Jessica Aquila Cymerman

Jessica is a director, writer, producer and painter. She was born in New York City, and moved to Los Angeles at the age of four. She completed her BA at Sarah Lawrence, studying abroad at the Il Bisonte Studio in Florence, and Royal Holloway, University of London, in the UK. Summer 2008 spent as a directing apprentice at New York Stage and Film's Powerhouse Theatre at Vassar. She has her Masters Degree in directing from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, in Glasgow, with training from Shakespeare's Globe, UK, 2014. She has directed and produced theatre productions in Los Angeles, New York, Glasgow, London, Edinburgh, Dublin, Ireland, and Vancouver. Also a painter, Jessica had a solo exhibition of her Video Portrait Series of paintings at Bergamot Station in Los Angeles in 2015. In Dublin, 2016, Jessica co-founded a theatre company with her husband and partner, actor Éanna O'Dowd, called Untold Wants Theatre, that is actively producing. They also have an acting studio out of UWT where they teach. Film credits include The Stairs, The Den, King Killer Chronicles, The Man Ones short. Theatre credits include Julie: After Strindberg (North American premiere) The Pillowman, Gruesome Playground Injuries, Cock, The Human Ear (North American premiere), Reasons to be Pretty (all Untold Wants Theatre, which she co-founded); The Gift, Strange Relations (staged readings, IAMA Theatre, LA), Ted and the Right to Die (RCS, Glasgow); Il Cambiale di Matrimonio (Raucous Rossini, Glasgow); The Seagull: A Musical Adaptation (co-writer, Original Production, RCS); Urinetown The Musical; Reefer Madness! The Musical, The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? (both Sarah Lawrence); Assistant directed La Rondine by Puccini (dir. Ben Davis, RCS). Assistant directed and associate produced Phantom Owls Production's productions to the Edinburgh Fringe (2015) 7 shows, including Filthy Talk for Troubled Times be Neil LaBute, Fault Lines by Stephen Belber (dir. Matthew Lillard). Theatre Directing Apprentice at New York Stage and Film's Powerhouse Theatre at Vassar College, for Eve Ensler's Emotional Creature (2008). BA from Sarah Lawrence College, and MA in directing from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow, with training from Shakespeare's Globe, UK.