People

Director, Helmerich School of Drama
Professor - Costume Design
yuanting.zhao-1@ou.edu

Native of Jinan, China. Before coming to the United States, Yuanting received a BFA in Acting from Shandong College of Art. Upon graduation, she started teaching acting and makeup at the same institution. In addition to teaching, she was frequently invited by Shandong Provincial and Jinan City TV stations to host various TV shows. She also acted in several motion pictures and TV films.

In 1991 Yuanting came to the US to pursue a better education. The following year, she entered the MFA program to study costume design at the University of Arizona. As soon as she graduated, she was hired by Nazareth College (now Nazareth University) in Rochester, New York, as an Assistant Professor and a Costume Designer in the Theatre Arts department. She worked her way to an Associate and a Full Professor. In 2013, Yuanting took on the department chair rule. During the ten years as the chair, she has built new majors and significantly grown the existing programs. Nazareth University Theatre and Dance Department started to gain notoriety. She also facilitated the partnership with Finger Lake Musical Theatre Festival (formerly known as Merry Go Round Playhouse, now the REV Theatre Company), and doubled the enrollment. Many NYC-based practicing artists and agents came on campus to direct and design productions and conduct master classes and workshops. Students had the opportunity to work with practicing theatre professionals and established connections.

As a costume designer, Yuanting has designed more than 90 productions, ranging from drama, and musicals, to dance concerts. She also supervised student designers for about 20 productions. She also designed costumes for Rochester City Ballet’s original production of Blood Countess, and Nine Parts of Desire for Geva Theatre Center. After 27 years at Nazareth University, Yuanting is thrilled to join the School of Drama at OU and become a Sooner!

Associate Professor - Voice & Diction
Graduate Liaison 
dj@ou.edu

Joe Alberti (PhD, UT Dallas) attended the Yale School of Drama and wrote his dissertation as well as numerous books and peer-reviewed articles on the acting methodology of Earle R. Gister, former Associate Dean of YSD.  He is a Designated Linklater Voice teacher, a certified Colaianni Speech and Dialect teacher, a certified Alexander Technique (AmSAT) teacher, and is currently completing certification in Jessica Wolf’s Art of Breathing.  He is the Editor of the AmSAT (Alexander Technique) Journal and has written many articles about the Alexander Technique. He is co-author of the interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed article, “The Other Side of Performance: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Listening for Voice and Speech Trainers,” published in the international Routledge Journal, the Voice and Speech Review.  

Dr. Alberti has worked extensively at Shakespeare & Company, served as text coach at the Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival, and has been voice, speech, dialect, and text coach on many theatre productions and film projects.  He just completed co-authorship and world-premiere production of The Trial, a modern play based on the Kafka novel set in the context of surveillance capitalism.

He is currently co-writing several new plays, including a play adaptation of Kafka’s Metamorphosis, The Transformation, and a two-character play about the life of John and Abigail Adams, My Dearest Friend. He has directed several plays at OU, including Men on Boats.

Lecturer - Acting for Non-Majors
Elizabeth.Ballard-1@ou.edu

Dr. Ballard (she, her, hers) brings over 40 years of teaching, directing, and acting experience to her assignment of Acting for Non-Majors. She has acted for several Norman and OKC theatres. Favorite roles include Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolfe?, Mary Tyrone in Long Day’s Journey into Night, Lennie in Crimes of the Heart, and Sister Mary in “Sister Mary Ignatius Explains it All for You.” Favorite stage directing gigs include two regional premieres (Largo Desolato and the mammoth Kentucky Cycle). She was a founding member of the late great Stone Soup Theatre, and has also directed for Two Weird Sisters.  Her teaching awards include Teacher of the Year for Norman Public Schools, Medal of Excellence in Secondary Education from the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence, and Hall of Fame member for the National Speech and Debate Association.  

Dr. Ballard is looking forward to all the discoveries her students will make during their journey into Acting for Non-Majors.

