Kendra Potter

Kendra, an enrolled citizen of the Lummi Nation, is a theatre artist and filmmaker, currently based in Missoula, MT. Her film performances have been screened at Sundance, Tribeca, SXSW, NY Human Rights Watch, and other festivals around the world. She won best actor in the NBC/Universal Pictures Short Cuts Film Festival. The New York Times has called her “a skilled collaborator.” NY theatre includes both off and off-off-Broadway venues. Regional work includes a national tour as Shelby in Steel Magnolias for MT Rep, and other productions in LA, OR, and MT. She developed a theatre and storytelling program at N'Kwusm Salish language school with William Yellowrobe, has created and implemented a curriculum for Missoula County Public School’s Sparks program on Native American Studies using theatre in education techniques, and has presented work as a keynote and panelist at national and international conferences on personal storytelling, race, creative writing, Native issues, and literary study. In 2015, she co-founded MT+NYC Collaborative, and directed two of the company's first productions: The Woodstove and Dido of Idaho, and performed in The Wolf before co-writing and performing the titular role in The Buffalo Play, which enjoyed its premiere in NY in the 2019 season at The Tank. She helps facilitate annual writing retreats for all genres with MT+NYC Collaborative. Kendra is a producer and protagonist of a documentary called DAUGHTER OF A LOST BIRD (2020) about her adoption and reunion with her birth mother and Lummi heritage, currently making the rounds of the festival circuit and on PBS’ America ReFramed and World Channel.