Antje Ascheid is a specialist in film history and criticism. In addition, she is interested in film and video production and screenwriting. Her academic research focuses on women and film, German Cinema and film genres. She has published numerous articles and presented papers at many national professional conferences. Her first book, Hitler's Heroines: Stardom, Womanhood and the Popular in Nazi Cinema, was published with Temple University Press in 2003. She has been professionally active in the field of documentary and independent film production in New York City. Before joining the faculty at UGA, Dr.Ascheid taught at Smith College and at SUNY New Paltz.

Dr. Bray has written plays under grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Acadiana Center for the Arts, and Acadiana C.A.R.E.S. He has earned commissions from organizations in South Louisiana and Off-Off Broadway, and has had plays produced in venues in downtown NYC (including The Robert Moss Theatre at 440 Studios, Circle in the Square-Downtown, Under St. Marks, The Red Room, and Bowery Poetry Club), and in independent theatres around the country. His plays have been developed with The Actors Studio, The New School for Drama, Epic Rep. Theatre at The Players’ Club, the Last Frontier Theatre Conference, Axial Theatre, (re:)Directions Theatre Company, At Hand Theatre Company, and Rachel Klein Productions. His plays have been published by Next Stage Press, The Riant Theatre, and Heartland Plays, Inc.; and he has forthcoming publications with Smith and Kraus Publishers, Inc.; and JACPublishing. Dr. Bray has delivered papers with ASTR, ATHE, MATC, PCA/ACA, and the SCMLA, and he co-authored a paper with Dr. Keith Dorwick (University of Louisiana at Lafayette) which was delivered at the 2006 National Association of Humanities Educators. His scholarship looks at new play development, new play production, and adaptation studies. He has a forthcoming publication with Platforms (UK). Dr. Bray has been a credited reviewer for intro to theatre textbooks, and he serves on the board of advisors for a forthcoming text. Dr. Bray is a member of The Dramatists Guild of America, Inc., and he is an Equity Membership Candidate.

Mark Callahan is the Artistic Director of Ideas for Creative Exploration (ICE), an interdisciplinary initiative for advanced research in the arts at the University of Georgia, and serves on the faculty of the Lamar Dodd School of Art. He is a graduate of Cranbrook Academy of Art and the Rhode Island School of Design where he was a member of the European Honors Program in Rome, Italy. Callahan's work has evolved from a traditional printmaking background to experimental multimedia projects. He was commissioned to create a site-specific work for "Video Culture: Three Decades of Video Art," a collaboration that joined the forces of eleven institutions in the metro Detroit area to examine video art and its impact on contemporary culture. His work has also been used in concert by R.E.M. as a large-scale video projection. He is the executive producer of AUX ,an event and publication series devoted to experimental art in all forms. "Internet Soul Portraits (I.S.P.)," a gallery of images created for the Web, is now part of the Rhizome Artbase at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York. Recent group exhibitions include "Memery: Imitation, Memory, and Internet Culture" at MASS MoCA and "You All Fell for My Act" at the Showroom for Moving and Media Art in the Netherlands.

Marla Carlson's Performing Bodies in Pain: Medieval and Post-Modern Martyrs, Mystics, and Artists (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010) examines spectator response to performances of physical suffering in twenty-first century New York and fifteenth-century France. A UGA research grant in 2009 provided support for her article "Furry Cartography: Performing Species" Theatre Journal 63.2 (2011), and her article "Looking, Listening, and Remembering: Ways to Walk New York After 9/11," published by TJ in 2006, received the Gerald Kahan award from the American Society for Theatre Research. Current research interests also include cognitive neuroscience and the development of farce in late-medieval France. Marla's work in physical theatre and dance continues to inform her scholarship as well as her directing at UGA. You can find out more at marlac.myweb.uga.edu .

