Hi! I’m Jack MacCarthy (he/they). I’m a writer, performer, and professional queer.

I’ve also gone by Rae Mariah MacCarthy, and just Mariah; if you’re looking for that person, you found me!

After spending 12 years in New York City self-producing independent theatre, I moved to Los Angeles to make the transition to TV and film…right before the pandemic hit.

Despite the ironic timing, a few wonderful things have happened here in LA:

• I got repped as a screenwriter with Circle of Confusion;

• I joined the staff of The Outwords Archive, an oral history nonprofit recording the stories of LGBTQ+ elders;

• I was accepted into Team Sleepless, a sketch team at The Ruby LA;

• I joined the leadership team of local abolitionist org Justice LA;

• I wrote four TV pilots and a feature, one of which even won some awards;

• I trained to become an intimacy coordinator and director with Theatrical Intimacy Education, working on projects like Melissa Peng’s “Baby Gay”;

• and I joined ActNOW with Emmy nominee Rain Valdez, performing in “Be Scene” (Sundance).

Other fancy things I’ve done in my life:

• I wrote a YA novel, Squad, which was published by FSG (Macmillan) and which NPR rather liked;

• I got nice reviews for my site-specific theatre from The New York Times;

• I took my solo show, Baby Mama, to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, to rave reviews;

• I was commissioned by Amazon Originals to write a new piece and accompanying audiobook, which was #1 on Amazon in Adoption;

• I’ve written articles for places like BuzzFeed, Refinery29, and Yes! Magazine;

• I’ve run a theatre company, Caps Lock Theatre, where I got to work with folks like Sheila Callaghan, José Rivera, Rob Askins, Leah Nanako Winkler, and Mike Daisey, among many many others;

• and I’ve won some cool playwriting awards, like the Doric Wilson Independent Playwright Award.

Some non-career things about me:

• I’m a proud birth parent to a sweet and dazzling 11-year-old kid, who is being raised by a lovely gay couple here in LA. It’s an open adoption and I see my mini-me all the time.

• I’m also the proud human of a very pretty rescue cat, Sophie (pictured below).

• I’m extremely antifa, anti-racist, and abolitionist.

• I was raised by Catholic parents in San Diego. My dad and I are both a little obsessed with Joan of Arc.

• adrienne maree brown’s Emergent Strategy changed my life.

• I can recite most of My Cousin Vinny by heart. In high school, I was frequently stopped in the hallways by kids I didn’t know and asked to perform Marisa Tomei’s “imagine you’re a deer” monologue.

• I didn’t know I was trans until 2018.