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ANNOUNCING OUR NEW FACULTY MEMBERS
Don Childs, Director, Department of Theatre
Don began his theatrical career at the San Francisco Actors Workshop during the theatrically active 1960's. He then obtained a BA from the University of Iowa and an MFA from Indiana University. A twenty-year teaching career has taken Don from San Diego to Montreal and many places in between. In 2006 Don founded the Stagecraft Institute of Las Vegas to train technicians for the live entertainment industry utilizing the high quality talent pool in Vegas. Don has designed sets and/or lights for in excess of 200 shows in the professional and education venues. He has won awards for his design both domestically and abroad, including being selected to display at the inaugural 2005 World Stage Design Exhibit in Toronto, and considers Slovak designer Ladislav Vychodil his greatest influence. Don is the current Chair of the Southwest Section of the United States Institute of Theatre Technology. Don is a member of IATSE/USA Local 829.
Dr. Robin Levenson, Assistant Professor of Acting/Voice
Robin just completed her PhD in Theatre from the Dept. of Music and Performing Arts at New York University. She has taught Voice and Speech Communication at NYU for over nine years, as well as teaching acting and all aspects of Theatre in middle schools and high schools throughout New York City. She is a native of Los Angeles, where she pursued a career in acting, completing over 100 voice-over projects in animated features, commercials and radio, as well as appearing in dozens of stage plays and a daytime drama. Robin is inspired by her teachers, Stella Adler, and former directors from the Moscow Art Theatre. This June-July she will be presenting part of her dissertation, "Acting in Translation," to theatre scholars, directors and translators at the "Staging Translated Plays" conference at the University of East Anglia outside London. Robin is particularly sparked by the plays of Anton Chekhov, and also recently directed her reworking of adaptations of his Three Sisters, with both professional and student actors, for NYU. She is thrilled to join OCU this fall. Robin is a member of Actor's Equity Association, the Screen Actor's Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.
Jim Hutchison, Assistant Professor of Lighting and Sound Design
Jim is a lighting designer, programmer, and consultant hailing from central Illinois. After gaining his MFA from The Ohio State University, Jim worked as a staff lighting designer and programmer for two large production houses in Columbus, OH. While designing for corporate theatre and industrials, Jim had the opportunity to design for clients like Chase Bank, Victoria's Secret, Mac Tools, and Nationwide Insurance. Jim also toured as Lighting Director for the international Broadway tour of Fosse the Musical, as well as having several national one-offs and tours as lighting director and programmer. Jim continues his professional work and maintains Alive Lighting (www.alivelighting.com) - his lighting design, programming, and consultation business. Jim is also a sound designer, composer, musician, and member of United Scenic Artists Local 829 in the category of Lighting Designer.
Melissa L. F. Turner, Visiting Assistant Professor of Stage & Production Management
Melissa is excited to be joining the faculty of OCU this fall. A Colorado native, Melissa received her undergraduate degree in technical theater from the University of Northern Colorado. She went on to earn an MFA in Stage Management from the Yale School of Drama. Melissa has worked professionally across the country and has had the opportunity of working in all areas of theater including drama, musicals and opera. She has worked as a stage manager at the Yale Repertory Theatre, Boston Lyric Opera, Goodspeed Musicals and Shakespeare & Company. She has had the privilege of participating in the creation of several new works including recent productions of Cuttin’ Up at The Cleveland Play House and Meet John Doe with Goodspeed Musicals. Stage management may seem, from the outside, to be a strictly structural and clerical role. However, she finds that a stage manager is an important member of the creative process and a true theater artist. She is committed to teaching and supporting young theater students as they make their transition into the professional theatrical community. Melissa is a proud Member of Actors Equity Association and the American Guild of Musical Artists.
Tonia Campanella, Artist-in-Residence, Acting/Movement
Originally from Chicago, Tonia is a movement and acting coach and teacher. She received her BFA from Niagara University in Theatre Performance and her MFA at Virginia Commonwealth University in Theatre Pedagogy with an emphasis in Movement. Tonia has worked professionally as an actress, fight director, and movement choreographer. She was recently seen as Lala in The Last Night of Ballyhoo with Carpenter Square Theatre in Oklahoma City. She has a specialty in choreographing intimacy and sexuality for the stage. Tonia teaches classes in movement for the stage and acting.
