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Jeff Weiss

Jeff Weiss (April 30, 1940 – September 18, 2022) was an American playwright, actor, and theater director known for his innovative and experimental works in and downtown theater scenes. Weiss began writing plays in his adolescence and moved to after dropping out of high school, becoming a key figure in the experimental theater movement of the 1960s and 1970s. He co-founded the Theater for the New City and was celebrated for sprawling, unconventional productions that blended acting, writing, and direction. Weiss received multiple , including for sustained achievement in playwriting and distinguished performance. His later career included roles in mainstream films and television, such as Vanilla Sky (2001), while continuing to produce theater. Weiss died from metastasized at age 82.

Early life

Family background

Jeff Weiss grew up in in a middle-class household. His father is a , and his mother ran a small store. The family was not wealthy but had their basic needs met. Weiss has described his childhood home as "culture-free," with early influences including the Wu-Tang Clan's collaborative ethos.

Education

Weiss attended in , where he majored in history and minored in English. He graduated in 2003 and began his journalism career writing for the campus newspaper, the Occidental Weekly, publishing his first piece in March 2002. During college, he played and .

Career

Early career

Weiss began his career as a student at , publishing his first piece in the campus newspaper, the Occidental Weekly, in March 2002. After graduating in 2003, he worked as a freelance writer, covering music, tabloid stories, and business for various publications. In November 2005, he founded Passion of the Weiss (POW), an independent online magazine focused on and , where he serves as . The platform became known for championing emerging artists, particularly in niche scenes, and expanded to include POW Recordings, a he launched in 2016 that has released music by artists such as Chester Watson, Kent Loon, and Gabe 'Nandez.

Print journalism and investigative reporting

In 2007, Weiss joined as a music columnist, contributing prolifically for a decade until leading a staff boycott in late 2017 against the paper's new ownership by Semanal Media, which he criticized for undermining editorial integrity. His writing, often blending narrative style with influences from , has appeared in outlets including (since 2011), , , , , and . Notable investigative pieces include coverage of Boosie Badazz's 2012 trial in Baton Rouge and in-depth reporting on rapper , such as the 2022 LA Magazine feature "The Assassination of Drakeo the Ruler." In 2018, amid the LA Weekly turmoil, Weiss co-founded The LAnd magazine with April Wolfe, focusing on Los Angeles culture and independent journalism.

Books and other media

Weiss co-authored 2Pac vs. Biggie: An Illustrated History of Rap's Greatest Battle with Evan McGarvey, published in 2013 by Quarto Publishing. His 2025 book, Waiting for Britney Spears, released on June 10 by MCD/FSG, is a memoir exploring his early tabloid journalism and Britney Spears as a symbol of millennial celebrity culture. Beyond writing, Weiss co-hosts the podcast The Truth Hurts with Rosecrans Vic and Free, launched in 2025, which critiques media trends. He organizes the monthly rap club night "Don’t Come to LA," started in 2018 in collaboration with Rosecrans Avenue, featuring live performances and DJ sets. Additionally, he hosts POW Radio, a monthly program on Dublab since 2020, showcasing eclectic music mixes.

Personal life

Relationships

Jeff Weiss maintained a long-term partnership with Carlos Ricardo Martinez, a painter, director, and , beginning in the early . They met around 1961 through mutual acquaintances Juliet Shumlin and Charles Seaver, at a time when Weiss was navigating personal challenges including a speech impediment and limited formal education. Martinez played a pivotal role in Weiss's , encouraging him to channel his experiences into creative expression and providing unwavering support throughout their shared life. The couple lived together for over four decades in a modest apartment on East 10th Street in City's Lower East Side, embracing a minimalist without modern amenities like television or , which reflected their focus on artistic and personal intimacy. Beyond his partnership, Weiss had close family ties that extended into adulthood, including his brother Steve Weiss, with whom he remained connected until the end of his life. His nephew, actor —known for roles in television series like —represented a familial link to the entertainment world, though Weiss's influence on Thomas's career was indirect and rooted in shared artistic interests rather than direct mentorship. As an openly gay man, Weiss's queer identity was integral to his personal life and deeply intertwined with the experimental theater community of 1960s and 1970s New York. He was recognized as a pioneer in gay theater, contributing to the vibrant, underground scene at venues like Caffe Cino and La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, where personal authenticity and queer expression shaped social interactions and creative freedoms. Weiss's non-professional friendships flourished within this bohemian milieu, fostering a tight-knit social circle of artists and performers who valued raw, unfiltered connections outside formal collaborations. Tributes from contemporaries highlight his warmth and mentorship in casual settings, such as gatherings at his apartment, where conversations often blended personal vulnerability with cultural commentary on queer life in the city.

