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| Theater Arts Faculty Directory
Faculty
Christine BarnesProperties supervisor Christine Barnes is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University. She was properties coordinator for the Florida Grand Opera and property master at the Wayside Theater and the Georgia Shakespeare Festival. Her opera credits include Turandot, L’Elisir D’Amore, Die Fledermaus, and Don Giovanni. Regional credits include School for Scandal, Othello, The Tempest, Forever Plaid, Quilters, and The Mousetrap. She also has done extensive work with the National Association of Balloon Artists and does prop work for various puppet, clown, and magic shows.
Pamela BerlinDirecting faculty New York credits include Endpapers, Steel Magnolias, which ran Off-Broadway for three years, To Gillian on her 37th Birthday (Circle in the Square downtown), Crossing Delancey (Jewish Rep), The Cemetery Club (Broadway), Joined at the Head (Manhattan Theater Club), The Family of Mann and The Red Address (Second Stage), Three in the Back, Two in the Head (MCC), Black Ink and Elm Circle (Playwrights Horizons), Snowing at Delphi, Club Soda, 'Til the Rapture Comes (WPA), Wallflowering and Play by Ear at the HB Playwrights Foundation, and numerous one-acts at the Ensemble Studio Theater. Regionally, she has directed at the Seattle Rep, Pittsburgh Public, Huntington, Kennedy Center, Long Wharf, Pasadena Playhouse, Portland Stage, and Virginia Stage, to name a few. Opera credits include Carmen, Rigoletto, Lucia Di Lammermoor, Madama Butterfly, Hansel and Gretel, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Of Mice and Men, and Cold Sassy Tree. For the past five years, she has co-produced the HB Playwrights Foundation Annual One-Act Festival, and is the director of the Playwrights Unit at HB. Pamela currently serves as President of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers.
Michael BlakeMovement Michael Blake holds an M.F.A. in dance from Purchase College. He received his early ballet and modern dance training from Rutgers University and Purchase College. He began his dance career in the Murray Louis Dance Company where he danced from 1982-1984. In 1985 he was the manager of Studio Dancin'; a dance studio based in Osaka Japan. In 1986 he joined the Jose Limon Dance Company dancing principal roles until 1991. Michael danced with Donald Byrd/The Group from 1991-1998. He has also danced with David Rousseve Reality, Joyce Trisler Danscompany, Senta Driver, and Shapiro and Smith. He has appeared on stage in the Broadway national tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Lenny and the Heartbreakers, Cab Calloway’s Cotton Club Review, the Supper Club (NYC), and the films The Adventures of Cri Cri and Unsettled Dreams. He has taught numerous workshops in the United States, Asia, and Europe. He is on the Theater Arts faculty at Rutgers University and HB Studio in New York City teaching Movement for Actors. Michael is currently dancing with PARADIGM Dance.
Lee BlessingHead of Playwriting Program Lee Blessing has become a major voice in the modern American theater. His plays have been nominated for Tony and Olivier awards and a Pulitzer Prize. Recent plays in New York, Thief River, Cobb and Chesapeake, received Drama Desk nominations and an award, plus nominations from the Outer Critics Circle. He's had two grants from the National Endowment for the Arts as well as from the Guggenheim, Bush, McKnight and Jerome Foundations. His plays include A Walk In The Woods, Eleemosynary, Two Rooms, Down The Road and Going To St. Ives among many others, and have been performed throughout the world. His work has been stage-read in eight different summers at the O'Neill Playwrights Conference in Waterford, Ct.
Eileen BlumenthalTheater history and criticism Eileen Blumenthal has a Ph.D. in history of the theater from Yale and M.A. and B.A. degrees in English and American literature from Brown. Her specialties include contemporary experimental theater and traditional Asian theater and theater. She is the author of a book on Joseph Chaikin, numerous theater reviews and articles in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Village Voice, American Theater, Asian Theater Journal, Theater, Natural History, and Cultural Survival. She authored a book and many published articles on the performing arts and the contemporary politics of Cambodia, and produced the American tour of theaters from Cambodia in the fall of 1990. Blumenthal has served as a consultant for public television performing-arts projects, university theater/theater programs, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Her photographs have appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Dance Magazine, Natural History, Cultural Survival, and the Village Voice. Her awards include a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, a Kent (Danforth) Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism, a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for University Teachers, and a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Residency. At Rutgers, she has taught history of theater, theater criticism, introduction to graduate study in theater, and modern experimental theater. Books include: Puppetry: A World History Julie Taymor, Playing With Fire (with Julie Taymor) Joseph Chaikin: Exploring at the Boundaries of Theater Les danseuses sacrées d’Angkor (with Suppya Nut)
William CardenActing, Directing William Carden was Artistic Director of the HB Playwrights Foundation for eleven years where he directed Mrs. Klein and Collected Stories starring Uta Hagen, Horton Foote's The Habitation of Dragons, Another Vermeer by Bruce Robinson, Justin Fleming's Burnt Piano, Joe Sutton's Voir Dire and New World Rhapsody by Adam Kraar. He directed The Dew Point by Neena Beber for the Summer Play Festival, James Ryan’s The Young Girl and the Monsoon at Playwrights Horizons and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf at the Stratford Festival in Canada.
