Department
Faculty & Staff
Rachel Sophia Anderson Costume Shop Manager |
Rachel Sophia Anderson has been with the Theatre Arts Department for seven years, and has worked with the Summer Stock program for over ten years. After receiving her BA from Fairhaven College, Rachel spent three years doing graduate costume design work at the University of Montana, and several more working professionally in Seattle. She received her MFA in Costume Design from UM in 2000. In 2003 Rachel had the opportunity to take a much-needed sabbatical from Summer Stock to work as a First Hand in the Costume shop of the renowned Santa Fe Opera. Her other credits include: Stitcher at Kaufmen-Davis Studio and Greg Thompson Productions, and Wardrobe for the Pacific Northwest Ballet and Seattle Children’s Theatre. Past costume design credits include Rimers of Eldritch, WWU’s 2001 production of Vagina Monologues, Snoopy!!!, Side by Side by Sondhiem, Arcadia, Guys and Dolls, and James and the Giant Peach. |
Rich Brown Acting/Movement
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Rich Brown earned his PhD in Theatre with an emphasis in acting, directing and devising from the University of Oregon. After a year of training with master teachers Stephen Wangh and Mary Overlie at New York University’s Experimental Theatre Wing, Rich taught acting, directing, and dramatic literature at Hartwick College before landing at Western Washington University where he currently teaches devising and acting movement. He has published in Theatre Topics and Theatre Journal; presented at Association of Theatre in Higher Education conferences in San Francisco, Chicago, New Orleans, and Denver; performed with Mary Overlie in the Shady Corners Performance Art Festival, and co-founded Theatre 88, which produced The Zoo Story and What I Heard About Iraq, which performed at LaMama E.T.C. in New York City and Montreal. Rich studied with Anne Bogart’s SITI Company’s summer intensive training in Saratoga Springs, New York and at the Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre in Blue Lake, California. Rich teaches Grotowski inspired psychophysical acting, Suzuki, Viewpoints, and classes in devising and literature at WWU. Recent directing credits include: Dog Sees God, The Lesson, and the devised works cheat and Commedia in the Parks. For the past two summers he has led Viewpoint Intensives for Teatrul Fara Frontiere at the National Theatre of Romania in Bucharest and the Portland, Oregon devising company hand2mouth. This year Rich will direct The Mistakes Madeline Made and the Theatre Ambassadors Tour to New York, London, and Japan. He also co-founded a new pilot Moment Work Intensive with members of Tectonic Theatre Project that will combine seven WWU students with seven Bucknell University students for three weeks of training in summer 2010. |
Deborah Currier Theatre History
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Dr. Deborah Currier holds a Ph.D. in Theatre Arts from the University of Oregon, Eugene, with emphases in dramatic literature, acting/directing, multicultural and children’s theatre. She has extensive experience with theatre for youth, serving as the Artistic Director for WWU’s most recent addition, the Summer Youth Theatre Institute (SYTI). She also served as Artistic Director for Mad Duckling Children’s Theatre in Eugene, as an Artist-In-Residence with Young Audiences of Montana, and a Tour Actor/Director with the Missoula Children’s Theatre International Touring Project. She currently writes and directs the WWU Multicultural Outreach Touring Project, an elementary-level literature-based touring show performed with WWU Drama in Education students. She has served as a Service-Learning Faculty Fellow at WWU, and has presented and published works regarding incorporating academic service-learning into the higher theatre-in-education curriculum. Her most recent directorial endeavors were the children’s musical Naku Tsuru and the Samurai in the spring of 2006 and Pirates of Penzance at the Bellingham Theatre Guild, Summer 2006. Dr. Currier teaches Theatre History, Dramatic Literature, Children’s Theatre, Secondary Theatre Techniques, Creativity Across the Curriculum, and Puppetry. |
Patrick Dizney Acting/Film
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Patrick Dizney received his MFA from the University of Washington’s Professional Actor Training Program. He subsequently moved to New York, where he worked professionally for 6 years. His credits include prime time television, national commercials, industrial videos, children’s theatre, 2 national tours, Off and Off-Off Broadway, feature and independent film, and lots of Regional theatre including: Artists Repertory Theatre, West End Theatre (Portland), Maine Shakespeare Festival, Texas Shakespeare Festival, Penobscot Theatre and Theatre! Theatre! He also wrote, produced and performed in his one person show Inveigler on Theatre Row in NYC. His directing credits include: The Foreigner, Meatgrinder Waltz (at 13th Street Rep in NYC), Desdemona, A Play About A Handkerchief, Eastern Standard and If Dreams Came True, and original script by faculty member Mark Kuntz. This is his second year at WWU, where he teaches Intro to Cinema, Acting for the Camera and Voice and Diction. |
Erin Emry Theatre Office Manager |
Erin Emry is the Theatre Department’s Office Manager and Advisor. She earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University. Erin worked professionally in the public relations and hospitality industries before her employment at WWU began in 2005. |
Roger Germain Scenic Design |
Roger Germain is an Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre Arts at Western Washington University. He has designed scenery for the academic year and Summer Stock productions since 1970. He designed scenery for Bigfork Summer Playhouse from 1994-2000 and The Sunshine Boys for the Montana Rep in 1995. Recent designs include: Sweeney Todd, Afgan Women, Supplient Women, and The Cider House Rules. |
Charlotte Guyette Acting
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Charlotte Guyette, Associate Professor, is currently teaching Introduction to Theatre, Introduction to Acting, Directing the One Act, and Team Teaching Musical Theatre with James Lortz. She earned a BFA in performance from Utah State University, an MFA in performance from Pennsylvania State University and is a member of Actor’s Equity. Previous to Western Washington University she taught for four years at the University of South Dakota and eleven years at the University of Northern Colorado. |
Mark Kuntz Directing |
