Beth Homan, Ph.D.

• B.F.A., University of Florida
• M.A., Miami University of Ohio
• Ph.D., University of Missouri - Columbia

Since coming to Catawba in 2003, Homan has been lucky enough to teach everything from theatre history and dramatic literature to acting, directing, period performance, and stage combat. Though she is proud to be a true theatre generalist, she is particularly interested in collaborative approaches to the production process; and, to this end, has studied Anne Bogart's Viewpoints and the performance techniques of the Tectonic Theatre Project.

Beth also has a passion for directing. She is interested in (re)visioning the classics but particularly enjoys working on new works and devised pieces. Her favorite playwrights include Tennessee Williams, Harold Pinter, Christopher Durang, Tom Stoppard, and Sarah Ruhl. Past directing projects include The Pirates of Penzance, Playhouse Creatures, Songs for a New World, The Tempest, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.  In 2006, she premiered Machine Play, an original experimental opera by Catawba Writer-in-Residence Janice Moore Fuller, at the Polli Talu Arts Center in Estonia (Baltics).  She just finished her second collaboration with Fuller: a stage adaptation of William Faulkner's novel As I Lay Dying (Premiered Catawba College, Sept. 2011)

Beth attended the La Mama Umbria International Directors' Symposium outside of Spoleto, Italy in the summer of 2008, where she worked with international artists such as Senegalese choreographer Patrick Acogny, Columbian Puppet Master Federico Restrepo, and Tectonic Theatre Company founding member Leigh Fondakowski.  She has presented papers and workshops at both regional and national theatre conferences and has published several articles and book chapters. Her scholarly interests include feminist pedagogy, acting, directing, and movement pedagogy, and gender studies. She lives in Salisbury with her husband Sean (a free-lance photographer); her beautiful baby daughter, Emmaline; and a veritable menagerie of family pets.