Founder/Director, STAGE @ PME
Professor; Distinguished Fellow in the Arts, Sciences and Technology at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago
Director, The Art of Questionable Provenance
Nancy Kawalek is a New York theatre-trained actor whose credits include Strider on Broadway, as well as several leading roles Off Broadway, such as the one-woman show, Alice Without, which she also co-authored. Performing in regional theatre, Nancy has been privileged to work with directors such as Frank Galati, JoAnne Akalaitis and Dennis Zacek. She has also acted in film, television and numerous commercials, as well as on National Public Radio's acclaimed Selected Shorts series. A graduate of Northwestern University in Theatre and Performance Studies, Nancy honed her improvisational skills with Chicago's distinguished Second City. Among her credits as a director is the documentary film, Lost and Found.
As a Studio Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Nancy taught acting, directing and the adaptation of literature for the stage. She founded and directed STAGE at UCSB’s California NanoSystems Institute. She was also the founder/director of UCSB’s Professional Artists Lab, a dynamic artistic laboratory in which professional actors, directors, writers and producers created and developed new works in theatre, film, television, radio and multi-media performance.