Class of 2026: Caroline Elizabeth Edmondson

Caroline Edmondson is a director, performer, choreographer, and writer from Raleigh, North Carolina. She is graduating with majors in Theater Studies and Dance and an Education minor. She directed A Chorus Line, Dance Nation, and in a word, which was a part of her Graduation with Distinction project about directing the Theatre of Wonders, recently awarded Highest Distinction. 

Her capstone research project in Dance, Stories in the Studio, explores how tap dance pedagogy can include historical and cultural understandings of the form. Caroline acted in four Theater Studies departmental mainstage productions: She Kills Monsters, RENT, Eurydice, and Mr. Burns: a post-electric play, as well as Duke Players’ production of No Exit, and she danced in the Duke Centennial Kickoff and Choreolab 2025. She assistant directed The Trio and Last in the Class and has worked behind the scenes on a number of other productions with Duke Players and the Duke Dance Program. 

Using funds from Theater Studies awards and the Benenson Award, she completed the Directing track of the National Theater Institute’s Theatermakers intensive at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, where she directed six new short plays in as many weeks. She also completed internships at Broadway Plus and Spoleto Festival USA. 

Caroline is a Trinity Ambassador for Theater Studies and the co-president of Duke Players and Duke On Tap, and she was co-Project Director for the Project Arts Experiential Orientation program. Caroline has received the Kevin Gray Musical Theater Award, Feldman Collaborator’s Award, Award for Excellence in Directing, and John M. Clum Distinguished Theater Studies Graduate Award from the Theater Studies department, and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa in 2025.