Rate My Professor Jenn Wood

Jennifer Sheshko Wood, Associate Professor and Theatre Program Coordinator at the University of Nebraska at Omaha in the College of Communication, Fine Arts and Media, specializes in costume design and technology. Originally from Montreal, Quebec, she holds a BFA with a specialization in Design from Concordia University (2006) and an MFA in Costume Design from Indiana University (2011). Her career began with graduate assistantships at Indiana University and technical roles including stitcher at the Illinois Shakespeare Festival (2010) and crafts artisan at Opera Theatre Saint-Louis (2012). She joined the University of Northern Iowa in 2012 as Assistant Professor of Costume Design, advancing to Associate Professor in 2018. There, she designed costumes for productions such as Cabaret (2019), The Magic Flute (2020), Romeo & Juliet (2020), Native Gardens (2020), and Mother Courage (2018). Since 2017, she has served as Director of Costumes and Wardrobe at the Utah Festival Opera & Musical Theatre, overseeing costume, wardrobe, and wigs departments while designing for summer repertory seasons including Puccini’s Trilogy (2017) and Sitting Bull’s Last Waltz (2017).

At UNO, Wood was promoted to Associate Professor in 2024 and continues her work as a costume design professor and coordinator for UNOTheatre, mentoring students in digital rendering, crafts, fabric manipulation, and character-driven design concepts. Her freelance designs include work for the Omaha Community Playhouse, Indiana Festival Theatre, and others. She has contributed to the field through USITT presentations, including a panel on "The Power of Silence: Speaking, Listening & Everything In Between" (2017), a poster on "Integrating Historical Details into a Modern Curriculum" (2016), and a puppetry panel for Avenue Q (2016). Nominations include Broadway World Regional Best Costume Design for Sitting Bull’s Last Waltz (2017), META for Don’t Dress for Dinner (2014), and MECCA for Quills (2008). Her teaching emphasizes foundational skills, adaptive modalities, and student relationships, enhanced by online tutorials during the COVID-19 period.