Hello, Folks.

Welcome to my website!

I hope it will serve as an introduction to me:  as a person, an actress on stage and screen, a teacher, a director.  Please take a look at my acting, teaching and directing resumes. Watch my videos, listen to my voiceover demo. If you'd like to know more, please contact me.  I would love to talk with you.

Here's are some highlights of my last few years:

-->In fall, 2011, I directed the regional premiere of Jennifer Fawcett's Atlas of Mud at Collin Theatre Center in Plano, TX. Here are some of my thoughts about the play as they appeared in the program notes:

I am fascinated by the connection between what IS and our ability to create that which we WANT or NEED to be.  As theatre artists we create characters and stories different from ourselves all the time.  But how does that operate in life?  Can a person create a story, a personal myth, which will enrich, even save a life?

In the ‘80s, I became active in a nuclear disarmament group.  I had two small children and the idea of their world disintegrating in a global holocaust terrified me.  Working to prevent that eased my anxiety but I still had moments of paralyzing panic.  I remember one day sitting in my bedroom.  I imagined that moment of the bombs exploding, the beginning of the end.  And then I imagined taking my two children in my arms and spiraling upward, away from it all, to a place where we would be together and safe.  I had no idea where it was, what it would be like, but I knew, I had faith, that we would make it there.

-->In the spring of 2011, I appeared as Lucille in Dividing the Estate by Horton Foote at the Dallas Theater Center, part of the metroplex-wide Horton Foote Festival.  What an amazing ensemble of gifted actors, designers and technicians.  In the fall we were cited by the DFW metro-plex critics as OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE.

-->in October, I performed at a benefit for the Dallas Holocaust Museum.  What an honor to portray a SURVIVOR.

-->In May 2012, I appeared in the world premiere of Ruth by Vicki Cheatwood at Kitchen Dog Theater in Dallas as part of their New Works Festival.  The response was PHENOMENAL

Here's what the critics had to say:

Gail Cronauer makes a magnificent Naomi. In the first act, she skirts madness with an emotional force that’s positively scary. Later, she’s desperate nearly to the point of despair, but she retains a salty, humorous common sense that makes the old harridan appealing.

                                                                                                                                     Lawson Taitte, Dallas Morning News

...Gonzalez and Cronauer have to balance playing the same characters in two different time periods. No small order. And they pull it off with effortless aplomb.

                                                                                                                                     Kris Noteboom, Theater Jones

Cronauer ... is always shifting, having to transition from emotion to emotion in a split second. Naomi could be completely off the rails, but Cronauer knows just how far to go before reining her performance in.

                                                                                                                                     David Hanna,  The Column

Gonzalez and Cronauer, as Ruth and Naomi, are a fiery double act....

                                                                                                                                      Elaine Liner, The Observer

Here's wishing Vicki and her play tremendous success and brilliant futures!

-->The same month I had the pleasure of playing writer/actor Dixie Sedgwick's mother in the SAG short, Sparrow.  It's headed to the festival circuit.

-->After becoming a CERTIFIED MICHAEL CHEKHOV TECHNIQUE INSTRUCTOR under the guidance of Lisa Dalton and Will Kilroy, I continued my studies with Lisa in her Master Scene Study class. Go to www.chekhov.net for more information about this tranforming psycho-physical approach to acting.

-->In the fall of 2012, I directed another regional premiere, Rust, by award-winning playwright and screenwriter (Kill Your Darlings) Austin Bunn.  Austin attended a performance (he said he would "steal" many of our production ideas!) and conducted an inspiring workshop on creating your own material as a performer.

-->The spring of 2013, I directed a reading of Dixie Sedgwick's screenplay, Bonnie Parker, for prospective backers. I also directed a staged reading of Henry VI, Part 3 for Shakspeare Dallas, part of their WAR OF THE ROSES project. 

 -->I continue to teach at Collin College in Plano, Texas.  Please take time to check out this amazing theatre department and program:  www.collintheatrecenter.com.  You can view production photos there as well as information about our outstanding faculty of theatre professionals, successful alumni and upcoming season.

-->I also teach at STAGE in Dallas (go to www.stage-online.org for info) and continued private coaching work.  Contact me via this website about upcoming classes and/or coaching.

Gail