Edward Coco Photoshop Edward Coco holds an MFA in Scenography (Scenic and Lighting emphasis) from Arizona State University. He has worked across the country in numerous major regional theatres over the last 15 years, including Hartford Stage, the Guthrie Theatre, Yale Rep, Seattle Rep, and the American Repertory Theatre. Edward has contributed to a number of Broadway and Off Broadway productions; for companies such as Signature Theatre, Playwrights Horizons and New York Theatre Workshop, and including the Broadway productions of Assassins and Laugh Whore. He was the Associate Scenic Designer for the Tony Award winning Spring Awakening, and is presently preparing for national and international tours. Currently Edward is a Senior Designer for MTV Networks in New York where he has designed productions for channels such as Comedy Central, MTV, MTV2, CMT, Nickelodeon, VH1, and others. He has taught at Arizona State University, Stephens College, and Princeton University and he is a member of United Scenic Artists local 829.
F. Mitchell DanaLighting design F. Mitchell Dana has lit over 500 professional productions in his career in addition to working as technical director, head prop man on Broadway and on tour, stage manager on and off-Broadway, and production manager. He received his M.F.A. from the Yale School of Drama. His many Broadway credits include: The Suicide, Freedom of the City, Mass Appeal, Monday After the Miracle, Once in a Lifetime, Man and Superman, The Inspector General, and Oh Coward. Mr. Dana's opera credits include La Rondine for the New York City Opera; Turandot for the Royal Opera at Covent Garden, and The Magic Flute and The Merry Widow for the Cleveland Symphony; seven operas for The Los Angeles Opera Company and ten seasons with the Opera Festival of New Jersey. He is on the Executive Board of United Scenic Artists, Local 829; a member of the stagehands union I.A.T.S.E.; and is listed in Who's Who in America, Who's Who in the Theater, Who's Who in the East, Who's Who in Entertainment, Men of Distinction, and the American Biographical Institute.
Jeffrey Eisenmann Carpenter Jeffery Eisenmann holds an M.F.A. in Set Design from California State University Long Beach. While working for Mason Gross, he pursues as many design opportunities as possible. His recent designs include Curse of the Starving Class with The Alternate Theater Company, Diary of a Chambermaid with Dramahaus New York, and assistant design for Danila Korogodsky with Die Voegel at Spoleto Festival USA and The Ring Saga with The Opera Theatre of Pittsburgh. His work has exhibited in London, St. Petersburg, the Prague Quadrennial (2003), and at the Clambake New York.
Vickie EspositoAssociate Head Of Design Program/ Costume Design Philadelphia credits include: Romeo & Juliet (2000), The Taming of the Shrew (2000), Hamlet (1999), Much Ado About Nothing (1999) and The Merchant of Venice (1998) for Philadelphia Shakespeare. Other credits are: Tin Pan Alley (1999), Indiscretions & The Ruling Class for the Wilma Theater, Major Barbara and Henry V for the Arden Theater and Inspecting Carol for the Philadelphia Drama Guild. She was the primary costume designer for the Philadelphia Festival Theater for 13 seasons and premiered over 50 productions including seven of Bruce Grahm's plays. Regional work includes: Belmont Avenue Social Club for Capitol Rep., Albany; Petticoat Lane, Candida, Streetcar Named Desire and Slow Dance on the Killing Grounds for George Street Playhouse, New Brunswick; and the touring production of Banjo Reb and the Blue Ghost. She has designed costumes in New York for: People Who Could Fly (Town Hall); Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been A Member Of The Communist Party? (Century and Promenade Theaters); Deer Season (St. Clement's Theater); Mo Tea Miss Ann (Amas Theater); Charlie Pops (Cubiculo Theater); Rosmersholm (Spectrum Theater Co.); The Lover (The Direct Theater); Meat/Love (Back East Theater).
Lana Fritz Make-up Lana Fritz holds a B.F.A. and M.F.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has designed costumes for New York theatres, opera companies, the Edinburgh Festival and London Fringe, and the A&E and Bravo networks. Regional theatre work includes the Walnut Street Theatre, California Actors Theatre, Theatre Virginia, George Street Playhouse, Virginia Shakespeare Festival, Theatre at Monmouth, Hartman Theatre, and National Theatre of the Deaf. She has designed for numerous premieres, including: Sorry, Wrong Number (Beeson); Fefu and Her Friends (Fornes); New York 1937 (Yglesias); The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (McCullers/ Bach); Personal Affairs (Silverman); and Kafka: Letter to My Father (Walden).
Tanya Gibson-Clark Movement Acclaimed choreographer Tanya Gibson-Clark's dynamic work has been featured on stage, American and Italian television, and in videos, commercials and fashion shows. She took the internationally renowned Bregenzer Festspiele in Bregenz, Austria, by storm while choreographing the festival's production of George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, directed by the late Götz Friedrich. The Vienna News hailed her work as "brilliant". Ms. Gibson-Clark is an associate professor in the Rutgers University theater department and artistic director for the Newark-based Education Law Center "Kids in Concert" yearly fund-raiser. For nine years, she served as artistic director of Jacques d'Amboise's National Dance Institutes Trenton residency. 
