MFA in Theatre

Stephen Nunns

Stephen Nunns is an assistant professor and director of the MFA Program in Theatre Arts at Towson University. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Village Voice, Musical Quarterly, The Journal of American Drama and Theatre and other publications. From 1996 to 2000, he was an associate editor at American Theatre magazine, where he regularly covered national politics and the arts.

Before coming to Towson University, Stephen lived in New York City for fifteen years, directing, writing (mostly in collaboration with his wife, journalist Karen Houppert), and composing music for theatre pieces at a variety of off-off Broadway venues, including HERE, The Ontological-Hysteric Theater, Dance Theater Workshop and the 78th Street Theatre Lab. He was an associate artist at the seminal avant-garde theatre company Mabou Mines, where he created three theatre pieces, including the Obie Award-winning The Boys in the Basement.

Stephen has taught at Brooklyn College, New York University and Eugene Lang College. He holds a bachelor's degree in drama and literature from Bennington College, a Master in Fine Arts in dramaturgy from Brooklyn College, and a Ph.D. in performance studies from New York University.

Juanita Rockwell back to top ↑

Juanita Rockwell is a writer/director specializing in the development of new works. Her produced writing (plays, operas, radio drama, site-specific pieces and plays w/songs) include The World is Round, Upstream, Waterwalk: Surface and Depth, A Cave in the Sky. Lunar Pantoum, What’s a Little Death, and Between Trains.

As Artistic Director of Company One Theater (Hartford), she directed dozens of early premieres by such playwrights as Paula Vogel and Suzan-Lori Parks. Other direction includes projects at Everyman, Theatre Project (Baltimore), The Ontological, Mabou Mines/Suite, Culture Project, Blue Heron (NYC), City Theatre (P’burgh), Teatro Muincipão (São Paolo), RS9 (Budapest), and National Public Radio. She co-directs 3 Hands Clapping, a new theatre ensemble, with director/performer Leslie Felbain and composer/designer Chas Marsh, her husband and frequent collaborator.

Juanita was founding director of the MFA in Theatre at Towson University where she continues to teach and direct. She was a Fulbright Fellow in Costa Rica and has developed projects with artists from São Paolo to Warsaw. Juanita is a member of the Dramatists Guild and the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, and is a recipient of the Maryland State Arts Council 2007 Award in Playwriting.

Members of the Towson University faculty who have taught classes in the MFA Program since 2006:

Tom Cascella back to top ↑

Tom Cascella graduated from Yale University. He serves on various regional and national committees, organizations and boards. Mr. Cascella is a frequent guest lecturer at universities, high schools, and conferences. He teaches design and technical production courses and serves as the assistant chair of the department. He is also considered the rogue fundraiser of the department.

Tom Casciero back to top ↑

Tom Casciero is a professor in the Theatre Department at Towson University in Maryland, where he trains actors in movement; voice/movement integration; and movement theatre techniques, improvisation, and production. His dynamic approach to training actors uses a foundation of Laban Movement Studies (LMS) that is blended with other vocal and physical pedagogies. Tom received his Ph.D. in Theatre in 1998, from The Union Institute Graduate School. He was certified as a Movement Analyst (CMA) by the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies (LIMS) in 1988, and received post-certificate training in Advanced Teaching Methods in 1990.

He has taught LMS for actors as a guest artist at the Webster Movement Institute, the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival, University of Texas at Austin, Southern Illinois University, and Calvin College. He was recently a guest artist in the theatre and opera departments at the University of Pretoria and Pretoria Technikon in Pretoria, South Africa. He has presented at the Southeast Theatre Conferences, the South African Performers Voice and Movement Educators Conference, and the International Laban Conferences in Amherst, Minneapolis and Baltimore. He has also published articles in ATME News and Movement News. His current research is in voice/movement integration, exploring the manner in which values and belief systems influence vocal/physical/emotional expression.

