Panther City Arts

Kris Noteboom

Born: April 11, 1980     Beaumont, Texas

Adopted by Nancy and Steve Noteboom in May of 1980.

I grew up mostly in Burleson, Texas, a suburb of Ft. Worth Texas in the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex. My dad runs our family’s commercial and industrial paint contracting business, Ray Noteboom Paint Company. We’ve painted many landmarks throughout North Texas, including the Bass Performance Hall, the Modern Art Museum of Ft. Worth, the Ft. Worth Science and History Museum, the Cotton Bowl, and Booker T. Washington High School, one of the country’s most prestigious arts schools. My mother is a pharmacist. My younger sister Katie is a social worker for Scottish Rite Hospital and my brother-in-law Jared works for a graphic design firm. He’s the guy responsible for all the little graphics of Marvel super heroes and whatnot on cans of Dr. Pepper, among other things.

My interest in the arts manifested at a very young age and I’ve spent my life pursuing that passion, off an on. Most of this is recounted in my one man show “…and then I woke up.”

Currently, I’m a PhD student, in the arts and humanities, at the University of Texas at Dallas, and I work as a theater critic for Theater Jones (www.theaterjones.com)

I enjoy writing, performing, movies, Shakespeare, theater in general, cigars, whiskey, beer, and laughing.

For what it’s worth, I’m a member of MENSA.

I played my first stage role ever (outside of church and elementary school pageants) as Azaz, the King of Numbers in The Phantom Tollbooth at Hughes Middle School.

High School: Burleson High School

At Burleson, I participated in Theater, Show Choir/Choir/Musical Theater, played on the football team, lifted for the powerlifting team, and served as the Treasurer for both the Student Council and the National Honor Society.

Performed as Zebulum (one of Joseph’s brothers) in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Sitting Bull in Annie Get Your Gun, and Ephraim Pontipee (one of the seven brothers) in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, which starred a young Kelly Clarkson.  

College: Hardin-Simmons University

Major: Communication

     Minor: Psychology

Spent most of my college career in choir, but came back to theater late winning three different departmental acting awards. Two for Best Featured Actor, and another for Best Actor in the play Murder By Natural Causes. Other highlights include playing M in Samuel Beckett’s Play, Adam in Mark Twains’ The Diary of Adam and Eve, and Technical and Assistant Directing a production of Brecht on Brecht.

Masters: University of North Texas

     Primary Focus: Performance Studies

     Secondary Focus: Rhetoric

Was awarded Outstanding Graduate Performer my first year, and Outstanding Graduate Scholar, the department’s top award, my second year. While at UNT, I presented papers and performances at National Communication Association Conferences in San Antonio, Chicago, and San Diego. I also presented at the Southern States Communication Association Conferences in Savannah and Louisville.

I was a part of several performances adapted and directed by my advisers. Under Dr. Kelly Taylor, I performed in Frida Kahlo in Love, in which I played Diego Rivera. And under Dr. Justin Trudeau, I performed in Feet on the Street: Rambles Around New Orleans, in which I played Rambler 4 and received particular praise for my show closing rendition of the famous song “St. James Infirmary”. I also took on Assistant Directing duties for Kelly Taylor’s Darkness at Sunset and Vine and Justin Trudeau’s epic adaptation of Tom Robbins’ Wild Ducks Flying Backward.

I took my original performance piece The Mockingbird to the Theatre of the Oppressed Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and presented a paper on Jon Stewart’s 2006 appearance on CNN’s Crossfire to the International Society of Humor Studies Conference in Long Beach, California.

My research at UNT focused primarily on humor. Specifically, I tended to study satire, focusing on Andy Kaufman, Jon Stewart, and Stephen Colbert. Though my crowning work was actually, probably, a vicious adaptations of Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery.

PhD: University of Texas at Dallas

Primary Focus: Aesthetic Studies, where I specialize in writing and performance work.

Most of my time here has revolved around the development of my solo show, “…and then I woke up.”

My mentors are:

Fred Curchack – http://www.utdallas.edu/~curchack/

Thomas Riccio –http://www.thomasriccio.com/

Look at me looking all cool and stuff!
Photo by Robert Hart
http://www.roberthart.com