Serena Collins
Actor.
Writer.
Director.
Serena is a multi-hyphenate early career theatre artist based in Chicago.
See what she’s up to below!
Serena is officially on the New Play Exchange! You can check out her plays here.
Serena trained in Shattered Globe Theatre Company’s 2024 Protégé Program last fall, where she wrote and performed her first-ever solo piece, Old Dad Club. Check it out above!
Serena joined Kerfuffle as the Understudy in the world premiere of Bookworms – a multi-sensory performance combining storytelling, movement, and puppetry for the very young.
Serena is thrilled to meld her passions for theatre, Jewish tradition, and playing with toddlers as a performer in Ark Adventures – an immersive Shabbat experience for ages 3-6 with the K’ilu Company.
Serena’s journey to becoming an Alexander Technique teacher continues – she is now entering her second year in her training program. It has been a lifechanging process so far and she couldn’t be happier to be starting the middle third of the journey. One aspect of the training that has been very exciting this year has been assistant teaching a theatre movement course at the University of Illinois Chicago with her teacher, Daria Okugawa.
Serena performed in An Enemy of the People with Sub Rosa Theatre Collective as Citizen 2 and u/s Mayor Stockmann in the spring of 2023. She had a blast devising and exploring Ibsen’s language with the creative team. Read more about the play and process here.
Serena’s 10 minute play On The Lawn was performed in Artery Theatre’s Heart to Heart play festival – her debut as a playwright in the City of Chicago!
Serena moved to Chicago in November and is continuing her first year of Alexander Technique teacher training. Stay tuned for updates!
Fall 2023, a reading of Serena’s play, Sympathizer, directed by Alexandra Harbold, was performed at Rowland Hall High School for 140 juniors and seniors.
In September 2023, Serena assisted Kareem Fahmy on Pulitzer Prize winner Martyna Majok’s Sanctuary City at Cincinatti Playhouse in the Park. Learn more.
In the summer of 2023, Serena taught acting classes and assistant directed …And Her Friends, a re-imagining of Fefu and her Friends adapted and directed by Claribel Gross, at Northwestern University’s National High School Institute, Theatre Division, lovingly known as the Cherubs program. She had the best time returning to the program that impacted her so much as a pre-collegiate theatre artist. Photo by Zeke Dolezalek.
Serena graduates college with her BFA in Acting, BA in Comparative Literature, and minor in French! She was named an Outstanding Senior in the Department of World Langugaes and Cultures.
In winter 2023, Serena assistant directed the world premiere(s) of Kareem Fahmy’s A Distinct Society at Pioneer Theatre Company and at TheatreWorks in Silicon Valley, directed by Giovanna Sardelli.
In November 2022, Serena assembled a team of actors and Professor Alexandra Harbold directed a workshop and staged reading of Serena’s play, Sympathizer. Watch it here.
Serena dramaturged In Pieces, a new musical by Joey Contreras and facilitated a talkback with the writer himself.
October 2022, Serena performed in her last University of Utah production, Somewhere: A Primer for the End of Days. View photos here.
May 2022, Serena was recognized as a Finalist of the Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award from the College of Fine Arts at the University of Utah for her work on Sympathizer. Read the article here.
Sympathizer was chosen to be in the New Plays Workshop at the University of Utah and received a staged reading and talkback in April 2022.
Serena starred in Rahul Barkley’s film, Prayer, as a religious housewife in an unhappy marriage who spirals down a life of sin after stealing a dress.
Serena Collins 