Her Off-Broadway work includes the title character in the Beebo Brinker Chronicles (2008), Closer Than Ever (2012), and a staged reading of Twelve Angry Men (2018) with an all-female cast.

In 2008, Colella performed in abridged versions of Girl Crazy and Side Show, two of the parts of Broadway: Three Generations at the Kennedy Center.

Colella has performed in over a half-dozen world premiere musicals in the United States, including three at the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego.

[4] Her mother has said of the eight year old, singing as an auctioneer in a school play, "She took the microphone in her hand, looked right at the audience, and this voice came out."

[14] At Trustus, starting in the fall of 1995 and running through the spring of 1999, she played Kitty in Taking Steps,[15] The Angel in Angels in America (both parts),[16] the title role in Sylvia (twice),[17] Launcelot Gobbo in The Merchant of Venice,[18] Amy in Company,[19] Marta in Kiss of the Spider Woman,[20] Teenage Greek Chorus in How I Learned to Drive,[21] and Vivian in Free Will and Wanton Lust.

[22] Colella went on to attend the University of California, Irvine, where she earned a Master of Fine Arts in Acting in 2002.

[23] While at UCI, she played Miss Jane in Floyd Collins, Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland, Princess Ninetta in The Love of Three Oranges, and Victoria Grant in Victor/Victoria [24] at the Barclay Theatre.

[27][28] As a UCI graduate, Colella participated in a showcase in New York, along with NYU and Yale, and auditioned for a part.

[citation needed] Her Off-Broadway original cast credits include a six-week run as Delia in Slut in 2005,[33] two weeks in 2011 as Chicky Lay in Lucky Guy at the Little Shubert Theater,[34] and a seven week long engagement in the 2022 world premiere of Suffs at the Public Theater.

[35] Colella's Off-Broadway work also includes the butch title character in the Beebo Brinker Chronicles for seven weeks in early 2008,[36] a four-week review, Closer Than Ever, during the summer of 2012,[37] and a single performance, all-female cast staged reading of Twelve Angry Men in September 2018.

[38] After being in the original staged reading in Connecticut in 2006,[39] she appeared in Kiki Baby, as an "utterly believable"[40] four year old singer "you will fall in love with,"[41] who becomes a celebrity—and a spoiled brat.

Colella played the world premiere in Boston in October 2006,[46] and the original Broadway production in December of that year.

In Fall 2010, she also originated the role of Hedda Hopper in the world premiere of Limelight: The Story of Charlie Chaplin at the La Jolla Playhouse.

In the summer of 2015 Colella originated the role of Annette/Beverley Bass in the La Jolla Playhouse's world premiere production,[53] which transferred later in the year to the Seattle Repertory Theatre.

[60] She also returned for the final weeks of the production, in late September 2022, and performed in the last Broadway showing on October 2, 2022, to a sold out crowd.

Along with the 2001 California summer stock appearance, she has been cast in 2008 at the Sondheim Center in Fairfield, IA,[63] the Music Circus in Sacramento, CA in 2015,[64] and a 2019 Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera in Pennsylvania.

[66] In 2009 she appeared, along with Elaine Stritch, in Paper Mill Playhouse's The Full Monty in Millburn, NJ.

[67] 2010 found her in Princeton, NJ at the McCarter Theatre in the American premiere of Take Flight as aviator Amelia Earhart.

[68] Another world premiere occurred in December 2003 for Madison Repertory in Wisconsin as Jenny in Heartland: The Musical,[69] followed by a January 2004 appearance in the show for the Broadway Contemporary Series in Dallas, TX.

She feels the energy that an actor brings into the room must be practiced throughout the day, working toward the foundation of present moment awareness.

She loves the energy and approval received from an audience, but the safety, community, and feeling of family within rehearsal is not the same.

[103][94][9] After playing a lesbian in Beebo Brinker, though, she was getting more attention and media questions, and finally felt it was time to come out.

The second line reads, "But I suspect, Jenn Colella, if my name were Isabella, then my clumsy overtures might stand a chance.

[107] While working on Come From Away, Colella became friends with Beverley Bass, the airline captain she portrayed in the show.

They first met in San Diego at James' Place, a restaurant across from the La Jolla Playhouse, after the last preview performance.

[108] At closing night for the Seattle tryout run, Bass presented her with the flight jacket, wings, and service pin that she wore on September 11, to be worn on Broadway.