Chris Anthony is a director, teacher, actor and producer working at the intersection of art and community empowerment. Holding a master’s degree in fine arts in acting from the California Institute of the Arts, she has worked in educational, professional and community spaces. She has worked to find common ground between art and community, using human relations dialogue to enrich artistic practice and art-making in service of community development.
She was a member of the acting faculty at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts and Grand Arts (the LAUSD School of Visual and Performing Arts). University directing credits include California State Universities at Los Angeles, Long Beach and Northridge, as well as Loyola Marymount University. She has been a guest teacher at the University of Southern California, CSU Dominguez Hills, Cal Poly Pomona and Laverne University.
Professional directing credits include the original Off the Rails for Native Voices at the Autry, Lunch Lady Courage at Cornerstone Theater, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo & Juliet and Othello at the St. Louis Black Rep and Romeo & Juliet at the Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles.
As associate artistic director of the Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles, she oversaw the development of the company’s youth and education programs: Will Power to Youth, Will to Work and Play On for youth; Will Power to Schools and the Youth Arts Professionals Institute for classroom teachers and community arts practitioners. Will Power to Youth won the prestigious Coming Up Taller Award and was studied by Harvard’s Project Zero for the study the Qualities of Quality: Understanding Excellence in Arts Education and is featured in Ayanna Thompson’s Passing Strange: Shakespeare, Race and Contemporary America.
A former board member of TYA/USA, she also is affiliated with Center Theatre Group, About Productions, TeAda Productions, Fringe Benefits Theatre, Plaza de la Raza and Shakespeare at the Huntington.
Please note: Biographies are based on information provided to the CSO by the artists or their representatives. More current information may be available on websites of the artists or their management.
