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Larissa Kokernot is happy to be directing The Thugs at Occidental this fall as the Culley Guest Artist.  Larissa has been working in the professional theatre for over 30 years with regional directing credits at Indiana Repertory Theatre, Ten Thousand Things, the Guthrie Theater, The Playwrights' Center, California Repertory Theatre, Project Y at 59e59, La Jolla Playhouse and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival where she was the 2007 Phil Killian Directing Fellow.  Larissa served as Artistic Associate of Eye of the Storm Theatre in Minneapolis for 6 years where she directed The Death of the Father of Psychoanalysis (& Anna), Skylight and Two Sisters and a Piano as well as the seeds of many new plays.  Larissa has been living and working in the Los Angeles area for 7 years with companies such as Theatre of Note, Watts Village Theater Company and Circle X.  She is a founding member of Chalk Repertory Theatre where she has directed Three Sisters, Family Planning (Ovation Awards for Best Play in an Intimate Theatre and for Director), Stray, Full Disclosure and Mommune.  Larissa received her B.A. in Theater from Brown University and an M.F.A. in Directing from the University of California, San Diego. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Karl Gajdusek and their sons Kade and Nick.