An Enemy of the People adapted by Jerry Turner (Fall 2002)
Theater Arts faculty encourage a firm grounding in all aspects of live and mediated performance, and emphasize the need for individual excellence and collaboration. Faculty are active participants in the regional arts community, working professionally as actors, directors, designers, writers, technicians, consultants, and educators in the area's professional theaters and creative service sector.
Following is a list of the department's regular, adjunct, and associate faculty.
Regular Faculty
Devon Allen, Associate Professor of Theater Arts
Office: MCB119 | Email: allendevon@pdx.edu | Phone: 503-725-4701
Devon Allen is head of the acting program and also teaches directing. Before coming to PSU, Ms. Allen taught at Muhlenberg College, NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, and Duke University, and Muhlenberg College. A professional actor and director, Ms. Allen has acted leading roles in premieres by Lee Blessing, Charles Mee, Romulus Linney, and Naomi Izuka in such theatres as La Jolla Playhouse (CA), Manbites Dog (NC), Corpus Theatre (Scotland, and Cornerstone (LA). She was a full member of The Brecht Company for five years, acting leads in Churchill, Brecht, Shakespeare, and Brenton. She is an NEA recipient and a member of the Lincoln Center Director's Lab. She has directed in professional houses for the last ten years and is the founder and artistic director of OUR SHOES ARE RED/THE PERFORMANCE LAB. The lab is a part of Ms. Allen's research as a theatre artist: excavating fine writers and plays rarely produced, performing rigorous and exceptional plays, developing new work, examining the process of making art, and making art with research and time as primary components. She holds an MFA from University of California at San Diego, a Certificate in Acting from Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (London), and she is a member of Actor's Equity.
Sarah E. Andrews-Collier, Professor of Theater Arts
Office: MCB760D | Email: andrews@pdx.edu | Phone: 503-725-4603
Sarah Andrews-Collier teaches design and directing, and supervises student production projects and internships. She designed over 65 productions affilated with Portland State University before becoming Chair in 2002, including recent designs for The Cherry Orchard and Death of a Salesman (1999), All in the Timing (2000), Arcadia (2001), and Othello (2002). She has additonal regional design credits, including Never the Sinner (Artist's Repertory Theater), Tartuffe and Smoke on the Mountain (Oregon Stage Company), Never in My Lifetime (New Rose Theatre), Hedda Gabler (Lewis & Clark College), MacBeth (Pacific University), television commercials, and OPB. She was awarded a Drammy Award for Best Costume Design by Portland Drama Critics Circle for Twelfth Night (Tygres Heart Shakespeare Company). Her directing credits include The Good Times are Killing Me (PSU) and Still Life (Wilson Ctr for the Performing Arts). Also at PSU, Andrews-Collier has been Secretary to the Faculty since 1994, and President of American Association of University Professors from 1998 to 2002. She holds MA degrees from the University of London and PSU.
Mark Berrettini, PhD, Assistant Professor of Film
Office: MCB 116 | Email: mberre@pdx.edu | Phone: 503-725-4623
Mark Berrettini joined the Department of Theater Arts in Fall 2007 to teach core and elective courses in the Film majors, including film history, theory, genre, and screenwriting. Before coming to PSU, he served as tenured Director of Film Studies at the University of Northern Colorado, and he has also taught critical studies, digital video production, and film production at Fort Lewis College and the University of Rochester. His publications include essays on animal studies, film noir, and social difference in Camera Obscura, Cinema Journal, and Scope, and since 1995, he has been involved in film and video festival and community programming. He holds a Ph.D. in Film Studies from the University of Rochester, and a B.A. cum laude in Film, Television & Theatre from the University of Notre Dame.
Margaret Chapman, Instructor of Theater Arts
Office: UTS300 | Email: margchap@pdx.edu | Phone: 503-725-4610
Margaret Chapman joins the department in Fall 2009 as Costumier. She teaches courses in Costume Production, designs costumes, and manages the Costume Shop. She has enjoyed a distinguished career as an award winning Costume Designer and Costume Artist in the Metropolitan area, and currently serves as the resident designer for Oregon Children's Theatre and Portland Revels. She has designed and constructed costumes for nearly every theatre company and college theatre program in greater Portland area. She holds an MA from Portland State University.
