Jeffrey M. Cordell

215 Hermann Fine Arts Center / Marietta College / Marietta, OH 45750
Office: 740-376-4691 / Cell: 412-427-8776
Jeff.Cordell@marietta.edu

Employment

2006-present
Assistant Professor, Theatre Department, Marietta College
- Instructor for Acting I, Acting II, Auditioning, Audition Preparation, Theatrical Make-Up, Gay Drama, Greek and Roman Drama, and American Drama

2004-2006
Teaching Fellow, Department of Theatre Arts, University of Pittsburgh
Assignments included:
- Instructor for Introduction to Dramatic Art, Introduction to Shakespeare, Queer Theatre, Acting I, and Introduction to Performance
- Marketing and communications assistant
- Continued service as company manager/archivist for Pitt Rep
- Paint shop manager and scenic artist

Summer 2005 -- Production Manager, Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre
- Managed technical, personnel, budgetary, and scheduling needs for three professional productions: Stones in His Pockets (including tour to Barrow Civic Theater in Franklin, PA), The False Servant (U.S. premier), and Henry (world
premier adaptation by Thomas Kilroy of Pirandello’s Enrico IV)

2001-2004
Teaching Assistant/Graduate Student Assistant, Department of Theatre Arts, University of Pittsburgh
Assignments included:
- Research assistant to Dr. Lynne Conner
- First-ever staff charge artist
- Public relations/marketing assistant
- Instructor for Introduction to Performance and Acting I
- Teaching Assistant for Scene Painting
- Created position of Company Manager for Pitt Rep

Teaching Experience

Undergraduate Courses, University of Pittsburgh (open to majors and non-majors)
Introduction to Performance
Introduction to basic acting skills including: warm-ups, audience and rehearsal protocol, development of the vocal and physical instrument, relaxation and energizing techniques, focus techniques, performance analysis and critique, playing within given circumstances, pursuit of objective, basic script writing and reading skills, scoring a script, and a final 4-6 minute realistic scene study.
Acting I
Working from Uta Hagen’s Respect for Acting, students build on the foundation of Introduction to Performance with specific focus on talking and listening, organic movement from impulse, and sustained investigation into character and scene dynamics through three scene studies.
Introduction to Dramatic Art
Exploration of sixteen plays (majority from the Western tradition) to introduce students to techniques in reading drama, analyzing dramatic literature, and seeing drama as a blueprint for infinite creative potential in production. Students also contend with the arc of dramatic literature from the Greeks to contemporary psychological realism in order to understand drama’s link with history and an ever changing world. Reading and writing intensive class.
Introduction to Shakespeare
Exploration and analysis of nine plays to explore Shakespeare’s language, historical context, major themes through the canon, and approaches to Shakespeare on the page, on the stage, and on film. Emphasis is on encouraging students to grapple with how this literature comes to life in the theatrical medium and its place in their current world. Reading and writing intensive class.
Queer Theatre (new course)
Intensive reading course in American plays of the last 100 years that dramatize queer themes or were written by queer artists; playwrights ranging from Gertrude Stein to David Mamet. Plays are read alongside selections from the field of Queer Theory, chapters from Queer theatre histories, and productions of several plays under investigation. The focus of the course is to arrive at a working definition of Queer Theatre and to investigate its “use value” as an area of scholarly inquiry.
Scene Painting – Teaching Assistant to Julie Ray
Introduction to the tools and techniques of scenic art including: brick, stone, marble, foliage, wood, monochromatic design, drapery, enlargement from rendering, color mixing and color theory, perspective drawing, preparing soft goods and soft flats, as well as hands-on production work and critique sessions.
Contemporary Musical Theatre – Interim Instructor (new course)
Offered lecture/discussion on Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Musical. Course was arranged chronologically from 1960s to present and applied a neo-Marxist theoretical lens to the material selected.

Shakespeare-in-the-Schools Teacher Workshops, University of Pittsburgh
Session Title: “Strategies in Reading Shakespeare Aloud in the Classroom, or What Did I Just Say?”
Offered to high school instructors of theatre and English; focus on teachers modeling good reading/performing behaviors, use of audio resources in the classroom, techniques for helping students appreciate the text, prepare its rhythms, and plan an interpretation before reading aloud.