Associate Professor - Acting 
alissab@ou.edu
alissabranch.com

Alissa Branch serves as tenured Associate Professor of Drama in the Helmerich School of Drama, teaching acting at all undergraduate levels. Areas of special interest include: Shakespeare / heightened text, physical and emotional wellness for the actor, and diverse / equitable casting.

Directing credits: Phoenix Theatre: The Circumference of a Squirrel. Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park: The Taming of the Shrew. Butler University: The Dreaming of The Bones(with subsequent tour of Southern Ireland). OU University Theatre: Twelfth Night, Arcadia; Summer and Smoke; Clybourne Park; Miss Evers’ Boys (KCACTF Region 6 Director’s Choice Award 2014, and 2014 Standard Bank Silver Ovation Award, National Arts Festival, Grahamstown, South Africa); Mary Stuart; Anna in the Tropics; As It Is In Heaven; Julius Caesar; 9 Parts of Desire (KCACTF Region 6 Director’s Choice Award 2011.) Alissa also directed the regional premiere of the new play, Shakespeare’s Other Women by Scott Kaiser. That production received Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival Region 6 awards for Outstanding Work with Heightened Text, and Excellence in Ensemble Acting and was selected to perform at the Region 6 festival, 2018.  

Favorite regional acting credits include: Titania / Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Emily in Bluff; Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing; Lady Percy in Henry IV, Part I; Hermione in The Winter’s Tale; and Blanche Dubois in A Streetcar Named Desire. Alissa can be seen in Terrence Malick’s film “To the Wonder”, and her voice has been heard on hundreds of regional and national television and radio commercials. 

Alissa is on the Fulbright Specialist roster (2019-2022).

Assistant Professor - Lighting Design
Design & Production Area Coordinator
Lab Theatre Coordinator
Sustainability Coordinator
rbrode@ou.edu
reneebrode.com

Renée (she/her/hers) is a lighting designer for theater, musicals, opera, and dance who has worked in theaters across the US, Canada and internationally. Recently, she designed the lighting for the production of The Fantasticks at Stages Repertory Theater in Houston that opened their new theater space. Also in Houston, she was lighting designer for the HGO world premiere of Prince of Players which was remounted at Florentine Opera. In NYC, Renée designed the Broadway lab of Beetlejuice and was Associate Lighting Designer for Farinelli and the King at the Belasco Theatre.  

In Canada, Renée has designed at theatres across the country including The Grand Theatre, Globe Theatre, Watermark Theatre, Charlottetown Festival, Stratford Festival, and Canadian Opera Company.  

She was an Associate for various US and Canadian national tours including Rent, Cats, and a production of Swing! that toured to Japan.  

She was awarded the 2014 Houston Press Theatre Award for Best Lighting Design for The Whipping Man, directed by Seth Gordon. Renée has a BFA and MFA from York University and is a member of Associated Designers of Canada/IATSE ADC659. 

Assistant Professor - Movement, Intimacy & Violence
kbusselle@ou.edu
katebusselle.com
heartlandintimacydesign.com

Dr. Kate Busselle (she/her/hers) is the founder of Heartland Intimacy Design & Training, an intimacy training company which offers academic, accessible, and affordable intimacy training entirely online. She has taught several workshops on staging intimacy, as well as designing intimacy for several productions. She is also one of the original co-founders of Theatrical Intimacy Education. She has written extensively on the topic of theatrical intimacy and de-roling and debriefing practices; her publications can be found in journals such as Theatre Topics, The Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, Theatre/Practice, and Howlround Theatre Commons.  

Kate is Assistant Professor of Movement, Intimacy, and Violence at the University of Oklahoma, where she teaches foundational and advanced movement courses, stage combat, and theatrical intimacy best practices for performers and stage managers. She also serves as the resident violence and intimacy designer for all School of Drama productions, and provides mentorship opportunities to emerging intimacy professionals within the program. Kate is an Advanced Actor Combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors (SAFD) with certifications in unarmed combat, rapier & dagger, quarterstaff, single sword, broadsword, broadsword and shield, knife, smallsword, and theatrical firearms safety.