Glenn Gauer, Professor of Theater Arts
Office: MCB760E | Email: gauerg@pdx.edu | Phone: 503-725-4643
Glenn Gauer, a designer in the department since 1977, teaches scenic design, makeup, and theater appreciation. His experience includes scenic and lighting design, directing, technical direction, prop construction, scenic painting, and stage management. Regionally, Gauer has also worked with the Oregon Children's Theatre Company, The Musical Company of Portland, Oregon, Pamplin Theatre Company in Sherwood, Oregon, Portland Civic Theatre, and the University of Montana Department of Drama. In 2001, he received a Drammy Award for Set Design for his work on The Boxcar Children and Paint Your Wagon. He has published an original adaptation of Anton Chekov's The Three Sisters and several of his photos pertaining to the scene painting process and period furniture construction have been utilized in textbooks. He holds an MFA from Carnegie Mellon University.
Bruce Keller, Professor of Theater Arts
Office: MCB760F | Email: kellerb@pdx.edu | Phone: 503-725-4608
Bruce Keller has been with the PSU Theater Arts Department since 1988 as a full-time professor in the areas of technical theater, lighting design and theater history. He has done extensive work on well over 100 productions for not only PSU Two Gentlemen of Verona (2006), Fox'd (2004), and The Hostage (2003), but also for the Miracle Theatre, Portland Taiko Drummers, and several other companies. Keller designs for both theater and dance productions, and contributed his time and effort to a PSU Music Department production of The Marriage of Figaro that was awarded Best Opera by the National Opera Association in 2002. He holds an MA from Case Western Reserve University.
Karin Magaldi, Associate Professor of Theater Arts
Office: MCB117 | Email: magaldk@pdx.edu | Phone: 503-725-4642
Karin Magaldi became the Department of Theater Art's coordinator of dramatic writing and analysis in 1999, after teaching prevously at UC Santa Cruz. Since joining the PSU faculty, she has directed several mainstage productions including Two Gentlemen of Verona (2006), Much Ado About Nothing (2005), and Venus (2003). Locally, she directed Spinning Into Butter for Coho Theatre. Her writing credits include Air for Butterfly Productions in 2001, American English versions of Hedda Gabler and A Doll's House, and 50-minute versions of Shakespeare's Two Gentlemen of Verona and Much Ado About Nothing. She is deeply involved in the city's theatre community, having served on the Drammy committee and acted as a panelist for Artist Trust, and the Regional Arts and Cultural Council. She has mentored and directed several Haven Project short plays (2002-present), she served on the Artistic Advisory Board for the Portland International Performance Festival (1999-2001), and she is on the Artistic Advisory Board at Artists Repertory Theatre. She holds an MFA from UCLA and an MA from UC Berkeley.
Scott Parker, Associate Professor of Theater Arts and University Studies
Office: MCB120 | Email: parkers@pdx.edu | Phone: 503-725-4601
Scott Parker joined the Theater Arts faculty in 1979 and teaches acting and improvisational acting classes. He has worked in the Portland theater community since 1968, performing with several semi-professional theaters in the area, as well as the renowned comedy group Waggie & Friends. He was Master of Ceremonies for the annual Oregon Museum of Science and Industry Gala (fund-raising event) - introducing The Temptations in 2002. Each Christmas Scott performs with the Oregon Trail Band in a benefit for "Friends of the Children." He also teaches in Portland State's University Studies program - an innovative, interdisciplinary general education program and he has been able to use his theater training and expertise to great advantage. Parker's last professional presentation was for the Association of Integrated Studies Conference in 2000. Parker is a member of the Screen Actors Guild and still occasionally does film and television work in the area. He holds an MA from Portland State University.
Judy Patton, Associate Dean, School of Fine & Performing Arts and Professor of Dance
Office: MCB | E-mail: pattonj@pdx.edu | Phone: 503-725-8367
Judy Patton is Associate Dean, School of Fine and Performing Arts and Professor, Theater Arts, at Portland State University. Patton spent the first seventeen years of her career at PSU in the Dance Department where she helped develop the major, the Contemporary Dance Season and The Company We Keep, the resident performing company for the department. For the last two years of the program, she was Chair and founded her own dance company, Judy Patton/Dance. She was awarded two National Endowment of the Arts choreography grants and the Oregon Arts Commission Individual Artist Fellowship. In 1994 with the elimination of the dance program, Patton became part of University Studies teaching Freshman and Sophomore Inquiry and developing the high school collaboration. She served as Freshman Inquiry Faculty Coordinator, Program Director and was Director of that program from 2000-2006. In that capacity, she participated in a number of national projects on higher education transformation and on improving the undergraduate experience and student learning. She presents and publishes in the areas of institutional transformation, general education, learning communities, active learning pedagogies, community-based learning, reflective practice and assessment, focusing on electronic portfolios. In her new position, she will be returning to dance teaching with the development of a new dance minor. She received her B.A in Dance at the University of California, Santa Barbara and a Masters in Arts and Liberal Studies from Reed College.