PERFORMANCE FACULTY
D. Lance Marsh, Assistant Professor of Acting, Artistic Director of TheatreOCU
Lance is entering his second year as an Assistant Professor of Acting, and he recently became the Artistic Director for TheatreOCU. Before coming to OCU, Lance taught at the Professional Actor Training Program at the University of Arizona, as well as the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the University of Wisconsin-Baraboo/Sauk County. He holds a BFA in Theatre (Acting) from Stephens College and an MFA in Acting from UW-Madison. Lance is the Artistic Director of Summerset Theatre, an outdoor, summer theatre located in Central Wisconsin. Before becoming a teacher, Lance spent fifteen years as a professional actor, primarily performing in classical plays. He has appeared at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, the Western Stage, the California Shakespeare Festival, the Okoboji Summer Theatre, Next Act Theatre, First Stage Children’s Theatre, the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, the Wisconsin Shakespeare Festival, the Milwaukee Shakespeare Company, the Texas Shakespeare Festival, the Arizona Repertory Theatre and was a company member for 5 years at American Players Theatre. He has directed professionally in California, Missouri, Iowa, Arizona and Wisconsin. Lance is a member of Actor's Equity Association.
Judith Palladino, Professor of Theatre & Theatre for Young Audiences
Professor Palladino, born and raised in New York City, has been acting since age nine and directing for over 25 years. She has been a featured performer in plays, musicals, commercials, and voice-overs, and has directed over 100 productions. She holds degrees in Theatre and Drama/Theatre for the Young, as well as teacher's certification in those fields. Chair of the Department of Theatre for 11 years and Program Director of Children's Theatre at OCU, Prof. Palladino also teaches acting, directing, children's theatre, creative drama, voice and diction, and the classes required for a Master of Arts in Theatre for Young Audiences. She is also in charge of the Let's Pretend Players touring company and directs main stage productions at OCU.
Dr. David Pasto, Professor of Theatre
Dr. Pasto is an actor, director, playwright, translator, and theatre historian. He has acted and directed for many theatres in Oklahoma, including Carpenter Square Theatre, Synchronicity Theatre, and Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park. His translation of a Spanish Golden Age play, The House of Trials by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, won the Franklin G. Smith Award for excellence in translation and has been published by Peter Lang Publishers. He teaches play analysis, theater history, acting, and directing at OCU.
DESIGN AND PRODUCTION FACULTY
Billie Boston, Professor of Costume Design
Billie has been the Costume Designer at OCU since 1986, She also designed for the Yuletide Festival and Lyric Theater of Oklahoma for eight years, and Ballet Oklahoma for eleven years. Billie's designs are know throughout the country: her costume designs for Little Shop of Horrors have been used by Oak Music Theater in Lakewood, NJ; her designs for Mame were used by Connecticut's Broadway Theater. Mobile Light Opera in Mobile, AL and Jupiter Theater in Juno Beach Florida used her Carousel costume designs; she designed the Hello Dolly! Costumes used by Joanne Worley in both the Sacramento, California and Houston Tutt's Theater production of the play. Her Kiss Me Kate and Showboat costume designs found their way to the Opera House Theater Company of Willington, North Carolina, and Phantom of the Opera costumes to Music Theater Wichita. Billie Boston has also designed for Fort Worth's Casa Manana Theater, Irving's Lyric Stage Theater, Dallas' Watertower Theater, the Pittsburgh Ballet, the Royal Flanders Ballet, Oklahoma Diamond Jubilee, BBC Children's Theater, the Winter Olympics, and the Miss America Pageant. She has been the recipient of Kennedy Center/American College Theater Festival Design Awards and is listed in Who's Who in America and Who's Who in Entertainment.
Jason Foreman, Assistant Professor of Scenic Design
Jason is the Resident Scenic Designer at OCU. He has also taught design and technical theatre at Rice University, Sam Houston State University and the University of New Orleans. Recent designs include Aida, Funny Girl, Così, Evita, Pump Boys & Dinettes and Noises Off. Jason has a BFA in Drama – Design & Technology from the University of Oklahoma, and he holds a MFA in Scenic Design from California State University, Long Beach. He has worked professionally as a designer and scenic artist for companies around the US, such as West Virginia Public Theatre, Houston Shakespeare Festival, Southern Repertory Theatre and California Repertory Company.
