Jennifer Riley

Jennifer Riley is a theatre director, performer, educator, and builder of theatre. Originally from San Diego, she worked in Los Angeles theatre before making Ogden, Utah, her home more than two decades ago. Her work draws on a wide range of experience in acting, vocal performance, directing, and production—and the sleeves-rolled-up work of building theatre from the ground up.

As founder, President, and Artistic Director of Ogden Shakespeare Festival, Jennifer makes space for artists and audiences to wrestle with old stories and discover overlooked ones. She is drawn to theatre that questions inherited conventions, recovers untold stories, and asks whose voices have been missing from the stage.

Her rehearsal rooms welcome people with different backgrounds, abilities, and ways of seeing the world. She loves working with artists who bring questions, courage, and a willingness to try. As an educator, she sees theatre as a way to build great humans as well as great actors: people who listen closely, think independently, take responsibility, and make room for one another.

Jennifer holds an MFA in Theatre Arts with a directing emphasis from the University of Idaho and a BA in Musical Theatre from Weber State University. She brings craft, audacity, and curiosity to her work, with a conviction that how we make theatre matters as much as what we put onstage.