Jessie Dean is a Brooklyn-based writer and actor. Most recently, she has finished writing her first novel, INVENTING VIDA, which is currently undergoing edits. Recently in NYC, she appeared Off-Broadway in BUM PHILLIPS: AN ALL AMERICAN OPERA at LaMama and WELCOME TO THE KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA at 59E59 both produced by Monk Parrots, where she is an artistic associate. Jessie has developed plays and musicals at New York Theatre Workshop, the Lark, PlayPenn, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Kennedy Center, and the Fingerlakes Musical Theatre Festival. The last play she directed, PIGSKIN, won the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Festival. Prior to moving to New York, she was a founder and co-artistic director of Relativity Theatre Concern in Atlanta, Georgia. She earned her MFA at Illinois State University. www.jessicadean.net