Kenny Kilfara

AUTHOR

Storytelling has always been at the center of my creative life. As an actor and director, I've spent decades bringing other people's stories to life. As a teacher, my focus is on empowering students to tell theirs. As an author, I've finally found the joy of telling my own.

Most recently, I finished my debut novel, THE WANDERKIN. It tells the story of a grieving boy who enters his late father's fantasy world and discovers saving it requires the very thing he's terrified of: accepting help.

One day many years ago, my four-year-old daughter asked me, "Daddy, what's a Gaglaragon?" I had absolutely no idea, but it got my mind to wondering its way into writing this book.

EDUCATOR

As an arts educator with over twenty years of experience — from the secondary to graduate level — I am dedicated to creating authentic rapport with my students while fostering an environment where the pursuit of artistic excellence is both rigorous and joyful. I embrace a process-over-product pedagogy, believing that individualized mentoring and genuine human connection are the foundations of meaningful learning. From large-scale lecture halls to one-on-one mentoring, I have taught an array of theatre, film production, and media studies classes.

I am proud that several of my students have gone on to top-tier institutions including Juilliard, NYU Tisch, USC, UCLA, Duke, Cal Arts, and Chapman, but I believe the true value of an arts education extends far beyond those who choose to specialize in it. The arts provide a forum for civic engagement, entertainment, and discourse, giving every student tools for self-exploration and expression. That process cultivates confidence, self-worth, and empathy that last a lifetime.

Art doesn't just train artists. It teaches people how to be more fully human.

STAGE PRODUCTIONS

STUDENT FILM WORK

STUDENT WORK

Boxed In LOGLINE: Four friends discover a plain, white box but can't seem to escape what they find inside.

Filmed as a part of Film Lab, a term-long extracurricular that provides an opportunity to delve deeply into filmmaking. Movies are conceptualized, written, cast, shot and edited over the course of the term. WATCH

STUDENT WORK

Talk to Her LOGLINE: A brother, mourning the loss of his sister, finds that talking to her can make a world of difference.

Filmed as a part of Film Lab, a term-long extracurricular that provides an opportunity to delve deeply into filmmaking. Movies are conceptualized, written, cast, shot and edited over the course of the term. WATCH

STUDENT WORK

Cobalt LOGLINE: Sometime heroes don't have to be super to make big impact on his community. Cobalt is the story of a boy's journey from bystander to activist.
–Dir. Julian Alvarez

This film was produced as a Senior Project, a six-month long capstone project conceived and implemented by students with hands-on mentor support. I served as initial project mentor to Julian before moving to another school. He took several of my film classes before this project. WATCH Vimeo link

STUDENT WORK

BYTE LOGLINE: Inspired by Milton's Paradise Lost, two people are tempted my a mysterious figure with a choice and the aftermath of that

Filmed as a part of Film Lab, a term-long extracurricular that provides an opportunity to delve deeply into filmmaking. Movies are conceptualized, written, cast, shot and edited over the course of the term. WATCH

STUDENT WORK

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? LOGLINE: This short film brings to life Joyce Carol Oates' celebrated short story of a young woman whose burgeoning sexuality is corrupted by a manipulative, terrorizing stranger.
–Dir. Alexa Barrett

• Official selection of The Hamptons International Film Festival

This film was produced as a Senior Project, a six-month long capstone project conceived and implemented by students with hands-on mentor support. WATCH Westhampton Patch article

STUDENT WORK

Saving Caroline LOGLINE: A 17-year-old boy purchases a journal at a yard sale, only to discover that it has already been written in by a girl with a fantastic imagination. The more he reads, the more he is drawn into her fantasy world, until the lines between fantasy and reality begin to blur.
–Dir. Devon Leaver

• 1st place East End Student Film Project Film Festival.
• Official selection of The Hamptons International Film Festival

This film was produced as a Senior Project, a six-month long capstone project conceived and implemented by students with hands-on mentor support. WATCH Director discusses the film

FILMMAKER

DOCUMENTARY

Canada Lee, Native Son Two-time National Endowment for the Humanities funded feature-length documentary on the life and legacy of Canada Lee—one of the greatest actors of the 20th Century. Lee leveraged his fame to fight for civil rights. His uncompromising stance prompted the U.S. Government to label him a communist, destroying his reputation and career. In 1952, Lee died at the age of 45. This is the first film to explore his life and legacy.

