One of the most impressive ladies on our campus:
Elaine Knox is a senior here at Kutztown University, majoring in Communication Design with a concentration in Graphic Design. Although her major is incredibly demanding, Elaine makes sure to give a huge part of her already scarce free time to Actors Creating Theatre (ACT), a theatre group on campus. She chose KU due to its amazing CD program as well as the fact that the major is “small and focused”. Elaine has a very impressive portfolio that she is constantly building upon. She has done freelance work in the past for advertising purposes and has even created some of ACT’s posters that you may have seen plastered around campus! Her passion for her craft is evident, which will only carry her on to bigger and better opportunities!
(Pictured: A promotional poster for Spring Awakening-Created by Elaine Knox)
Not only is Elaine heavily involved in ACT, but she is the president of the campus club and has served two years in the position. The club was formed by students roughly 4 years ago and has flourished immensely under her presidency. She’s very modest when it comes to how much she takes on for ACT but I’m on the eboard as well so I can officially say that she has the most difficult job. Her position is in charge of scheduling shows, reserving rooms months in advance, running eboard meetings, contacting businesses for props/costumes and so on. The process to get in touch with all of these people and plan so far ahead is exhausting and time consuming but if you ask Elaine, she’s all for it.
(Pictured: ACT Eboard circa 2015-From right: Schaeffer Stark, Claire Lodge, Andrew Jans, Ben Winn, Elaine Knox)
“I joined ACT because I loved doing theatre in high school and wanted to continue acting and learn more about working backstage. As president I am in charge of organizing, planning, and producing shows and events, delegation of work, ensuring that all of the work is on track, and leading meetings. I love ACT because I feel like it’s an awesome showcase of what KU students are capable of and it gives everyone a chance to learn about how a theatre company is run. It’s awesome that a bunch of non-theatre majors are so driven and focused on bringing performing arts to KU’s campus.”
You may even recognize Elaine from her roles in various plays and musicals that ACT has produced over the years. Her most recent her roles were Carly in Reasons to be Pretty and Ilse in Spring Awakening.
(Pictured: Reasons to be Pretty Cast- (from left) Sean Connors, Ben Winn, Elaine Knox, Schaeffer Stark)
Last year, Elaine even went as far as taking over the director position for ACT’s production of Heathers the Musical. Not only was this extremely last minute and she had to pick up where the previous director left off, but she was managing a cast of roughly 30 individuals. Despite the difficulty, Elaine pulled it off and ACT performed fantastically for an audience of roughly 700 people in one night. That was the biggest audience the club has seen since it’s formation. This was extremely stressful for the CD major but she wouldn’t change a thing.
“Directing the show was amazing because everyone was so hard-working and committed to making the production the best it could be. I think one of the greatest achievements of ACT has been to bring full-scale productions to the stage with minimal resources. For me personally it has taught me to be more creative and resourceful with my decisions.”
(Pictured: Cast of Heathers the Musical-Directed by Elaine Knox)
Not only does Elaine divide her time between school, ACT, a fruitful social life and work but she also has travel fever. Elaine has been on several trips of a lifetime that some of us can only dream about!
“I was fortunate to study abroad in Oaxaca, Mexico with the CD program and study printmaking. My favorite part of this trip was hiking to this beautiful natural infinity pool and petrified waterfall called Hierve el Agua. Over winter break I went to India with Cross- Cultural solutions and volunteered as an English teacher in New Delhi. I learned so much about communication on this trip, and it was definitely a big challenge because I don’t know any Hindi, but doing art projects with the kids at the end of each day really helped me to break the language barrier between us! All of the architecture, diversity, and history in New Delhi is absolutely incredible, and I really felt immersed in the culture.”
(Pictured: Elaine’s Class in New Delhi)
Elaine is living quite the interesting life and she will only go up from here. She is driven, successful, and intelligent and has a thirst for life that will get her very far. You can meet her and learn more about her club, ACT, by attending the general membership meetings every Monday at 7 in the MSU Alumni Auditorium!