(720) 896-0504
Kari Kraakevik
Owner
Kari Kraakevik is the founder of Reel Kids and a composer, performer, writer, and educator who believes young people deserve a place to create, take risks, and be themselves.
Kari holds degrees in music performance, theory, and composition from Pepperdine University and the University of Colorado Boulder. While earning her master’s in composition at CU, she brought together musicians, dancers, visual artists, actors, and children’s choirs in large-scale productions—some involving more than sixty performers. Supported by grants, donations, and commissions, these projects showed her what was possible when people across disciplines created together.
That experience planted the seed for Reel Kids: a space where students could explore their creativity, discover new strengths, and help shape the work they performed. With encouragement from her students and their families, Kari founded Reel Kids in 2013 while teaching at CU and Metropolitan State University of Denver. In 2015, she purchased the established Wildflower School of Voice and expanded it into Boulder Music.
Kari is also a published writer whose work explores identity, neurodivergence, and belonging—interests that inform her approach to storytelling and arts education.
Today, Kari brings her experience as an arts entrepreneur and working artist into every part of Reel Kids. As an autistic educator, she understands that creativity, confidence, and connection look different for every student. She is committed to building a welcoming, collaborative environment where those differences are valued—and where making art is meaningful, challenging, and fun.
Joshua Rich
Director, Music Faculty
Joshua Rich is a self-taught pianist, composer, performer, and educator who began his professional career at age nine. Originally from Boston, he has worked across the country, bringing his love of music and theater to stages, classrooms, and recording studios.
While living in the Washington, D.C. area, Joshua founded several after-school performing arts programs and directed or music-directed productions ranging from Annie and Guys and Dolls to Rent and Cabaret. His career has included work with Marvin Hamlisch, Randy Newman, and Luther Vandross, as well as collaborations with Broadway performers and New York’s Shuffles Broadway Tap and Musical Theater School. He has released more than thirty albums of original music, alongside recordings in jazz, children’s music, and classical genres.
At Reel Kids and Boulder Music, Joshua serves as a pianist, director, teacher, music director, and business manager. He also performs with Kari Kraakevik in their musical duo, Take Two. Whether accompanying a student’s first solo or guiding a full production, Joshua brings decades of experience and a commitment to helping young people build confidence, develop their talents, and enjoy making music together.
Kari Jensen
Managing Artistic Director, Director & Choreographer
Kari Jensen re-joined the Reel Kids community over 2 years ago as their Managing Artistic Director! She returns to Kari’s company (yes, that makes two Karis under one roof!) completing a journey that began nine years ago, when she first began working at Reel Kids as a choreographer on many shows, such as “Cats”, “Godspell", “The Wiz” and “Fame”.
Kari J brings over 30 years of experience in both theater and dance, and has a wealth of experience in wearing many hats when it comes to the ins and outs of any stage production.
Before returning to Colorado in 2022, Kari J spent 5 years on faculty at the Taipei American School in Taipei, Taiwan in the Theater and Dance Department where she created curriculum and served as the Department Chair.
Along with teaching daily classes, Kari J also directed and choreographed numerous shows at TAS, including “Little Shop of Horrors”, “Godspell”, "Peter and the Starcatcher" and an original theatrical interpretation of the novel “The House on Mango Street”.
Kari J also mentored numerous student pieces and created the curriculum for a brand new class at the school, entitled Movement Theater, which fuses spoken word with interpretational movement.
Kari J has also worked at Streetside Dance Studio, Front Range Community College and Chapman University in Southern California. She holds a BA in Adolescent Psychology from UC Irvine, as well as a Masters in Dance Education from Cal State Long Beach.
She is thrilled to be back in the truly special community of Reel Kids and looks forward to sharing her love of theater and dance with more and more students!
David Painter
Assistant Manager, Film AcademyTroupe & Acting Faculty
David is a Writer and Director from Denver, Colorado. Throughout his childhood, David has undergone a long journey of different storytelling mediums: from fiction short stories, theatre, to home video superhero adaptations in his living room. Through it all, he found that film had never really gone away, and that he didn’t just choose this life because he wanted to, but rather because he had to! David graduated from the University of Denver Magna Cum Laude with Phi Beta Kappa in June 2022, with a double major in Film Studies & Production, and English with a concentration in creative writing – which is a really longwinded and illustrious way of saying he loves screenwriting, directing, and just telling good stories that ask different questions.
David’s primary passion is in writing and directing. With experience ranging from commercial sets, concert and event videography and freelance, David offers a deep knowledge of foundational skillsets in film. He loves being apart of Reel Kids Troupe and especially loves spending time making art with the kids.
