Gail Stewart Beach , M.F.A., University of Hawaii.
Chair, Executive Producer, Costume Designer, Associate Professor for Professional Practice
Gail Stewart Beach was a free-lance designer in the Baltimore-Washington area, specializing in dance until she became the resident costume designer at Catholic University in 1987, working on over 60 shows in that time. She has continued designing in the area as costume designer for the Doug Hamby Dancers and the Phoenix Dance Company, as well as other modern dance companies, and the UMBC Artists-in-Residence program. Other theatre work has included costumes for Much Ado About Nothing at the Folger Shakespeare Theatre, Justice for the Library of Congress, and Hedda Gabler, The School For Scandal, And the Nightingale Sang and The Turn of the Screw at Everyman Theatre in Baltimore. She has also designed costumes for Longacre Lea Productions since its inception, which have included Pinter’s Hothouse, Stoppard’s Dogg’s Hamlet, Cahoot’s Macbeth, and Ionesco’s Man with Bags. She collaborated with Kathleen Akerley on Catalyst Theatre’s Shkspr Prjct and designed for Catalyst Theatre’s production of Eleemosynary, by Lee Blessing. Recently she participated in the co-production of Swift To My Wounded… at the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution. She is a member of United Scenic Artists local 829.
Courses: Introduction to Design, Costume Design, Costume Construction, Theatre I, Asian Theatre.

Thomas F. Donahue , PhD., University of Maryland.
Professor
Dr. Donahue is a member of United Scenic Artists. He is the Executive Producer of the Festival of Religious Art, a bi-annual arts stival, which had its premier season this year. As a professional designer Dr. Donahue has worked with the National Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, Pennsylvania Theatre Company, Barter Theatre along with many others. His design for opcelebration hosted by the University. He is also a founding member of the Shaker Mountain Performing Arts Feera includes work with the Baltimore Opera Company, Summer Opera Theatre Company, The Young Victorians, The Peabody Conservatory of Music, and the Shaker Mountain Festival. He is the resident scenic and lighting designer for the department.
Courses: Introduction to Design, Stage Lighting, Scenic Design, Production Design and Management, Scene Design and Application.

Marietta Hedges, B.A., New York University; M.F.A., Columbia University, New York.
Assistant Professor for Acting
Marietta Hedges has worked as an actor in theatre, film and television in London, New York, San Francisco, and the Baltimore/Washington D.C. area. Her credits include performances at The Camden People's Theater and at the Etcetera Theater Club, London; La Mama, The Connelly Theater, The Present Company, Jean Cocteau Rep and The Ionesco Festival in New York, and regionally at the California Conservatory Theater, the Winter Harbor Theater and the Baltimore Theater Protanamo which received readings in Washington,D.C. and London and was produced at the 2006 new York International Fringe Festival. She has taught at the University of North Texas and in conservatories and actor training programs in New York and California. Marietta has conducted classes and workshope in the Viewpoints and in the pedagogy of Augusto Boal's Theater of the Oppressed at the American College Theater Festival, the New England Theater Conference, the South Eastern Theater Conference and at the Shanghai Theatre Academy in China. She holds an M.F.A. from Columbia University, where she worked with Anne Bogart, Andrei Serban and Kristin Linklater.
Courses: Acting II, Acting III, Scene Study

Jon Klein , B.A., Vanderbilt University; M.A. Indiana University; M.F.A. UCLA.
Assistant Professor, Head of the MFA Playwriting program
Jon Klein is the author of over twenty plays, presented Off-Broadway and at over a hundred American regional theatres, including Actors Theatre of Louisville, South Coast Repertory, the Arden Theatre, the Alley Theatre, A Contemporary Theatre, and the Alliance Theatre. D.C. area productions include plays at Arena Stage, Center Stage, Woolly Mammoth, Roundhouse Theatre, Theatre of the First Amendment, and the Contemporary American Theatre Festival (where he has also directed). He has won three NEA Playwriting Fellowships for his work, as well as the Dramatists Guild/CBS New Play Award, the HBO Playwrights USA Award, and playwriting fellowships from the Bush, McKnight and Jerome Foundations. He was a TCG/NEA Playwright-in-Residence at American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, MA, and a Playwright-in-Residence at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta. He has taught playwriting and screenwriting at Ohio University, Harvard University, the University of Texas, the University of Washington, and Hollins University.
Courses: Graduate: Playwriting Seminars I, II, III; Performance Studio II; Writing for the Profession; Screenwriting. Undergraduate: Introduction to Playwriting;Theatre I, Topics.

