Jeffrey Horowitz began his career in theatre as an actor and has appeared on Broadway, Off-Broadway and in regional theatre. Horowitz graduated Cum Laude from the University of California, Los Angeles with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. He then trained as an actor at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and, in New York City, with Stella Adler, Sanford Meisner and Frank Corsaro.
In 1979, he founded Theatre for a New Audience, whose cornerstone is Shakespeare. Horowitz has produced Shakespeare, Greek, Jacobean and Italian classical drama and contemporary plays by authors such as Harley Granville Barker, Edward Bond, Rinde Eckert, Adrienne Kennedy, Richard Nelson, Suzan Lori Parks and Elizabeth Swados.
Under his leadership, Theatre for a New Audience has grown from a touring theatre into a nationally and internationally recognized modern classical theatre. Theatre for a New Audience has built ongoing relationships with some of the finest American and European theatre artists. These include Arin Arbus Cicely Berry, Peter Brook, Christian Camargo, Juliet Rylance, Mark Rylance, John Douglas Thompson, and Robert Woodruff.
The work of artists affiliated with Theatre for a New Audience has won all the major theatre awards and nominations. Several of Theatre for a New Audience’s productions have gone on to a future life: The Green Bird directed by Julie Taymor opened on Broadway April, 2000 and Titus Andronicus also directed by Taymor and produced by Theatre for a New Audience in 1994 has been made into a film starring Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange. In October, 2001, Theatre for a New Audience became the first American theatre to be invited to bring a production of Shakespeare to the Royal Shakespeare Company. The RSC invited the Theatre to return in 2007. Theatre for a New Audience productions have also toured to Naples, Italy (with John Turturro), and nationally to Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles (with F. Murray Abraham).
Theatre for a New Audience has, under Horowitz’ leadership, been committed to programs of education and access. The Theatre created and runs the largest program introducing Shakespeare in New York City Public Schools.
Horowitz has served on the Panel of the New York State Council on the Arts and on the Board of Directors of Theatre Communications Group. He is currently on the Advisory Board of The Shakespeare Society and London’s Globe Theatre (invited by Mark Rylance who has done several productions for Theatre for a New Audience). For his work with Theatre for a New Audience, Horowitz has been awarded The Acting Company’s John Houseman Award and the Beukelein Institute’s Gaudium Award.