The Department of Theatre, located in
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Department of Theatre Faculty

 

Administration:
Daniel MacLean Wagner, Department Chair
Heather S. Nathans, Associate Chair
Faedra Carpenter, Director of MA/PhD Studies
Daniel Conway, Director of MFA in Design
Walter Dallas, Co-Director of MFA in Performance
Leigh Wilson Smiley,Co-Director of MFA in Performance
Misha Kachman, Director of Undergraduate Studies
Sandra Sue Jackson, Director of Business Operations
Marguerita Phelps, Coordinator of Student Services
Cary Gillett, Production Coordinator
Sarah Stonesifer, Administrative Assistant I

 
Performance Area:
History/Theory Area:
Design/Production Area:
Professors Emeriti:
  Walter Dallas, Acting, Directing, Playwriting
Faedra Carpenter, Dramaturgy
Harold Burgess II, Lighting Design Patti P. Gillespie, Theatre History
  Leslie Felbain, Movement, Acting Laurie Frederik Meer, Performance Studies, Ethnography Daniel Conway, Scenic Design Roger L. Meersman,Theatre Criticism
 
Mitchell Hébert, Acting, Directing
Franklin J, Hildy, Theatre Architecture
Helen Q. Huang, Costume Design
Rudolph Pugliese, Directing
 
Scot Reese, Directing, Black Theatre
Heather S. Nathans, American Theatre
Misha Kachman, Costume/Scenic Design Associate Professor Emeritus:
 
Leigh Wilson Smiley,Voice, Acting
Korey R. Rothman, Theatre History
David Kriebs, Technical Direction
William V. Patterson, Theatre Management
 
Stephen Kaplin and Kuang-Yu Fong, Jim Henson Artists-in-Residence
Catherine A. Schuler, Gender Studies, Russian Theatre
Daniel MacLean Wagner, Lighting Design
 

  AFFILIATE FACULTY


Harold F. Burgess II
Assistant Professor
301.405.6643
Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Room 2745
harold@umd.edu

Education/Training: M.F.A., Lighting Design, University of Maryland, 2004; B.A., Theatre with an Emphasis in Design, University of Maryland, 1997
Area of Specialization/Interest: Lighting Design, Drafting/Rendering, Computer Assisted Design
Representative Productions: Harold has been working in the Washington area on numerous productions over the last ten years. His recent regional lighting design credits include: Breath Boom and My Children! My Africa!, The Studio Theatre; The School for Scandal, Everyman Theatre; James and the Giant Peach, BAPA Imagination Stage; Our Country’s Good, American University, Monster and Having Our Say, Olney Theatre Center for the Arts; The Story, I Have Before Me A Remarkable Document Given To Me By A Young Lady From Rwanda , From the Mississippi Delta, African Continuum Theatre Company; Incident at Vichy, Washington Shakespeare Company. Harold has been an assistant lighting designer for the Berkshire Theatre Festival, Shakespeare Theatre, Signature Theatre, Studio Theatre, The Kennedy Center, Roundhouse Theatre, and the Olney Theatre Center for the Arts.
Professional Affiliations: United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT); member of United Scenic Artists, Local 829
Honors and Awards: General Research Board Summer Award, 2006; Henry C. Welcome Fellowship 2005, Honorable Mention for Lighting Design, Region III KC/ACTF (Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival), 2002. Barbizon Excellence in Design Honorable Mention, Lighting Design, Region III KC/ACTF, 2001. Charles B. Hale Award for outstanding achievement and dedication to the University of Maryland University Theatre program, 1997

Faedra Carpenter
Assistant Professor, Head of the History/Performance Studies Area
301.405.6246
Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Room 2815
fcarp@umd.edu

Education/Training: Ph.D. in Drama, Stanford University, 2005; M.A. in Drama, Washington University, 1994; B.A. in English, Spelman College, 1992.          
Areas of Specialization/Interest: American Performance and Dramatic Literature (with concentrations in African American and Latina/o American Dramatic Literature and Performance); Critical theories of Race, Gender, and Sexuality; Dramaturgy; Racial Iconography
Professional Affiliations: Current: Recurring Guest Dramaturg for CenterStage, Advisory Editor in Drama for Callaloo, Nominating Committee member for ASTR (2008-2010), member of American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR), member of Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE), member of Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA). Former: Dramaturg for Fresh Flavas (ACTCo's new play development program); Helen Hayes Award Judge; Resident Dramaturg/Literary Manager of Crossroads Theatre Company; Literary Associate/Dramaturg of Arena Stage; Production Dramaturg for the African Continuum Theatre Company, TheatreWorks, New Perspective Theatre, Black Women Playwrights Group, and the Young Playwrights Theatre.
Representative Productions: Directing projects at Stanford University include: Cloud Tectonics by Jose Rivera, The Camp by Griselda Gambaro, and On the Hills of Black America by Keith Josef Adkins. Professional Dramaturgy (for over 30 plays) includes: Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine and Joe Turner's Come and Gone at CenterStage, The Amen Corner at ACTCo , Fences at TheatreWorks, Spirit North at Crossroads (World Premiere); Long Day's Journey Into Night
and The Odyssey (American Premiere) at Arena Stage.  
Representative Publications/Research Activities: "(L)activists and Lattes: Breastfeeding Advocacy as Domestic Performance" in Women & Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory, 2006; "Reading Between the Lines: Intertextuality and the Documentation of African American Theatre History" in Blackstream, 2006; "Hip-Hop Interviews" with Joan Morgan and Gwendolyn Pough in in Callaloo: A Journas of African Diaspora Arts and Letters, 2006; and
"Robert O'Hara's Insurrection: Que(e)rying History" in Text and Performance Quarterly , 2003 and reprinted in Black Queer Studies: A Critical Anthology, 2005.
Honors and Awards:
  Research and Teaching Fellowship, Stanford University; Invited Lecturer.
Daniel Conway
Associate Professor, Head of Design Area, Director of the MFA in Theatre
301.405.6680
Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Room 2747
dconway1@umd.edu
conwaydesign.com

