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Faculty and Staff
Full-time Faculty
J.
Kevin Doolen, Associate Professor, Department
Chair, and Director of Peformance
Andi
Lyons, Professor and Director of Design
and Technology
Janet
Sussman, Associate Professor
Eszter
Szalczer, Associate Professor
Adam
Zonder, Associate Professor
Mark
J. Dalton, Assistant Professor
James
Farrell, Assistant Professor and Director
of the Honors Program
Ken
Goldstein, Assistant Professor
Jacquelyn
Roberts, Assistant Professor
Affiliated Faculty
Judith
Barlow, Department of English
Joel
Berkowitz
, Judaic
Studies Department
Visiting Faculty
Paul
Ricciardi, Visiting Assistant Professor
Adjunct Faculty
Ione
Beauchamp
Cindy
Bates
Gulgun
Karamete
David
Lane
Laura
Margolis
Yvonne
Perry-Hulbert
Angela
Ledtke
Gargi
Shinde
Leigh
Strimbeck
Biographies
Full-time Faculty
J. Kevin Doolen,
Associate Professor and Department Chair
e-mail: jkdoolen@albany.edu
Formerly Director of Theatre & Associate
Head, Department of Performance Studies; Associate
Professor of Theatre Arts (MFA-Directing, University
of Illinois), and member of the Graduate faculty
at Texas A&M University. Professor Doolen’s
background in education includes 25 years teaching
experience at Virginia Intermont College, where
he designed and implemented a BA degree program;
Castleton State College in Vermont; Salve Regina
University in Newport, Rhode Island; and Columbia
Basin College in Washington State. In addition
to his teaching duties, Mr. Doolen’s professional
involvements include past President of the Northwest
Drama Conference, former Chair of Region One
(New England) of the Kennedy Center/American
College Theatre Festival (KC/ACTF-1), and founding
Board member of the Vermont Association of Theatres
& Theatre Artists.
Mr. Doolen has commercial experience in both
New York City and Los Angeles. While in NYC,
he secured a foundation grant for his study,
the effectiveness of college/university teaching
in preparation for a commercial career in Theatre.
Mr. Doolen’s directing and teaching awards
include the Commitment to Education Award presented
by Alpha Psi Omega, the National Honors Dramatic
Fraternity, in which he is a lifetime member,
and three Kennedy Center directing awards (Lonely
Planet, The Boys Next Door, Mr.
Bundy). His productions of Lonely Planet,
Interview/Applicant and A False
Sense of Superiority (student-written)
were all invited to region 7 of KC/ACTF; Fool
for Love, and Act III of Quartermaine’s
Terms were invited to region 1 of KC/ACTF.
He was awarded the Kennedy Center Medallion
in 1996 and is listed in Who’s Who Among America’s
Teachers.
Andi Lyons, Professor
and Director of Design and Technology
e-mail: Andi@albany.edu
Andi Lyons is Professor of Theatre, Director
of Design and Technology, and Resident Lighting
Designer for the University at Albany's Department
of Theatre. Andi has designed lighting or scenery
for more than ninety major university productions
since 1982, and served as the Department’s Technical
Director until 1992. Professor Lyons teaches
courses in Lighting Design, Theatre Production
Technology, Lighting Technology, Theatrical
Drafting, and Stage Management. She also teaches
a General Education course, UNDERSTANDING DESIGN
FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS, which is intended to
help non-majors develop an appreciation of how
all design areas contribute to the overall meaning
of any production.
Professor Lyons has received both the Chancellor's
Award and the President's Award for Excellence
in Teaching at the University at Albany. Andi
is passionate about the theatre and about lifelong
learning, and wants to share this passion with
everyone. Above all, she loves her serious Design/Tech
students, and drives them to build the foundations
that will help them succeed. Eventually, most
of her students come to appreciate this effort,
usually when they find out how well prepared
they are to begin their careers or go to graduate
school. And, she is proud of them all, even
when they do not keep in touch as often as they
should!
In addition to an average of four major productions
on campus each year, Andi has been involved
in many freelance activities with such companies
as the Tri-Cities Opera, Stageworks, Capital
Repertory Theatre, Elword Productions, Des Moines
Metro Opera, Williamstown Theatre Festival,
Shakespeare in the Park, LaMaMa E.T.C., Leap
Productions, the National Gay and Lesbian Task
Force, Keuka Summer Theatre, and the Capital
District Gay and Lesbian Community Center. Recent
favorite lighting designs have included Tosca
for Tri-Cities Opera, Brutal Imagination
for Stageworks, and All in the Timing and
Marisol at the University at Albany.
