Department of Theatre & Dance Faculty and Staff

Department of Theatre & Dance

Faculty

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Eric Griffis

Eric Griffis

Chair, Costume Design Faculty
Campus Theatre #202
478-445-8273
Education

MFA, Costume Design & Technology, University of Southern Mississippi

Website
Biography

Eric received his BA in Theatre from Southern Arkansas University (Magnolia, AR) and his MFA in Costume Design & Technology from the University of Southern Mississippi (Hattiesburg, MS). 

At SAU, Eric designed costumes for a number of productions including Buried Child, How I Learned to Drive, and See How They Run. Following his undergraduate work, Eric was the Associate Youth Director for the Jefferson Davis Parrish Arts Council's (Jennings, LA) youth theatre program and designed costumes and other technical aspects for their productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream and A Bad Year for Tomatoes. In his time at USM, Eric designed costumes for Early One Evening at the Rainbow Bar & Grille,Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Much Ado About Nothing (women's costumes), Moon Over Buffalo, and Fefu & Her Friends. In 2006, Eric assisted Costume Designer Peggy Stamper and her Assistant/husband Fred Lloyd as an Extras Costumer on the ABC/ESPN film Ruffian. Following that, Eric worked in the Wardrobe Department at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival for the 2007- 2008 season. For GC, Eric has designed costumes for Eurydice, Yours, Anne, The Rover, The Smiles, RENT, and The 1940's Radio Hour. Other recent designs include South Pacific at the New London Barn Playhouse and the Southeastern premiere of Good Boys and True at Actor's Express. 

Eric's areas of research include 20th century costumes, the symbolism of color, and digital costume rendering. 

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Amelia Pelton

Amelia Pelton

Director of Dance
Miller Studio 105
478-445-8619
Education

MFA, Dance, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL

Biography

Amelia Pelton has been a choreographer and dance instructor for more than 20 years. She holds a BFA in dance from the University of Southern Mississippi, where she was named Most Outstanding Dance Major, and a MFA in dance from the Florida State University, where she was a finalist for the Most Outstanding Dance Major Award. At USM Amelia was Lt. Captain of the Dixie Darlings, the precision dance team. At FSU she was awarded a full teaching assistantship in ballet and tap dance. She wrote and implemented the dance program at Wallace College in Dothan, Alabama, a program that was adopted by the state of Alabama for it's junior college system. In Dothan she served as assistant director of the Southeast Alabama Dance Company. Her choreography was performed by that company in the Southeastern Regional Ballet Association's annual concert. Amelia developed and implemented the dance minor program at Georgia College and has directed the university's Community Dance Program since it began in 1995. 

Amelia was named to Outstanding Young Women of America. She has been active in community theatre in numerous locations for many years, having choreographed, danced, and starred in such musicals as: Oklahoma, Funny Girl, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, South Pacific, Mame, Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, Annie, The Music Man, Anything Goes, and numerous children's musicals. Amelia is also the director of the liturgical dance group at First United Methodist. She has three children. 

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Jeremy Cudd

Jeremy Lee Cudd

Assistant Professor of Performance
Campus Theatre #205
478-445-2404
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Beate Czogalla

Beate Czogalla

Professor of Lighting and Stage Management, Production Manager
Campus Theatre #203
478-445-1632
Education

MFA, Theatre Design, Virginia Tech

Biography

Beate M. Czogalla is delighted to be a part of the Department of Theatre at Georgia College as the Assistant Professor in Theatre Design since the Fall of 2000. She has a BA and MA degree in Theatre from Giessen University (Germany) and an MFA degree in Scenography and Lighting Design from Virginia Tech. Her credits at GC include A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Glass Menagerie, The Wild Duck, Quilters, The Beggar's Opera, On The Verge, Our Town, Julius Caesar, The Dining Room, You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown, The Taming Of The Shrew, An Evening of Pinter, Pippin and The Illusion. 

Ms. Czogalla has designed internationally with credits at theatres in Giessen, Frankfurt, Bad Hersfeld and Stuttgart, Germany; Wroclaw and Warsaw, Poland; Lige, Belgium; Chepstow, Wales, Great Britain; Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, and in the United States, and she is a founding member of the monumental Canadian outdoor theatre production, And Wolf Shall Inherit The Moon, mounted in Haliburton, Ontario every August. Since the Fall of 2000 she has worked as a Scenographer and Lighting Designer at The Warehouse Theatre in Greenville, South Carolina, and at 7 Stages in Atlanta, and since the summer of 2002 she has designed three shows per year for the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival in Allentown/ Center Valley, Pennsylvania. 

She was the Resident Lighting Designer for the New Harmony Theatre from 1990 until 1997. Prior to that she worked at Actors Theatre in Louisville, Kentucky, The Road Company in Johnson City, Tennessee, and Playhouse 460 and the Studio Theatre in Blacksburg, Virginia. She has done concert and architectural lighting design and consulting for a variety of clients and has served as the Lighting Supervisor for the Lincoln Amphitheatre at Lincoln State Park, Indiana, from 1995 until 2000. As an active member of NASA's Teacher in Space/ Space Education Program she serves as a community volunteer conducting workshops for children and adults of all ages, and in late 2000 she was appointed as a Solar System Ambassador by JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory/ NASA), a position she plans to hold for many more years. She is also a certified Advanced Open Water Diver and a passionate hiker and kite builder. 

