Elizabeth Carlin Metz

Meet Professor Metz

Years at Knox: 1995 to present

As a stage director in both the profession and academia, I am most stimulated and delighted by theatre that is visceral, provocative, and challenging. While I am interested in all forms of theatre, I am most drawn to contemporary non-traditional theatre that explores the human condition. I seek to integrate physical theatre techniques with more traditional Western theatre practices so as to discover new levels of expressiveness and meaning in theatre of all styles and genres and, thus, in the world.

I also serve as the Interim Chair for the Integrative Business and Management program and the founding chair of the minor in Arts Administration. I have served on the business coordinating committee since its inception and worked closely with founding chair of the program, John Spittell, reviewing curriculum and program ethos. John and I co-taught Arts Admin I for several years. I was the founding Artistic Director of Vitalist Theatre in Chicago and oversaw budgets, contracts, marketing, and the successful application for non-profit status. In the 20 years under my leadership, Vitalist won multiple awards, garnered numerous nominations for awards, and annually was listed in multiple theatre critics' Best of Season critical summaries. Additionally, I serve on the advisory board for Working Title Playwrights (Atlanta, GA), as President of the Board for the International Voices Project (theatre company in Chicago), and on the Board of Directors for the Galesburg Community Chorus. An experienced academic, I have chaired the department of Theatre for more than 10 years.

Education

M.F.A., 1983, Temple University.
B.A., 1976, Roger Williams University.

Teaching Interests

Acting, directing, voice for the actor, contemporary and cutting edge dramatic literature and performance, feminist theatre, Shakespeare, improvisational and devised performance, physical theatre, London Arts Alive: Arts in Social Context.

Selected Professional Accomplishments

Honors/Grants

Knox College Presidential Award for Faculty Excellence, 2022

(Director/Producer) Joseph Jefferson Awards Recommendation The Merchant on Venice, produced by Vitalist Theatre in association with Rasaka Theatre and The International Voices Project, 2018

(Director/Producer) Joseph Jefferson Award Recommendation, Multitudes, Vitalist Theatre in Association with Rasaka Theatre and the International Voices Project, USA Premiere 2016-2017.

Knox Mellon Faculty Career Enhancement Grant - Interdisciplinary Course Development with John Spittell: Development of Arts Management Program (Minor and Potential Major), 2016-2017.

(Director/Producer) Joseph Jefferson Award winner: Best Actress, The Night Season, Vitalist Theatre in association with The International Voices Project, Midwest premiere 2016.

(Director/Producer) Mother Courage and Her Children, Vitalist Theatre: Triple Chicago After Dark Awards for Excellence in Direction, Performance by an Actress, and Composition, Chicago, Illinois, 2008.

Mother Courage and her Children listed in Best of the Season Year-End Reviews (Chicago Sun Times, Chicago Tribune, The Chicago Reader, The Daily Herald, Gay Chicago Magazine, Performink).

(Director/Producer) A Passage to India, Midwest Premiere. Recommended for 2009 Joseph Jefferson Awards, Chicago, Illinois. Produced in Association with The International Voices Project.  Chicago After Dark Award for Excellence in Overall Technical Achievement.  

Philip Green Wright-Lombard College Prize for Distinguished Teaching, 2005.

(Director/Producer) King Lear (Vitalist Theatre) listed in Chicago Top Ten Plays, 2004 season (Performink, The Chicago Reader, The Chicago Tribune).

(Director/Producer) The Three Lives of Lucie Cabrol listed in Chicago Top Twenty Plays, 2003 season (Chicago Tribune, The Chicago Sun Times, The Chicago Reader)

(Director/Producer) The Mill on the Floss, Vitalist Theatre listed in Best of Season 1997 Chicago Tribune, The Chicago Sun Times, The Chicago Reader, Performink)

Productions

(Director) Our Town, Knox College 2025

(Director) She Kills Monsters, Knox College 2024

(Director) The Boat, International Voices Project 2021

(Director) Dracula: The Radio Play, Knox College 2020

(Director) Richard III, Knox College, 2018

(Director) Carl Sandburg’s The Goat, performed presented by the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame at the Harold Washington Library for the Chicago Literary Association, 2015

Performed prose text for the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement Induction Ceremony of author Harry Mark Petrakis at the National Hellenic Museum, Chicago, IL. Oct. 4, 2014.

Director: The Small Room at the Top of the Stairs, Victory Gardens Theatre, Chicago, 2013.

