Deanna Jent
Playwright/Producer/Director/Professor of Theater,
Mustard Seed Theatre & Fontbonne University

“It’s like the theater princess dream come true,” Deanna Jent says of her play, “Falling,” which took a fairy tale journey from St. Louis to Off-Broadway late last year. Based on her real-life family experience with autism, the play’s original run at Mustard Seed Theatre was extended twice, allowing local producer Terry Schnuck to catch the very last performance and help catapult the play’s success in New York. The rest is theater history. Jent calls the remarkable experience “the result of many moments of grace and serendipity.” It seems grace is no stranger to the Fontbonne theater professor. Mustard Seed’s first production in 2007, “Remnant,” garnered six Kevin Kline nominations and instant acclaim, while her adaptations of “Pride and Prejudice,” “Till We Have Faces” and “Imaginary Jesus” have amply demonstrated her writing chops. “Jane Eyre,” directed by Jent, opens April 12. As for the future, Jent has plans to publish “Falling,” which will be produced in Brazil in 2014, and she’s already thinking about writing again. “I’ve always been writing things,” Jent says. “It’s the way I process the world and figure things out.” –CR 

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