....trying to be a little better everyday
Lecturer in Theatre
Resident Fight and Intimacy Director
Rice University, Houston, Texas
2024–Present
Adjunct Professor of Theatre
University of Houston, Houston, Texas
2024—Present
Bio
Located in Houston, Texas
Kyle is a Theatre educator, professional actor, director, playwright, and movement specialist with academic appointments at Rice University (Lecturer of Theatre and Resident Stage Combat and Intimacy Director) and the University of Houston (Adjunct Professor of Theatre, leading BFA's and BA's in Movement and Stage Combat). Extensive experience designing and teaching actor-training curricula encompassing acting, movement, classical performance, stage combat and improvisation. Professional specialization includes physical actor training, stage combat and intimacy choreography and classical performance. Current university teaching includes undergraduate and graduate-level instruction, as well as fully realized theatre production and directing. Experienced educator and teaching artist working with university, K–12, conservatory, professional theatre, and community-based populations.
As an Actor Kyle has worked with many theaters including: Rec Room Arts, Dirt Dogs Theatre Co., Moody Center for The Arts, Unity Theatre, Classical Theatre, The Octarine Accord, the ’22-’25 seasons of the Houston Shakespeare Festival, Arkansas Shakespeare Festival, Michigan Shakespeare Festival, Riverside Theatre in Iowa City, University of Houston, Flint Repertory Theatre, Water Works Theatre Co., and the University of Michigan.
Kyle has choreographed Stage Combat and Intimacy for several theatres including: Houston Grand Opera, Alley Theatre, Moore's School of Music, Houston Broadway Theatre, Dirt Dogs Theatre Co., Rice University, University of Houston, Theatre Under the Stars, Rec Room Arts, Unity Theatre, Houston Shakespeare Festival, Riverside Theatre, University of Michigan-Flint, Little Baytown Theatre, Weiss Tabletop Theatre, Dunham Theatre, and MATCH.
As a Playwright and poet his work has been performed in various states such as Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin and Texas and in venues ranging from theaters to Universities to writing conferences.
—Audio play titled "Good Dirt", produced by Flint Repertory Theatre and Flint Public Art Project, starring Kyle and Janet Haley. (https://flintmuralplays.org/good-dirt)
He studied under Adam Noble, Jack Young, Jim Johnson, Sara Becker, Janet Haley and Bill Irwin. He trained in Tang Soo Do for over ten years (among other athletics) and stage combat. Receiving certifications from J. Allen Suddeth of the SAFD in four weapons and additional training in another 4+ confirming him as an Actor Combatant.
Obtained his MFA from the University of Houston and a
BA (Theatre/English Specializing in Technical Writing) from the University of Michigan.
Reviews
"But it’s Clark who anchors this production with a performance that’s possibly legendary. Is there anyone in Houston theater who does crazy as awesomely as he can? From his burning itch, his shaking hands, his fearsome gaze, his neurotic tics, there’s not a false move anywhere, and with complete mastery he chases those internal bugs with psychotic realism. He turns grotesque into sympathy. A truly mesmerizing performance."
Bug @ Dirt Dogs Theatre Co., Houston Texas
D.L.Groover, HoustonPress
" Kyle Clark appears as Peter, and he physically hits new heights as an actor here. He shrinks and grows as needed, and his manic episodes here are eerily always on point. It’s hard not to believe Peter, not to love him like Agnes does. But at the same time, he is horrifically off-kilter. That Kyle can do this highwire act of emotional vulnerability and explosive anger is insanely mindblowing to see. He rips the hinges right off the play!"
Bug @ Dirt Dogs Theatre Co., Houston Texas
Brett Cullum, BroadwayWorld Houston
"In subsidiary plot, faithful courtier Glouchester (Kenn Hopkins, Jr.), another father, is framed by his illegitimate son Edmund (a brilliant Iago-like portrayal by Caleb Clark) as a traitor. Glouschester's “good” son Edgar (Kyle Clark, equally enthralling) escapes the treachery and masquerades as itinerant beggar “Tom o' Bedlam.”
King Lear @ Houston Shakespeare Festival, Houston Texas
D.L.Groover, HoustonPress
"The young lovers, Clark and Benovez, are authentic, speak the speech trippingly..."
Cymbeline @ Houston Shakespeare Festival
D.L. Groover, HoustonPress
"We saw Romeo first – he was there on the stage all along as the audience arrived, writing love notes to a girl he’s sure that he loves but who doesn’t return the feeling. Kyle Clark brings wonderful intensity to this role along with a brash and affectionate impulsivity that will ultimately bring him down."
Romeo and Juliet @ Cynthia Woods Theatre, Flint Michigan
Kathleen Kirby, Flint stages Word Press
"Knight’s blocking of the two central characters (plus the actors’ skillful physicality within it), told so much of the story, I’d be willing to watch the production without words. (Though the words themselves are lovely, with none extraneous or wasted.) These old friends/near strangers, played by Kyle Clark and Christina Sullivan, dance around each other, connecting and disconnecting, weaving their young lives and dreams and fears in and out of sync. Their tenuous but deeply needed shared rhythm builds until broken by the third character..."