Education/Training: M.F.A. Design, The George Washington University, 1982; B.S., Theatre, The State University of New York, Brockport, 1978.
Areas of Specialization/Interest: Scenic Design, Lighting Design, Computer Assisted Design.
Professional Affiliations: United Scenic Artists; Art Director /consultant to Hillman and Carr, Washington D.C. for permanent collection films for The Smithsonian Institution, The Cleveland Science Museum, The Carnegie Science Center, and The National Civil War Museum.
Representative Productions: Scenery and lighting design for more than 250 productions Off- Broadway and at regional theatres, including: Berkshire Theatre Festival, Cleveland Playhouse ,(premiere: Reynolds Price’s New Music), New Theatre of Brooklyn (premiere: Brecht’s: Conversations in Exile), Manhattan Class Company, Harold Clurman Theatre, Samuel Beckett Theatre; (premiere: Horton Foote’s: Lily Dale), Home for Contemporary Theatre, Soho Rep, Chelsea Theatre, Circle Repertory Lab, Syracuse Stage, Wilma Theatre, Arden Theatre Company, Boston Lyric Opera, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis,The Studio Theatre, and Woolly Mammoth Theatre. Designer of Industrial shows for Icon Communications 1985-89, NYC. Assistant designer at Caribiner, NYC, for State Farm, IBM, and McDonald’s. Assistant to Circle Repertory designers John Lee Beatty, David Potts and Hariton/Baral on a dozen Broadway and Off-Broadway productions. Recent designs: scenery for Radio Golf at Studio Theatre, Stunning at Woolly Mammoth Theatre, scenery for Teller’s MacBeth at Two River Theatre Co. and The Folger Theatre, the premiere of My Name is Asher Lev for The Arden Theatre in Philadelphia.
Honors and Awards: Ten-time nominee of the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Scenic Design and winner of the award in 2000 for Ambrosio at Rep Stage and in 2009 for Stunning at The Woolly Mammoth Theatre; Individual Artist Fellowship, D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, 1997.

Walter Dallas
Senior Artist-in-Residence, Co-Director of MFA in Performance
301.405.6695
Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Room 2822
walterdallas@gmail.com

Education/Training: MFA Directing, Yale School of Drama, 1971; B.A., Theatre, Morehouse College, 1968; Music and Theology, Harvard University, 1967; Actor in Paul Sill's Improvisational Touring Company, 1970; Theatre in Traditional African Societies and West African Dance, University of Ghana, Legon, 1976; View Points Training, EgoPo Theatre Company, Philadelphia, 2008.
Areas of Specialization/Interest:
Acting, Playwriting, Directing, Solo Performance, Mask Characterization Work, Centers Work, Opera, Music, New Play Development
Professional Affiliations:
Member of SSDC (Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers) since 1981; AGMA (American Guild of Musical Artists) since 2007.
Representative Productions:
His gospel opera Lazarus, Unstoned, adaptations of the films Sparkle and Cooley High at Freedom Theatre; a record-breaking Porgy and Bess at the Opera Company of Philadelphia, Island Weddin’ at Talawa Theatre Company, London, August Wilson's The Piano Lesson at the Arden Theatre, Paul Robeson at Philadelphia's University of the Arts, his Asafohene at Alliance Theatre, Pudd'nhead Wilson at The Acting Company, Two Trains Running and Joe Turner's Come and Gone at Philadelphia Drama Guild, Blues For An Alabama Sky at Crossroads Theatre, Having Our Say at Mark Taper Forum, Master Harold...and the boys at Westport Country Playhouse, and music director for Gee's Bend at Arden Theatre, Blue Door at African Continuum Theatre Company, Washington, DC..
Honors and Awards:
Creative Genius Awards, National Endowment for the Arts Director Fellowship, New York Audelco Awards, Mayoral Proclamations, the 76ers and Philadelphia Tribune Community Service All-Star Award, the Eleone Dance Theatre Award for Excellence, the Morehouse College Alumni Association's Achievement Award, the Mover and Shaker Award for Distinguished Contributions to the Promotion of South African Arts and Culture. His production of the world premiere of August Wilson's Seven Guitars was named one of the Top Ten Best Theatre Events of 1995 by Time Magazine. His San Francisco production of Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye was named one of that city's Top Ten Theatre Events of 2007 by the San Francisco Chronicle. In 2008 he was named Man of the Year by the Institute for the Preservation of African-American Music. He was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Philadelphia's University of the Arts in 2002. Dallas was lead-writer for Standing in the Shadows of Motown, a documentary featuring Chaka Khan, Hill Harper, and Gerald Levert which won several major awards including Best Non-Fiction Film from the New York Film Critics Circle and four Grammy Awards.

