The next play, Paranoid: A Chant, is a monologue which will be familiar to anyone who has sat near an unbalanced person on the subway. The Paranoiac (Jessi Gotta) is being watched - and studied -and recorded - but she's one step ahead of them. She knows their tricks. Played with outstanding intensity by Gotta, who manages to make the the audience feel her stifling paranoia and makes them feel claustrophobic in the creeping darkness, and directed with a manic intensity by Boisvert, this is the highlight of the evening.


broadwayworld.com · October 18, 2008
The Blood Brothers Present: The Master of Horror
Duncan Pflaster

Gotta is a perfect haunted vision as Nona, as well as appearing in flashbacks as a high school inamorata ... Jessi Gotta takes the stage again in a one-woman tour-de-force, delivering "Paranoid: A Chant" as a spoken word with an appropriately fevered intensity. She's wonderfully insane.


nytheatre.com · October 10, 2008
The Blood Brothers Present: The Master of Horror
Nat Cassidy

...Paranoid: a Chant, a one-woman performance of one of King's rare forays into poetry. It is directed by Boisvert and fiercely acted by Gotta. It ends up becoming the highlight of the evening, due entirely to the actress's skill and Boisvert's excellent management of the character's roiling (and, in lesser hands, nonsensical) paranoia.


nytheatre.com · July 20, 2008
As You Like It
Mark DeFrancis

But the best reason to see this play is Jessi Gotta's performance as Rosalind. Along with Alisha Spielmann's ditzy Celia, Gotta provides the most entertaining moments of the event. She has a perfect grasp of how to turn 400-year-old verse into common speech and never lets you miss a line. She couples this with an exuberance which fills the space and lends to Rosalind the brilliance and optimism which make her such a lovable character. She is a performer to watch out for.


stagebuzz.com · May 30, 2008
Colorful World
Byrne Harrison

Jessi Gotta is excellent as Tigress. Forced into the superhero racket by a pushy stage mother, Tigress wants to be a force for good when all the press wants is an adorable sex kitten. Gotta lets this disillusionment subtly tint most of the early scenes, and when Tigress is offered the chance to don her uniform and fight crime one more time, she lets that earlier disillusionment melt away and replaces it with an almost ferocious excitement. In addition, she does an outstanding job with Qui Nguyen and Alexis Black's fight choreography.

nytheatre.com · May 9, 2008
Colorful World
Richard Hinojosa

But it is Jessi Gotta who steals the show as the young heroine looking for a new life and possibly love.


broadwayworld.com · May 9, 2008
Colorful World
Duncan Pflaster

Jessi Gotta simply owns the stage as Tigress, looks great in her sex-kittenish costume, and kicks some serious butt in the fight choreography. Both actors do a fine job illustrating how their costumes change their personalties, letting their personal overmen out.


nytheatre.com · October 13, 2007
Blood Brothers Presents: Pulp
Kat Chamberlain

Irony abounds in this swift-moving tale, and it works, thanks to the fluid performances of Jessi Gotta and Anna Kull as Brianne and Marybeth, respectively.


offoffonline.com · October 12, 2007
The Blood Brothers Present: PULP
Samantha O'Brien

Both stories focus on plausible horrors: a jilted lover who's come to gun down a homewrecker in Best Served Cold and the inner monologue of a serial killer in Listening to Reason. They also contain the strongest performances, including Anna Kull's furiously heartbroken avenger in the former and Jessi Gotta's superbly subtle turn as a disabled victim in the latter.


nytheatre.com · Aug 11, 2007
Antarctica
Josephine Cashman

Maggie Cino and Jessi Gotta enthusiastically throw themselves into the story, and quickly win the audience over with their vivacious characterizations. There are charming and laugh-out-loud moments, such as their dance as they prepare to travel far south with parkas from Marshall's, and the imaginary slide show they hope to present to their friends upon their return. ... Gotta is winsome as boy-crazy Winnie...


nytheatre.com · November 4, 2006
Temptation
Michael Criscuolo

“Paranoia is everywhere in Temptation, and it sneaks up on the audience unawares while they're busy laughing. Hill and his company nail Havel's unique absurdist blend of humor and fear perfectly…As Marketa, Jessi Gotta's idealistic, wide-eyed optimism is equally enchanting.”


nytheatre.com · June 28, 2006
Sexadelic Cemetery
Michael Criscuolo

“The hilarious moves he gives the cast speak louder than any cheesy dialogue ever could. Fred Backus, Katie Brack, Hope Cartelli, Jessi Gotta, Stacia French, and Richard Harrington all get their turn in the spotlight and each of them makes the most of it. French and Gotta, in particular, do especially strong and impressive work as Dorothy and Sparrow, respectively.”


nytheatre.com · June 3, 2006
The Kung Fu Importance of Being Earnest
David Fuller

“... the style of Wilde— that rapid fire use of language as the primary force, where emotions are not so much on the sleeve as they are in the text. This would have heightened the contrast between the play and the stage combat. Jessi Gotta best captures this contrast—her Gwendolyn would work perfectly in a full production of Earnest.”


nytheatre.com · October 14, 2005
Memoirs of My Nervous Illness
Martin Denton

"The five actors—let me pause to name them now, and to say that their work here is astoundingly good: Hope Cartelli, Jessi Gotta, Ian W. Hill, Robert Honeywell, and Jeffrey Lewonczyk—pop up in different locations around the room, often dragging set pieces before or behind them, creating miniature installations that define, sometimes with breathtaking brevity, the environment of this or that particular observation or random thought of Schreber's."


offoffonline.com · April 29, 2005
Go Ask Alice: Mushroom in Her Hands
Sean Michael O’Donnell

“Jessi Gotta perfectly captures the innocence and impudence of 14-year-old Alice. She takes a flat character and gives it dimension while maintaining Alice’s precocious naïveté throughout. Gotta is a gifted and enchanting actress.”


nytheatre.com · April 29, 2005
Mushroom in Her Hands
Liz Kimberlin

“In some terrific casting, four actors perform Mushroom in her Hands. The very beautiful, winsome Jessi Gotta is always Alice;…and Gotta looks great in a white blouse that she is innocently about to pop out of.”


offoffonline.com · January 21, 2005
Enjoy the Silence: Bizarre Science Fantasy
Michael Niederman

“Every member of this cast employs note-perfect pantomime to portray a variety of horrific and frightful characters…Bizarre Science Fantasy was one of the more magical – and scary – evenings of theater that I have seen in a long time. All of the performers were more than game in every situation that director Jeffrey Lewonczyk put them in and I found great joy and spine-tingling horror, in being brought along for the ride. I highly recommend this evening of silent theater. Words just can’t do it justice.”


nytheatre.com · January 20, 2005
Enjoy the Silence: Bizarre Science Fantasy
Martin Denton

“Bizarre Science Fantasy is a triumph of imagination and invention;…Best moment: Gotta, feigning a sedate retreat to the ladies room after Ludlow makes an unwanted advance, comes face to face with one of, re, Them.”


NY Times · November 9, 2004
Dear Vienna: Freud’s Road Not Take
Liesl Schillinger

“Glimmers of future greatness are provided when a maid (Jessi Gotta) pulls Freud aside to confide her early memories of abuse,…”


nytheatre.com · April 18, 2004
Idiot’s Delight
Stan Richardson

“Director Julie Hamberg and her gifted ensemble get all the laughs honestly and without resorting to caricature, slowly revealing the play’s warm and hopeful heart. The cast is uniformly authentic, affecting, and endearingly theatrical.”

Winner 2004 OOBR Award.