About me
A little about me. . .
Jessica is a multi-passionate entertainment industry professional, making a living while being creative in New York City. She's been working professionally since childhood and has both a formal education and decades of practical experience on stage and behind the scenes in theatre, live concert events, industrials, print, film, and television.
A LOT MORE ABOUT ME. . .
I got my start being the unruly kid who refused to get back under Mother G's enormous skirt in the Nutcracker ballet. Years of dance classes, community theatre, and a few paid gigs later; the next thing I know I've got a Bachelor of Arts from The Florida State University, School of Theatre.
Post graduation, I made the difficult decision of putting my life on hold to care for some beloved elderly family in South Florida but I kept performing while exploring a slew of odd jobs: teaching modeling classes, being a ballroom dance instructor, working at a casting agency, a production studio, and on a few pop/rock concert tours until something totally unexpected happened. . . I was asked to go on the road as the Assistant Wardrobe Supervisor for the Broadway touring company of Saturday Night Fever. Barely knowing how to sew, I said yes to the journey that would land me in over 100 North American cities and eventually bring me to New York. Since 2002 I've enjoyed working as part of the Broadway companies of Movin’ Out, The Producers, LoveMusik, Young Frankenstein, West Side Story, American Idiot, Catch Me If You Can, Lysistrata Jones, Peter & The Starcatcher, Annie, First Date, All The Way, This Is Our Youth, Fish in the Dark, Hamilton, and Misery. Currently, I am the Wardrobe Supervisor of The Crucible starring Saorise Ronan.
I spent a good portion of my life performing before shifting my focus to directing, producing, technical stage production, and writing. My passion, however, has always been creating theatre. Over the past decade I have directed and/or produced numerous theatrical events. As a member of the producing team at the award winning production company, Awaken Entertainment, I became a Broadway Producer on the critically acclaimed Superior Donuts as well as Green Day's American Idiot, garnering nominations for both a Drama Desk and TONY Award for Best Musical. I was also a proud Producer of the 10th Anniversary, 9/11 Benefit production of 110 Stories starring a cast of Hollywood A-list celebrities raising funds for the New York Says Thank You Foundation. In 2005, I co-founded the not-for-profit Working Artists Theatre Project (www.WATProject.com), where I currently serve as Executive Managing Artistic Director; directing and producing successful off & off off broadway productions and multi-media projects with a focus on creating growth opportunities for the New York artistic community. My first film credit as Associate Producer came from Vision Vehicle Productions award winning independent feature film, Construction (check out the trailer here).
Through WAT Project and various other theatre companies, I directed and produced the world premiere of Chad Luke Schiro's multimedia sketch & dance odyssey, WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE! which was featured as part of Ars Nova's ANTFEST 2013 with video sketches receiving direct praise from Perez Hilton. I conceptualized, directed, and produced the ambitious immersive productions OPEN CALL! (an out door immersive theatre history production playing in Times Square) and WAT Gallery (a 5,000sq ft fully curated art gallery housing the U.S. premiere of Fruits Unheard Of by Caitlin Murphy and the world premiere of The Big Show created by Charlie Sutton featuring Rachelle Rak). My work has been awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and chashama. More recently, I directed the sold out run of the New York premiere of LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE by Warren Doody at Manhattan Repertory Theatre and in the summer of 2014 WAT Project remounted the successful production for a run at the New York International Fringe Festival.
Sharing the traditions of show business through teaching is also something that I've been passionately fortunate in doing. I've been lucky to have this unique life influenced by the theatre, film, television, and music industries with a long list of varied credentials to show for it. I've successfully learned through doing, survive to tell the tales, and promote a life in the arts to future generations by spending time lecturing for a variety of arts organizations, schools, and universities, providing private coaching for a roster of Broadway talent, and serving as a mentor to those bitten by the entertainment industry bug.
Currently, I am producing an upcoming production of Gregorian, a new play by Matthew Greene, which beautifully explores the effects of the Armenian genocide of 1915.