Victoria Parker Pohl, Assistant Professor of Theater Arts
Office: 110MCB | Email: parkerv@pdx.edu | Phone: 503-725-8157
Victoria Parker-Pohl is an award-winning writer, director, and actor with over twenty-five years experience as a theater instructor. With a masters in theater and a BA in interdisciplinary arts with a special focus on northwestern ecology and environmental studies, Victoria has long enjoyed blending her deep interest in natural science with the arts and humanities, which she brings to her teaching in University Studies.
Her skills evolve from extensive experience facilitating learning for diverse populations, including a wide range of professional clients as well as Portland's underserved and adjudicated youth. Victoria has developed and implemented arts-connection programs in conflict resolution, risk-orientation, team-building, interpersonal communication and creativity. She is a founding instructor with PSU's Creative Industries Program, teaching a summer intensive in Foundations of Creative Thinking. Her most recent theater activities include a role in the Arts and Lecture series VERB, playing several roles in Ursula K. LeGuin's Earthstories; a variety of directing projects locally and in Cannon Beach, Oregon; ongoing mentoring/directing and acting with The Haven Project; and adjudicating for Portland's Drama Critics Circle Drammy Award Committee. She has taught Freshman Inquiry courses at PSU since 2001, most recently on the Meaning and Madness at the Margins theme.
William Tate, Professor of Theater Arts and Film
Office: MCB114 | Email: tatew@pdx.edu | Phone: 503-725-4600
William Tate has taught in the Theater Arts Department since 1968, also serving variously as Department Chair for 14 years, Secondary Education Advisor, Graduate Advisor, and Associate Dean. He specializes in film courses at present, and also teaches dialects. Beloved by students for the unpredictable accents that sneak into his every conversation, Tate has also worked as a dialect consultant and coach for productions at Artists Repertory Theatre, Triangle Productions, and CoHo Theater. Tate's recent PSU directing credits include Blithe Spirit (2006), Tony Kushner's adaptation of Bertolt Brecht's The Good Person of Sezuan (2004), Colin Teevan's adaptation of Euripedes' IPH (2000), John Millington Synge's The Playboy of the Western World (2000), and Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard (1999). Tate has directed over 30 productions, and has also performed major roles in over 25 productions including Arthur Miller's The Crucible as Deputy Governor Danforth in 2001 (a role for which he was awarded a Drammy in 2002 for Best Actor in a Supporting Role), Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee's Inherit the Wind (2002) as Matthew Harrison Brady, and in readers' theater presentations of Sean O'Casey's Shadow of a Gunman (2000) as Seamus, Arthur Laurents' Time of the Cuckoo (2001) as Renato DiRossi, and Ernest Thompson's The Constituent (2003) as the Curmudgeon. He holds an MA from the University of Birmingham, UK.
Richard Wattenberg, PhD, Professor of Theater Arts
Office: MCB121 | Email: wattenr@pdx.edu | Phone: 503-725-4602
Richard Wattenberg teaches theater history, literature and criticism and is the Graduate Studies advisor. He has been a resident drama critic for The Oregonian since 1998 and averages 40 articles annually. He has been a member of the Drammy committee since 1995, the Portland Center for Performing Arts Advisory Committee since 2003, and was a panel member for the Regional Arts and Culture Council from 2002-2003. For PSU, he has several directing credits for PSU as well as a production of Velvet, Velour, and Burlap by Antonio Gonzalez Caballero for the Miracle Theatre in 1997, and over 10 productions for the Department of Theatre at University of California, Riverside before coming to PSU. At PSU, Wattenberg has also served on the Faculty Senate Steering Committee in 2003, the Graduate Council from 1999-2002, and the charter committee for the PSU University Studies program. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin.
