Rylee Kuberra Finds There’s No Place Like Home Even In the Pursuit of a Theatrical Life
Rylee Kuberra’s first involvement in theatre was in kindergarten in Hermantown, with teacher Linda Bray, who Rylee describes as “the best kindergarten teacher of all time.” Rylee played a candy striper in “The Nutcracker” and a lumberjack in “Tall Tales.”
After that she left theatre, and she threw herself into hockey full time. Around 8th grade, however, her best friend encouraged her to audition at the Duluth Playhouse. Her first show at the Duluth Playhouse children’s theatre program was “Les Misérables.”
She said, “After this experience, I was hooked. I went to Hermantown High School where I was heavily involved in the theatre program throughout my high school career.”
Rylee, like many high school seniors, decided to explore what life was like elsewhere for college by moving out of state. She spread her wings and moved to St. Augustine, Florida, where she attended Flagler College, a small private school.
“Like most 18-year-olds, I wasn’t one hundred percent sure what I wanted to do with my life, so I hopped around with a few different majors, including Theatre Arts, English, Communications, Psychology, Anthropology, and Marketing. I ultimately ended up earning a BA in Theatre Arts and Psychology.”
Playing Medea at Flager was one of Rylee’s college theater highlights.
While in college, Rylee began teaching theater education at the Limelight Theater in Florida, which she said sparked her love for education in a new way. She was asked to lead the first-ever theater program at The Florida School for The Deaf and Blind, working with blind students from first grade through high school on spatial awareness through the exploration of theater.
She later moved to Boston, where she started working for Boston Children’s Theater and freelancing. When COVID-19 hit, she moved back to Duluth, where she then started working at the Duluth Playhouse. This was a full circle moment for her, having grown up in the children’s program.
She said, “I love living in Duluth because my family is here. After living away for over seven years. it has made me feel more grounded coming home and seeing my nieces and nephews grow up.”
“Having grown up in the Duluth art scene and seeing what it has grown to become is electrifying. We have really become a haven for artists. You will always be able to find an opportunity to perform or create!”
“When I first moved back to Duluth, post-Covid, I was cast in The Duluth Playhouse’s “The Diary of Anne Frank,” Rylee noted. “This cast and crew were all aware of the enormous task of honoring Anne and her family’s story. I also began to fall in love with dialect and accent work.”
As Edith Frank, Rylee watches her stage daughters dance in their attic hiding place.
In the summer of 2023, she began her journey as a voice actor narrating audiobooks, quickly becoming her full-time job. “I am very fortunate I get to work from home doing one of my favorite activities, reading,” Rylee explained. This also opened up the opportunity to continue to perform more on stage,” she said.
She works predominantly in fantasy, sci-fi, literary role-playing games, romance, the new romance/fantasy genre, and is just beginning to read thrillers.
“As far as career goals, I am currently working with four different publishers for audiobooks. I am hoping to expand my voice over career more into animation. I have dabbled in video games and short animations and absolutely loved it.”
In her free time, Rylee loves to travel. She enjoys trips related to theater but is also a fan of travelling to foreign locales.
This trip to Tangier, Morocco, to celebrate her birthday got her up close to a camel.
Teaching All Ages
Rylee has taught at the Duluth Playhouse, ages 10-adult, and enjoys teaching acting classes by exploring scenes and monologues. She also teaches various devising classes, which is non-scripted theater where the students get to create their showcases from the ground up.
She is teaching a class for adults called “Royally Acting,” which focuses on learning an RP British accent while exploring scenes from well-known British films and television shows.
“I have also taught storytelling and memory exploration classes at Edgewood Vista and North Shore Estates. It is so much fun to bring a different energy and activity to these nursing homes that offers them a different outlet to connect with themselves and others,” she said.
Wedding Plans
Rylee is excited to be getting married in June to Chance Brochu before he leaves in the Fall of 2025 for a deployment. She related that they first met on the side of a hill laying sod for her parents’ landscaping company. Chance is a contractor in town, who owns Apane Construction, and he also is a part of the Air National Guard at the 148th.
Every year on Chance’s birthday, he and Rylee enjoy strawberry picking in Bayfield.
“Wait Until Dark”
Rylee will play the lead role of Susan in the upcoming Boat Club production of the suspenseful thriller "Wait Until Dark." Audience members may be familiar with the story from the movie starring Audrey Hepburn, which tells the story of a blind woman who becomes embroiled in a battle of psychological strength and wits with diabolical criminals.
Famed writer Stephen King, the master of all things frightening, stated he considered this film to be the scariest movie of all time. He praised Alan Arkin's role in the film as perhaps “the greatest evocation of screen villainy ever.”
About her role, Rylee noted, “The biggest difference to any show I have done is that I am playing a blind woman. She became blind due to a car accident later in life which offers the challenge of navigating a deep loss as a human. Honoring the deep loss, struggles, and strengths of Susan is no small task and one I am overjoyed to navigate.”
“What I like about playing Susan is how she creates connection with every person she comes across and her deeper understanding of the world now that she cannot see it,” she added.
“My hope for the audience is to leave the theater having gone through a visceral marathon of emotions. They too will get to see through Susan’s ‘eyes,’” she added.
After “Wait Until Dark,” Rylee will be diving into teaching theater once again. She is also working on a screenplay that she would love to get into production within the next year.
Information on “Wait Until Dark”
Boat Club Productions at Spirit of the North Theatre, Fitger’s 3rd floor
By Frederick Knott/Adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher
October 4-6 and October 10-13
October 3, 4, 5, 10, 11 and 12 at 7:30 p.m. October 6 and 13 at 2:00 pm
Buy tickets online at boatclubrestaurant.com or call 218-623-7065.
From the Boat Club Site
Forty-seven years after “Wait Until Dark” premiered on Broadway, Jeffrey Hatcher has adapted Frederick Knott’s 1966 original, giving it a new setting. In 1944 Greenwich Village, Susan Hendrix, a blind yet capable woman, is imperiled by a trio of men in her own apartment. As the climax builds, Susan discovers that her blindness just might be the key to her escape, but she and her tormentors must wait until dark to play out this classic thriller’s chilling conclusion.