Leslie Felbain
Assistant Professor
301.405.6672
Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Room 2819
lfelbain@umd.edu

Education/Training: Ecole Jacques Lecoq and Atelier Serge Martin - Paris, France 1978-1981; Alexander Training Institute Teacher Certification 1991; B.S. Dance and Anatomy 1975 University of Wisconsin; Kabuki & Noh Theatre AC Scott, Augusto Boal, Monika Pagneaux Workshops with Jerzy Grotowski's Polish Theatre Lab, Theatre du Soleil, Peter Brook, Cranio-sacral Therapy, Upledger Institute Certification 2000.
Areas of Specialization/Interest: Acting, Directing, Movement, Mask, Clown, Bouffon, Theatrical Styles, Character Development, Ensemble Work, Solo Performance, Development of Original Material, Site Specific and Community Based Performance, International/Multi-lingual Projects, Nouveau Cirque.
Professional Affiliations:
American Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique, Theatre Bay Area; Association des Theatres de Poche, SSDC, NET, TCG, CuDc, Fractured Atlas, ATHE.
Representative Productions: 
Artistic Director Infinite Stage; Chez Moi, Site-Seeing, Hamlet? That is the Question, The Green Bird (original translation & adaptation) L’Hiver Sous la Table, Director, Movement Director, Character Coach; The Magic Theatre, American Conservatory Theater, California Shakespeare Festival, Berkeley Rep, College of Marin, New Pickle Circus, a, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Movement Coach Barry Humphries/Dame Edna, European & North American Tours Solo Shows Gullible's Travels & The Big Deal, Core Member le dal Theatre , France, Festival d’Avignon & Liege, African Continuum Theatre, Capital Fringe, Kennedy Center, Olney , Round House, Source, Baltimore Theatre Project, La Mama, Player’s Theatre, International Fringe, NYC.
Representative Publications/Research Activities:
Physical Performance, Synthesis of physical approach to theatre training in Europe and psycho-emotional training in the US, Performance as Research/The Journey, an Exploration of Home.
Honors and Awards: CRGE/MPRC Qualitative Research Grant , CTE Lilly Teaching Fellow, CAPA, Vermont Governor’s Institute on the Arts, Ohio Arts Council, Artist in Education, Nuclear Weapons Freeze & Physicians for Social Responsibility/The Big Deal, Oval House Theatre, London, Guest Artist; Colgate University, University of Michigan, Warwick University, Festival de Teatro de la Habana.

Laurie Frederik Meer
Assistant Professor
301.405.6682
Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Room 2816
fredmeer@umd.edu

Education/Training : Ph.D., Cultural Anthropology, University of Chicago, 2006;   B.A. Honors, Social Anthropology, University of Cape Town, South Africa, 1993; B.A., Anthropology, University of Virginia, 1990; School for International Training, Kenya/Tanzania, 1990
Area of Specialization
: Cuba, Latin America, African Diaspora, anthropology of performance and performance studies (ritual, theatre, storytelling, spoken word, music, dance), ethnography, cultural politics, nationalism, subversive culture

Professional Affiliations
: Affiliate Faculty member of University of Maryland's Department of Anthropology, Latin American Studies Center, and Women's Studies Department; Performance Studies International (PSi), Latin American Studies Association (LASA), Society for Cultural Anthropology (SCA), American Anthropology Association (AAA)
Representative Productions
: Consultant and investigator for: Guajiro a los Cuatro Vientos, Laboratorio de Teatro Comunitario, Guantánamo, Cuba; Ten mi nombre como un sueño, Teatro de los Elementos, Cumanayagua, Cuba; and the South African adaptation of Hair, CAPAB, Nico Malan Theatre, Cape Town. Performing dancer in The Ash Girl at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. Performing actor in La Muerte Juega el Escondido, La Cruzada Teatral, Guantánamo, Cuba, and in community and university theatre productions of Li'l Abner, 110 in the Shade, Once Upon a Mattress, and Hair. Professional dancer in Ballet Folklórico de America Latina.
Representative Publications/Research Activities
: Currently working on book manuscript entitled: Pure Cuba: Performance, Playmaking and Politics in the Rural Zones of Silence. Published articles include:"La Batalla for Cuban Identity: Option Zero Theater," in The Special Period: Cuban Culture and Ideology in the 1990's (Palgrave 2008); "Playback Theatre in Cuba: the Politics of Improvisation and Free Expression" (The Drama Review 2007); "Cuba's National Characters: Setting the Stage for the Hombre Novísimo" (Journal of Latin American Anthropology 2005); "Competition Ballroom Dancing, Anthropology and the Field: The Native's Point of View" (Anthropology News 2005); and "The Contestation of Cuba's Public Sphere in National Theater and the Transformation from Teatro Bufo to Teatro Nuevo"(Gestos 2001). Articles also published in Spanish in Cuban theatre journals Conjunto and Tablas.
Honors/Awards
: General Research Board Grant, University of Maryland, Notre Dame Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, Fulbright-Hayes Doctoral Research Fellowship, Wenner-Gren Anthropological Foundation Fellowship, Spencer Foundation Research Grant, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Grant, Rotary International Graduate Ambassadorial Scholarship


Patti P. Gillespie
Professor Emeritus
301.405.6676

Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Room 2809

Education/Training: Ph.D., Indiana University, 1970; M.A., Western Kentucky University, 1962; Sp. Ed., Western Kentucky University, 1964; B.S., University of Kentucky, 1958.
Areas of Specialization/Interest: American theatre; Pedagogy.
Professional Affiliations: Association of Communication Administration; American Theatre Association; Speech Communication Association; Southern Speech Communication Association; American Society for Theatre Research; The Faculty Voice; American Association of University Professors; Collegiate Council; Southeastern Theatre Conference.
Representative Publications/Research Activities: Co-Author of Scholarship on Women and Society: Selected Proceedings of An Inter & Multi Disciplinary Conference, with Helen Houseley; Co-Author with Kenneth M. Cameron of: Western Theatre: Revolution and Revival, The Enjoyment of Theatre, and Teachers Manual for Enjoyment of Theatre; Co-Author of Speech: An Important Skill and accompanying audio tapes, with Robert Kemp; Author of many chapters and articles on Theatre History, Criticism, and Theory, Education, and University Administration.
Honors and Awards: Lilly Center for Teaching Excellence Fellow; Fulbright Scholar and Lecturer; Omicron Delta Kappa; Guest Editor of ACA Bulletin; ACT-NUCEA National Award, Project SAETT; Dissertation Fellow & Indiana University Fellow; Alpha Psi Omega; Phi Beta Kappa.
Mitchell Hébert
Professor

