UM School of Music, Theatre & Dance - Department of Theatre & Drama

FACULTY & STAFF

Faculty members have an intense love of the theatre and a passion that is readily conveyed to students, who cannot but

receive this gift and respond in kind.

They maintain active professional lives, enabling them to pass along up-to-date information concerning every aspect of the

profession in broad-based training.

Students are given individual attention, getting to know faculty members in small, intimate settings.

Theatre & Drama Faculty

Arts Administration:

Gregory Poggi, Professor & Chair of Theatre & Drama Department

Jeffrey Kuras, Adjunct Assistant Professor; Managing Director of University Productions

BFA in Performance:

Erik Fredricksen (Acting & Stage Combat)
Sarah-Jane Gwillim (Acting)
Philip Kerr (Acting)
Annette Masson, Junior/Senior Advisor (Voice)
Janet Maylie, Foundation Advisor (Acting & Acting for the Camera)
Joan Morris (Cabaret)
John Neville-Andrews, Head of Performance (Acting & Directing)
Jerald Schwiebert (Movement & Acting)
Malcolm Tulip, Directing Concentration Advisor (Acting & Movement)

BFA in Design & Production:

Gary Decker, Technical Theatre (Set & Lighting Design)
Jessica Hahn (Costume Design)
Vince Mountain, Head of Design & Production (Set Design)
Rob Murphy (Lighting Design)
Christianne Myers (Costume Design)

Theatre Studies:

Enoch Brater (Dramatic Literature)

Glenda Dickerson, Minor in African-American Theatre Advisor (African-American Theatre)

Barbara Hodgdon (Shakespeare)
Holly Hughes (Performance Art)

Petra Kuppers (Performance Studies)

Mbala Nkanga, BA Advisor (World Performance, Theatre Studies )
OyamO (Playwriting)
E.J. Westlake, BTA Advisor (Drama & Theatre History)
Leigh Woods, Head of Theatre Studies (Drama & Theatre History)

Hana Worthen (Finnish Theatre)

William Worthen (Modern British and American drama)

University Productions

Arts Management:

Kerianne M. Tupac, Lecturer; Performing Arts Management

Costume Construction:

George Bacon, Lecturer, is the associate costume shop manager for University Productions. He often designs costumes for

School of Music, Theatre & Dance productions, including recent productions of Children of Eden, Parade, and Candide. He received his MFA

in Costume Design from the University of Michigan and a BFA in Fashion Design at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

He holds an AA in Fashion Design from the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York City.

Janine Evans, Lecturer, is the costume shop supervisor for University Productions.

Electrics & Lighting:

Mark Allen Berg, Lecturer, is master electrician for University Productions. He has designed lighting for many U-M

productions, including Henry V, Candide, Parade and Oklahoma! He spent ten years on Broadway/Off-Broadway with the

Nederlander Organization, designing lighting for such plays as Romance, Romance and Broadway Bound. His regional

theatre credits include Exile in Jerusalem, Isn't It Romantic, Death and the Maiden, and The Price for the Jewish Ensemble

Theatre. Berg is also the resident lighting designer for Michigan Shakespeare Festival and Dance Ensemble of Michigan.

Properties:

Arthur Ridley, Lecturer, is the properties master for University Productions. His design credits at the University of Michigan

include scenic design for Oklahoma!, The Tavern, Side Show, Sweeney Todd, Pal Joey, and costume design for A Funny

Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. He has designed scenery and costumes at the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis

since 1984; scenery/costumes at St. Louis Black Repertory Co. since 1991; The New Theatre, The Body Politic, Victory

Gardens, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Actors Theatre of St. Paul, and Stage West. Ridley was previously on the faculties of

Webster, Purdue, and Washington Universities.

Scene Construction and Technical Direction:

Douglas Edwards, Lecturer, is a technical director for University Productions. After graduating from the University of

Michigan, he began a 17-year run as member of various road crews for national touring companies. He's served as

production carpenter for the Broadway shows Macbeth and Neil Simon's Proposals, and as head carpenter for the national

tours of The Sisters Rosenweig and Lost in Yonkers for producer Emmanuel Azenberg. Other national tours which have

allowed him to travel extensively across the U.S., Canada and Europe include Rent, Penn and Teller, Agnes of God,

Camelot, On your Toes and Sweeney Todd. It's been his pleasure to work with some notable set designers such as Eugene

Lee, John Lee-Beatty, Santo Loquasto, and with directors Harold Prince and George Abbott. Edwards is also the production

manager for the Ann Arbor Summer Festival.

Richard Lindsay, Lecturer, is the Walgreen Drama Center scene shop supervisor and technical director for University

Productions. He instructs students in scenic construction, technical direction, and CAD drafting for the theatre, and

supervises the building of scenery by new undergraduates. Lindsay's technical, production and design credits include

productions for SF Bay Area Performing Arts Alliance in Palo Alto, CA; Capital Rep of Albany, NY; the Long Island Dance

Co. and the Huntington Summer Arts Festival in Long Island, NY; BoarsHead Michigan Public Theater and Lansing

Community College in Lansing, MI; Tibbits Opera House in Coldwater, MI; Michigan Shakespeare Festival in Jackson, MI;

and the University of Michigan's Festival of New Works. Lindsay has also done work in the Ann Arbor area, designing

scenery for the Wild Swan Theater and the Young People's Theater; and work for Sapsis Rigging, surveying and installing in

a mix of venues in th Detroit metro area. Most recently, he has worked with John Neville-Andrews in developing the

Michigan Shakespeare Festival. Lindsay received his theatre degree from the Conservatory Program at S.U.N.Y. Purchase

College. He is a journeyman member of IATSE Local 274, the professional theatrical employees union.

Scene Painting:

Toni Auletti, Lecturer, is the charge scenic artist for University Productions. She received a BFA from Wayne State

University and an MFA from the University of Michigan.

Sound for Theatre:

Henry Reynolds, Assistant Professor and Computer Systems Administrator

Stage Management:

Nancy Uffner, Lecturer, is the production stage manager for University Productions. Her national tours include Fame, Ken

Hill's Phantom of the Opera, South Pacific with Robert Goulet, and Camelot with Richard Harris. Her regional theatre credits

include the University of Michigan's Festival of New Works, the Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf, Actors Theatre of Louisville,

Chicago Opera Theatre, Virginia Stage Co., and Baltimore's Center Stage. Uffner also has stage managed the dance

company of Peter Sparling and Company. She has taught at Eastern Michigan University and Northwestern University.

Theatre & Drama Staff

Bonnie Kerschbaum
Administrative Associate

As department administrator, Bonnie works at keeping all systems running smoothly. She's a U-M alum and a long-time Ann Arborite who enjoys meeting and assisting new students (and their parents), and watching them become mature and polished adults by the end of their student careers. Along the way, she assists them with those strange and complex problems that pop up in the life of every student. One of Bonnie's greatest joys is seeing students perform in, direct, crew, and design plays. "Our students are just the best!"

E-Mail Bonnie

Becky Seauvageau
Academic Secretary

Native to the Ann Arbor area, Becky has returned to the area after having lived in western and upstate New York for nearly 20 years. She has worked at Niagara University, as well as the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs (summer home to the New York City Ballet and the Philadelphia Orchestra).
Becky has two grown children and resides in Pinckney, MI with her Cocker Spaniel named Autumn.
She tells us that she feels excited and privileged to be a part of the Theatre Department at U-M. We quickly have grown to appreciate Becky's skills in keeping the office well-organized and running smoothly, not to mention the candy jar that she keeps next to her desk!

E-Mail Becky

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