What They’re Saying
Press
General Press
East Bay Express – Best Actor
“Whether she’s playing a petulant tomboy in a Jon Tracy remake of Antigone, an alpha wife in Alan Ayckbourn’s The Norman Conquests, or a malevolent financial management vixen in Central Works’ Reduction in Force, Berkeley actress Kendra Lee Oberhauser inhabits all of her characters with verve. She’s a fine-featured blond who can easily morph into a femme fatale, whether or not you abet her with a weapon or a pair of stiletto heels. And she’ll handle just about any role: Olivia in Twelfth Night; Mina Murray in Dracula; the evil boss in a Wall Street farce; Poppy Norton-Taylor in Noises Off; the plucky servant Louka in Arms and the Man. This spring Oberhauser starred in a Sleepwalkers Theatre production of Adam Chaznit’s Down to This, a pulpy revenge story with two different endings. She’s one of the few local actresses who consistently land big parts, and has evidently formed strong relationships with many local companies. For someone operating in a cutthroat and ever-shrinking medium, that’s no small feat.”
Stage Reviews
ROMEO AND JULIET
THE DRILLING COMPANY/SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARKING LOT
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Juliet’s parents (Kendra Lee Oberhauser is Lady Capulet) portrayed as three-dimensionally as they are in this production.” – Asya Gorovits, Theatre Is Easy
HAMLET
HAMLET ISN’T DEAD
“Smart, specific choices abound in this Hamlet’s opening minutes, with brightly original interpretations of even the least significant of relationships…Kendra Lee Oberhauser’s Gertrude offers a fraying warmth to her daughter; there’s strength somewhere in there, but it’s been muted by grief and her new husband-king Claudius’ power.” – Dan Rubins, Theater Is Easy
HENRY VI, PART 3
THE DRILLING COMPANY/SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARKING LOT
“Seeing Lee Seymour and Kendra Lee Oberhauser navigate their characters through a situation that did not involve a battle ax gave the audience the opportunity to more easily connect with the action, and, while York’s manipulation of Lady Grey to convince her to marry him is a little sleazy at times, Oberhauser’s Grey never seems to lose control entirely in the situation, which made their interpretation of the scene immensely entertaining and even humorous at times.” – Hannah Marsh, Times Square Chronicles
“Another refresher is the exchange between Edward (momentary king of England) and Lady Grey (a widow begging the return of her late husband’s lands), in which Kendra Oberhauser (Grey) gives a weighty performance, and Lee Seymour (Edward) comes off as charming.” – Stage Buddy
TOP GIRLS
SHOTGUN PLAYERS
“Marlene (a formidable Kendra Lee Oberhauser) is a 1980s go-getter hosting the festivities in honor of her recent promotion at Top Girls employment agency, but even this high-powered 20th-century heroine is plagued by doubt. In between the soup and the nuts at her lavish soiree, she asks those assembled: ‘Why are we all so miserable?’” – Karen D’Souza, San Jose Mercury News
“Every scene between Marlene (Kendra Lee Oberhauser) and her niece Angie (Rosie Hallet) is riveting. Watch how Hallet changes her posture when Angie visits her Aunt’s office, or how Oberhauser seems larger and a little lumbering when Marlene invades her sister’s flat. That’s fine acting.” – John Wilkins, KQED Arts
“The evening, however, was a triumph for Kendra Lee Oberhauser, whose searing portrayal of Marlene vacillated between ambition, bitterness, regret, and a feeling of emptiness after clawed her way to ‘the top.’” – George Heymont, My Cultural Landscape
“Cain and Hallett skillfully portray the mother and daughter, respectively, and both match Oberhauser’s formidable performance as Marlene. The resentment between the two sisters — one a tired single mother working as a maid and the other a smashing success in London — is intense.” – Gillian Evedane, East Bay Express
CLYBOURNE PARK
CENTER REPERTORY COMPANY
“…Kendra Lee Oberhauser handled two different pregnancies with comic flair…” – George Heymont, Huffington Post
“Kendra Lee Oberhauser as Betsy is uproarious playing the pregnant, deft wife of Karl and then comes into her own in the second act, admirably playing expecting Lindsey.” – Richard Connema, Talkin’ Broadway
A DOLL’S HOUSE
WILLOWS THEATRE COMPANY
“Kendra Oberhauser is fascinating as Kristine Linde, who appears at first to be a long-lost friend of Nora’s but slowly and cleverly reveals herself as a woman with secrets that are pivotal to both the play and to the lives of the Helmers.” – Pat Craig, San Jose Mercury News/Contra Costa Times
“an impressively stoic, subtly wounded Kendra Oberhauser…” – San Francisco Bay Guardian
DOWN TO THIS
SLEEPWALKERS THEATRE
“This was just taut, superior, really, really intense drama, right from the getgo…And her name is Maria, and she is played incredibly, in my opinion, by Kendra Lee Oberhauser. Just what a phenomenal performance that adds to the 3-person ensemble we now have on stage. What was previously keeping you on the seat of your chair, you’re actually struggling now not to stand up. It is an incredibly engaging performance of just 3 actors on stage feeling each other out, characters trying to determine what’s going on and–character-driven drama in a very, very fine aspect.” – Benjamin Wachs, SF Weekly Theatre Podcast