301.405.6684

Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Room 2820
mhebert@umd.edu

www.mitchellhebert.com

Education/Training: M.F.A. in Acting, University of Washington, 1983; B.F.A., Theatre, University of Wisconsin, 1980.
Areas of Specialization/Interest: Acting, Directing
Professional Affiliations: AEA, SAG, AFTRA, SSDC
Representative Productions: Russ in Clybourne Park (World Premier 2010) at Woolly Mammoth Theatre, where he is a long standing company member. Other Woolly credits include: Charles in The Clean House. Reuben in Patience, Jimmy in Heaven, Tom Bates in Brimstone and Treacle, The Irish Man in The Gigli Concert, and Frank in Kvetch. Weston, Curse of the Starving Class (Woolly/UM). At Round House Theatre: where he is a member of the Artists Round Table, Around the World in 80 Days (Phileas Fogg) (2010), Eurydice (Lord of the Underworld/Nasty Interesting Man), Treasure Island (Israel Hands), Crime and Punishment (Porfiry), Mr. Dussel in The Diary of Anne Frank, Morgan in The Drawer Boy, Mayor Robert F. Wagner in Shakespeare, Moses, & Joe Papp, Rolly Moore in Criminal Genius, and Escape from Happiness, Leonard in One Shoe Off. ) Olney Theatre Center: Peter Pan (Mr. Darling/Captain Hook, Tartuffe in Tartuffe, Dysart in Equus, Salieri in Amadeus, Rabbit Hole (director). At Rep Stage: Mrs. Farnsworth (Mr. Farnsworth) Cyrano in Cyrano de Bergerac at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, at Everyman Theatre; Vanya in Uncle Vanya. Other local credits include: the title role in Nathan the Wise at Theatre of the First Amendment. FILM: The Hunley. TELEVISION: the title role in Nathan the Wise on PBS-TV, Homicide: Life on the Street. RADIO: LA Theatre Works/NPR, Col. Martin “Jiggs” Casey in Seven Days in May (with Ed Asner and Senator Fred Thompson), Lt. Commander John Challee in The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, Aaron Geldhart in The Substance of Fire, (with Ron Rifkin) Jim Bayliss in All My Sons (with Julie Harris).
Honors and Awards: Creative and Performing Arts Award (CAPA), 1987; 2004 Helen Hayes Award nomination Outstanding Lead Actor, Resident Play; Morgan in The Drawer Boy at Round House Theatre; 2009 Helen Hayes Award nomination Outstanding Ensemble, Rabbit Hole at Olney Theatre Center.

Franklin J. Hildy
Professor, Director of Graduate Studies
301.405.3157
Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Room 2828
hildy@umd.edu

Education/Training: Ph.D., Theatre, Northwestern University, 1980; M.A., Theatre, Northwestern University, 1976; B.A., Humanities, Shimer College, Mt. Carroll, IL, 1975;Tutorial Program, Dramatic Literature, Oxford University; Humanities Administrator, Division of Research Programs, National Endowment for the Humanities, Washington DC
Areas of Specialization/Interest: Theatre Architecture, Theatre Archaeology, History of Stage Technology, Problems in the Production of pre/early-Modern Drama, Shakespearean Stagecraft., New Technology and post modern performance, Theatre Consulting
Professional Affiliations: American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR), Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE), Center for Renaissance and Baroque studies (CRBS), International Federation for Theatre Research (IFTR), International Shakespeare Globe Centre (ISGC), Shakespeare Theatre Association of America (STAA), National Initiative for a Networked Cultural Heritage (NINCH), Shakespeare Association of America (SAA)

Representative Productions:
Professional lecture: Over 40 lectures across Europe, Taiwan, and USA. Theatre Consultant: Five projects including, E.H. Young Theatre Complex, Berry College, GA ; Rockport Schools Auditorium, Cambridge, MA; Oxford Performing Arts Center, Emory University; Lord, Aeck & Sargent, Architects, Atlanta, GA. Architectural history advisor: Ten projects including Shakespeare’s Globe reconstruction, International Shakespeare Globe Center, London; 2nd Globe Playhouse, Shenandoah Shakespeare Company, Stanton, VA; Rose Playhouse, Shakespeare & Company, Lenox, MA. Consultant: Numerous projects including $900,000.00 Virtual Vaudeville, National Science Foundation.
Representative Publications: Author: Shakespeare at the Maddermarket: Nugent Monck and the Norwich Players (1986), current project - Theatre Archaeology: A Reconsideration of Theatre Architecture From the Greeks to the Romantics. Editor: New Issues in the Reconstruction of Shakespeare's Theatre (1990); Co-author: with Oscar Brockett, two editions of History of the Theatre (1999 and 2003). Various articles on theatre space, Shakespearean staging, Spanish Golden Age, and Baroque theatre. Authored entries: Oxford Companion to the Theater, Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Helen Q. Huang
Professor
301.405.6685
Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Room 2753
hhuang@umd.ed

