Dr. Wendell Stone

                                                           

Office: (770) 836-6519

 

wstone@westga.edu

 

 

 

Education

 

Ph.D.,              Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA                                                May 2001

Major: Theatre; minor: English

            Emphasis: Theory, History, and Literature

                                                Dissertation Title: “Theatre at Caffe Cino: The Aesthetics and Politics of Revolt, 1958-1968,” directed by Dr. Bill Harbin.

 

M.A.,              Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA                                                  December 1996

            Major: Communication (with a concentration in Theatre)

Emphasis: Gender Studies

Thesis Title: “Positioning Desire: Looking at Playscripts Through Mulvey and Foucault,” directed by Dr. Gayle Austin.

 

B.A.,                Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN                                                             May 1980

Major: English; Minor: Theatre

 

 

 

Teaching Experience

 

Instructor                                                                                                              08/2002 to Present

State University of West Georgia, Carrollton, GA

Courses include The Sixties and the Theatre, Theatre Appreciation, and Public Speaking.  The Sixties and the Theatre is an interdisciplinary course using theatre, film, visual art, and gender theory to explore the primary issues and trends of the 1960s.  Theatre Appreciation provides students with the critical and analytical skills needed to understand and evaluate live performance.  Through exploring the process of translating a script from the page to the stage, students develop a vocabulary with which to discuss theatre.  Public Speaking enhances students’ skills in speaking in a variety of settings.

Instructor                                                                                                                       1997 to 2000

Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA

Taught Sex, Gender, and Performance: Queer Theatre and Introduction to Theatre; co-taught Women and Theatre.  Sex, Gender, and Performance: Queer Theatre was the first lesbian/gay course taught at the undergraduate level in the Department.  The course provided students an overview of the history, literature, and theory of gay/lesbian/queer theatre and performance.  Introduction to Theatre explored the development of theatre and provided students the basic skills needed for either reading or viewing live performance.  Women and Theatre (co-developed and co-taught with another doctoral candidate) was the first undergraduate class in women’s theatre offered by the Department.  Through a variety of scripts dating between 1850 and the present, students explored the drama and theory of feminist theatre.

 

 

 

Publications

 

Unlicensed Performances: Caffe Cino and the Emergence of Off-Off-Broadway. Forthcoming in Spring 2005 from Southern Illinois University Press.

 

“Robert Patrick.” Forthcoming in Twentieth-Century American Dramatists.  Detroit MI: Gale Group.

 

“Michael Bennett” and “Robert Heide.”  Forthcoming in Notable Gays and Lesbians in American Theater History.  Ed. Billy J. Harbin.  Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

 

“Simulated Performances: Tom Eyen's Employment of Filmic Devices.” Text and Presentation 23 (2002): 115-26.

 

“Robert Heide.” Twentieth-Century American Dramatists.  Third Series.  Detroit MI: Gale Group, 2001.

 

“`Expressing Delsarte: Steele MacKaye’s Contributions to the System of the French 'Master.’”  Pioneering North America: Mediators of European Culture and Literature. Ed. Klaus Martens and Andreas Hau.  Wurzburg, Germany: Konigshausen & Neumann, 2000.  215-23.

 

 

 

 

Papers Presented

 

Chair of panel entitled “Dragging It Out: The Performance of Gender Disruption,” to be presented at the 18th annual conference of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education in  Toronto, July 2004 (panelists will be Philip Auslander, Lesley Ferris, and Christine Mather).

 

Chair of panel entitled “Recovering the Past, Transforming the Future: The Story of the Caffe Cino from Those Who Lived It,” presented at the 17th annual conference of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (panelists were Doric Wilson, William Hoffman, H. M. Koutoukas, Helen Hanft, John Gilman, and Robert Heide), New York, August 2003.

 

Chair of panel entitled “Breaking Gender Stereotypes,” presented at the 17th annual conference of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education, August 2003.

 

“Un/Re-Masking the Popular Queer Presence: Tom Eyen’s Revolt against Gender Normativity,” presented at the 25th annual conference of the Popular Culture Association and the American Culture Association in New Orleans, LA, April 2003.

