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Jacob Winchester
Winchester in 2024 during Hurricane Milton
Winchester in 2024 during Hurricane Milton
Background information
Born (1987-09-28) September 28, 1987 (age 37)
Daytona Beach, Florida, U.S.
Genres
Occupation(s)Writer, voice actor, composer, graphic designer, producer, director
Instrument(s)Guitar, bass, Casio SK-1, machines, Roland SPD-S
Formerly ofManual Cinema
Websitewww.jacobwinchester.com

Jacob Winchester (/wɪntʃɛstər/ WIN-ches-ter; born September 28, 1987[1]) is a writer, voice actor, Japanese television documentary narrator, graphic designer, sound designer, composer, and director. He is best known for his portrayal of Japanese literary figures, including haiku pioneer Matuso Bashō[2] and Akutagawa Prize-winning novelist Ryōhei Machiya,[3] on Japanese television outlets NHK World, TV Asahi, and ANN as well as for his association with Emmy award-winning theatre and performance collective Manual Cinema.[1][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] He has also provided the English language market voice for comedian Louis Yamada LIII of manzai duo Hige Danshaku.[2]

Biography

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1987–2011: Early life and career

[edit]

Winchester grew up in Florida, the child of a pharmacist and an artisan jewelry maker/environmental activist.[13] He attended The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, the University of Iceland, and Uppsala University, before beginning his career in Chicago during the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis working for an organic tomato company in the middle of the night at a Logan Square warehouse and in the Art Institute of Chicago's gift shop.[14]

2012–2015: Manual Cinema and critical reception

[edit]

During this time, Winchester was tapped by composers Kyle Vegter and Ben Kauffman to help develop and revamp the original score and sound world for Manual Cinema's multi-disciplinary, feature-length work Lula del Ray. Composer Ben Kauffman temporarily relocated to New York City from Chicago for graduate school,[15] and Winchester was recruited as Kauffman's replacement guitarist and multi-instrumentalist.[4]

While Winchester was employed at the Art Institute of Chicago gift shop, Manual Cinema undertook a residency at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago in which museum-goers were granted access to the development of the show Mementos Mori in the museum's Edlis Neelson Theatre.[16][17] The show was funded in part by a 2015 Project Grant from The Jim Henson Foundation and developed in part by the MCA Stage New Works Initiative, the University of Chicago Theatre and Performance Studies Summer, Inc. Residency, the National Museum of Health and Medicine Chicago, and the Almanack Farms Arts Colony. [18]

Despite Winchester's contracted work as a sound designer and script consultant on Manual Cinema's Mementos Mori, and despite his work being shown as a part of the show's premiere at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago from January 15, 2015, a large portion of his work was subsequently cut from the final version of the show, and he is not currently credited for his contribution. This work included creating a game show soundtrack for one of the show's central characters.[19] He is, however, listed as Assistant Sound Designer on previous incarnations of the Manual Cinema website.[18]

Lula del Ray

[edit]

Manual Cinema's Lula del Ray was largely developed during the summer and fall of 2012 at the University of Chicago's Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts as a part of its Theatre and Performance Studies Program, and early incarnations of the show were performed at various venues and festivals around Chicago in 2013, including the Chicago International Music and Movies Festival on April 20, 2013.[20] However, by January 2017, the show had undergone several major, collective revisions in terms of its script and musical score. Musically, these revisions included significant added contributions from Winchester, Thin Hymn's frontman Michael Hilger, and musician/photographer Maren Celest.[21]

The newly revised show was performed at the 2017 Under the Radar Festival which resulted in a NYT Critic's Pick from The New York Times.[22] The show's updated, original musical score, which included Winchester's contributions, was lauded as "beguiling" by the publication's chief theatre critic Ben Brantley.[22]

Lula del Ray also received unanimously favorable reviews from a variety of publications, television stations, and radio outlets, including The Los Angeles Times,[23] Chicago Tribune,[24] PBS News Hour,[25] KCRW,[26] The Edinburgh Reporter,[27] Fast Company, Aesthetica,[28] Paste Magazine,[29] whose critic Alicia Kort opined that the show "reminds us what we were like when we thought that the possibilities were endless."

In August 2017, Lula del Ray was shown as a part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival where it garnered a "★★★★★" review from The Telegraph which described the show as "moving – a wordless, dreamlike fable set against the backdrop of the Fifties space-race" and noted that the show's "emotional impact comes partly from the enchanting live soundtrack, scored for guitar and cello, which includes snippets of a recurring melody: the Baden Brothers' Roy Orbison-esque ballad 'Lord, Blow the Moon Out Please.'"[30]

Show & Tell collaboration with NPR's StoryCorps

[edit]

Winchester was contracted by Manual Cinema in 2014 to create work and perform for Show & Tell as a part of "Let's Get Working," a tribute festival to celebrate the life of Pulitzer Prize-winning author and broadcaster Studs Terkel hosted by the University of Chicago in the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts.[31]

