Matthew Kerns, President & Artistic Director of St Lou Fringe, stopped by to talk about this year's festival, which runs August 15 through 21 at venues throughout the Grand Center Arts District. ------ 

Matthew is a John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts award-winning educator, critically acclaim theatre performance artist featured in American Theatre Magazine, and a 2020 St. Louis Business Journal Diverse Business Leaders Award recipient. ———   Matthew has been an Executive Producer, Director, and Artistic Director for Off-Loop Theatre [Chicago], Off-Broadway Theatre [New York], Reparatory Theatre [California], Regional Theatre [Iowa, Missouri, Colorado] and Educational Theatre [Chicago, California, Colorado, Iowa, Missouri]. ——   Matthew’s artistic portfolio includes original performances [Xmas Carol, Chicken, Life in the Fastlane], Immersive events [Gay Fantasia, Home], and standard plays and musicals [Noises Off, For Colored Girls…, Frost/ Nixon] ———   Students that have trained with Matthew have gone on to work in television, film, major motion pictures, and on Broadway. From Saturday Night Live to Gotham, and from Six: The Musical to Jake, the State Farm Guy and beyond. ———   Matthew is an expert in the performance practices of Stanislavsky, Meisner, Grotowski, Somatic Movement, Improvisation, Roy Hart Vocal Technique, Moment Work, and Viewpoints. ———   He has presented at the NAIS Conference, National Writing Conference for Youth, Missouri Conference on the Younger Years, TCG National Conference, and at TEDx. ———   Matthew holds an Associate degree in Communications and Theatre from St. Louis Community College, a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Eastern New Mexico University, and Master of Fine Arts degree from Naropa University. ———   He married the love of his life, Mr. Sean Gottlieb, in a simple service under the St. Louis Arch in April of 2020. They reside in the Lafayette Square neighborhood in St. Louis, Missouri with their dogs Lewis, Harvey Milk, and Tuxedo the Cat. ———