Andi is also an active member of the United
States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT),
for which she recently completed a four-year
term as Co-Commissioner of Technical Production,
and currently serves as Co-Chair of the Caucus
on Human Issues. She is also Vice-Commissioner
for Women’s Issues in Technical Production,
and the Project Leader for the Networking Directory
for Women in Theatre.
In the belief that theatre, at its best, has
the power to change people, Andi is always searching
for new ways to tie theatre to other goals for
which she works, such as equal rights for lesbian,
gay, bisexual, and transgendered people. She
is originally from Boston, which explains a
lot about both her sense of humor and her bluntness,
and currently lives on ten acres with her life
partner. Andi earned her MFA at Yale University’s
School of Drama.
Janet Sussman, Associate
Professor
e-mail: sussman@cnsunix.albany.edu
Janet Sussman is currently Associate Professor
of Costume Design and History at the University
at Albany where she is the resident Costume
Designer. She received her MFA in design from
The University of Texas at Austin studying with
Oscar Brockett and Paul Reinhardt. Outside of
the University recent Off and Off-off Broadway
designs include Five Women Waiting
at the Open Door Theatre and The Refreshment
of the Spirits at the Provincetown Playhouse.
Regional work includes Brutal Imagination,
Play by Play and Drawerboy at
Stageworks. Janet has also been the Resident
Costume Designer for the Department of Dramatic
Writing at NYU TISCH School of the Arts for
the past seven years, where she continues to
work on new play development, designing the
Goldberg Play finalist as well as the spring
New Works Festival. Janet is proud of her work
for Kennedy Center American College Theatre
Festival in the area of Design. She earned the
Kennedy Center Medal of Honor for her work as
the Chair of Design in Region II. She currently
on the Design Task Force for Region II working
to improve the visibility and training of young
designers. In her spare time she co-owns The
White Crane Gallery in Omaha Nebraska.
Eszter Szalczer,
Associate Professor
Affiliated Faculty, Womens
Studies
e-mail: szalczer@albany.edu
Eszter Szalczer earned her Doctoral Degree
in Comparative Literature, Eötvös
Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
and Ph.D. in Theatre, City University of New
York. Professor Szalczer teaches courses in
dramatic literature, theatre history, dramaturgy
and research. She previously lectured at various
universities in Europe (Sweden and Hungary)
and in the US at New York University and Marymount
Manhattan College. Professor Szalczer's research
areas include modern Scandinavian and East-European
drama and theatre and she has published internationally
on the work of Swedish playwright August Strindberg.
Her piece "Nature's Dream Play: Modes
of Vision and Strindberg's Re-definition of
the Theatre" (Theatre Journal 2001)
was awarded the 2002 Gerald Kahan Scholar's
Prize by The American Society for Theatre Research.
She is recipient of many other prestigious research
awards, including fellowships from the American-Scandinavian
Foundation and the National Endowment for the
Humanities. Dr. Szalczer’s recent book is entitled
Writing Daughters: August Strindberg's Other
Voices (Norvik Press, 2008). Her work in
progress includes a critical introduction to
Strindberg to be published as a volume in the
Routledge Modern and Contemporary Dramatists
series. She is also founding member of the “August
in January” Festivals in New York City, which
include theatrical productions of Strindberg’s
works and scholarly symposia in conjunction
with the productions. Prof. Szalczer has worked
as a dramaturge on theatre productions both
nationally and internationally.
Adam Zonder, Associate
Professor
e-mail: azonder1@nycap.rr.com
Adam Zonder holds an MFA degree in Technical
Direction from the University of Connecticut
and a BA from Bucknell University. In addition
to teaching technical theatre classes, Adam
is also the Technical Director, Production Manager,
and Sound Supervisor. During the summer Adam
is the Production Manager for the Hangar Theatre,
a professional regional summer theatre in Ithaca,
NY. Adam has been the Technical Director for
over 70 productions with various companies including
Connecticut Repertory Theatre, Music Theatre
North, The Pirate Playhouse, Playwrights Horizons
Theatre School, University of Connecticut Drama
Dept., CBT Productions, and The River Rep. He
has also been the Production Manager for Playwrights
Horizons Theatre School, The J. Howard Wood
Playhouse, and Quinlan Scenic Studios. Occasionally,
Adam is also a Sound Designer. Some of his favorite
designs are Hair and Accidental
Death of an Anarchist (both at UAlbany),
A Bright Room Called Day and Misalliance
(both at Connecticut Repertory Theatre).
