About Jenna Roth
Jenna Roth (she/they) grew up in Los Angeles California, where she began her theater journey as an actor who participated in plays and musicals. She attended the prestigious Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA), where she found her love for directing. Jenna began to direct and produce independent student projects her junior year and senior years of high school at local theaters in Los Angeles.
Jenna attended NYU Tisch Drama's Playwrights Horizons Theater School where she studied acting, design, playwriting, and directing. Throughout her time at NYU, she participated in numerous student productions as a director, intimacy coordinator, playwright, actor, set designer, assistant stage manager, and costume designer. Jenna believes that it is important to understand all of the different facets of theater so that everyone in a production feels respected and appreciated.
Post college, Jenna began working with Open Hydrant Theater Company in the Bronx, whose mission is to represent underserved communities by providing an avenue for actors to take part in theater and to train to become professionals in the industry. While working with Open Hydrant, Jenna directed several self written plays, worked as a stage manager, and provided technical support. Jenna also worked with Democracy Prep Arts in Harlem by teaching and directing elementary school kids in a production of Annie.
Jenna's primary goal as an artist is to help people feel seen. Whether that be for an actor, designer, or audience member, she wants her work to resonate with those who encounter it. The theater she is passionate about making is chaotic, daring, and bold. However, it is also grounded, specific, and highly emotional. Her favorite topics to work on often surround mental health, sexuality, gender, and identity. She strives to be didactic in her work, and establish a gateway to discussing issues that can at first seem daunting, but end up being beneficial to emotional growth and healing.
She is moved to make theater because there is a large cultural shift happening in America, and she wants to be part of that movement, especially within the arts. Because theater has the potential to make a widespread impact in the world, it provides her with the opportunity to really make a difference. Or, even if she makes a difference in the perspective of just one audience member, she considers it an important step in creating awareness and fostering an important conversation.