David P. GordonSet Design David Gordon has designed the scenery for over 250 productions and has worked extensively on and Off-Broadway and for regional theatres and opera companies both in this country and abroad. A graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, he has received 3 Barrymore Awards and 10 nominations for Outstanding Set Design for his work in the Philadelphia area, as well as nominations for IRNE and Connecticut Critics Circle Awards, and was the recipient of the 2003 Elliot Norton Award for his designs for The Blue Demon at Boston’s Huntington Theatre Co.
Office: Walters 236 | Phone: 
Louise GraftonProperties Louise has been making props for more years than she cares to admit. She has worked for regional theatres, the New York Shakespeare Festival, the Old Vic in London, the Oxford Playhouse, a number of Broadway shows, and the Big Apple and the Hanneford Circuses. She has built historical reconstructions for the New York Public Library, the Princeton History Department and PBS. She worked on the Academy-Award winning film A Beautiful Mind. She has been the prop artisan for the Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival for four years and the Westminster Opera Company for eight. She taught prop construction for Mason Gross in the eighties and returned to teach again in 1998.
Karin GraybashSound Supervisor Karin Graybash is a freelance sound designer and engineer. She has designed productions at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Walnut Street Theatre, Dallas Theater Center, McCarter Theatre, Alliance Theatre Company, Arena Stage, Folger Shakespeare, Arden Theatre Company, Olney Theatre Center, and The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey. Karin was the 2004 recipient of the Bay Area Theatre Critics Award for the sound design of Polk County at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Karin is the original live sound consultant for the multi-media production Freedom Rising at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. She previously worked as a sound engineer for McCarter Theatre and Arena Stage.
Joseph HartEnsemble and Playwright Joseph Hart is a master teacher of ensemble theater and creative dramatics as well as playwright, actor and director. His eight years of study under the late mythologist Joseph Campbell contributed to the creation of The Shoestring Players, a unique theatrical approach to world folklore. As a playwright he has merited three national awards and numerous regional theater productions. The Shoestring Players were named among the "Top Ten" at the 1992 Edinburgh Festival. In 1989 his Off Broadway ensemble production The People Who Could Fly was called "two hours of theatrical magic" by the New York T94's Edinburgh Fringe Festival Shoestring became the only theater company for young audiences ever to receive the Fringe First Award for excellence. In 1996 Shoestring was guest artist at the National Black Arts Festival in Atlanta. His professional touring company of Shoestring performs an annual 30 week season across the USA.
Deborah HedwallHead of M.F.A. Acting Program Deborah Hedwall began her theater training at the University of Washington in Seattle. In New York, she was graduated from the Neighborhood Playhouse, where she worked under the direction of Sanford Meisner and William Esper. She trained with Uta Hägen for four years as an actor and a teacher at HB Studios and later taught there. She has taught private classes for professional actors for many years in New York City and Los Angeles. Hedwall has taught at Sarah Lawrence College, Fordham University, and the Ensemble Studio Theatre. As an actress, she received an Obie Award for outstanding performance and a Drama Desk nomination as best actress in Sight Unseen at the Manhattan Theatre Club. She has created roles in many new plays, including Savage in Limbo by John Patrick Shanley, Extremities, and Why We Have a Body. On television, she played the mother for two seasons on the critically acclaimed series I’ll Fly Away, and her most recent films include Shadrach and Better Living with Olympia Dukakis. She has been involved in many new play workshops, including the Suntheater Playwrights Conference, the O’Neill Theater Conference, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and the Long Wharf Theatre. Recent television credits include guest starring appearances on Law and Order and West Wing.
Israel HicksChair and Artistic Director For the past 14 seasons, Mr. Hicks has been an Associate Artist of the Denver Center Theater Company where he has directed August Wilson's plays Jitney and King Hedley II. Other DCTC directing credits include the world premieres of Pork Pie: A Mythic Jazz Fable, Waiting to be Invited, Kingdom, Coming of the Hurricane, and Evil Little Thoughts, as well as Pork Pie: A Mythic Jazz Fable, Waiting to be Invited, Kingdom, Coming of the Hurricane, and Evil Little Thoughts, and Home. In addition, he has directed at regional theaters throughout the country, including The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, Seattle Repertory Theatre and Milwaukee Repertory Theatre. He has directed films for the National Film Board of Canada, Universal Studios, and for the NBC and CBS television networks. Mr. Hicks is currently the Artistic Director and Chairman of the Theater Arts Program at Rutgers University's Mason Gross School of the Arts
Catherine Homa-RocchioCostume shop supervisor Catherine Homa-Rocchio has worked with costumes for 20 years. Before joining Rutgers, she was costume shop supervisor and draper at the McCarter Theatre. At McCarter, she designed Emily Mann’s Greensboro: A Requiem and several new play festivals. She was a draper at The Juilliard School and has worked at other regional theaters across the country.
Doug HosneyStage Management His work includes Broadway, Off-Broadway and national tours as well as dance production for Pilobolus Dance Theatre. He served as general manager for the 1994 and 1996 National Black Arts Festival, production manager for Crossroads Theatre Company and vice president for operations of the State Theatre, the George Street Playhouse and Crossroads Theatre Company.