Later years

In the late 1990s, Weiss relocated from City's to , to be closer to his aging mother, settling in the Hamilton Park neighborhood where he could view the tower of . He later moved to nearby Macungie, maintaining a simple lifestyle that eschewed modern conveniences like a cell phone, consistent with his longstanding preference for an unadorned, old-school existence. Weiss continued his involvement in theater on a more modest scale during the and , focusing on local productions in the . His last major work there was directing in the mid-2000s at , collaborating with students and alumni, followed by co-creating The Teddy Bear Awards in 2011 at the college's Red Door Playhouse with Peter Schmidt. He occasionally returned to for limited engagements, but his primary activities shifted toward community-oriented efforts, including mentoring emerging actors—such as inspiring his nephew Jonathan Taylor Thomas's career in performance. Throughout this period, Weiss devoted significant time to caring for his long-term partner and collaborator, Carlos Ricardo Martinez, who suffered from until his death in 2017. In later reflections shared by associates, Weiss was remembered for his unwavering integrity and humor, qualities that persisted amid personal challenges and a quieter life outside the city's theater scene.

Death and legacy

Circumstances of death

Jeff Weiss died on September 18, 2022, in , near Allentown, at the age of 82. The cause of death was metastasized , as confirmed by his brother, Steve Weiss. Per Weiss's wishes, private services were held, with no public funeral arrangements announced. He was survived by his brother, of , who provided confirmation of the death to media outlets.

Posthumous recognition

Following Jeff Weiss's death on September 18, 2022, major publications published obituaries that underscored his pioneering role in experimental theater. The highlighted his innovative, offbeat productions at venues like Caffe Cino and La MaMa, noting his creation of sprawling works such as the decades-spanning … And That’s How the Rent Gets Paid, which evolved through multiple iterations and influenced generations of performers. described him as a notable figure in the experimental community, emphasizing his contributions to downtown performance and his versatility as both and actor. portrayed Weiss as a "doyen of downtown performance," crediting his 1966 debut of And That’s How the Rent Gets Paid at La MaMa with establishing his reputation for anarchic, collaborative theater that blended personal narrative with immersive spectacle. The theater community, particularly at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, issued heartfelt remembrances celebrating Weiss's enduring mentorship and creative legacy. Nicky Paraiso, a longtime collaborator who worked with Weiss and his partner Carlos Ricardo Martinez for nearly four decades across venues including La MaMa, the Performing Garage, and PS122, described them as irreplaceable figures who imparted lessons in "creativity, love, and life" through a blend of "fire and exhilaration" and "tough love." Paraiso noted their transformative impact, stating, "There will never be their like again in our lifetimes," in a tribute that evoked the sorrow of loss amid their shared history of boundary-pushing productions like When Clowns Play Hamlet (1967) and Dark Twist (1979). Broader tributes from figures such as Sarah Schulman, Harvey Fierstein, and Lynne Tillman mourned Weiss as "electric," reflecting on his ability to immerse audiences in raw emotional depths through self-performed works. An East Village blog post by a theater enthusiast recalled Weiss as a "singular theater artist" and "great influence" on many, including the writer, whose last sighting of him was in a 2017 La MaMa performance. Weiss's influence persists in contemporary off-off-Broadway theater, where his emphasis on evolving, performer-driven narratives continues to shape experimental practices. Historians like Stephen J. Scott-Bottoms have cited his serial plays as foundational to the 1960s off-off-Broadway movement's spirit of nontraditional, edgy expression at spaces like La MaMa and Caffe Cino, a legacy that informs today's downtown ensembles prioritizing improvisation and personal vulnerability. His co-founding of Good Medicine & Company in the 1970s, which mounted flexible, long-form pieces until 1997, exemplified a model of innovation that echoes in modern collectives blending elements with dramatic chaos, as noted in tributes to his "sublime and gutting" style.

Awards and honors

Jeff Weiss's work as a music and editor has earned recognition in the form of selections for prominent anthologies and awards for his online platform. In 2008, his essay ": Cranking the Chain" was included in the Best Music Writing 2008 anthology, edited by Daphne Carr and . His article "The Mystique," published in in 2011, was selected for the Second-Best Music Writing 2011 list by Da Capo's annual compendium. In 2013, Passion of the Weiss, founded and edited by Weiss, won the LA Weekly Web Award for Best Music Blog, acknowledging its influence in covering and emerging artists.

References

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    2000. Playwriting, Jeff Weiss. 1999. Playwriting, Madeleine Olnek. 1998. Playwriting, Chay Yew. 1997. Playwriting, Paula Vogel. 1996. Lifetime Achievement: ...