Jeffrey Stephens

Jeffrey Stephens is Assistant Professor of theatre history and literature. He earned the PhD in theatre history and criticism at Ohio State University in 1995. Dr. Stephens taught classical, Renaissance, Baroque, 19th century, and contemporary theatre history, as well as theatre appreciation and dramatic literature while theatre historian at Oklahoma State from 2000-2005. He also served as graduate advisor in the department's MA program teaching graduate level script analysis, dramatic theory, and research methods. Prior to his appointment at UWSP, he worked for two years in the Department of Development at Lyric Opera of Chicago. Dr. Stephens was Director of Theatre at Dakota Wesleyan University in 1999-2000 where he directed several productions and taught acting, stagecraft, speech communication, and theatre appreciation. He has also taught theatre appreciation at DePaul's Theatre School and theatre history at Northern Illinois.

Outside of the academy, Dr. Stephens was an ensemble member of Porchlight Theatre (now Porchlight Music Theatre) in Chicago, acting and stage managing original plays and musicals at Off-Loop venues such as Stage Left, Footsteps, and Organic. Dramaturgy over the years includes Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Measure for Measure, Tomorrow Was War (American premiere of Boris Vasilyev's drama), What the Butler Saw, Three Sisters, Cherry Orchard, and in 2003, The Hairy Ape at American Theatre Company in Chicago.

Dr. Stephens' performance reviews of British, Dutch, and Russian productions have been published in Theatre Journal and his book reviews have appeared in Theatre Studies and Theatre Design & Technology. Several of his reviews of the contemporary Russian theatre have been published in Slavic and East European Performance Journal as well as his recent article, "Provincial Theatre in Russia: The Kaliningrad Region."

jstephen@uwsp.edu