Kayla René (they/them) is a 24 y/o Chicana-Celtic artist, based in San Diego, California. They work as a performer, director, choreographer, and teaching artist. They graduated in May 2021 from San Diego State University with a BA in Theatre Arts with an Emphasis in Performance, Directing, and TYA, with cum laude honors. They had the privilege to study abroad in London for a year, where they explored the dramatic arts, studying Popular Performance, Devising, and Shakespearean Studies at Kingston University.

As a self-described “slasher,” Kayla appreciates and participates in a variety of artistic disciplines, technical explorations, and design aspects. Even outside of school, Kayla is a dedicated student of the arts.

Kayla creates stories told in brave spaces that investigate humanity through immersive and interdisciplinary theatrical experiences. They strive to inspire curiosity through a balance of abstract art and grounded reality. Crafting art that strikes a fire in the audience, moving them to action or to question that which surrounds them and that which came before them. Questions that may not have an immediate answer, but that awaken the senses, stir the brain and rouse the heart. Through a merging of disciplines and mediums, nuanced performance that defies expectation is created.

As a choreographer and lifelong dancer, Kayla is especially drawn to expression through movement and dance. In the human experience, movement came before language, therefore this visceral, physical form of art is the truest, most genuine way to storytell. Adding movement to fill in the blanks, to expand character, to invoke a physical response in the audience, can often do more than elaborate poetry. Kayla is inspired by all art, constantly filling their cup. Some personally inspiration comes from artists who break expected form and combine mediums, thus creating unique cohesive worlds, like the works of Anaïs Mitchell, Rachel Chavkin, Shana Carroll, Luca Guadagnino, Damien Jalet, Donald Glover, Hiro Murai, and Jesca Prudencio.

Kayla is currently teaching at various theatres around San Diego, such as The Old Globe, North Coast Rep., Bach to Rock, California Center for the Arts Escondido, Heartlight, Scripps Theatre Arts, Project Performer, The Falcon Playhouse, and Grizzly Theatre.

Past favorite theatrical productions include: Romeo and Juliet (Nurse - North Coast Rep. ), Macbeth (Witch, etc., Choreographing - Patio Playhouse), salty water (Featured Dancer - La Jolla Playhouse WoW Festival), Can We Now? (Associate Choreographer - La Jolla Playhouse WoW Festival), The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (Director/Choreographer - SDSU), Hamlet (Ophelia - SDSU), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Titania - North Coast Rep. / Oberon - Kingston University London), Hamlet (Ophelia - SDSU).

Past leadership roles include: SDSU’s Across Campus Theatre as the Secretary and Social Media Manager, SDSU’s Skull and Dagger Dramatic Society as a Director and Choreographer, Patchwork Theatre Company as a Director, Choreographer, and Writer, Theatre Z as an Actor, Director, Choreographer, and Writer, Turnkey Theatre Company as a Producing Artist, Family Theatre as a Teaching Artist and Choreographer, Mobilize Co. as Co-Founder and Artistic Director, and Lunatic Playhouse as a Co-Founder and Artistic Director.