Guest Lecturers
Peter Coyote, acclaimed author, actor, and activist
Mary Kathryn Nagle: February 2019
In coordination with TheatreSquared and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, “A View from the Ridge,” will feature readings from Nagle’s play, Sovereignty, which wrestles with the Ridge family’s legal legacy and how the broken treaties of the past reverberate in the Cherokee Nation today.
Emily Schwend: February 2018
As a preliminary engagement with the exciting company, Theatre For One, professional playwright Emily Schwend will teach master classes for writers interested in exploring how to develop short plays for this unique and intimate one-on-one form. Read More
Tony Hale: January 2018
Two-time Emmy Award winner Tony Hale (VEEP, Arrested Development) was on campus January 29th. He held a private Q&A session with Department of Theatre graduate and undergraduate students, followed by a public event at the Faulkner Performing Arts Center that evening. Read More.
Dael Orlandersmith: February 2017
A renown performer and writer, Orlandersmith won an Obie award in 1995 for Beauty's Daughter. Her 2002 play, Yellowman, was also a finalist for both the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play and the Pulitzer prize in Drama, and she received the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize in 2003. Read More.
Gary John La Rosa: April 2016
Gary John La Rosa, professional theatrical director/choreographer, visited our campus for four weeks in order to direct our 2016 production of Green Day's American Idiot.
Peter Coyote: April 2015
Peter Coyote, acclaimed author, actor, and activist was on our campus for a week in
April 2015. He gave a wide-range of lectures on Buddhism and nonviolence, urban politics
and social engagement, story telling, documentary production, acting, and survival
in a creative environment. Read more
Ben Livingston: April 2015
Ben Livingston is an actor and writer working in New York. He holds an MFA in Drama from Indiana University and has appeared in over 50 roles in film and television, including most recently The Knick, Elementary, House of Cards, Daredevil, Blue Bloods, The Good Wife and Person of Interest. Read more
Howell Binkley: February 2015
Howell Binkley, a Tony Award winner for best lighting design of a musical, gave a public lecture and two student workshops Monday, Feb. 9, and Tuesday, Feb. 10. He will shared insights on working on Broadway, how the process is different from the academic theatre and what skills are needed for careers in New York. Read more
Tim Saternow: November 2014
Saternow, a theatre designer, educator, art director and fine artist, is at the University of Arkansas as a McIlroy Family Visiting Professor in the Visual and Performing Arts. His paintings and interviews have been published in several books and magazines. Read more
Laurence Luckinbill: June 2012
Actor, playwright and University of Arkansas alumnus Laurence Luckinbill is returning to campus as a McIlroy Family Visiting Professor in Performing and Visual Arts. During his weeklong stay, the donation of his papers to the University of Arkansas Libraries will be celebrated, and Luckinbill will bring two historic personalities to life on stage. Read more
Elizabeth Barnes: April 2012
Professional casting director Elizabeth Barnes will be on the University of Arkansas campus next week to instruct drama students on various aspects of the entertainment industry and give two public lectures. Read more
Sarah Colonna: March 2012
Colonna, an actress, writer, comedian and graduate of the Department of Theatre, was back on campus on March 29 to perform her Stand Up comedy and sign copies of her book – including providing a copy to the first 200 students at her show. Read more
Bret Yount: January 2012
Bret Yount, a University of Arkansas graduate of the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, has returned to Fayetteville as a McIlroy Family Visiting Professor to conduct a one-week, hands-on workshop for student actors on stage combat to improve theatrical performance techniques. Read more
Moisés Kaufman: November 2011
Moisés Kaufman, a Tony-winning and Emmy-nominated director and award-winning playwright, will present a workshop at the Walton Arts Center’s Nadine Baum Studio at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 17. Read more
Linda Bloodworth Thomason: November 2006
Linda Bloodworth Thomason, creator of Designing Women and Evening Shade taught a special course on script writing for television. Students of the class then accompanied her on a trip to Los Angeles, where they toured studios, visited sets, and pitched their sitcom idea to network executives. Read more