Executive Producer, Director of Research, Writer (2003-present, work-in-progress)
www.canadaleedoc.com WATCH Canada Lee Fiscal Sponsor page

CREATIVE WORK

GO WEST While teaching at the Ross School, I had the pleasure of teaching co-leading a group of 6 faculty and 30 students across parts of Arizona, New Mexico and California. We sought to explore pastoral America and the current state to the American dream. WATCH

CREATIVE WORK

THE RIGHT COPY This montage film explores reoccurring sociocultural and political themes in American history by condensing seven decades into just under five minutes. WATCH Interview in The Red & Black

CREATIVE WORK

BEFORE CROSSING LOGLINE: A young man and woman partake in a metaphoric reflection of their relationship.

Shot on 16mm, this film was made while studying under the tutelage of Jim Herbert WATCH

CREATIVE WORK

Off the Grid As a part of my work at Ross, I had co-lead a group of 6 faculty and 33 students across parts of Ethiopia. We traversed vast expanses, leaving comfort and familiarity behind. We found ourselves face to face with an incredibly rich and ancient culture. WATCH

CREATIVE WORK

The End Runner LOGLINE: When a drifter tries to capitalize on a chance encounter, he finds himself on the run.
–Dir. Kevin Roy WATCH Kevin Roy - homepage

CREATIVE WORK

SNOWSTORM A timelapse filmed over two days of the chapel of St. Peter and St. Paul, Concord, NH. WATCH

INDUSTRIAL WORK

World Monuments Fund – Lalibela Preservation Project In March 2013, a group of high school students and faculty from the Ross School in East Hampton, New York, traveled to Ethiopia. This midwinter term course provided an intensive experience in documentary photography and filmmaking in a distant land and culture. The group visited the site of Lalibela with WMF local representative Mamo Getahun, and produced this video about WMF's efforts to preserve Biet Gabriel Rafael, one of the eleven rock-hewn churches of Lalibela, carved some 800 years ago. WATCH WMF.com

INDUSTRIAL WORK

St. Paul's Chapel Chapel is a part of daily life at St. Paul's School, yet there are many misconceptions about it. This short piece clarifies what chapel is and what role it plays in the community. WATCH Program page

INDUSTRIAL WORK

Ross On the Road: Morocco From Casablanca, Fez and Marrakesh to the High Atlas Mountains and the Sahara, 26 students and 4 teachers explored and documented the rich cultural diversity of Morocco on this 15-day media intensive travel course. Throughout the trip, students worked with underprivileged children in a variety of locations including a circus school in Sále run by the AMESIP Foundation. Students created workshops in web, photo and video for the children and co-create a web-based product for sharing their stories as well as documented their experiences through photography, video and journaling. Blog Documentary on the circus school in Sále

INDUSTRIAL WORK

Lalibela: The Science Behind the Churches YouTube channel Amor Sciendi uses interesting works of art as a teaching tool. This webisode discusses the rock hewn churches of Lalibela, Ethiopia, their deterioration and the challenge of preserving them. WATCH Amor Sciendi YouTube page

INDUSTRIAL WORK

St. Paul's School Theatre Program A promotional piece used on the school's website outlining values and priorities of the Theatre Program. WATCH Program page

INDUSTRIAL WORK

The Golden Matrix This pedagogical project explores and documents the preservation and transfer of knowledge, goods and culture from ancient Greece and Rome to Byzantium, through the translation schools of the Middle Ages in Baghdad, Cordoba, Paris and Sicily and culminating in the Florentine Renaissance. A select group of students and faculty traveled to and studied at locations particularly crucial to this transference. I had the pleasure of participating in the leg of the project that visited Egypt. Blog