Kathleen F. Conlin

Kathleen F. Conlin mades her directorial debut at The Colony Theatre with the production of Shaw's wonderful and witty classic, Candida. She has had a varied career in both the professional theatre and the arts in higher education. As a director, she has devoted her career to the Tony Award-winning Utah Shakespearean Festival where she has directed Shakespearean plays, modern American comedies and dramas. Celebrating her twentieth year with that Festival, she has been instrumental in its growth to a major regional theatre with both summer and fall seasons and an acting company of over sixty actors and an increasing number of AEA/ LORT contracts. 

Productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Tempest at Utah and Hamlet (at the Krannert Center in Illinois) have showcased her work specifically in collaboration with lighting designers and composers. Her collaboration with scenic designer Eric Stone on A Midsummer Night's Dream was chosen for exhibition internationally at the Prague Quadrennial. 

She has spent nearly thirty years as an arts administrator, award-winning teacher, and dean. Developing new arts technologies, increasing international networks, and bridging the intellectual agenda of the campus with innovation in the arts practice have been hallmarks of her accomplishments. Currently she is the Barnard Hewitt Professor of Theatre and Director in Residence at the University of Illinois and the Associate Artistic Director/Casting Director for the Utah Shakespearean Festival. A member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, she has been installed as a Fellow of the American Theatre in ceremonies at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.

February, 2009