Faculty Showcase, Theater - Wesleyan University

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Yuri Kordonsky

Associate Professor of Theater/ChairYuri Kordonsky studied acting and directing in Russia, in St. Petersburg State Academy of Theatre Arts. He has taught, performed, and directed internationally since 1989. As a performer and director, he toured in more than 20 countries and conducted workshops in Russia, Germany, Spain, Italy, and Romania. His recent directing credits include his original play "Disappearance" and "House of Bernarda Alba" by Lorca (Maly Drama Theatre, St. Petersburg, Russia), "Uncle Vanya" by Chekhov, "The Marriage" by Gogol and "Crime and Punishment" by Dostoevsky (Bulandra Theatre, Bucharest, Romania), "A Cabal of Hypocrites" by Bulgakov, "Peer Gynt" by Ibsen and "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (Wesleyan University, CT), "A Diary of a Madman" by Gogol (West End Theatre, Gloucester, MA), and "Canterbury Tales" by Chaucer (Riverside Theater, New York), among others. His productions won numerous international awards including Golden Light (St.-Petersburg), Best Production (Union of European Theatres, Palermo), Best Production, Best Director, Special Prize of Romanian Ministry of Culture (Bucharest, Romania). He has taught acting and directing at Columbia University, George Washington University, and Eugene O'Neill Theater Center.

John F. Carr

Professor of TheaterJohn Carr is the Resident Lighting Designer and Production Manager for both the Theater and the Dance Departments. He teaches courses in Design and Theatrical Production.http://jfcdesign.com

Ron Jenkins

Professor of Theater

Professor Ron Jenkins with the cast members of a play he directed at Indonesia's Kerobokan Prison.

Cláudia Tatinge Nascimento

Associate Professor of TheaterAn actor, director, and scholar, Cláudia Tatinge Nascimento performs and conducts research internationally. Her articles on intercultural performance and Brazilian theatre have appeared in Biblioteca Teatrale (Italy), Didaskalia (Poland), and Theatre Research International, among others. She is the author of Crossing Cultural Borders Through the Actor's Work: Foreign Bodies of Knowledge (Routledge, 2008) and is currently working on a book manuscript on post-dictatorship Brazilian group theatre. She teaches Theory and Performance courses, directs department productions, and advises senior theses.

Marcela Oteíza

Adjunct Associate Professor of TheaterMarcela Oteíza is the Scenic Designer in Residence and a Multidisciplinary Visual Artist. Her work has taken variety of forms including, design for the theater, installation performances and Mixed Media. Some of her Collaborative and Multidisciplinary Projects have been: Wandering Rocks (video performance for James Joyce One Hundred Year Anniversary Celebration, Dublin, 2004); Heart Piece by Heiner Muller (Grant awarded performance at California Institute of the Arts, 2001); Binding: women portraiture Cambridge 2008

Rashida Z. Shaw

Assistant Professor of TheaterOriginally from the island of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Dr. Shaw's current book project is an expansion of her dissertation, THEATRICAL EVENTS AND AFRICAN AMERICAN AUDIENCES: A STUDY OF CONTEMPORARY CHITLIN CIRCUIT THEATRE, in which she examines Chitlin Circuit (a.k.a. Urban Circuit) theatrical productions and the reception practices of African American spectators through interdisciplinary methods of research that span across theatre, performance studies, sociology, film and dance studies. Her scholarship has appeared in the journals THEATRE SURVEY and THEATRE TOPICS. In addition, her interviews with playwrights and actors of Chitlin Circuit Theatre have been published by TIME OUT CHICAGO magazine.

Leslie A. Weinberg

Artist in ResidenceLeslie is the costume designer for both the Theater and Dance Departments and is the co-artistic director of Puppetsweat Theater.