ADJUNCT FACULTY
Lyn Adams
Lyn is the Executive Director of the Oklahoma Children’s Theatre. She has a Diploma of Education from Deakin University in Australia as well as a BFA and MFA in Theatre/Directing from the University of Oklahoma. She has taught elementary school in Australia and has been an adjunct instructor at Oklahoma City Community College, OCU School of Dance and Arts Management and is currently an adjunct professor with the Department of Theater. Lyn volunteers in the community with Harding Fine Arts Center, Leadership Oklahoma City, A+ Arts, OKCPSF Project Kids, Septemberfest, Classen School of Advanced Studies, Oklahoma City Arts Council, RedBud Classic Run and Rotary International Club 29. She teaches courses such as Acting I, Script Analysis and The Theatre Experience. She also directs OCT and OCU Theater for Young Audience productions. Lyn believes her greatest challenge is to convince us that real Aussies don’t throw shrimps on the barby and that she doesn’t carry a real knife in her purse.
Darryl Cox
Darryl has had extensive experience as an actor and writer in the entertainment industry, both in Los Angeles and Dallas. His acting career spans the spectrum of major film and television productions, including roles in Arlington Road, Robocop, Necessary Roughness, A Perfect World, L.A. Law, NYPD Blue, Knight and Day, General Hospital, Witness to the Execution, and the mini-series North and South. He has been directed by, among others, Clint Eastwood, Oliver Stone, and Paul Verhoeven. He has additional credits in dozens of TV and radio commercials, as well as numerous industrial films. He has also worked as a staff writer for Davis*Glick Productions in Los Angeles. Darryl has taught at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles and at Adam Roarke's Film Actor's Lab in Dallas. He is an active member of the Screen Actor's Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. At OCU, Darryl teaches On-Camera Acting and Advanced On-Camera Acting.
Jordan Domanski
Originally from Texas, Jordan holds an MFA in Costume Design and Technology from Ohio University and a BS in Theatre Performance from West Texas A&M University. She came to Oklahoma from New York City, where she worked as a patternmaker for Tricorne, a studio which builds costumes for Broadway productions. Jordan’s work has been seen in such shows as Wicked, Hairspray, The Producers, Mamma Mia!, and Movin’ Out, as well as in the Broadway Bears fundraiser for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids. Jordan has also worked in costume shops at the Santa Fe Opera and the Juilliard School as a patternmaker, first hand, and stitcher. Since moving to Oklahoma, Jordan has been teaching at OCU and making wedding dresses for friends but spends most of her time keeping her two-year-old son, Ben, from playing with her scissors.
COSTUME SHOP STAFF
Irma Arias, Seamstress
Mrs. Arias has been working as a seamstress for OCU since 1996. Prior to working at OCU, she was a stay-at-home mom raising five daughters. She is originally from Barranquilla, Columbia in South America. She came to the United States in 1986 to marry her sweetheart, Oscar Arias. They settled in New York City where they began their family with two daughters and moved to Oklahoma City in 1976 and completed their family with three more girls. Mrs. Arias is also a proud grandmother! While living in New York, she went to cosmetology school where she earned her license as a hairdresser. She uses these hairdressing skills to create a wide variety of hairstyles for wigs used in OCU plays and operas. She has been sewing since the age of 16 and enjoys making children's clothing, particularly dresses for little girls.
SCENE SHOP STAFF
Heidi Hamilton, Master Electrician
Heidi is an Oklahoma City native and has been an active professional in Oklahoma City theater since 1987. She currently serves as the Master Electrician for the College of Performing Arts. Heidi has also worked in every major venue in Oklahoma City as a master electrician for the IATSE Local 112. She has also installed lighting control systems in theaters throughout the nation as a factory trained field service technician for ETC.
Larry Huffman, Scenic Technician
Larry has been working as a Theatre Technician at OCU and in the Oklahoma City area since 2002. Striving to one day be a technical theatre teacher, he works with students at both OCU and Lyric Academy. Larry has held such titles as Head Carpenter, Effects Flyman and Head Flyman at Lyric Theatre. His current job duties in the OCU scene shop include welding, rigging, flying and carpentry. Larry was the Technical Director for TheatreOCU’s Valor, Outrage and Woman last semester. He is also an Instructor for the Stagecraft labs.
James A. Stuhlmiller, Technical Operations Manager
Jim has worked in the professional, regional, and educational theater fields since 1979. His experiences range from technical director and lighting design at the Perot Theater to filling a variety of technical roles for Lyric Theater, to serving as a technical director and master scenic artist. Jim also supports the performance programs at OCU as a scene designer, lighting designer, and sound designer, while serving as a full time staff member.
ADMINISTRATIVE TEAM
Gina Taylor-Davis Theatre Operations Manager
Caitlin White Student Services Coordinator
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