ON HER SHOULDERS: “Jacob Slovak” by Mercedes de Acosta

New Perspectives Theatre Company presents the next reading in our ON HER SHOULDERS program, introducing women playwrights from the past to contemporary audiences.

Attendance is by Donation (suggested $10)

Jacob Slovak by Mercedes de Acosta (1927)

directed Sivan Raz, dramaturgy by Melody Brooks

Tuesday, May 20, 2025; 7:00pm

Mercedes de Acosta (March 1, 1893 – May 9, 1968) was an American poet, playwright, and novelist, best known for her many lesbian affairs with celebrated Broadway and Hollywood personalities, most famously Greta Garbo. She did not attempt to hide her sexuality; her uncloseted existence was rare and daring in her generation.

Born in New York City to a prominent family of Cuban and Spanish descent, her early years were typical of the fashionable elite. By the time she was 30 de Acosta had established herself as an author on the move. She had published three volumes of well-received poetry, a novel and a one-act play. Almost a dozen plays would follow, though only of four of them were produced. Her most successful production, Jacob Slovak was written in 1923 and after several revisions was produced Off-Broadway in 1927. Within 10 days it had moved to Broadway and eventually to London, receiving excellent reviews in both cities.

But this early promise went unfulfilled. De Acosta herself accused critics of a bias against anyone with background and wealth; others attributed it to the fact that the men who ran the theatres “did not want to work with a strong woman who loved women.” She moved to Hollywood in 1931 where she was also unsuccessful as a screenwriter. For the next 30 years she would be involved in numerous love affairs but remained on the fringe of the creative world. In 1960, in need of money and suffering from a brain tumor, she wrote her autobiography Here Lies the Heart. It was well-received by critics and friends, but some of her past lovers were furious, even though she was not explicit about the nature of these relationships. Garbo never spoke to her again. She died in poverty at the age of 76 and is buried in Washington Heights.