TECHNICAL DIRECTION - Faculty

Chuck Hayes (Teaching Professor of Technical Direction) has been the head of the M.F.A. Technical Direction program at the University of Missouri-Kansas City since 1993 and technical director for Kansas City Repertory Theatre from 1993-2008. He was previously technical director at the University of Massachusetts/Amherst, Kent State University and the Fort Worth Shakespeare in the Park. He is an active member of USITT and a frequent presenter at their national conference. He teaches graduate courses in technical management, hand and computerized drafting, stage mechanics and automation, pneumatics, hydraulics and advanced rigging techniques. He holds an M.F.A. in design and technology from the University of Iowa.

Don Hovis (Visiting Assistant Professor of Technical Production) holds an MFA in Technical Production from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He has served as Assistant Technical Director or Technical Director for the University of Florida Department of Theatre, Southwest Missouri State University Department of Theatre and Dance and the University of Arizona School of Theatre Arts, overseeing construction for both undergraduate and graduate productions as well as teaching undergraduate and graduate level courses in all areas of technical production. He has also served as Assistant Technical Director and Technical Director of Stage Operations for the Houston Grand Opera. While at the opera he facilitated co-productions with Chicago Lyric Opera, Los Angeles Music Center Opera, Seattle Opera, and the Banff Centre for the Performing Arts. Mr. Hovis is also a proud graduate of the Kansas City Missouri Regional Police Academy where he received the Richard C. Fletcher Memorial Award for outstanding overall performance, and after his brief tenure as a law enforcement officer, his wife and daughter are pleased that he is enjoying his return to UMKC and his career in academic theatre.