Education Dramaturg Ted Sod sat down with Jake to discuss his work on ‘If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet’.

TS: Will you tell us something about your background? How did you get your start?

JG: I was born in Los Angeles, CA. I decided I wanted to be an actor at an early age. I remember watching Danny Kaye in “The Court Jester” when I was around 5 years old and being thrilled at the prospect of maybe doing what he was doing one day. I went to acting classes in the San Fernando Valley as a young kid, acted throughout high school and began auditioning professionally at 14 or so, but I have never been formally trained. My parents always encouraged me to get a formal education. They stressed that it would help in whatever I ended up choosing to be my career. At 16 I landed my first professional acting gig, a movie called October Sky.

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Jake Gyllenhaal, director Michael Longhurst, Annie Funk, playwright Nick Payne, Michelle Gomez, and Brian F. O’Byrne attended a ‘If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet’ cast photocall in NYC today. Photos are in the gallery.

Gallery Links:
Public Appearances > 2012 > ‘If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet’ Cast Photocall

Tickets go on sale July 23 for the American premiere of Nick Payne’s If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet, featuring Annie Funke, Michelle Gomez, Tony Award winner Brían F. O’Byrne and Jake Gyllenhaal. Performances begin August 24th at Off- Broadway’s Laura Pels Theatre.

Michael Longhurst (making his New York debut) will direct the Roundabout Theatre Company production that will mark Academy Award nominee Gyllenhaal’s American stage debut. Opening is Sept. 20. This is a limited engagement of 13 weeks through Nov. 25.

The play first surfaced at the Bush Theatre in England in 2009. Here’s how the new work is billed by the nonprofit Roundabout: “Provocative, insightful and laced with fresh humor, If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet is an entertaining look at a regular family stuck somewhere between knowing what the problem is… and doing something about it. Fifteen-year-old Anna’s (Funke) weight makes her a natural target for bullies.

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Roundabout Theatre Company has announced that movie star Jake Gyllenhaal will be making his Broadway debut in If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet, a comedic drama by Nick Payne at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre this fall. The play will be directed by Michael Longhurst, with three additional actors and the design team to be announced shortly.

If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet will begin performances August 24, 2012 and officially open on September 20, 2012 at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre / Laura Pels Theatre (111 West 46th Street). This is a strictly limited engagement of 13-weeks through November 25, 2012.

Director Michael Longhurst will be making his New York directorial debut having most recently directed Nick Payne’s critically acclaimed play Constellations.

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