Julieta García Reyes
Music Director
Julieta García Reyes is a lyric soprano, NCVS-trained Vocologist, and vocal educator originally from Jacona, Michoacán, México. She holds a B.M. from the University of Colorado Boulder (2019) and an M.M. in Vocal Pedagogy and Performance from UT San Antonio (2021). Her versatile performance credits include The Beggar Woman and Mrs. Lovett (Sweeney Todd), La Contessa (The Marriage of Figaro), and Rosario (Goyescas). As a Music Director, she has led productions of Little Shop of Horrors, Mamma Mia!, and Anything Goes. She currently directs the Children’s and Youth Choirs at First Congregational Church of Boulder and serves as Mexican Liaison for The Canciones Project.
Teaching since 2013, Julieta specializes in science-based cross-genre musical theatre technique. Her approach bridges voice science with practical application, drawing on training from the NATS Science Informed Pedagogy Institute, Coastal Carolina’s Group-Voice Pedagogy Institute, and experience in Texas public schools like Alamo Heights ISD. Her students regularly earn spots in top music programs and win national competitions. Whether preparing for professional auditions or exploring singing for the first time, Julieta helps artists build sustainable technique and find joy in their performance.
Reese Phillips
Director, Music Director
Reese Phillips is a singer, pianist, and conductor/director originally from Norman, Oklahoma. He obtained his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Oklahoma in 2023 and a Master of Music degree from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2025. With over 20 years of performance experience, Reese is well-versed in many different musical styles, particularly classical, musical theatre, and rock.
As a teacher, Reese tailors his approach to each student’s needs and abilities and allows them to take charge of what they want to learn. No matter the style or genre, vocal health and technique is an area that he is particularly passionate about, giving students the tools to sing and perform in a healthy and sustainable manner that will last them their entire life. Even if a student doesn’t know what their goals are, he can help them find their passion, whether it’s just singing for fun, working to audition for a show, or preparing for life as a professional musician. Singing is more than just technique, of course, and Reese is happy to help his students with acting and other performing skills. There’s no end to what you can learn about singing, and Reese is equipped to teach just about anything.
Outside of teaching, Reese can be found on the opera or musical theater stage, probably having the time of his life playing comedic and zany characters. He also holds a special love for sacred music, particularly choral and handbell music, for which he has composed and arranged multiple pieces. In his spare time, you can find Reese hanging out with his best friend and wife Autumn and their dog Benji.
Ethan McGraw
Stage Manager
Ethan McGraw is a local freelance percussionist, steel pannist, arranger, concert production worker, and educator. A lover of any type of music he can drum alongside, he is excited to share the love of music with all listeners.
Growing up in Las Vegas, NV Ethan’s love of music began at a young age, from listening to his mother play Broadway medleys and classical pieces on the piano, to banging his hands on anything he could find in his grandmother’s kitchen. After a couple elementary school dabbling’s, he began learning percussion in middle school, and over a decade later he has just as much joy performing music as he did back then. Ethan attended the Lamont School of Music at the University of Denver, and despite his first two years being during a global pandemic, was able to learn from some of the Rockies’ best musicians and educators. Since graduation he has remained in the Denver area working in many different facets of the music industry, primarily dealing in concert production at local venues like the Newman Center and Arvada Center.
A true lover of musical theater, Ethan is an active performer in the local theater scene, with recent performances including playing drums/percussion in the Vintage Theater’s Production of “Fun Home”, where critics called the bands work “…near perfect…” under the direction of music director Alec Michael Powell (Denver Post, February 2024), and with Little Theater of the Rockies for their production of “A Gentlemen’s Guide to Love and Murder” under the musical direction of Victor Walters. This passion for musical theater has also led him to education, working with Reel Kids, a children’s theater in Boulder, CO for over two years as a drummer, stage manager, and summer camp instructor. Recently he has drummed for shows including “The Prom!” and “Legally Blonde”, and stage-managed shows like “Into the Woods Jr.” and “Alice in Wonderland Jr.”
Outside of musical theater, Ethan gigs locally in the Denver area in a variety of musical genres including jazz and classical music. He is a founding member and the percussionist of the Denver based jazz collective The Improphets (who are currently working on their debut record). He also has a love of the marching arts, currently working at Green Mountain High School in Lakewood, CO as their percussion instructor.
Ethan is also a student of many world musics, including the steel pan from Trinidad and Tobago, as well as the Japanese art of Taiko Drumming, having performed with the Akita International University’s (国際教養大学) Kantō (竿燈 ) Team during his time abroad in the fall of 2023.
Ethan graduated in 2024 with a Bachelor of Arts (Music) Degree with a secondary major in Languages, Literatures & Cultures (Concentration in Japanese). He is a student of Tom Miller (Steel Pannist, Director of the Lamont Steel Drum Ensemble), John Kinzie (Principal Percussionist of the Colorado Symphony), and Michael Toole (PhD in Japanese, University of Wisconsin Madison).
