the community’s character.
The Telling Project-St. Louis (2016) which is a national performing arts non-profit that employs theater to deepen our understanding of the military and veterans’ experience.
Other work includes Games Dad didn't Play (Metro Theater), Of Mice and Men (SATE) In The Blood, For Colored Girls, Nine Parts of Desire, Good People, The Laramie Project, In The Red and Brown Water, How We Got On, Tennessee Williams Festival and The Wiz (University of Missouri-St. Louis).
In 2015, she was the lead St. Louis producer for a national collaboration with Oregon Shakespeare Festival and The One Minute Play Festival for The Every 28 Hours play festival. In 2016, Jacqueline completed the Regional Arts Commission’s Community Arts Training Program to help facilitate the intersection between community engagement and the arts.
In February 2017, she was featured in a Superbowl PSA for the National Council of Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NCADA) on the effects of teenage addiction to painkillers.
In 2018, she won the St. Louis Theater Circle Award for outstanding actress in a drama for her performance of Esther in Intimate Apparel at New Jewish Theatre. She was selected by the Theatre Communications Group (TCG) to participate in the Rising Leaders of Color program. In 2019, she will receive a Visionary Award recognizing women who have impacted the arts in St. Louis.