 

“Tom Eyen’s Queer Bodies or ‘I Know They're Not Talking About My Talent,’” presented at the 16th annual conference of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education in San Diego, CA, July 2002 

 

Chair of panel entitled “Dramaturgy,” presented  at the 26th Comparative Drama Conference in Columbus, OH, April 2002

 

“Translating Cinematic Techniques to the Stage: Tom Eyen’s Employment of Filmic Devices,” presented at the 26th Comparative Drama Conference in Columbus, OH, April 2002

 

Chair of panel entitled “Theoretical Practices/Practical Theories: Queering the Classroom and the Academic Theatre,” presented at the 87th annual conference of the National Communication Association in Atlanta, GA, November 2001

 

Chair of panel entitled “Stages of Queerness: Theory, Performance, Practice,” presented at the 15th annual conference of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education in Chicago, IL, August 2001

 

“Competing Voices in Historical Narrative: Representations of Caffe Cino,” presented at the 21st Mid-America Theatre Conference in Chicago, IL, March 2001

 

“The Bearded Lady: Genderfuck and the Classics at Caffe Cino,” presented at the 14th annual conference of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education in Washington, D.C., August 2000

 

“Performing the Postmodern Challenge: Transgression and Theatre at Caffe Cino, 1960-1968,”  presented at the 22nd annual conference of the Popular Culture Association and the American Culture Association in New Orleans, LA, April 2000

 

“A Society of Strangers: Identity, Family, and Community at Caffe Cino,” presented at the 20th annual Mid-America Theatre Conference in St. Louis, MO, March 2000

 

“Commercial Intimacy: Performance and Place in the Gay Sex Industry,” presented at the 13th annual conference of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education in Toronto, Canada, July 1999

 

“The Carter White House and Gay Rights,” presented at the 25th annual conference of the American Politics Group at Selwyn College of Cambridge University, Cambridge,

            England, January 1999

 

“Performing Identity: The Carter White House and Gay Rights,” presented at the 84th annual conference of the National Communication Association in New York, NY, November 1998

 

“Constructing Community: Audience and Identity at Caffe Cino,” presented at the 12th annual conference of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education in San Antonio, TX, August 1998

 

Chair of panel entitled “Theorizing a Queer Aesthetic,” presented at the 12th annual conference of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education in San Antonio, TX, August 1998

 

Continuation of prior year’s panel “One Step Forward and Two Steps Back: Are We ‘Playful World Traveling’ Yet?” presented at the 19th annual conference of the National Women Studies Association in Oswego, NY, June 1998

 

“Steele MacKaye’s Contributions to the System of the French ‘Master,’” presented at “Pioneering North America”: Mediators of European Literature and Culture at the Universität des Saarlandes in Saarbrücken, Germany, April 1998 

 

“On Ex-Cons, Future Cons, and Turbaned Art-Ladies: Re-Viewing Caffe Cino,” presented at the 41st annual conference of the American Society for Theatre Research in San Antonio, TX, November 1997

 

“Devouring Genders: Food and Sex in the Comics,” presented at the annual conference of The Popular Culture Association of the South in Columbia, SC, October 1997

 

Participant in panel entitled “One Step Forward and Two Steps Back: Are We ‘Playful World Traveling’ Yet?” presented at the 18th annual conference of the National Women Studies Association in St. Louis, MO, June 1997

 

“Positioning Desire: Looking at Theatre Through a Mulvian/Foucauldian Lens,” presented at the 3rd annual Performance Studies Conference in Atlanta, GA, April 1997

 

“Facing the Invisible: Performativity and The 1993 March on Washington,” presented at the  Women and Gender Studies Graduate Students’ Conference in Baton Rouge, LA, February 1997

 

 

 

Guest Lectures

 

Forum Speaker, Department of Theatre, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA.  Spoke to faculty and graduate students on research strategies and interview techniques.  Dr. Leslie Wade, organizer.  November 2000

 

Forum Speaker, Department of Theatre, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA.  Spoke to faculty, graduate, and upper-division undergraduate on my research into Caffe Cino, with particular emphasis on the interviews with Lanford Wilson and others.  Dr. Leslie Wade, organizer.  October 1999

 

“Theatre and Popular Culture: The Transition From Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet to Warner Brothers’ Animaniacs,” Guest Lecture, Department of Theatre, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA.  Amy Cuomo, organizer.  March 1998

 

“Queer Theory and Queer Activism,” Public Lecture sponsored by Gays, Bisexuals, Lesbians and Supporters United, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, October 1997

 

 

 

Service to the Profession

 

Focus Group Representative-Elect, Theatre History Focus Group, , Association for Theatre in Higher Education (2004-present)

 

Conference-Planner, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered Focus Group, Association for Theatre in Higher Education (2003-present)

Participated in three national job searches conducted by the Department of Mass Communications and Theatre Arts, State University of West Georgia

 

Participated in the committee to create teaching standards for Communication 1110, Public Speaking, State University of West Georgia

 

Adjudicator, American College Theatre Festival, Savannah College of Art and Design’s production of The Night of the Iguana (November 15, 2003)

 

Member, Committee to develop Interview Guidelines for Students, State University of West Georgia (2004)

 

Member, Membership and Marketing Committee for the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (2000-present)

 

Member, Task Force on Developing an Online Journal, Association for Theatre in Higher Education (2001-2002)

 

