Jenna Lourenco is a Master's in Theatre Education candidate whose research area is Irish theater, which she approaches from the perspective of mythology and gender dynamics. Her scholarly interests currently focus on the plays of Marina Carr and Mark O’Rowe. Jenna’s teaching interests include theatrical accents/dialects and the works of William Shakespeare, recently piloting a 7-week workshop for amateur actors at the Arlington Friends of the Drama community theater on the topic of performing Shakespearean verse monologues. As a K-12 educator, Jenna frequently champions strategies for accommodating students who struggle with developmental delays and sensory processing issues, especially Autistic Spectrum Disorders. Her passion for theater, which began in early childhood, blossomed during her undergraduate education at Emmanuel College, where she was co-founder and president of the Emmanuel College Theatre Guild. After college, Jenna specialized in costume design. She has worked as a freelance costume designer, an apprentice dresser for IATSE Local 775, and a teaching artist at Eastern Nazarene College, eventually earning an EMACT DASH Award nomination for Costume Design in 2008. Jenna is a member of both the American Society for Theatre Research and the International Association for the Study of Irish Literature.