ABOUT

Kristin L. Schoenback (she/her) is a Chicago-based director, educator, and advocate, dedicated to work that practices generosity and empathy, serving its community through real action. She is interested in the intersection of art and its community, and narratives that disrupt our thoughts about class and gender structures, especially with regards to the spaces that women hold. Her work is ensemble driven and explores the in between and unspoken, colliding various mediums together, often through movement and music, elevating the visual metaphors of the story. Kristin is invested in amplifying voices that have been pushed to the sidelines such as women, people of color, the LGBTQ+ community, and the working-class. She is learning what is is to take up space in an otherwise patriarchal world, all while pursuing generosity, empathy, and justice.

She serves as co-founder and artistic director of project-based collective, Cats Cradle Theatre. Recent directing credits include THE LAST DAYS OF JUDAS ISCARIOT (Cats Cradle), TITUS ANDRONICUS (The Collective), TAME THAT B!#@h (Arkansas Shakespeare), A LONG WAY TO TIPPERARY (Valiant), MACHINAL (Lake Forest), & A CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME (Illinois State). She has worked with such companies as Book-It Repertory Theatre, Chicago Dramatists, The House Theatre and the Hypocrites. She has also worked intimately with the Illinois Shakespeare Festival where she co-conceived their programming for educational outreach, including their short Shakespeare touring company which travels to community centers, schools, and prisons. She holds her MFA in directing from Illinois State University, and her BA from Concordia University. She is an associate member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Union.