Hello! This is not an exhaustive list of my works. If something interests you that is not available on this site, please get in touch at takacsjeff@gmail.com.
Want to collaborate on music, performance, or some other project? Are you an illustrator looking for text? Please get in touch: takacsjeff@gmail.com.
Takacs wrote and performed in many stage productions for New York's Company XIV, including the long-running Nutcracker Rouge, and acted in many plays, movies, and television shows, including Inside Llewyn Davis by the Coen Brothers, The Prince by Robert Cohen, and Hunter by Xia Magnus.
His adaptation of Pinocchio was featured in the dance documentary Flex Is Kings. Other writing includes The Switching Yard (a novel) and many stories and poems. Essays and criticism have appeared on Two Dollar Radio and Fearful Symmetry.
Lon Rivers, his cellmate, has released one album, Firecrackers at Night.
A selection of reviews
Performance
Roslyn Sulcas, the New York Times. "Bukowski, meanwhile, in a brilliantly shambling, rasping voiced rendition by Jeff Takacs, blunders about the perimeter, letting his meditations on women...for where they may...Mr. Takacs's pitch-perfect delivery of the tough-guy terse language...feels resonant: man as brute and victim..." for Lover.Muse.Mockingbird.Whore. (with Company XIV)
T.H. McCulloh. The Los Angeles Times. "The performance of note if Jeff Takacs as Cesare Borgia. Takacs grabs the stage and doesn't let go. His portrait of the bastard son of the Pope, who was one of the power figures of his time...is a towering statement of the man and his world. Takacs is also an effective physical actor...like punctuation to his rich vocal treatment of the dialogue." for The Prince by Robert Cohen at UC Irvine.
Claudia La Rocco. The New York Times. "[Mr. Takacs] is] a charmingly disreputable M.C." for Le Cirque Feerique.
Writing
Joan Acocella, The New Yorker. "...the script, by Jeff Takacs, is witty and bizarre." for Snow White (with Company XIV)
Mike Boehm, The Los Angeles Times. "prescient...[the] themes hit home like an awakening slap." for Kaintuck, performed at UC Irvine.
Playbill "...a sparkling reimagining of the beloved Nutcracker tale told with erotic, sensual and opulent flair" - "...if the plain old “Nutcracker” causes you to zone out, this one will surely wake you up." - New York Times for Nutcracker Rouge (with Company XIV).
The Switching Yard. A Novel. 95k words.
Forces, Fixtures, and Friends: The Twin Odysseys of Rene Girard and Bob Dylan. A book of criticism. A condensed version will be presented at the Novitate Conference in Washington, D.C. in November 2023 in celebration of Rene Girard's 100th birthday.
Plays
Kaintuck. Drama with music. Dustbowl ghosts superimpose on a modern couple approaching a sacrificial act. LA Times writeup.
She-Wolves (by Laura Careless). Dance piece by Laura Careless based on the book by Helen Castor. She-Wolves project site.
The Dogs Will Run. Would-be revolutionaries and a fraudulent dognapper search for the data to fill their beautiful charts and graphs. Comedy.
Over the Waterfall. The threat of war comes to an isolated mountain community. Comedy in verse.
The Northern Distance. A border guard imprisons a migrant and dreams of fleeing to Canada. Tragedy.
Plutus. A pastor confronts a child whose abortion he helped prevent. Tragedy in verse.
Mettle (with Valerie Begnoche). A mysterious evolutionary change bewilders an isolated family of ancient colonials. Comedy.
Screenplays
Other Plans (screenplay with Crista Flanagan). A small-town widow and a plumber attempt to move on. Dramedy. A short was directed by Judson Morgan ad produced by Crista Flanagan features Crista Flanagan, Jeff Takacs, Tony Hale, and Michael Hitchcock. Full short.
Sell Dear (screenplay). A quadrangle of May-December lovers tempt fate. Romantic comedy.
Zeus and Jesus (screenplay). The king of the gods and his pool cleaner battle Poseidon and the similarity of their names. Comedy.
With Company XIV:
Nutcracker Rouge - a critical and audience-acclaimed holiday hit that has run every year for over ten years.
Snow White - Joan Acocella of the New Yorker called the script "witty and bizarre" (at least one of those descriptors is positive)
Le Cirque Feerique. New York Times review.
The Judgement of Paris
La Fete
Pinocchio: a Fantasy of Pleasures