Jim Jacobs Musical Theatre Scholarship

The Jim Jacobs Musical Theatre Scholarship application is available online through your OASIS portal. Only complete scholarship applications submitted by the deadline will be reviewed by the scholarship committee.

Please follow all directions carefully. Students must submit the following materials to make a complete Jim Jacobs Musical Theatre Scholarship application - there are five parts to the application:

Provide an up-to-date theatrical resume.

• Your resume should represent your full theatrical history, including name of show, roles played, and venue.

Provide your headshot with stats included.

Submit an essay and video for consideration by the scholarship committee.

• What do you hope to accomplish as a Musical Theatre student at Columbia College Chicago?

1. Audition of one song and one monologue that contrast. One example is a Golden Era song with a contemporary monologue. Song should be no more than 32 measures, and the monologue no longer than 1 minute.
2. Dance audition of a one-minute solo demonstrating technical proficiency in Ballet or Jazz.

One letter of recommendation is required from a Columbia College Chicago faculty member in either the Music or Theatre department.

Note: Remember to contact your recommender directly before providing his/her information on the application. Be sure to give recommenders as much time as possible to write the letters. Requests made at the last minute are often difficult to fulfill by the deadline.

Access online application form through OASIS portal:

1. Applicant Portal: You may scroll through the list of scholarship programs until you locate the Jim Jacobs Musical Theatre Scholarship, and then select the "Start Application" link.


2. Scholarship Search: Select the "Search Scholarships" link in the navigation on the left-hand side of the page. You may search for the Jim Jacobs Musical Theatre Scholarship by using category, keyword, or description/name search. Once you locate the program, select the "More Info" link to be taken to the application form.

Jim Jacobs -- actor, singer, playwright, and songwriter -- is the coauthor of Grease, one of the most popular and influential works in the history of the American musical. A native of Chicago, Jacobs based Grease on his experiences as a teenage "greaser" in the late 1950s at Taft High School on the city's Northwest Side, where he played guitar and sang with such groups as DDT & The Dynamiters and Lefty & The El-Rays. Jacobs began his theatrical career in Chicago in the 1960s, where he was part of the first wave of the "Off-Loop Theatre" that helped make the city an international cultural capital. He worked with the fabled Hull House Theater under artistic director Robert Sickinger and with Second City co-founder Paul Sills, and his performance in the title role of Jimmy Shine in 1969 at the Candlelight/Forum Theatre under director William Pullinsi earned him a Joseph Jefferson Award nomination for best actor. He also appeared in the classic 1969 film Medium Cool.

In 1970, Jacobs and his fellow actor and writing partner, the late Warren Casey, wrote Grease. In its premiere at Chicago's Kingston Mines Theatre in 1971, the show was a runaway success and attracted the attention of New York producers. Grease opened Off-Broadway in 1972 and transferred to Broadway later the same year. At the time the original production closed in 1980, it was the longest-running show in Broadway history. Its 1978 film version, for which Jacobs and Casey penned new songs, was a monumental hit; a sequel, Grease 2, was released in 1982, and a second sequel is in development.

Grease helped launch the careers of such stars as Barry Bostwick, Richard Gere, Patrick Swayze, Peter Gallagher, Treat Williams, Sutton Foster, Elaine Page, Adrienne Barbeau, Megan Mullally, Judy Kaye, Marilu Henner, Stockard Channing, and John Travolta. Jacobs' other writing credits include Island of Lost Co-eds, also coauthored with Warren Casey. A spoof of 1950s sci-fi/horror/jungle movies, the show was produced at Columbia College as the inaugural production in the Getz Theatre.

Though Jim Jacobs now resides in Southern California, his ties to Chicago and to Columbia College remain deep and strong.

"Every child, growing up, has a dream of what they're going to be someday," says Jacobs. "I dreamed of being an actor, a singer, a dancer -- a performer. I kept thinking and saying to myself, 'Give me a chance, I know I can do it. I really can.' And so, here I am, many years later and extremely happy to be able to give some young person the chance he or she needs. This is for those students who once thought that what they were thinking about, most of the time, was an impossible dream. It is with great pleasure that I can establish a musical theatre scholarship at Columbia College Chicago."

• Application must be submitted by March 01, 2013 (11:59 pm) for review by the committee
• Maximum award amount of this one-year award is $5000, awarded half in Fall 2013 and half in Spring 2014
• The award is applied toward tuition costs
• Students must be enrolled at full-time status at the time of application and must maintain full-time enrollment during the 2013-14 academic year
• Scholarship may be used toward a study abroad program through one of Columbia's student exchange programs. Please note: Recipients who enroll in an independent study abroad program will forfeit their scholarship during the semester spent abroad
• Recipients will be asked to submit a short biography describing their background and life goals, which will be shared with donors; portions of the essay may also be used for publication
• The rules and regulations governing other sources of financial aid (federal, state, institutional and other grants, gifts, or loans) will apply
• Columbia College Chicago reserves the right to withhold the award in any year in which, at the sole discretion of the scholarship committee, suitable candidates cannot be found among applicants