Kathryn Cesarz

Kathryn Cesarz is a clown, educator, playwright and director.

She has had a blast collaborating in multiple ensembles including Quasimondo Milwaukee Physical Theatre, Cooperative Performance Milwaukee, Sleeper Theatre, and others. Fringe track record includes the Edinburgh Fringe, Milwaukee Fringe Festival, and FringeNYC. Kathryn has performed and staged productions for traditional theatre audiences, street shows, special events, outdoor in parks, for youth in gymnasiums, and for incarcerated students in state prison.

Kathryn served as the Executive Artistic director of St. Croix Festival Theatre from June 2023 through October 2024. During this time she Led this rural non-profit professional theatre company through one and half seasons of production, presenting, and education: She oversaw the company’s return home to the new restored Historic Auditorium of St. Croix Falls. During this time she led the company’s Curtain Rising Capital Campaign, which successfully raised $720,000 in under 1 year. She devised and executed a new collaborative Artistic Direction process, developed new Human Resources practices, and brought adult and youth education opportunities to artists, interns, and community members of St. Croix Falls.

Kathryn’s independent creator/director projects include Heck (2024), The Unstrung Harp (2022), Le Lady Accordioniste (2019), Emily (2016), and Cloud of Gnats (2016). She was in the devising ensemble for CommedAI (2024), I Will Walk With My Song Torn Open (2022), and This Simply Can't be How It's Done (2021). Recent scripted theatre projects include Ms. Holmes and Ms. Watson, Apartment 2B at St. Croix Festival Theatre (St. Croix Falls, WI - 2025,) Venus in Fur at North Coast Repertory Theatre (Eureka, CA - 2023,) and The Beggar’s Opera at Theatre Gigante (Milwaukee, WI - 2019.)

Her playwriting and co-devising earned awards at the Festival International de Teatro Universitario at UNAM in 2019, for being “Most Relevant to our Time” and for Scenographic Movement.

Kathryn has worked in the entertainment industry performing in private events, and modeling fashion in runway, commercials and print. She has worked as a teaching artist since 2009, teaching acting students of every age, and her favorite non-theatre job was digging up potatoes on a vegetable farm. She holds an MFA in Ensemble Devised Physical Theatre from Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre and a B.S. from the University of Evansville.