Christopher Elst

Milwaukee-based Theatre and Technology Polymath chris@christopherelst.com

Experience

Selected roles listed; full résumé available on request, including fight and intimacy direction

Actor: Regional Theatre and Union Houses

The Book of Will

John Heminges
Black Hills Playhouse || Dir: Tom Schwans

Legally Blonde

Elle's Dad / Dewey
Black Hills Playhouse || Dir: Lisa Wipperling

Waitress

Cal
Black Hills Playhouse || Dir: Megan Gerlach

Misery

Buster
Milwaukee Chamber Theatre || Dir: Brent Hazelton

Queen of Ithaca [reading]

Odysseus
Renaissance Theatre Works || Dir: Mallory Metoxen

Newsies

Roosevelt / Morris Delancey
Skylight Music Theatre || Dir: Molly Rhode

Annie

Ensemble / Warbucks u/s
Skylight Music Theatre || Dir: Molly Rhode

The Endurance of Light [reading]

Ernest Shackleton
Renaissance Theatre Works || Dir: Suzan Fete

The Pirates of Penzance

Ensemble
Skylight Music Theatre || Dir: Shawna Lucey

The Wizard of Oz

Uncle Henry / Guard
Skylight Music Theatre || Dir: Linda Brovsky

Les Misérables

Ensemble
Skylight Music Theatre || Dir: Molly Rhode

As You Like It

Charles / Hymen
Optimist Theatre || Dir: Tom Reed

Web Developer

GS Design

Front-end web development for national client list, such as Harley-Davidson, Mercury Engines, SRAM, et al

February 2007 - May 2010
Hanson Dodge Creative

Front-end web development for national client list, such as Volkswagen, Credit Suisse, Trek Bicycles, et al

May 2000 - February 2007

Education and Certifications

Western Illinois University

Master of Fine Arts
Theatre Arts, Acting
August 2023-May 2026

Intimacy Directors and Coordinators

Intimacy Director, Level 2+
October 2017

Society of American Fight Directors

Certified Teacher, Secretary 2016-2022
July 2015

Dueling Arts International

Associate Instructor
June 2014

University of Wisconsin Milwaukee

Bachelor of Arts
Literature and Critical Studies

[summa cum laude]

August 2010 - May 2012

Tremper High School

with honors

August 1992 - May 1995

Skills

Theatre
  • EMC
  • Certified Teacher, Society of American Fight Directors
  • Intimacy Director Level 2+, Intimacy Directors International
  • Associate Instructor, Dueling Arts International
  • Secretary of the Governing Body, Society of American Fight Directors
Web Development

Awards and Press

  • "This attention to detail is also very much in evidence during the well-choreographed fight sequences that I could watch five times and still see something new. Under the direction of Christopher Elst ... each sword, chair and beer mug is a weapon of destruction that more than once garnered a gasp from the audience."
    -- Erica Bouska, Peninsula Pulse

  • "Elst builds on his character’s overhyped niceness, letting his tension bleed through little by little until he finally explodes."
    -- Matthew Reddin, Urban Milwaukee

  • "...but I should also point out an acrobatic fight scene choreographed by Christopher Elst in the first act between the wife in a nightgown and the would-be blackmailer-murderer."
    -- Dominique Paul Noth, Urban Milwaukee

  • "...local sheriff Buster, well played by Christopher Elst."
    -- Dominique Paul Noth, Urban Milwaukee

  • "The intimacy experts — consultant Tonia Sina and designer Christopher Elst — are certainly important to make the seductions both choreographed yet believable."
    -- Dominique Paul Noth, Urban Milwaukee

  • President's Award, SAFD - 2020 and 2021

  • "There is as much glee to be found in Christopher Elst’s larger-than-life portrayal of a Renaissance Fair-meets-WWE wrestling actor as in any other role on stage."
    -- Matthew Reddin, Urban Milwaukee

  • "There are also compelling swordfights by Christopher Elst particularly in a slow-motion ghost scene..."
    -- Dominique Paul Noth, Urban Milwaukee

  • Sunset Playhouse Volunteer Award - Favorite Actor 2010

  • "There's a lot of fighting in this intensely physical play, and it's consistently thrilling." -- Mike Fischer, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel