John earned a PhD in Theatre from Bowling Green State University in Ohio, and completed a summer workshop course in directing practice from The Juilliard School.  He currently is an Associate Professor and Producer of Theatre at Ohio Northern University.

John has directed and designed over thirty mainstage theatre productions including Eurydice, The Old Man and the Old Moon, The Comedy of Errors, The Language Archive, and Our Town.  He was Professor of the Year at Trinity Christian College in 2016, and is the recipient of several Certificates of Merit from the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. 

Sebestyen is a member of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education and an associate member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.  He is a theatre generalist whose research areas include Chicago Theatre, Holocaust Theatre, and American playwright Horton Foote.