Kristen Rogers is an award-winning director, teacher, and actor. She began her professional career fresh out of college, working on the Broadway production of Swing! as an Assistant Company Manager. Since then, her career has taken her all around the country, including New York City, Los Angeles, and the Chicagoland area. Kristen holds a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Fine Arts (Theatre) from Texas Tech University and an M.F.A. in Acting from the Actors Studio Drama School in New York City. She was an apprentice director at New York Stage & Film’s Powerhouse Theater, where she was the assistant director to Max Mayer on the original workshop production of Lee Blessing’s play Chesapeake, starring Mark Linn-Baker. Kristen considers herself lucky to have established a close, collaborative relationship with playwright and actor, Jaston Williams (of Greater Tuna fame). She has directed many of his recent works, including: A Wolverine Walks into a Bar, starring Jaston and actress Lauren Lane (best known for her role on TV’s The Nanny), as well as his newest one-man shows, Clear to Partly Crazy, Blame it on the Car!, Blood and Holly, I Saw the Lights, and An Evening with Jaston Williams. Kristen enjoys directing a wide range of works, from intimate plays to big Broadway musicals, from minimalist pieces to elaborate farces. Other favorite directing credits include: Ride the Cyclone (Southwestern University), Well by Lisa Kron (Austin Community College), Little Women: The Broadway Musical (Texas Tech University), Noises Off (LHUCA), Sarah Ruhl’s In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play (Texas Tech University and Southwestern University), and Return to Roswell (Prague International Fringe Festival). As an actor, some of her favorite roles have been: Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Lucille Lortel Theatre/NYC), Amy in Tape and Amy-Joy in Life Under Water (Westbeth Theatre/ NYC), Hecuba in Women of Troy, Marilyn in David’s Redhaired Death, and Rizzo in Grease. Her greatest passion, however, is in theatre education. She has been teaching for over 20 years, with students of all ages from young children to adults, including as a college professor teaching classes in Acting, Voice for the Actor, Directing, Theatre History, and Theatre Appreciation. Kristen has been the Director of Education at the Georgetown Palace Theatre since December 2019, and she has overseen more than 85 (and counting) fully-produced school-year, camp, and TYA shows in that time (despite the pandemic!).