The University of Chicago Theater and Performance Studies

• Nuts and Bolts

• Theater and Performance Studies Program Description
• Faculty
• Courses 2009-2010
• Resources
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• The Mind on Stage
• Nuts and Bolts
• Alumni Interview Videos
• University Theater / Productions



Faculty

Faculty

D. Bevington (Emeritus); T. Christensen; H. Coleman; J. Comaroff; T. Gunning; D. J. Levin; L. Kruger; L. Norman; D. N. Rudall; D. Rutherford; H. Sinaiko

Resource Faculty

P. Bohlman; T. Bruguera; D. English; Y. He; L. Letinsky; M. Jackson; W. Mazzarella; A. Lugo-Ortiz; C. Sullivan; J. Zeitlin

Visiting Professors

D. Buch

Lecturers

T. Burch; P. Pascoe; T. Trent

TAPS Lecturers 2009-2010

Greg Allen is the Founding Director of Neo-Futurists and creator of Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind (30 Plays in 60 Minutes) which has been performed every week in Chicago since 1988 and in New York since 2004.  He has written and directed over 50 other original full-length productions including Boxing Joseph Cornell, Crime & Punishment (both with Connor Kalista), The Last Two Minutes of the Complete Works of Henrik Ibsen, H20, Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious, and K., his award-winning adaptation of Franz Kafka's The Trial. His collaboration with Theater Oobleck The Complete Lost Works of Samuel Beckett As Found In An Envelope (partially burned) In A Dustbin In Paris Labeled "Never to be performed. Never. Ever. EVER! Or I'll Sue! I'LL SUE FROM THE GRAVE!!!" has had eleven international productions and been performed in German.  His plays have been seen at Steppenwolf, Woolly Mammoth, The Goodman, NYC's Public Theater, Northlight, Geva, Court, and at Dad's Garage in Atlanta. Recently his version of all 9 acts and 5 hours of Strange Interlude garnered hostile hecklers and instant standing ovations at the Goodman's Eugene O'Neill Festival.  He has taught and lectured on Neo-Futurism for theaters and universities all over North America including Oberlin College, Columbia, Amherst, Smith, Northwestern, Wesleyan, University of Houston, Rhodes College, Le Theatre de L’Opsis in Montreal, and Depaul where he teaches company creation.  This summer he will lecture on Neo-Futurism in Moscow Russia.  Greg has taught in four different departments at U of C and hopes to cover them all before he dies..

Jonathan Berry is a director in Chicago. He is a Griffin Company artistic associate where recent productions include: Picnic, Time and the Conways (Jeff nom – director/ensemble), Dead End, Be More Chill, the North American premier of Simon Stephens On the Shore of the Wide World and the critically acclaimed Journey's End. In the fall, he will direct Brendan Behan’s The Hostage for the company. Other theaters include, Steppenwolf: Gary (World Premier), Steep Theater: Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui. Suntimes and Tribune Top 10 lists for ’06-’07), and the midwest premier of The Hollow Lands, Remy Bumppo: The Marriage of Figaro, Lifeline Theater: The Piano Tuner (Afterdark award – Best Production) He pursued his MFA in directing from Northwestern University, where shows included: Candide, Wintertime, Mud, Sexual Perversity In Chicago. Upcoming shows include Of Mice and Men for Colombia College and A Separate Piece for Steppenwolf. He has taught acting, directing, and viewpoints at Northwestern University, University of Chicago, and The School at Steppenwolf.

Ann Boyd is a performer, choreographer, director, writer and teacher. This past year she directed the Sweat Girls in Sweatily Ever After (to be remounted as part of Steppenwolf's Traffic Series in '09), choreographed Dead Man's Cell Phone at Steppenwolf, performed her solo No Time Like the Present at Finch Gallery, directed Maia Morgan's solo And now, the octopus for Live Bait's Filet of Solo Festival, directed Arlene Malinowski's one-woman show Aiming for Sainthood at 16th Street Theater in Berwyn and performed her original story Naguales at Chicago Public Schools as part of Urban Gateways Touring Program. Ann’s teaching is influenced by her interdisciplinary approach to making work and draws upon viewpoints and constraint-based composition as generative tools.