Sandra Zodnik, Instructor of Theater Arts
Sandra Zodnik joined the PSU Theater Arts Department in 1998 specializing in costume fabrication and design. Her recent costume design credits include Haround & the Sea of Stories and Dancing at Lughnasa (2008), Hedda Gabler and Vinegar Tom (2007), Two Gentlemen of Verona and Big Love (2006), and Blithe Spirit (2005) for PSU, and Water Bodies (2004) and Zapped (2002) for Body Vox. Zodnik has done custom costume craft work for the Opera Theater of Saint Louis, Lyric Opera in Kansas City, and the Utah Festival Opera Company in Logan, UT where she worked as head craftsperson. Zodnik has worked as a costume artisan with Michael Curry Design, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Skinner/Kirk Dance Ensemble, and Portland Center Stage. She hold a BA in Studio Art from PSU, and is a member of I.A.T.S.E. Local 28: Wardrobe. Sandra has moved to Cleveland, OH effective June 2008. We miss her. Her forwarding address is: zodniks@pdx.edu.
Adjunct Faculty
Julie Akers, Adjunct Asst. Professor of Theater Arts
Julie Akers has been associated with PSU Theater Arts since 1988, guest directing, and teaching theater history, directing, and appreciation. She is a distinguished director with over 30 professional and 20 academic productions to her name, including the acclaimed 2004 PSU Mainstage production of Aristophanes' Lysistrata. Previous to her recent work at PSU, she has been a regular faculty member at New Mexico State and Willamette University, where she also served as Department Chair. Akers worked with the Haystack Program for the Arts & Sciences for PSU at Cannon Beach from 1992 to 2001 as an on-site coordinator and administrator for its six-week summer literacy, performing arts, and science program. She also spent two years (1992 to 1994) working with New Mexico State University as the co-director of an original theatrical piece with Mark Medoff involving Teens at Risk that toured the state, and as an administrator, producer, and director of a nine-day summer camp for 70 students held at the university campus. She is a longtime member of the Portland Drama Critics Circle (Drammy Committee). She holds an MFA from University of British Columbia. Julie has moved to Austin, TX, eff. April 2009. We will miss her. Her forwarding address is julie.a.akers@gmail.com.
Steve Amen, Adjunct Professor of Film
Office: MCB134 | Email: samen@opb.org | Phone: 503-725-4612
Steve Amen is Executive Producer and host of OPB's acclaimed series Oregon Field Guide, the highest rated, locally produced program among PBS stations. Steve Amen has been with OPB for more than twenty years. Prior to that, he spent seven years in commercial news as a producer, reporter, executive producer and news director. Since joining OPB, Amen has headed up numerous documentary projects including a PBS Frontline documentary, the "Oregon Story" series and HBO's "Teen Killers: A Second Chance". His projects have received one national and seven regional Emmys as well as awards from CINE, The New York Film Festival and The American Film/Video Festival. Steve is also a PSU alum.
Lorraine Bahr, Adjunct Asst. Professor of Theater Arts
Office: MCB760B | Email: lorrainebahr@comcastnet | Phone: 503-725-4691
Lorraine Bahr will be returning to teach in Theater Arts in Winter 2008, specializing in Acting. She has previously served as Associate Artistic Director of the Sowelu Theater, and was a member of its resident acting company, and she has performed locally at Artists Repertory, Theatre Vertigo, and Stark Raving Theatre in numerous productions including The Treatment, The Swan, The Adding Machine, Lion in the Streets, and The Beauty Queen of Leenane. Her playwriting credits include A Life Alone (a Drammy Award nominee), Bottomless, Count Time Count Time, and This Train. Bahr was awarded the Kernodle Playwriting Award for The Great Escape of Charlie Stone. Her directing credits include Fen, The Choice, Rumi and Malaria for various Portland theaters. In addition to performing, writing, and directing, Bahr has taught Playwriting Residencies for Literary Arts, Inc., Writers in Schools, and in two Oregon State Prisons through Sowelu's Inmate Outreach Program, which she created and administered. Her performance work has earned her two Drammy Awards. She holds an MFA degree from U. of Wisconsin, Madison.
