Vanessa Severo as Betty 1, Jen Berkhart as Betty 5 in Collective Rage by Jen Silverman, 2022
The BlackBox Theatre, Kansas City

“As a vocal, passionate and smart artist, Vanessa will be at the forefront of our conversations about new works and collaborations with artists of color and artists of disabilities”
- Marissa Wolf, Artistic Director, Portland Center Stage.

Vanessa Severo studied at Missouri State University, as well as The American Conservatory Theatre, San Francisco. She is the recipient of the TCG 11th Round of the Fox Foundation resident Actor Fellowships, 2017. She has performed for the past 12 seasons at The Kansas City Repertory Theatre, and is certified in Suzuki Method, and Viewpoints under the instruction of Ellen Lauren, SITI company. She is the playwright and actor of 'Frida...A Self Portrait’ (2020 Kilroys List) a one woman production about the tumultuous and brilliant life of Frida Kahlo. Vanessa is passionate about utilizing the element of Suzuki method in her work to challenge the boundaries of storytelling, and explore the depths of movement, composition, and the power of stillness.

“There is no limit to what she is capable of. She is equally at ease with broad comedy as she is with heartfelt, dramatic roles.” Joanie Schultz, artistic director of Texas’s WaterTower, who’ll direct her in Frida, calls Severo “one of the most magnetic performers I’ve ever encountered…She embodies depth, authenticity, and attention that somehow simultaneously manifests both as a smooth lightness and a dark seriousness.”
— American Theatre, 2018

Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, Kansas City Repertory Theatre

Vanessa Severo as Maggie, Nathan Darrow as Brick