Chess Jakobs is a North American writer and environmental social scientist. Jakobs’s debut play, The American Five, won the Helen Hayes Award for Best New Play and earned eight other nominations at Ford’s Theatre. Chess is a commissioned playwright with Theatre J’s Expanding The Canon Initiative and Ford’s Theatre’s Legacy Commissions. Jakobs’s poetry includes Nice Jewish Non-Boys (Bechol Lashon’s Jewish &) and Sum of Steps (Peace & Riot Magazine). Jakobs’s creative work includes productions with Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Olney Theater Center, and Alliance Theatre. Jakobs’s portfolio centers on hidden figures, climate and environmental issues, and human nature. Chess is Head of Partnerships at Counterstream Media, an environmental justice media nonprofit, and serves on the Board of Advisors for DC Climate Week. Education: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Social: @chessjakobs.