Jeffrey Sichel, B.A., Skidmore College, Saratoge Springs; M.F.A.Columbia University, New York
Associate Professor, Head of the MFA Directing program
Recent productions include Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute for the Summer Opera Theatre Company in Washington, DC; Verdi’s opera Rigoletto for the Spokane Symphony in Spokane, Washington; Gods and the Good Women, an intercultural adaptation of Bertolt Brecht's play The Good Woman of Sezuan premiered at the Shanghai Theatre Academy in Shanghai, China; Cinderella's Bad Magic, an opera for which he wrote the libretto, which premiered in Moscow at the Dom Cultural Center. Custer and Sitting Bull an opera composed by Kyle Gann premiered at the Kitchen in New York City; the opera Gli Equivoci nel Sembiante by Allesandro Scarlatti performed in Palermo, Italy, at the Teatro Massimo; L'homme Unique, a site-specific theatre work performed in the Chateau of the Marquis de Sade in Lacoste, France; and Schoenberg's opera Die Gluckliche Hand for the American Symphony Orchestra. Organizations that have funded his work recently include The Freeman Foundation, ASIANetwork, The Trust for Mutual Understanding (Rockefeller Foundation), The Fulbright Foundation and the Fund for Contemporary Performance Art. Courses: Elements of Directing, Second Year Directing Project..

Gary Sloan , B.A., Wheaton College; M.F.A., Southern Methodist University.
Associate Professor, Head of the M.F.A. Acting Program (AEA,AFTRA,SAG)
Mr. Sloan has been a professional actor for twenty five years and performed leading roles in such theatres as the Roundabout, New Dramatists and the Classic Stage Company in N.Y., the Hudson Guild in L.A., the Folger theatre, Arena Stage, Studio theatre, Round House and the Shakespeare theatre in Washington, D.C., the Long Wharf theatre in New Haven, the Alley theatre in Houston, the Huntington theatre in Boston, Actors theatre of Louisville, Hartford Stage, Syracuse Stage, Center Stage, Cincinnati Playhouse, Stage West, Virginia Stage Co., the Berkshire theatre festival, Indiana Repertory, a tour with John Houseman’s The Acting Company and seasons with the Oregon, Dallas and New Jersey Shakespeare Festivals. On stage, he has appeared opposite such recognizable names as Tom Hulce, Peter Gallagher, Sigourney Weaver, Pat Carroll, Keith Hamilton Cobb, Mary Beth Hurt, J.T. Walsh, Stacy Keach, Fritz Weaver, Michael Learned, Lynn Redgrave and Hal Holbrook. Television work includes recurring roles on General Hospital, the Guiding Light, As the World Turns, Search for Tomorrow, General Hospital and the recent appearance on the History channel as Alexander Hamilton in “The Duel between Hamilton & Burr with Richard Dreyfuss”. Teaching experience includes Southern Methodist University, Ball State University, St. Mary’s College, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival touring ensemble and the American Academy of Dramatic Art (L.A. & N.Y.)
Courses: Acting I, Acting II, Performance Studio I, II, III and IV.

Patrick B. Tuite, B.A., University of Notre Dame; M.A., San Francisco State University;
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Assistant Professor, Head of the M.A. Program
Dr. Tuite's research interests include the dramatic literature and performance styles found in Western Europe from the Renaissance to the eighteenth century, with special focus on Shakespeare's plays in performance in Early Modern Ireland. In addition to teaching at University of Notre Dame and Ohio State University, he has worked as a dramaturge for both university and professional theatres. Articles have appeared in The Drama Review, Theatre InSight, Youth Theatre Journal as well as in Audience Participation: Crossing Time and Genre, a collection of essays published by Greenwood Press in 2003. Dr Tuite is currently a Fellow at the Folger Shakespeare Library, where he is working on a book, Theatre of Crisis: The Performance of Power in the Kingtom of Ireland, 11-1691.
Courses: Introduction to Theatre Research, Theatre Topics, Shakespeare in Theatre, Shakespeare on Film, Dramaturgy I and II.

