Karan Kendrick, Founder

Actress, Creator, Educator, Karan Kendrick serves to entertain, uplift, and empower through the arts. TV/Film credits include The Hunger Games (LionsGate), Just Mercy (Warner Bros), Hidden Figures (FOX 2000), The Hate U Give (20th Century Fox), The Originals (CW), Greenleaf (OWN), Grey’s Anatomy (ABC) and more.

​In addition to her work as an actor, Karan has served tirelessly for over a decade to provide students with an opportunity to build character, discipline and an eternal passion for the arts through instruction and events through The Kendrick Academy www.TheKendrickAcademy.com. 

“I believe in the mantra of 'lifting as you climb.' For me, it wasn't about "making it" and then giving back. Giving back is a part of who I am, and The Kendrick Academy is how I choose to share what my experiences to students with similar interests. I want them to see - very tangibly- what a working artist looked like, so that they will know that it is an attainable goal." --Karan Kendrick
​https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3086326/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

Kelly M. Jenrette is a star in the Television, Film and Commercial worlds!  A native of Atlanta, Kelly now resides in Los Angeles with her husband, Melvin Jackson Jr.  In 2018, she and her husband became the first African American married couple to be nominated for Emmy’s® in the same year.  Kelly’s Emmy® nomination was for her portrayal of Annie in Season 2, Episode 4 of The Handmaid’s Tale.  Her two latest films can be found on Netflix: Uncorked and All Day and A Night, in the latter, Kelly stars alongside Jeffrey Wright and Ashton Sanders.  Kelly is also in the second season of the hit anthology show Manhunt: Deadly Games (Lionsgate/Spectrum).  She can currently be seen as Winona on the Facebook Watch Original LIMETOWN.  Kelly has also been a series regular on the Fox comedy, Grandfathered, starring John Stamos; She's had recurring guest star roles on Here and Now (HBO), Pitch (FOX) and Graves (EPIX).  You may also remember her from her twelve Kmart commercials as Kmart Kelly!  

Chae Chaput received her MFA in Acting from the University of Southern California, studying under the tutelage of David Warshofsky, and her BA in Theater Arts from Fairleigh Dickinson University. She has also trained at The William Esper Studio in NYC, The Aquila Studio and Sue Hamilton Studio in Los Angeles. Chae’s career has spanned the stage and screen, having performed with the Troubadour Theatre Company, Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles, Artists Rise Up Los Angeles, Find the Light, Writer’s Theatre of New Jersey, Luna Stage Theatre Company, Mystic Vision Players and more. You can see her onscreen in The Hike, Chasing the Sun, Do You, and Artifact, to name a few.
​
In addition to acting, Chae is a passionate Medical Clown at LAC+USC, an active member of ARULA, and was the Managing Director of The Clown School in Los Angeles for four years. She teaches and coaches students in acting and clown, and consults for curricula and proposal designs.

A native of Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania, Allison Blackwell has distinguished herself in the theatre and concert world. Her versatile voice and outgoing personality on stage make her a highly sought out performer.  Allison made her Broadway debut in the Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess alongside six-time Tony Award Winner Audra McDonald and Tony Nominees Norm Lewis and David Alan Grier. This life changing experience allowed Ms. Blackwell to participate in her first original cast album and perform at the 2012 Tony Awards (Winner: Best Revival). In 2013, Allison was blessed to play one of her musical “idols”, Aretha Franklin, in A Night With Janis Joplin. USA Today noted, "Allison Blackwell, veers from a stunning operatic rendering of Summertime to a shivery, booming impersonation of Aretha Franklin." She subsequently joined the Broadway cast for Disney’s The Lion King after finishing her run in A Night With Janis Joplin. Ms. Blackwell was last seen on Broadway playing the featured role of Violetta in Pretty Woman: The Musical, “………. it’s worth noting that at the performance I attended, the number that received the biggest applause wasn’t one of those wistful soliloquies about feelin’ free, or even a high-spirited number about following your dreams. No, the loudest clapping came when Allison Blackwell, the soprano performing Violetta in “La Traviata,” sang her character’s farewell declaration of love. Something like real passion had finally entered the building.” (New York Times) 