Director/Producer) USA Premiere Pool (no water) Vitalist Theatre in association with International Voices Project, 2011

(Director/Producer) USA Premiere, Calderone De La Barca’s La Vida es Sueño, Vitalist Theatre 2010

Director/Producer) Midwest Premiere of The Night Season, Vitalist Theatre Chicago, Illinois, 2009.

Director/Producer), World Premiere of Anung's First American Christmas, Vitalist Theatre, Chicago, Illinois, 2008.

Director, Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois, 2008.

(Director/Producer) A Passage to India, Vitalist Theatre, Chicago, Illinois, 2008.

(Director/Producer) Anna Karenina, Vitalist Theatre, Chicago Illinois, 2007

Director and Producer, Mother Courage and Her Children, Vitalist Theatre, Chicago, Illinois, 2006.

Director, As You Like It by William Shakespeare. Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois, 2006.

Director, Working by Studs Terkel. Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois, 2007.

(Director/Producer) Anna Karenina by Helen Edmundson. Vitalist Theatre, Chicago, 2005.

Director, The Skriker by Caryl Churchill. Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois, 2005.

(Director/Producer), King Lear by William Shakespeare. Vitalist Theatre, Chicago, Illinois, 2004.

(Director/Producer), The Three Lives of Lucie Cabrol, adapted by Theatre De Complicite (London) from the novella by John Berger. Vitalist Theatre, Chicago, Illinois, 2003.

Actress (Claire), A Delicate Balance by Edward Albee. Barn Summer Playhouse, Bristol, Rhode Island, 2003.

(Director/Producer) Chicago premiere of Floating Rhoda and the Glue Man by Eve Ensler. Vitalist Theatre, Chicago, Illinois, 1998.

(Director/Producer) The Mill on the Floss, Vitalist Theatre, Chicago 1997

Director, Macbeth by William Shakespeare. Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois, 1998.

Publications

"The Neuroscience of Performance Pedagogy" McCutchen, Jade, and Barbara Sellers Young, Embodied Consciousness: Performance Technologies. Hampshire, England: Palgrave Macmillan 2013: 31-45.

Interviewed in: American Theatre Magazine (March 2008) by Christy Smith; Chicago Sun-Times (September 2007) by Hedy Weiss; Chicago Sun-Times (October 1997) by Carol Wells.

"The Conduit." The Complete Voice and Speech Workout: Book and CD. Edited by Janet Rogers. Applause Books, New York, 2002.

"Mnemonic" (review essay on a London production by Theatre De Complicite). Voice and Speech Trainers Association. The Voice Journal. Edited by Vera Del. Applause Books, New York, 2001.

Thinkquest International Educational Web Design Competition team member, Julius Caesar, (second place), 1999.

Presentations

"A Neuroscience Based Approach to Directing Sam Shepard's A Lie of the Mind" Bowling Green State University Graduate Student Theatre Organization and the American Society for Theatre Research: Research Colloquium, Bowling Green, IN, February 2014.

"The Neuroscience of Acting." Paper, Associated Colleges of the Midwest Performance Educator's Conference, Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 2010.

International Conference on the Humanities (Hawaii, 2009) Panel Chair: "Creating Fusion--Communicating Across the Performance Disciplines."

"From Page to Stage." Reader/Adjudicator (new plays festival), Department of Cultural Affairs: Rasaka Theatre Company, Chicago, Illinois, 2009.

Master classes, "Physical Theatre" and "Choral Speaking." Academy for the Arts, Chicago, Illinois, 2005.

"The Conduit." In conjunction with the book debut of The Complete Voice and Speech Workout: Book and CD edited by Janet Rogers. Association of Theatre in Higher Education, 2002.

"Carry-over: Issues of Continuity from Classroom to Rehearsal and Performance." Association of Theatre in Higher Education, 2002.

"Breath: Linking Body and Voice with Rehearsal and Performance." Association of Theatre in Higher Education, 2001.

Campus & Community Involvement

• Arts Coordinator, Knox College.
• Co-founder and artistic director, Vitalist Theatre, Chicago, Illinois.
• Inaugural Member, Voice and Speech Trainers Association.
• Member, Association for Theatre in Higher Education.
• Associate Member, Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers.
• Member, Theatre Review Panel, Illinois Arts Council.
• Associate Artist, Premiere Theatre and Performance (Chicago).
• Director, British Theatre and Cultural Studies Program, Roger Williams University.