Introducing Kris (Producer/Actor)

I’ve been playing heroic archetypes since I was a girl of eight. My parents would sit on the steps leading downstairs, and the stage would be the hallway between the bathroom and the workroom. I was always Sherlock Holmes or the Doctor (the Fourth Doctor, of course, with the scarf) and I would make my brothers play Watson or K-9. I don't remember what they were about, if anything, but it occurs to me that twenty-some years later my interests haven't changed much.

They have, of course, been refined somewhat. For example, I was not a fan of The Original Series or William Shatner as a young child, and somehow it escaped my notice that the Adam West Batman was clearly the superior version. Maybe I've gotten sillier, but maybe the more serious, younger me wouldn't have had the utter lack of sense that putting on a play from scratch in public requires.

I’ve always loved acting, though I took some time off from doing it to study English literature and film and join a band and do some writing. It was hearing Shatner’s “It Hasn’t Happened Yet” off his 2004 album Has Been that convinced me to give Star Trek a chance (though I’d grown up on Next Generation). And what I found was a sense of optimism lacking in so much of our modern media—and that Shatner really wasn’t a bad actor. And my newfound admiration for the show may have, indirectly, propelled me back into theater.

I wouldn’t be embarrassed to be identified as a Trekkie, now, but really what I think this project represents is a way to express a multitude of interests at once: writing, acting, film history, community, and the idea that we have a wealth of cultural touchstones that can transcend particular eras, actors, and sets. Everyone knows Romeo and Juliet, even if they’ve never heard them speak. Star Trek isn’t Shakespeare, but maybe its ideals and humor and archetypes can stand a life of their own. The past 44 years suggest as much, and I’m excited to have the opportunity to contribute to that.