Daniel Ettinger back to top ↑

Daniel Ettinger has worked as a freelance designer for 20 years and has taught at Towson for the past eight. He has designed over 260 productions for New York and regional theatre companies. New York area companies he has designed for include The Roundabout Theatre Company, The Juilliard School, George Street Playhouse, American Stage Company, and York Theatre. Regional companies include The Barter Theatre, Walnut Street Theatre, and Maine State Music Company. He has designed world premieres of new plays, including Craig Wright's Recent Tragic Events, Other People's Money, Horton Foote's The Night Seasons and the off-Broadway hit Pageant. He has designed in large theatre venues and small black box theatres, with budgets ranging from $500,000 to $2,000, in union and non-union shops, in television and film. His art direction includes the award-winning film, Dangerous Music. Since moving to Baltimore to join the design faculty at Towson University, Daniel has worked for The Everyman Theatre Company, Axis, Maryland Arts Festival, Rep Stage, and The Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in DC.

Jay Herzog back to top ↑

Jay Herzog is a graduate of Brooklyn College (BA) and The University of Massachusetts/Amherst (MFA). Jay came to Towson from East Carolina University as an assistant professor and previous to that was the production coordinator for the Brooklyn College Department of Theatre. His primary focus in theatre is lighting and sound design and his designs have been seen or heard in professional theatres worldwide.

He is a member of United Scenic Artists Local 829 and is the resident lighting designer for the Everyman Theatre in Baltimore. Other local affiliations as a designer locally are the Woolly Mammoth Theatre, which has been quoted by the New York Times as being the "most daring theatre company in Washington, DC ", RepStage, Signature Theatre, Theatre J and The Roundhouse Theatre. In 2000, Jay was the recipient of the Helen Hayes award for best lighting design in the Washington region, and he has had numerous "best of" awards for outstanding work from Baltimore newspapers and organizations.

Jay has served as the chair of the Theatre Department at Towson University since 2005. Most importantly, Jay is the father of Asher and Seth. For more information and portfolio, visit: See Jay Herzog's website

Naoko Maeshiba back to top ↑

NAOKO MAESHIBA is a dancer/ choreographer/ director/educator based in Washingoton, D.C./Baltimore. She has been creating interdisciplinary works nationally and internationally since 1996. She has studied and worked with Min Tanaka, Betty Jones, Akira Matsui, Richard Emmert, Ohta Shogo, and Pak Wayan Dibia amongst others. In 2002, she founded Kibism, a fluid, transdisciplinary performance unit/lab in order to explore the depth of the body, enhance the exchange and connection between different disciplines and cultures, and experiment with various forms of perception. A synthesis of kinetic, visual, auditory, aural, and sculptural elements, Kibism works delve into the hidden and the obscured aspects of the society, illuminate the ephemeral moments in life, and seek out the strange beauty (KIBI) of our existence on the universe. Known for their primal and refined physicality drawn from both Western and Eastern disciplines, their past productions have tapped onto the crucial issues in our era: youth violence, aging, departure and arrival, traces in our bodies, the power of societal formulas, home, and family.

Maeshiba’s works range from site-specific improvisation in collaboration with musicians and visual artists to tightly choreographed full-evening length pieces in theatre. Her deep interest in space and body led her to create works in various performance spaces ranging from outdoor to indoor, theatres to specific sites such as a gallery, a bar, a recording studio, and a staircase. Her works are described as “imaginative” and “enigmatic” which offers “challenging theatrical experience” (Honolulu Star Bulletin). With spare elegance and bold imagination her work “defies categorization” (Baltimore Sun) and “takes us on journeys into new worlds” (Washington Times).

Maeshiba's solo and ensemble pieces have been experienced in the North America, Europe, and Japan. Most recently, she presented Paraffin at Baltimore Theatre Project. In 2007, she collaborated with a Polish electro-acoustic duo, Wlodzimierz Kiniorski and Dariusz Makaruk in Absence (International New Media Festival: Moving Closer, Warsaw, Poland, 2007). From 2005 to 2006, she created and toured Remains of Shadow to three festivals in the U.S. Her work Trace (The Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage, DC, 2004) was commissioned by The Kennedy Center Local Dance Commissioning Project and received Metro DC Dance Award for Excellence in Sound Design. She has received the Individual Artist Award in solo performance and choreography from Maryland State Arts Council and Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts, and the Individual Artist Fellowship Grant in theatre direction from DC Commissions on the Arts and Humanities & NEA.