Tom Burch Tom Burch's previous teaching credentials include Georgetown College (KY), North Park and DePaul Universities as well as Northwestern from which he received his MFA in Stage Design in 2003. Chicago area design credits include shows for About Face, American Theatre Company, Apple Tree, Chicago Shakespeare, The Goodman Theatre, The House, The Hypocrites, Lifeline, Light Opera Works, Next, Pegasus Players, Timeline, and many others. Regional credits include shows at Arizona Theatre Co, Cleveland Play House, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Peninsula Players, Childsplay (Phoenix, AZ), Human Race Theatre (Dayton, OH), and others. He's the recipient of a Jeff Citation for Pyewacket's stage adaptation of Misery, After Dark Awards for Lifeline's Strong Poison and Island of Dr. Moreau and for Northlight’s Red Herring, and the Michael Maggio Emerging Designer Award. Upcoming projects include Is He Dead? (Peninsula Players), Mistakes Were Made (A Red Orchid), Frankenstein (Hypocrites/Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago), Souvenir (Northlight) and Return To Haifa (Next). He is a member of USA Local 829, the union for professional stage designers. His work can be viewed online at www.tomburch.com

Heidi Coleman, Director of University Theater, Director of Undergraduate Studies, Theater and Performance Studies has worked professionally as a director and dramaturg in New York City, San Francisco as well as Chicago. She has collaborated with Anne Bogart, Andrei Serban, and Tina Landau; taught within Columbia University’s Theater MFA and English departments, and has most recently participated in Steppenwolf’s First Look Series. She has curated UT’s New Work Week, co-curated The University of Chicago Presidential Fellows in the Arts Program, and initiated UT’s summer arts residency program, Summer Inc. Her work focuses on the integration of theory and practice, in both artistic and programmatic arenas.

Leslie Buxbaum Danzig is a co-founder of 500 Clown, where she co-created and directed 500 Clown Macbeth, 500 Clown Frankenstein and 500 Clown Christmas.  Currently she is directing 500 Clown and the Elephant Deal,  commissioned by and premiering at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at Maryland, and then running at Steppenwolf Upstairs Theater in Summer 2009.  She directed Redmoon Theater’s Hunchback, which tours to New York City's New Victory Theater this fall, after previously being at Redmoon Central and back in 2000 at Steppenwolf Studio and the Henson International Festival of Puppet Theater at NYC"s Public Theater.  Leslie co-directed Blair Thomas & Co.’s The Ox-Herder’s Tale at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center; and conceived and directed DOG's Interference and Windows Server 2003/Active Directory Infrastructure at PAC/edge 2003-04.  With NYC’s Elevator Repair Service, Leslie has performed in works at P.S. 122 and toured nationally and internationally.  She was assistant director to Julie Taymor on The Green Bird with Theater for a New Audience, and dramaturg with choreographer Molly Shanahan. Leslie has taught and directed at Northwestern University, University of Chicago and Roosevelt University's Chicago College for the Performing Arts, and trained in physical theater at Ecole Jacques Lecoq and in clown with Philippe Gaulier and Ronlin Foreman; BA from Brown University; and PhD in Performance Studies at Northwestern University.

Drew Dir is the Resident Dramaturg at Court Theatre, the professional theater on the University of Chicago campus, where he oversees the dramaturgy for five shows per season. In the past, Drew has worked as a playwright, dramaturg, and director in Chicago and London. Most recently, his short play The Lurker Radio Hour was voted Best Production at Collaboraction’s Sketchbook 8 at the Steppenwolf Garage. Drew’s work has been called “daring” by Chicago Tribune critic Chris Jones and “ballsy” by Time Out Chicago. Drew studied for a master's degree in Text and Performance Studies at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, where his work focused on the theory and practice of postdramatic adaptation and staging.

Sean Graney is the Artistic Director and Founder of The Hypocrites, a Chicago theater company. Sean directed over 30 productions since 1997. He was a participant in the NEA/TCG Career Development Program for Directors from 2004/6. He has won two Joseph Jefferson Citations for Outstanding Direction for Equus and Machinal. In 2004, Chicago Magazine identified him as Chicago’s Best Avant-garde Director. He has also directed Edward II at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, The Elephant Man for Steppenwolf Young Audiences, What the Butler Saw and Mystery of Irma Vep at Court Theater, and Honus and Me and The Hundred Dresses for Chicago Children’s Theater.  As a playwright, Sean has received productions of The 4^th Graders Present an Unnamed Suicide at 59E59 in NY, The Hypocrites and the sideproject in Chicago; Autophagy at the Drama League Director’s Fest in 2007 in NY; Porno at the sideproject in Chicago; as well as many adaptations and short plays. He received a commission from The Goodman in 2008 to create an original script, out of this commission his play Without which received a public reading as a part of the Goodman’s 2008 festival to present readings of new plays.

