Christina Kirk

Christina Kirk is Professor of Theatre in the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film. She previously served as Director of the Johnny Carson School and Executive Director of the Nebraska Repertory Theatre from 2019-2022. Prior to taking on her leadership position at UNL, Kirk was Chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance at Otterbein University where she had taught since 1992. Her directing credits include The Living Theatre, New Dramatists, assisting Liviu Ciulei at Arena Stage, and numerous productions for Otterbein University Theatre and Otterbein Summer Theatre, among them Richard III, 39 Steps, and Nine. She began her career performing at the Nebraska Repertory Theatre, performing in Something’s Afoot and Charlie’s Aunt.  She has also performed at the Illinois Shakespeare Festival, the Illinois Repertory Theatre, CATCO (Contemporary American Theatre Company), Otterbein University Theatre, Otterbein Summer Theatre, Heartland Theatre Company, and in the Joseph Jefferson award winning Kabuki Medea, directed by Shozo Sato. Favorite roles include “B” in Three Tall Women, Violet in August Osage Country and the title role in Medea. Other favorites include the title roles of Claudel and Cleopatra at Columbus Dance Theatre. The production of Claudel received the Greater Columbus Arts Council Artistic Excellence Award and Cleopatra was nominated for this same award. Her one woman show, Conversations with Judith Malina, which premiered at Columbus Dance Theatre, was featured in the March 2006 Theatre Journal. She is also a contributing author on two theatre texts:  The Art of Directing, co-authored with John W. Kirk and Ralph Bellas, and Acting in the Space Between, co-authored with John W. Kirk.  She has an M.F.A. in Directing from Columbia University in the city of New York and a B.F.A. in Acting from the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana. She is also a certified yoga instructor.