Member, Selection Committee for the Graduate Debut Panel, Lesbian and Gay Theatre Focus Group, Association for Theatre in Higher Education (2001-2002)

 

Organizer, New Play Readings, Louisiana State University (2000-2001)

 

Chair, Membership Task Force of the Membership and Marketing Committee for the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (2000-2001)

 

Member, Nominating Committee, Theatre History Focus Group, Association for Theatre in Higher Education (2000-2001)

 

Member, Task Force for Developing an Online/Print Journal for the Lesbian and Gay Theatre Focus Group, Association for Theatre in Higher Education (2000-2001)

 

Proposed and presented the first in a series of departmental workshops on professional development and student/faculty research updates (October 1999)

 

Participant/actor in various staged readings of new plays by students and faculty of Louisiana State University (1996 - 1998)

 

 

 

Research Interests

 

Off-off Broadway theatre; gender and performance; dramatic theory

 

 

Recent Research

 

As a Postdoctoral Fellow at Ohio State University, I am currently engaged in a detailed study of the life and works of playwright Tom Eyen; in support of this research, I have conducted interviews with Henry Krieger, Fredric Gershon, Mari-Claire Charba, and others.  Research for my dissertation included extensive use of archival material at Boston University, The Jerome Lawrence & Robert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute of Ohio State University, and the Billy Rose Theatre Collection of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.  I have conducted interviews with Lanford Wilson, Ellen Stewart, Doric Wilson, William Hoffman, Robert Patrick, Michael Warren Powell, Donna Deseta, Al Carmines, Helen Hanft, Michael Smith, Jean-Claude van Itallie, Phoebe Mooney, Wiley Switkes, Elliot Levine, Robert Dahdah, Magie Dominic, Lee Kalcheim, Charlet Oberley, Robert Heide, John Gilman, Taka Nakano, Ann Harris, Robert Brooks, John Borske, Dale Whitt, Phoebe Wray, Jeremy Johnson, Joseph Davies, Robert Dagny, Bob Sickinger, George Economou, George Birimisa, Brandy Carson, Stacy Strauss, George Haimsohn, Marshall Mason, Roberta Sklar, Jane Wheelwright Torrey, Diane di Prima, and others.

 

 

 

Computer Proficiency

 

WebCT, PowerPoint, Presentations, Lotus 123, WordPerfect (Windows and DOS based), Word, Peachtree Accounting, DOS, dBase III, and various other business-related software packages; some knowledge of programming in Pascal and COBOL.

 

 

 

Related Professional Experience

 

Cofounder/Part Owner/Vice-President/Treasurer/Planner                                        06/84 - 08/96

Occupational Training and Development, Inc., Decatur, GA

 

Primary responsibilities: Designed and administered a variety of vocational programs funded by Federal and state agencies.  Researched employment-related needs of low-income, inner-city residents, surveyed the local labor market, and developed vocational programs to meet the needs of the residents and the employers.  Selected texts and developed training material for programs in a variety of occupational fields, ranging from manufacturing to hospitality occupations.  Recruited, selected, and trained staff.  Taught numerous job-search, basic-educational-skills, and other work-readiness and vocational classes for economically disadvantaged youths and adults          

 

During the summers of 1993 through 1995, developed and implemented the Theatre and Basic Educational Skills Program (THEBES), a six to eight week course offered to low-income students at risk of dropping out of high school.  Used acting, improvisation, and theatre games to teach basic-educational skills, conflict resolution, anger management, and self-presentation.  Selected material for a multi-cultural curriculum drawing from the mythological and dramatic literature of the Americas, Africa, Ireland, and other locations.

 

Developed, implemented, and regularly reviewed the Company’s management and operations systems, including paperwork management, fiscal operations, quality control, staff development, and program performance.  Developed systems to ensure  compliance with Federal, state and local regulations applicable to publicly-funded programs.

 

Wrote various documents, including “Employee Handbook” describing personnel policies and procedures, “Fiscal Unit Manual” detailing corporate fiscal policies and procedures, contracts used in subcontracting training activities to other companies,  manuals used in training programs, orientation material distributed to new staff and program participants, and a lease signed between the Company and tenants of unused office and warehouse space (many of these documents were subsequently adopted by funding agencies and are still in use in parts of Georgia and South Carolina).

 

Supervised financial operations.  Acted as liaison with all auditors, including annual audits by an outside CPA firm and occasional audits by the State of Georgia, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Office of the Inspector General of the United States Department of Labor.

