Anne Justine D’Zmura has served as resident director at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis where she directed Peer Gynt, Bert’s Folly, Billy and Dago, and Poster of the Cosmos; artistic associate for the NYC-based The Acting Company where she directed the national tours of Macbeth and The Tempest; artistic associate for the Playwright’s Center and artistic director for Yale Cabaret. She has served as visiting assistant professor at Denison University, guest director and educator at The Juilliard School, University of Minnesota MFA program, USD/Old Globe Theatre, University of Redlands, and University of Michigan. Some additional directing credits include South Coast Repertory, A Noise Within, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, and The Cricket Theatre. She was assistant director for Trevor Nunn on Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia on Broadway. Anne is the recipient of a National Endowment for The Arts/TCG Directing Fellowship, with which she studied in Bali, Indonesia; a New York Drama League: New Works/New Directors Grant; and a 2007 LADCC nomination for “Best Ensemble” for The Cannibals which she directed for Cal Rep. She received her MFA in Directing from Yale School of Drama and a BA from Hampshire College.
Craig Fleming is an actor, director, teacher, and writer. He received his MFA in acting from CSULB, where he was named Outstanding Graduate for the College of the Arts. His theatre background includes acting and directing for Shakespeare Orange County, Central Coast Shakespeare Festival, Shakespeare by the Sea, Laguna Playhouse, Performance Riverside, and South Coast Repertory, where he taught acting for fifteen years. In 1988 Craig joined Walt Disney Imagineering, moved to France, and directed the nomenclature and scripting effort for the creation of Disneyland Paris. Prior to becoming an Imagineer he wrote for Teddy Ruxpin, Muppet Babies, and other talking toys. Craig has been listed in “Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers.”
Danila Korogodsky, a theatre designer and painter, was born in Kaliningrad, Russia to a theatrical family. After graduating from Leningrad Theater Institute in 1977, Danila worked for 10 years as a Resident Designer at The Leningrad Theater for Young Spectators. He also freelanced around the country, did some projects as an illustrator of books, and exhibited his works as a painter. At that time Danila designed more than fifty productions for Moscow’s Mossoviet Theatre, Novy Theatre, Taganka Theatre, Drama Theatre in Tashkent, Tallin, Baku, Vladivostok, and others. His theatre work and his paintings were frequently exhibited both in Russia and abroad. Several of his works have been purchased by museums and private collections. Danila was selected to represent Russia at the 1983 Prague Quadrennial of Stage Design. In 1989, he was invited to design a show for the Honolulu Theatre for Youth, and since then has freelanced in the United States as a theatre designer, design professor, and painter. During the past nineteen years Danila has designed more than two hundred shows all around United States and Europe. Danila was a guest professor at Indiana University, Bloomington; Ohio State University, Columbus; and was head of the design program at DePaul University, Chicago.
Professor David Jacques has designed over 300 theatre, opera, television, dance and special event productions. Recent productions include The Tsar's Bride, for The Royal Opera House Covent Garden; Tosca with the English National Opera; Tristan and Isolde for with Teatro la Fenice; The Fall of the House of Usher with the Chicago Opera Theatre; A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Teatro dell’Opera Roma; Die frau ohne Shatten and Lulu with the Lyric Opera of Chicago; Tannhäuser with Teatro alla Scala; Daphne with Teatro la Fenice (DVD); I Lombardi with Maggio Musicale Firenza; Peter Grimes with Teatro San Carlo and Teatro Perez Galdos, Las Palmas; Cherubin with Teatro Lirico di Cagliari (DVD); Rusalka with the New National Theatre of Tokyo; Otello with the Welsh National Opera; Tosca, The Florentine Tragedy, Gianni Schicchi and Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk with the Canadian Opera Company; Rusalka, The Magic Flute, and Tosca with the Norwegian National Opera; The Magic Flute with Opera Hong Kong and the National Theatre of Beijing; The Rehearsal with the Los Angeles Philharmonic (sets and lighting), West Side Story with the Vancouver Opera Company; and A Little Night Music, Gianni Schicchi, Oklahoma! and Seven Deadly Sins, and Showboat with Central City Opera.
Ezra LeBank is the Head of Movement at California State University, Long Beach. Prior to his appointment at CSULB, he taught at The Juilliard School, SUNY Purchase, Vassar College/Powerhouse Theatre, Smith College, and The University of Montana. He has performed in theatre, film, dance, physical theatre, and opera around the world to critical acclaim including work with LaMaMa E.T.C., Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, The Talking Band, New Century Theatre, Montana Repertory Theatre, and many others. As Artistic Director of Curbisde, his original work includes: {Extinguish.}, Fresh Air, Roe V. Wade: The Abortion Debate, Making Epsom Salt Dissolve, The History of a Hand, and PITCH. {Extinguish.} was named the “#2 Next Big Thing” by The List at the 2010 Edinburgh International Fringe Festival, and his newest play PITCH will have its New York premiere this winter. Education: SUNY Purchase, Smith College, Ars Comica. He is a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT-500) with the Yoga Alliance, and is the Editor of ATME News, the bi-annual publication for the Association for Theatre Movement Educators.