Susan Martin Cohen, Alexander Technique 3-year certification, CTC London, U.K.; B.S. Brooklyn College, N.Y.
Lecturer
A registered movement therapist, Ms. Cohen served for two years on the faculty of Holy Cross College, Dacca, Bangladesh and has been a guest lecturer at various colleges in eastern India. She has also taught at the Shakespeare Theatre and at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. In addition to her private practice, Ms. Cohen teaches at Howard University and has presented numerous workshops in the U.S. and Israel. Ms. Cohen is a member of the American Society of Alexander Teachers and its British counterpart, the Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique.
Courses: Introduction to Alexander Technique, Alexander Technique I, Alexander Technique II.

Melissa Flaim, B.A. Pennsylvania State University,M.F.A. University of Missouri-Kansas City
Lecturer
A professional actress and teacher, Melissa Flaim is the resident vocal coach at Washington Shakespeare Company. She has performed at the Roundhouse Theatre, the Shakespeare Project, Signature Theatre, Source Theatre, the Travelling Shakespeare Theatre at the Folger Library and Arena Stage. As a company member of Bard on Wheels she worked on both workshops and residency Shakespeare productions as a teacher/coach, actor and director. She is also co-founder of the Education Theater Company.

Rosalind Flynn, B.A., Ph.D. University of Maryland.
Head of the Master of Arts in Theatre Education Program
Dr. Flynn is a practicing Teaching Artist who works both locally in the Washington, DC area and nationally. Her national touring workshops for teachers were developed in collaboration with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Since 1994, she has worked with students and teachers from 41 states and the District of Columbia. In 1995 she completed her dissertation on the use of drama as a learning method. She is the author of A Dramatic Approach to Reading Comprehension (co-author Lenore Blank Kelner) and Dramatizing the Content with Curriculum-Based Readers Theatre, Grades 6-12 published by The International Reading Association in 2007. Articles have appeared in Dramatics, Youth Theatre Journal, Language Arts, English Journal, Teaching Artist Journal and The Reading Teacher.
Courses: The Teaching of Theatre; Drama in Education.

Robb Hunter, Certified Teacher, The Society of American Fight Directors
Robb Hunter is a Fight Director and Stage Combat/Movement Instructor and has taught in MFA acting programs, professional conservatories, workshops and privately, in places such as North Carolina School of the Arts, American Musical and Dramatic Academy (NYC), Rutgers University, The National Stage Combat Workshops in Las Vegas and the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. During his time in New York Robb was fortunate enough to spend three years working closely with Michael J. Fox as his stand-in and stunt double.

Thomas Morra, B.A. East Stroudsburg University, Speech Communications; M.A. Montclair State University, Communication Arts, M.A. Marymount University Counseling Psychology; Post Graduate Studies University of Maryland, College Park, Public Communications.
Lecturer
Thomas Morra is a full time educator who conducts research on learning choices and the use of immerging technologies to enhance the learning environment. Thom teaches hybrid courses at both CUA and NVCC in Annandale Virginia. He also has published an article on learning choices theory, consults on textbooks for various publishers of learning theory and communications courses and speaks at conferences and workshop on hybrid theory and technology in the classroom.
Courses: Introduction to Speech Communications; Public speaking

Sybil Roberts
Lecturer
Sybil Roberts Williams is a playwright, dramaturg, and adjunct professor. Currently, she is working on The Legacy Project: Celebrating the Little Rock Nine at the The Arkansas Repertory Theater. In addition, she is working on a new play titled A Dawta's Prayer at Rebel Theater in Harlem. Recently she served as dramaturg at the Lark Theater's workshop production of Breathe by Javon Johnson. Ms. Williams teaches Postmodern, Caribbean, and African theater.
Courses: Senior Seminar, Theatre Topics, Twentieth Century Theatres

Chris Swanson, B.A. University of Minnesota--Twin Cities; M.F.A., D.F.A. Yale School of Drama
Lecturer
Until recently, Chris Swanson taught theater courses at DePaul University in Chicago. He previously worked for the Chicago Humanities Festival.
Courses: Theater Topics

Paata Tsikurishvili, B.F.A. State Institute of Theater and Film, Tbilisi, Georgia; M.F.A. Tbilisi State University.
Lecturer
Paata Tsikurishvili is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Synetic Theater, Washington D.C. He has trained at the Georgian State Pantomime Theater and has performed widely throughout Europe before coming to Washington, where he has been nominated and won Helen Hays awards for Outstanding Direction.
Courses : Movement II, Movement III.