George Contini is an Associate Professor in the University of Georgia's Theatre and Film Studies Department where he specializes in Characterization, Solo Performance, Acting on Camera and Queer Theatre and Film. In addition to teaching, George maintains a career in theatre and film. His original solo show Put It In the Scrapbook was recently performed at the New Orleans Fringe Festival. Prior to that he was seen locally in Shear Madness at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre and The Big Bang at the Horizon Theatre . Named Best Actor in Miami and a five time nominee for the South Florida Critic’s Carbonell Award--- Favorite Regional Theatre Credits include; Tony in Shear Madness (Kennedy Center, D.C.), Herod in Jesus Christ Superstar (Actor’s Playhouse, Miami), Buzz in Love! Valour! Compassion! (New Theatre, Miami), Gooper in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Actor’s Playhouse, Miami), Larry in Burn This (Florida Shakespeare, Miami), Otto in The Food Chain (Florida Shakespeare, Miami), Sterling in Jeffrey (Acme Theatre, Miami), Buddy Husband in Secret Lives of the Sexists (Celebration Theatre, LA), Rosa Buxembourg in Blame It on the Big Banana (Theatre Offensive, Boston), Milt in Laughter on the 23rd Floor (Actor’s Playhouse), and Lord Edgar/Jane in Mystery of Irma Vep (Worcester Forum). Also a playwright and filmmaker, his plays jumping through windows (Carbonell Nomination) and midnight scrabble were produced by New Theatre in Miami and his film adaptation of jumping through windows was screened at the Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. Last year he adapted and directed the first English translation of Augusto Boal's The Misadventures of Uncle McBuck. His script Portraits of W.H was awarded a Rockefeller Fellowship for New Forms in Theatre and Opening Doors was commissioned by the Pan American Games and toured throughout the Midwest to promote that event. Among the diverse shows George has directed are The 39 Steps, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Grapes of Wrath, Dangerous Liaisons, Iphigenia at Aulis/ Trojan Women, Children of an Idol Moon, Pippin, Laramie Project, Lion in Winter, Fifth of July, Psycho Beach Party, Company, Raft of the Medusa, and the original opera A Good Man is Hard to Find. TV/Film credits include featured roles in Lifetime’s Shame II, Pointman, and commercials for “White Castle”, “Motorola”, “LaBatt’s”, and "Toyota”. George provided the voice and motion capture for 19th century vaudevillian Frank Bush in the innovative Virtual Vaudeville Project (www.virtualvaudeville.com). While at UGA George has been honored to receive many university wide awards recognizing his outstanding teaching and research including the Richard Russell Award, Sandy Beaver Teaching Fellowship, M. G. Michael Award, Sandy Beaver Special Teaching Award, Willson Center for Humanities and Arts Jr. Faculty Fellowship Grant, Jr. Faculty Research Grant, as well as two separate artistic project grants through Ideas for Creative Exploration (ICE). He has used these grants and rewards in his continued study of Michael Chekhov's Acting Technique and for the research and creation of his solo show Put It In the Scrapbook based on the life and career of early 20th century female impersonator Julian Eltinge. Mr. Contini received his MFA from the University of Miami, Florida in Film Production. and received his B.A. from Baldwin-Wallace College with a double major in Theatre and English.

Check out George's website: georgecontini.weebly.com

Mr. Dunham, Scenic and Lighting Designer, has previously designed and taught at the University of Central Florida, Stephens College, Vanderbilt and SUNY at Stony Brook. He is active in the national leadership of USITT (United States Institute for Theatre Design and Technology) and is currently serving as Chair. of the Grants and Fellowship Committee and former Board Member of the national organization. He was Co-Commissioner of the USITT Lighting Commission from 1998 to 2006. His professional design credits include numerous regional and stock productions throughout the East Coast and Midwest. Notable credits include: the Brunswick Music Theatre (Maine State Music Theatre), The Disney Institute, Music Theatre North, The Dunes and Okaboji Summer Theatres, The Springer Opera House and The Atlanta Lyric Theatre. He has also designed both scenery and lighting for a number of metropolitan New York regional and Off and Off-Off Broadway theatres including: Circle Repertory Theatre, Theatre Three, Broadhollow Productions, The Jean Cocteau Rep., and the Directors' Theatre. He is author of the well-recieved lighting text, Stage Lighting: Fundamentals and Applications ,as well as a number of feature articles for technical and trade publications relating to theatrical design and technology. He also was editor and contributing author for Practical Projects for Teaching Lighting Design (Second Edition) and an advising editior to Projects for Teaching Scene Design. Two of his articles have won Herbert D. Greggs Awards from Theatre Design and Technology. In addition to theatrical venues, he designs both architectural and landscape lighting and is the principal in the design practice of Dunham Design Associates. Within this area he has earned the LC Lighting Certification and holds memberships in the IESNA (Illuminating Engineering Society of North America) and IALD (International Association of Lighting Designers).

Chris Eaket specializes in critical theory, theatre history, comparative media analysis and digital humanities. His research focuses on the production of space through site-specific art & locative media. He has published articles in Theatre Research in Canada, Cartographica and the ACM Digital Library. He is a member of the GRAND (GRaphics, Animation and New meDia) research group, and a former contributor to the Cybercartogrpahy and the New Economy project, as well as the Skills-Based Software & Digital Games-Based Learning research initiative. He continues to be a collaborator on Storytrek, a location-based, motion-driven platform for digital storytelling through the Hypertext and Hypermedia Lab in Ottawa, Canada. Dr. Eaket has previously taught at the University of Alberta and Carleton University before coming to UGA. His emerging interests include embodied interaction and tangible computing.

