Education History:
B.A. Le Moyne College
M.F.A. Virginia Commonwealth University
Current Professional/Research Interests:
I am interested in acting, directing, and writing about theatre for social change. My other research interests include theatre pedagogy, acting styles, embodied learning and service learning.
Recent Publications/Conferences:
I have an article in press titled “Service Learning and the Arts: Community, Design and Impact” for the service learning journal Compact Impact. I am currently revising an article tentatively titled “Politically-Charged Pedagogies: Using Theatre to Address White Racism on Predominately White Campuses”.
I have given presentations at both national and regional conferences, including: “The Body as a Site of Knowledge: A Transdisciplinary Pedagogy”(ATHE); “Get Them Moving: The Benefits of Bodily-Kinesthetic Pedagogies” (The Teaching Professor Conference); and “Acting Through the Ages: Stylized Acting for the Greek, Elizabethan and Restoration Periods” (SETC).
I am also engaged in creative scholarship, acting and directing at professional theatres and national conferences. I directed a staged reading of The Shape of Things for The Firehouse Theatre Project in Richmond, Virginia where I have been invited to direct again in the summer of 2010. My recent acting credits include: Nurse, the suitors’ ward (a one-woman 10 minute play), Pendragon Theatre, Saranac Lake, NY; Cheryl, Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter, Pendragon Theatre and other regional venues; and Prudence, Deception Pass, David Mark Cohen Award Reading, ATHE Conference.I have directed departmental stage productions such as Black Comedy, The Laramie Project, Spinning Into Butter, The Importance of Being Earnest and The Vagina Monologues.I enjoy bringing professional theatre artists to campus to work with PCA students. Recent guest artists include: Artistic Director of Open Jar Productions and Broadway Assistant Director Jeff Whiting; award-winning playwright Clay Mc Leod Chapman; and actor/director/musician Chris Clarke, MFA. I am the recipient of the Catherine and William Lynn Teaching Medal and the Virginia Commonwealth University Excellence in Theatre Award.
List of ProfessionalAssociations/Memberships:
Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE)
Southeastern Theatre Conference (STC)
Classes Taught:
PCA 107 Beginning Acting
PCA 111 Rhetoric and Public Speaking
PCA 207 Characterization
PCA 209 Acting Styles
PCA 309 Directing
PCA 313 Children’s Theatre (Special Topics)
PCA 313 Studies in Musical Theatre (Special Topics)
PCA 313 Production Workshop (Special Topics)
