ABOUT
About
Kristel Jelinek Brown (she/hers) is an actor, director, intimacy choreographer, and community-based arts and sexuality educator, interested in working to educate and engage a variety of diverse age groups and communities through the performing arts. Her artistic career has spanned the spectrum from commercial theatrical performance to community-based arts activism and education. Kristel has worked with people of all ages, abilities, and identities in the North Denver-Boulder metro and NYC-metro areas, including community centers, nursing homes, classrooms, traditional arts’ spaces, non-profits, libraries, schools, community-based organizations, music festivals, and Broadway audiences.
Originally from Colorado, Kristel holds a BFA in Theater Performance from the University of Colorado at Boulder, a masters degree in Applied Theater from The City University of New York (CUNY), and is currently pursuing a Certification in Holistic Sexuality Education from the Institute for Sexual Education, and Enlightenment. Additionally, she holds a graduate certificate in Disability Studies from CUNY and has studied intimacy choreography with Theatrical Intimacy Education (TIE).
As a director, choreographer, and intimacy choreographer her work has been featured with the University of Colorado, Boulder, Metropolitan State University, The Northglenn Youth Theatre, The Denver Center for the Performing Arts, the Crested Butte Music Festival, The Bayview Music Festival, Mackintosh Academy, Brooklyn’s Spellbound Theatre, The CAT Youth Theatre (NYC), and Parlando School of Musical Arts, where she served as Director of Voice and Theatrical Education until 2019. Kristel is one of the co-founders of Dandelion Arts Collective, a woman-owned Denver-based nonprofit organization that promotes and advances health equity through community-based performing arts practices. She is passionate about arts access for all and the reinvention of art-making & arts spaces as radical, inclusive, and democratic. Kristel is a mama to two humans, one tiny dog, and resides with her family in Denver, Colorado.
Some of her favorite performance credits include: Getting Through April (Lina), Lysistrata Jones (Cleonice), Grease (Frenchy), Aida (Ensemble), Aladdin (Princess Jasmine); National Tour Urban Cowboy, the Musical (Ensemble), and as a principal vocalist for both Norwegian Cruise Lines (2007-2010) and Harrah’s Showboat Casino in Atlantic City.
Read the feature in Boulder Weekly about Kristel’s work devising and staging original plays with Imagine! Colorado
Artistic Statement
I acknowledge the existence of systemic racism, ableism, sexism, and other forms oppression that create inequities across education, the performing arts, and more. The intersections of injustice negatively affect all people; and yet, those most often harmed by these impacts are People of the Global Majority, young people, women, LBGTQIA+, and disabled folks.
Liberation from these systems takes concious effort and understanding of their interconnections.
I recognize that my world view and positionality have afforded me privilege and safety that others both nationally and globally do not experience. I believe in the strength of community and humbly hope to contribute in the spirit of co-learning and cultural humility. I consciously work to collaborate in partnership with the humans I serve.
Positionality
I am a white-presenting person with Mexican, German, and other European ancestry, who grew up in a middle class household. I am an able-bodied, mostly neurotypical, cisgender woman, who is partnered with two children and a tiny dog named Peggy. I have both college and graduate degrees and the financial flexibility to work as a freelance gig-based artist and educator.
I recognize that these and other factors have afforded me privileges that others both nationally and globally have not experienced. My identities and experiences have shaped my view of the world.
“Kristel does such a great job making each of our participants feel supported and comfortable with their various support needs and skill levels. She reminds them to do what feels good for their body and encourages them to try new things.”
Jessamyn • Imagine! Colorado Direct Support Provider