Today we’d like to introduce you to Jennifer Chambers.
Hi Jennifer, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Growing up in NJ, I always wanted to be an actor. My parents constantly took us to Broadway shows and I had such a fantastic, physical reaction to wanting to be on stage so badly. I went to Northwestern and got a degree in theater. I moved to NY to act. I loved performing but honestly had crippling anxiety around auditions. I took a break and traveled to India and Vietnam, studied yoga and meditation. When I came back, I moved to San Francisco and went to graduate school, getting my master’s in counseling psychology and drama therapy. After working in the therapeutic space for a bit, I realized I was desperately missing theater so I took a directing workshop at Berkeley rep and found I had a huge love and ability for directing. I fell in love and we moved to LA and I went about creating a directing and voice-over career for myself here in Los Angeles. It’s been weird and adventurous and wonderful and while maybe it’s not typical to have a career in theater outside of NY, it has been tremendously exciting and satisfying.
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 artistic career is a smooth road. Mine has been fits and starts. Struggles to get jobs, to get my voice heard, to convince places I am really good at what I do. I feel like it is always a struggle to be seen and heard. As a woman, there has definitely been an unnecessary requirement to prove myself or to fight for what I know and believe in. The pandemic was definitely a struggle. It was really scary to think that everything I loved to do was going to disappear. But I do think on the other side of every struggle or obstacle is some kind of flow or something beautiful. Every time I hit a wall in rehearsal or something feels to hard to achieve, there is some kind of surrender, some kind of letting go into the belief of what we are doing, and then there is some kind of success or gold on the other side.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a theater director that specializes in the development of new work. I have run playwrights labs since 2016 and I love watching a work go from an idea on the page to a fully realized production. I got to do that with the play The Cake by Bekah Brunstetter in 2017 and to watch it have this huge life beyond our initial production has been hugely exciting. I am about to embark on another play that I first encountered in 2018 and hoped it would have a giant life and it has. POTUS by Selina Fillinger is a fantastic, irreverent farce that tackles the weight of patriarchy in the most entertaining way. It had a tremendously successful run on Broadway and now I get to direct the Los Angeles premiere of it at The Geffen next season. I am definitely most proud of the work I do that gives voice to female, trans and non-binary playwrights.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I think I was kind of a weirdo. In a great way? I had a very rich imaginary life. I loved to read and the stories I read absolutely became the movies in my head that I cast myself in the lead of. I was both very outgoing and quite shy so I ended up observing people and situations a lot. I tried to be an athlete in high school but definitely found more ease and excitement in doing drama. I love music obsessively and going to concerts and seeing live music was always a passion. I think for so long I was looking for where I fit, who my people were, so I think I tried so much to see what worked, and what resonated with me. I absolutely was a late bloomer and really only the last ten years or so is where I truly feel like I found my confidence and my joy in who I am and what I love.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jennifergchambers.com. girlcrushfilms.com
- Instagram:@jenniferchambers13
- Twitter: @jennyc3
Image Credits
Peter Konerko Darrett Sanders Chris Whitaker Frank Wojiekowski Scott Barrow