Delaney Hall, is the project producer with the Third Coast International Audio Festival, an independent media arts organization in Chicago. She currently produces Re:sound, the Third Coast's weekly documentary-based radio show on Chicago Public Radio; hosts the TCF podcast; and develops website features. Hall also helped launch the Sounding Point Radio Workshop at Street Level Youth Media and creates her own work for radio.

Cameron Jarrett began her dance training at the Academy of Movement and Music, continued studying dance while pursuing a BA degree from Northern Illinois University, and was awarded a MFA degree in dance from the University of Illinois where she was a Creative and Performing Arts Fellow. She has worked extensively with Chicago-based Momenta Performing Arts performing in historical dance works by Ruth St. Denis, Doris Humphrey, Charles Weidman, Martha Graham and Anna Sokolow. She has been coached by master teachers Ernestine Stodelle, Gail Corbin, Leslie Main, and most recently Jim May and Deborah Carr. In Chicago, Cameron has also performed with Hedwig Dances, Instruments of Movement and Thodos Dance Chicago. She has appeared in dances choreographed by Randy Duncan, Doug Elkins, Paula Frasz, James Hansen, Brian Jeffries, Sandra Kaufmann, Walter Kennedy, Christie Munch, David Rousseave, Sarita Smith-Childs, Paul Taylor, Renee Wadleigh and Raphaelle Ziemba. Her own choreography has been presented by Momenta Performing Arts, Dance Chicago, and Thodos Dance. Cameron has been on faculty at The Academy of Movement and Music, The Joel Hall Dance Center, and The Gus Giordano Dance Center, and is certified to teach the Pilates method of body conditioning by master instructor Romana Kryzagnowska. She currently teaches Modern Dance and Dance Composition in the Theatre and Performing Arts Department of the University of Chicago.

Brian LaDuca, the current Managing Director, Program Coordinator and lecturer for University Theater at the University of Chicago. He holds an MFA in Directing for the Stage and Screen from the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film (University of Nebraska-Lincoln) and a BFA in Performance Studies from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. An associate member of SDC, recently he has been the assistant director on the Jeff recommended Grey Gardens at Northlight Theatre (BJ Jones, dir.), The Boys From Syracuse at Drury Lane Oakbrook (David H. Bell, dir) and the workshop world premiere of The Bowery Boys at Northwestern (David H. Bell, dir.). He is Lead Coordinator of the Joseph Jefferson Awards Artistic/Technical Team as well as an active producer and director. In 2009/2010 his projects will include directing A Cat On a Hot Tin Roof for Night Blue Theatre's Harbor Country Theatre Festival in Sawyer, Michigan, Assistant Directing on Twelfth Night at the Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival (David H. Bell, dir.), the co-director of Rent at the Theatre Building-Chicago and directing Misery for Red Twist Theatre in Chicago. From 2000-2005 he was the Producing Artistic Director for C'est La Vie Drama in Chicago (a company he found) and the Artistic Director of Theatrix (Lincoln, NE) from 2005-2008 where he created and currently produces annually the New Artists Festival, one of the midwest's fasting growing collegiate theatre festivals focusing on new and original work.

Mickle Maher is a cofounder of Theater Oobleck, and has been a playwright/adaptor/translator for 20 years. He has authored eight plays for Oobleck, including The Strangerer (funded by a grant from Creative Capital), Spirits to Enforce, and The Hunchback Variations. Other plays include Cyrano(translator) and The Cabinet for Redmoon Theater, and Lady Madeline for Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Maher's works have been produced throughout the country and in Europe. His children’s book, Master Stitchum and the Moon, is published by Bollix Books. His plays are published by Hope and Nonthings (hopeandnonthings.com). He is currently working with Redmoon's Frank Maugeri on a shadow/slide theater work about a very old Superman.

Bonnie Metzgar is an award-winning producer, director, playwright, and dramaturg. She has recently become the Artistic Director for About Face Theater Company, after being a professor and director of the graduate playwriting program at Brown University. In addition to teaching, Metzgar also served as Artistic Director of Brown's New Plays Festival for three years with Paula Vogel. Additionally, Bonnie was a co-creator and producer of the 365 Festival--a national festival based on 365 Days/365 Plays, a yearlong play cycle written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan Lori Parks. From 2004 to 2007, Metzgar was Associate Artistic Director of Curious Theatre Company in Denver, where she curated new works and directed for the mainstage. Curious Theatre's War Anthology, for which Bonnie was lead writer, director, and curator, won Colorado Theatre Guild's 2006 Henry Award for Outstanding New Play and Outstanding Ensemble. From 1995 to 2003, she served as Associate Producer at the Joseph Papp Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival under George C. Wolfe, where she oversaw a wide range of works including several Broadway transfers including Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk and Elaine Stritch: At Liberty.