In addition to her violence and intimacy work, Kate is a Level 1 Margolis Method Certified Educator and is currently working towards her Level 2 Certification. Margolis Method, along with Viewpoints and Laban Effort Shapes, serve as the foundation of her movement-based acting classes. 

Kate's national theatre involvement includes serving as the Vice-President for the Women and Theatre Program, which aims to foster both research and production of feminist, anti-racist, and queer theatre activities and praxis. She is also a member of the Association of Movement Theatre Educators (ATME), which also falls under the umbrella of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE).

Kate completed her Ph.D. in Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Missouri in 2019, making her the first intimacy professional with a doctorate. Kate is also a director, primarily directing all femme productions that challenge or subvert gender performance and violence, play reading festivals, and regional semi-professional theatre. 

Assistant Professor - Performance
tchavira@ou.edu

Thomas Chavira is an actor/educator/producer from Fort Worth, Texas. He holds a BFA from Abilene Christian University, an MFA in Acting the University of Southern California (Fight On!), and an MFA in Performance Pedagogy from Loyola Marymount University. He has performed in theatres all across Southern California and his Film/TV credits include SHAMELESS and the feature film BENEATH US.

As a producer, his work has nominations and wins from the L.A. Stage Alliance (Ovation awards for Best Production of an Intimate Theatre - 33 Variations and Violet). Other production credits include Dancing at Lughnasa, The Man Who Came to Dinner, The Voysey Inheritance, Spinning Into Butter, and The Sweetest Swing in Baseball.

As an educator, Thomas is interested in the expanding the work of French theatre practitioner Jacques Lecoq along with highlighting and examining Hispanic and Latino authors. Thomas is a member of SAG-AFTRA, Actors Equity, and the National Alliance of Acting Teachers.

Stitcher
Design and Production
stephanie.a.cirar-1@ou.edu

Stephanie Cirar (she/her/hers) has been with the Costume Studio since 2016. She received her Bachelor’s of Arts and Science in fashion merchandising and her Masters of Fine Arts in technical theater, emphasis costume design, from the University of Oklahoma.

In her spare time she loves movies, books, and science fiction/ fantasy conventions. 

Associate Professor - Costume Design
2020 Rothbaum Presidential Professor of Excellence in the Arts
lloydcracknell@ou.edu

Lloyd Cracknell is originally from Cambridge, England. He is an Associate Professor of Costume Design and the resident Costume Designer at the University of Oklahoma. Lloyd’s career includes both costume and fashion design, and working for prestigious design houses including The Emanuels and Versace. Lloyd’s designs have been seen in London, New York, Paris, Milan, and South America. Lloyd was invited to exhibit his costume designs at the World Creativity Forum in Cardiff, Wales in 2010.

Lloyd has designed costumes in all genres of the performing arts which include Drama, Opera, Classical Ballet, Modern Dance and Musical Theatre. He has designed for over a hundred productions, including over forty for OU’s University Theatre. Highlights include: Grand Hotel, The Musical; Swan Lake Act II; Harlequinade; The Nutcracker; Falstaff; Gianni Schicchi; Is he Dead?; Mary Stuart, and the USA premiere of Let the Right One In.

Regional design credits: Regional premiere of Heisenberg, Regional premiere of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Biloxi Blues, The Music man (OKC City Rep), Romeo and Juliet (Oklahoma Shakespeare), Leonardo and his Flying Machine, Hedda Gabler (St Gregory’s University), Guys and Dolls (Texas Christian University), Love’s Labour’s Lost, Measure for Measure, Twelfth Night, A Comedy of Error’s, A Winter’s Tale (Trinity Shakespeare festival), Sands (Puterbaugh Festival), World Creativity Forum (Hartel Dance Group). World premieres: Haydn’s The Seasons at Haydntage, Austria. Film and Television: P.B.S special Early Music Program, and film Distance Vision, Director: Francis Ford Coppola.

In 2020, Lloyd was awarded the USITT-SW Mildred and Glen Martin Jr award for outstanding service. Other awards and nominations include: DFW Theatre critics forum award - best design team for a season (2015 & 2017), Theatre Jones Best - costume design runner up (2015), Kennedy Center American College Theater award (2010), Region VI National Partners in American Theatre KCACTF award (2010).

