Today we’d like to introduce you to Grace Kimball.
Hi Grace, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I grew up primarily in Santa Clarita, California, where my parents were involved in local theater, so it seemed natural that I would also be interested in performance art. I acted a lot as a kid and enjoyed bringing crazy characters to life. As I got older, I turned toward more textual analysis of dramatic works than performing on the stage, but I never felt like aspects of theater left my life. My later selection of a doctoral program at UC Santa Barbara in 2020 was a homecoming to having more time to focus on performance through theory, teaching, and developing my artistic interests as a director. 2022 was an important year in this development, as I helped to found a theater company, The Public Domain Players, and am now one of the Artistic Directors of the organization. I am currently working on a production, Finding Jud(a)ea, with the company, a play I’ve loosely adapted and will be directing up until its premiere in a found theater space in early March 2023.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I don’t think any journey is smooth, and the pandemic was a considerable difficulty. I was in the middle of doctoral applications when the pandemic hit, and many of my options quickly closed off as schools decided to hold their budgets a little closer to the chest. It was heartbreaking then, but I suppose it all worked out. Starting The Public Domain Players has also had difficulties since we’ve built the company from the ground up. We have some great people on board with the company, including my fellow Artistic Director, Olivia Bievenue, but there are always trials when doing something new. We’re making strides and learning a lot, and I believe 2023 will be better for the company because of some of the things we’ve picked up since our founding.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I wear a few different hats, but they’re all intimately related. I’m at UC Santa Barbara as an academic, so I do a lot of work on performance theory. I research performance behaviors in early modern England, specifically as these ideas relate to theater, religion, and how people react to the world around them. In many ways, my academic work has a lot of value because it promotes thinking more about what doesn’t exist as clearly in historical records and often draws parallels to performance as it exists today, even off the stage. A lot of my work tends to incorporate Shakespeare, and I think that’s what my colleagues often know me best for.
As an artist, I gravitate towards directing more frequently, but I also like my other artistic roles as an artistic director, playwright, and dramaturg. In all of these capacities, I enjoy collaborating with actors to create the best result through storytelling. As a director, I particularly pride my work in encouraging actors to find their interpretation and using physicalized humor to convey a particular moment more clearly. I think organization and efficiency are essential in all of these capacities, and I believe they’re skills that I consistently bring to the table in all of my roles.
What were you like growing up?
I was one of those kids who tried to do everything. My parents were great at encouraging me to try new things. I was pretty outgoing as a kid and loved school, and that didn’t stop even as I got older (clearly since I’m in a doctoral program). I was pretty well-known among my friends for being one of the theater kids, and I tended to look for the roles that were the most interesting rather than the biggest part. I spent a lot of time on the more musical sides of performance through singing and dancing, and those tendencies often come out in my theatrical work as an adult through sound and movement.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.gracekimball.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepublicdomainplayers/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThePublicDomainPlayers
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ucsbpdp
Image Credits
Elena Maria Sanchez and Leslie Mills
