We are pleased to welcome two new faculty members for the coming year: Tim Baumgartner in Scene and Lighting Design and Deanna Downes in Acting/Directing.

Deanna Downes

With an MFA in Directing from Columbia University Ms. Downes' training and professional work has included directing, teaching acting, assistant directing, dramaturgy and stage management. She founded the Chimera Theatre Company in Philadelphia. With Chimera she produced Strindberg's The Pelican in 2007. At the Oregon Shakespeare Festival she was the Assistant Director and Dramaturg for Intimate Apparel. Ms. Downes has worked with new play development, musicals and the classics. She has taught at Eastern University in Philadelphia and worked as a Directing Fellow with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. In the fall she will teach Stage Management, The Actor's Self, Advanced Acting and Senior Seminar. She will direct Pera Pelas for the department in the spring.

Tim Baumgartner

Mr. Baumgartner has an MFA in Scenic and Lighting Design from Carnegie Mellon University. He has taught and designed at Emory and Henry and Coker Colleges. In New York City he has designed for the Belt Theatre and the Accidental Theatre Co. as well as for the Denver Center for the Performing Arts and Philadelphia Theater Company. He worked for several seasons at the Naples Theatre in Florida designing such productions as La Cage Aux Folles, Carousel, West Side Story and Hello Dolly. This past summer he designed The Comedy of Errors for the Vermont Shakespeare Company. Mr. Baumgartner will teach Introduction to Theatre Design, Scene Design and Senior Seminar in the fall and design scenery and lights for The Torch Bearers.