Costume Studio Director
c.draper@ou.edu

Christina (she/hers) received her BFA with an emphasis in Costume Technology from The University of Oklahoma in 2013. She has worked as a freelance costume technician for both film and theatre in the OKC metro and spent the past few years as the Costume Shop and Rentals Coordinator for Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma.

Her hobbies include spending time with her dog, Jake, and reading sci-fi and fantasy fiction.

Professor Emeritus - Theatre History
david.h.fennema-1@ou.edu

PhD Indiana University, Bloomington
MA University of Wisconsin, Madison
BA University of Wisconsin, Madison

Instructor - Acting for the Camera
chrisfreihofer@ou.edu
FreihoferCasting.com

Chris Freihofer  has worked in the film industry for over 25 years as primarily an actor and casting director. He was  recently named to the 2022 Oklahoma Film Industry Power List by The Journal Record.  In 2021 he received the Casting Society of America’s Artios Award for Location Casting for his work on the Oscar-winning film MINARI.  He was given the Oklahoma Film Icon Award in 2016.  

Chris has appeared on television in such series as BREAKING DAD, FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, LONGMIRE and, among others, three films written and directed by Tim Blake Nelson. Recent work includes a role in the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival film LAND OF GOLD and he will appear in two episodes of the upcoming HBO series LOVE AND DEATH, where he worked with Oscar nominee Jesse Plemons and Elizabeth Olsen.

As the owner of Freihofer Casting since 2004, he has cast over 150 film and television projects, including projects for Oscar winners Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorcese, Terrence Malick, Cameron Crowe, Tom McCarthy and Andrea Arnold, and first-time filmmakers Paul Dano and William H. Macy. He has cast for major studios like Paramount, Apple, Warner Brothers, Netflix and Amazon, as well as production companies like A24 and Plan B. He has also cast well over 1,000 commercials for such products as Nike, Gatorade, AT&T, American Airlines, Walmart, McDonald’s and, among others, including a national commercial for Kia during the 2020 Super Bowl broadcast. 

Recent location casting credits include both seasons of the Peabody Award-winning Hulu series RESERVATION DOGS and the upcoming Paramount+ series TULSA KING, starring Sylvester Stallone.

Chris has been an active member of SAG-AFTRA since 1999, and is Oklahoma’s only member of the Casting Society of America.  In 2009 he opened The Actor Factory, a training facility for on-camera acting, located on the west side of Norman.

Properties Director
Design and Production
mglaser@ou.edu

Margot (she/they) received a BFA: Design Emphasis from Texas Christian University in 2013 and an MFA in Scenic Design from University of Oregon in 2016. Previously she worked with Oregon Contemporary Theatre in Eugene, OR as a Properties Master and served as the Resident Properties Designer at The Phoenix Theatre Company in Phoenix, AZ.  

Her ultimate goal as an instructor and mentor is to provide students with tools to analyze and think critically in an environment where they feel they can safely take risks to expand upon their believed limitations. She also hopes to provide them with a broader awareness of just how much awe and knowledge there is for them to explore in life. She believes theatre is built on rich traditions and influences that are important to know, but that openness and willingness to investigate new technology and ideas are equally important.