 

Planner/Grantswriter and Program Coordinator                                                        03/81 - 06/84

DeKalb Economic Opportunity Authority, Decatur, GA

 

Primary responsibilities divided between program management and program development. Coordinated the vocational assessment of persons applying for assistance from DeKalb County’s Job Training Program and managed the Hospitality Industry Training Program.  Supervised three Vocational Assessment Counselors, two Instructors, and one Lead Instructor.  Selected and administered aptitude, achievement, and vocational interest tests. Researched, planned, and wrote proposals for new employment and training programs.  Monitored all programs in the Department for compliance with Federal, state, and local regulations and with contractual agreements.  Assumed responsibilities of the Employment and Training Manager in her absence.

 

Other Experience

 

            Taught a developmental reading and study skills course for one year.

 

            Owned and managed several small businesses.

 

 

Awards and Honors

 

Postdoctoral Fellowship, Ohio State University; under the joint guidance of Dr. Alan Woods (Director, Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute) and Dr. Lesley Ferris (Chair, Department of Theatre).  Research topic: the works of playwright Tom Eyen.

 

Nominated for Distinguished Dissertation Award at Louisiana State University

 

Awarded a one-year Dissertation Fellowship at Louisiana State University        

 

Awarded four-year Fellowship for study toward Ph.D. at Louisiana State University

 

Graduated cum laude from Vanderbilt University

 

 

 

Past and Present Memberships

 

Association for Theatre in Higher Education

 

American Society for Theatre Research

 

Modern Language Association

 

National Women’s Studies Association

 

Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association

Wendell Stone

 

Production Experience

 

 

Training:

 

Acting classes at Academy Theatre (Atlanta, GA)

 

Acting and Improvisation classes at Callanwolde Fine Arts Center (Atlanta, GA)

 

 

Dramaturg:

 

Bloody Poetry at LSU Theatre (1997), Baton Rouge, LA 1997

 

 

Director:

 

                        Reading of Tom Eyen’s Why Hanna’s Skirt Won’t Stay Down and The White Whore and the Bit Player (April 16, 2002) at the Ohio State University

 

Reading of Tom Eyen’s Melody of the Glittering Parrot (February 2, 2002) at the Ohio State University

 

                        Reading of David Starkweather’s Love Pickle and Jeff Weiss’s A Funny Walk Home (April 2001) at Louisiana State University

 

Sex is Between Two People, an unpublished play by Lanford Wilson (November 4 - 7, 1999) at Louisiana State University

 

 

Actor (Stage):

 

                        Narrator in reading of Nurturing the Performer: The Dr.  C.  C.  McCracken-Ruby Elzy Correspondence (February 24, 2002) at the Ohio State University, Columbus, OH (reading arranged as part of the fiftieth anniversary celebration for the Jerome Lawrence and Robert E.  Lee Theatre Research Institute)

 

                        Henry in The Fantasticks (February 15-18, 2001) at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA

 

Foote in Nina in the Morning (February 29, 1996) at Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA

 

Wendell in Class Acts (February 17-18, 1996) at the First Existentialist Church, Decatur, GA

 

                        Player in and cofounder of Comedy Nomads (October 1995 - June 1996); improvisation group performing in various locations

 

Dr. Driscoll in ER 2: Noel, Noel, Oh Hell! (December 14 - 31, 1994) at Onstage Atlanta, Atlanta, GA

 

Scrooge in Christmas Carol (November 19 - December 23, 1993) at Village Center Playhouse, Roswell, GA

 

Rumpelstiltskin in Rumpelstiltskin (March 13 - April 24, 1993) at Abracadabra! (the children’s theatre of Onstage Atlanta), Atlanta, GA

 

Owl in Pooh 2: The Return of the Bear (January 16 - February 28, 1993) at Abracadabra!, Atlanta, GA

 

Marley and the Undertaker in Christmas Carol (November 20 - December 26, 1992) at Village Center Playhouse, Roswell, GA

 

Chief Johnson in Mister Roberts (September 11 - October 10, 1992) at Neighborhood Playhouse, Decatur, GA

 

Lomov in Marriage Proposal (July 31 - August 2, 1992) at Dunwoody Stage Door Players, Dunwoody, GA

 

Jack in Brighton Beach Memoirs (May 21 - June 6, 1992) at Southside Theatre Guild, Fairburn, GA

 

Sheriff in Starlite Waltz (March 20 - April 11, 1992) at Southern Fried Productions, Atlanta, GA

 

Scanlon in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (November 1 - November 24, 1991) at Tri-Cities Community Theater, East Point, GA

 

Freddy in The King is Dead (June 24 - June 27, 1991) at Atlanta Theater Project, Atlanta, GA

 

Supporting Characters in Hamlet (Fall 1980) at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN

 

King Neptune in King Neptune's Daughter (Fall 1979) at Southern Union State Junior College, Wadley, AL

 

Actor (Extra for Film/Television):

 

I’ll Fly Away (July 17, 1992)

 

            Deadly Relations (June 20, 1992).

 

In the Heat of the Night (July 9, 1992)