A multi-hyphenate creative in the Chicago performing arts ecosystem with a decade of experience, Kimzyn Campbell (they/them) is a creative (writer, puppeteer) who works as a theater critic and editor, working in a variety of media such as magazine, newspaper, social media, podcasts and books. Kimzyn served as a copywriter for Paramount and Copley Theatres, and as chief editor at CircusTalk and American Circus Educators. They work as communications manager for Physical Theater Festival Chicago and as marketing manager for Rough House Puppet Arts.
Kimzyn has performed in storytelling hours and at puppet slams, such as Puppet Queers, Shoestring Puppets, Nasty, Brutish and Short, with the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival and with Seabeast Puppet Company. Kimzyn is a playwright in the Theatre L’Acadie 2025 cohort. They are a member of the American Theater Critics Association and the Association of LGBTQ + journalists. They have served on panels and competition juries in the role of editor, juror and critic.
Artistic Statement from Kimzyn
I’d describe my playwriting voice as new and rowdy. I grew up on the east coast in a rural working class town, and discovered the punk aesthetic was the perfect way to express my gender and reflect the sense of discord I experienced in society. By connecting with a supportive community though the punk aesthetic, I enjoyed a sense of belonging in a loving artistic community for the first time, and I have been chasing that grail ever since in order to commune and to express something elemental about humans– together through our art. As someone who discovered their Queer identity late in life, I tend to focus my voice on storytelling around the Other identity, highlighting underdogs and provoking the status quo.
In life, I’m an extrovert who feels most comfortable shining the spotlight on other people, so my focus is often outward. My work usually reflects on the tremulous and uncertain nature of the artist who wants to make an impact today. My creative work is one part healing exercise, one part shout into the void, and one part a defiant unwrapping of centuries of intergenerational trauma and colonialism, exposing it to the open air.
Aesthetically, I’ve always been drawn to puppetry because of the magical quality a puppet has to say and do things people can’t. I see a puppet as a human proxy, and a mask we hide behind while accidentally revealing more than we plan to. I’m curious about telling historical stories with a mix of human actors and puppets through a contemporary lens, where the artist can be alternately visible and invisible.
You’ll catch me most nights at the mid-sized and store front theaters of Chicago reviewing a wide variety of theater for various publications. After years of working in the circus industry, I feel as if curosity, playfulness and physicality are as important in my work as risk taking. My goal as a playwright is to counter our fixation on productivity and to make shows that illustrate how valid and connected we are to each other outside of the constructs of capitalism.
As a marketing and communications specialist in the performing arts, my goal is to do my part to keep theater alive and thriving in a fast paced world with unlimited entertainment options. I engage in this work with equal enthusiasm and creativty.
Performance & Productions
Current or Up Next:
September – December 2025 – I’m currently a playwright in Theatre L’Acadie’s and Pocket Theatric’s 2025 cohort, developing my play The Ubermationettes with director Sivan Spector, and producer Erin Sheets.
Previously…
- Playwright of 10-minute play Queer Nexus performed as staged reading at Steppenwolf’s Lookout as part of Trans Scribe: A New Works Festival – June 2025
- Performed at Arts in the Dark Parade with Rough House Theater – Fall 2025
- Performed at Seabeast Puppet Company Sexxy Slam – Summer 2025
- Performed They’re Made of Meat with The Bramble Family Band at Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival’s Nasty, Brutish & Short – Jan. 2025
- Performed They’re Made of Meat with The Bramble Family Band at Shoestring Puppets Insane Puppet Posse – Winter 2024
- Performed solo act at PuppetQueers / Potential Energy – 2024
- Performed at Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival performance of Little Amal – 2023
- Artistic director Semi-Circus – 2018-2021
- Storytelling performances – 2016-2018
Arts Advocacy
Volunteer director of development, Dawn Theatre Project (2023-24)
Juror of Circus International Film Festival (2022)
Volunteer advocate at circus arts and arts organizations: Center for Contemporary Circus Arts (CCIAC), American Circus Alliance (ACA) advocacy committee member (2018-2022)
International Circus Awards voting committee member (2021)
Juror at Iberoamerican Circus Fest (FIRCO, 2019)
Special Interests
I volunteer with Canine Therapy Corps as one half of a therapy dog/human team.
Love to juggle, swim, drum, kayak, bike, knit, and learn new languages.