She has taught workshops/classes at Joy of Motion (DC), Ko Festival of Performance at Amherst (MA), Shakespeare Theatre's Southeast Project (DC), Leneon Theatre Company (DC), Honolulu Theatre for Youth (DC), and Theatre of Yugen (San Francisco, CA). In March 2005 she held an artist residency to teach and work with the actors at National film, TV, and theatre school in Lodz, Poland. She choreographed them in Figure/Ground, a multi-media performance for the 5th Dialog of Four Cultures Festival in Lodz, Poland.

She is a certified Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement instructor.

Robyn Quick back to top ↑

Robyn Quick is an associate professor and the coordinator of the theatre studies program in the Theatre Arts Department at Towson University. She holds a Ph.D. in theatre studies from the University of Michigan, a master's degree in theatre from Kent State University and a bachelor's degree in theatre and English from Western Maryland College. She has academic training in dramaturgy and theatre history as well as performance experience in directing and acting. She studied performance and rehearsal techniques of the experimental ensemble theatres of the 1960s for her master's thesis, which analyzes the acting exercises of the Open Theatre. Her doctoral dissertation examines the performances of Shakespeare's female characters in the nineteenth century, applying contemporary theories of feminism and semiotics to the work of Fanny Kemble.

Robyn Quick has published in Theatre Studies, American Theatre, and Technological Horizons in Education. She has presented papers at national conferences on the topics of social issues theatre, dramaturgy in higher education, online dramaturgy and women in theatre. Robyn Quick was the first Managing Director of Catalyst Theatre, during which time the company was awarded the Distinguished Program Award for Student Services by the Maryland Association for Higher Education. She has also performed, managed or directed in conjunction with several other companies across the country, including: The Hippolytus Project, Action Theatre, Theatre Kent, The Improv Troupe and the Ann Arbor Repertory Theatre.

Nancy Romita back to top ↑

Nancy Romita, artistic director of The Moving Company, has three times received an Individual Artists Award for Excellence in Choreography from The Maryland State Arts, and grants from the Mayor's Committee of Art and Culture from 1994-2002. Nancy Wanichi-Romita's work has been performed in New York City at Dance Theater Workshop, Theater of the Riverside Church, and the 92nd Street YMWHA. She has worked as movement designer for directors Tim Brown and Kate Chislolm and Scott Susong. Her dance/theater work has also been performed at the Dance Place in Washington D.C., Dance Theater Workshop in NYC, Connecticut College, and State University of New York at Purchase, Theater Project and throughout the Northeast.

David White back to top ↑

David White has a B.A. from New College, Sarasota, Florida; an M.A. from the University of Missouri—Kansas City; and a Ph.D. from the University of Missouri—Columbia.  His dissertation, Developing Playwright(s), provides perspectives into the process of new play development and self-dramaturgy.  David worked as an instructor at the University of Missouri—Columbia in the fields of playwriting and acting and has taught solo performance at the National Theater Institute.  He has responded to plays, presented papers, and lectured at universities and regional conferences around the country on the topics of playwriting, playwriting as oral tradition, new play development and dramaturgy.  In 2004, White was appointed to the position of Literary Manager and Director of Educational Outreach at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut and worked there for three seasons developing new works by student playwrights as well as internationally known playwrights at the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, Music Theater Conference and Cabaret Conference.  He also worked as dramaturg on Freedom of Speech a one-woman show by Eliza Jane Schneider (from television’s South Park) and directed her latest show Sounds of Silence for the 2006 Ignite Festival in New York City.  He is currently the Artistic Director of the WordBRIDGE Playwrights Lab, which is in residence at Clemson University in South Carolina.

As a playwright, David White’s play Trash has been produced at the University of Missouri—Columbia (2002), The York Theater, New York City (2002) and the New York International Fringe Festival (2005).  David’s play Ain’t Nothin’ Quick ‘n Easy received second place in the Mark Twain Comic Playwriting Awards at the Kennedy Center/American College Theater Festival in Washington, D.C. (2004) and has been produced at theatres around the country. His play Watersheds had a reading hosted by Epic Repertory Theatre in New York City (2005).