Mark J. Dalton, Assistant
Professor, Director of Peformance, and Director
of the Honors Program
e-mail: daltongn@cnsunix.albany.edu
Mark teaches acting and directing in the Theatre
Department. His directing work for the department
includes last season’s evening of Anton
Chekov one-acts, Measure for Measure
and Much Ado About Nothing by William
Shakespeare, Accidental Death of an Anarchist
by Dario Fo, The Ophelia Project
by Andrea Iakovidis and Stacey Kaiser, An
Evening of One Acts by Samuel Beckett,
Aven'u Boys by Frank Pugliese, and
Arms and the Man by Bernard Shaw. Before
coming to the University, he spent six years
at Albany’s Capital Repertory Theatre, where
he worked as Artistic Associate the General
Manager. Many years ago he was the Artistic
Director of the long defunct Albany Theatre
Project. Mark has an M.F.A. in directing from
the University of Washington School of Drama,
an M.A. in English from the University at Albany
and a B.A. in English Education from UA. He
lives in Albany.
James Farrell, Assistant
Professor
e-mail: jpf@albany.edu
James Farrell is the author of the plays Here
and There; Old Times, Good Times; In the Recovery
Lounge; Bing and Walker; Migrant Moon; Donnie;
Djibouti; Purple Haze; Black & White &
Blue All Over; Flying Blind; Correspondence;
A Believer in Those Things Which Cannot Be Proven
to Be True; and Transplant. His
plays have been produced at Circle Repertory
Company in New York City; South Coast Repertory
in Los Angeles; Northlight Theatre in Chicago;
The Cleveland Playhouse; Jewish Repertory Theatre
in New York City; Seattle Public Theatre; Theatre
of the Riverside Church in New York City; City
Theatre of Miami; City Playhouse in Los Angeles;
Peterborough Players in Peterborough, New Hampshire;
and Stageworks/Hudson Theatre Company in New
York. He has been a resident playwright at Circle
Repertory Company in New York City and has served
as Literary Manager for Circle Repertory and
for the New York State Theatre Institute in
Albany. Mr. Farrell is the recipient of a Drama
League of New York Playwriting Grant and a New
York State Council on the Arts Individual Artist
Grant and has been a writer in residence at
Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, Blue Mountain Center,
and the Sundance Playwrights Laboratory. He
has also served as a script reader for the Royal
Court Theatre in London and currently teaches
Playwriting at New York University's Tisch School
of the Arts Dramatic Writing Program and at
the University at Albany/SUNY. Mr. Farrell is
an active member of The Dramatists Guild and
of Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas
and is the resident Literary Advisor/Dramaturg
at Stageworks/Hudson Theatre Company in New
York and a Playwright in Residence at the Ensemble
Studio Theatre Playwrights Unit in New York
City.
Ken Goldstein,
Assistant Professor
e-mail: kgoldstein@albany.edu
Ken Goldstein is an Assistant Professor of
Set Design for the Theatre Department. New to
the University Fall 2005, he has taught for
the past few years at Hofstra University, where
he received his BA in Drama. After graduating
Brandeis University with an MFA in Set Design,
Ken began designing in regional theatres and
in New York. His regional credits include productions
at Skylight Opera Theatre, Northern Stage, Seaside
Music Theatre, Foothills Theatre, American Stage
and as a guest artist at LSU—Baton Rouge. New
York productions include Chuck Mee’s Trojan
Women: a love story, and Orestes for Lightbox
Theatre Company, The Lady Next Door for the
Folksbienne Yiddish Theatre, and the American
Girl's Revue at the American Girl Store in on
Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, as well as a new
musical with the New York Music Theatre Festival.
As an associate set designer at the Tom Schwinn
Studio in New York City, he has designed for
such projects as the Michael Jackson 30th Anniversary
Special at Madison Square Garden for CBS, The
Hispanic Heritage Awards for NBC, the NFL Draft
on ESPN, A&E's Live By Request (Neil Diamond),
Bravo's Best of Broadway, and a number of VH1's
Storytellers. Ken is a member of United Scenic
Artists Local 829.
