Joel Fink

Joel G. Fink is Associate Dean of Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, where he has served as the Director of The Theatre Conservatory for the past 12 years. For 14 years he served as casting director and artistic associate for the Colorado Shakespeare Festival. Currently, Dr. Fink also works at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, as the company physical coach. He has directed and acted in numerous productions at theatres across the country. This past fall, he directed the Chicago production of “An Unkindness of Ravens,” which he also wrote, adapting it from works of Edgar Allen Poe. He has published other plays, numerous reviews, and articles.

Tawnya Pettiford-Wates

Tawnya Pettiford-Wates is a playwright, director, actor, poet, writer and teacher. Besides her many film, television and commercial credits, Tawnya has appeared with the Broadway company and in both national and international touring companies of “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / when the rainbow is enuf “ Tawnya is the artistic director and conceptualist for the Conciliation Project, a non-profit theatre organization devoted to open and honest dialogue about racism. She has enjoyed being a scholar in residence at numerous colleges and universities around the United States as well as in Sub-Saharan Africa and West Africa. In 2004 she joined the faculty of Virginia Commonwealth University Theatre Department as Head of Performance.

Davis Robinson

Davis Robinson is head of the theater program at Bowdoin College, and former head of actor training at Emerson College in Boston. His book The Physical Comedy Handbook was published by Heineman Press in 1999. He is also artistic director of the Beau Jest Moving Theatre, an award-winning ensemble that has appeared at numerous festivals and theaters, including several appearances Off-Broadway and at the Piccolo Spoleto Theater Festival. He has appeared in numerous films and commercials, and has taught and toured nationwide, with master classes each summer at the Celebration Barn Theater in Maine.