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Faculty/Staff
Professor, Theatre Division Director
491-5529
Walt Jones, who joined the CSU Theatre program in 2006, is a 1975 graduate of the Yale School of Drama. As a teacher of acting and directing, he has served on the faculty at Yale School of Drama, and University of California, San Diego. He has directed twice on Broadway, six plays off-Broadway, including the American premiere of Howard Barker's No End of Blame at Manhattan Theatre Club, and over sixty plays in more than twenty regional theatres from Cambridge to Fairbanks and productions in Soviet Russia and in Tokyo. He directed world premiere productions of plays by Thomas Babe, Lanford Wilson, Naomi Iizuka, José Rivera, Arthur Kopit, Jim Yoshimura, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwrights Sam Shepard and David Mamet, John Pielmeier, Derek Walcott and Christopher Durang. Among the many actors Walt has directed are Meryl Streep, Roc Dutton, John Turturro, Tony Shaloub, Nathan Lane, Liev Schreiber, Angie Bassett, Christopher Walken, Jason Alexander, Michael Gross, Lindsey Crouse, Linda Hunt, Sigourney Weaver, Peter MacNicol, Frances Conroy, Ricardo Antonio Chavira,and Lewis Black.Mariel Hemingway, John Goodman, and Tony Award-winning stage actor, Jefferson Mays. Mr. Jones was a staff director at the O'Neill National Playwrights Conference from 1980 until 1990 and directed regularly for the Yale Rep, Arena Stage, and the American Repertory Theatre.
Associate Professor
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Dr. Laura Jones is a graduate of Northwestern University, received a masters from the University of Illinois and a doctorate from the University of Denver. Dr. Jones teaches acting, directing, and theatre history, with the primary focus of her research in twentieth-century performance theory and criticism. She has a special interest in works by and about women. Laura's three decades of directorial credits have ranged from Shakespeare to Arthur Miller and Moliere to Neil Simon. She has staged works by Nobel Prize-winning playwright Samuel Beckett in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. In 2006-2007 she will be directing productions at Colorado State and at the Bas Bleu Theatre Company in Fort Collins. Dr. Jones is as interested in process as in product, and strives to continually improve her skills as a teacher. She is a professional development mentor for the Leadership Institute of the Association of Theatre in Higher Education, a juror for the Wyoming Arts Council and an adjudicator for the Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival. In 2003 she was awarded the higher education theatre educator of the year award from the Alliance for Colorado Theatre.
Professor; Director: Center for Studies in Beckett and Contemporary Theatre Practice
491-5562
Eric Prince has an international record as a Samuel Beckett scholar and practitioner with many published essays and interviews on Beckett in performance, and, as a director, the staging of many Beckett plays including: Waiting For Godot, Footfalls, Embers, Play, and Come And Go. He has recently established a Center for Studies in Beckett and Contemporary Theatre Practice which serves to promote a wide range of innovative theatre events and visits from internationally renowned guest artists and academics. Eric has directed more than seventy productions in venues as diverse as London, Edinburgh, Scarborough, Plymouth, Augsburg, Utrecht, Amsterdam, Berlin and San Diego as well as children's theatre on the sandy beaches of Yorkshire and multi-cultural theatre on the streets of Leeds. Five of his own plays were selected for the British National Student Drama Festival, two of them Kafka's Last Request and Wildsea Wildsea, receiving the prestigious London Sunday Times Playwriting Award and Best Production Awards. From 1981 to 1999 he worked in close association with Sir Alan Ayckbourn. Two plays, Love Is In The Air and Red Roses were professionally produced by Ayckbourn's acclaimed company, The Stephen Joseph Theatre, North Yorkshire. Since relocation from the UK to Fort Collins in 1999 Eric has directed many CSU productions including: Hamlet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Every Good Boy Deserves Favor, Waiting For Godot, The Pirates of Penzance, Private Lives and Little Shop of Horrors. In addition to teaching Acting, Directing, Playwriting, Theatre History and Performing Shakespeare, he currently serves as Chair of Playwriting for the Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival - Region VII. Region VII includes Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Alaska.
Assistant Professor of Theatre Design
491-5529
Price Johnston's career in design has spanned theatre, dance and opera in both the U.S. and abroad. With work in cities such as New York, Chicago, Athens (Greece), London, Atlanta, St. Petersburg (Russia) and Denver, he has designed over 100 productions. His credits include the World Premiere of Jomandi Productions Lavender Lizards Lilac Landmines: Layla’s Dream by Tony nominated playwright Ntozake Shange (Atlanta's 14th Street Playhouse and the 2004 National Black Theatre Festival), the Off-Broadway production of Two Rooms (Trilogy Theatre & New York), Guys & Dolls (2000 British Tour), and the World Premieres of Huckleberry Finn: The Musical and A Southern Christmas Carol (Cotton Hall Theatre) written by award winning playwright/director Rob Lauer.
