Kendra Thulin
Kendra will never forget how when walking into the convivial yellow lobby of Steep to audition for Harper Regan, she felt oddly at home. Encountering a group like Steep was unexpected, and working with these fabulous people continues to enhance her life personally and professionally. She has joined a group of her favorite kind of actors - serious artists who do not take themselves seriously. An ensemble member since December 2011, Kendra is so proud to embrace bold, new and unflinching work. Steep produces the kinds of plays that frequently only exist in the vibrant storefront theatre scene that thrives in Chicago like nowhere else! Though, her mom does ask her when Steep might ever do a comedy.
Acting is Kendra's 'practice-based research' for her role as an educator. She is an Associate Professor in the Theatre Department of Columbia College Chicago, where she teaches acting and voice, vocal and/or dialect coach school productions (over 57 and counting) and over the past four years, has been creating and coordinating (with Steep artistic associate and artistic wunderkind Chelsea Warren) the curricular beast known as the Theatre Foundation Course. Since she is lousy with ladders and a menace with power tools, she is happy to bring other skills to Steep, such as dialect coaching several shows. She was elated to bring Columbia College and Steep together to host Simon Stephens for a juggnernaut of brilliance in March 2012.
Born in New Haven, growing up in Springfield, OH and Gettysburg, PA, she has a BA in English from Fordham University, Bronx, NY and an MFA from the Theatre School, DePaul University. She also trained at ACT in San Francisco, where she lived prior to coming to Chicago. She's worked a farrago of jobs in her previous lives, including PR for classical musicians in New York City and theatrical productions in San Francisco, where she served as a production assistant on a variety of shows including An Evening With Peter Ustinov. At that time, those with a keen eye could have caught her in several episodes of NBC's Midnight Caller, the highlight of which was getting roughly shouldered by Steppenwolf's Gary Cole.
Steep Productions
Linda
Wastwater
Posh
The Cheats
Martyr
The Vandal
Motortown
Fallow
The Knowledge
Luther
Moment
Love and Money
Pornography
Festen
Harper Regan
