Ryan Clemens

Ryan Clemens is an actor, director, playwright, teacher, and Mark Twain enthusiast. Among his greatest passions is his one-man show Meet Mark Twain. Originally from Wyoming, Ryan began his career leading a traveling Wild West show. He has performed at theatres around the nation, with his recent work including five seasons with the Virginia Stage Company and four with the Virginia Shakespeare Festival. Working with ODU, Regent University, the Governors School For the Arts, or VSC, Clemens teaches a variety of courses like Shakespeare, Acting, Theatre Appreciation, and Improvisation. He holds a BA in Theatre from Western Washington University and an MFA in Acting from Regent University. www.clemensistwain.com

Kate Clemons

Kate Clemons serves as an adjunct professor at Old Dominion University and at Regent University. She also works in Education and Community Engagement at Virginia Stage Company in downtown Norfolk and frequently performs professionally in the Hampton Roads area. An Ohio native transplanted to Virginia, she holds an M.F.A. in Theatre Performance Pedagogy with an emphasis in Voice and Speech from Virginia Commonwealth University in addition to a B.A. in English with an emphasis in Communication from Regent University. As a Voice and Speech specialist, Kate taught in actor training programs at VCU and the Conservatory at Point Park University in Pittsburgh, PA. She teaches private voice specializing in musical theatre and freelances as a dialect and voice coach. She believes in empowering her students to live impactful stories on and off the stage. She lives in Virginia Beach with her middle-school band director husband Gabe, amazing son Gideon, and perfect pooch, Mr. Bingley.

Steve J. Earle

Mr. Earle has been an actor and director for many years. Acting credits include The Virginia Stage Company, Theatre IV, Richmond Triangle Players as well as television and commercial work. Directing credits include Reasons to be Pretty (ODU) Boys in the Band, Deranged and Durang, Lonely Planet (Richmond Triangle Players), The Marriage of Bette 'n Boo (Longwood University), and dozens of others at various theaters and schools. Mr. Earle is Chair of the Department of Theatre & Film at The Governor's School for the Arts and holds an MFA degree from Virginia Commonwealth University and a BFA from the University of North Carolina. He has also studied at the Gaiety School for Acting in Dublin, Ireland. Mr. Earle has taught for Longwood University, Virginia Commonwealth University and the School for the Arts in the Richmond Community, Virginia.

Keith Flippen

Keith Flippen is a professional film, television, and voiceover actor with 20 years of experience and teaches courses in Voice, Dialects, and Acting for the Camera. Shortly after he graduated from Virginia Tech with BA in Theatre Arts, Keith Flippen participated in a Soviet-American Actor Exchange program at the National Theater Institute in Connecticut in 1990. Upon his return to Virginia Beach from the Leningrad State Institute of Theatre Music and Film, Mr. Flippen appeared in a number of critically acclaimed roles in local and regional theatre and in early 1992, booking his first major television job on CBS's The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. That fall, Mr. Flippen returned to Russia as the U.S. Administrator of the Russian American Theatre for several months working in St. Petersburg, Moscow and Minsk to produce plays for children in the country of Byelorus. Mr. Flippen's film credits include The Wire (HBO), American Gothic (CBS), Minority Report, Dawson's Creek (WB), Surface (NBC), Virus, as well as the Emmy Award winning From the Earth to the Moon (miniseries) and Iron Jawed Angels, both for HBO. Recently, Mr. Flippen appeared in ABC's Same as it Never Was with Lacey Chabert and Wendi Malik as well as in CBS's Heartless with Melanie Griffith and Esai Morales. Mr. Flippen has just finished shooting Ruffian for ABC/ESPN with Sam Shepard which will air on ABC in July 2007.

Katherine Hammond

Katherine Hammond is a director and media artist. She is the Producing Artistic Director of Warehouse of Theatre. As an actor, she worked in regional theatre for many years, performing in 39 states and three countries. As a digital media artist, Ms. Hammond's specialties include sensored, multi-media, live performance. Her works have appeared at the New York International Fringe Festival, EchoFluxx Festival of New Media and Art in Prague, New Orleans International Fringe, FringeWilmington, the Virginia Stage Company, Fresh Fruit Festival at the Wild Project in NYC, and ODURep, as well as being part of the Kress Project at the Georgia Museum of Art. She has been awarded the Meritorious Achievement Award from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF) numerous times for Directing and Media Design. Before coming to ODU, Katherine worked as the Production Manager of the Academy Awards, the Emmy Awards, the Kennedy Center Honors, AFI Salutes, and was the Production Coordinator for The Weird Al Show and the Rosie O'Donnell HBO Special. She also was Project Coordinator at 20th Century Fox's Photo Archives. Ms. Hammond holds an MFA in Theatre & Dramatic Media from the University of Georgia. At ODU she teaches performance, script and performance analysis, voice over, stage and production management, documentary production and editing. She is a proud member of USITT, SAG/AFTRA and the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers.

