Faculty and Staff

Faculty

Alan Arrivée - Associate Professor of Film Production 

Alan Arrivée is a filmmaker, writer, and artist and Associate Professor of Film Production in the BFA in Film Production Program. His short film SILENT RADIO was awarded Best Foreign Film at The European Independent Film Festival 2007 in Paris, and his short THE ORIGINAL I.Q. TESTER received the Founder's Choice Award at the 2015 Queens World Film Festival. His short play THE ORIGINAL I.Q.TESTER was a finalist for the 2007 Heideman Award and was published in The Tusculum Review.

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Raey Bagley  - Instructional Assistant Professor of Stage & Production Management 

Raey Bagley (They/Them) has been a professional stage manager for almost 20 years. They received their MFA from the University of Alabama. They have worked in various regional, summerstock, community, corporate events, concerts, conventions, and more, most recently serving as a Production Stage Manager for Shenandoah Summer Music Theatre. Some of Raey’s recent credits include Jersey Boys, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Alcina, and Il Barbiere de Siviglia.

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Michael Barnett  - Chair & Professor of Lighting Design

Michael Barnett is Chair & Professor of Lighting Design in the Theatre & Film Department where he heads the BFA Lighting Design Program. Recent designs include: National Tour (Forever Plaid, Miracle on 34th Street); North Shore Music Theatre (Grease, The Sound of Music); Faction of Fools (Our Town, Titus Andronicus); Barter Theatre (TarzanBeauty & the BeastAlways…Patsy ClineThe Wizard of Oz, Kiss Me Kate, Forever Plaid); Arkansas Repertory Theatre (Always…Patsy Cline); Tennessee Repertory Theatre (Sweeney ToddBig RiverSuperior DonutsCabaretA Christmas Story )...

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Donna Buckley - Instructional Associate Professor of Costume Technology

Donna Buckley is a costume technologist, costume designer and costume historian. She is  an Instructional Professor of Costume Technology at the University of Mississippi.  She received her Master of Fine Arts in Costume Design from Wayne State University and her bachelor of Arts from Oakland University. Donna’s work experience has covered many areas in theatre from musicals and children’s theatre, to classical drama and dance. Some of her favorite films that she has worked on are Superman vs. Batman, Oz the Great and Powerful and All’s Faire in Love.

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John Carden  - Assistant Professor of Musical Theatre

John Carden is the youngest countertenor ever to have been awarded a contract at the Metropolitan Opera. Long recognized for his artistry as an international performer of musical theatre, opera, oratorio, jazz, and cabaret, he is currently an assistant professor of musical theatre in the department of Theatre and Film at The University of Mississippi, focusing on musical theatre voice. Carden, a countertenor, received his vocal training from the University of North Carolina School of The Arts. In his senior year, he entered The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the Met’s competition for promising young singers.

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Annalise Caudle - Instructional Assistant Professor of Lighting Design

Annalise V. Caudle is a Theatrical Lighting Designer. Originally from DeSoto, Texas, she received her MFA from Texas State University. Annalise has worked regionally as both LD and ALD for companies such as Milwaukee Rep, Florida Rep, The Paramount Theatre, The Goodman, ZACH Theatre, and Maine State Music Theatre. 

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Leslie DeLassus - Instructional Assistant Professor of Film & Gender Studies

Leslie DeLassus is an Instructional Assistant Professor of Gender Studies and Film for the Sarah Isom Center for Women and Gender Studies and for the Department of Theatre and Film. Her courses include Gender and Sexuality in Cinema, Comedy in Film, and Drama in Film.She has published chapters in Australian and American Cinemas: International Perspectives and The Image in Early Cinema: Form and Material, which examine the relationship between the practices of film preservation and film history.

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Carey Hanson - Professor of Costume Design

Carey Hanson is a Professor of Costume Design at the University of Mississippi. Her costume experience has covered a wide range of theatre, dance, opera, musical theatre, and theatre for youth. Carey has worked professionally with The Santa Fe Opera, Utah Opera, Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre, Unicorn Children’s Theatre, Sundance Summer Theatre, Old Lyric Repertory Company, Harper Joy Theatre, The Pink Garter Theatre, and Playmill Theatre-Jackson. Carey has worked professionally in the costume industry since 1991 and has been teaching costuming in higher education since 2000.

