BIOGRAPHY
Beth Wilmurt is an actor and singer who has performed in over forty plays, musicals, and cabarets with a variety of Bay Area theater companies, including Aurora Theatre, Word For Word, Magic Theater, Campo Santo, Shotgun Players, Encore Theatre Company, Crowded Fire, Willows Theater, Center Repertory, The Coconut Grove, Marines Memorial Theater, and Art Street Theatre, of which she is a founding member. Beth has also performed in a number of cabaret acts at theaters and on cruise ships, and more recently in her own act, Cabaret Rebel. Her performances in theater and cabaret have garnered numerous awards and award nominations, among them the Bay Area Theater Critics Circle Award, the Shelly Award, and the Dean Goodman Award. She has appeared on several local newspaper "Best Performer of the Year" lists, and was named by San Francisco Magazine one of the top 100 Bay Area artists of 2002.
Beth
studied theater and acting at San Francisco State University, with the Saratoga
International Theater Institute, and with master Biomechanics teacher Gennadi
Bogdanov. She has taught theater, dance and music to children at numerous
youth arts programs, including Young Performer's Theater, Willows Theater
Conservatory, Dance Arts Center, Sugarloaf Fine Arts Camp, and the San Francisco
Community Music Center.
In 2003, Beth directed Janet Roitz's Tingle Tangle
Cabaret for the EXIT
Theater Diva Fest. In 2005 she choreographed The Death
of Meyerhold for
The Studio Theater in Washington D.C., having originated the roles of Babanova
and Stella Adler in the 2003 world premiere production at Shotgun Players.
Her work on the Studio Theater production was honored with a Helen Hayes
Award nomination for Best Choreography.
Beth spent the bulk of the 04/05 season in Berlin, Germany, where she
furthered her studies of Biomechanics with Gennadi Bogdanov, and collaborated
with Mark Jackson and Sommer Ulrickson on the conception of a new dance-theater
piece based on Chekhov's play, Three Sisters. In the autumn
of 2007 she returned to Berlin to perform in the completed version of
the piece, titled Yes, Yes to Moscow, at the renowned Deutsches
Theater. Yes, Yes to Moscow had its American premiere in May 2008 in the San Francisco International Arts Festival. Beth continues to work as a freelance actor, singer, and teacher
in the Bay Area.
PRODUCTION
PHOTOS
the moon in Salome.
"What’s Shakin’ On The Hill"
in Cabaret Rebel.
glass of bourbon.
PRESS
Critic’s Pick, San Jose Mercury News, 6/14/2007
- “Beth Wilmurt is one of those rare actresses who completely fades into the texture of each role. Her acting style is so transparent that you may have seen her on stage a dozen times without knowing it was the same actress. From American $uicide and The Death of Meyerhold to Io, Princess of Argos, Wilmurt has become a mainstay of the Bay Area's edgy new-play scene. She brings a luminous presence combined with mind-blowing physical dexterity and a facility for verbal gymnastics.”
Cabaret Rebel
- “When Beth Wilmurt performs her new cabaret act the room changes!" – San Francisco Bay Guardian.
- “Wry, self-deprecating humor runs through Wilmurt's Cabaret Rebel, with a voice that slips easily from quicksilver to velvet...” – San Francisco Chronicle.
- “One funny lady and a darned good singer… This is certainly not a show to miss, and, if there's any justice in the world, Wilmurt's cabaret debut will be the start of something big.” – Contra Costa Times.
The Death of Meyerhold
- “Beth Wilmurt’s one-woman Hamlet is worth the price of admission alone.” – San Francisco Chronicle.
- “Wilmurt is graceful, precise, and utterly compelling. She is, in short, magnificent.” – Oakland Tribune.
Io – Princess of Argos!
- “Wilmurt delivers a richly textured performance, balancing emotional depth with technical ease and superb comic timing.” – San Francisco Bay Guardian.
- “Beth Wilmurt plays Io with the touch of a comedienne and cabaret diva, and infuses her with a moving humanity that results in a flawless performance.” –SF Gate.
Messenger #1
- “Beth Wilmurt plays [Messenger #3] to near perfection… Her comic, plucky, Midwestern voice defines the show.” – SF Weekly.
- “Beth Wilmurt brings a clear-eyed simplicity to Messenger #3.” – Backstage West.
BANG!
- “She’s willowy, earnest, hilariously distressed; every move she makes is considered and precise.” – SF Weekly.
- “Beth Wilmurt is hilarious.” – San Francisco Bay Guardian.