Christopher Hanna

Christopher Hanna serves as Director of Theatre at Old Dominion and Artistic Director Emeritus of Virginia Stage Company. His work as a professional (SDC) director has filled stages from London to Alaska and his wide experience allows him to mentor ODU students towards making their smartest careers decisions. As a professor, Chris particularly loves teaching acting and directing. He previously served as Resident Director at the world famous Juilliard School and coached actors privately in his own New York City performance studio. Chris is proud of several actors he helped win Oscar and Emmy nominations but is also similarly proud of the performers that became incredible teachers, community actors, and audience members through his guidance. He likes asking questions that no two students will answer the same way. As a theater artist himself, Chris directs and writes exclusively for the stage, usually in collaboration with cast members and a hard-thinking design team. Most often these performances combine classical stories with contemporary text. One previous creation based loosely on Shakespeare's OTHELLO toured nationally and represented ODU at the Edinburgh International Fringe Festival. Chris' most recent campus collaboration, HAMLET#INPIECES, took Shakespeare's title character as a starting place to riff on the pressures of being twenty something, smart, and really confused. It was a tragedy but luckily there were a lot of laughs. Mr. Hanna holds an MFA in Directing from the University of California, San Diego, and a perfect attendance certificate from second grade. He prizes both.

Brittney S. Harris

Brittney Harris teaches Acting One and The Theatre Experience in the Department of Communication and Theatre Arts. Her areas of expertise are in performance, cultural enrichment, and diversity/inclusion. Prior to ODU, Brittney taught Intro to Acting for Non-Majors and Applied Collaborative Techniques at Virginia Tech and University of Georgia. She has conducted workshops in Solo Performance Development and Race in Performance within the Southeast theatre conference region including Black Theatre Network (BTN), KCACTF Region IV, Georgia Theatre Conference (GTC) and Virginia Theatre Association Conference (VTA). Brittney has created work and performed professionally at Virginia Stage Company, Chrysler Museum of Art, and Hampton University.

Education/Training: M.F.A., University of Georgia; B.F.A., Old Dominion University
Membership Affiliations: Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE), Women of Color in the Arts (WOCA)

Jim Lyden

Jim has worked as Technical Director for the California Shakespeare Theatre and as a Set Designer and TD for the Utah Festival Opera. He was an associate professor for the College of Santa Fe and The University of Colorado. He has worked with the Central City (CO) Opera and the Colorado and Illinois Shakespeare Festivals. He has designed sets, lights, or sound for over 100 productions. At Old Dominion, Jim is the Director of Technical Theatre Production and teaches Introduction to Production Technology and Introduction to Design. He lives in Norfolk with his wife, Helene Clehr, his daughter Grace, and two annoying dogs.

Meredith Magoun

Meredith has just moved to the Hampton Roads area from the Pacific Northwest, although she's a native New Englander at heart. She is currently the Lecturer of Costume Design and Costume Shop manager at Old Dominion University Prior to teaching at ODU she was at Central Washington University. She teaches courses in Costume Technology, Stage Costuming, Costume Design, Costume Crafts, Fashion History, Intro to Theatre (Theatre Experience), Intro to Production Design and Mask Making. She also mentors students, if the faculty mentor of the ODU's USITT Student Chapter, and designs shows (both on and off campus). She has designed for Village Theater Kidstage, Weston Playhouse, Longwood Players, Arts After Hours, Boston Baby Dolls, Northeastern University, Berklee College of Music, Emerson College, Stoneham Theater, Zeitgiest Stage Co., and CompanyOne. She also was the Adjunct Costume Design Teacher at Boston Arts Academy, where she taught 9-12th graders the skills and joy that goes into good design.She is a capable Wardrobe Mistress, Milliner, Photographer, Artist, and Balloon Sculptor. She holds an MFA from Carnegie Mellon University ('11) in Costume Design and a BA in Theater from Smith College ('05). Visit her website to see her work: www.meredithmagoun.com

Dana Margulies Cauthen

Dana Margulies Cauthen has served as choreographer and movement consultant for ODU productions and teaches the Methods of Theatre Education class. She has choreographed for many other universities and theatres in the area, including Christopher Newport University, Virginia Wesleyan College, Tidewater Community College (Chesapeake), Little Theatre of Norfolk, Little Theatre of Virginia Beach, Generic Theatre, Peninsula Community Theatre, Williamsburg Players, Poquoson Island Players, and Smithfield Little Theatre. She has served on the Board of Directors at both Little Theatre of Norfolk and the Peninsula Community Theatre and holds a Masters degree in Education.

