Taurie Kinoshita (director, drag queen wanna-be) was raised in Honolulu, but spent four years in England, teaching at E15 Acting School, University of Essex, UK. Taurie has directed over 120 critically acclaimed productions, in vastly different locales (NYC, Hawaii, London). Some of her directing credits include: the underneath, Pelicans, Black Faggot and Dead of Night (Kumu Kahua Theatre), Henry VIII, Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like it, Witch of Edmonton (Hawaii Shakespeare Festival), Romeo and Juliet, Taming of the Shrew, The Memory of a Dream (Clifftown Studios, East London) Castaways, Madness of Andrea Yates (Etcetera Theatre, London), Street Limbo Blues (Café Pick Me Up, NYC), Andrea / Agave (Lafayette Street Theatre, NYC), 4.48 Psychosis (Mark’s Garage). She is also known for creating original one-actor-one audience environmental interactive productions such as: Principles of Falling, Material Witness. Taurie directed professionally for the Sex Abuse Treatment Center for three years, writing and directing the touring school shows. She holds a BA in Theatre and a Master of Fine Arts in directing Western Theatre. Taurie was awarded the Lucie Bentley Award for Excellence in Acting, the Inouye Award for Excellence in Playwriting, honored with five Po'okelas for directing by the Hawaii State Theatre Council and Best New London, Fringe Company in 2010. Taurie is chair of the Play Development Committee at Kumu Kahua Theatre, Education Director for the Hawaii Shakespeare Festival, and received the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Award for Excellence in Theatre Education and the Francis Davis Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. She is most proud of the fact that her students are wildly successful.