Professor - Directing & Theatre Management
sethg@ou.edu

Seth Gordon received his BFA and MFA from Carnegie Mellon University. He joins the full- time faculty of the Helmerich School of Drama following a three-year stint as the School's Director. He recently led a nationwide search to identify the new Artistic Director of Oklahoma City Rep. Previously, he served as Associate Artistic Director at the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis and the Cleveland Play House, and Associate Producer at Primary Stages in New York. In St. Louis, he created Ignite!, a new play festival; at the Cleveland Play House, he created FusionFest, a multi-disciplinary arts festival that had a new play festival in it; and at Primary Stages, he created the New American Writers Group. He has directed plays at these three theatres, at Stages Repertory in Houston, TheatreSquared in Fayetteville, AK, Shakespeare and Company in Massachusetts, Syracuse Stage, the Cleveland Shakespeare Festival, the St. Lou Fringe Festival, Studio Arena Theatre in Buffalo, American Stage in Florida, and in New York, at Ensemble Studio Theatre, Theatre of the New City, and countless other places. He directed the Arabic premiere of Our Town in Cairo. He received the 2004 and 2006 Northern Ohio Live award, the 2014 Houston Theatre Award, and numerous nominations by the Houston Theatre Awards and the St. Louis Theatre Critics Circle Awards for his direction. His book, “Crossroads in the American Theatre: New Leaders in a New Age,” will be published by Smith and Kraus in 2025. He considers himself a lucky man. 

Charge Scenic Artist
Design and Production
sydney.l.hagen-1@ou.edu
sydneyhagen.com

Sydney Hagen is a scenic designer and scenic artist from Colleyville, Texas. She holds a BFA in Theatrical Design and Production with an emphasis in Scenic Design from Oklahoma City University and an MFA in Design, Art, and Production- Theatre Scenic Design from Purdue University. She has worked as a scenic artist at Music Theatre Wichita, Illinois Shakespeare Festival, and Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre.

Selected scenic design credits include Primas Guide to Funerals (Creede Repertory Theatre), Bright Star (Purdue University), Nora: A Doll’s House (Purdue University),  Arcadia (Oklahoma City University), and The Wolves (Oklahoma City University). 

Sydney has been drawing and painting her whole life and discovered a passion for the theatre when she saw her first Broadway tour in 2010. She can often be found watching Saturday Night Live and playing with her cat, Gizmo.

Technical Director
Design and Production
akari.harada-1@ou.edu

Akari (she/her) is originally from Japan and received her BFA in Technical Direction from Webster University and her MFA in Theatre Arts, emphasis Technical Direction, from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.  Prior to joining the University of Oklahoma, she served as Assistant Technical Director for The Paramount Theatre in Aurora, IL.

Assistant Professor - Costume Technology
akeator@ou.edu

Ananda Keator (She/Her) has spent more than half of her life as a Theatrical Costume Professional, with her work being seen on stages from Miami, Fl to New York City, NY as well as in Colorado, Idaho and Wisconsin. She received her BS in Apparel Design and Technology from Florida State University and her MFA in Costume Technology from UT Austin.

When not patternmaking or sewing, she can be found trying to get her cats to play with her and reading.

Lead Stitcher
Design and Production
amy.j.kercher-1@ou.edu

Amy (she/her/hers) has been with the School of Drama since the fall of 1996. She holds a BFA in Studio Art from the University of Oklahoma and is a long-term resident of Norman, Oklahoma. Amy teaches costume construction in addition to her duties as the lead stitcher in the Costume Studio. 

Outside of work Amy is active in community festivals, such as the Norman Mardi Gras Parade and the Medieval Fair.

Professor Emerita - Theatre History & Dramaturgy
2015 Rothbaum Presidential Professor of Excellence in the Arts
akoger@ou.edu

Kae Koger (she/her/hers) joined the faculty of the School of Drama in 1991 where she founded the B.F.A. program in Dramaturgy. She holds an M.A. and a Ph.D. in theatre from the University of Michigan and a B.S. in Drama from the University of Evansville. At OU, she served as Honors Coordinator, Graduate Liaison, and Curriculum Coordinator.

Dr. Koger was honored with the Provost’s Outstanding Advising Award in 2012 and by her peers in the Weitzenhoffer College of Fine Arts with Faculty Recognition awards in 1997 and 2010. As a dramaturg, she collaborated on more than twenty School of Drama productions, including five world premieres. She also produced the annual Student Playwriting Festival for five years. Her professional credits include Oklahoma Shakespeare, Oklahoma City Theatre Company and Actors Theatre of Louisville. A scholar of nineteenth and twentieth century theatre history, she has published articles in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Theatre Topics, College Teaching, and The Journal of American and Drama and Theatre. She is a member of the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas.

