This is Josiah Jacoby. He is 18 and a second-semester Sophomore double majoring in Acting and Dance. Josiah has been doing professional theatre since he was 10. He has been to the final Callbacks for several Broadway and off-Broadway shows. He has performed professionally in NYC, Philadelphia, and NJ. Josiah has also used his talent to raise money doing Lyrics for Life (American Foundation for the Prevention of Suicide), The Hundred Dresses (Off-Broadway, raising money for the Covenant House), and by serving with Broadway Serves supports the soup line for the homeless at St Nicholas Church in Manhattan. He has raised money for Broadway Cares/EFA through performances. He has also sung at the opening of the Freedom Tower Observatory and raised money for the Actor's Fund with Broadway Youth Ensemble.
Josiah is the youngest of 4 kids born to a single mother (teacher and former social worker). Never enough money to get the intense training his career demands, Josiah has always worked for scholarship money for training. He has worked with Broadway Artists Alliance as an intern setting up rooms, taking out the trash, and other chores to get training. He has worked with Procida Creative doing social media internships to get training. He has worked with Kids of the Arts as an intern to get training. Lastly, he did stage management and volunteered with Lampiasi Talent to get training with her as well. He also interned at Starlight Performing Arts Academy in Manahawkin, NJ to be able to take lessons there and became an integral part of their award-winning competition team (as noted in the above video - he is in the blue sweater and the main dancer)
Josiah decided to attend a non-traditional high school program. He chose to attend a homeschool co-op where he could also take some college classes to start working on his gen eds early so when he got to college, he could focus more on training. He ended up graduating a year early and heading to Rider University 2 months after his 17th birthday.
He just turned 18 and has enough credits to be a second semester Sophomore as a double major in Acting and Dance. He only has 2 Gen Eds left since he worked so hard in high school. Last summer (2019) Josiah offered to give up going to college when his brother was medically discharged from the Marines due to a health issue. A few months later, his brother had a mental breakdown and ended up in the hospital. The first thing Josiah said was that he would put off going to college so the family money could be used for his brother's health needs. (We ended up not needing to do that as he got a small amount of assistance from a family friend for him).
Josiah has never had the training his peers have had because there simply has not been enough money. He has worked so hard to get what he can from friends to help him along. Josiah has never been jealous of friends who have succeeded and he has always been the number one cheerleader for his friends. He has known kids in every show on Broadway and every tour going out. Despite not having the training necessary, Josiah has accrued enough points that would allow him to join Equity - the actor's union - if he chose to.
Josiah has never once gotten in trouble and is the epitome of a hard worker. He is quite honestly the underdog. He needs the training that college can give him. He just does not have the cash to pay.
