Kristin Horton is a New York City based award-winning freelance director whose work in new play development and the staging of classical plays has appeared both nationally and abroad. She is currently an Artistic Fellow at The Lark Play Development Center and a recipient of the 2005-07 NEA/TCG Career Development Program for Directors. This spring she will work regionally and direct A NUMBER and COLLECTED STORIES at Riverside Theatre in Iowa City; develop THE BOSTONIANS, a new adaptation of the Henry James novel by Victoria Stewart at The Playwright’s Center in Minneapolis; and participate in a Directing Residency at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Since 2004 she has served as an Artistic Associate of Riverside Theatre, Iowa City’s professional resident company, where past directing credits include the U.S. premiere of Irish playwright Mike Finn’s THE QUIET MOMENT, THE DRAWER BOY, STILL LIFE WITH IRIS, as well as THE TAMING OF THE SHREW and MEASURE FOR MEASURE for Riverside’s annual outdoor Shakespeare Festival. While in the Midwest she also directed and produced an international tour of CATALPA which received critical acclaim at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, MEMORY IS A BODY OF WATER which appeared at the National Black Theater Festival, and ACCLIMATE by Victoria Stewart, a new play commission for Commonweal Theatre in Minnesota.

Kristin began her theater career in the mid 90s as a member of the Living Stage Theatre Company, the groundbreaking social change theater of Washington D.C.’s Arena Stage. During her four years with Living Stage, she served in a variety of capacities including a season as a performing company member creating theater performances and workshops for diverse audiences including incarcerated men and women, court adjudicated youth, and children from underserved areas. While in D.C. she also co-founded and served as Artistic Director of Full Contact Improvisation Company, whose company created piece JOURNEY, based on personal stories from Kosovar and Serbian refugees premiered at the Studio Theatre Secondstage in 1999. Before leaving the D.C. area, Kristin also produced adult education programs for The Kennedy Center’s 1999-2000 season.

As part of her artistic development, Kristin returned to graduate school in 2000 for an MFA in Directing at The University of Iowa. Attracted to Iowa’s focus on new work development, she developed and staged work by fellow classmates including Kirsten Greenidge, Jeannine Coulombe, and Joseph Ferron Hiatt. Her direction of Hiatt’s A YELLOW FEVER won the IRAM Award for Best Direction of a New Work. Kristin’s experience at Iowa culminated in the creation of UNCONTROLLABLE MYSTERY, a collection of three plays by W. B. Yeats utilizing dance, bunraku puppetry, and original music. Immediately after graduating from Iowa, Kristin participated in the 2003 Sundance Theatre Lab as a director grantee assisting acclaimed directors Lee Breuer on the Mabou Mines’ production of DOLLSHOUSE and Leigh Silverman on WELL.

Kristin has served as an adjunct faculty member at The University of Iowa and is a frequent guest artist at Fordham University in New York.

Directing Credits: A NUMBER, COLLECTED STORIES (Riverside Theatre), ACCLIMATE (Commonweal Theatre); THE QUIET MOMENT, THE TAMING OF THE SHREW, THE DRAWER BOY, STILL LIFE WITH IRIS, MEASURE FOR MEASURE, GROCERY STORIES (Riverside Theatre); JOURNEY (Studio Theatre Secondstage); CATALPA (Edinburgh Fringe Festival); MEMORY IS A BODY OF WATER (New York Fringe Festival & National Black Theatre Festival); UNCONTROLLABLE MYSTERY, ROUGH MAGIC, A YELLOW FEVER, AGAMEMENON, FAMILIAR, HEART'S DESIRE (The University of Iowa); PENTHESILEA, FOR COLORED GIRLS (Emory University).

Kristin received her undergraduate degree in religion from Emory University and spent a year of graduate study in Scotland at The University of St. Andrews as a Bobby Jones Scholar.