Originally from Montreal, Quebec, Jenn freelance costume and scenic designed with Fallen Angel Productions, Table d’Hote Theatre, Geordie Theatre and assisted at the Segal Center of the Performing Arts.
In 2008, Jenn came to the States to pursue her MFA in Costume Design at Indiana University.
In 2012, she joined the faculty at the University of Northern Iowa, where she is currently an Associate Professor of Costume design & technology.
Since 2017, Jenn has also been the Director of Costumes at the Utah Festival Opera & Musical Theatre where she oversees the costume, wardrobe and wigs departments, while also designing during their summer repertory seasons.
Since being in the States, Jenn has worked as a stitcher and craft artisan with the Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Opera Theatre Saint-Louis, and The American Players Theatre. She has designed at the Indiana Festival Theatre, the Utah Festival Opera, Omaha Community Playhouse, and continues to freelance in the Midwest.
What draws Jenn to theatre design is the world of every play, how each project is a new reality created by the artistic team and an excuse to research that world in depth. With costume design specifically, she delves deeply into each character, looking at personality, environment and given circumstances while designing highly detailed concepts that live on the body.
Jenn's teaching philosophy is based in providing students with a solid foundation and in adjusting the modality or context depending on what will engage them most successfully. She appreciated professors who took the time to get to know her, to know what inspired her as a student, and she seeks to make such relationships in her own classrooms.
These connections were recently challenged during COVID-19 but allowed an opportunity to adjust. She created YouTube tutorials and utilized a multi-camera set-up in demonstrations for her more hands-on technique based courses.
jennsheshko@gmail.com
Copyright © 2021 Jennifer Sheshko Wood