About me...

I was first introduced to theatre as a child, visiting New York City with my parents every year. I practiced my craft through plays, musicals, musical revues, and local Shakespeare tours. But it wasn't until an English teacher encouraged me to enter The English-Speaking Union's Shakespeare competition that a career in theatre was opened to me. It was as a regional finalist that I met Kristin Linklater, the internationally acclaimed vocal coach, who encouraged me to formally audition for Emerson College in Boston where she was the head of the acting program at that time. 

For the next four years, I performed in every production I could get my hands on. I participated in all aspects of theatre - backstage, the production office, the scene shop, and through regional theaters (such as at the Huntington Theatre Company's Young Critics Institute, as an acting apprentice at the Dorset Theatre Festival, as an acting intern at the Worcester Foothills Theatre, etc.). My studies led me to live in Europe, studying acting in the Netherlands and exploring human nature in a new country every week. I graduated with a BFA in Acting, cum laude.

It was immediately upon graduation that I launched onto the DC theatre scene with a national educational theatre tour. After a second tour, I settled in the DC area, forming relationships with local theatre companies, including as a company member for Chesapeake Shakespeare Company. I continued work as a teaching artist and acting coaching for both school and professional productions and showcases, and as part of partnership programs, including the Folger Shakespeare Library Shakespeare Alliance Partnership and the first-ever Baltimore Partners for Advanced Learning. It was at that time that I also began an active regional commercial and industrial career. My involvement with staged readings, such as those featured in the Kennedy Center's annual Page-to-Stage Festival, and my work as a play reviewer for area theatre festivals, has been ongoing.

After a temporary hiatus to focus on my own story, I am renewing my relationship to theatre, teaching, and my passion for photography (Aeolian Eyes Photography). I hope for the opportunity to help you tell your story - onstage, offstage, or through the camera lens.

Cheers!

Valerie Fenton