Jackie Ruggiero Jacobson
(Co-artistic Director) an actor and a playwright, has appeared in many of her own plays including Natural Flavors and Ice Breakers (Philly Fringe), and Who Turned Off The Lights? (Philly Fringe and Ensemble Studio Theatre in New York.) She has worked with Green Light Productions, Naked Feet Productions, New City Stage Company, The Brick Playhouse, Vagagond Acting Troupe, Big House Plays & Spectacles and the former Magnet Theatre Company in Trenton, New Jersey. Favorite roles include Olga Lengyel in Angel : A Nightmare in Two Acts, Freida in Statements After An Arrest Under the Immorality Act, Janice in Italian American Reconciliation and Natalia in I Am A Camera. Jackie has taught and directed at the Southern New Jersey School of Performing Arts in Sewell, New Jersey and Philadelphia Young Playwrights Festival. She is a graduate of the University of the Arts and a member of the Dramatists Guild.

Mark Jacobson (Co-Artistic Director) has been acting, directing, and producing in the Philadelphia area for many years. His most recent roles with Straw Flower were Ted in Natural Flavors and Leonard in Ice Breakers. He also directed Who Turned Off the Lights? at Ensemble Studio Theatre in New York. He is the founding Curator of The Brick Playhouse’s highly successful short play series IT (Independent Theatre) and was a founding member and Managing Director of Magnet Theatre Company. Other acting credits include: The Wilma Theatre (Orpheus Descending), The Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival (The Merchant of Venice and Macbeth), Bristol Riverside Theatre (Romeo & Juliet), Magnet Theatre Company (Waiting for Lefty, The Eight: Reindeer Monologues, and Faithful), Vagabond Acting Troupe (Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune and The Crucible), and B. Someday Productions (Grendl Cain). He has been featured in several local independent films including Fourth Thorns for Aidan, Judy Goose, The Underground, Victim’s Song, Against the Wind, and Posse (which won the Best Acting Award in the 2005 Philadelphia Film Festival’s 48 Hour Film Project) and recently appeared in a short film, Irresponsible, whch has been submitted to FOX's new reality TV series "On The Lot". Mark has also appeared in various commercials and industrial films.