Teaching
Up on your feet, then think.
I teach the way I was taught to work: by doing it. Whether the subject is a Meisner repetition exercise, a rapier phrase, or the given circumstances of a Beckett play, students learn by getting up on their feet and then thinking hard about what just happened.
Outside the classroom I direct and mentor students in mainstage productions, staged readings and new work, so that what they practice in class meets a real audience.
Also
Coordinator of the B.S.E. in Speech & Theatre — training the people who will teach high school theatre.
What I teach
01
Acting
From first exercises to audition rooms. Students try several techniques on for size and leave with a working method of their own.
- Acting: Methods
- Acting: Scriptwork
- Auditioning for the Role
02
Movement & Stage Combat
Lessac, Laban and Viewpoints for the body; unarmed and rapier work for the fight. Safety, precision and intention, in that order.
- Movement for Actors
- Stage Combat — Unarmed
- Stage Combat — Single Rapier
03
Directing & Production
How to run a room: reading a script for its machinery, talking to designers, and getting the best from actors without getting in their way.
- Play Directing
- Play Production
- Senior Capstone
04
Dramatic Literature & Analysis
Plays read as blueprints for performance — structure, action, given circumstances — and as part of a long conversation.
- Script Analysis
- Modern Drama
- A Survey of Dramatic Literature
Stage combat
“It’s still acting.”
If the audience doesn’t believe it, the scene falls flat. If the actors don’t feel safe, the whole performance suffers.
Stage combat isn’t about swinging swords and throwing punches — it’s about telling the story through movement. A duel, a slapstick brawl, a moment of sudden violence: every fight has to feel real, be safe, and be emotionally honest.
It comes down to trust: in your partner, your technique and yourself. I teach unarmed and rapier & dagger combat with an emphasis on control, intention and, yes, fun. But it’s still acting. Every move should come from character and objective, just like a line of dialogue.
Appointments
2019 – present
Associate Professor of Theatre
Emporia State University, Emporia, Kansas
2008 – 2019
Director of Theatre; Speech & Theatre Instructor
University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton
2006 – 2008
Instructor, Introduction to Oral Communication and Public Speaking
University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton
2009 – 2011
Instructor, Acting
Faulkner Academy of Arts, Conway, Arkansas
2006, 2012, 2014
Instructor, Stage Combat; Directing Actors
University of Central Arkansas
2001 – 2004
Instructor, Acting, Stage Combat, Directing, Acting for Camera
Purdue University
Workshops & presentations
- 2025Kansas Thespian Festival — Workshop Presenter, Comedic Unarmed Stage Combat
- 2024Kansas Thespian Festival — Workshop Presenter, Single Rapier Stage Combat
- 2024KCACTF — Workshop Presenter, Directing Actors on the Thrust and Arena Stage
- 2023KCACTF Director’s Panel, Des Moines — directorial approach to sensitive material in God of Carnage
- 2023ESU Migration Film Festival — Presenter, The Social & Cultural Impact of Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun
- 2021Jester Awards — Adjudicator
- 2019 – presentWorkshop Presenter, Improvisation in Psychology (each fall)
- 2014THEA Foundation — Workshop Presenter
- 2009Arkansas Association of Community Theatres — State Festival Respondent
- 2008 – 2014Conway Community Arts Association — Board of Directors
KCACTF Respondent
Responding to productions for the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival at:
- University of Kansas (2024)
- Wichita State University (2022, 2023)
- Kansas State University (2023)
- Allen Community College (2022)
- Johnson County Community College (2020, 2021, 2023, 2024)
- Baker University (2019, 2023)
- Arkansas State University–Beebe (2012)
- Ouachita Baptist University (2008)
To add · Student & colleague voices