Ricardo Melendez

Mr. Melendez is Founder and Producing Director for Actor's Workshop of Virginia. He was awarded 'Best Male Actor' at the Dublin Gay Theater Festival for his interpretation of Nijinsky in Workshop Theatre Group's production of Nijinsky's Last Dance, as well as best actor nomination for Cloaked (2011). As a Director, Melendez's works include: 12fth Night at Shakespeare at The Plot, My Dorian, Romeo and Juliet, The Laramie Project, Servant of Two Masters, Metamorphosis, Comedy of Errors, Blood Wedding and Hamlet, among others. As a playwright, some of his works are: Call me Boricua (2009), Cloaked (2010), Two Men and the Ocean (2012), My Dorian (2013), and Paper Cranes (2015). Mr. Melendez is the Associate Artistic Director for Todd Rosenlieb Dance, and Artistic Director of Virginia Ballet Theater. He is a Professor at Old Dominion University and Tidewater Community College, Norfolk Campus. He currently teaches at the Governor School for the Arts both in the Theater and Dance Departments. Mr. Melendez was recently nominated for the Alli Award by the Cultural Alliance of Hampton Roads for his tireless contribution to the Arts and the Community at large.

Patrick Mullins

Patrick Mullins is the Associate Producer at the Virginia Stage Company where he most recently directed and adapted The Taming of the Shrew, a synth-pop fantasia mixing Shakespeare's text with the music of DJP and MrT. Other recent projects include Swingtime Salute on the deck of the USS Wisconsin, Honky Tonk Angels at The Wells Theatre, and Moon Take Thy Flight - an immersive Shakespeare festival/visual art installation/performance event - in Town Point Park. In addition to work at VSC, he has recently directed shows at Capital Repertory Theatre in Albany, NY and Ensemble Theatre Company in Santa Barbara, CA. Productions he has created for touring and young people include a video heavy Romeo and Juliet that integrated area high school students with professional actors, an R&B fueled tour of Julius Caesar, and a reworking of A Christmas Carol that celebrated the music and instruments of Dickens' period. A former high school teacher of seven years, Patrick is also an adjunct professor at Old Dominion University. In 2010 he was recognized by the Hampton Roads Cultural Alliance with the Bettie Minette Cooper Arts Educator award.

Woody Robinson

Elwood Robinson is the Facilities Manager for the theatre complex at Old Dominion University. In addition to overseeing the day to day operations of the theatre plant he designs (scenery and lighting) several shows each year for both the theatre and dance aspects of the Theatre Arts Program, the Governor's School of the Arts (Dance and Opera) and visiting Dance Companies who perform in the University Theatre performance space. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Stephens College in 1980 and has worked in New York at the Public Theatre and designed Off-Off Broadway. Prior to his position at ODU, Mr. Robinson has worked in San Francisco, North Carolina, Iowa, and Missouri. He served as a member of the staff at the Virginia Stage Company (LORT C) but is best known locally for his designs at the Generic Theatre where he was resident designer for six years. Mr. Robinson says of ODU, "The students here are great and their energy and creativity are what make this job a joy.

Lee Smith

Lee Smith is a graduate of The University of Louisville, The Drama Studio-London and The University of Southern California School of Cinema/Television. Lee worked in Los Angeles on such television productions as Star Trek: 30 Years and Beyond, The Primetime Emmy Awards, The X Files and Millennium and his first feature length film, The Creature from the Hillbilly Lagoon, was released on DVD in 2008. Lee has written episodes of the series Dream Living for the Learning Channel as well as numerous short stories published in the US and Europe. Lee is Co-Artistic Director of Warehouse of Theatre and his works have appeared at the New York International Fringe Festival, New Orleans International Fringe, FringeWilmington, the Fresh Fruit Festival at the Wild Project in NYC and ODURep, as well as being a permanent part of the Kress Project at the Georgia Museum of Art.

Staff

Helene Clehr

Helene has been the Outreach Director and Administrative Assistant for the ODU Theatre Program since Fall 2015, and for the ODU Dance Program since Spring 2018. You can ask her any questions you have, anytime!

A native of southern California, Helene attended colleges in Santa Barbara (UCSB), San Diego (SDSU), and Portland, OR (WSCC), and obviously still enjoys the atmosphere.