Mark Kuntz is currently in his ninth year on the theatre faculty at WWU after spending eleven years at Eastern Oregon University. He received his BA in Theatre Arts from the University of Oregon. Mark has served three times as a member of the National Selection Team for the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival and was recently elected as National Vice-Chair. His work as a director has been produced regionally with K.C.A.C.T.F., and his production of Lips Together, Teeth Apart was recognized at K.C.A.C.T.F. . Some of his recent directing credits include Shakespeare’s R&J and Summer Stock’s 2005 The Foreigner and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. |
Jim Lortz Acting |
Jim Lortz received his MFA from the University of Montana, Missoula, and now teaches acting, musical theatre, and voice and diction classes as well as contemporary literature studies. He has been a WWU faculty member for 17 years. This year he is on a sabbatical. He has professionally acted at the Bathhouse Theatre, Montana Repertory Theatre, and the Skid Row Theatre. Past directing credits at Western include Cabaret, Angels in America: The Millennium Approaches and Perestroika (both parts of which were invited to attend K.C.A.C.T.F. in Anchorage, Alaska, in February 2001), Into the Woods, Fiddler on the Roof, To Kill a Mockingbird, City of Angels, The Diary of Anne Frank, Grease, Sweeney Todd, Assassins, The Happy Prince and The Cider House Rules. |
Perry Mills
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Perry F. Mills was hired by the founder of the CFPA, William Gregory, to further the liberal arts component of the Fine and Performing Arts curriculum. For thirty years he has taught aesthetics, film, dramatic literature, playwriting and patience. His book on film studies is out of print and in the WWU Wilson Library. His playwriting students have won numerous awards and have plays in current productions in NYC and London. Take a class with Perry if you want a sample of academic diversity: he’s not good-looking, but he’s hard to kill… |
Maureen O'Reilly Acting |
Maureen O'Reilly received an MA in acting/directing from the University of Washington and an MFA in directing from the University of Cincinnati. She has directed over one hundred plays in college, community, and summer stock programs in Washington, California, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana, including two productions at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre. She was Artist in Residence at the Bathhouse Theatre in Seattle for two years. She teaches a variety of acting classes that focus on physical and vocal style, and assorted literature courses. She recently completed a faculty exchange with Dr. Nike Imoru at the University of Hull, England. Some of her recent productions include Hedda Gabler, Arms and The Man and Cider House Rules at WWU, After Easter at the Bellingham Theatre Guild, and Crimes of the Heart and Proof for Summer Stock. Maureen has taught and directed Shakespeare for two terms at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia. |
Gregory Pulver Costume Design
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Gregory Pulver is currently Western Washington University Theatre Arts Assoc. Professor of Costume Design. He teaches courses in Costume Design I, II & III, Costume History, Millinery, Stage Makeup, Introduction to Design Communication and Puppetry. Gregory holds an MFA in Costume Design and Choreography from Humboldt State University, CA. He is the 1993 Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival National Costume Design Winner for his work on Three Penny Opera, and the recipient of the 1992 KCACTF Meritorious Achievement Award for Choreography for Cabaret, both in California. He has several Art Direction credits for independent films and commercials in the Washington area. Gregory is also an actor and choreographer and continues his endeavors in all forms of theatre arts. His favorite theatrical endeavors include: |
David Saxton Lighting and Sound |
David Saxton received his BFA with University Honors in Theater from Carnegie-Mellon University and has enjoyed a successful career for more than 30 years in music, theater, and dance. In addition to touring as a Master Electrician, Lighting Director and Stage Manager in the United States and Europe, David taught at Cornish College of the Arts and served as Technical Director for On the Boards and Meany Hall at the University of Washington. His production credits include the Mark Morris Dance Group, Anna Wyman Dance Theater, the Northwest Folklife Festival, Bumbershoot: Seattle's Arts Festival, The International Children's Festival, WOMAD, AT&T's Family Fourth over Lake Union, the 2001 All-Star Game in Seattle, and the Grand Opening of the Experience Music Project. His hobbies include going to production meetings. |
Brian Sibley Theatre Publicity and Marketing
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Brian Sibley - Building on more than a decade of public relations experience in New York City, Seattle, and now Bellingham, Brian has managed national public relations programs and campaigns for Fortune 500 companies, dot-com startups, and small local businesses. He is the President and CEO of Sibley Public Relations, a local PR Firm, where he helps companies manage their reputations, reach new audiences and sell more tickets. Brian feels that his BA in Drama from The University of Montana was perhaps the best business training he could have had. Currently on the board of directors of Bellingham’s Pickford Film Center, Brian has stayed active in theatre during his business career, holding a board position at a regional theatre company, and serving as Technical Director for the Skagit Valley College department of Theatre Arts for two years. Brian takes a practical approach to his work and hopes that his students come prepared to achieve great things! |
Marcus Todd Production Manager/Technical Director |
Marcus J. Todd earned his Master of Fine Arts from Kent State University in Ohio were his emphasis was in technology & design with a cross focus in theatre production. His secondary emphasis was in props artistry & management. He has spent the last few years working for a professional production company, doing professional freelance work, as well as teaching in different parts of the country. His set and props design work has been seen all over the country, from set pieces built for the 2009 Democratic convention located in Denver CO, the construction of a television set for the PBS show the “Big Green Rabbit”, to prop work done for director Ping Chong which was used at the La MaMa Theatre in New York. Marcus has a strong practical construction engineering background from the two years as a landscape designer and six years at a manufacturing plant building semi trailers (where he was the youngest person there to make Foreman) as well as working summers at a milling plant constructing steel culverts before he even started his theatre education. |