David New is the associate artistic director of Steppenwolf Theatre Company and a guest lecturer at the University of Chicago. He received a BFA in Acting from the Theatre School at DePaul University in 1987. In Chicago, he has appeared in productions with Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, The Goodman Theatre, The Chicago Humanities Festival, Court Theatre, Victory Gardens, Body Politic, Writer’s Theatre of Chicago, Apple Tree Theatre, Marriott Lincolnshire Theatre, Drury Lane Oakbrook and many others. Regional acting credits include Lincoln Center on Broadway, The Ontario Stratford Festival, The Huntington Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Madison Repertory, Peninsula Players, and the New Jersey Shakespeare Festival. Television credits include Law & Order, All My Children, Walker, Texas Ranger, and the NBC mini-series A Will of Their Own. He has directed theatre, opera, and children’s theatre. He is a multiple Joseph Jefferson award nominee, a recipient of the Sarah Siddons Award, and a Chicago/Stratford Associates Fellow.

Pamela Pascoe has worked extensively with immigrant populations in theatrical settings, and has performing credits including Broadway and national productions, Off-Broadway venues, and premiere regional theaters across the country. She has taught theater technique and history at institutions including the Berkshire Theater Festival and Touro College in New York City.

John Petrakis is an associate adjunct professor in the Film, Video and New Media Department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he has been teaching screenwriting since 1993. He Is Currently Teaching A Lecture Class At The Gene Siskel Film Center At Saic On “The History Of The European Art Film.” Previously, John taught screenwriting at Chicago Filmmakers, The Center for New Television and the Chicago Dramatists Workshop. John Was A Regular Film Reviewer For The Chicago Tribune For 10 years, Including Three Years Writing The Weekly “Screen Gems” Column. He Currently writes film essays for “Christian Century Magazine.” He was the lead critic at New City from 1988 through 1993. John is a member of the Writers Guild of America, East. His script for “Song of Songs”, directed by Peter Bogdanovich, played on Showtime as part of its “Picture Windows” series.

Julie Shapiro is Artistic Director of the Third Coast International Audio Festival, and has been with the project since its inaugural year (2000). Before moving to Chicago, Shapiro worked at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University. She also helped run Transmissions, an annual experimental sound and art festival from 1998 to 2001, and produced Storylines Southeast, a public radio series about literature from that region. Shapiro has served on residency and competition juries for the Public Radio Talent Quest, Experimental Sound Studio and the Ragdale Foundation. These days, she makes audio art, can occasionally be heard on the public radio airwaves, and keeps a blog about sound(s).

Marc Stubblefield is currently in his 8th year as Court Theatre’s Director of Operations and Production. He has designed several times at Court Theatre, including working with Artistic Director Charlie Newell on Glass Menagerie and Arcadia, and Ron Parson on First Breeze of Summer and Wait Until Dark.  He has worked at the Geffen Playhouse, the Berkshire Theatre Festival, and the Alley Theatre among others.  He received a dual MFA in Production Management and Scenic Design from UCLA's school of Theatre, Film and Television, and his BA in Technical Theatre from Rice University.

Tiffany Trent Tiffany Trent has been a Lecturer with UT/TAPS since her return to the College in 1998.  A director who loves new works, Tiffany has enjoyed script development workshops with Alabama Shakespeare Festival and New Harmony Writers’ Project.  Directing credits include MPAACT, ETA, Youth Theater Workshop at Chernin’s Center for the Arts, Pegasus Players, Jazz Institute of Chicago, and Chicago Dramatists, where she has been an Associate Artist and has taught in the arts outreach program. Other Arts Education programs that Tiffany has served include Goodman Theatre’s Youth Drama Workshop (1995-2002), CAPE, Young Playwrights’ Festival International with Pegasus Players (2005-2008), and she serves two congregations in performing arts ministry. Tiffany’s costume designs include Chicago Dramatists’, Neo-Futurists, People’s Jazz, and MPAACT. She completed her undergraduate studies in the College in Politics, Economics, Rhetoric, and Law (A.B ’91), has an MFA in Directing from the School of Drama at Carnegie Mellon University, and a Masters in Divnity from Chicago Theological Seminary.  Her teaching and aesthetic are heavily influenced by diverse intersections of faith and art, Boal’s Theater of the Oppressed, and specifically focused on the agency of both actor and audience to contextually transform story and self.