Jacquelyn Roberts,
Assistant Professor
e-mail: jr411498@albany.edu
Jackie Roberts has flourished for several years
as a member of the Crossroads Theatre Company,
Arena Stage and South Coast Repertory, where
she received a Southern California Theatre Critics
Award for 1994. She has been a member of BLACKSMYTHS,
the African American writers, collective at
the Mark Taper Forum; and was a finalist for
the Sundance Playwriting Festival. As an actor,
she spent several years on the Warner Bros.’
sitcom, The Steve Harvey Show, as well
as NBC’s The West Wing.
She received her graduate degree from the Yale
University School of Drama. Lick of the
Knife was part of a joint workshop with
the Theatre Department and The New York State
Writers Institute as well as performed as a
reading for Shirley Fishman of the La Jolla
Playhouse.
Visiting Faculty
Paul Ricciardi
e-mail: pgricciardi@yahoo.com
Paul Ricciardi is a teacher, writer and actor.
He is the author of two solo shows which he
performs throughout the north east: "Moving
Vehicles" (Best Actor in a Solo Show/'02
National Gay and Lesbian Theatre Festival) and
"Stillwater State". Regional credits
include: "Take Me Out" at Boston's
Speakeasy Stage (IRNE Award for Best Ensemble),
the world premiere of Paula Vogel's "The
Long Christmas Ride Home" and "A Christmas
Carol" at Trinity Rep in Providence, RI,
as well as a season at Provincetown Rep, where
he appeared in many productions, including the
world premiere of Craig Lucas' "Action".
Paul is the Director of Arts in Education at
Stageworks in Hudson, N.Y. where he teaches
playwriting to school age children. Paul is
also a vocal coach and has worked on several
SUNY Albany productions including "The
Birthday Party" and "Lady's Not for
Burning." He has taught at Rhode Island
College and works regularly as a teaching artist
with many institutions throughout New York City.
Paul holds an MFA in Drama from Trinity Rep.
Adjunct Faculty
Ione Beauchamp
e-mail: ione@csc.albany.edu
Ione Beauchamp has been a NYC based dancer
for over 20 years. During which time she performed
with numerous choreographers (including more
recently: Bill Young & Dancers, Peggy Peloquin’s
The Nurses Project, and Teri Carter’s
Mobility Junction) and presented her
own choreography at various venues both in the
US and abroad. Currently, she is a lecturer
at the University at Albany, where she teaches
Modern Dance and Movement, and choreographs
for Theatre Department productions. Choreographic
credits at UA include The Ophelia Project,
Hippolytus, Access/Axis (UA’s
first Theatre Department sponsored Modern Dance
Concert), Hair and Collective Momentum
(UA’s second Modern Dance Concert). Ione
received her BA from Barnard College, her MFA
from NYU/Tisch School of the Arts. She is a
certified practitioner of both Trager and Body-Mind
Centering. This is Ione’s third season with
Wire Monkey Dance.
Cindy Bates
e-mail: cbates@siena.edu
Gulgun Karamete
e-mail: gulgunk@yahoo.com
David Lane
e-mail: dlane@albany.edu
A native of Canada, David Lane has taught acting
and performance workshops in Massachusetts,
New York, Alberta, and at the renowned Dell’Arte
School of Physical Theatre in California. Lane
studied extensively with his mentor, well-known
improvisational acting instructor Keith Johnstone
(inventor of Theatre Sports and author of Impro),
and later became a regular performer with Johnstone’s
popular Loose Moose Theatre Company in Calgary.
In addition to his work as a performer, Lane
has directed productions for One Yellow Rabbit’s
High Performance Rodeo; Alberta Theatre Project’s
Out of Bounds; the California Institute of the
Arts; and the Edmonton Fringe Festival. In New
York City, David has directed work at HERE Space;
Nuyorican Poet’s Café; the American Theater
for Actors; Soho Playhouse; and Synchronicity
Space.
Lane is a core member and co-founder of the
internationally recognized and critically acclaimed
Old Trout Puppet Workshop, a performance company
based in Calgary, Alberta. In addition, Lane’s
street performances of Punch and Judy
have toured coast to coast in the both the US
and Canada, and have been performed at NYC’s
Lincoln Center’s Out-of-Doors festival and the
Edmonton International Street Performing Festival.
In the Spring 2007 semester, Lane will be directing
the Department of Theatre's production of The
Lady's Not For Burning, by Christopher
Fry, and teaching a special topics course in
Improvisation, and a course in Play Analysis.