Chantal Jean-PierreSpeech Chantal Jean-Pierre is an accomplished actress and collegiate instructor of Speech at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. Most recently she performed several roles to acclaim in Henry V at the Shakespeare Theatre of NJ, as well as the role of Goneril in King Lear at the Folgers Shakespeare Library in Washington DC. She performed the lead roles in the Orlando Shakespeare Festival’s Antony And Cleopatra and Lynn Nottage’s Fabulation at the People’s Light Theater Company. She has graced the stages of several reputable regional theaters including Luna Stage (Voice of Good Hope and The Other Side of Newark); NY Theater Workshop (Jazz Wife); Ensemble Studio Theater (Vukani); NJ Shakespeare Festival (The Blue Bird); and Crossroads Theater (Mandela). A lover of classical theater, she has played Gertrude in (Hamlet) at the American GlobeTheater and Paulina in (Winter’s Tale). She has taught at SUNY/Purchase and Montclair State University and she has an MFA in Acting from Rutgers University and a BFA from Florida International University. She has taught at SUNY/Purchase and Montclair State University and she has an M.F.A. in Acting from Rutgers University and a BFA from Florida International University.
Virginia JohnsonCostume technology Virginia Johnson spent eight years at The Juilliard School, with three years as costume shop supervisor. She has assisted costume designers on many productions on and Off-Broadway, including Tintypes, Mass Appeal, The 1940’s Radio Hour, and Driving Miss Daisy. Her free-lance costume construction credits include Nine, Other People’s Money, The Good Times Are Killing Me, and Mixed Emotions. Johnson has constructed costumes for Playwright’s Horizons, Manhattan Theatre Club, Philadelphia Drama Guild, and Second Stage. She taught previously at Simpson College in Iowa and Baldwin-Wallace College in Ohio. Johnson holds a B.S. degree from Moorhead State and an M.A. degree from Bowling Green State.
Marshall Jones, IIITheater Management 20 years of theater and live entertainment management experience in a wide variety of key executive positions at some of New York city’s most prestigious venues including the world famous Apollo Theater, Madison Square Garden, Radio City Entertainment, and most recently Disney On Broadway’s The Lion King.
Jerilyn JurinekLife Drawing Jerilyn is a painter's painter of figurative art built on an architectural use of color. Eschewing commercial exhibitions in favor of human development and of meaning in artistic language, she has a following and is represented in private and public collections. She studied at the Art Institute of Chicago (B.F.A.), The University of Chicago and Columbia University (M.F.A.). She has worked extensively using Hans Hofmann School drawing methods and Albers and other color theories. She has also worked directly with Esteban Vicente, Meyer Shapiro and Margaret Mead.
Kevin KittleActing has worked as Joseph Chaikin's assistant director and with Sam Shepard and Arthur Miller for the Signature Theater Company. He has directed numerous productions in such New York theaters as the Joseph Papp Public Theater, John Houseman, Harold Clurman, Sullivan Street Playhouse, the Meisner, Producer's Club, The Zipper, and Access Studio Theater, as well as regionally. His most recent productions include Some Voices at the Greenwich Street Theater; And Miraski Danced (starring Michael Warren Powell) for Circle East; Burnt, which he co-developed with Rhett Rhossi at the Present Company Theatorium; Life During Wartime (2001 OOBR Award-Best Production) and The House of Yes at the Currican; Watching and Waiting at the Judith Anderson (with Inertia Productions); The Woolgatherer (the first NYC production sanctioned by William Mastrosimone since it opened 20 years ago) at the Flatiron Playhouse; the NY premiere of Carter Lewis' Soft Click of a Switch; and David Dannenfelser's In Five Boroughs at Expanded Arts and When Words Fail.., at the NY International Fringe Festival and The Houseman, the script of which was published in Plays and Playwrights for the New Millennium. Kevin's recent production of Peter Handy's East of the Sun and West of the Moon was selected as a finalist in the Samuel French One-Act Festival and is published by Samuel French. His Los Angeles production of Chett Well's Economic Subterfuge, starring Jason Huber, was nominated for an L.A. Weekly award. Kevin teaches Acting in the BFA program at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, and at Youth Theater of New Jersey, where he teaches in their Summer Institute in residence at Columbia University.
Stacie LentsActing Stacie Lents received her M.F.A. in Acting from Rutgers, Mason Gross School of the Arts and her B.A. in Theatre from Yale. In addition to teaching in the B.A. program at Rutgers, she teaches a studio class in New York. She has also taught for the Rutgers Summer Acting Conservatory, Roundabout Theatre Company, Northern Stage, The Yale Center for British Art, and Long Wharf Theatre, among others. She was featured on Connecticut’s Valley Worthy of Note television program for her work at Long Wharf Theatre and has been published in The Teaching Artist Journal. Stacie has performed regionally at Long Wharf Theatre, Hangar Theatre, Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey, New Jersey Repertory Company, What Exit? Theatre Company, and The Luna Stage Company. New York venues include off-Broadway’s Provincetown Playhouse where she performed in Eugene O’Neill’s Bread and Butter and Recklessness. Stacie originated the one-woman play Six Hands by Eric H. Weinberger. Voice-over credits include a recent campaign for Sephora. Directing credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream and You Can’t Take It With You.
