Rachel Hutzenbiler is so excited to be back at NJD for The Best Weeks of Summer, and away from the heat of the desert!  They are a current graduate student at Arizona State University studying Theatre for Youth and Communities and spent the last year becoming deeply involved in the theatre scene in Tempe.  They were the assistant director for ASU’s production of The Wolves and has been directing and performing new work including chew the fat, Esperanza for the Bats, Baby Shower, and The Neverland, a retelling of Peter Pan by Madeline Sayet.  Rachel has continued working as a teaching artist with Childsplay, a children’s theatre in the heart of Tempe.  Other projects include an immersive installation requiring thousands of stickers called “Sticker Graffiti,” which has received stickers from all over the country and a grant by ASU’s Theatre for Youth programming.  They will be an apprentice for the Theatre for Youth/ USA conference in May.

Before moving to Arizona, Rachel worked with NJD to direct shows such as The Hobbit, Fiddler on the Roof, Jr., and Alice in Wonderland, and was involved with every show from 2018-summer 2022 and worked with area elementary schools as the primary after school theatre program teacher.  It is so nice to be back home!