A Professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance at the State University of New York at Fredonia, Jessica has published articles in leading journals including Studies in Musical Theatre, TDR: The Drama Review, and Theatre Survey. Her monograph, Echoes of the Holocaust on the American Musical Stage, was published in Fall 2012. She is also the editor of, and contributor to, iBroadway: Musical Theatre in the Digital Age, published in 2017 Palgrave Macmillan Press. 

At Fredonia Jessica teaches courses in musical theatre history and performance, acting, and script analysis. She has directed and / or choreographed musicals and plays at University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Denver, the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Colorado Light Opera and the Fort Salem Theatre. For her production of Company she received a Meritorious Achievement Award in Direction from Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. At Fredonia she has directed Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812, Hair, Urinetown, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Wolves, The Diary of Anne Frank, and Spring Awakening, among many others. 

An Actors’ Equity Association member, she has performed professionally on tour, in regional theatres across the country, and in new musicals in NYC. Her acting credits include Tess in a national tour of Crazy for You, and lead roles in shows such as Fiddler on the Roof, Cinderella and The Last Five Years. Jessica is also an Intimacy Director, trained with Theatrical Intimacy Education (TIE), and Intimacy Directors and Coordinators (IDC) with current and upcoming credits including Jewish Repertory Theatre and the Irish Classical Theatre Company in Buffalo, NY.