C. Sue Brower, PhD, Adjunct Asst. Professor of Film
Office: MCB 117 | Email: csbrower@comcast.net | Phone: 503-725-4645
Sue Brower has been with Theater Arts since 1995, specializing in the areas of film and media. She has developed a number of new courses for the department including "We're in the Money: Gangster Films & Musicals," "The 70's Film & Television Renaissance," "Stardom, Celebrity and Meaning," "Hitchcock," and "Anatomy of a Movie I/II." Brower has spoken at many conferences and served as a guest lecturer for the University of Texas at Austin several times. In November of 2000, she presented "Broadcasting That's Good for You: Promoting PBS as a Healthy Alternative" at an NCA pre-conference on Media discourse in Seattle, WA. Brower is a published writer whose pieces include several entries in The Encyclopedia of Television, articles for Texas Medicine, Wide Angle, and Cinema Texas, and is working on a new project entitled "The Big Time: Gangster films, Backstage Musicals, and the Other American Dream." She was the recipient of several awards ranging from the Local Impact Grant from the Portland Public Schools Foundation in 1997 to the Professional Development Award from the University of Texas Office of Graduate Studies in 1986. She holds a Ph.D from the University of Texas in Radio/TV & Film.
Edwin Collier, Adjunct Professor of Theater
Office: MCB112 | Email: edwincollier@comcast.net | Phone: 503-927-3594
Ed Collier is a long-standing associate of the PSU Theater Arts department, focusing on film and acting/directing for the camera. Ed has recent acting credits with Imago Theatre and Artists Repertory Theatre, as well as Longview Stage Works in Washington, and has worked in professional film, television, radio, and theatre since 1965. Ed recently appeared in two PSU Lincoln Performance Hall productions in 2004, as Frosch in Die Fledermaus for PSU Opera Theatre, and as Dr. Dillatante in Fox'd for PSU Theater Arts. From 1975 to 1992 he was the spokesperson for the G.I. Joe's chain of stores. He is Emeritus Professor at Pacific University, having served there for 25 years as Director of Theatre (1978-2003), and before that he was Director of Theater for Clatsop Community College (1975-1978). Ed's directing credits include nearly 100 productions, most recently Twelfth Night, The Mikado, Sweeny Todd, and The Changeling. He was a founding member of the American Theater Company, the first Equity theater company in Oregon, in residence at PSU from 1968-70. He toured Asia in leading roles with the USO, and he also spent a two-year stint as a documentary film writer for the Boeing Company in Seattle during the 1960's. He is an established musician, having worked with Seattle Codfish Company, Mike Mandell and the Trippers, The Weekenders, and The Midnighters. He is an alumni of PSU, and a member of the Screen Actors Guild/ American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG/AFTRA).
Shirley Hewitt, Graduate Student in Theater Arts
Office: MCB134 | Email: shewit@pdx.edu | Phone: 503-725-4604
Shirley Hewitt is currently working on her MS in Theater Arts at Portland State University with an emphasis in directing.
Gordon Hayes, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Theater Arts
Office: MCB 760D | E-mail: coyotesly@yahoo.com
Gordon Hayes has worked at PSU since 1996, specializing in stage make-up, acting, voice, and puppetry. Hayes has extensive experience as a director, actor, and set designer. His directing credits include An Evening of Original Works, You Can't Take It With You, The Tavern, Spoon River Anthology, The Hostage, The Real Inspector Hound, and The Importance of Being Earnest. Some of his notable roles include Vagabond in The Taver, Paul in Carnival, Captain in Dames at Sea, and Barnaby in Matchmaker. Hayes has special training as a vocalist, as well as on the trombone, bass, and guitar. Hayes has been published twice, once for photography and once for poetry. He holds an MFA degree from University of Montana.
Carolyn Holzman, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Theater Arts
Office: MCB 114 | Email: holzmanc@pdx.edu | Phone: 503-725-4605
Carolyn Holzman has taught movement/choreography in the Theater Arts Department since 1984. She previously instructed drama courses at Portland Community College, Portland Metro Performing Arts, Felida School in Vancouver, WA, and Multnomah Educational Service District. Her directing/choreographing credits include Hot Flashes the Musical, Iph, Coppelia, and 10 Seconds that can Change Your Life. Holzman is also a performer, having done acrobatic dance, trapeze, and comedy for the professional touring company Do Jump Movement Theater from 1980 to 1995 and performing original movement theater for Portland Mime Theater from 1977 to 1988. She has received many grants and awards such as Oregon Arts Commission, Collins Foundation, and Rose E. Tucker Charitable Trust funding for the project Mime Speaks in 1984, and the Kellogg Award from the PSU English Department in 1995.