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Department of Theatre and Dance | Natalie King

Natalie King

Senior Lecturer in Dance
Miller Studio 105
478-445-8619
Education

MFA, Dance, Arizona State University

Biography

Natalie King was born in Pell City, Alabama and studied as a teenager at the Alabama School of Fine Arts under the direction of Madame Sonia Arova. While at ASFA, she performed corps de ballet roles in Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, Romeo and Juliet, La Bayadere, and Swan Lake, as well as,attended Joffrey Ballet and American Ballet Theatre Summer Intensives. Upon graduation, she attended Sweet Briar College where she earned a Bachelor of Art in Dance, Elementary Education Certification K-6 and Dance Education Certification K-12. Professors Mark and Ella Magruder afforded her opportunities to train with artists, such as, David Dorfman, Dan Froot, Meredith Monk, Lynn Neuman, Sarah Skaggs, Doug Varone, and Petrus Bosman.

Mrs. King was then accepted into Arizona State University Graduate Dance Program where she coordinated the university’s community dance program, Moving Inventors, and was selected to teach major and non-major courses including, Dance for the Regular Education Classroom and Modern Dance Technique. In partnership with Arizona State University alumni Erica Neilson, she co-designed content for a web based E-book to enhance the scholarship of the online dance community and provide dance pedagogists with technology based solutions for content delivery. She has presented her curricula for national organizations, including Congress on Research in Dance, Popular Culture Association and National Dance Education Organization. Previously, Mrs. King taught dance for seven years in an inner city high school located in Phoenix, Arizona. There she fulfilled many roles as the dance director, professional learning community facilitator, instructional leader for the performing arts department and summer arts program director. Most recently, she has come full circle back into collegiate academia as the newest dance instructor within Georgia College State University’s Dance Minor Program where she teaches dance technique and theory courses.

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Amy Pinney

Amy Pinney

Associate Professor of Performance
Campus Theatre #201
478-445-7318
Education

PhD, Performance Studies, Speech Communication, Southern Illinois University

Biography

Dr. Amy Pinney received her MA in Theatre from the University of Missouri, Columbia, and her PhD in Performance Studies from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. She teaches Acting II, III, and IV, as well as Directing and Theatre History. Dr. Pinney has published essays in Theatre Topics, Qualitative Inquiry, and Theatre Annual: A Journal of Performance Studies. Her research interests include Performance Ethnography; Women in Performance History; and Performance Pedagogy.

Dr. Pinney is currently active in multiple academic organizations. GC productions include Coyote Point,Eurydice, RENT, To Kill a Mockingbird and The 1940's Radio Hour.

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Ryan Jones - Department of Theatre and Dance

Ryan P. Jones

Lecturer of Theatre
Campus Theatre #206
478-445-2406
Education

MFA, Stage Management, Wayne State University

Biography

Ryan P. Jones received his BFA in Technical Theatre from Southeast Missouri State University, emphasizing in Stage Management & Costume Technology. He received his MFA in Stage Management from Wayne State University in 2017. Ryan has worked across the country as a costumer and stage manager. Some of his favorite shows he has worked on were Grease (SEMO), Beauty and the Beast(Theatre West), Inspecting Carol (Hilberry Repertory Theatre) and Meet Me in St. Louis (Ozark Actor’s Theatre). He has also worked on many original productions, including the original Scenic Design for Murphy’s Law (SEMO) and stage management for Wayne State University’s Adaptation of A Christmas Carol.

Along with his work in theatre, Ryan has a strong background in dance and music. Areas of study outside of theatre include the history of the Ritual and Symbolism of the Roman Rite, Sacred Music, and the Philosophy of Art.

Support Staff

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Technical Director Patrick Hamilton

Patrick Hamilton

Technical Director
West Campus Scene Shop
478-445-1241
Education

BA, Theatre, Georgia College & State University

Biography

Patrick received his BA in Theatre from Georgia College and State University and has returned to his Alma Mater to serve as the department's Technical Director and Scene Shop Supervisor.

Over the past decade, Hamilton has worked as a freelance Scenic Designer and Technical Director building up a resume that boasts over 100 productions. He has presented work across the Middle Georgia area through shows such as Noises Off, Once on This Island, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

He began his career at The Historic Grand Opera House in Macon, Georgia, working his way from the box office to backstage leadership, where he managed local crews and technicians during touring Broadway productions such as Once The Musical, Annie, and FAME. Upon construction of The Monroe County Fine Arts Center in Forsyth, Georgia, The Monroe County Board of Education recruited Hamilton to manage the 1200 seat state-of-the-art facility. In this position, he oversaw all venue production, box office, marketing, and talent booking. He worked with artists such as Don McLean, The Gatlin Brothers, and comedian John Crist. 

He has co-presented research on the price of theatre textbooks across the country at the USITT Annual Conference. He served as the Vice-Chair of the Gordon College Fine, And Performing Arts Advisory Board, served as a member of The Macon Little Theatre Board of Directors, and served on the Arts Education Grant Panel for the Georgia Council for The Arts. He is also the Scenic Designer and Technical Director for Mercer University Opera. 

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Cathleen O'Neal

Cathleen O'Neal

Costume Shop Manager
Porter Hall #106
478-445-1981
Education

MFA, Costume Design & Technology, University of Alabama

Biography

Cathleen came to Georgia College in the fall of 2017 from Virginia where she had been working at her alma mater Radford University as their costume shop manager. She graduated from RU in 2011 with a B.S. in Theatre and went on to attend graduate school at The University of Alabama. Cathleen earned her MFA in Costume Design and Production in spring of 2014.

She enjoys working as a freelance costume designer as well as an educator and has worked for various professional theatre companies including The Virginia Shakespeare Festival, Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre, Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Camp, and Aurora Theatre. This past spring Cathleen had the opportunity to design The Little Prince for Holy Innocence Episcopal School in Atlanta. Cathleen loves all elements of the costuming and enjoys learning new techniques and expanding her knowledge in the industry. She enjoys working on sewing projects at home for friends and family as well as herself. She and her husband Andrew live in Covington, GA with their dog Dixie and cat Carpenter.