“She is…if you thought Charlie was off, Maria is–you can tell. She does this sing-songy voice and also this sci-fi monstrous scream, and in both registers she is equally terrifying. She is manipulating these other two characters like she is a puppeteer, and you’re just waiting to see when she is going to hurt them.” – Lily Janiak, SF Weekly Theatre Podcast
ARMS AND THE MAN
CENTER REPERTORY COMPANY
“On opening night, Kendra Lee Oberhauser as the maid, Louka, stands out. She is genuine; capturing a complex, contradictory character within her first entrance and carrying that depth to the final curtain.” – Lou Fancher, Walnut Creek Patch
“…Kendra Lee Oberhauser’s saucy servant Louka…” – Robert Hurwitt, San Francisco Chronicle
“Kendra Oberhauser is the other female lead, the maid who lacks the soul of a servant and aspires to more. Her “Columbina” is by turns envious, jealous, steamy, pouting, and all those things that would make an officer and gentleman give in to her.” – John A. McMullen II, Berkeley Daily Planet
REDUCTION IN FORCE
CENTRAL WORKS THEATER COMPANY
“Kendra Lee Oberhauser is amusingly sociopathic as Gabby, cheerfully cruel and voraciously venal.” – Sam Hurwitt, The Idiolect
“Kendra Lee Oberhauser, as the brassy, hellbent-for-leather (not to mention handcuffs) Gabby, is also in top form, gleefully hypocritical, willing to turn on a dime, leaving whoever she promised whatever to in the dust … self-described bold, predatory even, yet ultimately clueless.” – Ken Bullock, Berkeley Daily Planet
“I’ve never been so engrossed in a play. It definitely is an edge of the eat evening. This is acting heaven.” – Lee Hartgrave, Beyond Chron
“Gary Graves directs the top-notch ensemble with impeccable timing, drawing hilarious, deeply committed performances from all three actors. Graves and cast know that there’s nothing as funny as people trying in all seriousness to navigate through an insane environment, and they never waver in their focus.” – Jean Schiffman, San Francisco Examiner
DRACULA
CENTER REPERTORY COMPANY
“Kendra Lee Oberhauser’s Mina…becomes radiant and seductive while under Dracula’s spell, enough so that it seems a shame to snap her out of it.” – Sam Hurwitt, The Idiolect
“Madeline H.D. Brown as Lucy and Kendra Lee Oberhauser as Mina portray their descent into darkness with pasty-faced zeal. Their chemistry in earlier scenes, singing and bantering about love, works well and we know their innocence is not for long.” – Clinton Stark, Stark Insider
“The ultimate scene of Mina’s self-sacrifice is brilliant…Don’t miss this show.” – Kedar Adour, For All Events
THE NORMAN CONQUESTS: TABLE MANNERS, LIVING TOGETHER AND ROUND AND ROUND THE GARDEN
SHOTGUN PLAYERS
“Kendra Lee Oberhauser as high-strung and officious sister-in-law Sarah includes every high-pitched Type A personality characteristic of your real life counterpart but with the snottiness that the British have a corner on, which makes her turn-about so delicious.” – John A. McMullen II, Berkeley Daily Planet
“Kendra Lee Oberhauser gives an engaging performance as Sarah, who is visibly hardened toward Norman’s antics and eruptions. She further conveys the character’s stiffness with clipped speech, and evokes sympathy for being a bossy woman with her own compulsiveness.” – Richard Connema, Talkin’ Broadway
“Kendra Lee Oberhauser as Sarah is perfect as she brings overwrought energy to the stage every time she is on.” – Richard Connema, Talkin’ Broadway
“Although chirpy when she’s being pleasant, Kendra Lee Oberhauser’s fussy Sarah keeps her high-strung, discontented side always close to the surface.” – Sam Hurwitt, The Idiolect
NOISES OFF
CENTER REPERTORY COMPANY
“Oberhauser makes the thankless role of stage manager and understudy to Brooke a personal best…It is THE best production I have seen with a stellar cast…” – Kedar Adour, For All Events
“The ensemble, which includes Jennifer Erdmann (Belinda), Richard Farrell (Selsdon), Kendra Lee Oberhauser (Poppy) and Mark Anderson Phillips (Frederick), works together with ease, all with impeccable comedic timing.” – Bethany A. Monk, Benicia Herald
SEE HOW WE ARE
IMPACT THEATRE
“Kendra Oberhauser gives a tour-de-force performance as Ari, the rebellious sister. She uses expression both on her face and in her voice to do an outstanding job.” – Melanie Crawford, The Pioneer
“Part of what makes this play brilliant is the acting, in that each performer has such an over-amplified persona…Ari [Kendra Oberhauser] (the Antigone character) is [Paul’s] female doppelganger: a boorish tomboy who roughhouses with her siblings when she’s not bickering with her girlfriend… She’s a dubious moral compass in comparison to the original Antigone, who protected her disgraced brother Polyneices (the original Paul) out of family loyalty, then sacrificed herself in the end.” – Rachel Swan, East Bay Express