A white woman with short brown hair sits at the edge of a stage. She's wearing green pants and a white crop top. Her jaw is set. She looks pissed. A white man in a white tank with long brown hair leans against her, smiling, his chin on her shoulder.

As Kate in The Taming of the Shrew (American Shakespeare Center, Staunton, VA, 2023). Also pictured: Aidan O’Reilly as Petruchio. Dir. José Zayas, costume design Krissy Sneshkoff.

Hi! Thanks for coming by. I’m Jess. she/they.

I’m an actor and a writer.

Most of the time, I live in New York’s offensively gorgeous Hudson Valley.

I work locally in both the New York City and Chicago markets (hi Chicago, I love you forever, I’m still here all the time!).

Here for playing contemporary complex women (think Alison Bechdel), and reimagining traditionally male classical roles (think Don Pedro in Much Ado).

And because this comes up a lot: I’m fluent in Spanish but I’m not Latina. Only 3.1% of active AEA members are Latine as of 2021 (does anyone have more recent statistics?!). Hire more Latine actors!

“‘Rome is burning and you want to put on a play?’
'Rome is always burning.’”
-Paula Vogel, Indecent