Los Angeles appearances include Johnny on the Spot (Matrix), Lemonade (Tamarind), The Philadelphia Story (Court), and Henry IV Pt. 1 for Circle X. Other theatre includes, Broadway: Brian Friel’s Translations. Off-Broadway: The Yiddish Trojan Women (AJT), The Tempest (AEC), Cloud 9 (Perry Street) among others. As a founding member of New York City’s Mint Theatre Company (2002 Drama Desk Award), Hugh directed The Harvest, and appeared as Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew, Nick in The Time of Your Life, and the Doctor in Anton Chekhov: Stories from My Youth. He has worked in over a dozen regional theatres around the country, most notably Seattle Rep, Charlotte Rep, Huntington and Asolo theatres; seasons with the North Carolina, Montana and Idaho Shakespeare festivals. For four years Hugh portrayed Jeff Singer on AMC’s critically acclaimed, Emmy and CableAce award-winning show Remember WENN (SAG Award nomination). Other television: HBO’s John Adams, and Still Standing, That’s Life, The 10th Kingdom, Law & Order, ER, One Life to Live and All My Children. Film: Killers, Upstate, The Bend. BA from Cornell University and MFA in Acting from the University of Washington. He is a member of SAG, AFTRA, Actors Equity and the Michael Chekhov Association.
Professor Hickman is a graduate of Bucknell University (BA), San Jose State University (MA), and the University of New Orleans (MFA). Prior to coming to CSULB, he was the technical director for the Theatre Department at Villanova University and was the production manager and technical director for Villanova’s Summer Shakespeare Festival. During the summer, he works with Shakespeare by the Sea, a local touring company which presents 9 weeks of free performances throughout the Los Angeles area. Mr. Hickman has been active in the United States Institute for Theatre Technology for more than thirty years.
Joanne Gordon, Artistic Director of California Repertory Company and Chair of the Department of Theatre Arts at CSULB, is an award-winning director whose accolades include five Drama-Logue Awards, a Los Angeles Critics Choice Award and being named "Best of the Year" by the Los Angeles Times. Her adaptation and production of Love, Bukowski was nominated for several awards by the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, which also conferred on Cal Rep the Polly Warfield Award. As an internationally renowned Sondheim scholar, she has directed a number of this extraordinary artist’s works worldwide, including the first Chinese language production of West Side Story in Beijing. Published work includes Stephen Sondheim: A Casebook; frequent contributions to The Sondheim Review and Art Isn't Easy: The Theater of Stephen Sondheim. Recent directing includes an original piece about the effects of the Iraq War on our troops, And the War Came staged in the Long Beach Armory; the West Coast Premiere of the searing family drama, Festen, an evening of all student-written slam poetry, Out Loud and an original evening of Bukowski poetry set to music performed at RedCat. As chair of a very large theatre program at CSULB Gordon is very active as a teacher, scholar and administrator. She was recently elected as a Board Member for the University Resident Theatre Association and has served as a panelist for the National Association of Theatres. Gordon directs and conducts workshops in both the U.S. and Europe. Gordon did her undergraduate work in South Africa and her Ph.D. at UCLA.
Josh Nathan has been acting and writing professionally since 1997 when he completed his undergraduate education in Theatre Arts. After four months of Acting and Theatre Studies in London, Josh returned to his home city of Los Angeles. He's worked as a stand-up comic, a writer for television, a copywriter for film and has appeared on stage, screen and television. Josh completed the training program at The Groundlings and was a member of the Sunday Company. After completing the MFA program at California State University, Long Beach, Josh was hired on as a faculty member with the CSU system where he currently teaches Theatre Studies. Josh is also a part-time faculty member with the OCHSA Music and Theatre Conservatory, where he teaches Acting, Improvisation, Voice and Speech and Stage Combat. He took over as the department advisor in Spring of 2012.
Maria Viera is a tenured professor, Head of Critical Studies in the Department of Theatre Arts, and is coordinating the new MFA option in Dramatic Writing. She is co-author of the book Lighting for Film and Digital Cinematography (Wadsworth, 2004) and wrote the chapter on John Cassavetes for the book More than a Method: Trends and Traditions in Contemporary Film Performance (Wayne State Univer sity Press, 2004). A scholar in contemporary and postmodern film theory, she has authored 19 published articles on topics as diverse as the work of Woody Allen to directing the short film. She has presented 20 papers at various professional conferences. Dr. Viera is a filmmaker who has largely made experimental and short fiction works, but also documentaries and TV spots. She wrote and directed two original mix-media productions, Playing with the Pieces and Singularities, for the University Players. She received her Ph.D. in Cinema-Television from USC.
Nancy Jo Smith has created costumes for very diverse venues: theatre, dance, television, video, ice-skating, and stunt shows. She has received several awards for excellence in costume design including a Themed Entertainment Award for “Waterworld” at Universal Studios and Drama-Logue Awards for Merlin (Cal Rep), Little Foxes (San Diego Gaslamp), and Red Noses (San Diego Rep). Her costumes have appeared in many Cal Rep productions. Nancy Jo is also a fiber artist, working as Doshi, specializing in Shibori. Her work has been seen in international exhibitions and is sold in galleries across the U.S. and Europe. She is the featured artist in Ornament magazine August 2006.
Ph.D. University of Minnesota, 1972. (Theatre performance/management/dramatic literature).McDonough is a veteran of more than 100 productions in university, community, and regional theatres. He was the founding chair of a university theatre department and performing arts center. He served the classic Guthrie Theater as director of sales and marketing. As a fine arts dean he was a co-founder of the Association of Theatre in Higher Education and, later, of the International Leadership Association. He held positions as provost (Wisconsin-Stevens Point) and president (Marietta College) and served the international WKKellogg Foundation as Program Director, Education and Leadership. Coming to the Theatre faculty in 1997 from the CSU System Office, he taught management and theatre history until his retirement. He continues to pursue his expertise in leadership and the arts and is a Senior Fellow of the Burns Academy of Leadership of the University of Maryland. He has a consulting practice in strategic management and does pro bono work for select nonprofit theatres.