Valory Lawrence, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Theater Arts
Office: MCB 116 | Email: valory@pdx.edu | Phone: 503-725-4693
Valory Lawrence has been teaching at PSU since 2003, teaching acting and auditioning, as well as her own course "How 2B Funny." Her directing credits include Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat for TASO/PSU, Hanging On for the Estrogen Festival, The Pajama Game for Coeur d'Alene Summer Theater--a production that won Best Musical Inland Northwest in 1999--and The Family Continues for PSU. Lawrence has been involved with Longview Parks and Recreation weeklong Acting Daycamps in 2000 and 2001, as well as teaching programs specializing in acting for elementary aged children. Lawrence has also served as an assistant director and stage manager on several productions for the Coeur d'Alene Summer Theater. Lawrence's acting credits include Jenny Diver in ThreePenny Opera, Outlaw/Panthina in Two Gentlemen of Verona, and Bev Davies in Graceland for PSU, as well as numerous other productions. She also has experience with stand-up comedy, voice-overs, and in television and film. Her writing credits include The Second Act Lounge, Bad Days, and The Princess and the Pea. From 2000 to 2003, Lawrence hosted the Women of Note Concert, a fundraiser for the local In Other Words bookstore, as well as writing and performing comedic songs for the annual event. She holds an MA from PSU.
Michael O'Connell, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Theater Arts
Office: MCB 760D | Email: mike.s.oconnell@comcast.net | Phone: 503-725-4691
Michael O'Connell joined the department in 2003 teaching acting and voice. O'Connell has served as a program director and teacher for Portland Center Stage and Vision & Voices since 2002, taught and performed with the Artists Repertory Theater, Actors to Go from 2000 to 2001, and worked as a private acting coach both in Portland and New York City since 1998. O'Connell's directing credits include One for the Road (2001) with the Profile Theater Project and Secret Hope (1999) for Theater Outrageous in New York City. He has performed in Another Fine Mess for Portland Center Stage, The Middle Watch for Theater Outrageous, and Lear Rex for La Mama, as well as television work on Unsolved Mysteries and As the World Turns. His film credits include Why Don't You Dance?, The Last Innocent Summer, and Kaarismo's Opening. He is a member of the Actors Equity Association, the Screen Actors Guild, and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. He holds an MFA from U. of Missouri, KC.
Jonah Ross, PhD, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Film
Office: MCB 121 | Email: jonah.ross@yahoo.com | Phone: 503-725-4698
Jonah Ross joined Theater Arts in 2006 to teach film courses. Previously he has taught at the University of California, Berkeley, where he did his graduate training. His interests include the use of rock music in film, expanded upon in his dissertation The Rock Soundtrack in Contemporary American Film, and the road movie, the subject of a course he teaches at PSU. Other courses he has taught or has in development include Indy Films of the '80's Martin Scorsese, "European Directors," and Existentialism in Film. He presented a paper on Martin Scorsese/Mean Streets/Be My Baby at a Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference. Jonah has also written film, music, and book criticism for The Twin Cities Reader and Citysearch7.com. He holds a Ph.D. in film studies from University of California, Berkeley.
Joan Scott, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Dance
Office: MC 760D | Email: joan_eileen@msn.com | Phone: 503-725-4698
Joan Scott joined PSU in March 2004, specializing in modern dance. Previously she taught at the Repertory Dance Theatre, Salt Lake Community and many other venues in Seattle and Salt Lake City. Currently she teaches in Oregon Ballet Theatre's Outreach program. Scott has danced for many companies and independent choreographers in Seattle and Salt Lake City in productions such as Everything to Me, Linger, and Coming Unglued in Seattle. Her choreography experience includes ...ergo sum, a dance about being human and CyCles, a lecture/demonstration on dance and periodization, both performed at the Marriott Center for Dance. She also choreographed Period, a dance for seven women about the cyclical nature of life, which was performed in The Proving Ground at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center. Scott has received numerous honors including the Modern Dance Departmental Scholarship and The Ballet Teaching Emphasis Certificate with Distinction from the University of Utah in 1996 and 1997. She holds an MFA in Dance from the University of Utah.