Lecturer - Voice & Diction
kathryn@okshakes.org
okshakes.org

Kathryn McGill is the Executive and Artistic Director for Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park.  Kathryn has both a Bachelor of Fine Arts in acting and directing from the University of Oklahoma and a Master of Fine Arts in acting from New York University.

Kathryn co-founded Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park (OSP) with the late Jack O'Meara in 1985. She has directed over 50 productions for OSP including Twelfth Night, The Merchant of Venice, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Richard III, Macbeth, As You Like It, Cyrano de Bergerac and Much Ado About Nothing.  She has also directed The Rivals for Oklahoma City University, Spitfire Grill for the University of Central Oklahoma and co-founded the Detroit Women's Shakespeare Project and played the title role in their production of Henry V.  

Kathryn is a recipient of a Governor’s Arts award from the State of Oklahoma, the Harry A. Perry II Award for Non-Profit Leadership from the Executive Service Corps of Central Oklahoma and the Michi Susan Award for contributions in the arts from the Paseo Arts Association. She currently teaches at Oklahoma City University in the Master of Arts in Nonprofit Leadership Program.

Costumer
Design & Production
chloe.mullin@ou.edu

Chloe Mullin has a bachelor in the arts with an emphasis in theater. She has worked as a freelance costume designer and technician for theaters in Oklahoma, New York, Chicago among other locations. Her recent credits include. “Lizzie Borden” and “Lucia” with Painted Sky Opera. 

Her hobbies include watching any Real Housewives in the franchise and laying down. 

Director of Recruitment
Lecturer - Acting
mniederhauser@ou.edu

Madison Niederhauser (he/him/his) received his BFA in Acting at the University of Oklahoma School of Drama. After graduation, he completed an acting apprenticeship with the Actors Theatre of Louisville’s Professional Training Company. In addition to stage acting, he is an experienced voiceover artist and audiobook narrator. He received an Honorary Mention from the San Francisco ReOrient Festival for his one-act play In the In-Between.

Madison has a vested interest in Improv, New American Plays and Shakespeare. Favorite regional acting credits include Longaville in Chicago Shakespeare Theatre’s Love’s Labour’s Lost, and Prentiss in Actors Theatre of Louisville’s Peter and the Starcatcher. Along with fellow OU alumni, he formed The Commission Theatre in Chicago, which provided early-career artists with performance and design opportunities as well as writing and acting workshops.

When not on campus or in a recording booth, he is testing new recipes in the kitchen, playing board games with his wife, or relaxing with his two cats.

Professor Emerita - Acting & Directing
2007 Rothbaum Presidential Professor of Excellence in the Arts
jmpender@ou.edu

Judith Midyett Pender (she/her/hers), Professor and Performance Area Coordinator, teaches Acting and Directing and directs a play each season.  She earned a PhD in Theatre History, Theory, and Criticism and an MFA in Acting and Directing from the University of Georgia, and a BFA in Theatre and Interpretation from Missouri State University.  

While living and working in New York she studied Meisner Technique with Joanne Baron of the Neighborhood Playhouse.  She is a member of Actors’ Equity Association, Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, and Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.  She maintains a professional profile as actor and director and is professionally represented by Magna Talent Agency.  Her book, Acting: What to Do, published by Kendall Hunt in 2011, has been adopted by colleges and universities across the country.  

Operations Manager
jessica.c.perez-1@ou.edu

Jessica (she/her/hers) is an alumna of the Price College of Business at OU and has been with the School of Drama since 2015. She received the Weitzenhoffer Family College of Fine Arts Outstanding Staff Award in 2020, won the School of Drama Chili Cookoff in 2022, and was awarded the Honorary White Buffalo Mask in 2016 for her service to the School of Drama. She is also a proud recipient of the Ida Z. Kirk Acting Award in 2023. 

Jessica lives in Moore with her family and enjoys playing pickleball, reading, and playing fetch with her dogs, Luna and Vader.

