Fantasy Playhouse Children’s Theater & Academy (FPCTA) is thrilled to share Kailey Burkhardt’s promotion to Education Director.
Kailey Burkhardt’s journey with FPCTA began long before she became Education Director. A self-described “Fantasy Kid,” she first experienced the magic of FPCTA in 2003 as an audience member, took the stage for the first time in 2004, and worked as a teaching assistant throughout high school. Those early experiences sparked a passion for performance, storytelling, and arts education that continues to guide her career today. She later joined Fantasy as an Education Coordinator and TYA Touring Stage Manager, in 2016 and as Associate Education Director in 2023.
Kailey holds dual degrees in Theatre and English from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, graduating cum laude and earning honors in Alpha Psi Omega, Lambda Pi Eta, and Sigma Tau Delta. She is currently pursuing her master’s degree in Arts Management and Entrepreneurship from the University of Oklahoma. During her time at UAH as a student, she served as president of the Alpha Psi Omega theatre society (Xi Theta Cast) and traveled with the university’s study abroad program to Athens, Greece, where she performed and studied alongside international theatre students at the American College of Greece in Deree.
Fantasy Playhouse Children’s Theater and Academy (FPCTA) provides theatre arts access through production, education and outreach, reaching tens of thousands of residents annually, the majority of whom are children and youth. FPCTA enriches the lives of children and families through theatre and arts education, encouraging students to become self-confident, academically successful, creative-thinking citizens who are more likely to invest in their communities as adults. FPCTA’s core programs include live children’s theatre productions, year-round classes, camps, workshops, private lessons, and educational outreach through after-school classes, touring programs and a workforce development partnership with Alabama A&M University. Recognizing the transformative power theatre arts can have in the life of a child, FPCTA prioritizes theatre arts access for all by engaging local under-resourced and differently-abled communities.
