BABETTE'S FEAST
Assistant Director & Dramaturg | Portland Stage
Broadway World: Babette's Feast is an imaginative and theatrical examination of Dinesen's classic short story that brings us into the cloistered world of two loving and devout Protestant sisters and tells us how they came to let Babette, a refugee from a French revolution (and perhaps worse yet, a Catholic) into their midst as a woman they would later come to depend upon. It tells a story of grace, renewal, and the ways an outsider can truly change a community for the better if given the chance.
Portland Press Herald: “Babette’s Feast,” adapted from an Isak Dinesen short story set in the 19th century and written in the middle of the 20th, is a glorious production fit for the new millennium.
Photo by Aaron Flacke
Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake)
Director | NC Women's Theatre Festival & Burning Coal Theatre
Indy Week: "Under Kayla Minton Kaufman's direction, Fiorentino's Janice is an achievement: a multilayered study in awkwardness, vulnerability, loneliness, rage, and deep desire."
News & Observer: "Director Kayla Minton Kaufman draws snappy pacing from her cast in a vibrant staging that uses all of the theater space... A very different but highly satisfying contemplation on the challenges we all can suddenly face as parents or children."
CVNC: "Director Kayla Kaufman has woven these characters together with a skilled hand, using the space of the Murphey School Auditorium to best advantage."
Triangle Arts & Entertainment: "Life is a mix of laughter and pain, and this show provides a unique and refreshing perspective on how we all cope and the unique ways that families survive and come together."
BroadwayWorld: "There is something comedic, poignant, and unexpected about Crumble (Lay Me Down Justin Timberlake), which makes it a valiant start to WTF's "Women as Heroes" third season."
BroadwayWorld Interview: "Kaufman says she is excited to share this story with audiences because it shows women as complex, flawed beings doing their best to be a hero for someone else in the play."
Into the Fire Podcast: Jerry Davis, artistic director of Burning Coal Theatre Company, is joined by the director of Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake) by Sheila Callaghan.
WHUP Lights Up: Director Kayla Minton Kaufman in the recording booth for WHUP's "Lights up!"
She Kills Monsters
Director | Actor's Ensemble of Berkeley
The Mercury News: "Thoroughly entertaining from beginning to end, director Kayla Minton Kaufman’s staging for Actor’s Ensemble keeps things simple on the production side... For a small-scale production of a quirky comedy, it’s an awfully big and triumphant adventure."
The Daily Cal: "She Kills Monsters, presented by Actors Ensemble of Berkeley, written by Qui Nguyen and directed by Kayla Minton Kaufman, is a delightfully fun, action-packed comedy with a skilled cast... While She Kills Monsters is especially hilarious for fans of “Dungeons & Dragons,” the play is an eclectic comedy for all adult audiences, no matter what kind of nerd they may be. The show’s themes transcend, making She Kills Monsters nothing less than a delight."
East Bay Express: "...Especially for anyone appreciative of a good slice: get to LaVal’s, grab some nourishment/pie, and catch director Kayla Minton Kaufman’s spirited, comedic collaboration with Berkeley’s longest running theater troupe."
LADY DAY AT EMERSON'S BAR & GRILL
Assistant Director & Dramaturg | Portland Stage
Broadway World: ...In Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill there is a glimmer of genius still to be seen in the pathetically unraveling and downward spiraling Holiday, and it is there in her music and the artist's soul that the play makes its impact.
Portland Press Herald: "Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill is a thought-provoking play and eye-opening musical tribute to an extraordinary woman who helped shape jazz music as we know it.
Photo by Alicia Donelan
THE 39 STEPS
Directing Intern | Santa Cruz Shakespeare
Good Times: Clearly, everyone involved in this production is having a high old time, and the audience can’t help but be swept along.
Santa Cruz Sentinel: The play is unabashed in its comic approach, and it also rewards Hitchcock fans with several references to his films.
“I want to call it a send-up,” said Mullins, “but that sounds too cheap. Yet calling it a tribute is a little too refined. It’s somewhere in between.”
Photo by Jana Marcus Photography & Communications
THE TAMING
Director | Loyola Marymount University
L.A. Loyolan: On the topic of the process of choosing a play, Kaufman said, “Well, I had read this play a couple of years ago but reread it the morning after Election Day 2016. I was feeling discouraged, not only because of the results, but because of how extremely difficult it had been the whole election season to talk to anyone who held beliefs different from mine. This play talks about those difficulties, and also why it is so important to have those discussions anyway.”
Kaufman says she also knew she had to direct this to encourage more discussion, more empathy and the development of a more perfect union.