Dr. Giles is a specialist in African-American Theatre, directing and acting. She is the author of articles focusing on early African-American Theatre in New York City and has delivered papers to the national educational Theatre Conference, Third World Theatre Conference, and the African-American Arts Development Forum, among others. She has several playscripts to her credit, and has directed a number of productions in New York State. A professional actress and member of Actors Equity Association, A.F.T.R.A. and S.A.G., Dr. Giles has performed a number of roles off-Broadway as well as in film, television and radio. Before coming to the University of Georgia, Dr. Giles taught at State University of New York at Albany and City College, City University of New York.

Tina Hantula is a costume designer and serves as the costume technologist for the University of Georgia. Formerly on the staff of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Ms. Hantula has designed costumes for productions in several theatres from North Carolina to Iowa as well as for productions at Teatro Signorelli in Cortona, Italy. She has served as a staff member of the Alliance Theatre and the Costume Collection of New York. Ms. Hantula has also built costumes for the distinguished stage and film costume designer, Patricia Zipprodt.

CG Animator and Mechanical Engineer. Professor Hussey founded the department's program in 3-D computer animation. He has produced myriad animations including, most recently, a series of historical recreations of ships and other artifacts for the documentaries The Japanese Navy and Boneyards, which aired internationally on the History Channel.

Ivan Ingermann's career spans over 20 years of designing costumes for stage, film, and television.
His feature film credits include Suits, Rules of the Game, Escape to Life, and Sundance Award Winner 2x4. For MTV, he has styled for Sean "P. Diddy"� Combs, Christy Turlington, Carson Daily, Jimmy Fallon, Natalie Portman, and Lindsay Lohan, among others. In Los Angeles, he assisted costume designer Joseph Aulisi on Charlie's Angels II: Full Throttle, as well as Emmy Award winning designer Dona Granata. In 2004 Ivan's own designs were featured on Kirstie Alley as Pier One Imports spokeswoman, garnishing a nomination from the Costume Designers Guild for Excellence in Commercial Costume Design. While continuing to design several national commercials for companies such as Toyota, Pontiac, BMW, and McDonalds under the notable director Erickson Core.
On stage Ivan collaborated with Jeff Daniels designing costumes for Escanaba in Love at the Purple Rose Theatre and The Gem Theatre.
Currently his design work is being showcased at the SeaWorld Adventure Park in Orlando Florida, in A'lure: the Call of the Ocean. This acrobatic production is viewed annually by over 5.9 million park attendees.

Ivan began his design career by assisting Tony Award winning designers Willa Kim (Grease), Desmond Heeley (The Snow Maiden), William Ivey Long (Chicago) and Susan Hilferty (Too Cleaver By Half, How To Succeed In Business... Night of the Iguana) to name a few.

John Kundert-Gibbs specializes in 3D computer modeling and animation, motion capture, and modern drama. Prior to coming to UGA, Dr. Kundert-Gibbs was director of the Digital Production Arts program at Clemson University. He has authored or co-authored numerous publications on Maya and 3D computer graphics that have been translated into nine languages. He is also author of No-thing is Left to Tell: Zen/Chaos Theory in the Dramatic Art of Samuel Beckett (1999), and coeditor of Pinter at Sixty (1993), and has created effects for live-action projects, and designs electronic media for theatrical productions.

Professionally, Professor Kundert-Gibbs has worked as a producer, director, vocal coach, and actress. In academia, she has taught in theatre programs across the country from Duke, to William and Mary to Indiana State University, where she headed the Graduate and Undergraduate Acting Programs, to Los Angeles and finally, happily embracing UGA. Ms. Kundert-Gibbs experiments in the integration of media and theatre and has directed many productions using varying forms of media including a production of Pinter’s New World Order which was presented at the International Pinter Festival in London, a production of Cabaret with Theatre X from Manheim, Germany, and Death of Salesman at The Warehouse Theatre. Her most recent acting work includes playing Emer in the world premiere of Sword Against the Sea, which toured to The International Yeats Festival in Sligo, Ireland. While in L.A, she was instrumental in founding the Kingsmen Shakespeare Festival serving as vocal coach, pre-show director and actor. She has been extensively involved in KC/ACTF as a member of the Region III Executive Board. After spending a year acting and teaching with Karamu House Theatre, Ms. Kundert-Gibbs has been drawn to multicultural theatre work and has directed African American productions for The Warehouse Theatre, UNC-Asheville and Clemson University. When teaching, Ms. Kundert-Gibbs focuses both directing and acting on the work of Sanford Meisner. As a believer in the interaction of the breath, voice, body and emotions, she incorporates work such as Alba Emoting, Transactional Analysis and Bioenergetics into the classroom. Her voice classes focus on the work of Kristin Linklater and Edith Skinner. She is also interested in Eastern bodywork such as yoga and Tae Kwon Do, is a certified black belt and teaches kickboxing. In all disciplines, she hopes to teach students to value their instincts, trust their impulses, and celebrate their humanity.

