Category Archives: Semester Update

Sweet Spring ’16

This semester has been full of sweet blessings. I coached and accompanied our Theatre Arts and Performance Studies Irene Ryan nominees to the Region 8 Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival in Oahu, Hawaii.

Our fall production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee that I directed was asked to participated in the Evening of Invited Scenes and we had 4 original cast members plus our Assistant Director present so we remounted two musical numbers to great response from the audience.

I am teaching Theatre and Society to a new cluster of students who are willingly walking through the inspirations of theatre artists historical and contemporary to gauge the relevance and social functions of theatre in our changing cultures. We flip the classroom with the help of a WordPress Blog on which they read/post about myriad theatre ideas and movements.

The Creative Arts Entrepreneurship Minor for which I developed a new course teaching The Creative Mind to business students was approved for next year!

Opera Workshop is developing another semester of beautiful vignettes from well-loved operas, operettas and early classical musicals. I am always so proud of the hard work and artistic growth that comes from the students in this interdisciplinary craft.

Once again I am the faculty advisor for the graduating Senior Projects. This year’s graduating class marks my 4th year at USD. These students started here when I started here. Among them are original plays, live radio theatre podcasts, and independent films. Two have collaborated on a Student Lab production of This Is Our Youth and are culminating their work into 1) a director’s reel and 2) a psychological examination of actors’ emotional journeys. The presentation of their work will be at the end of their semester and I will probably be all mushy-eyed as they walk across the platform to take their diplomas on May 22nd.

Finally we have initiated and are enjoying the first cast of Alpha Psi Omega, Alpha Eta Omega chapter here at USD. It is the national theatre honors society in which we have 11 members who have shown dedication of scholarship and craft to the department. We have outings to see shows, perform service for the department and the San Diego theatre community at large, and will be looking forward to more events and opportunities to spread the good-theatre-word as the society grows!

Fall into Compassion

Courses this semester:

Acting I

Theatre and Society

Voice and Speech

Opera Workshop

This semester my students will be developing life skills that transfer into any field, interpersonal relationships, spiritual discovery and global change making. As recipients of the USD Provost’s Enhanced Faculty Student Interaction fund, we will be traveling out of the classroom and into the audiences to see: BRIGHT STAR (The Old Globe), NEXT TO NORMAL (San Diego Musical Theatre), and FOOL FOR LOVE (Cygnet Theatre).

As part of the Theatre Arts and Performance Studies Lunchbox Series, we will host the 3rd annual Conversations with Alumni during Homecoming week. I look forward to seeing many of our theatre alumni and hearing their musings on life-after-USD.

Opera Workshop will perform a delightful program of music from such great compositions as The Marriage of Figaro, The Mikado, Abduction from the Seraglio, Fiddler on the Roof, and Into the Woods, and Candide. The performance on November 16th will be held in the Shiley Theatre at 2pm. Join us!

There are many exciting creative collaborations on the horizon for the coming spring, including the Theatre Management and Entrepreneurship class and Senior Projects, along with other developing projects.

Already my classes are fostering expressive and welcoming discussions and performances. The students are full of ideas, motivation and curiosity… what delight!

Blooming this Spring ’14 with Prof Ryan…

Courses I’ll be teaching:
Opera Workshop (Musc 154 & 354)
Theatre and Society (Thea 111-01)

My two sections of Theatre and Society will be attending the Cygnet Theatre’s production of Spring Awakening through a grant of the Extended Faculty Student Interaction Fund from the USD Provost’s office.

From last semester’s Theatre Arts and Performance Studies (TAPS) production of The Spitfire Grill, actors Lauren Fisher, Mitchell Krassin and Monica Perfetto will be competing in Los Angeles at the 2014 Region VIII Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival for the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship.

The lunchbox series features a 3-part series on clowning and the physical actor by Terry Glaser, and a specialized discussion of selecting, applying for and moving forward with graduate school by MFA program director, Rick Seer and TAPS professor Dr. Monica Stufft.

At the end of our semester, look forward to our 3rd annual End-of-the-year Bonfire at Fiesta Island!

Come by my new office (Camino 173) and say hello!

Fall semester 2013

Courses I taught:
Acting for Musical Theatre (Thea 385), Theatre and Society (Thea 111-01), and Theatre Practicum (Thea 115, 116, 315, 316) for performance in THE SPITFIRE GRILL.

The TAPS fall musical production of THE SPITFIRE GRILL premiered in the newly renovated The Vassiliadis Family Black Box Theatre to packed houses every night of its two week run.