After a one-year hiatus, the School of Theater's graduate acting program has restarted this year with a new head and three new faculty members.
The program was suspended last year after Jack Young, its previous head, left for a position at the University of Houston at the end of the '05-'06 academic year, said Shelley Delaney, now head of the MFA Professional Actor Training Program who earns a salary of $51,435.
The MFA class at that time opted to follow Young to the University of Houston to continue their education, Delaney said.
We get connected to a mentor
she said. I think we reveal a lot of ourselves in an acting classroom.
Young was in the middle of recruiting the '06-'07 graduate acting class when he decided to accept the position in Houston, Delaney said. His departure coincided with that of two other faculty members who were leaving to pursue their professional acting careers.
Delaney, who was offered Young's position, was uncertain whether to continue with the program, because she did not want to settle for a hastily coordinated program, she said. Her transition to head of the MFA program left a third vacant faculty position for the acting program.
If I was going to take over I wanted it to be a program that the entire school felt was essential to our function essential to our wellbeing
elaney said.
With the support of the rest of the School of Theater to support the continuation of the MFA program, Delaney decided to take a one-year break to recruit new students and refill the positions of movement, acting and voice before restarting the program.
All three new faculty members are relatively fresh to the university setting. Rebecca Vernooy, teaching movement, taught and worked in New York City for 20 years, and taught at Rutgers University for 5 years, she said. Vernooy makes $40,000.Brian Evans, who was hired for the voice and speech position at a salary of $45,000, owned his own theater company in LA and taught at the University of Mississippi for three years. David Haugen, teaching acting, taught in private studios in LA and New York City. Haugen makes $ 45,000.
(The acting program is) back up to full power again
Haugen said. There's an invigoration.
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