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Sarah Hennigan - Associate Chair & Assistant Professor of Film Production

A Dallas-born Cherokee filmmaker, Sarah grew up on-set and backstage, and has been involved in the arts ever since. Her directorial work has been seen in festivals such as LA SkinsFest and the Green Bay Film Festival. Outside of writing and directing her own films, she focuses on documentary and narrative cinematography, with work recently shown at the Austin Film Festival, the Texas Filmmaker's Showcase, and seen on PBS. Her most recent short as a Cinematographer, I Am Mackenzie won the SXSW 2019 Texas Shorts Jury Prize.

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Joe Jackson - Instructional Assistant Professor of Musical Theatre Dance 

Joe Jackson is Instructional Assistant Professor of Musical Theatre Dance. He earned his M.A. in Directing at Roosevelt University - Chicago College of Performing Arts and received his B.F.A. in Musical Theatre at the University of Mississippi. He specializes is Musical Theatre Dance & Tap, and brings over twenty years of professional acting and dance experience to the university. Professionally Joe has performed in New York, regionally, and internationally, and has also been involved in multiple readings and new works.

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Juli Jackson - Visiting Assistant Professor of Film Production 

Juli Jackson is a filmmaker and media artist who creates narrative and nonfiction work focusing on art and creativity’s ability to uplift the individual and impact others forever. They specialize in screenwriting, directing, and experimental film and animation production techniques. They received their Master of Fine Arts in Film and Media Arts from Temple University and their Bachelor of Fine Arts from University of the Arts in Philadelphia. They specialize in screenwriting, directing, and experimental film and animation production techniques.

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Rory Ledbetter - Associate Professor of Voice & Acting

Rory Ledbetter is Associate Professor of Voice, Speech, and Acting in the Theatre & Film Department. He received his MFA in Theatre Directing from Florida State University in 2004. He is a certified Associate Teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework® and has extensive training in the Linklater Voice Progression, Knight-Thompson Speech Work, and Patsy Rodenburg's voice methodologies. Rory has studied Clowning with Chris Bayes, Avner the Eccentric, and Elizabeth Baron.

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Bryan McAdams - Instructional Assistant Professor of Musical Theatre

Bryan McAdams is a professional music director, keyboardist, music producer, vocal coach, composer/lyricist and educator who has worked and performed in 15 countries as well as most of the United States. His credits as music director and/or associate conductor include Grease (Equity 1st National Tour with Taylor Hicks), Rock Of Ages (1st/2nd National Tours), Rock Of Ages (Las Vegas, Original Music Director, 1,200 performances), Elton John’s Billy Elliot (Equity 2nd National Tour), Kiss Me Kate (2nd National Tour) and Tenors Of Rock (Theatrical Rock Concert).

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Lauren Bone Noble - Assistant Professor of Movement for the Actor

Lauren Bone Noble is Assistant Professor of Movement for the Actor in the Department of Theatre and Film.  Lauren has studied Lecoq based movement styles with Giovanni Fusetti, Charlie Oates, Susan Chrietzberg, David Bridel and Ronlin Foreman. Professionally Lauren has performed both on and off Broadway, regionally at Studio Arena Theatre, The Denver Center Theatre Company, Portland Stage Company, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre and Arkansas Rep.  Lauren has also worked internationally at Vienna’s English Theatre. 

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John Rash - Assistant Professor of Film Production & Southern Studies

John Rash is a filmmaker, photographer, and video artist who has worked as visual storyteller and educator in the United States and China. John earned his M.F.A. in Experimental and Documentary Arts from Duke University. John’s research and teaching are focused on Documentary Studies, Southern Studies, film production, avant-garde cinema, expanded cinema, and moving-image installation. John’s creative work explores cultural outsiders and environmental topics through lens-based media as informed by documentary traditions.

