Claire's Story
Claire Kiersky (she/her) is an experienced performer who has been acting from a young age. At the age of five she performed in her first play, starring as a fairy princess. Since then, Claire has never ceased enjoying the spotlight. Throughout her elementary education she performed in as many school and community productions as possible, ranging from Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde to original works through the no-longer active education program at the Seattle Bathhouse Theatre. In addition to performing, Claire took ballet classes at All That Dance for 12 years, and was a member of Northwest GirlChoir. In sixth grade she announced that Broadway was her future, dressing up as Lea Michele's character of "Rachel" from Glee for Halloween.
As Claire moved onto high school, she realized that while she still loved performing, Broadway was no longer the goal. She started her high school education at Seattle Preparatory where she took a video production class and found a love of being both in front of and behind the camera. She transferred to Roosevelt High School her junior year where she had many more performance and behind-the-scenes opportunities. She participated in a Book-It class, inspired by the Book-It Repertory Theatre in Seattle, performed in the musicals Sweeney Todd and Nice Work If You Can Get It, and discovered a love for directing when the one-act she assistant directed won first place in the school festival.
School performances were not Claire's only performance outlet, however. At the age of fifteen she discovered a casting call for something called "SilverKite Community Arts", looking for five actors of different generations to create a devised theatre performance based on personal stories surrounding a single word - "String". She was the youngest person to audition, got cast - and the rest is history! Since her first touring performance with SilverKite Community Arts, she has acted in two others, assistant directed one, been their arts coordinator and social media manager. In 2021, she acted in an interactive Zoom murder mystery performance for the Washington State Association of Activity Professionals Conference (WSAAP). In 2022, she became their Community Relations Manager which she will continue to do until she moves to LA in April 2023. However, after being a part of SilverKite Community Arts, LLC, for eight out of its 10-year existence, she can't give it up and will continue to remotely manage their website. SilverKite is extraordinary intergenerational arts organization that was created in order to help communities and individuals experience how the arts can help people connect, understand each other, heal, and inspire growth. Claire views the CEO and Founder of SilverKite, Jen Kulik, Ph.D. as one of her biggest inspirations.
After doing the college audition circuit, Claire ended up attending San Diego State University. After a rough start where she fell ill and had to withdraw from the university, the study abroad trip to Edinburgh, Scotland that she had already signed up (and paid for) before leaving reinvigorated her to come back to school and finish her degree. Claire was heavily involved in the theatre community and other on-campus organizations throughout her college experience. Upon her return sophomore year she joined Kappa Delta sorority, got a job in the SDSU Housing Department, and became an active member of Skull & Dagger Dramatic Society. To see her full credits from her college years and beyond, click here.
Claire's college experience also brought her several leadership roles, including being a member of the Confidence Committee for Kappa Delta in 2019, the Director of Public Relations for Skull and Dagger Dramatic Society her senior year, and being a member of the School of Television and Film Archive Team her senior year. Her college experience also brought her some modeling opportunities, where she modeled for social media content for SandCloud and was an extra in their commercial with Bed Bath & Beyond. She was also honored to have done a photoshoot that was published in a special issue of The Daily Aztec called "El Alma" that highlighted the issue of sexual assault on college campuses. Claire graduated in May 2021 with a BA in Theatre Performance and a minor in Digital Media Marketing.
Four days after graduation Claire moved to Friday Harbor - a small town with a population of 2,747 on San Juan Island off the coast of Washington State. She started as the Marketing Assistant at San Juan Community Theatre, and after the summer she accepted a full-time position as their Marketing Associate. During her time there she also acted in two productions, a staged reading, and got stage management experience. However, a year later, she decided that small town life was not for her and she moved back to her hometown of Seattle, WA where she accepted the role of Community Relations Manager at SilverKite. She also became a Teaching Artist for them, and has enjoyed teaching Rock Painting, Mindfulness, Visual Journaling, Collage and more to older adults and adults with dementia. Since her move back to Seattle, Claire acted in three films, one commercial, and been an extra in two large-scale professional productions which led to her signing with an agent at Big Fish Northwest. (View Claire's full resume here). She also acted in the "Finding Trails" theatre festival produced by Penguin Productions and in October and joined the Seattle Dinner Detective cast. She also started using her digital media marketing skills to market herself, and has a TikTok account that has amassed almost 5,000 followers with her most viral video exceeding a quarter of a million views.
The first weekend of April 2023, Claire and her mom drove all the way from Seattle, WA to Los Angeles, CA. Claire has taken residence in Culver City, and has been loving the sunshine, massive amount of vegan food options, and seeing adorable dogs everywhere. While living in California, Claire is continuing to work remotely as the Website Manager for SilverKite, and has been focusing on growing her own social channels and securing brand partnerships. She looks forward to what her future in California holds!