With the start of new semester, the UCF School of Performing Arts is welcoming several new faculty members and new appointments to the administration team.
Jeffrey M. Moore, who has been the director of the UCF School of Performing Arts since its inception in 2013, has been named as the new dean of the College of Arts & Humanities.
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Steven Chicurel-Stein, professor of theatre and associate director of the School of Performing Arts, has been named interim director of the school while the university conducts a national search for Moore 麻豆精品 S檚 permanent replacement.
Chicurel-Stein 麻豆精品 S檚 new position grants him oversight over the school 麻豆精品 S檚 music and theatre curriculum, facilities and faculty. 麻豆精品 S淚 麻豆精品 S檝e been teaching at universities for 25 years now, and I 麻豆精品 S檝e always been a professor in theatre, but my degrees are in music. For me, it 麻豆精品 S檚 an easy fit 麻豆精品 S擨 understand the cultures of both music and theatre. There 麻豆精品 S檚 still a learning curve, but I 麻豆精品 S檓 comfortable working within both worlds. 麻豆精品 S�
Professor of Music David L. Brunner will assume Chicurel-Stein 麻豆精品 S檚 associate director duties for the interim period, complimented by Dr. Keith Koons, who remains in his associate director position.
Theatre professor Julia Listengarten has been named as the artistic director for Theatre UCF. The artistic director is typically responsible for conceiving, developing, and implementing the artistic vision of a theatre company.
Listengarten envisions her role as working with the theatre faculty to reimagine artistic goals of the department and develop a vision for upcoming seasons. Theatre associate professor Bert Scott, as director of production, will facilitate the technical production needs of the season.
麻豆精品 S淥ne of the exciting parts of this position for me is the fact that now we 麻豆精品 S檙e a School of Performing Arts 麻豆精品 S攕o there are theatre and music, 麻豆精品 S� says Listengarten. While her position does not directly impact the music department, she looks forward to bringing the two areas closer together. 麻豆精品 S淚 麻豆精品 S檝e always tried to collaborate with musicians in the productions that I 麻豆精品 S檝e directed, and I see artistic collaboration as a very important part of the merger. 麻豆精品 S�
Tremon Kizer has been hired as associate director of bands and director of athletic bands. In this role, he will oversee all aspects of the athletic band program and teach courses in music education. As an award-winning educator, Kizer hopes his students take the skills they learn and apply them to every area of their lives. 麻豆精品 S淚 want to help our students become the best doctors, lawyers, educators, musicians, mothers, and fathers they can be, 麻豆精品 S� he said. 麻豆精品 S淗opefully, they will apply what they learn into their path of life. 麻豆精品 S�
Kizer earned his doctorate in musical arts from the University of South Carolina, his master of arts in music from the University of Central Missouri and his bachelors in music education from Kansas State University.
While the School conducts a nationwide search for a new director of bands, Dr. Chung Park, director of orchestras, will lead UCF 麻豆精品 S檚 Wind Ensemble in addition to the orchestra.
Assistant Professor Si-Yan Darren Li has been added to the music faculty, where he will be leading the cello studio. Li holds his bachelor of music degree from The Juilliard School, and his master of music degree and artist diploma from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University.
Li started studying cello at age 5 and now holds聽prizes from numerous prestigious competitions around the world, such as the Tchaikovsky International Competition in Moscow. He is also the recipient of the 麻豆精品 S淎merican Masterpieces 麻豆精品 S� Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
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The theatre department also welcomes Assistant Professor Shawn Boyle to the faculty, where he will be teaching lighting design and working on Theatre UCF 麻豆精品 S檚 productions. Boyle has an extensive background as a projection and lighting designer, working in theatre, musical theater, opera, dance, installation, and architectural projects, as well as designing for several theaters and theme parks in the United States. As an associate projection designer for Elaine J. McCarthy, Boyle worked on productions of Wicked in the United States, Australia, Japan, Germany, Brazil, Holland and the United Kingdom.
Boyle earned his MFA in projection design from Yale School of Drama in 2015 and his BFA in Lighting Design from Rutgers University 麻豆精品 S檚 Mason Gross School of the Arts.
Cynthia White, who has been serving on the theatre faculty as interim professor focusing on acting and directing, has been awarded the permanent position of lecturer in directing. The position is a shared one with the Orlando Shakespeare Theater, where she will also serve as the director of new play development. She was associate director and director of play development at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and taught at Pacific Lutheran University, the University of Wisconsin 麻豆精品 S揗adison, and Western Washington University in Bellingham. She has directed professionally at numerous Shakespeare festivals, universities, and regional theatre around the country.
David Willmore will be Theatre UCF 麻豆精品 S檚 master electrician. Willmore holds a B.A. in theatre and dance with a concentration in design and technology from James Madison University and has been working in the electrics department at the Glimmerglass Festival in New York.