David LetwinDramatic Literature, Script Analysis 
 
Danielle LiccardoMovement Graduate of the Gately/Poole Acting Studio in NYC where she studied the Meisner Technique under Kathryn Gately. She studied movement at Actors Movement Studio under Loyd Williamson, Deborah Roberts, and Jan Leys. Danielle currently teaches Technique and Period Style work at Actors Movement Studio, and teaches movement in the M.F.A. program at Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. She teaches Argentine Tango, Vals, and Milonga in NYC, and is currently working in both film and theater. Danielle is a co-founder of Inertia Productions, Inc., where she produces as well as acts in seasonal stage productions.
Joseph MancusoTheater Appreciation Joseph A. Mancuso has more than twenty years of significant experience as an artist, educator and arts/business administrator including a combined sixteen years as Executive Director for The Union County Arts Center and the Shoestring Players (co-founder). He is featured in an eight part educational series The Art of Teaching The Arts produced by the Center for Public Broadcasting and Annenberg Foundation. Mr. Mancuso has served as producer and/or director for several regional as well as New York productions including his adaptation and interpretation of the works of Carl Sandburg, Lessons On How To Behave Under Peculiar Circumstances, which premiered at the 28th St. Playhouse, NYC. He holds a Masters in Theater Arts from MGSA.
Barbara MarchantHead of BFA Acting Program Barbara Marchant (Head of BFA Acting and Director of the Rutgers Conservatory at Shakespeare’s Globe) was awarded the teacher of the year award at Rutgers University and is the co-founder and director of the Rutgers Conservatory at Shakespeare’s Globe in London England. Barbara was trained by William Esper and, for the past twenty-three years, has taught at the William Esper Studio in NYC. Her acting credits include numerous productions in New York both on Broadway and Off Broadway, US regional theatres and on network daytime television. She is a professional coach with experience in theater, film, and prime time television both in the U.S and the U.K. Her work with Black and Blue resulted in a Tony Award in New York and internationally, France’s prestigious Moliere Award as well as a nomination for England’s Oliver Award. Barbara is the author of A Young Actors Scenebook: A Training Tool, published by Rowan and Littlefield and is profiled in Who’s Who of American Women.
Patricia McCorkleM.F.A. on camera McCorkle Casting, Ltd. (Pat Mccorkle, C.S.A.) Broadway: The Lieutenant Of Inishmore, The Glass Menagerie, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, The Ride Down Mt. Morgan, Amadeus, A Doll’s House, An Ideal Husband, She Loves Me, Blood Brothers, and A Few Good Men. Off-Broadway: Almost Maine, Address Unknown, Ears On A Beatle, Killer Joe, Visiting Mr. Green, and Mrs. Klein. Film: War Eagle, Bereft, Secret Window, Tony -N- Tina’s Wedding, Basic, The Thomas Crown Affair, The 13th Warrior, Madeline, Die Hard With A Vengeance and School Ties. Television: 3 Lbs., Barbershop, Chappelle’s Show, Hack, The Education Of Max Bickford, Our Fathers
Peter MillerScene Painting For many seasons, Mr. Miller was the Resident Scenic Artist of The Wolftrap Opera Company and the Juilliard School. Since joining local 829 of United Scenic Artists he has worked on the paint crews of numerous Broadway shows. Recent jobs include Seascape, Souvenir, Third, Three Penny Opera, The Constant Wife, Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf?, Dance Of The Vampires, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and Dessa Rose. Films include: Changing Lanes, Unfaithful, The Stepford Wives, The Interpreter and War of The Worlds. Two recent projects, Music and Lyrics By.... and August Rush are to be released in 2007. Mr. Miller studied scenic painting with Lester Polakov, has an undergraduate degree from Harvard University and is a member of U.S.I.T.T. He is proud to work in an industry that allows him to put three productions of Mozart's Don Giovanni and The World Wresting Federation's Grand Slam Highway To Hell! on the same resume.
R. Michael MillerHead of Design And Production/Set Design R. Michael Miller has designed for theaters across the country, including Circle in the Square on Broadway, the Guthrie Theater, American Conservatory Theater, George Street Playhouse, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Berkshire Theatre Festival, Philadelphia Drama Guild, Hartman Theater Company, Virginia Stage Company, Syracuse Stage, Intiman Theater Company, the Asolo Theater Company, Arizona Theatre Company, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and others. For Circle in the Square on Broadway, he designed Eminent Domain and The Boys in Autumn. He designed The Miracle Worker for Shochiku Company in Tokyo, Japan, directed by Terry Schreiber. Mr. Miller has assisted on several productions for the American Ballet Theater and the Metropolitan Opera House. He was the scenic supervisor for the American Ballet Theatre’s productions of Sleeping Beauty, choreographed by Sir Kenneth MacMillan and designed by Nicholas Georgiadis. He was the American associate set designer for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Broadway musical Aspects of Love, designed by Maria Bjornson. He has worked as assistant art director on the feature films Falling in Love, Shadows and Fog, and Bullets over Broadway. For his design for the George Street Playhouse production of "Proof", directed by Michael Morris, The New York Times said: "R. Michael Miller's set, evocatively lit by Christopher J. Bailey, is flawless." For the George Street Playhouse production of "Lips Together, Teeth Apart", also directed by Michael Morris, The New York Times said: "The sun is brilliantly awash on the stunning Fire Island beach house, deck and shimmering pool that R. Michael Miller designed..." For the same production, the Princeton Packet said, "The set... is so stunning that the opening night audience actually gasped." Miller has an M.F.A. degree from the University of Washington, and is a member of United Scenic Artists local 829.