The show, a multimedia collaboration between Manual Cinema and NPR's StoryCorps, animated and reimagined StoryCorps stories that dealt with themes of "love, loss, and redemption."[32] It was performed as the opening act for This American Life's Ira Glass.[33][34] Winchester composed the score and produced the sound design for a story told by Gilbert Zermeño and Pat Powers-Zermeño, retitled "Sax Trombone" for the event.[35] He also directed and wrote the script for a live version of a story by Thomas Weller, retitled "Lone Ranger" for the event.[36][31]

Show & Tell received praise from the Chicago Tribune which described the show as a "Kafka-esque psychodrama, with cardboard puppets mixing with live actors, planes gliding onto runways and Terkel delighting a giggling baby."[37]

2015-2024: New Zealand and Japan

[edit]

By 2015, Winchester and his then-partner had become tired of the chaotic and politically-charged city life in the US. Throughout the summer of that year, they sold the majority of their possessions in preparation for a working holiday in New Zealand. This location choice was largely based on Winchester's locational astrology chart.[38] In New Zealand, Winchester and his then-partner lived in a camping tent and a used Honda Accord, while spending additional stretches in cheap Airbnbs, including a brief stay with director Danny Mulheron in Wellington.

While there, Winchester worked as a features and profile writer for corporate business magazines, and his then-partner worked in a bakery. His clients came to include executives from Facebook,[39] LinkedIn,[40] New Balance,[41] AT&T,[42] AARP,[43] Bodybuilding.com,[44] The Hershey Trust,[45] David Yurman,[46] Alex And Ani,[47] Roche,[48] and the US Securities and Exchange Commission.[49][50]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Jacob Winchester". IMDb. Retrieved 2024-10-06.
  2. ^ a b Narrow Road to the Far North: Matsuo Basho (Biography), Higuchi-kun, Jacob Winchester, Louis Yamada the 53rd, 2023-11-06, retrieved 2024-10-06{{citation}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  3. ^ The Professionals: The Quiet Joy of Unsung Support: Onishi Toshio, Copy Editor (Documentary), Jacob Winchester, NHK World, 2023-03-12, retrieved 2024-10-07{{citation}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  4. ^ a b "Lula del Ray". Manual Cinema. Retrieved 2024-10-06.
  5. ^ Brantley, Ben (January 6, 2017). "'Lula del Ray,' a Spectral Parade of Fantastical Images". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 11, 2017.
  6. ^ Greiving, Tim (2017-02-10). "Don't call it a shadow puppet show. For Manual Cinema, this is the art of 'live film'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2024-10-06.
  7. ^ Cavendish, Dominic; Saunders, Tristram Fane (2018-07-31). "Edinburgh theatre reviews: from Frogman to Lula del Ray, the best shows to see at the Fringe". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2018-07-31. Retrieved 2024-10-06.
  8. ^ Tribune, Christopher Borrelli | Chicago (2014-05-02). "Manual Cinema mixes puppets, projectors, and live music". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2024-10-06.
  9. ^ "Creating live cinema with puppets and shadow". PBS News. 2015-02-12. Retrieved 2024-10-06.
  10. ^ "The magic of hand-made movies". KCRW. 2017-02-16. Retrieved 2024-10-06.
  11. ^ Winchester, Jacob (2017-03-16). "Financing a Life Less Planned". Profile. Retrieved 2024-10-07.
  12. ^ Winchester, Jacob (2019-02-11). "Brandon Poe Brings Muscle to Bodybuilding.com's Content Creation". Profile. Retrieved 2024-10-07.
  13. ^ Pittman, Craig (2010). Paving Paradise: Florida's Vanishing Wetlands and the Failure of No Net Loss. Florida, USA: University of Florida Press. ISBN 9780813035079.
  14. ^ "Jacob Winchester". Jacob Winchester. Retrieved 2024-10-06.
  15. ^ "Manual Cinema mixes puppets, projectors, and live music – Chicago Tribune". Chicago Tribune. 2024-10-07. Archived from the original on 2024-10-07. Retrieved 2024-10-20.
  16. ^ "MCA – Manual Cinema, Open Doors". 2018-11-22. Archived from the original on 2018-11-22. Retrieved 2024-10-06.
  17. ^ "MCA – MCA Studio: Manual Cinema, Mementos Mori". 2018-11-22. Archived from the original on 2018-11-22. Retrieved 2024-10-08.
  18. ^ a b "Manual Cinema » Mementos Mori". 2016-03-31. Archived from the original on 2016-03-31. Retrieved 2024-10-08.