Johns Hopkins’ CTY/CAA Courses: Hood College, Frederick, MD & Dickinson College, Carlsisle, PA
Drama (Western Drama Survey) - Teaching Assistant to Matt Buchanan
Shakespeare: From the Page to the Stage and Beyond - Teaching Assistant to Paula Orlando
Literature and the Arts (Flaubert, Hopper, Stevens) - Teaching Assistant to David Hayes

Awards & Honors
Nominee for annual Elizabeth Baranger Excellence in Teaching Award, 2006 & 2005
- competition sponsored by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Graduate Student Organization
Recipient of 2003-2004 Ph.D. Graduate Teaching Award for Outstanding Teaching in the Department of Theatre Arts – award selected by faculty

Academic Service

University of Pittsburgh
- Served as 2004-2005 TA/TF Teaching Mentor in Theatre Arts
- Conducted the Spring 2005 Teaching Colloquium in Theatre Arts
- Conducted Fall 2004 and Spring 2005 Audition Workshops (approx. 35 students per session)
- URTA coach for Sentell Harper (MFA acting, Arizona State University) and Ben Blazer (MFA acting,
University of South Carolina)
- Served as Production Advisor for lab production of Guyer’s The American Century
- Served as Charge Artist Advisor on Arms and the Man
- Attended AY 04-05 Pitt Performance Curriculum Summit
- Served as Secretary for the Duse Society (Campus Theatre Graduate Student Group)
- Served occasionally as Graduate Student Faculty Meeting Representative

Marietta College
- Served on Theatre Advisory Board (2001-2006)
- Offered Workshop: “Costume Rendering Tips & Techniques” to four sections of Melissa Hill Grande’s
Costuming class (2002-present)
- Visiting teacher in Directing, Play Production, and American Drama classes (Spring 2005)
- Offered Viewpoints Workshop for cast of Waiting for Godot (Fall 2004)

PR, Marketing, and Company Management

New Place Collaborations (Summer 2005—)
–Editing work on press release and PR materials for Mrs. Shakespeare ~ Will’s First and Last Love, a one woman show written and performed by Yvonne Hudson
- Program layout and design for Opera Theater Pittsburgh’s The Ring: Rhinegold & The Valkyrie; coordinated publicity performance at The Galleria, Mt. Lebanon, PA.

Pittsburgh Pride Theatre Festival (Summer 2005—)
- Streamlined mailing list and developed fall fundraising letter for 2006 festival
- Designed main image for posters, programs, handbills, and print advertisements
- Contributed to copy for: call for manuscripts, auditions, and festival press release

University of Pittsburgh Repertory Theatre (2002-2005)
- Created Company Manager position during 03-04 season, remained in position for 04-05
- established protocols to encourage consistent operations of the following for every production
a) information gathering for season brochures, press releases, and production marketing images
b) information gathering for production programs (including bios, director’s notes, dramaturgical essays, and staff listings)
c) publicity photographs and distribution to media outlets
d) creation of media packets
e) production archiving: video and photography, previews, special interest articles, reviews, ads, and
calendar listings
f) opening night department functions
- worked to create a consistent level of support for marketing of lab series
- designed posters and programs
- proposed new budget strategy for posters and programs for these productions
- participated in the re-opening and dedication ceremony of the Charity Randall Theatre
- participated in the dedication ceremony for the Fred Kelly Lobby
- attended production meetings as PR/Marketing liaison for eight mainstage productions
- worked to maintain company morale and information flow by regularly visiting rehearsals (particularly key while forging new collaborations with non-resident artists and Equity companies)
- involved with scheduling and execution of department functions including, but not limited to: faculty book releases, post-show talk backs between cast and audience, departmental post-production feedback sessions, reception of student groups.
- integral to maintaining display cases and information kiosks in and around the three theatres
Portfolio available upon request.

Conferences
- 2006 Tennessee Williams Scholars’ Conference, New Orleans, LA
Paper: “Looking Through Similar Wickets: 'Three Players of a Summer Game' and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”
- 2006 Comparative Drama Conference, Los Angeles, CA
Paper: “Williams’ Period of Adjustment: High Point Over a Cavern: A Serious Comedy: How Williams Shakes Over the Chasm of Genre”
- Attended 2005 Tennessee Williams Scholars’ Conference, New Orleans, LA
- 2005 Duse Mini-Conference, Pittsburgh, PA
Paper: “Partners in One Grief: Tragedy of Suffering in Persians and Jeffrey”
- 2004 Comparative Drama Conference, Columbus, OH
Paper: “Through Similar Wickets: Narrative Strategy in 'Three Players of a Summer Game' and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”
- 2001 CMU/Pitt Drama Conference, Pittsburgh, PA
Paper: “'Isn’t it pretty to think so?': Intertextual Connections between Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and The Sun Also Rises”
- Attended SETC annual conference, 1999, Greensboro, NC and entered the Undergraduate Costume and Scene Design Competitions

(Please refer to Resumes page for Directing, Playwriting, Design, and Acting resumes.)