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Matthew Shifflett - Instructional Associate Professor of Theatre Arts

Matthew Shifflett is a theatre historian and writer who has worked professionally as a playwright, a dramaturg, and an actor. He holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from Virginia Commonwealth University and a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland--College Park. He has previously taught at Georgetown University and Montgomery College and has led acting workshops at Shepherd University. He is a member of the American Society for Theatre Research, the Mid-America Theatre Conference, and the American Theatre and Drama Society.

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Teresa Simone - Instructional Assistant Professor of Theatre Studies

Teresa Simone is very happy to join the theatre faculty at the University of Mississippi. Teresa has a PhD in Theatre from Florida State University, where she was a Legacy Fellow. She has won several awards for her research, including the Southeastern Theatre Conference’s Young Scholars Award, a PEO Scholar Award, and the American Society for Theatre Research’s Helen Krich Chinoy Dissertation Fellowship. Teresa’s research examines nationalist pageantry, emphasizing how women’s and children’s pageant performances model ideal citizenship...

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Jared Spears - Instructional Professor of Scenic Technology

Jared, a native of the Mississippi Delta, is a designer and sculptor who received his MFA in Theatre Design from the University of Mississippi in 2005. Jared was a co-recipient of the Mississippi Governor’s Award For Excellence in the Arts in 2002. In 2010, Jared received a special achievement award from The Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters for his work on The Passions of Walter Anderson: A Dramatic Celebration of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Artist


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Dan Stearns - Assistant Professor of Acting

Dan Stearns is Assistant Professor of Acting in the Department of Theatre and Film. In 2009 he received his MFA from the Shakespeare Theatre's Academy for Classical Acting at the George Washington University. He holds two degrees from the University of Chicago where he was also a Lecturer in both Humanities and Theatre and Performance Studies, as well as production manager of University Theater. While living in Chicago he worked at the Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and others. His on-camera experience includes television, commercials, industrial film, independent film, and new media.

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Michael Tuxhorn - Instructional Assistant Professor of Film Production

Michael Tuxhorn is a writer and filmmaker from Colorado Springs who has always been fascinated by image and narrative. Michael got his MFA from Loyola Marymount University, under the mentorship of award-winning screenwriters and dynamic filmmakers. Michael’s work is often focused on identity and perspective, and his hope to help other filmmakers create work reflective of their unique voices.

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Pria Wood - Instructional Assistant Professor of Theatre Arts

Dr. Wood is deeply invested in understanding how the stories people tell themselves–through drama, film, performance, and history–affect human behavior and thought. Their research focuses on cross-cultural avant-garde, cognitive science, popular culture, and gender within the US, Europe, and Japan during the 20th and 21st centuries. They have presented work on the shared corporeal topography of Butoh dance and live zombie performances and the cognitive effects of certain kinds of dramatic language and their publications include works on gender representation in theatre (Into the Woods) and film (Aliens), as well as performance and book reviews.

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Adjunct Faculty

Roxie Thomas Clayton - Adjunct Professor of Dance

Roxie Thomas Clayton is a native of Tupelo, Mississippi.  She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre from the University of Mississippi, where she was one of six dancers chosen for the Dwight Rhoden Choreography Project, which was then showcased at the Kennedy Center.  While attending school Roxie was extremely active in Mississippi: The Dance Company, where she was a featured soloist and choreographer. Roxie completed her Master of Arts in Dance at Shenandoah University, where she studied with Alan Arnett, Ting-Yu Chen , Maurice Fraga, Kim Gibilisco, Elijah Gibson, Erica Helm, and Linda Miller.

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Lydia Siniard Foster - Adjunct Professor of Dance

Lydia Siniard Foster is the owner and Artistic Director of Oxford Academy of Dance Arts as well as the founder and owner of Hinge Dance Company, LLC where she also serves as Artistic Director. While at the University of Mississippi, Lydia danced with Mississippi: The Dance Company where she attended the American College Dance Festival as a dancer and choreographer. She also began Hinge Dance Company as a student-led dance company while attending Ole Miss and eventually made it a professional company to include dancers at Ole Miss and the North Mississippi area. 