Lane received an MFA in Theatre (Directing)
from Sarah Lawrence College in New York, and
a BFA in Drama from the University of Calgary.
Laura Margolis
e-mail: lauramargolis@stageworkshudson.org
Yvonne Perry-Hulbert
e-mail: yvonneperry@nycap.rr.com
Yvonne Perry (SAG, AFTRA, AEA) received her
BFA in Acting from Adelphi University and her
MA in Theatre History from UAlbany. She has
also studied in NYC, LA, SF (A.C.T.) and London
(R.N.T.). A veteran of many television and radio
commercials, she is also an experienced voice-over
artist. Yvonne is perhaps best known for the
four years she played runaway/heiress Rosanna
Cabot on the CBS daytime drama As The World
Turns (Soap Opera Award, 1993). Other TV credits
include the Sit-com Dads, Silk
Stalkings, Candid Camera, and
Guiding Light. Recent regional theatre
credits include Eleanor in The Northeast Theatre’s
production of Reverse Psychology. For
StageWorks she has played numerous roles in
Ten by Ten: The Body Plays and
Play by Play, and appeared as Frankie in
the world premiere reading of Flying Blind.
Yvonne is an active member of Upstate Independents,
where she often performs in screenplay readings
as well as short independent films. Yvonne teaches
acting at UAlbany and occasionally directs at
Siena College.
Angela Ledtke
e-mail: angelatheresaryan@gmail.com
Gargi
Shinde
e-mail: gs6105@albany.edu
A dancer, scholar, and actress, Gargi is pursuing
her PhD in Theatre and Drama at Indiana University,
Bloomington. Her research interests include
the influence of Eastern metaphysics on August
Strindberg’s dream plays, and Classical Indian
theatre. She is an exponent of Kathak, a classical
Indian dance form and has lectured and performed
on the same internationally. Gargi has acted
on the stage in India and the US and recently
acted in a feature film Frozen River
due to be released in 2007. Gargi is the Artistic
Director of ReddMask Theatre Company in NYC.
Leigh Strimbeck
e-mail: strimchak@berk.com
Leigh Strimbeck is a teacher and director.
Plays directed include: Fools Rush In,
Voice in the Prairie, Sea Marks,
The Nest, Daytrips, and The
Baltimore Waltz for the Bloomsburg Theatre
Ensemble (BTE) in Pennsylvania; and Children
of a Lesser God, On the Verge,
Tonight we Improvise, The Mystery
of Irma Vep, and Private Eyes for
other regional theaters. She was co-writer and
director of Berwick, America and This
House Builded, both history plays commissioned
by their communities. Leigh has co-directed
Stageworks' (Hudson, N.Y.) annual Ten by
Ten, and directed two one-man shows written
and performed by Richard Hoehler Working
Class, and Heavy Mettle. A member
of BTE for 12 years, Leigh served as Associate
Ensemble Director for 2 years and Ensemble Director
for 3 years. Other work included 3 years on
the professional theatre companies panel of
the National Endowment for the Arts, a USIA
tour to Africa (with BTE) and developing corporate
training in Consensus Decision Making. In 2002,
projects included acting in Reverse Psychology
for The Northeast Theatre in Scranton, PA, and
directing Death of Salesman for BTE.
Leigh is currently a teaching artist for the
Capital Region Center for Arts in Education;
and teaches acting at SUNY Albany.
Professional Staff
Deepsikha Chatterjee, Costume Shop
Supervisor
e-mail: dchatterjee@albany.edu
Originally from India, Deepsikha received an
undergraduate degree in Fashion Design and a
B.S. in Psychology. Her designs for adapted
clothing for children with Cerebral Palsy got
her a special appreciation award from National
Institute of Fashion Technology. She worked
for the fashion export industry in India before
moving to the US for her MFA in Costume Design
and Technology from Florida State University.
She has designed for plays like Amadeus,
Metamorphoses in school and worked
professionally at Santa Fe Opera and Glimmerglass
Opera. She worked on costumes for Phantom
of the Opera (Las Vegas production) and
Spamlot while working for Carelli's
in New York. She started working for the University
of Albany in Fall 2006.
John Knapp, Scene Shop Supervisor
e-mail: jek86@albany.edu
Administrative Staff
Michelle Westfall, Department
Secretary
e-mail: mwestfall@uamail.albany.edu
Veronica Mott, Keyboard Specialist
II
e-mail: vmott@albany.edu
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