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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Associate Professor Rich Brown earned his PhD in Theatre with an emphasis in acting, directing and devising from the University of Oregon. After training with master teachers Stephen Wangh and Mary Overlie at NYU Tisch’s Experimental Theatre Wing, Rich landed at Western Washington University where he currently teaches Grotowski inspired psychophysical acting, Suzuki, Viewpoints, and classes in devising. He has published in Theatre Topics, Theatre Journal, and The Western States Theatre Review; presented at Association of Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) 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 in New York, performing 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. Recent directing credits include: Dog Sees God, The Lesson, The Mistakes Madeline Made, the WWU Theatre Ambassadors Tour, and the devised works cheat, US, and Commedia in the Parks. For the past three 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. Recently, Rich performed in Poison the Well in the Vancouver Fringe Festival, Into the Woods at the Mt. Baker Theatre and The American Family at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, which he also co-directed. |
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Kamarie Chapman
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Kamarie Chapman is a proud native of Washington State, and alumni of the Western Washington Theatre Department, having received her Bachelor of Arts degree in 2006. She received her M.F.A. from The University of New Mexico in 2009 with dissertation work in gender and playwriting. Kamarie is thrilled to be teaching the Theatre History Cycle, Advanced Playwriting, and will be touring with M.O.T.L.E.Y. Crew in the Spring of 2011. She has taught and directed theatre and outreach to many diverse populations and was the Artistic Director of a mixed-ability company in Albuquerque, NM called Equilibrium through VSA during her final year working on her Masters. Kamarie was also a member of the iDiOM Theater ensemble from 2003 – 2006 and is a huge fan and supporter of Bellingham and the wonderful artists who live here. Kamarie is a member of the Northwest Playwrights Alliance, The Dramatists Guild, The Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) and Artists Trust. Her play Deception Pass: An American Story was the winner of two national awards from The Kennedy Center (The David Mark Cohen and co-winner of the Paula Vogel playwriting awards). This play was also the national winner of The ATHE playwriting award. In 2010 her short play, Dijon Love, was a finalist for the Humana Heidman Award and she was a top five finalist for the NPA/Seattle Rep/SAG Screenwriting contest in June of 2010. She has had her work published by NPA and numerous zines, including most recently in the fifth volume of Your Hands Your Mouth. |
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 the WWU 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 include Seussical! The Jungle Book and High School Musical and a devised commedia show in Macerata, Italy, where she was a guest professor for a semester. Dr. Currier teaches Theatre History, Dramatic Literature, Children’s Theatre, Secondary Theatre Techniques, Creative Pedagogy and Puppetry. |
Patrick Dizney Acting/Film
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Patrick Dizney received his MFA from the University of Washington, spent 6 years acting in NYC, and continues to work as an actor and director throughout the region. 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 Regional theatre including: Artists Repertory Theatre, 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: 36 Views, Romeo and Juliet (at Idaho Rep), The Diviners, The Foreigner, Meatgrinder Waltz (at 13th Street Rep in NYC), If Dreams Came True by Mark Kuntz, and Convention by student playwright Dan Ericson. Recent acting roles include: Vershinen in Pultizer Prize winner Tracy Lett’s world premier adaptation of The Three Sisters at Artist’s Rep, Kenny in Theatre District (another world premier) by Richard Kramer of TV fame, and Father Flynn in MBT’s production of Doubt by John Patrick Shanley. This year he will be directing The Miracle Worker at WWU, where he teaches Intro to Cinema, Acting for the Camera, Beginning Acting, Play Analysis, and Voice and Diction. |
Erin Emry Administrative Services Manager |
Erin Emry is the Theatre Department’s Administrative Services Manager. 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. |
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. |
Monica Hart Costume Design
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Monica Hart has taught at Dixie State College of Utah, University of Michigan-Flint Campus, and at Mesa Community College where she helped to mentor Mercedes O'Banion into the final round of Nationals at KCACTF for her costume design of Dracula. She has traveled all over the USA working for stock theatre companies such as Bigfork Summer Playhouse (many of the BSP alum have or are appearing on Broadway or in TV). Monica has also toured with the Montana Repertory Theatre Company with their productions of Smoke on the Mountain and Broadway Bound. She attended the University of Montana earning a BA in Theatre emphasizing in Technology. While at UM, Monica was an exchange student to Deakin University in Melbourne Australia where she studied art. Monica holds a Masters of Fine Arts Degree in Costume Design for the Stage from Wayne State University in Detroit Michigan--one of the few grad programs that is run almost entirely by its grad students in a true collaborative style. She recently returned to her college roots in film and has completed her first screenplay, which she plans to enter into competitions. |
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. |
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. |
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. He is enjoying his time at Western. |
J. Wiese Director of Design
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J. Wiese holds an MFA from Boston University in Production Design, as well as certificates from the Juilliard School and the Studio School of Stage Design (formerly the Lester Polakov School). His area of expertise is scenography, and individually he practices in scenic, lighting, costume and projection design. J. has 20 years of broad design experience in opera, musical theatre, theatre, dance, industrials and television. He has taught theatrical design at The Boston Conservatory, Montclair State University and the University of Alabama-Birmingham. |
