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Theater Faculty

The Theater program is steered by an immensely talented group of accomplished scholars and performers we are proud to call our faculty. All theater majors are assigned a faculty mentor from their specific area of study to aid them with course selection and to offer guidance on their careers at SIU and beyond. Our faculty ensure that graduates leave SIU with top-tier experience, authentic career advice and vital skills tailored for success in the world of theater.

Jaime Leigh Gray, Assistant Professor, History and Culture

Jaime Leigh Gray earned a PhD in Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies from the University of California Santa Barbara and an MFA in Dramaturgy from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her teaching and areas of expertise include feminism and gender in performance; digital theater and media in performance; social activism and protest cultures; ethnography; and theater historiography.

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MK Hughes, Assistant Professor, Scenic Design

M.K. is a graduate of Southern Illinois University with an MFA in Scenic Design for the Theater. She was previously Visiting Faculty in scenic Properties and Design at the University of Pittsburgh, Adjunct Instructor of Paints and Scenic Design at Point Park University in Pittsburgh, and Adjunct Faculty in Scenic Design at Marywood University in Scranton, Pennsylvania.



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Jacob Juntunen, Professor, Dramatic Theory, Criticism, and Playwriting

Jacob Juntunen is a playwright and theatre scholar whose work focuses on theatre’s role in forming national imagined communities, paying particular attention to marginality.

His first book, Mainstream AIDS Theatre, the Media, and Gay Civil Rights: Making the Radical Palatable, was published by Routledge (2016). It shows ideological change over time by examining receptions of plays with an AIDS focus from 1985-2000. It intervenes in the notion that mainstream theatre, because it relies on capitalism, must be inherently conservative. He published related research in three different McFarland anthologies, two articles on HowlRound.com, and an article in the journal Peace and Change. He also gave invited talks on the subject at Adam Mickiewicz University (Poznań, Poland), Ohio University, and SIU. Based on this work, he was named the 2016 James Fisher Fellow in the American Theatre and Drama Society (ATDS).



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Jacob Juntunen jjuntunen@siu.edu
Phone: 618-453-5741
Office: Comm 1033B
Personal Website: JacobJuntunen.com
Short Plays: RiposteToTheWorld.blogspot.com
CV (PDF)

Darryl Kent Clark, Associate Professor, Musical Theater Dance

DARRYL KENT CLARK, BA, Columbia College, MFA, SUNY College at Brockport, brings a total of over thirty years’ experience as a dancer, actor, choreographer, director and teacher to his position as Assistant Professor of Musical Theater Dance at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.



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Darryl Kent Clark darryl.clark@siu.edu
Phone: 417-414-9122
Office: Altgeld 303

H.D. Motyl, Associate Professor, Director School of Theater and Dance

Radio, Television, and Digital Media

H.D. Motyl is an Associate Professor at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, where he teaches media production and writing for TV. His feature-length documentary about professional rodeo cowboys called Cowboy Christmas was honored as Best Feature Documentary at the Madrid International Film Festival and as Best of the Fest for Faculty Documentary at the Broadcast Education Association’s Festival of Media Arts.



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H.D. Motyl

Phone: 618-453-6992
hdmotyl@siu.edu

Segun Ojewuyi, Professor/Head of Directing

Ojewuyi's international career as a Theater director/Critic/Actor and Scholar has covered parts of Africa, Europe, the Caribbean, America and the Mediterranean. His directing credits include the major playwrights of world drama - Shakespeare, Soyinka, Becket, Wilson, Miller, Brecht, Grass, Chekov, Ibsen, Fugard to list a few. His productions have been on stage in some of the very top Theaters of the world - the Birmingham Rep, Liverpool Playhouse, Everyman Theater Liverpool, Yale Repertory Theater, Public Theater Pittsburgh, Balhaus Theater in Berlin, the Oregon Shakespeare, St. Louis Black Rep., Habima Theater in Tel Aviv and the National Theater in Lagos, Nigeria, directing the National Troupe of Nigeria, amongst many others, garnering strong international reviews.



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Segun Ojewuyi sojewuyi@siu.edu
Phone: 618-453-1893
Office: Comm 1033

Jaemin Park, Assistant Professor, Lighting and Sound Design

Jaemin is a native of South Korea and began his career as a lighting designer in 2005 by designing the opera "La Traviata" in South Korea. He has designed more than 100 productions in various genres such as plays, musicals, operas, and dances.



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Jaemin Park

jaemin.park@siu.edu
Office: Comm Bldg 1033
Website

Susan Patrick Steinfeldt, Professor, Voice and Speech Specialist

Susan Patrick Steinfeldt recently made her stage debut at Play2C Theater in Berlin. Her NYC resume includes Ensemble Studio Theatre, Currican Theatre, HB Playwright's Foundation, La MaMa ETC as well as annual appearances in the legendary Rev. Al Carmines' Christmas Rappings.



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Susan Patrick Steinfeldt susanpb@siu.edu
Phone: 618-453-1892
Office: Comm 2236

Jane Pivovarnik, Assistant Professor of Practice, Costume Design

Jane Pivovarnik is the costume shop manager for SIU’s Theater Program.

Originally from Springfield, IL, Jane was previously the assistant costume shop manager at PCPA. She has also worked as a draper for Portland Opera, Portland Center Stage, Northwest Children’s Theater, Western Oregon University, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and Mcleod Summer Playhouse. She has also worked on costumes for Glimmerglass Opera and Signature Theater, DC. She has designed costumes for PCPA and Allan Hancock Community College. She has a BS in Fashion Design and Merchandising and an MFA in Costume Design from Southern Illinois University Carbondale.



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 Jane Pivovarnik janepiv@siu.edu
Phone: 618-453-7592
Office: Comm 0024

Mark Varns, Professor Emeritus

A graduate of the University of Missouri at Kansas City, Mark has worked with the Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Sacramento Theater Co., Utah Shakespearean Festival, The Black Rep of St. Louis, New Harmony Theatre, Millikin University, McLeod Summer Playhouse, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, and Central Missouri Repertory Theater. Recent professional design credits include; The Foreigner at Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Pericles at The Black Rep in St. Louis, Oklahoma at McLeod Summer Playhouse and Treasure Island at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival.

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 Mark Varns varns@siu.edu
Phone: 618-453-5741
Office: Comm 2032

Matthew Williams, Assistant Professor, Performance and Movement

Matthew C. Williams choreographed Will Ferrell’s Broadway debut, You’re Welcome America. Off-Broadway credits include Rooms and the revival of Carrie, the musical. Matthew went on to direct Carrie, the musical at Montclair State University. Matthew was the assistant director to Casey Nicholaw on the Broadway production All About Me.



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Matthew Williams matthew.williams@siu.edu
Phone: 618-453-5741
Office: Comm 1003

Wendi Zea, Associate Professor, Costume Design

Wendi R. Zea is an associate professor in costume design, teaching design, period styles, costumes construction, play reading and a variety of costume crafts classes, including dyeing, fabric modification, wigs and millinery.



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Wendi Zea

wzea@siu.edu
Phone: 618-453-7592
Office: Comm 2238
Personal Website: wendizea.com