To keep it brief
Julianna MacKenzie Kantor is a New York based queer performance artist, director, deviser, and creative from Charlotte, North Carolina.
In May of 2023 she graduated from Hofstra University (Long Island, NY), with her
BFA in Drama Performance and minor in Musical Theatre.
She has specialized training in Shakespeare, Viewpoints, intimacy directing, musical theatre, and devising. Throughout her college and professional career she is lucky to have studied under and worked with Kevin R Free, Crista Marie Jackson, Emily Hartford, Tom McCoy, as well as many others at Hofstra University. Outside of Hofstra she has studied with SITI Company, as well as closely observed the work of Anne Bogart-
who has served as a huge inspiration to her career and aspirations.
She believes in expanding her skills and experience as much as possible both within and outside the world of performance. In addition to performance she has varied experience in directing, teaching, stage managing, carpentry, props mastering, and administration. While she is passionate about many different kinds of theatre, she is most interested in projects with the following elements: community outreach, accessibility to the arts, experimental and new works, ensemble based experiences, advocacy and social justice, and/or empowering young people through the arts.
If you are looking for an open minded, hard-working individual who is passionate about the power that the arts have to instill empathy, better communities, and inspire change, she would be happy to connect.
A deeper dive
Julianna found a love for performing at a very young age, as she was often heard belting Les Miserables in the car, or Disney songs around the house. She began musical theatre classes over 15 years ago at the Children's Theatre of Charlotte and her theatre related passions have only grown since. She is trained in jazz, tap, ballet, modern, and musical theatre dance. She has sung in multiple settings including in a choral context, leading to her ability to read music.
Some of her favorite musical theatre roles before college were Vi Moore in Footloose, Fiona in Shrek the Musical,
Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes, Velma Kelly in Chicago, and an ensemble member in the world premiere of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever: The Musical. Before college, Julianna had a variety of experiences that shaped her as a person and artist.
In 2015, Julianna was invited to join the cast of Breaking the Moon, a rock musical by Amy Steinberg. Working alongside her other cast members, Julianna originated the role of Antonia, one of 6 teens battling issues such as depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, and the aftermath of sexual assault. This was her first taste of devising and it did not disappoint. After touring around several venues in Charlotte, Asheville, Johnson City, and Orlando, the cast was invited to perform in the New York Musical Festival. This experience shaped Julianna’s love for devised theatre, as well as theatre based on social commentary and advocating for others.
In 2018, Julianna was nominated for, auditioned into, and attended the North Carolina Governor's School summer program for theatre. At this program she studied devising for 5 weeks and was part of a company of high school students that created a work entitled Silos. This piece addressed issues such as violence towards people of color, sexist double standards, and sexual harassment. Julianna loved the experimental aspects used within this show, which mixed elements of physical theatre with contemporary realism.
In 2018, Julianna was invited to represent the Children’s Theatre of Charlotte in their partnership with the China National Children’s Theatre at the ASSITEJ artistic gathering for international children’s theatre. Alongside several of her long time acting classmates from the Children’s Theatre of Charlotte, she was cast in a Chinese idiom play and brought on the trip of a lifetime to Beijing. She performed for crowds of Chinese families as well as children’t theatre representatives from several different countries.
Julianna began her Hofstra career in 2019 where she developed her skills as an actor in a variety of areas. She was trained in voice (by Ilona Pierce), movement (by Robert Westley), mask work, Red Nose, and Shakespearean acting. She was trained in the following dialects and accents: contemporary British, Irish, Southern, New Yorker, and even Chicago. She was certified to perform unarmed stage combat by the American Society of Fight Directors in 2022. Aside from her classes, Julianna had the opportunity to perform in several Hofstra Drama Department shows including: the Nurse in This Bud of Love: A One Hour Romeo and Juliet (directed by Rod Gomez), the Wild One in The Cagebirds (directed by Gavin Petersen), Cookie Cusack in Rumors (directed by Christopher Dippel), Belarius in Cymbeline (directed by Cindy Rosenthal), and Kristen in Dike (directed by Emily Hartford).
In addition to her training in acting, she has had the opportunity to assistant stage manage (Barefoot in the Park), stage manage (Aunt Leaf), props master (Woyzeck) and work in the scene shop where she has learned carpentry, light hanging, scenic painting, and a variety of other skills. While a student at Hofstra she was involved in several of the drama clubs on campus including her role as the president of the Mu Psi chapter of Alpha Psi Omega, the drama fraternity on campus.
Outside of Hofstra, Julianna spent the summer of 2021 in the SITI Company x Skidmore College summer program where she studied Suzuki training and Viewpoints with members of the original company as well as Anne Bogart herself. She loved the opportunity to create art over Zoom and devise pieces with artists in the field.
In addition to performance, Julianna is still exploring her passion for directing. She had the opportunity to direct Into the Woods in 2021 for a Charlotte theatre company known as Teen Edge Musical Theatre. The following year in 2022 she directed Frozen Jr., Matilda Jr., and Tortoise and the Hare at Camp Wa-Klo in Dublin, New Hampshire and found she loved empowering her campers to explore their interest in musical theatre and drama. So much so that she returned to Camp Wa-Klo in the summer of 2023 in the Head of Arts position and directed The Little Mermaid Jr. as well as Newsies Jr.
Julianna MacKenzie Kantor believes in the power the arts have to teach empathy, address social issues, and explore aspects of humanity. Outside of theatre she loves traveling (she has been to India, France, Israel, and Mexico), playing ultimate frisbee, spending time with her girlfriend, thrift shopping, all kinds of crafting, reading, being a Jew, and spending time with her cat and dogs.