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Christina Huff - Adjunct Professor of Film Production

Christina Huff is an award winning documentary and experimental filmmaker originally from Berkeley, California. Huff earned an M.F.A. in Documentary Expression in 2022, an M.A. degree in Southern Studies in 2020, and a dual B.A. degree in Art and Southern Studies in 2017 all from the University of Mississippi. Huff's research and project interests include Southern LGBTQ storytelling, gender studies, oral history, documentary archiving, and interdisciplinary learning methods.

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Beth Reeves  - Adjunct Professor of Theatre Arts

Beth Reeves is a professional teaching artist/actor/director who is a graduate of Columbus State University Department of Theatre and Dance, where she received her M.Ed. in Theatre Education. She teaches African-American Theatre Performance and Socially Responsible Theatre (Theatre for Social Justice) for her alma mater. Beth has worked with Dalton Little Theatre, The Creative Arts Guild, Georgia Thespian Conference, Speak with Purpose (Seattle, Washington), The Springer Opera House, Fountain City Poetry Slam, Alabama Educational Theatre Association among other arts organizations throughout the years.

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Faculty Emeritus

Joe Turner Cantú - Professor Emeritus of Theatre Arts

An actor trainer, director, and playwright, Joe is head of the acting program and is a teacher of acting, directing, and playwriting. His teaching expertise is in acting process, acting styles, and voice. For ten years, Joe was artistic director of Oxford Shakespeare Festival (OSF), a summer theatre on the Ole Miss campus.  His professional playwriting credits include several productions throughout the country of his play Rock and Betty Dance, winner of a Rockefeller playwriting grant award. His play American Cowgirls performed at a theatre festival in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria.

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Dex Edwards - Associate Professor Emeritus of Scenic Design

Dex holds an MFA in Directing from the University of Mississippi and has spent the last 15 years designing and directing nationally and internationally. During six years as resident designer at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, his designs won the Critics Choice Award three years in a row. Regionally, he has designed for theatres such as Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Long Wharf Theatre, The Brooklyn Academy of Music, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, Portland Centre Stage and the Sacramento Theatre Company.

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Rhona Justice-Malloy - Professor Emerita of History & Literature

Rhona Justice-Malloy is a Professor of Theatre at the University of Mississippi. She is a Fellow of the College of Fellows of the American Theatre, a Fellow of the Mid-America Theatre Conference, and a Fellow of the Sarah Isom Center for Women and Gender Studies. She received the University of Mississippi, College of Liberal Arts, Research, Scholarship and Creative Achievement Award. She has served as President of the Mid-America Theatre Conference and was the editor of Theatre History Studies for nine years.

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Jennifer Mizenko - Professor Emerita of Movement & Dance

Jennifer Mizenko is a Professor of Movement for the Actor and Dance at the University of Mississippi, where she has run the Theater Department's dance program since 1989 and the movement program since 1996. Jennifer's duties include teaching jazz and modern technique classes, plus dance composition, dance appreciation, movement for the actor, and directing the university dance company, Mississippi: The Dance Company. Throughout her tenure at Ole Miss, Jennifer has continually enhanced her skills as a movement instructor.

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René Pulliam - Associate Professor Emerita of Theatre Arts
Since 1993, René Pulliam has been head of the BFA program in Musical Theatre at the University of Mississippi. She received her BA in Music from Whittier College in 1972 and her MFA in Dance/Choreography from Mills College in 1992. She has directed and/or choreographed hundreds of musicals across the United States, including the West Coast premieres of SmileCloser than Ever, and Over Here. She has been awarded the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Award for her choreography on No, No Nanette and Good News.

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Production Staff

Mary Ball - Costume Shop Manager

Mary Ball, formerly known as Gietzen, is excited to be the Costume Shop Manager for the Ole Miss Theatre and Film Department. She received her MFA in Costume Design, at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. This is where her love of running a shop was born. During this time she learned that working with the students to discover their passion made her journey much more rewarding. She enjoyed teaching them the basic techniques needed to create!