Education/Training: M.F.A. in Set and Costume Design from the University of Missouri, Kansas City, 1988; B.F.A. in Set Design from Central Academy of Drama, Beijing, China 1982.
Areas of Specialization/Interest: Costume design, Scenic design, Painting and Drawing
Professional Affiliations: United Scenic Artists Local 829
Representative Productions: Costume design for many regional and Washington area theatres, including: The Real Thing at the Guthrie Theatre; Twelfth Night at Oregon Shakespeare Festival; M. Butterfly at Philadelphia Theatre Company; Finding Nemo: The Mu-SEA-cal at Disney Entertainment, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom at Syracuse Stage; Rock'n'Roll at Studio Theatre, Measure for Pleasure at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company; Monkey King at the Children's Theatre Comany, Minneapolis; Hamlet at Utah Shakespeare Festival; Mary Stuart at Milwaukee Reperatory Theatre; The Daughter of the Regiment at The Boston Lyric Opera; A Midsummer Night's Dream at The Shakespeare Theatre Company; Oak and Ivy at Arena Stage; Olney Theatre Center. Work at: Pan Asian Reperatroy Theatre, The Central Television of China, and the Central Opera House, Beijing, China. Upcoming projects: Dirty Blonde at Signature Theatre, The Rivalry at Ford's Theatre, Moonlight at The Studio Theatre, and The Picture of Dorian Gray at Round House Theatre.
Honors and Awards: Exhibition of costume renderings in "Curtain Call: Celebrating a Century of Women Designing for Live Performance" at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, 2009; Inclusion of costume design work in the 2007 Prague Quadrennial; 2009 Helen Hayes Award nomination for Outstanding Costume Design for Stunning at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company; 2000 Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Costume Design for Indian Ink at The Studio Theatre; Creative and Performing Arts awards for 1998 and 2003 at the University of Maryland.

Misha Kachman
Assistant Professor, Director of Undergraduate Studies
301.405.6639
Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Room 2739
mkachman@umd.edu

mishakachman.com

Education/Training: Post-Graduate Study, Department of Scenography, State Academy of Theatrical Arts, St. Petersburg, Russia, 1996; M.F.A. in Scenography, Department of Scenography, State Academy of Theatrical Arts, St. Petersburg, Russia, 1994; BFA in Painting and Graphic Art, State Industrial Arts Academy, Leningrad, U.S.S.R., 1988.
Areas of Specialization/Interest: Scenic Design, Costume Design, History of Costume and Period Style, Painting and Drawing.
Professional Affiliations: United Scenic Artists Local 829, Russian Artists' Union.
Representative Productions: Most recent designs include costumes and scenery for Cymbeline at Milwaukee Shakespeare, Così fan tutte at Maryland Opera Studio, David in Shadow and Light, Shlemiel the First and Either, Or at Theatre J, Bricktop at Metrostage and Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, TempOdyssey at Studio Theatre Secondstage, The Balcony, The Insect Play and The Persians at Scena Theatre, among many others. Before coming to the United States Misha designed for numerous theatres in Russia and Europe. Mr. Kachman's career includes a five-year tenure as a staff museum designer at The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. Misha Kachman is a successful painter and printmaker who has participated in scores of one-man and group exhibitions in the United States and abroad.

David Kriebs
Instructor

301.405.6681

Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Room 2739
dkriebs@umd.edu

Education/Training: M.F.A., Technical Design and Production, Yale School of Drama, 1982; M.A., Theatre, University of Tennessee, 1973; B.S., Engineering Physics, University of Tennessee, 1972.
Areas of Specialization/Interest: Production Management, Technical Direction, Lighting Design.
Professional Affiliations: United States Institute for Theatre Technology, USITT Chesapeake
Representative Productions: Technical direction for Theatre of the First Amendment, National Players, and Olney Theatre Center; as well as University of Maryland and other universities. Resident Lighting Designer for The National Ballet. Recent designs include: Remembering the Green, Flatland, and Ga Trong Con.


Roger L. Meersman
Professor Emeritus, Founding Chair of the Department of Theatre

301.405.6676
Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Room 2809

Education/Training: Ph.D., Theatre & Dramatic Literature, University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, 1962; M.A., Theatre & Rhetoric, University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, 1959; Diplome in French, U.S. Army Language School, 1956; B.A., St. Ambrose College, Speech & Drama, 1952; A.A., Liberal Arts, Blackhawk College, 1950.
Areas of Specialization/Interest: American Theatre; Directing and Criticism.
Professional Affiliations: American Theatre Association; Association for Theatre in Higher Education; Performing Arts Division Consultant for The Smithsonian Institution, the Public Broadcasting System, and the National Theatre Library; National Theatre Archives Board of Directors; Studio Theatre Honorary Board of Advisors.
Representative Productions: Directing projects at the University of Maryland include The Bacchae, Man of the Masses (Region IV Winner, American College Theatre Festival, 1972), The House of Blue Leaves (Region IV Finalist, American College Theatre Festival, 1974), and Medieval Miracle Play (also produced at the Folger Shakespeare Library and for NBC); Professional directing projects include: A Streetcar Named Desire (The Source Theatre), The Taming of the Shrew (Summer Shakespeare Festival on the Mall).
Representative Publications/Research Activities: Author of Stage for a Nation: The Story of the National Theatre, with Douglass Lee and Don Murphy; Author of numerous chapters and articles on Baltimore/Washington theatre; Theatre Critic for many publications, including The Washington Post, The Washington Guide to the Arts; and the Journal Newspapers.
Honors and Awards: Board of Regents' Award for Excellence in Teaching; Creative and Performing Arts Grants; Phi Theta Kappa; Phi Kappa Phi; Board Member, founding judge, and recipient of the Governor's Award of the Helen Hayes Awards.