Richard Neupert is the Wheatley Professor of the Arts and a Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor. He teaches film history and theory. His special areas of interest are French cinema, narrative theory, and animation. His books include A History of the French New Wave Cinema (Wisconsin UP, 2003, 2007) and The End: Narration and Closure in Cinema (Wayne State UP, 1995). He also translated two books from French: Aesthetics of Film (Texas UP,1997) and The French New Wave: An Artistic School (Blackwell, 2002). Professor Neupert is coordinator of UGA's Film Studies major and Film Studies minor, and on the advisory board for the Cine movie theater. Before coming to UGA, he taught at Northwestern University and Georgia Tech. You can visit Dr. Neupert's home page for more information.

Michael O'Connell came to UGA in 2005. He had previously been the Technical Director for the University of Iowa Department of Theatre, The Dallas Theatre Center, The Portland Stage Company, Capital Rep, The North Shore Music Theatre, and The Maine State Music Theatre. He has worked as Production Manager for the Virginia Stage Company, and St. Mary's University where he also designed lighting. Prior to technical direction and design Michael spent many years as a carpenter in regional theatres including the McCarter Theatre, St. Louis Opera, the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Trinity Square Repertory Company, Merrimack Regional Theatre, and The Trump Plaza Casino Showroom.

Ray Paolino is an associate professor and heads the MFA Acting program and is Director of Theatre. He received the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Directing from Indiana University, Bloomington.

As an actor in New York he performed the leading role in the world premiere of Israel Horovitz’s “Turnstyle” at the Cubiculo Theatre and was in Rip Torn’s production of “Hamlet” with Geraldine Page at the Sanctuary Theatre. He recently performed the role of George in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” at 7 Stages Theatre in in 2008 in Atlanta and the role of Gottschall in “God’s Man in Texas” at the Springer Opera House in 2010. Mr. Paolino’s other acting credits include leading roles in New York for Trinity Theatre, Theatre Matrix, Renaissance Theatre and the IRT Theatre. He has performed or directed over a hundred staged readings of new scripts. He was featured in the Chicago premiere of Edward Allan Baker’s “Acts of Providence” at the WNEP Theatre in 2003. He is a member of Actor’s Equity Association (AEA) and Screen Actors Guild (SAG). He appeared in the films “Raging Bull,” “King of Comedy,” “Manhattan,” “The Secret Files of J. Edgar Hoover,” and the soap opera “One Life to Live.”

Much of Paolino’s work in both the professional and academic arenas has been with the development of new scripts and emerging playwrights. His directing credits in New York include the premiere of “Requiescat in Pace” for Theatre Matrix at Lincoln Center and workshop productions of “Doo-Wop”, “Commencing” and an untitled piece by Jose Rivera, all for Theatre Matrix. He staged the world premiere of Kathleen Cahill’s “The Annunciation of Pat Black” at the Georgia Repertory Theatre as an Equity production in Athens, GA. He has staged new works for Jordi productions in Yorktown (NY), the Bloomington Playwrights’ Project (IN) where he also served as a board member, Theatre Matrix (NYC), and for the Universities of Georgia, Oklahoma and Indiana. He has also directed for the Southwest Repertory Theatre in Santa Fe (NM), Carpenter Square Theatre in Oklahoma City and was artistic director of Oklahoma SummerStage in Norman and Director of Theatre at the University of Georgia. He had directed regularly for the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) and the New Play Development Workshop at annual conferences in San Diego, New York and Chicago.

For the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF), Paolino served as NPP Chair of Playwriting for Region VI in the 1990s, offered workshops in playwriting, responded to dozens of new works in various regions and festivals throughout the nation and established a new play festival. He currently serves as NPP Chair of Playwriting, KCACTF Region IV and continues to offer his skills as a respondent to new works for KCACTF. At the Southwest Theatre Association (SWTA), he founded the New Play Contest and served as Chair of New Plays, for which he was given the Distinguished Service Award.