Ms. Blackwell was part of the Emmy Award winning production Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (PBS Live at Lincoln Center), Guys and Dolls at Carnegie Hall and Ragtime at David Geffen Hall. She has been a guest soloist with such orchestras as The New York Pops, The Boston Pops, The Philly Pops, The Houston Symphony and The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra as well as countless regional theaters across the country.  

Genetra Tull graduated top of her class from the University of Colorado, Denver with a BFA in Film Theater and Television (emphasis in writing and directing).  She has been involved in all aspects of theater and film, from performance to crew. Genetra finally tired of driving through 20 feet of snow and made the move to LA. She is a proud company member of the Story Pirates.  A writer for the CBS Diversity Showcase 2017. Genetra was pumped to join HAROLD NIGHT at the UCB Theatre with her team VULTURE!!!! Her indie improv teams Eggs Con Huevo and Essence can be seen around LA.  She was also in the sketch show "This is Not a Tan" that ran at Second City, iO: West, and Upright Citizens Brigade. When she wasn't building sets and running tech at The Colony Theatre in Burbank, she loved teaching improv at The Colony Kids Camp.

Katalina Gutierrez is a freelance filmmaker and photographer currently based in New York. During the last three years, she  has focused on creating shorts, working in documentary projects, and writing about women's representations in media. In 2013, she began the short film Ophelia-a story that captures the lives of two women from different times getting close to each other through a painting inspired by Shakespeare's Hamlet.  The film utilizes the nature of dreams to represent women's psyches and discusses certain  historical gendered representations in western classical literature. 

Katalina received her first camera at the age of fifteen while taking classes in photography and design in high school. She studied Fine Arts and Sociology with a focus in Painting and Photography in Latin America.

Katalina spent a year in Mexico City studying traditional painting techniques. During that time, she became passionate about capturing the most fascinating imagery from the landscape with her SLR camera. Exposed to the rich Mexican Aztec and Mayan culture, she created a picture book and also collaborated in a multimedia piece about poet and scholar Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.

Eventually, Katalina traveled to New Orleans, where she received a scholarship to study at the New Orleans Academy of Art. In New Orleans, she captured on camera the mystic subtleties of the French Quarter and the characters that are part of it, with their colorful masks and enchanting music. One year later, she moved to New York, seeking new elements for her work. Her photography and shorts have been influenced by German expressionism, and surrealism. Filmmakers such as Werner Schroeter, Andrei Tarkovsky,  and the Quay Brothers have been a source of inspiration in her personal exploration. Katalina's interest in Asian philosophy and meditation has also influenced her work and creative practice.

Katalina’s latest photo exhibit titled The Double, took place in August of 2017 during the Latino Market Film Festival in New York City. Gutierrez is currently working on her MFA through the Integrated Media Arts program at Hunter College. 

 Nimene Wureh, a rising senior at NYU Tisch, is an artist who has previously performed with Lincoln Center Theater, the Guthrie Theatre, performed and studied sketch and improv at Upright Citizen's Brigade Theater (UCB), Magnet Theater, and the People's Improv Theater (PIT). Along with being a main cast member, producer, and songwriter on the award-winning 'Story Pirates podcast,' she is a former TV casting intern at Caparelliotis Casting for medical drama New Amsterdam on NBC. After working as the personal assistant to actress/playwright Jocelyn Bioh on her massive off-Broadway hit, School Girls; Or the African Mean Girls Play, directed by TONY winner Rebecca Taichman and produced by MCC Theater, Nimene went on to play the role of "Gifty," in Jocelyn Bioh's School Girls... at the Jungle Theater.