Master of Arts degree program, UMKC Theatre Department

Tanya Barber, in her third year of MA studies, is also working as a teaching artist with Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre. She has designed costumes for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at Paseo High School, acted with the Barn Players, and served as dramaturg for the Coterie-UMKC Theatre co-production of The Macbeth Project. Last season Tanya understudied for Doubt and To Kill a Mockingbird at Kansas City Repertory Theatre, performed in Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre's production of A Man of No Importance, and stage managed MET's production of Lettice and Lovage. She also worked in KCMO schools with MET's teaching artist team. This summer Tanya was an actor for MET's 2008 Playwright's Intensive and was also seen in the Kansas City 2008 Equity Showcase. She is now preparing for her new position as Director for HEART Theatre Co., a K-12 drama program for home educated students. Look for her in MET's upcoming production of The Crucible. Somewhere in there she will be completing her thesis this academic year...

Tony Bernal is currently completing his Masters of Arts degree under Dr. Felicia Londré. As a local theatre artist, Tony has served as dialect coach for the Unicorn Theatre’s Rising Water, the Actors Theatre of Kansas City’s Absurd Person Singular and The Talley Plays, and Music Theatre Heritage’s production of BRIGADOON. He music directed two original musicals for Theatre League’s inaugural Crossroads Musical Theatre Festival and was assistant to music director Anthony Edwards at Bar Natasha for three years. His acting credits at the Coterie Theatre include a Wickersham Brother and the Mayor of Whoville in Seussical, which he will reprise this winter, Norbert in The Happy Elf, in which he worked with the composer, Harry Connick, Jr., and Armand in Once On This Island. School projects have included director of The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told, the role of Morris Dixon in Present Laughter, dramaturg for The Heidi Chronicles and The Darker Face of the Earth, dialect coach for Our Town, Cloud 9, All In the Timing, and voice coach for The Trojan Women. Last February Tony was asked to direct for the Playwriting Symposium at the Mid-America Theatre Conference. He is a graduate of Kansas University and the American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) in New York City. Tony is a member of VASTA.

Thomas Canfield holds a Ph.D. in English, with a specialization in Elizabethan drama, from the University of Louisiana. During his first year in the M.A. program, he was the dramaturg for the UMKC-KC Rep co-production of King Lear; last season, he was the dramaturg for The Country Wife at UMKC and composed program essays for the Rep productions of Gee’s Bend and The Drawer Boy. Thomas spent the summers of 2007 and 2008 as dramaturg for Heart of America Shakespeare Festival’s Romeo and Juliet and Othello. This summer he also taught courses in Composition and Film Studies at National American University while continuing his duties as an online English instructor at Grantham University. During his final year at UMKC, Thomas will be the dramaturg for Great Expectations while completing his thesis, a history of the Circle Theatre in Kansas City.

Thomas Czerkawski holds a BFA in Theatre Performance from Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama. After ten years of working in various financial and media services positions, he is focusing on a course of theatre studies that leads to the Ph.D. and directing opportunities. Meanwhile he continues his work with Kansas City’s Theatre of the Imagination. This year he is working in the Bloch School, directing an original play by a Kansas City native, and serving as dramaturg for Tartuffe. Thomas and his wife Patrice have four children.

Bobbie Jeffrey is developing a theatre degree at Calvary Bible College where she directs and teaches theatre. She recently transitioned out of her position as founder and director of h.e.a.r.t. theatre company. Replacing her in that position is fellow M.A. student Tany Barber. After 2 and a half years in the MA program, she expects to finish at the end of summer 2009 ...still lovin' it!

Johnny Wolfe earned his BA in Theatre with emphasis in directing from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. At UNLV, he worked on the development of new plays and directed seven original works by MFA Playwrights. His directing credits there include The Dying House, recipient of the ACTF award for direction, and Harold Pinter’s Betrayal, which was produced on the Las Vegas Strip. At UMKC last season, he was dramaturg for The Cure at Troy and taught Foundations. which he will do again along with Megan Baker and James Carter. This summer he served as dramaturg for Taking Sides at Actors Theatre KC and was an intern to the managing director of Kansas City Repertory Theatre. This season he will be directing Nadya with Professor Tom Mardikes as well as one of the Five by Tenn pieces. He will also be dramaturg/assistant director for UMKC’s premiere of a new dramatization of The Master and Margarita. Johnny is married to actress Meredith Wolfe.