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Ike Davis - Film Production Intern

Ike Davis is a cinematographer, editor, assistant director, gaffer, key grip, and actor. From saving lives to saving fries he is an up-and-coming jack of all trades. Working as a two-person crew, he is the recipient of the Boone Media Feature Interview of the Month for September 2022. He has a cinematography credit for Spilled Milk, an acting credit for Feral, and a grip credit for Dreams all shown at the Oxford Film Festival.

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Jeffrey Hannah - Master Electrician

Jeffrey Hannah is pleased to be celebrating his tenth year as Master Electrician at the University of Mississippi. Originally from Troy, Michigan, Jeffrey holds an MFA in Lighting Design from the University of Illinois, as well as a BA in Theatre Performance from Oakland University, additionally he has completed internships at the Ozark Actors Theatre and Jeff Daniels’ Purple Rose Theatre Company.

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Cory Kosman - Sound Designer

Cory Kosman is a Sound Designer from just outside of Cleveland, Ohio. He holds a BFA in Theatre Design and Technology from The School Of Theatre and Dance at Kent State University with a focus in sound design. He has designed for Kent State (Thoroughly Modern Millie, Into The Woods, Irena’s Vow), Cortland Repertory Theatre (Legally Blonde, Mamma Mia, Hair, Kiss Me Kate, Mary Poppins), and Coercion Theatre Company (The Maybe Pile). Cory has also worked as the Sound Superviser for Cedar Point’s Live Entertainment Department for multiple summer seasons.

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Felipe E. Macias - Technical Director

Felipe E. Macias is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Eastern New Mexico University (ENMU) where he served for 25 years as Designer and Technical Director in the Department of Theatre and Dance.  While at ENMU Mr. Macias served as department chair for eight and a half years, was named Outstanding Advisor and honored with the Spirit of Eastern award for outstanding achievement as a faculty member. Mr. Macias has designed over 150 productions including, in 2015, the world premiere and subsequent European tour of the opera Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.   

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Elena Romero - Properties Designer

Elena Romero studied scenic design at the Savannah College of Art and Design, graduating with a BFA in Production Design and Minor in Furniture Design. After graduating she worked as a scenic artist for a theme park and museum fabricating company near Orlando, FL. She returned to the world of theater in 2020 as a props artisan and supervisor for Gulfshore Playhouse in Naples, FL. She now resides as the props designer in the Department of Theatre & Film at Ole Miss. As a Florida native, Elena is happy to be in Mississippi to explore different seasons besides a year-round tropical summer.

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Jonathan Smith - Film Equipment Manager

Jonathan Smith is a documentary filmmaker, writer, and geek.  He has a life-long love of story, although he took detours through careers in I.T. and archaeology before he found his home in film.  He has been able to combine these diverse skills to support others' film projects through research, technical and equipment advice, and IT support, in addition to creating films of his own.  His short film, “Remembering Elwood Higginbottom”, has been shown to community groups and city governments in support of lynching memorialization, as well as showing at several regional film festivals.

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Lisa Wilson - Costume Shop Assistant

Lisa Wilson is currently the Costume Shop Assistant at University of Mississippi. She recently graduated with her MFA in Costume Design/Technology from Kent State University. She moved to Mississippi after spending eight years costume designing in Cleveland, Ohio primarily for children’s shows and Theatre for Young Audiences.

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Ed Neilson
Master Carpenter
jeneilso@olemiss.edu

Professional Staff

Katie Gidley - Secretary

Katie Gidley earned her B.A. in English from the University of Mississippi with an emphasis in Creative Writing and a minor in Theater Arts. She is currently earning her Masters in Teaching from the University and is so thrilled to be working for the department who contributed so much to her education! She plans to go into secondary education where she will be teaching both English and Drama.

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Katherine Stewart - Program Coordinator

A Massachusetts Yankee in King Faulkner’s court, Katherine was raised in New England by Arkansan parents. After earning a degree in linguistics from the University of Iowa, she moved to Little Rock and embarked on a serpentine journey through the publishing world that included newspaper reporting, book fact-checking, and the editorship of a statewide magazine. Coincidentally, her first magazine job was at The Oxford American.

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