KRISTEN ADELE
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Canfield Drive
St. Louis Black Repertory Company 

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"Calhoun the playwright, billed as Kristen Adele, is stunning in her intense portrayal of Duncan-Ward and other characters..."

"Under development for the past four years, this breathtaking new play takes a hard, serious look at incidents and attitudes surrounding the August 14, 2014 fatal police shooting of 
Michael Brown, the Ferguson protests that followed, and the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Calhoun and Walker, whose work is well-researched and hard-hitting, use a documentary theatre structure, with many short scenes based on interviews from people around Ferguson and around the nation whose voices might not necessarily have been heard in traditional media coverage..."  

"...With just four stellar actors portraying a multitude of interesting characters, the work dives right into the depths of a tough topic, refusing to hold back."

"Canfield Drive, titled after the street where Brown was killed, is the conversation St. Louis and America need right now."
- 
Broadway World

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"Produced in conjunction with the Black Rep, which commissioned the play, Canfield Drive is an ambitious story bravely told. Most of all it's art, powerful and alive at all times, even in its darkest moments. Telling the truth and living always requires bravery, but Calhoun and Walker show more courage than most, walking right into the bloody mess of America's festering Achilles heel, racism. It's painful and honest and, ultimately, cathartic to watch because it doesn't take the easy way out. There are no simple answers to be found at the end, no happy endings discovered in the fires of Ferguson. What Canfield Drive does is show us the next step. One step forward might not seem like much, but it's one step farther than we were yesterday."


"Playwrights Kristen Adele Calhoun and Michael Thomas Walker did the hard work needed to write the new drama Canfield Drive, conducting interviews with a wide swath of people, undergoing a long workshop process with repeated public readings and listening to audience feedback..."  - The 
Riverfront Times

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​NPR Interview (audio)

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​PBS Interview (video interview with clips from the production) 




Clybourne Park
Geva Theatre & Cleveland Play House

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"Kristen Adele brings class and elegance even donned out as a maid, and then morphs into Lena, an Angela Bassett spitfire who has impeccable comedic timing and delivery."
-Kevin Joseph, TPOGraphy: Theatre Review Blog

This is a compelling situation Norris has created, and it requires spot-on performances to bring it off--a task Kristen Adele does especially well.
-Christine Howey, CleveScene


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"Kristen Adele... seems to have stepped out of the 1950s in style and demeanor...

The cast is excellent. However, Kristen Adele and Daniel Morgan Shelley must be cited for the great change in their characters from the first act to the second act."
-David Ritchey, TalkinBroadway.com

A Raisin in the Sun 
Clarence Brown Theatre

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"My favorite portrayal may have been Adele’s Ruth. Trying to hold her family together, she’s a woman anyone would want as a neighbor. Her speech near the play’s end - when she vows to work long and hard so the family can keep the new house - is worthy of applause."
-Amy McCrary, Knoxville Sentinel

Jackie & Me 
Denver Center Theatre Company

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"Joey's teacher (Mrs. Levitt) and Robinson's wife (Rachel), both played by Kristen Adele, are, by far, the most sympathetic and supportive characters; 
Adele does great work exuding these heartfelt qualities." 
-Bob Bows, ColoradoDrama.com


"Kristen Adele is aptly demanding as Joey's teacher and warmly resolute as Rachel Robinson, Jackie's life-partner in social change."
-Lisa Kennedy, The Denver Post


"Kristen Adele’s rendition of Jackie’s wife, Rachel Robinson, is memorable as she accepts the confines society has placed on her but shows constant support for her husband."
- Holly Winter Huppert, About.com


Joe Turner's Come and Gone 
Shadow Theatre Company

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"There's an excess of compassion in Kristen Adele's fragile Mattie. Having been burned by love, she clings to the merest hint of human affection..."
-Mike Pearson, Rocky Mountain News

"Also of note are Mattie's, Kristen Adele's, heartbroken loneliness as a perfect counter to guitar-playing Jeremy..."
-Kurt Brighton, Denver Post

"Mattie Campbell’s man left her, alone. He’s coming back. She knows he is. That’s what she says. Look in her eyes and you know she knows in her heart of hearts he isn’t.  
Kristen Adele wrapped herself snugly into Mattie’s frightened, lost, broken heart."
-Holly Bartges, Colorado Backstage


To Kill a Mockingbird 
Colorado Shakespeare Festival

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" Kristen Adele's Calpurnia sparkles."
-Bob Bows, coloradodrama.com  


"Kristen Adele, who made her television debut in the HBO miniseries America’s Dream, plays Calpurnia, the Finch’s black housekeeper. She brings a quiet dignity to her role, a prideful humility that seems to shame the actions of the other ‘adult.’"
-Barbara Lawlor, The Mountain Ear Newspaper

"Kristen Adele's Calpurnia is capable and big hearted."
-Mark Collins, The Daily Camera 


Oscar and Felix 
Shadow Theatre Company

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"The brightest spot of the show blew through the door of Oscar's Upper West Side apartment in the form of the Sisters Costazuela. Comedic chemistry sizzled between Kristen Adele and Ashlie Harris, who school the venerable male actors with their effervescence and gum-snap timing."
-Angela Clemmons, The Denver Post



What Kristen's directors have to say: 

"Her acting projects were always top notch...As in the performance and creative drama courses, her classwork was phenomenal.  She asked meaningful questions and was not satisfied with easy answers.  Her keen perception of her own and others’ work made it a pleasure to have her in class.  In brief, Kristen is quite a gifted student and teacher. 

She has a passion and gift for teaching, an advocacy for theatre education and for theatre as a rigorous discipline and art form, as well as commitment, reliability, collegiality, and keen insights."
-Dr. Lorenzo Garcia, Chair of the Department of Dance and Theatre, University of North Texas



"Her character Lisa Jackson, a fan favorite, appeared in 11 of the 13 episodes that were seen by thousands of students on campus.  She embodies versatility with her change of emotion and timely comedic delivery." 
-Sho Baraka, Director and Producer, Zoe Productions 


Interviews

Franceli Chapman hangs with the ladies from Orange is the New Black! Uzo Aduba, Kristen Adele, Vicky Jeudy, and Danielle Brooks.

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  • News
  • Bio
  • Resume
  • Photos
  • Reels
  • Press
  • Contact
  • Writer
  • Teacher
  • Director
  • #UNARMED