Office: Walters 234 | Phone: 
David MurinCostume design David Murin has designed more than 200 productions for Broadway, Off-Broadway, regional theater, and television. His Broadway credits include Mixed Emotions, A Change in the Heir, Ned and Jack, Blues in the Night, Devour the Snow, A Talent for Murder, and The Caine Mutiny Court Martial, and he served as supervisor for Edward Gorey’s designs for Gory Stories. Off-Broadway, he designed The Holy Terror, The Middle Ages, The Common Pursuit, Ladyhouse Blues, Birds of Paradise, The Baby Dance, and Down the Garden Paths. His regional theater credits include the Long Wharf Theater, Hartford Stage, the Huntington Theater, the Seattle Repertory Theater, the Pittsburgh Public Theater, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Actor’s Theater of Louisville, Ford’s Theater, the Berkshire Theater Festival, the Kennedy Center, the Williamstown Theater Festival, the McCarter Theater, the Papermill Playhouse, the George Street Playhouse, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Virginia Opera, and the Pacific Northwest Ballet. Television credits include many commercials and made-for- television movies. He also served as designer for the long-running ABC soap opera Ryan’s Hope, for which he received an Emmy Award in 1981. Murin has served on the faculties of Rutgers, Temple, and Boston universities. He is a graduate of New York University with a bachelor of fine arts degree. Large Photo
Chris 0’ConnorUndergraduate Directing Chris 0’Connor is founder and artistic director of Mile Square Theatre in Hoboken, NJ. He conceived and produces the annual 10-minute play festival 7th Inning Stretch: 7 10-minute plays about baseball. His MST directing credits include St. Columba and the River, The Souls of Black Folk, John Redding Goes to the Sea, Striking Out the Babe, Warren Leight's The Love of the Game, Jenny Levison’s Homefield Advantage, Cyrano, The Scams of Scapin (with Jeff Steitzer) for which he played the title role, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Over a long acting career, Chris has been associated with such theatres as A Contemporary Theatre, The Culture Project, Soho Rep, the 78th Street Theatre Lab, 12 Miles West, New York Theatre Workshop, Target Margin, Gloucester Stage, Book-It Repertory, Intiman Theatre, City Theatre in Pittsburgh, The Ahmanson, Provisional Theatre of Los Angeles, The Bathhouse, Seattle Children's Theatre, and Theatre Express. His plays for young people have been produced at The Seattle Children's Theatre and in schools in the Puget Sound area. He has taught at Colgate University and Fairleigh Dickinson University. He holds a BFA in acting from Carnegie-Mellon University and an MFA in Directing from Mason Gross. He lives in Hoboken with his wife Annie McAdams and their daughter Willa Jean.
Lenard PetitPhysical Theater Lenard Petit is a professional actor/director who resides in New York City. He has been working in the theater for twenty years, collaborating with other artists to create original works for the stage, cinema and television. This work has always been based primarily in movement or physical pictures. In New York he has been seen in works by Meredith Monk, Richard Foreman, Julie Taymor, Ping Chong, Otrabanda Company, and Creation Company. Prior to his arrival in New York, Mr. Petit was the artistic director of his own theater company for four years in New Orleans. He has taught theater workshops and master classes on the acting techniques of Michael Chekhov in schools, colleges and theaters in the USA and throughout Europe. His training has been varied and ongoing, but his most important influences have been the great French master Etienne Decroux with whom he studied in Paris 18 years ago, and Michael Chekhov whose technique continues to be a great source of inspiration. Mr. Petit is the artistic director of The Michael Chekhov Acting Studio in New York City. He received his B.A. in 1974 from Franconia College and, more recently, studied with William Esper in New York.
Tim PickensTechnical director Tim Pickens has been associated with the theater arts department for the past ten years. He spent his professional career in regional theater, including stints as technical director at GEVA Theatre and the Portland Stage Company. He also served as assistant technical director at The Juilliard School, Hartford Stage Company, and Minnesota Opera Company. He received his M.F.A. degree from Temple.
Office: Levin Scene Shop | Phone: 732-932-8922 X81, 732-932-9891 
Heather RacheVoice Heather Rasche, is an actress, a scholar, and an associate teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework. As an actress she premiered works by many playwrights including Susan Kim, Joyce Caroll Oats, and Shel Silverstien and received the Santa Barbara Independent Award for best actress in for her work in Lee Blessings’ play, Eleemosynary. She holds a doctorate in Drama from University of California, and a Ph.D. from the University of California at Santa Barbara. Her research concentrates on the training and working lives of professional actors. Her masters thesis was a study of the pedagogy of Sanford Meisner and her dissertation, Actresses Age and Anxiety: The Midlife Actress in Filmed Performance is an examination of gendered ageism in Hollywood. She has presented her work at several national academic conferences and on two nationally syndicated radio shows. Prior to joining the Rutgers faculty, Heather taught at the University of Southern California School of Cinema and Television and at University of California, Santa Barbara.
