Current Graduate Students
Jessica Carson - Lighting Design, 2nd-year
Leslie Cook - Costume Design, 2nd-year
Andy Dolan - Directing & Public Dialogue, 3rd-year
Alanna Malone - Directing & Public Dialogue, 2nd-year
Elspeth Ridout is a 3rd-year MFA candidate in Technical Direction. 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
Paul Schreiner - Design/Technical Direction, 2nd-year
Michael Webb II - Technical Direction, 2nd-year
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)
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)
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)