Kristen La Follette
California State University Monterey Bay
Kristen La Follette teaches oral history service learning and creative writing at California State University Monterey Bay. She led interviewing workshops for organizations including Monterey County Theatre Alliance, Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, Veteran's Oral History Project and Partners for Peace.Kristen creates and researches oral history theatre. Her verbatim play, A Glimpse Through the Curtain: Monologues of American Catholic Sisters was read in New York City and Pennsylvania. Pushing Against the Water: A Bay Area Muslim Women's Oral History Project was featured in the 2019 Greenhouse Theatre Festival. Her chapter Pushing Boundaries Onstage: Culture Clash, Oral History Theater, and the Influence of El Teatro Campesinowas published in Radical Roots: Public History & Social Justice Activism through Amherst College Press. Kristen co-founded and chaired the Oral History Association Emerging Professionals Committee. She is also an avid pandemic baker, who volunteers with Cake 4 Kids where she donates personalized birthday cakes for homeless and foster youth. Kristen holds M.A. in Oral History from Columbia University and an M.F.A. in Playwriting from San Francisco State University.
Services
Interviewing, audit editing, project consultation, workshops, training, teaching, theatre, monologues
Languages
Regions Available for Work
Other Regions: California|| New York|| West Coast|| Central Coast
Specialty
Kristen has created several verbatim theatre pieces exploring religious identity. Like many others, she also began baking during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her current project Baking Through: An Oral History of Pandemic Bakers, records the experiences of other bakers whose practice was impacted by the pandemic.
Purpose of Contact
- I am available to answer questions, or provide mentorship to other oral historians
- I am available for hire - as an oral historian, consultant, presenter, educator, or related services
- I am available to collaborate - on research, community projects, artistic endeavors, or other joint undertakings with peers