Shane RettigSound Design and Technology Shane Rettig is a sound designer, composer and musician. New York: The Public Theatre, The New Group, Soho Rep, The Summer Play Festival, The NY Musical Theatre Festival, Clubbed Thumb, Mabou Mines, NYU, Juilliard, and in many off-off Broadway productions. Regional: Center Stage, Actor’s Theater of Louisville, La Jolla Playhouse, Dallas Theatre Center, Yale Repertory Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Triad Stage, Capital Rep, and others. He is an associate artist with the Obie award winning company, The Civilians. He performs around New York in several bands and is a composer, music director and performer in The Atomic Grind Show. His music and design for Rinne Groff’s Orange Lemon Egg Canary will be presented at the 2007 Prague Quadrennial. He received his M.F.A. from the Yale School of Drama.
Sari RuskinStorytelling and creative drama for children Sari Ruskin trained at the Neighborhood Playhouse and HB Studios. She studied dance with Sophie Maslow at the New Dance Group Studio and holds a Masters Degree in theater from CCNY. As an actress, she has worked off Broadway and in regional theater. She was lead singer with the Chapel Hill Trio. Ruskin has worked as an educator for over 20 years in New York where she developed a creative dramatics program as an adjunct to reading development programs in New York City and Long Island. She brings her experience as singer, dancer, actor, and educator to fruition as a storyteller and teacher of storytelling at Rutgers.
Amy SaltzHead of Directing Program Amy Saltz has directed extensively throughout the U.S. and Russia. New York City affiliations have included Playwrights' Horizons, The Second Stage, the Public Theater and the WPA. Major regional theaters include the Yale Rep, Long Wharf, Seattle Rep, Actors' Theater of Louisville and the Arena Stage. She won Chicago's Joseph Jefferson and Artisan Awards, the Handy Award in Florida and her productions have been nominated for the Outer Critics' Circle, Helen Hayes and Grammy awards. Ms. Saltz was invited to direct in Shelekhovo, Russia and has served on panels and committees for the NEA, NYSCA, Massachusetts Cultural Arts Council, Directing Fellows, TCG's Plays-in-Process, the O'Neill National Playwrights' Conference Selection Committee, the Tony Committee, and has served on panels and conducted workshops all over the country. For television she directed "Another World" and "Search For Tomorrow". She has served on the Advisory Board of the American Directors' Institute, has been listed in Who's Who of American Women, and for 8 years served on the Executive Board of the Society of Stage Directors' and Choreographers.
James L. SargentLighting Supervisor Served as the master electrician for the National Tour of Grease and assistant carpenter/automation operator for the National Tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. He has worked as electrician and technician for the McCarter Theater and the Opera Festival of New Jersey. In addition, he has served as Assistant Production Manager for the Opera Festival of New Jersey.
Susan SchuldVoice Susan Schuld served on faculties with Circle and the Square, CAP 21 NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and Wingspan’s Arts Program. 2003-2004 Director in residence at Shakespeare's Globe, London for Mason Gross School of the Arts. Currently enrolled in the Linklater teacher designation program with Kristin Linklater and Andrea Haring. NY acting credits: Wrecked and Waltz of Elementary Particles with Theatre Lila where she is a founding member. Henry V, NYO Theatre; Shakespeare’s Women Under the Corset, Wake up Artists. Regional Credits; Damn Yankees with Colonial Theater, Pittsfield MA; Brownstone and HMS Pinafore with the Berkshire Theatre Festival, MA; Bailiwick Theater Company, Women's Theater Alliance, Chicago; Western Illinois Theater Company, IL; Rocky Mountain Repertory, CO.; Childsplay Inc. and TheaterWorks, AZ. 1996 Arizoni for best actor in a musical for Mary in Merrily We Roll Along. M.F.A. Acting Rutgers University.
Harold Scott Please see the Emeritus Faculty page.
Greg SeelAlexander Technique A graduate of Wilmington College, Ohio before training at the Drama Studio, London. He first studied Alexander Technique with Walter Carrington and Mary Holland: later trained in Meisner with Kathryn Gately, was certified in Alexander Technique under Judith Leibowitz in 1983, continued with Mr. Patrick MacDonald and was S.T.A.T. certified in 1987. He trained in voice for the actor for four years under Frederick Wilkerson. He was a founding member of the Riverside Shakespeare Co. and Associate Director of The Mint Theater Co. where he both acted and directed. He has worked with Ray Yeats of the Abbey Theater, Dublin on Brendan Kennelly's "Antigone" and "Medea", directed an all Irish cast of "Picnic and more recently “The Widow's Blind Date" Faculty appointments have included SUNY Purchase, The Actors Center, Columbia University, NYU's Classical Studio & Meisner Extension, The School for Film and Television, Matthew's School of the Alexander Technique, Institute for the Alexander Technique and is past Chair of the Am.S.A.T. Professional Conduct Committee. His teaching matures through The Actors Center Teacher Development Program, Jessica Wolf's Art of Breathing and Seido Karate under Kaicho Nakamura where he has attained the rank of Yondan. He also maintains a private teaching practice.