As a teacher, Paolino has been honored by both the University of Oklahoma and University of Georgia where he was awarded a Sandy Beaver Teaching Award, selected to the UGA Senior Fellows, the UGA Teaching Academy and was given a teaching award by the Student Government Association (SGA). For UGA he developed a new Drama in Cortona program in Tuscany, Italy and has also taught internationally for the London Drama program offered by the Department of Theatre & Film Studies. Former students of Paolino have appeared on “ER,” West Wing,” “Glee,” “Law and Order,” “The George Carlin Show,” and many others.

Farley Richmond, Professor and Director of the Center for Asian Studies. Dr. Richmond teaches courses in Asian Theatre, with an emphasis in Indian drama and theatre. He also teaches courses in introduction to theatre, script analysis, and directing. His publications include: Kutiyattam: Sanskrit Theater of India, (CD-ROM University of Michigan Press), Indian Theatre: Traditions of Performance, (University of Hawaii Press), and Theatre: The Collaborative Art and Plays of Provocation, Vols. I and II (Kendall/Hunt). His articles appear in The Oxford Illustrated History of Theatre, The Cambridge Guide to World Theatre, The Cambridge Guide to Asian Theatre, as well as the Asian Theatre Journal, among others. His most recent productions were Antigone, Art, The Playboy of the Western World, and The Crucible at UGA and Oleanna at SUNY/ Stony Brook. He is a founding member of the Asian Theatre Journal for which he serves as South Asia Area Editor. He is currently on the Board and Vice President of the World Association for Vedic Studies. He has chaired the theatre departments at Michigan State University, SUNY/Stony Brook, and The University of Georgia. More information is on his web page.

Emily Sahakian’s research explores how theatre dramatizes and revises the cultural memory of slavery and how narratives of trauma are translated through intercultural performances, specifically productions of French Caribbean women’s plays at Ubu Repertory Theater of New York. Her broader research interests include Francophone post-colonialism, the performance of universalism and difference, oral historiographies, and black diaspora literacy. Her writing has appeared in Theatre Survey and The Drama Review, and she has presented papers at ASTR, ATHE, IFTR, MATC, ACLA, and other conferences. Her dissertation was awarded the highest distinction, “Très honorable avec les félicitations du jury,” by the École des hautes études en sciences sociales. Dr. Sahakian is also a community-based theatre artist who has worked to cultivate cross-cultural understanding and empower youth in the U.S., Martinique, France, and Morocco.

David Saltz is Head of the Department of Theatre and Film Studies, and Executive Director of Ideas for Creative Exploration (ICE). He is a specialist in modern drama, performance theory, the philosophy of art, and directing. His primary research focus has been the interaction between live performance and digital media. He was Principal Investigator of Virtual Vaudeville, a large-scale research project funded by the National Science Foundation to simulate a nineteenth century vaudeville performance on the computer. He has explored the use of computer technology extensively in his own work as a director and teacher. Along those lines he established the Interactive Performance Laboratory at UGA, has directed a series of productions incorporating real-time interactive digital media, and has created interactive sculptural installations that have been exhibited nationally. He has published numerous articles in scholarly journals and books, and is coeditor (with David Krasner) of the book Staging Philosophy: Intersections between Theatre, Performance and Philosophy (University of Michigan Press, 2006). Dr. Saltz received a Sandy Beaver Special Teaching Award in 2008. He has served as Secretary of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education and as co-editor and then editor of Theatre Journal from 2006-2009. Before coming to Georgia, Dr. Saltz taught at State University of New York at Stony Brook and The College of William and Mary.

Christopher Sieving specializes in film history and analysis. His areas of interest include 1960s and 1970s world cinema, film genre, visual style and narrative, and African American film history. His articles have been published in The Velvet Light Trap, Screening Noir, Journal of Popular Music Studies and Journal of Communication Inquiry, and his current book project is a social and industrial history of African American-themed cinema from 1963 to 1970. Before coming to UGA, Dr. Sieving taught at the University of Notre Dame.

Fran Teague is a University Professor of the Arts and a Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor. She teaches performance history and theory. Her special areas of interest are Renaissance drama, dramaturgy, and early women writers. She has written or edited seven books, including The Curious History of “Bartholomew Fair” (Bucknell, 1985), One Touch of Shakespeare (Folger, 1986), Shakespeare’s Speaking Properties (Bucknell, 1991), and Shakespeare and the American Popular Stage (Cambridge, 2006); her articles have appeared in many journals including Comparative Drama, Shakespeare Quarterly, Shakespeare Studies, and Theater Journal. Teague has a joint appointment with the Department of English and is an affiliate of the Women’s Studies Program.