Frances Hellums
Actor•Director •Educator
-
Actor.
Frances’ work as an actor is driven by a love for compassionate storytelling and a commitment to developing her personal instrument. She is particularly drawn to works of magical realism and heightened language.
-
Director.
Frances is deeply passionate about organic storytelling and working as a collaborator to foster an atmosphere that emphasizes a deep connection to humanity and radical empathy.
-
Educator.
A natural leader, Frances has consistently balanced administrative responsibilities with hands-on teaching roles all while centering trauma informed practice. Her guiding mission is that we are each doing the best we can with the resources we have available to us. Only by identifying needs and finding ways to address those needs will we all be able thrive.
Multi-hyphenate.
Frances embodies all that it means to be a multi-hyphenate artist. From stage to screen, office to classroom, her insatiable curiosity for creation in all of its forms has led Frances to build a career as a life long learner and collaborator.
Frances is a graduate of the Boston University School of Theatre where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre Arts Performance with artistic concentrations in Musical Theatre and Directing as well as an academic concentration in Applied Human Development and Psychology. During her time at BU Frances spent time at the Institute for American Universities in Aix-en-Provence, France studying painting and psychology while attending ballet classes at L’Ecole de Danse Classique d’Aix. She is also a proud alum of Shakespeare and Companies Weekend Intensive, Vineyard Arts Project Musical Theatre Lab and Boston University Summer Theatre Institute.
After graduation, Frances joined ARTrelief, an Expressive Arts Therapy Center in Watertown, MA as a Therapeutic Mentor. In this role she worked with children coping with complex trauma, behavioral struggles, and various psychological diagnosis. Although she no longer works directly in the behavioral health sector, her time and training in this role continues to deeply inform her artistic and teaching practices.
Frances currently works as at The Huntington Theatre as Part-Time Education Associate. In this position Frances has taught workshops for students of all ages, coordinated state wide performance competitions, and co-authored a multitude of theatrical curriculum guides.
In addition to her work at The Huntington, Frances works as a freelance actor, director, teaching artist and arts education administrator at organizations throughout the Greater Boston Area including; Theater in the Open, Newton Kids Theatre, Fresh Ink Theatre, Shady Hill School, Cambridge Public Schools, and the Boston University School of Medicine.
Outside of theatre Frances is a proud cat mom, arts and crafts enthusiast, and open water swimmer who will never say no to a warm cup of tea.