Mary Jean “MJ” Sedlock

Biography

Mary Jean “MJ” Sedlock began working at UMaine in the fall of 2015. She teaches classes in Stagecraft, Drafting, Advanced Stagecraft, Technical Direction, and Stage Management. She also serves as the Production Manager and Technical Director for the Division of Theatre/Dance, managing all areas of production for all shows produced by the Division.
In 2019, MJ received the Outstanding Lecturer Faculty Award in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. She has led students through the production of over 40 shows at UMaine, including site-specific performances in the Maynard F. Jordan Planetarium and outdoors at the Littlefield Gardens. Some favorite UMaine credits include Urinetown: The Musical; Constellations; Almost, Maine; Stupid Fucking Bird; Animal Farm; The Curious Savage; and The Wolves.
Concurrent with her role at UMaine, MJ works as the Production Manager for Opera House Arts in Stonington, ME. She manages their summer performing arts series including plays, concerts, variety acts, community readings, and the Deer Isle Jazz Festival. With OHA, MJ has produced numerous professional, site-specific, outdoor theatre productions, including The TempestDesdemona, and Avalon. The latter earned Opera House Arts a 2020 Innovation and Creativity Award from the Maine Office of Tourism.
MJ holds a B.S. in Theatre Design/Production from Illinois State University and an M.F.A. in Scenic Technology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In 2020, MJ was also awarded an M.B.A. from the Maine Business School.
MJ is deeply committed to equity and social justice work on campus and in the theatre industry. She is a proud alum of the UMaine Diversity Leadership Institute and the current Chair of the Faculty Senate DEI Committee. She is the Vice Commissioner for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in the Technical Production Commission of the United States Institute of Theatre Technology, where she hosts a bi-monthly webinar panel amplifying the voices of people of underrepresented identities working in technical production.