Dr. Charles received his Ph.D. in theatre history, criticism and dramatic literature from Louisiana State University where he served as a board of regents and graduate school fellow. He also holds an MFA in theatre performance from Western Illinois University, a BA (Hons) in English and acting from Roosevelt University, and is a graduate of North America's oldest improvisational training center, Josephine Forsberg's Players Workshop of Second City. David has performed across North America with companies such as Wisdom Bridge, Shaw Chicago, the Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Birmingham Children's Theatre, Summer Music Theatre and the Beechwood Theatre Company, and his performance as Colonel Winslow in Evangeline the Musical in Concert has aired nationally on PBS. In addition to considerable experience in the scripted realm, David has performed extensively as an improvisational practitioner. As an improviser he has played with such companies as Dunedin Theatresports (in his birth nation, New Zealand), Chicago Comedysportz, Players Workshop, Astor's Beechwood, the School of Playback Theatre, Baton Rouge's The Improvisors, Orlando's SAK Comedy Lab and Walt Disney World's Comedy Warehouse. He has created, directed and improvised in numerous improvisational projects for his own improv companies and former universities, and for groups such as Chicago's Night Players, Lansing Community College and the Union Program Council of L.S.U., and regularly conducts improvisational workshops. David's original directorial works include: Insta-Musical: Just Add Water, Scared Scriptless, The Lost Comedies of William Shakespeare: An Improvisational Romp Through the Land of the Bard, Championship Improv, Making It Up As We Go Along, E Pluribus Unum, Thou Shalt Not: A Postmodern Melodrama, The Renga, FourPlay: The Improvised Musical, (Your) Opera in a Trunk, and most recently, Murder We Wrote: The Improvised Whodunit which debuted on the Annie Russell stage as Rollins College's first-ever mainstage long-form production. David acts as the artistic director of Rollins Improv Players, an on campus group committed to service through performance, and is a 2008-2009 Arthur Vining Davis Fellow.
Jennifer
Jones Cavenaugh, current Chair of the Theatre Department and Producing
Director of the Annie Russell Theatre, received her Ph.D. in Theater
History and Criticism from the University of Washington and her
MFA in Dramatugy from Brooklyn College. Her book Medea's Daughters:
Forming and Performing Women Who Kill (ital.) was published in 2003
by Ohio State University Press. She has published articles in theater
journals such as Modern Drama, New England Journal of Theater, Theater
Noteboook and American Drama (Ital. journal titles), and has chapters
in several anthologies including Passing Performances: Queer Readings
of Leading Players in American Theater History (ital) and Unsung
Contributors: Women in the American Musical Theater (ital). Her
research interests include: Gender and performance, British and
American 19th century theater, political theater and musical theater.
In addition to her scholarly work Dr. Cavenaugh is a member of Actor's
Equity and has performed and directed musical theater for over twenty
years. At Rollins she teaches theater history, dramatic literature
and script analysis. She is currently working on an article about
sexual harassment in Golden Age American musical theater and is
planning to write a book on the life and work of our own Annie Russell.
Lisa joined
Rollins' faculty in 1995 and has designed over 30 productions here.
Favorites included the sets for You Can't Take It With You,
Orpheus Descending and Noises Off!; the costumes
for The Lady from Maxim's, Charlie's Aunt and
The Triumph of Love; and the set and costumes for Cabaret,
Midsummer Night's Dream (Rollins Dance) and Sisters
Rosenswieg. Locally, Lisa was a scenic artist at Disney/MGM
Studios Scenic Shop for three years, designed and painted murals
for Hard Rock Cafe and the Orlando Science Center and has designed
for Florida Stage in Palm Beach. She also designed and facilitated
the wardrobe for the feature film Who Want to Marry My Husband?
(Isidis Films). Lisa received her BFA in Design/Tech from West Virginia
University in 1981, then was hired by Cedar Point Theme Park in
Sandusky, Ohio to set up their first in-house costume shop and designed
sets and costumes for their 14 show season. After five seasons,
Lisa returned to theatre at the University of Connecticut and received
her MFA in Design in 1989. Significant mentors there included Alicia
Finkel in costumes, Jerry Rojo, Leo Yoshimura and Gary English in
sets and Bob Moody in scene painting. While in the New England area,
Lisa taught on the faculty of Tufts University for six years and
designed many shows for Tufts' Balch Arena Theatre. Regionally,
Lisa's design credits include costumes for The National Theatre
of the Deaf's 1990 national tour, UCONN's Nutmeg Theatre, Boston's
Underground Railroad Theatre and The Blue Heron Theatre in NYC.
Set design credits include Merrimack Repertory Theatre, The Worchester
Foothills Theatre Company, The Barter Theatre in Virginia and Peter
DiMuro's Dance Company in Boston. Lisa also worked extensively as
a freelance scenic artist in the area.
"The theatre is a
school. We shall never have done with studying and learning. In
theatre, as in life, we try first of all to free ourselves, as far
as we can, from our own limitations."
