--- description: Find out how Cole Escola is shaping the future and defining the next generation of leadership. title: 2024 TIME100 Next: Cole Escola image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt781e6bd3fb4456b1/698a5b8a457a523b8ed6ad1b/time100-next-2024-cole-escola-crop.jpg?branch=production --- Oct 02, 2024 # Cole Escola by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  Cole Escola Cole EscolaYael Malka When my wife and I went to see _Oh, Mary!_ off-Broadway this spring, I thought, How can this possibly be as funny as everyone and their mother has told me it is? And then—oh, my God—it was funnier! Playing Mary Todd Lincoln as a lascivious, alcoholic, untalented, wanna­be cabaret performer in a tight, 80-­minute romp that combines drag, U.S. history, Shakespeare, vaudeville, and, yes, cabaret, the singular Cole Escola has penned the most creative, unexpected, outrageous, and funniest play to hit Broadway since I don’t know when. And as an actor, I can tell you that Cole’s jaw-­dropping rendition of their unlikely chosen role is a lesson to thespians everywhere in what committing to a character really looks like. Their boffo hit combined with their recent bravura fashion triumphs have made them very much the person of the moment. When you look up _tour de force_ in the dictionary, there is now simply a picture of Cole. _Nixon is a Tony-, Grammy-, and Emmy-­winning actor and activist_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2024/7023581/cole-escola/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2024/7023581/cole-escola/"},"headline":"Cole Escola","datePublished":"2024-10-02T11:20:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T00:37:18.845Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2024/7023581/cole-escola/","keywords":["list","franchise","Magazine","TIME 100 Next","sponsorshipblock"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt781e6bd3fb4456b1/698a5b8a457a523b8ed6ad1b/time100-next-2024-cole-escola-crop.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt781e6bd3fb4456b1/698a5b8a457a523b8ed6ad1b/time100-next-2024-cole-escola-crop.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2024/7023581/cole-escola/","name":"Cole Escola"}}]}] ```