BIOGRAPHY
*also credited as Kristen Wenke
Kristen Schrader is a Chicago-based actress, producer, painter, and podcast host whose work is driven by a love of creative expression in all its forms. A native of the Chicagoland area, Kristen discovered her passion for performance through school plays and community programs at an early age and has been pursuing creative endeavors ever since.
Kristen holds a Bachelor's degree in Theatre and Sociology from Loyola University Chicago, where she studied performance, voice, and dialects while developing a deeper understanding of human behavior and character. She is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Human Resource Development at Villanova University, along with an HR Leadership Certificate.
As an actress, Kristen is active in the Chicago theatre and film community and is continually seeking new opportunities to bring compelling characters to life. She is also a producer and designer with 27th Letter Productions, the multimedia company she co-founded with her husband, Christopher. Through 27th Letter, she has helped create films, podcasts, web content, and other storytelling projects. Kristen stars in the title role of the web series The Strange Case of Lucy Chandler.
Creativity has always extended beyond the stage for Kristen. Raised in a home filled with her mother's artwork, she developed a lifelong passion for painting and visual expression. Inspired by the Impressionists, her work embraces color, emotion, and spontaneity, often exploring the balance between structure and creative freedom.
Kristen is also the co-host of two pop-culture podcasts. The Sunnydale Stacks celebrates the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, while Rogues Gallery explores some of fiction's most memorable villains, antiheroes, and misunderstood monsters.
When she isn't performing, producing, painting, podcasting, or working in Human Resources, Kristen can often be found flying on a trapeze rig. She is a fan of bright colors, big emotions, good wine, and unapologetically enthusiastic conversations about theatre, television, and the enduring mystery of why Cats became a cultural phenomenon.