People
The Department of Theatre is a diverse community of creative faculty, students, and alumni. Get to know us!
Our accomplished FACULTY include
- An award-winning professional director whose recent work has been staged at some the nation’s top theatre companies
- An internationally regarded Shakespeare scholar and author of forthcoming Arden Shakespeare edition of Julius Caesar
- Specialists in circus arts, aerial silks, Black acting techniques, devised theatre, activist theatre, and playwriting
- Author of a new, cutting-edge theatre history textbook published by Palgrave Macmillan
- Scenic, costume, and lighting designers working in professional theatres in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Austin, Philadelphia, San Antonio, and Charlotte
- A scholar-artist and journal editor leading the rising field of Theatre for Young Audiences
Among our ALUMNI are
- Obie-Award winning playwright Caridad Svich—winner of the 2018 Ellen Steward Award for Career Achievement in Professional Theatre by the Association for Theatre in Higher Education.
- Emmy-award winning costume designer and Hollywood costume supervisor Amy Andrews Harrell
- Emmy-award winning casting professional Craig Fincannon—founder of Fincannon & Associates, Inc.
- Playwright Stacey Rose, who has won multiple prestigious fellowships, worked with Spike Lee, and has recently founded the Queen City New Play Initiative
- Television, film, and stage actor Don Castro, whose international career includes extensive experience in industrials, commercials, voice-overs, and commercial print.
- Many accomplished theatre educators, including Shellie Kingaby-Hyser, Cabarrus County Public Schools, a certified Diamond Coach with the National Speech and Debate Association.
- Hollywood textile artist Jack Taggart, whose feature fillms include Top Gun: Maverick, Guardians of the Galaxy (2 and 3), Dunkirk, the Avatar franchise, Black Panther, The Dark Knight Rises, and Django Unchained.
Are you a theatre alum? We’d love to add you to our alumni spotlight profiles! Let us know what you’ve been up to by filling out this form!
Recently, our STUDENTS have
- Made it to the Finals in the Kennedy Center American Theatre College Festival Region IV Irene Ryan acting competition
- Performed lead roles for Charlotte professional theatre companies
- Attended summer programs at Lincoln Center and the Barrows Group in New York City and the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival
- Received graduate scholarships for study in Ph.D., MFA, and MA theatre programs
- Worked as performers in commercials, industrials, and workplace training videos
- Stage managed, teched, and designed costumes for Charlotte theatre companies
- Assistant directed productions at several professional theatre companies in Chicago
- Presented papers and posters on theatre topics as UNC Charlotte Research Scholars
- Performed annually at the Carolina Renaissance Festival
- Performed with the Charlotte Symphony