Current Graduate Students
Dorothy Cosby Atkinson - Directing & Public Dialogue, 2nd-year. Dor Cosby Atkinson received her BA in Theatre Arts from UCSC in 1999. She has worked with theater companies in San Jose, San Francisco, Seattle, and New York. She directed several productions in Seattle from 2001-2008, including plays with her own company, Edge Theatre Ensemble, (www.edgetheatre.org). Recent productions include A Dream Play, Tongues, and Mother Courage and her Children. Projects at Virginia Tech include The Levee, That Midnight Rodeo, Venus and Adonis (with American Opera Theater), and Live News! - original pieces based on current events and performed outdoors on campus. She most recently directed a production of Rough for Theater II by Samuel Beckett.
Kathryn Burnham - Properties Design & Management, 2nd-year. Kathryn earned her B.A. in Theatre, with a minor in Music, from The College of William and Mary in 1996. She has worked for Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Carowinds, Disneyland and South Coast Repertory, among others. Over the years, she has also volunteered with many non-profit, educational and community theatres in a variety of roles including musical director, lighting designer, technician and performer. At Tech, she works as a graduate assistant in the scene shop.
Jessica Carson - Lighting Design, 3rd-year
Leslie Cook - Costume Design, 3rd-year
Kevin Frazier - Lighting Design, 1st-year
Travis Gilmore - Technical Direction, 1st-year
Theresa Hartman - Costume Design, 2nd-year
Jamie Lindemann - Technical Direction, 1st-year
Alanna Malone - Directing & Public Dialogue, 3rd-year
Ryan Parow – Stage Management, 1st-year. After receiving his BA in theatre arts from New York’s Oswego State University in 2002, Ryan spent a semester abroad traveling and studying theatre in Australia before moving to New York City to pursue his career in stage management. After a brief time working with the Broadway press agency Boneau/Bryan-Brown, Ryan decided that press was not his thing and returned to production work. While in New York, Ryan stage managed a number of productions with such companies as Soho Repertory Theatre, woken’glacier Theatre Company, and the NYC Prelude Festival, and became the resident stage manager for Personal Space Theatrics. In the fall of 2007 Ryan moved to Greenville, SC, where he spent two seasons as Production Manager & PSM for The Warehouse Theatre (www.warehousetheatre.com).
Paul Schreiner - Design/Technical Direction, 3rd-year
Michael Webb II - Technical Direction, 3rd-year
Alison Whitley - Stage Management, 2nd-year. Alison attended the University of Central Arkansas, receiving two undergraduate degrees in Theatre Arts and Psychology. After graduating she worked with Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre and spent a season with Arkansas Repertory Theatre. In her first year at Tech, Alison worked on the productions The Burial at Thebes, The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek, and The Conversation about the Keys.
Recent Graduates:
Erin Albrecht - Stage Management (2006). During her time at VT, Erin stage managed Nickel and Dimed, A Number, Far Away, and References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot. She also coordinated the New Play Festival in 2006. She is now an Equity Stage Manager who most recently stage managed The Full Monty and Almost, Maine at the Phoenix Theatre. Erin has spent five seasons at the Utah Shakespearean Festival working on such shows as Coriolanus, The Tempest, and Lend Me A Tenor The Musical (world premiere). She frequently works with Quest, Arts for Everyone, a D.C. based visual theatre company which allows her to travel in the United States and throughout Europe. In Washington, D.C., Erin also has worked on four productions at Arena Stage.
Megan Carney graduated in May 2008 with a focus on Directing and Public Dialogue. Megan has written and directed several new plays based on oral histories within a variety of communities in Chicago. She is a founding director of About Face Youth Theatre in Chicago where her work has contributed to seven original plays including The Home Project at Victory Gardens (2006), a two-year theatrical investigation of the issues of homelessness with youth who identify as LGBT and their allies (more info available at www.aboutfacetheatre.com). Megan spent part of her summer at Bard College in the Voices and Visions program developing a new play about women and madness with Chicago's Rivendell Theatre Ensemble.
At Virginia Tech, Megan has directed workshop productions of Jorge Ignacio Cortinas' Sleepwalkers, and Caryl Churchill's Ice Cream. In 2007 she devised a new piece called [classified] exploring issues of diversity and safety on campus.
This fall she is dirrecting the mainstage production of Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl.
Megan's Resume(PDF)
Andy Dolan - Directing & Public Dialogue (2009) - Andrew Lee Dolan is a professional theatre artist who has worked domestically and internationally premiering cutting edge contemporary performance events. He has served guest artistic residencies with Fairfield University (CT) and Century College (MN), and has worked with Teatr Biuro Podrozy (Poland), 15HEAD: a theatre lab (Minneapolis), Rude Mechs (Austin), Town Hall Theatre (Ireland), and many others. He is a member of the Minneapolis-based RAVENOUS Company. He has a M.A. in theater from The National University of Ireland, Galway, and recently completed his M.F.A. in Directing and Public Dialogue at Virginia Tech. After graduation, he resumed work with the Rude Mechs on their world premiere of I've Never Been So Happy, an experimental western operetta rock concert folktale. Additionally, he will be developing the gender-bending docudrama A Man's Guide to Shaving in Minneapolis, and designing sound for the world premiere of s h a t t e r e d, the second part of a Tutor Triology being developed by the RAVENOUS Company.
Eric Johnson - Scenic Design (2007)
Eric's Portfolio
Scott Kelly is a 2008 Stage Management MFA graduate. He has previously served as Stage Manager for Cortland Repertory Theatre, the Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival, and for the International Center for Beijing Opera's U.S. tour. He has also worked at Seattle Repertory Theatre, North Shore Music Theatre, Syracuse Stage, and the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, and is a graduate of Cornell University. At Virginia Tech, he has stage managed Abingdon Square, Bat Boy: The Musical, Romeo and Juliet, [classified: untold stories of virginia tech,and 28: A Traveling Menstrual Show. He is the Production Coordinator for the Latin American Theatre Today Conference and Festival, to be held at Virginia Tech.
Scott's Resume(PDF)
Elspeth Ridout, Technical Direction (2009). She recieved her undergraduate degree from Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, VA. She has worked with the Virginia Stage Company, Shenandaoh Summer Music Theatre and Wolf Trap Opera Company.
Elspeth's Website
Kristin Shumaker - Stage Management (2008).
Ashley Sparks - Directing and Public Dialogue (2007). At Virginia Tech, she directed The Other Shore, Alchemy of Desire, 28: A Traveling Menstrual Show, and Das Verkshoppe in collaboration with GooArt. She has worked with Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble in NYC, Artspot Productions in New Orleans, and Synchronicity Performance Group in Atlanta. Currently she serves on the Executive Committee for Alternate ROOTS, an organization serving artists and activists in the Southeast.
John Teacher - Scenography (2007)
Shannon M. Turner - Arts Administration (2007). She received her B.A. in English literature with a minor in Women's Studies from Emory & Henry College in 1997. Shannon worked for the YMCA at Virginia Tech for five years in multiple roles, including Director of Y Student Programs and Interim Executive Director. During her time in the MFA program, Shannon has concentrated her studies on the facilitation of public dialogue and community organizing through the lens of arts administration. In the spring semester of 2007 Shannon interned with Intermedia Arts in Minneapolis, MN (www.intermediaarts.org). She currently is living and working in Atlanta.Shannon's Resume(PDF)