MEET KIM STAUNTON
Senator Louise Allen in Two Degrees


At the Theatre Company: black odyssey, Fences, To Kill A Mockingbird, Ruined, A Raisin in the Sun, Radio Golf, Doubt, Gem of the Ocean, A Selfish Sacrifice, The Madwoman, Streetcar Named Desire, King Hedley II, Pork Pie, many more. Other theatres: Indiana Rep, Milwaukee Rep, Arizona Theater Company, South Coast Rep, Seattle Rep, Lake Dillon Theatre, Syracuse Stage, Berkeley Rep, Colorado Shakespeare. TV/Film: First Sunday, Changing Lanes, Heat, Holy Man, “Army Wives,” “The Nine,” “Bones,” “Law and Order,” “New York Undercover.” Awards include Denver Post Ovation Awards, Colorado Theatre Guild Henry Award, Westword’s Best of Denver.

• Hometown: Washington, DC
• Home now: Encino, Calif.
• Training: The Juilliard School Also trained as a Ten Chimneys Lunt-Fontanne Fellow
• What was the role that changed your life? Playing Mama Nadi in Ruined, by Lynn Nottage, for the DCPA Theatre Company in 2011. (Photo at right. Click here to read the Denver Post review.) It was a tour-de-force, modern-day Mother Courage role that allowed me to be a conduit for important and profound storytelling. I got to tap into a character’s passion, toughness, rage, vulnerability and tenderness.
• Why are you an actor? I love the opportunity to be part of an ensemble and experience that allows me to communicate ideas and emotions through characters and imaginary circumstances that hopefully have an impact and make a difference to an audience. I also appreciate that I am able to use the theater, film and television as powerful mediums for great storytelling.
• What would you be doing if you weren’t an actor: I would be a grade-school teacher. It was my dream for all my life up until ninth grade. I had to choose an elective, which ended up being drama.
• Ideal scene partner: Meryl Streep. Besides being one of the greatest actresses on the planet, I appreciate her versatility, detail and transformation as an actress in her work.
• Why does Two Degrees matter? Because it’s a timely story about science, grief, love, relationships, humanity, sexuality … and women over 45! I’m fortunate to have the opportunity to contribute to this great storytelling that has such a big and important voice.
• What do you hope the audience gets out of this play? I hope they will be provoked to think, feel and hopefully be interested and open to learning more about climate science and climate change. This is a very serious issue that is important to our world, our lives and the future of our planet.
• Finish this sentence: “All I want is …”
  “… a kind, inclusive, loving world.”

(Photo above and right: Kathleen McCall and Kim Staunton in ‘Two Degrees.’ Photo by Adams VisCom.)

Video Bonus: Our 2014 profile of Kim Staunton

Ticket information: Two Degrees
Emma, a climate change scientist, is invited to share her findings at a Senate hearing that could define her career and her cause. But if she can’t overcome her tumultuous inner struggle, her dedication and sacrifices may not be enough. Two Degrees was developed at the 2016 Colorado New Play Summit.
Through March 12

Jones Theatre
ASL and Audio-Described matinee at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, March 5
303-893-4100 or BUY ONLINE

Previous NewsCenter coverage of Two Degrees:
Photos, video: Your first look at Two Degrees
Two Degrees: A telling exchange at public forum
Tira Palmquist on Two Degrees: Grief for a husband, and a planet
Two Degrees cast digs deep into Boulder ice-core research
Two Degrees heats up conversation on global warming
Two Degrees: Five things we learned at first rehearsal
Colorado New Play Summit Spotlight: Tira Palmquist, Two Degrees
Video: Look back at 2016 Colorado New Play Summit
2016-17 season: Nine shows, two world premieres, return to classics

More 2016-17 ‘Meet the Cast’ profiles:

Steven J. Burge, An Act of God
Liam Craig, The Book of Will
Aubrey Deeker, The Glass Menagerie
Thaddeus Fitzpatrick, Frankenstein
Meridith C. Grundei, Frankenstein
Steven Cole Hughes, An Act of God
Sullivan Jones, Frankenstein
Mark Junek, Frankenstein
Charlie Korman, Frankenstein
Jennifer Le Blanc, The Book of Will
Rodney Lizcano, The Book of Will
Wesley Mann, The Book of Will
Robert Manning Jr., The Christians
Amelia Pedlow, The Glass Menagerie
Jessica Robblee, Frankenstein
Erik Sandvold, An Act of God
John Skelley, The Glass Menagerie
Caitlin Wise, The Christians