On Broadway

Jenn Colella answers emails during intermission of Suffs, this year’s Tony Award-winning musical about the women’s suffrage movement in which she stars. A highly acclaimed actress doing eight shows a week, a teacher of acting at Columbia University and a mom (with wife Mo Mullen) to a 5-month-old daughter, Colella knows how to make the most of every minute.

“Morrison was 5 days old when I started rehearsals for Suffs,” Colella says. “It’s kind of like giving birth to two babies at the same time. It’s terrifying and amazing, equal parts.”

Most fans know Colella – who earned an M.F.A. at the UC Irvine Claire Trevor School of the Arts in 2002 – from her originating role as Capt. Beverley Bass in Come From Away, which netted her a Drama Desk Award and Tony nomination. “To finally be in a hit changed the course of my career,” Colella says.

Despite being in the business for 20 years prior, Colella says that Come From Away is her favorite show – not just because it was a hit and her first Tony nod, but primarily for its message. “It’s a true story about kindness, which is kind of my religion,” she says. “To have this thing that I believe in so completely be mirrored in the show felt like a true moment of alchemy for me.”

In Suffs, Colella plays Carrie Chapman Catt, who was president of the National American Women’s Suffrage Association for 20 years and represents an old-school approach. Catt meets Alice Paul, a fiery upstart ready to make some noise.

“It’s a beautiful look at how two generations fighting for the same thing can come at it in totally opposing ways,” she says, her upbeat nature palpable.

Colella has been portraying bold characters since her UC Irvine days, when she played the dual lead role in Victor/Victoria

“I was really nervous because I had to sing and dance and act,” she recalls. “But I just felt so supported by my colleagues and the faculty. That was the springboard into my professional life.”

Colella’s warmth and appreciation radiate when she describes her feelings about being an Anteater.

“The best thing I learned was to trust that I am enough,” she says. “They weren’t trying to mold me into a certain type of actor. They gave me a bunch of tools and said, ‘Choose which ones resonate, and fly.’”