William Serow On Camera Billy Serow has had a long and varied career in show business. He started acting at the age of 6, and worked professionally from the age of 16, appearing on several National Tours of Broadway shows, as well as much stage work and television in New York. Training wise, Billy received a B.A. in Theatre at Ohio Wesleyan University, and had the great privilege and fortune to study with both Sanford Meisner and William Esper at The Neighborhood Playhouse, where he currently serves on the Board of Directors. Billy decided to put his acting career on the back burner indefinitely in his late 20’s, and went to work for an Off Broadway theater as a Director/Producer, helping mount such successful original cast productions as On Golden Pond and Da- then launched what would be a long career as a Casting Director. As an owner of Godlove, Serow & Sindlinger Casting, Billy cast hundreds of commercials, comedy specials, and some indie films. In 1997, he decided to switch gears yet again, and joined the William Morris Agency, to work in the commercial department. After spending four years there, he finally found Agent Nirvana, and landed at Abrams Artists Agency, where he has spent the last 6 years, spearheading the Voiceover department. Billy has also been teaching audition workshops at Rutgers for the past 6 years. Billy resides in Westchester to be near his greatest achievements, his two children.
J. Allen SuddethStage Combat J. Allen Suddeth has worked professionally for the past thirty years out of the New York area. For Broadway, he has staged fights for Saturday Night Fever, Jekyll & Hyde, Angels in America, Loot, Saint Joan, A Small Family Business, and Hide and Seek. Off-Broadway he has worked on over fifty productions for Manhattan Theater Club, Playwrights' Horizons, The New Group, The Public Theater, BAM, Second Stage, Riverside Shakespeare, Jean Cocteau Repertory, the Pearl Theater, and the New York Theater Workshop. Regionally, and in LORT Theater he has worked for Center Stage in Baltimore, the Arena Stage and The Shakespeare Theater in Washington, DC, as well as The Denver Center, The Goodman Theater, The Hartford Stage, The Seattle Repertory Theater, The Actor's Theater of Louisville and the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, among many others. As a master teacher, Allen has trained actors for The Juilliard School, The Lee Strasberg Institute, and The Stella Adler Conservatory, as well as bring a frequent guest artist at major universities. For television, he has staged stunts, fights and action sequences for over 750 programs for ABC, CBS, NBC, and HBO. He is the author of Fight Directing for the Theater, published by Heinemann Press. Allen has taught at the National Stage Combat Workshop for many years, and is workshop coordinator for the National Fight Directors Training Program.
Maggie SurovellMFA Speech Maggie Surovell has taught voice and speech at Yale University, Wagner College, Sarah Lawrence College and at the University of Georgia. She has dialect and voice coached productions at Cherry Lane Theatre, New York Stage and Film, Ensemble Studio Theatre, with Les Freres Corbusier at Saint Anne's Warehouse, The Clurman Theatre, for the New York Fringe Festival and Midtown International Theatre Festival. Maggie has worked extensively with Pamela Prather (YSD) and Beth McGuire (YSD) to learn the KinesPhonetics approach to teaching speech and dialects. She is an Assistant Fitzmaurice voice teacher and holds an MFA in Acting from the University of Georgia. Maggie continues to work as a professional actress and dialect coach in NYC and has performed at Cherry Lane Theatre, The Alliance Theatre, Saint Anne's Warehouse with Les Freres Corbusier, P.S. 122 with Young Jean Lee's Theatre Company, SoHo Rep with Nature Theatre of Oklahoma and Brat Theatre Productions. Maggie is also an Artist Member of P.S. 122.
Carol ThompsonGeneral Manager, Dept. Administrator, Head of Stage Management Program is the general manager of the Rutgers Theater Company, administrator of the Theater Arts Department and was the producing director of the Levin Theater Company and the Summer Shakespeare Fest managing over 200 productions. Her stage management credits include the world premieres of The Woolgatherer and Extremities among others. She has a wide range of scenic, costume and property experience. She founded the stage management program at Rutgers and is a member of the Actors Equity Association. She was awarded the New Jersey Governors Award in Arts Education, is a past member of the U/RTA Board of Directors and has been a NAST external evaluator.
Office: Walters hall 232 | Phone: 732-932-9891 X11 
Robin VestSet Design
Beth WickeAuditioning Beth Wicke is certified by the Royal Academy of Dance. She trained at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, holds a B.A. in theater from the Catholic University of America, and is a certified yoga instructor. Her credits include Manager of Casting, East Coast for ABC Television; supervising the casting of Loving, All My Children, One Life to Live, and General Hospital; and contributing to prime-time pilot projects. She also was the director of daytime programming for ABC, where she was responsible for creative supervision of East Coast serials. Wicke initiated the AFTRA/ABC Committee to address minority and disability hiring practices. She now casts independent projects, most recently SOAPLINE for Gottlieb Enterprises. She has taught extensively at universities and theaters throughout the United States.
Staff 
Galena SochevAdministrative Assistant Office: Walters Hall 222 | Phone: 732-932-9891 X15
Carol ThompsonGeneral Manager, Dept. Administrator, Head of Stage Management Program is the general manager of the Rutgers Theater Company, administrator of the Theater Arts Department and was the producing director of the Levin Theater Company and the Summer Shakespeare Fest managing over 200 productions. Her stage management credits include the world premieres of The Woolgatherer and Extremities among others. She has a wide range of scenic, costume and property experience. She founded the stage management program at Rutgers and is a member of the Actors Equity Association. She was awarded the New Jersey Governors Award in Arts Education, is a past member of the U/RTA Board of Directors and has been a NAST external evaluator.
Office: Walters hall 232 | Phone: 732-932-9891 X11
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