Heather S. Nathans
Associate Professor, Associate Chair, Acting Associate Dean for Graduate Recruitment and Special Projects
301.405.6687

Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Room 2818
hnathans@umd.edu

THET 290

Education/Training: Ph.D. in Theatre, Tufts University, 1999; A.B. in Theatre, Dartmouth College, 1990
Areas of Specialization/Interest: American Theatre and Drama, African American Theatre, Jewish American Theatre, Musical Theatre, 17th and 18th century French Theatre, Theatre Historiography, English Restoration Drama, and Directing
Professional Affiliations: American Society for Theatre Research; Association for Theatre in Higher Education; American Theatre and Drama Society; Society of Early Americanists; Society for Historians of the Early American Republic
Representative Productions: The Country Wife (Chesapeake Shakespeare Company); directing projects at the University of Maryland include The Taming of the Shrew, Fashion, Sister Mary Ignatius Explains it All for You, and 'Dentity Crisis
Representative Publications/Research Activities: Books and book chapters: Early American Theatre from the Revolution to Thomas Jefferson (CUP 2003) and Slavery and Sentiment on the American Stage, 1781-1861 (CUP 2009); Shakespearean Educations: Power, Citizenship, and Performance (co-editor and contributing author, forthcoming, Delaware University Press); Weyward Macbeth: Intersections of Race and Performance (contributing author,
Palgrave 2009); and Theatre Historiography: Critical Querstions (contributing author, University of Michigan Press, forthcoming 2010). Guest Editor: The Journal of American Drama and Theatre and the New England Theatre Journal (August Wilson issue). Articles: Theatre History Studies, New England Theatre Journal, Journal of American Drama and Theatre, Early American Studies, and Pennsylvania History Journal.
Honors and Awards: Fellowships from the American Jewish Historical Society, the American Society for Theatre Research, the McNeil Center for Early American Studies, the Library Company of Philadelphia, the Massachusetts Historical Society, the American Antiquarian Society, the Gilder Lehrman Foundation, and the David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the African Diaspora; Non-resident Fellow at the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University from 2001-2004; Grants from the Center for Teaching Excellence and the Consortium on Race, Gender, and Ethnicity at the University of Maryland and the Pepsi Foundation.


William V. Patterson
Associate Professor Emeritus
301.405.6676
Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Room 2809

Education/Training: M.F.A.,Theatre/Theatre Management, University of Utah, 1972; B.F.A., Drama/Acting and Directing, University of Oklahoma, 1970
Areas of Specialization/Interest: Theatre Management, Arts Accessibility for People with Disabilities
Representative Publications/Research Activities: Editor/Writer, Design for Accessibility: A Cultural Administrator’s Handbook, National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities, 2003. Regularly provides consultation and training for the development of accessibility services and facilities for performing and visual arts venues, museums and historical sites, as well as films and videos. Extensive experience as writer-narrator of Audio Description tours of museums and historical sites including the Ellis Island Immigration Museum, the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center, the Cultural Heritage Center of the South Dakota State Historical Society, and for films, videos and television including the nationally broadcast test of WGHB Television’s Descriptive Video Service and numerous projects for the National Park Service and other government agencies.
Honors and Awards: Award for Distinguished Service to the University of Maryland Diversity Initiative, University of Maryland Diversity Year Initiative Award for Excellence (Faculty Category), University of Maryland Chancellor’s Commission on the Disabled 1988 Faculty Award, Association of College, University and Community Arts Administrators, Inc. Arts Management Achievement Award , American College Theatre Festival Gold Medallion Award of Excellence in Theatre Management, Appointed Associate Professor Emeritus (2005)


Rudolph Pugliese
Professor Emeritus
301.405.6676
Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Room 2809

Education/Training: Ph.D. Ohio State University, 1961; M.F.A. Catholic University, 1949; B.A. Miami University, 1947
Areas of Specialization/Interest: Directing, Arts Administration, Theatre Consulting, Children's Theatre, Audience Development. Sponsor of Maryland Drama Association and other educational theatre organizations.
Professional Affiliations: American Theatre Association, Shakespeare Association of America, Maryland Drama Association, The Society for Theatre Research (London), National Collegiate Players, Omicron Delta Kappa Honorary; Director, Theatre Division, University of Maryland (1969-1979); Initiated and established many programs at the University of Maryland, including the State of Maryland Speech and Drama Association, Experimental Theatre, University of Maryland Summer Theatre, and the Graduate Program in Theatre.
Representative Productions: Director of more than 80 academic and community theatre productions and operas including All My Sons, The Little Foxes, The Clandestine Marriage, Antigone, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Knight of the Burning Pestle, Saint Joan, MacBeth, The Beaux’ Strategem, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Good News, Anything Goes, Finian’s Rainbow, Oklahoma!, Showboat, Madame Butterfly, and The Beggar’s Opera.
Representative Publications/Research Activities: Author of numerous articles and reviews for Educational Theatre Journal, Players Magazine, Social Studies and other publications
Honors and Awards: The Rudolph E. Pugliese Arts Scholarship (bestowed by the Maryland Drama Association); Ertzman Award for outstanding contribution to Maryland High Schools Drama Program (1980); Venue in Tawes Fine Arts Building named Pugliese Theatre (1986-2001); Appointed Professor Emeritus (1986).