  19. ^ "Mementos Mori". Manual Cinema. Retrieved 2024-10-06.
  20. ^ Denette, Kelsey. "CIMMfest No. 5 Announces Lineup, Expands Live Music Programming". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2024-10-20.
  21. ^ "Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2017 – Lula del Ray by Manual Cinema | The Edinburgh Reporter". 2017-07-07. Archived from the original on 2017-07-07. Retrieved 2024-10-06.
  22. ^ a b "'Lula del Ray,' a Spectral Parade of Fantastical Images - The New York Times". The New York Times. 2017-01-11. Archived from the original on 2017-01-11. Retrieved 2024-10-06.
  23. ^ "Don't call it a shadow puppet show. For Manual Cinema, this is the art of 'live film' - Los Angeles Times". Los Angeles Times. 2024-09-05. Archived from the original on 2024-09-05. Retrieved 2024-10-07.
  24. ^ Tribune, Christopher Borrelli | Chicago (2014-05-02). "Manual Cinema mixes puppets, projectors, and live music". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2024-10-07.
  25. ^ "Creating live cinema with puppets and shadow". PBS News. 2015-02-12. Retrieved 2024-10-07.
  26. ^ "The magic of hand-made movies". KCRW. 2017-02-16. Retrieved 2024-10-06.
  27. ^ "Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2017 – Lula del Ray by Manual Cinema | The Edinburgh Reporter". 2017-07-07. Archived from the original on 2017-07-07. Retrieved 2024-10-06.
  28. ^ "Aesthetica Magazine – Manual Cinema: Mementos Mori, MCA Chicago". 2016-07-31. Archived from the original on 2016-07-31. Retrieved 2024-10-06.
  29. ^ "Review: Lula Del Ray - Paste". 2023-01-06. Archived from the original on 2023-01-06. Retrieved 2024-10-06.
  30. ^ Cavendish, Dominic; Saunders, Tristram Fane (2018-07-31). "Edinburgh theatre reviews: from Frogman to Lula del Ray, the best shows to see at the Fringe". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2018-07-31. Retrieved 2024-10-06.
  31. ^ a b "Show & Tell with StoryCorps". Manual Cinema. Retrieved 2024-10-19.
  32. ^ "Show & Tell with StoryCorps". Manual Cinema. Retrieved 2024-10-23.
  33. ^ "Chicago to celebrate Studs Terkel during 'Let's Get Working' festival | University of Chicago News". news.uchicago.edu. 2014-02-28. Retrieved 2024-10-19.
  34. ^ "Our guide to Let's Get Working, a tribute to Studs Terkel - Chicago Reader". 2021-10-28. Archived from the original on 2021-10-28. Retrieved 2024-10-19.
  35. ^ "Gilbert Zermeño and Pat Powers-Zermeño". StoryCorps. Retrieved 2024-10-19.
  36. ^ "Thomas Weller". StoryCorps. Retrieved 2024-10-19.
  37. ^ "Manual Cinema mixes puppets, projectors, and live music – Chicago Tribune". Chicago Tribune. 2024-10-07. Archived from the original on 2024-10-07. Retrieved 2024-10-19.
  38. ^ "Jacob Winchester". Jacob Winchester. Retrieved 2024-10-19.
  39. ^ Marketing (2018-10-29). "Natalie Naugle and Nikki Stitt Sokol Expand Facebook's Legal Group". Modern Counsel. Retrieved 2024-10-07.
  40. ^ GHMarketing (2018-06-15). "Andy Yasutake Is Connecting More than Dots at LinkedIn". Sync Magazine. Retrieved 2024-10-07.
  41. ^ Staff, M. C. (2019-04-08). "Stolen Soles". Modern Counsel. Retrieved 2024-10-07.
  42. ^ Staff, M. C. (2019-09-30). "David Cho Knows Integrity Is Integral to Trademark Law". Modern Counsel. Retrieved 2024-10-19.
  43. ^ Winchester, Jacob (2016-12-15). "Think You Know AARP? Terry Bradwell Says Look Again". Profile. Retrieved 2024-10-07.
  44. ^ Winchester, Jacob (2019-02-11). "Brandon Poe Brings Muscle to Bodybuilding.com's Content Creation". Profile. Retrieved 2024-10-19.
  45. ^ Sprouls, Frannie (2019-10-28). "Steve Sparks Makes an Impact - Modern Counsel Magazine". Modern Counsel. Retrieved 2024-10-19.
  46. ^ Cruz, Melaina de la (2018-07-26). "Laurent Charlet Fashions Every Facet of David Yurman's Stores". American Builders Quarterly. Retrieved 2024-10-19.
  47. ^ Winchester, Jacob (2016-12-15). "Wearable Purpose". Profile. Retrieved 2024-10-19.
  48. ^ Winchester, Jacob (2018-05-01). "Virginia MacSuibhne is Solving the Compliance Puzzle". Profile. Retrieved 2024-10-19.
  49. ^ Staff, M. C. (2020-01-27). "Eun Ah Choi Achieves Success Through Collaboration". Modern Counsel. Retrieved 2024-10-19.
  50. ^ "Written". Jacob Winchester. Retrieved 2024-10-19.
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