Professor - Stage Management
Theatre Minor Adviser
Curriculum Coordinator
2019 Rothbaum Presidential Professor of Excellence in the Arts
csadler@ou.edu
www.facebook.com/oustagemanagement

Professor Chris Sadler (he/him/his) has led the stage management emphasis in the Helmerich School of Drama since his arrival at OU in 2005. He teaches multiple courses in stage management and dramatic literature and is the adviser for the School's Theatre Minor. Professor Sadler holds an MFA in stage management from the University of California San Diego and a BFA from Ithaca College.

A proud member of Actors' Equity Association since 1999, Chris has a successful freelancing career having been part of stage management teams for over 100 productions at theatres nationwide, including Capital Repertory Theatre, Great River Shakespeare Festival, 7 Devils Playwrights Conference, the National Playwrights Conference, PCPA Theaterfest, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, La Jolla Playhouse, Theatre Rhinoceros, California Rep, Portland Stage Company, Great Lakes Theater, Berkshire Theatre Festival, the Hangar Theatre, and for seven seasons, was Production Stage Manager at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival.

Additionally, Chris participates with the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival as a stage management respondent at regional festivals (since 2013) and was National Stage Management Coordinator from 2014-18. He also has participated in the USITT Stage Management Mentorship Project.

Professor Sadler is co-editor and contributor to Off Headset: Essays on Stage Management Life, Work, and Career, published by Routledge Press in January 2022.

Associate Professor - Scenic & Digital Media Design
uldarico@ou.edu
www.uldaricodesign.com

Uldarico (he, him, él) is originally from Lima, Peru and received his BFA in Scenic Design from the University of Oklahoma and his MFA in Theatrical Design and Technology from the University of Missouri - Kansas City. Uldarico teaches courses in Media, Computer Aided Design, and Projections and is the School's International Exchange Coordinator.

Selected theatre credits include: scenic design Guadalupe in the Guest Room (Creede Repertory Theatre), Singin’ in the Rain, Rock of Ages (Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma); Journey’s End (Kansas City Actors Theatre); Number the Stars (Coterie Theatre); digital media design Mary Poppins, Billy Elliot the Musical (Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma); Don Pasquale (University Theatre). Film credits include set designer for Nick Cassavetes’ Yellow; set designer for the film adaptation of August: Osage County; and set design and graphics for Gotti, starring John Travolta.

Uldarico's illustrations can be seen in the bilingual children's book Kutu the Tiny Inca Princess / La Ñusta Diminuta and the Spanish poetry book Poesia Alada: Poesia y arte para volar by Peruvian author Mariana Llanos.

Associate Professor - Sound Design
rlsprecker@ou.edu
www.richardsprecker.com

Richard has been a proud member of the School of Drama faculty since 2013.  Richard received his BA in Theatre Design and Technology (Magna Cum Laude) from Greensboro College in Greensboro, North Carolina.  He received an MFA in Lighting and Sound Design from the University of Missouri – Kansas City.  Richard created the Sound Design Emphasis for the School of Drama, and he teaches multiple courses in Lighting Design and Sound Design, as well as 3D Computer Aided Design and Voice Acting.  Richard serves as the IT coordinator for the department.  Richard is a member of USITT and the Theatrical Sound Designers and Composers Association.

Richard’s lighting and sound students have won numerous awards at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Regional Events, and at the Winter Symposium ran by the Southwest chapter of USITT.  Several of his lighting students have presented their work at the prestigious Hemsley Portfolio Review in New York City.

Professionally, Richard has designed lighting, sound and projections for numerous productions.  Richard has been the Resident Sound Designer and Composer for the Weathervane Playhouse, Heritage Theatre Festival and Texas Shakespeare Festival.  Richard is the lighting designer for The Summit, a touring joint concert featuring Take 6 and The Manhattan Transfer.  

