Kudra Wagner (they/them) is a theatre director and educator.
Kudra is a proud queer woman-adjacent individual with a wide set of theatrical talents and experiences ranging from direction to design to management. You can find them gigging around the Coachella Valley as a freelance director, assistant director, stage manager, costume designer, rudimentary sound engineer, stage hand, box office manager, house manager, props master, helpful minion, and enthusiasm-bringer. They are currently the Production Manager and Arts Administrator at THE BENT in Palm Springs (thebent.org).
Hailing from the Bay Area, they earned a BA in Theater Arts and Legal Studies in 2020 and an MA in Theater Arts in 2021 from UC Santa Cruz before moving to the Coachella Valley in 2021. Most recently, they kicked off Desert Ensemble Theatre’s 13th season with Collective Rage: A Play in Five Betties, and they were nominated for a Desert Star Award and a BroadwayWorld Award for Outstanding Direction for Kill the Editor (also produced by Desert Ensemble Theatre). Kudra was the assistant director for The Humans and Fun Home at CVRep, and they directed a Desert-Star-nominated staged reading of Dennis Kelly’s Love and Money. They have a deep passion for the development of new work and new artists. Kudra recently joined the McCallum Theatre’s Aesthetic Education program as a Teaching Artist, they teach devised and improvised theatre to youth throughout the valley and is an adjunct faculty member at College of the Desert. Kudra often spends their summers as a TA/co-teacher with long-time mentor and friend, Greg Fritsch, at their alma mater, teaching acting, rhythm and rhyme to undergraduate students.
As an acting coach, Kudra focuses mostly on adults and young adults, helping students to prepare monologues for auditions, grapple with difficult characters, and connect to audiences through their own lived experiences. Kudra specializes in a feminist approach to Meisner technique (this is not your fathers Meisner!) and Stanislavski and prides themself on creating a compassionate approach to character. They enjoy working with new and nervous actors as well as seasoned pros.