Theatre Faculty
Assistant Professor Paul B. Crook
Director of Recruiting for the
Department of Theatre
Paul teaches both undergraduate and graduate acting and directing courses and supervises all student directing projects, in addition to directing for the University Theatre. He also serves as the Director of Recruiting for the University Theatre. Paul has previously served as the Director of Theatre Arts for Andrew College in Cuthbert, GA; on the faculty of Shelton State Community College Theatre; as a Distance Educator for the University of Alabama Department of Theatre and Dance; was one of the founding directors of the Kentuck Players in Northport, AL and also served as the Artistic Coordinator for the SecondStage Theatre in Tuscaloosa, AL.
In addition to his work at Louisiana Tech, Paul has directed and acted in theatres around the nation. In the summers, he serves as the Associate Artistic Director for the Oklahoma Shakespearean Festival, a summer rep theatre in Durant, OK Two of the plays Paul has written: Brit Lit, OR All You Need to Know to Survive Senior English but Were Afraid to Ask and AMLIT! were commissioned for production by Stage Centre, an educational touring theatre company, and toured across the state of Alabama. Two of his ten-minute plays: “Front Porch Requiem” and “LAVALOOOOO!!!” were selected for performance at the nationally known Kentuck Festival of the Arts Ten Minute Play Festival.
Paul is a member of the Southeastern Theatre Conference, where he serves as Chair of both the Acting/Directing Committee and the Publications Committee. He is past-president of the 10-Minute Play Ad-Hoc Committee and serves on the Leighton Ballew Scholarship Committee. As part of his work for SETC, Paul writes occasionally for the “SETC News” and Southern Theatre magazine. He is also a respondent for the Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival.
318-257-2062
Professor Mark D. Guinn
Production Manager for the
Department of Theatre
A Professor of Theatre at Louisiana Tech University, Mark serves on the faculty as a Professor of Movement and Production Manager for the Department of Theatre. He is a professional director, designer, and fight director. He has worked in theatres from Tokyo to Rome as lighting designer, director, and fight director. He has over twenty-eight years experience working in outdoor drama. Mark received his B.A. from Centre College of Kentucky and his M.F.A. from Memphis State University. He is a Fight Master with the Society of American Fight Directors and a Certified Teacher with the British Academy of Stage and Screen Combat.
He has served as Coordinator of the National Stage Combat Workshops in Las Vegas, the Stage Combat Workshop at Louisiana Tech University and was on the faculty of the First International Stage Combat Workshop, the 1994 Paddy Cream Workshop, the Summer Sling in New York, and the British National Stage Combat Workshop. Mark has collaborated on original productions with William Joyce, Mikel Rouse, and the Flaming Idiots.
Some of his recent directorial credits include: The Leafmen and the Brave Good Bugs, a play based on the book by William Joyce; Shane, the world stage premiere; Bluejacket the Epic Outdoor Drama and Qui Nguyen’s Living Dead in Denmark.
His scenic design credits include the stage premiere of Shane, and The Leaf Men and The Brave Good Bugs. His lighting design credits include The Flaming Idiots at the New Victory Theatre, A Christmas Carol at New American Theatre, A Knight at the Fights for University of Nevada Las Vegas, and telescan operator/designer for Madonna’s Blond Ambition Tour, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and the Gypsy Kings. Mark has done all this in search of Einstein’s quote, “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science”.
318-257-5271
Ms. Dianne Maroney-Grigsby
Choreographer
Dianne Maroney-Grigsby, LADA Choreographer, Artisti-in-Residence. A native of Norfolk, Virginia, Dianne left for New York in 1973. After joining the Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble, she toured extensively with that company. Dianne also performed with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre in Europe, Asia, and Africa.
In 1983, Dianne left her positions with Ailey as soloist, assistant artistic director of the Ailey Repertory Ensemble, and full-time faculty member at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center to become artistic director of Orchesis Dance Company at Grambling State University (GSU). Since moving to Louisiana, Dianne received her BA degree from GSU and her MA degree in theatre from Louisiana Tech University (LTU). She is currently on faculty as dance instructor for both GSU and LTU’S School of Performing Arts.
Dianne taught at Louisiana Dance Foundation’s Summer Dance Festivals from 1983-2007 and has set numerous award winning ballets on LDF’S resident dance company, Louisiana Dance Theatre (LDT) including I Won’t Let Go of My Faith, World Hunger, Red, Red II, Obsessions, Lacrimosus, Immortalis, Apotheosis, Many Different Roads, Long As I Got King Jesus, and I Believe I Can Fly.
LDT has performed Dianne’s choreography in Russia, Austria, and throughout the U.S. in Chicago, IL; Washington, D.C.; Orlando, FL; throughout Louisiana; and throughout Texas in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, Galveston, Amarillo, and Abilene. LDT performed Dianne’s choreography at the Jazz Dance World Congress at the Kennedy Center in 1996 and in Chicago in 1994 earning the Silver LEO Award ($1,000) for her choreography, Red. LDT was also selected to perform Dianne’s choreography, Apotheosis, on the Gala performance of Regional Dance America’s first-ever National Festival at Jones Hall in Houston. LDT recently received Gala status at the 2006 RDA/SW Festival for their performance of Lacrimosis at the Dorothy Chandler Woodland’s Pavilion in Houston.