-Robert Edmund Jones
Kevin has designed the lighting for dozens of performances at the Annie Russell Theatre including, Equus, The Importance Of Being Earnest, Mousetrap, Annie Get Your Gun, Henry V, Rumors, The Odd Couple, A Street Car named Desire, On the Verge, Steel Magnolias, Into the Woods, the Diary of Anne Frank, Rollins Dance, 1940's Radio Hour and Gross Indecencies: the Three Trials of Oscar Wilde. Other lighting design credits include Opus for the Orlando Shakespeare Theatre, The Emperor’s New Clothes,Blue’s Clues and Bunnicula for the Orlando Repertory Theatre, Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune for Mad Cow Theatre, The Crucible, After the Fall and Burn This for the Fred Stone Theatre, Peter Pan, Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol for the former Civic Theatres of Central Florida, A Cry of Players, Tamer of Horses, and Servant of Two Masters for the Pennsylvania State University and Children of Eden, You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown! and Bullshot Crummond for Pennsylvania Centre Stage. Kevin also served as Lighting Designer for the Allegheny Highlands Regional Theatre, The Pennsylvania Dance Theatre and as Lighting Designer / Consultant for the Historical Preservation Museum of Bellefonte, PA. From 1998 to 2001, Kevin served as the Assistant Head of Lighting and Head of Lighting for Cirque du Soleil's La Nouba! at Downtown Disney. He is a former member of the adjunct faculty at Valencia Community College where his design credits include Amadeus, The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and Dracula. Kevin received his B.F.A. from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University and his M.F.A. from the Pennsylvania State University in Lighting Design.
Thomas
Ouellette, former Chair of the Theatre and Dance Department and
Producing Director of the Annie Russell Theatre, has been a faculty
member since 1996. Thomas teaches courses in the acting
and directing sequence. At Rollins, he has directed Mainstage
productions of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,
Macbeth, Noises Off, A Delicate Balance,
The Foreigner, Dancing at Lughnasa, A Streetcar
Named Desire, and Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of
Oscar Wilde, among others. He inaugurated the Second Stage
series in 1998 and has produced student-directed productions including
Waiting for Godot, How I Learned to Drive, Closer,
Patient A, Keely and Du, The Triumph of
the Golds, The Laramie Project, Necessary Targets
and a dozen original works. Thomas is an active member of Actors
Equity Association (AEA), The Screen Actors Guild (SAG), and The
Association of Film, Television and Radio Actors (AFTRA). He directs
and performs locally and around the country. Recent credits include
The Folger Shakespeare Theatre and the Kennedy Center in Washington,
DC., The Orlando Shakespeare Festival and Mad Cow Theatre in Orlando,
The Charles Playhouse in Boston, and The Mason Street Theatre
in San Francisco. Recent national credits range from Othello to
the record-breaking and still running production of Shear
Madness and local productions include Lobby Hero and
Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune. Thomas studied
at Holy Cross College (B.A.), at the Catholic University of America
(M.F.A./Acting), and in New York City. He recently participated
in the Director’s Programme at The Royal National Theatre
in London.
Dr.
Charles A. Rodgers received his Master of Arts degree and Doctorate
from Ohio State University. Special honors and recognition
include recipient of the Arthur Vining Davis Fellowship Award, Rollins's
highest award to a teaching faculty member, and the Hugh F.
McKean Award. Dr. Rodgers was founder and Director of the
Lima, Ohio, branch of The Ohio State University Theatre Speech-Communication
Program in 1964; founder and first chairman of the Rollins College
Communication Department in 1975; and chairman of the Rollins College
Theatre Arts and Speech Communication Department from 1981-1982.
Eric is
an award winning Actor, Director and Writer. His work in film, television
and on stage has taken him across both the US and Canada, and to
England as well. His theatrical background includes: The Stratford
Shakespeare Festival of Canada, The American Conservatory Theater,
Tour de Force, The Fountain Theater, the Alliance Theater and the
Canadian company of Nicholas Nickleby. He has originated
numerous roles for such plays as Them That's Got, Raising
Caen and Declarations. Film and Television work includes:
JAG, The Alarmist, Babylon 5, Two
Voices, Sunset Beach and Mob Story. Eric
has been on staff and guest lectured for some of the most distinguished
actor training programs in North America including A.C.T., The University
of Washington, Southern Methodist University, C.A.S.T., The University
of Dallas, Case Western Reserve University, Duke University, and
the National Theater Conservatory, but he is not only considered
a master acting teacher. He is also a founding member of the Association
of Theater Movement Trainers and has served as a Senior Mentor for
the Voice and Speech Trainers Association. Before coming to Rollins,
Eric co-founded and ran the Gymnasia Theatrica, his own school,
in Los Angeles. It was here that he created his break through actor
training methodology; the Triune Brain Method. His students are
now working actors, literally, around the world.