Eden Prairie, 1971 @ Riverside Theatre, Iowa City; by Matt Smart
Saunia Powell, Little Village
"Actors Kyle Clark of Flint, Mich., and Christina Sullivan and Kristy Hartsgrove Mooers of Iowa City fill their characters with passion, sorrow, confusion and awkwardness, each harboring hidden fears laid bare as the action progresses."
Eden Prairie, 1971 @ Riverside Theatre, Iowa City; by Matt Smart
Diana Nollen, The Gazette
“Robin wants a child and acquires one from Peter (Kyle Clark, who miraculously makes us feel both contempt and empathy for his character at different points in the play.)”
Wolf Play, @ Rec Room Arts, Houston
Doni Wilson, Houston Chronicle
“Though he's playing a less sympathetic character, Clark is particularly good as Peter, a pretty loathsome guy on paper who comes off as deeply human and real.”
Wolf Play, @ Rec Room Arts, Houston
Chris Vognar, The Chronicle
“The same can be said for Kyle Clark who manages to bring Bobby Reyburn to life in an equally believable way. He has a masterful sense of innocence about everything including his own crime. We love Bobby, but then become horrified as we realize his beliefs and his crimes are unspeakable. Vollman and Clark carry the bulk of the play with scenes that volley dialogue back and forth, and the two make us examine their death row inmates in ways we never expect. The brilliance of their performances comes out in how much we like and care for these men.”
Coyote on a Fence, @ Dirt Dogs Theatre Co., Houston
Brett Cullum, BroadwayWorld Houston
“Clark would go from Gilbert Grape to Derek Vinyard in such a sudden turn of action. Hurling racial slurs and anti-Semitic comments made Clark drop all mannerisms, affectations, and naivete that would typically characterize Reyburn’s character. His hatred was so separate from the usual whimsical quirks and mannerisms of Clark’s that it seemed like two split personalities....Clark played the binary.”
Coyote on a Fence, @ Dirt Dogs Theatre Co., Houston
Ada Alozie, Houston Press
“Polar opposite of Justin's calm is Kevin's antsy neurosis. Full of questions and contradictions without one ounce of cool is Kevin (Kyle Clark), seemingly ready to implode from anxiety.”
Heroes of the Fourth Turning @ Rec Room Arts
Jessica Goldman, Houston Press
“Clark gets many deserved laughs with his relentless stream of anxious jerky, awkwardness that eventually skews dark and quite upsetting.”
Heroes of the Fourth Turning @ Rec Room Arts
Jessica Goldman, Houston Press
“Kyle Clark excels as a grief-stricken, revenge-seeking Macduff”
MacBeth @ Houston Shakespeare Festival
Natalie De La Garza, Houston Press
“Luckily, this production boasts wonderful performances from Sophia Marcelle and Kyle Clark.”
Romeo and Juliet @ Houston Shakespeare Festival
Natalie De La Garza, Houston Press
“Clark’s Romeo is just as exuberant in love, so much so that the spotlight could barely keep up with him at times, though it’s tempered throughout with an angsty sincerity. Their chemistry is palpable, and their likeability is off-the-charts.”
Romeo and Juliet @ Houston Shakespeare Festival
Natalie De La Garza, Houston Press
"Clark has another of his who-is-that? performances. He can morph into anyone and we don't recognize him. Remember his psychotic Bobby Reyburn in Dirt Dogs' Coyote on a Fence, or his utterly uncontrollable jerk Peter in Rec Room's Wolf Play? He's all terror and bluster as Ariel”
The Pillowman @ Dirt Dogs Theatre Co.
D. L. Groover, Houston Press
“and though power couple Hippolyta and Theseus don’t get a lot of stage time, Dinah Ndu manages to project a commanding presence while Kyle Clark uses long vowels to great effect.”
A Midsummer Nights Dream @ Houston Shakespeare Festival
Natalie De La Garza, Houston Press
"The actors are left to give us reason to care about these people, a chore they approach valiantly and overall successfully. There’s Kyle Clark as weary traveler and nervous talker Jonathan Harker."
Dracula @ Classical Theatre
Natalie De La Garza, Houston Press
"Actor Kyle Clark makes for a wonderfully muted Johnathan Harker. Kyle is usually cast as the soldier or the macho man, the alpha male, so it is wonderful to see him stretch to play a quiet intellectual who is frightened most of the time."
Dracula @ Classical Theatre
Brett Callum, BroadwayWorld
"Kyle Clark plays Harker, the young lawyer that gets stuck in the castle. Clark is an amazing actor who gives tour-de-force performances."
Dracula @ Classical Theatre
Doni Wilson, Houston Chronicle