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College of Arts & Letters Department of Theatre Arts and Dance Professor Theresa Larkin Office: MU 243 Biography Theresa Larkin is currently a tenured full professor (Performance Training: Acting, Directing, Voice Production, Diction, Dialects, Arts Management, BA/MFA) in the Department of Music, Theatre and Dance. She is a professional actress, theatre director, videographer, producer, video editor, conference planner, arts administrator, non-profit consultant, and founder/co-founder of numerous non-profit and profit companies, most notably: The Artists' Collective, Theatre for the 21st Century, Latino Classical Repertory (East Los Angeles Theatre Company), and Palar Consulting and Appraisal Corporation. Theresa has consistently been working in some capacity in the performing arts for over thirty years. As a conference planner she has worked on a national level for many years with Association For Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE-founding the Directing Forum in 1985), American Theatre College Festival (ATCF-Regional Festival Adjudicator since 1980), and Center for Theatre of the Oppressed/Applied Theatre Arts/Los Angeles (CTO/ATA/LA-Conference planning, co-founder, workshop leader). Recently, Theresa was a core conference planner for the international conference held in Hollywood at the Renaissance Hotel (home of the Kodak Theatre) celebrating Augusto Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed with colleagues from the CTO/ATA/LA. For four years she also served as Historian/Documentarian for CTO/ATA/LA. In 2007, Dr. Larkin was awarded a proclamation from the County of Riverside for an original multi-media work (with co-writer Mary H. Curtin) celebrating Mine' Okubo (Japanese-American internee artist famous for her camp drawings) entitled Mine': A Name For Herself. In 2009, she was honored by ACTF with an Excellence in Education Award for 27 years of volunteer service with this national organization. Academic degrees include a BA in Drama and Dance from Loyola Marymount University (1977); MFA in Drama from U C Irvine (Shakespearean Performance: 1983); Ph.D. and MA in Cultural Studies from Claremont Graduate University (Ph.D. in Grassroots Activism, 2011 and MA in Cultural Documentary, 2009). She also trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, London Contemporary Arts, Shakespeare and Company, Avid Editing, and numerous other training environments in the arts. Currently, Theresa is completing a second Ph.D. at European Graduate School in Saas Fee, Switzerland in Communications and Media Philosophy, with an expected completion date in early 2012 (ABD: Cancer and the Healing Arts). Previously, before coming to Cal State LA, Theresa spent three years as a tenure-track professor (MFA program: Acting / Directing / Voice / Movement) at San Jose State University; two years as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (MFA program: Acting / Directing / Voice / Movement); and three years as an Lecturer at University of California, Irvine in the undergraduate program (Acting). Professor Larkin has also taught at National University (27 years-multiple disciplines), American InterContinental University (9 years-multiple disciplines), Springfield College (5 years-Communications, Behavorial Science, Writing and Research), and guest lectured at numerous campuses around the world, including Santa Clara University, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Oberlin College, and Chulalongkorn University (Thailand), among other campuses. For a complete list of courses taught and productions directed since coming to Cal State, please go to www.theresalarkin.com As a professional director and actor, Theresa is a member of the following unions: Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, Screen Actors' Guild, Actors' Equity Association, American Federation of Radio and Televuision Artists. As a facuty member, she is a member of California Faculty Association. In 2002, Ms. Larkin was cited by veteran critic Polly Warfield (Backstage West) as a Living Legend of Los Angeles for her award-winning performance in 1981 as Lu Ann Hampton Laverty Oberlander (in the play 'Lu Ann Hampton Laverty Oberlander' by Preseton Jones). Ms. Larkin shares this honor with fellow actor, Jeffrey Meek, for his role as Skip Hampton. At present, she is working on a documentary series titled Artivists! and a one-person show on cancer, while she is restructuring her theatre company The Artists' Collective for the 2012-2013 season. |