Franny Kromminga is a multifaceted theatre artist currently based in NYC.
Her versatile career has always pulled from a wide variety of opportunities within the arts: she has worked onstage, offstage, backstage, and where there’s no stage at all.
In the past year, Franny has held job titles and responsibilities such as–
(2023)
Actor
Supernumerary
Director
Intimacy Coordinator
Venue Coordinator
Deck Crew Lead
Deck Crew
Run Crew
Stagehand
General Production
Production Assistant
Live Wedding Painter
Day-Of Wedding Coordinator
Copywriter
(2022)
Actor
Equity Deputy
Supernumerary
Supernumerary Cover
Director
Acting Coach
Production Designer
Deck Crew
Run Crew
Production Assistant
Events Associate & Driver
Properties Run
Choral Singer
Copywriter
Painter
Website Designer
–with more to come!
Franny attended Adrian College (Adrian, MI) from 2012-2016, receiving her B.A. in Musical Theatre Performance. During that time, she was inducted into and elected president of the theatre honorary fraternity, Theta Alpha Phi (Michigan Zeta chapter); her one-act play, “Cackling Hens,” was produced by Theta Alpha Phi in 2015, winning their yearly playwriting competition in 2015. Throughout her education, she won a total of five departmental awards (“Normies”) for a mix of categories including acting and lighting design. In addition, she received four KCACTF Irene Ryan Acting Award Nominations, was a finalist in the scenic design competition at the Region 3 KCACTF in 2016 for her design of Gem of the Ocean by August Wilson, and received a KCACTF Certificate of Merit for her lighting design of Creditors by August Strindberg. Franny spent all four years as a work study employee in the theatre department scene shop, and completed a special independent study course focused on scenic painting. Significant roles include: Diana, Diana of Dobson’s; Reno Sweeney, Anything Goes; Jacques, As You Like It; Marta, Company; Martha, The Children’s Hour; Desdemona, Othello; Margaret, The Light in the Piazza; Mimi, Rent. Significant designs include: lighting, The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later; scenic, “Cackling Hens:” graffiti/scenic painting, Rent; Director, “The Hidden Story.” She graduated cum laude after presenting her senior capstone recital, “Frantasia,” which was also accepted as an Adrian College Ribbons of Excellence presentation.
During her college summers, Franny remained in Adrian to work and perform at The Croswell Opera House, the oldest continually operating theatre in Michigan. Her first two summers she worked on paint crew for the college (repainting dorms, classrooms, and fire hydrants) while attending Croswell rehearsals and performances at nights and on weekends. The following two summers she earned a Properties Design internship with the Croswell in addition to roles on their stage. Significant roles include: Janet, The Drowsy Chaperone; Florinda, Into The Woods; Mermaid, Big Fish; Cindy, Catch Me If You Can.
Post-graduation, Franny went on to be the Acting/Box Office Apprentice and 2016/2017 season Understudy/Swing for Meadow Brook Theatre. While there, she performed in two shows, understudied six (with one notable four-show put-in for Irving Berlin’s I Love A Piano), and worked backstage for two, in addition to light hang and set strike for every production. It was the beginning of a fruitful relationship with Meadow Brook, who have since hired her to return in positions both onstage and off. Notable positions include: Bridget, Nana’s Naughty Knickers & Nana Does Vegas; Fred’s Wife, A Christmas Carol; Brittney, Mom’s Gift; Interim Head Wardrobe, Johnny Manhattan.
After completing her internship, Franny sought opportunity in new places. She taught Musical Theatre techniques at Cranbrook Theatre School, co-directing a youth production of Where the Wild Things Are. She also began to accept and fulfill custom painting commissions, specializing in portraiture. After moving to Portland, OR in late 2017, she performed in El Grande de Coca-Cola at Lakewood Theatre, and in Mamma Mia! at The Broadway Rose Theatre, while designing properties for John Hughes High with Staged! Productions and for A Charles Dickens Christmas and A Tuna Christmas with Enlightened Theatrics in Salem, OR. She also appeared multiple times in the Pacific northwest area with Pinups on Tour, as a host and vocalist. Her educational outreach experience also capped off at this time, with two regional tours aimed at students: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer with Windy City players, and Revolutionary Revue with Jester Educational Theatre.
In late summer of 2019, Franny was cast as the lead, Ana, in a Michigan-centric film, Pirates of the North Coast, for which she earned the April 2022 Festigious International Film Festival Award for Best Actress. (The film, written and directed by Franklin Sollars, also received concurrent Festigious Awards for Best Narrative Feature, Best First Time Director (Feature), Best Supporting Actress, Best Young Actor, and Best Young Actress, as well as Best Feature Film from New York International Film Awards, and Best Feature Film from ONIROS Film Awards, also in 2022.) In late 2019, Franny transitioned to Denver, where she was in the midst of audition season when the COVID-19 pandemic pressed pause on live entertainment work. She and her partner (opera singer Tom Cilluffo, tenor) chose to return to family in Michigan, where she continued to perform (including an industrial shoot in Grand Rapids and two virtual concerts) while accepting more fine art painting and portrait commissions.
As the performing arts began reopening, Franny shifted her permanent residence to New York City, NY, though she continues to accept work that requires traveling to places both new and familiar. She developed working relationships in production and backstage with companies including Chelsea Factory, New World Stages, The Public Theater, Shakespeare in the Park, Theatre for a New Audience, and more. Franny also expanded her training with Intimacy Directors and Coordinators Organization and earned her Consent-Forward Artist Certification. She recently Intimacy Coordinated for the short film “First Sex” by Francesca Mirabella, with a premier slated for later this year.
Onstage, Franny was able to follow through on pandemic-delayed contracts as well, such as Nana Does Vegas at Meadow Brook Theatre in 2022, which marked her first contract as a member of Actor’s Equity Association. She was also seen onstage in 2022 at the Santa Fe Opera, as a supernumerary/actor in Verdi’s Falstaff; she also returned in summer of 2023 as a supernumerary/actor in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande.
While in Santa Fe, Franny collaborated with peers on multiple independent projects; the first completed project is a short film, “La bohème Act III Aria & Quartet.” More creations are still in the works, including another short film, “Portia & Brutus,” based on Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Franny is continuing to seek out more Directorial experiences, and aims to fully use and fuse her widely varied skills through Directing & Production Design opportunities, moving forward.
In her free time, Franny enjoys traveling, visiting cultural centers, designing her own knitwear, gardening on her balcony, reading, thrift shopping, making jewelry, trying new foods, and spending time with her beloved, Tom. In fact, she and Tom just got married on August 15, 2023, and plan to celebrate their wedding throughout the next year.
Follow me on Instagram! @frannykromminga