Other design credits include American Buffalo, Oh What a Lovely War, Assassins, The World Goes ‘Round, Never
Enough choreographed by Shapiro and Smith (ACDFA National – Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,
Washington DC) Company, Art, The Complete History of America Abridged (Greenshoe Theatre Company), Swamp
Gravy’s At the Depot Georgia’s Official Folk Life Play”(Cotton Hall Theatre), Clue: The Musical, The Miracle Worker,
Sabrina Fair, Hamlet (1990 American College Theatre Festival Nominee), The Cornbread Man, The Exonerated,
The Sting, Big Love, A Midsummer Nights Dream (Moscow Cosmos Theatre/St. Petersburg Music Hall) and the
Chicago Premiere of I Sing! (Chicago Playwright Theatre).
Johnston's recent work includes Janis Brenner’s Lost/Found/Lost (Isadora Duncan International Dance Festival
& Kransnoyarsk, Russia), 1776 (Chopin Theatre – Chicago), Passiones (Athenaeum Theatre – Chicago), Angels in
America (Moss Performing Arts Center – Grand Junction) as well as Production Manager/Lighting Supervisor for
the International Touring Company - David Dorfman Dance Underground.
Johnston holds a Masters of Fine Arts in Lighting Design from the University of Florida and a Bachelors Degree in Theatrical Design from Mesa State College in Colorado.
Acting Instructor
Wendy Ishii is co-founder and artistic director of Bas Bleu Theatre and an instructor of acting at Colorado State University. She moved to Fort Collins from NYC where she performed roles in theatre, film, commercials and daytime television. Her resume encompasses over 150 roles from the classical and contemporary repertories. She's been the recipient of numerous acting awards including top honors from The Denver Post “Ovation Awards”, FC Coloradoan and FC Weekly “Best of Fort Collins Awards”, Colorado Community theatre Coalition (CCTC), American Association of Community theatre (AACT), and International Telly Awards. Performances at festivals and conferences have taken her to Australia, Great Britain, Canada and Israel. Her work in Samuel Beckett's plays has been noted in several books, articles, journals and academic papers and is included in the Beckett Archives. Ishii was recognized in The Northern Colorado Business Report's “Who's Who in Business” and received a “Coloradoans Making a Difference Award”. Westword named her “2005 Best All-Around Woman of the Theatre”, and she was presented with the CCTC “2005 Distinguished Merit Award”.
Instructor; Technical Director and Practicum Coordinator / Supervisor
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Coordinates and organizes the technical support for all Theatre Program productions. Has been technical director and taught technical theatre at San Francisco State University, the University of Toledo, the University of Denver and Arapahoe Community College. He has worked as technical director for A Contemporary Theatre, SeattleThe Magic Theatre, San Francisco; Denver Civic Theatre, Denver; and Compass Theatre Company, Denver.
Assistant Technical Director and Instructor
Nathan “Cory” Seymour, originally from Denver, did his undergraduate studies at New England College in Henniker, NH where he received a BA in theater with an emphasis in both acting and technical elements. Upon graduation Cory worked for a number of years on the east coast in both Summer stock and regional theater. Realizing a need for further education he returned to the North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, NC where he received his MFA in technical theater and production management. After graduating he relocated to New York City where he was fortunate to work as an electrician and props crew head on many Broadway productions. Some highlights include the Who’s Tommy, Beauty and the Beast, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Barrymore, and Titanic. While New York is a great place to visit home for Cory will always be Colorado so a few years back he returned to Denver and last year joined the CSU School of the Arts Theatre division. Cory looks forward to bringing his life experiences and joining with fellow faculty to help build an exciting theatre program on the CSU Campus.
Scenic Design Instructor
Susan Crabtree is a scenic designer and scenic artist. She is coauthor of the book, Scenic Art for the Theatre: History, Tools, and Techniques. A member of United Scenic Artists, Susan operates her own scenic painting studio, Crabtree Scenic and Specialty Painting, in Denver, Colorado. She is currently enrolled in the Ph.D. program at the University of Colorado, Department of Theatre and Dance, in Boulder, CO.
Administrative Assistant
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Linda Parent has been the CSU Dance Administrative Assistant since 2003. In addition to administrative assistance for faculty and students Linda enjoys doing the graphic design for the department of Music, Theatre, and Dance.