Scot Reese
Professor, Head of the Performance Area
301.405.6686
Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Room 2817
sreese@umd.edu
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Education/Training: M.F. A., Directing, Northwestern University, 1994; B.A., UCLA, 1981
Areas of Specialization/Interest: Directing, Black Theatre and Performance, Musical Theatre
Professional Affiliations: Actors' Equity Association (AEA), American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), American Guild of Variety Artists (AGVA), Association for Theatre In Higher Education (ATHE), Black Theatre Network (BTN), Screen Actors Guild (SAG), The Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers (SSDC), Theatre Communications Guild (TCG)
Representative Productions: Professional theatre credits include productions from Los Angeles to New York. Television credits include daytime dramas, situation comedies, variety specials, and commercials. Most recent credits include Bells are Ringing, Purlie, and the world premiere of Blues Journey at the Kennedy Center; Once On This Island and Crumbs From the Table of Joy at the Round House Theatre; Pretty Fire and From the Mississippi Delta for the African Continuum Theatre Company; The Heidi Chronicles and Barefoot in the Park (with Laura Linney and Eric Stoltz) at LA Theatre Works, blackballin' for Arena Stage's Old Vat, To be Young Gfted and Black, Urinetown, The Colored Museum, and Jane Eyre: The Musical at the University of Maryland; A Raisin in the Sun at Olney Theatre Center.
Honors and Awards: 1991 Emmy Award for Individual Achievement in Performance; 2002, 2000, 1998, 1996 General Research Board Summer Research Award; 1997, 1995 Creative and Performing Arts Award; 1997 Instructional Improvement Grant; 2000, 1997 Research and Travel Grant; 1996, 2000 Outstanding Teacher, UMCP; 1995 Diversity Initiative Steering Committee Matching Funds Grant.


Korey R. Rothman
Visiting Assistant Professor

301.405.6692
Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Room 2823

krothman@umd.edu

Education/Training: Ph.D., Theatre and Performance Studies, University of Maryland, 2005; M.A., Theatre History and Criticism, University of Maryland, 2005; M.Ed., Secondary English Education, University of Florida, 1995; B.A., English, University of Florida, 1994.
Areas of Specialization/Interest: Musical Theatre, American Theatre and Drama, Popular Theatre, Gender Studies, Gay and Lesbian Studies

Professional Affiliations: American Society for Theatre Research; Association for Theatre in Higher Education

Representative Productions: Directing projects at the University of Maryland include Triumph of Love; Assassins and A...My Name will Always be Alice on the University's second stage

Representative Publications/Research Activities: Author of "'Will You Remember?': Female Lyricists of Operetta and Musical Comedy," a chapter in the book Unsung Contributors: Women Who Created Twentieth Century American Musical Theatre , ed. Bud Coleman and Judith Sebesta.

Honors and Awards: Dissertation awarded "with distinction," University of Maryland Distinguished Teaching Assistant Award, American Society for Theatre Research's Thomas F. Marshall Travel Fellowship, Margaret Storrs Grierson Travel Grant for travel to the archives at Smith College, Gilder Lehrman Travel Grant

Catherine A. Schuler
Associate Professor
3091.405.6688
Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Room 2814
cschuler@umd.edu
American Society for Theatre Research

Education/Training: Ph.D., Theatre History and Theory/Criticism, Florida State University, 1984; M.A., Theatre, Emerson College, 1977; B.A., Theatre, Eckerd College, 1974
Areas of Specialization/Interest: History of Russian Theatre, Gender Studies, and Critical Theory.
Professional Affiliations: American Society for Theatre Research; Association for Theatre in Higher Education; International Theatre Federation; Modern Language Association; American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies; Association for Women in Slavic Studies.
Representative Publications/Research Activities: Theatre and Feminist Aesthetics (Associated University Presses, 1995), Women in Russian Theatre: The Actress in the Silver Age (Routledge, 1996), and Theatre and Identity in Imperial Russia (Iowa, 2009). Peer-reviewed articles have appeared in Theatre Journal, Theatre Survey, The Drama Review, Theatre History Studies, and Theatre Topics. Currently, Dr. Schuler is translating primary theoretical documents from the early Soviet period and developing a project on Vladimir Putin and the performance of power. She is also the editor of Theatre Journal.
Honors and Awards: the prestigious Barnard Hewitt Award (for “outstanding research in theatre history: the best publication of 1996”) from the American Society for Theatre Research; the Heldt Prize from the Association for Women in Slavic Studies; a Fulbright Fellowship; an International Research and Exchange Board (IREX) Grant; NEH Travel Grant; ASTR Senior Fellowship; ASTR Research Grant; three University of Maryland Awards for Teaching Excellence; and the Phi Kappa Phi Mentoring Award

Leigh Wilson Smiley
Assistant Professor
, Co-Director of MFA in Performance
301.405.6683

Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Room 2821
lsmiley@umd.edu

Education/Training: B.A., Marlboro College, Vermont, 1982; Designated Linklater Voice Teacher; Study with: Richard Armstrong, Jean Rene Toussaint, Catherine Fitzmaurice, Cecily Berry, Michael Howard, Billy Hickey, Tina Packer.
Areas of Specialization: Voice, Acting, Text, Shakespeare, Speech, Dialects
Professional Affiliations: Screen Actors Guild (SAG), Actors Equity Association (AEA), American Federation of Television and Radio Actors (AFTRA), Voice and Speech Association (VASTA), Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE).
Representative Productions: Voice & Dialect Coach: The Shakespeare Theatre (WDC), Fords Theatre, The Folger Shakespeare Theatre, Shakespeare & Company (Lenox MA), Arena Stage, Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre, Wilma Theatre, Catalyst Theatre Co., Georgetown University, Catholic University, Olney Theatre, Open Eye Theatre. Stage: Cassandra Project, Anna Bella Eema, Mary Stuart, Macbeth, Quills, Custom of the Country, The Winters Tale, Two Noble Kinsmen, A Lovers Discourse, Under Milkwood, What the Butler Saw, The Miser. Film: Beloved, Twelve Monkeys, Philadelphia, Renaissance. Director: Trojan Women - University of Maryland, Stop Kiss - University of the Arts, Cassandra Project - Capitol Fringe Festival.
Workshops: "Shakespeare's Text into Action:" Acting/Directing Workshop for the Center for Renaissance & Baroque Studies;"Archetypes and the Voice" for Centre for Performance Research's Giving Voice Festival 2006 in Aberystwth, Wales; " Vocal Presence with Self: A Conscious Journey through the F.M. Alexander and Linklater Voice Techniques" for the ATHE 2006 Conference; Linklater Voice Workshops and Shakespeare Weekend Intensive Workshops for Universities and Conservatories.    
Representative Publications/Research Activities:
Author: "Cowboy Resonance in America," Voice & Speech Review, 2007; "The Vocal Soundscape of Trojan Women," Voice & Speech Review, 2006.
Honors and Awards: Creative and Performing Arts Award (CAPA), 2006

Daniel MacLean Wagner
Professor, Department Chair, Acting Chair for the Department of Dance
301.405.6679
Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Room 2811
dmwagner@umd.edu

Education/Training: M.A., Design/Technical Theatre, University of Maryland, 1982; B.A., Dramatic Arts, University of Maryland, 1979
Areas of Specialization/Interest: Lighting Design, Producing
Professional Affiliations: Lighting Designer, United Scenic Artists Local 829. Resident Lighting Designer, Olney Theatre Center and National Players (1992 - present); Artistic Associate, Signature Theatre (1996 - present), Associate Artist, Round House Theatre (2003-present); previously served as Resident Lighting Designer, The Studio Theatre (1986 - 1998). Producer and Production Designer, Helen Hayes Awards (1988 - present). Board Member, Olney Theatre Center; Washington Area Performing Arts Video Archive (WAPAVA). Lighting Consultant/Systems Designer
Representative Productions: Lighting design for more than 350 productions at many regional theatres, including Berkshire Theatre Festival, Portland Stage, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Arden Theatre Company, The Shakespeare Theatre, The John F. Kennedy Center, The Studio Theatre, Signature Theatre, Round House Theatre, Theatre of the First Amendment, Potomac Theatre Project, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, National Players, and Olney Theatre Center; has also designed for Boston Lyric Opera, and several Off-Broadway productions. Recent designs include: Alexander, Who's Not, Not,...Going to Move at the John F. Kennedy Center and on national tour; Copenhagen at Olney Theatre Center; The Highest Yellow at Signature Theatre; Living Out and The Diary of Anne Frank at Round House Theatre; Radiant Abyss at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company.
Representative Publications/Research Activities: Again and Again: The Legacy of Washington Theatre, Washington Theatre Awards Society, 1988.
Honors and Awards: Eight-time recipient of the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Lighting Design (most recently for The Diary of Anne Frank at Round House Theatre, 2005), for which he has been nominated twenty-six times; Creative and Performing Arts Award, College of Arts and Humanities, 1997; Individual Artist Fellowship, D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, 1992, 1996

Adjunct Faculty

Susan Chiang, Costume Construction
Ann Chismar, Scene Painting
Kristine Eckerman, Sound Technology
Timothy Jones, Properties
Kyle Kweder, Lighting Technology
Raye Leith, Figure Drawing
Douglas Reside, Computer Technology

Affiliate Faculty

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Department of Theatre Staff

 

Cary Gillett
Production Coordinator
301.405.1623
Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Room 1733
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Education/Training: B.A. University of Maryland, 1998, Theatre.
Areas of Specialization/Interest: Production Management, Stage Management
Professional Affiliations: Stage Manager, Actor’s Equity Association (AEA); Co-Production Manager, Helen Hayes Awards.

Sandra Jackson
Director of Business Operations
301.405.6690
Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Room 2812
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Education/Training: B.S. University of Maryland University College, 1998, Management and Computer Studies
Areas of Specialization/Interest: Business Manager

Marguerita Phelps
Coordinator of Student Services
301.405.6694
Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Room 2808

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Education/Training: University of Maryland 1968-1971, Art History; Training in Arts Management (Ticketing, Publicity, Publications, Concert Management) and Web Programming
Areas of Specialization/Interest: Advising, Undergraduate Program (Advising, Recruitment, Retention, Registration) Scholarship Auditions, Scheduling, Webmaster, Alumni Relations
Honors and Awards: 2001 President's Commission on Women's Issues Clerical/Secretarial Staff Recognition Award, 2003 University of Maryland nominee - Board of Regent's University System Staff Award

Sarah Stonesifer
Administrative Assistant I
301.405.6676
Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Room 2806

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Education/Training: B.A., University of Maryland, 2008, Cinema Studies and Art History
Areas of Specialization/Interest: Administrative support to the Department including: parking coordinator, key monitor, ordering supplies, distributing comp tickets, archiving information, room reservations, distributing paychecks, textbook orders, security, inventory and telecommunications.



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Department of Theatre, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742-1610