Buck Skelton, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Theater Arts
Office: MCB 760D | Email: theatrebuck@comcast.net | Phone: 503-725-4698
Buck Skelton has been with PSU since 1996, teaching acting, modern theater and theater appreciation. He also teaches at Portland Actors Conservatory and the Northwest Film Center. Skelton has directorial experience on nearly 30 productions including Loot, Freedomland, and Fortinbras. His acting credits include the Duke of Cornwall in "King Lear" for Tygres Heart Shakespeare and Jaques in "As You Like It" for Oregon Stage Company. Skelton has also worked as a production manager, served on the board of directors for Portland Actors Conservatory from 1995 to 2003 and Classic Greek Theatre from 1997 to 2004, as well as the advisory board for the Vertigo Theatre in 2003. He has received many awards over the years, such as Outstanding Student in Radio-Television-Film and the Morton Brown Award for Excellence in Stage Direction at the University of Texas, as well as an Emmy Award (certificate) for "Winds of War" and an Emmy nomination for "Dress Gray." He is a member of Screen Actors Guild/ American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. He holds an MFA in Radio-Television-Film from the University of Texas.
Gemma Whelan, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Theater Arts
Office: MCB 760G | Email: gemma@gemmawhelan.com | Phone: 503-725-4698
Gemma Whelan joins the department in Fall 2009 to teach Modern Theater. She was the founding Artistic Director of Wilde Irish Productions (in the San Francisco Bay Area), where she directed THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING OSCAR (winner of 2 Dean Goodman Awards for Direction and Solo Performance), the U.S. Premiere of ARIEL by Marina Carr, SOMEONE WHO'LL WATCH OVER ME, ECLIPSED (at both the Berkeley City Club and the Magic Theatre), and ENDGAME. Other favorites include; LAST SUMMER AT BLUEFISH COVE (Cable Car Nomination for Outstanding Achievement), and VITA AND VIRGINIA (both at Theatre Rhinoceros), TOP GIRLS (Phoenix Theatre), and JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK (Julia Morgan Theatre). She has directed numerous world premiere’s, including MY GYPSY (Cowell Theatre), THE COST (San Francisco Repertory Theatre), OUR TOWN SPERMBANK (Climate Theatre), JOHNNY BOY (Theatre Rhinoceros), ELEVEN WOMEN (Venue 9/ The Marsh), TECHNO TALES (SF Fringe Festival), and VALIA (Brava Theatre). Gemma has taught in the Bay Area, including UC Berkeley, Berkeley Repertory Theatre School of Theatre, American Conservatory Theatre, and she was Chair of the Dramatic Arts Department at Mills College from 2001-2004. She has also taught theatre and film in Singapore, and lead theatre tours to Ireland and U.K., She has also taught at Pacific University, and is a member of the Portland Drammy Committee. Gemma is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin, and has graduate degrees from UC Berkeley, and San Francisco State University.
Associate Faculty
Laurence Kominz, PhD, Professor of Japanese, Department of Foreign Languages & Literature
Office NH 451J | Email: kominzl@pdx.edu | Phone: 503-725-5288
Laurence Kominz joined the PSU faculty in 1993 as an instructor of Japanese. He enriches the Theater Arts Department by teaching such courses as Traditional Japanese Drama and Performing Kabuki. Kominz also serves PSU as the director of the Institute For Asian Studies, and has received numerous awards from the Monbusho, NDFL Title VI, Roothbert, and Japan Foundation Dissertation Fellowships for graduate studies. His professional awards include the John Eliot Allen Outstanding Teaching Award in 2001. Kominz is also a well-established author whose books include The Stars who Created Kabuki - Their Lives, Loves and Legacy, Avatars of Vengeance: Japanese Drama and the Soga Literary Tradition, and the essay "Puppet Language Human Body: The Imitation of Puppets in Classical Buyo Dance," which was included in the book The Language of the Puppet. In addition to these projects, he has penned many chapters, journal articles, and book reviews. Kominz boasts Masters degrees in Japanese literature and philosophy as well as a Ph.D. in philosophy.
Department of Theater Arts Staff
Katie Sinback, Office Coordinator
Office: MCB 111 | Email: sinback@pdx.edu | Phone: 503-725-4612
Shirley Hewitt, Drama Productions Public Relations Assistant
Office: MCB 134 | Email: shewit@pdx.edu | Phone: 503-725-4604
Matt Pavik, Office Assistant
Office: MCB 110 | Email: mdpavik@pdx.edu | Phone: 503-725-4612
Emeriti Faculty
Professor Jack Lee Featheringill
Professor Asher B. Wilson - In Memoriam (1920-2006)