LDT and Grambling’s Orchesis Dance Company have collaborated in more than 25 workshops and performances since 1983. The 1995 Living Legend recipient and director of Orchesis has taken the 58 year-old company to a new level. As an ambassador for Louisiana, Orchesis has performed in Japan and throughout America from New York to California. Orchesis has been featured in Proctor and Gamble national TV commercials, live appearances with recording artist Vicky Wynans, and with the GSU Tiger Marching band in the hit movie, Drumline. Dianne recently choreographed and appeared in Denzel Washington’s new movie, “The Great Debator.”
Professor Kenneth Robbins
Director School of the Performing Arts
Kenneth Robbins, author of nineteen plays, four novels, three collections of Christmas stories with a fourth volume forth coming and numerous essays, stories and memoirs currently serves Louisiana Tech University as Director, School of the Performing Arts. At Louisiana Tech, he has directed productions of Peter Snoad’s Guided Tour, winner of the first Arthur W. Stone New Play Award, A Midsummer’s Night Dream, by William Shakespeare, Master Harold…and the Boys by Athol Fugard, and Robert Bolt’s drama, A Man for All Seasons.
Among his honors and recognitions are service to KCACTF as National Playwriting Chair, a member of the National Selection Team, and Playwriting Chair for Region V. In addition he is a former Fulbright Scholar to Macedonia, a Malone Fellow to Saudi Arabia, a lecturer in Israel, the alumni of the Year, College of Education at Georgia Southern University, a juror for the Cairo International Festival of Experimental Theatre in Egypt, and an Artists Fellow in Japan. His novels have received the Toni Morrison Prize for Fiction and the Associated Writing Programs Novel Award. His dramas have been produced throughout the US, Canada, Great Britain, Denmark, and Japan while receiving the Festival of Southern Theatre New Play Award, a Corporation for Public Broadcasting Program Award, and the Charles Getchell New Play Award offered through the Southeastern Theatre Conference. His plays have been produced at the Dallas Theater Center, Nashville Academy Theatre, Second Stage (Chicago), the Barter Theatre, and others. He has participated in development projects at the Project Theatre, Dublin, the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, and New Dramatists in New York City. He is a recipient of the Kennedy Center Golden Medallion.
In addition to his novels, Robbins, with his wife, Dorothy Dodge Robbins, has edited three collections of literary works: Christmas Stories from Georgia (UP Mississippi, 2005), Christmas on the Great Plains (UP Iowa, 2004), and Christmas Stories from Louisiana (UP Mississippi, 2003). His fictional titles include The City of Churches (NewSouth Books, Montgomery, AL, 2004), Matchless (Dream Catcher Pub., forthcoming), In the Shelter of the Fold (Dream Catcher Pub., 2002), The Baptism of Howie Cobb (USD Press, 1995) and Buttermilk Bottoms (UP Iowa, 1987).
318-257-2711
Professor Cherrie A. Sciro
Coordinator of Theatre
Cherrie Sciro is the Coordinator of Theatre and Professor in the School of Performing Arts at Louisiana Tech. Her most treasured directing experience here at Tech was the 1999 production of Six Women with Brain Death…, which was awarded 21 awards throughout the region and state, including the Richard A. Weaver Best Production Award, a first for the University Theatre. She directed the 2006 fall production of W;t, a play close to her heart because of its promotion of cancer awareness.
Ms. Sciro is also known nationally for her Broadway credits which include Production Coordinator of the Tony Award-winning productions Cats, Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, and Miss Saigon. As well as Broadway Stage Manager for Song and Dance, Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, and Doin’ What Comes Natur’lly, an All-Star Tribute to Ethel Merman, featuring Lainie Kazan, Patti LuPone, Andrea Martin, Elaine Stritch and Bette Midler. Stepping out of the theatre, Ms. Sciro served as the Production Manager for the 1999 Hard Rock Rockfest in Atlanta, GA, and the Stage Manager for the 2001 New Year’s Eve in Times Square in New York City. She was also Road Manager for Patti LuPone and Dixie Carter.
Her International credits include the London, England productions of Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon, Follies, and Sunset Boulevard. She also served as the Production Manager for the Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain and Atlanta, GA.
318-257-5274
Mr. Don Stevens
Technical Director
Mr. Stevens serves as the technical director and instructor for the University Theatre. He has written, directed, and produced three shows for Big Bad Productions. He received the Best Director award for the RCT 2002-2003 season for his “not just for children” trilogy. His directing debut at LA Tech was William Shakespeare’s, Much Ado About Nothing in the fall of 2007. A graduate of LA Tech’s Master’s program, Mr. Stevens was awarded the John C. Trisler Award in 2003 and the Vera Alice Paul Award in 2004. He has been involved in productions with University of Louisiana at Monroe, the University of the Ozarks, LA Tech University and Community Theatre as actor, director and technician. Mr. Stevens worked in several positions as a member of the production team that produced a documentary celebrating the sesquicentennial of The University of The Ozarks. As a master puppeteer he has conducted workshops and classes in puppetry in five states. Mr. Stevens teaches Theatre Appreciation, Intro to Theatre, Theatre Practicum and Stagecraft. As a Moniteur d’ Escrime, Mr. Stevens teaches competitive fencing.
318-257-5270