Past credits include:

Lighting Design: A Very Joan Crawford Christmas (Unicorn Theatre), Oh What a Lovely War! (Kansas City Actors Theatre/UMKC Co-Production), The Summit: Manhattan Transfer meets Take 6 (Touring Production, 2015-Present)

Sound Design: Into The Woods, Born Yesterday (Texas Shakespeare Festival), I Hate Hamlet, Peter and the Star Catcher, A Comedy of Tenors, Jekyll and Hyde (Weathervane Playhouse), Tuna Does Vegas, Shear Madness, Sunday in the Park with George, A Light in the Piazza, Avenue Q (Heritage Theatre Festival), Time Stands Still (Unicorn Theatre), Freedom Sisters (Coterie Theatre)

Music Composition: As You Like It, Othello (Texas Shakespeare Festival), I Hate Hamlet, Baskerville(Weathervane Playhouse), Almost Maine, The 39 Steps (Heritage Theatre Festival)

Projections Design: Hungry, The Salvation of Iggy Scrooge, Distracted (Unicorn Theatre), Whipping Man (Kansas City Repertory Theatre), Merrily We Roll Along (Weathervane Playhouse)

Richard is recently married, and enjoys music and cooking.  Richard’s tech weekend munchies are very popular.

Electrics Studio Supervisor
Design and Production
estehl@ou.edu

Eric Stehl (he/him/his) is a Lighting technician and designer. Eric came to OU in 2007 and loves the family of Faculty, Staff, and Students here.  He got a BFA in Lighting from the University of Nebraska, and has worked in various educational and professional regional theaters in Michigan and Illinois. 

Eric is a certified Vari-Lite moving light repair technician.  He has designed lighting for several shows here at the Helmerich School of Drama, but his main focus is on teaching the backstage practicalities of the Lighting world, incorporating evolving technology into our art. In addition to being the School's Head Electrician, Eric also teaches Stage Lighting.

Assistant Professor - Dramaturgy
Performance Area Coordinator
Honors Coordinator
Nahuel.Telleria-1@ou.edu

Nahuel Telleria (he/him/él) is an Argentine–US theater scholar and practitioner who investigates contemporary and historical issues of dramatic structure, performance theory, politics, and affect in Latin America. His research has been published in TDR, Theatre/Practice, Voz e Cena, and Religación; he has worked as a dramaturg for OKC Rep, Yale Rep, TFANA, Rattlestick, and as a translator for the Wilma. At OU, he teaches courses in dramaturgy, playwriting, and Latinx theater.

Nahuel is a 2019 Fulbright research grant recipient; a member of the Contemporary Theater, Politics, and Society in Latin America Working Group at the Gino Germani Research Institute of the University of Buenos Aires, and an MFA/DFA graduate from Yale School of Drama.

Professor - Scenic Design
James Garner Chair
2016 Rothbaum Presidential Professor of Excellence in the Arts
jon.young-1@ou.edu
http://www.youngscenicstudio.com
www.facebook.com/DScenicStudio

Jon Young (he/him/his) is the James Garner Chair in Drama and a Full Professor of Scenic Design at the University of Oklahoma. He has been a proud member of United Scenic Artists, local USA 829 since 2008. Young is a 2020 inductee to the National Theatre Conference, recipient of the 2016 Rothbaum Presidential Professor of Excellence in the Arts from the University of Oklahoma, and 2015 recipient of the Gold Medallion from the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival.

Young has mentored student scenic designers on over 49 productions at the University of Oklahoma for Dance, Drama, Opera and Musical Theatre. His students have received over 80 regional and national awards in Scenic Art, Properties and Scenic Design from USITT, KCACTF and SETC.

Young has designed professionally for Houston Shakespeare Festival, The Shepard School of Music, A.D. Players, Stages Repertory Theatre, Creede Repertory Theatre, Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma, Black Hills Playhouse, Unicorn Theatre, Late Night Theatre, and Coterie Theatre. In the past 14 years Young has designed over 35 productions at the University of Oklahoma. His scenic design for Stupid F##king Bird at Stages Repertory Theatre was published in the Summer 2016 issue TD & T. Designs for Sunday in the Park with George and The Odyssey at the University of Oklahoma were published in the Summer 2012 issue TD & T. His scenic design for After Juliet was invited to be a part of the World Stage Design 2009 exhibit in Seoul Korea. 

Follow his work: @youngscenicstudio