Dr. Shawna Mefferd Carroll

Dr. Shawna Mefferd Carroll

 

Dr. Shawna Mefferd Carroll received her B.A. in Dramatic Arts from the University of Nebraska-Omaha, her MA and PhD in Theatre from the University of Missouri.  Emphases in her graduate work include directing and performance theory, critical theory, higher education, and a minor in psychoanalytic theory.

She grew up on the windy plains of Nebraska and spent 13 years in Columbia, MO attending graduate school and teaching at the University of Missouri, Central Methodist University, and Moberly Area Community College.  From 2004-2007, Dr. Mefferd Carroll served as the Artistic Director of InterAct Teen to Teen Theatre.  Then in 2007, she cofounded Independent Actors Theatre, a fringe theatre company in Columbia, MO, and served as its Artistic Director from 2007-2010.  She still serves on the board of trustees of IAT.  She also founded the annual Short Women’s Play Festival as part of Independent Actors Theatre’s regular season, which is now in its 6th season as a national new works festival.  If you’re interested in the theatre company, please check out the website: www.iatheatre.org.

At heart, Dr. Mefferd Carroll is a generalist, with a strong love of the literature, history, theory, and production of theatre.  Her experiences and interests in theatre are broad ranging from performance, directing, and technical production to dramatic literature, history, and theory, but her real interest lies at the intersection of aesthetics, ethics, and real life practice of theatre.  Dr. Mefferd Carroll’s performances have been numerous and varied, ranging from classical to contemporary.  She has directed and performed in several original works (two off-Broadway directing credits). She also worked as both performer and facilitator in two Theatre of the Oppressed interactive theatre troupes.  Her theatre work also extends into technical theatre as a master electrician, scene shop supervisor, and a technical director among other backstage roles.

Dr. Mefferd Carroll is currently teaching Theatre History, Dramatic Literature, and Directing at SUNY Plattsburgh as an Assistant Professor.  While having a love and appreciation for the classics, her favorite area of literature is contemporary drama.  Her research and creative scholarship focuses on ethics of representation, practice, and pedagogy.

Dr. Mefferd Carroll serves as the Theatre representative in Faculty Senate and as a member of the General Education committee.  She is also a Safe Space trainer and strong supporter of LGBTQ issues. She is also the co-chair of the Mid-America Theatre Conference Playwriting Symposium (2013-2014) as well as the Association of Theatre in Higher Education Theatre as a Liberal Art Focus Group Planner (2014-2015) and future chair (2016-2017). She is active in the Region I Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival and serves as a blind reader to several new play development programs.

She leaves you with a quote from one of her heroes, John Patrick Shanley.  Although he wrote it with actors in mind, it is relevant to all theatre artists:
“Theatre is a safe place to do the unsafe things that need to be done….An actor who is truly heroic reveals the divine that passes through him, that aspect of himself that he does not own and cannot control. The control and the artistry of the heroic actor is in service to his soul.”


Teaching Areas and Interests
• Directing
• Dramatic Literature/ Theory
• Theatre History
• Performance
• Theatre for Social Change

Recent Productions
• The Odyssey, SUNY Plattsburgh, 2012 (Director/dramaturg)
• Alice in Black and White, Great Plains Theatre Conference, 2012 (Actor)
• The Journal of Nearly Supernatural Ornithology, Mid-America Theatre Conference Playwriting Symposium, 2012 (Director)
• On the Verge, SUNY Plattsburgh, 2012 (Dramaturg)
• Wait Until Dark, College Theatre Association, 2011 (Dramaturg)
• A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, SUNY Plattsburgh, 2011 (Dramaturg)
• The Nooner, Envelope Sky Productions, 2011 (released 2013) (Actor)
• Superior Donuts Independent Actors Theatre, 2011 (Director)
• Doubt, A Parable, Columbia Entertainment Company, 2011 (Director)
• Strike, Mid America Theatre Conference Playwriting Symposium, 2011 (Director)

Upcoming Productions
• Red Death, SUNY Plattsburgh, 2013 (Dramaturg)
• A Good Woman Waits, Mid America Theatre Conference, 2013 (Actor)
• The Winter’s Tale, SUNY Plattsburgh, 2013 (Director/Dramaturg)
 
Professional Affiliations
• Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE)
• ATHE Leadership Institute (ATHE LI)
• American Theatre and Drama Society (ATDS)
• Mid America Theatre Conference (MATC)
• Center for the Study of Canada Associates (CESCA)
• New England Theatre Conference (NETC)
• Theatre Communications Group (TCG)
• Alpha Psi Omega (APO)
 

Contact Shawna Mefferd Carroll
Office: Myers Fine Arts 124
Phone: (518) 564-2480
E-mail: smeff001@plattsburgh.edu