I currently serve as Dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts (since May 2015), Executive Director of the Hylton Performing Arts Center, and Professor of Theater at George Mason University.

 

I joined Mason in 1991 as Artistic Director of Theater of the First Amendment (TFA) and a member of the theater faculty.  TFA was a long-running experiment in the fusion of a professional theater with an undergraduate theater program situated in an innovative arts environment within a young, rapidly growing state university. Between 1990 and 2012, TFA (an Actor’s Equity company) produced dozens of world premiere productions, many of which have gone on to further production, publication, and broadcast. The company was nominated for 38 Helen Hayes Awards, winning twelve.  

 

Prior to coming to George Mason, I worked for six seasons (1986-91) at Baltimore’s major regional theater, Center Stage, serving as Resident Dramaturg and Associate Artistic Director.  I co-founded the American Ibsen Theater in Pittsburgh (1983-85).  From 1983-88 I taught drama at Washington College in Maryland. 

​

At Mason I served as Interim Director of the Institute of the Arts in 2000-01, leading the preparation for the founding of the College of Visual and Performing Arts. From 2001-2007 I was Associate Dean of the new College and Artistic Director of the Center for the Arts, Mason’s 2,000-seat home for opera, symphony, dance, and world music, presenting a diverse 45-50 event season, “Great Performances at Mason,” and serving as a venue for local and regional arts groups.  

In 2007 I was named Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education, working on issues such as general and liberal education and international initiatives.  Along with the Office of Institutional Assessment, I was proud to help Mason achieve the Association of General and Liberal Studies “Exemplary Program Award” for 2011.

 

As Executive Director of Mason’s 1,200-seat Hylton Performing Arts Center since August, 2011, I oversee a new, state of the art venue with multiple performance and exhibition spaces on the university’s Prince William Campus.  The Hylton Center presents national and international touring artists and is home to many resident arts organizations, civic events, business functions, and educational activities.

 

An active member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (the union of professionals in those fields), I've been fortunate to direct a broad range of theater and opera productions across the country. For a selected list, click here.

 

I have enjoyed consulting on facility programming and design, mission, and operations, most recently with the City of Sandy Springs, GA as they develop a major new downtown civic and performing arts center.

 

As an author, my works include Calderón de la Barca: Four Great Plays of the Golden Age; a set of co-translations of Ibsen with Brian Johnston (Ibsen: Four Major Plays, vol. I), which have been performed at leading regional theaters across the country and anthologized; Ibsen in an Hour (with Brian Johnston), and Writing About Theatre (with Christopher Thaiss). One of my Calderón texts, The Phantom Lady, won the Franklin Smith Award for Comedia Translation from the Association for Hispanic Classical Theatre. 

 

With composer Kim D. Sherman I created an oratorio, The Songbird and the Eagle, premiered (and revived) by the San Jose Chamber Orchestra, and an opera, Love’s Comedy.  Along with composer Kevin Salfen, I was commissioned to create a song cycle, Stations of Mychal, on the life and ministry of Fr. Mychal Judge, the "Saint of 9/11," for tenor Rick Novak, violist Ames Asbell, and pianist Joey Martin.  The work was premiered in New York City on September 10 and 11, 2021, in Fr. Judge's church across from one of the FDNY stations that he served as Chaplain. It has had several performances in various cities and is scheduled to be performed in Japan and Thailand in 2023. 

 

I've also written for publications such as American Theatre, Theater, The Journal of Social History, Global Studies Review; wrote the overview article on drama for The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World; and contributed several entries to The Columbia Encyclopedia of Modern Drama.

 

I'm happy to note with gratitude that my colleagues have awarded me a George Mason Teaching Excellence Award (1997) and named me Alumni Association Distinguished Faculty Member of the Year (2006). I studied at Lawrence University (BA, ’80, Phi Beta Kappa) and the Yale School of Drama (MFA ’83, DFA ‘03).