Liz Fentress is an award-winning playwright with extensive experience as an actor, director, and teacher in professional, community, and educational theatre. Her plays have been produced across the U.S. and staged in London’s West End. Liz has received playwriting awards from the North American Actors Association, the National Educational Television Association, the Kentucky Arts Council, and the Kentucky Foundation for Women.
Caitlyn Brock and Keifer Adkins in the world premiere of Stages of Bloom at the Public Theatre of Kentucky.
“I began writing plays at a young age—including The Life of Mozart and The Cats Form a Brotherhood in the fifth and sixth grades. Later I wrote The First Great Paul Bunyan Story Telling Contest and an adaptation of The Devil and His Three Golden Hairs which were both produced at the Green Mountain Guild in White River Junction, VT. I returned to playwriting mid-theatre-career and wrote Liz’s Circus Story; I was tired of memorizing other people’s lines, and needed to speak my own thoughts. I only write full-length plays. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have worked with dramaturg Liz Engelman at the Tofte Lake Center in Ely, MN, for the past ten-plus years. ”
Liz Bussey Fentress in the world premiere of Liz’s Circus Story at Horse Cave Theatre.
Most recently, in addition to writing plays, Liz enjoyed acting with several Louisville companies including Stage One and the Bunbury. Liz taught New Voices for Actors Theatre of Louisville, wrote the Online Playwriting Workshop for the University of Wisconsin Department of Continuing Studies, and served as the Kentucky Regional Rep for the Dramatists Guild. Liz worked as a theatre consultant for over 20 years through the Kentucky Arts Council’s Peer Advisory Network.
Previously Liz worked for 13 seasons at Horse Cave Theatre as a director and actor, also serving on the management team. While there she coordinated the Kentucky Voices program for the development of new plays by or about Kentuckians. Prior to moving to Horse Cave, Liz was the executive director of the Playhouse in the Park in Murray where she founded the West Kentucky Playwrights.
Liz kept bees at her home in Kentucky for 20 years.
Liz began her career touring with the Franzen Bros. Circus and the Guthrie Theatre. In New York, she was a founding member of the Irondale Ensemble. Liz is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. Born and raised in northern Wisconsin, Liz now makes her home with her husband Larry in Bayfield, Wisconsin, where she enjoys gardening, kayaking, hiking in the woods, knitting, snow-shoeing, downhill and cross-country skiing, and walking her dog.
