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.

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

Vitalist Theatre in Association with Rasaka Theatre and the International Voices Project present the USA Premiere of Multitudes, 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. The Night Season: Vitalist Theatre Chicago premiere.

Mother Courage and Her Children, Triple After Dark Awards for Excellence in Direction, Performance by an Actress, and Composition, Chicago, Illinois, 2008.

A Passage to India, Recommended for 2009 Joseph Jefferson Awards, Chicago, Illinois.

A Passage to India, After Dark Award for Excellence in Overall Technical Achievement, Chicago, Illinois, 2008.

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

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

King Lear listed in Chicago Top Ten Plays, 2004 season (Performink/The Chicago Reader).

The Three Lives of Lucie Cabrol listed in Chicago Top Twenty Plays, 2003 season (Chicago Tribune)

Productions

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 and Producer, Premiere of The Night Season, Vitalist Theatre Chicago, Illinois, 2009.

Director and 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 and Producer, A Passage to India, Vitalist Theatre, Chicago, Illinois, 2008.

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 and Producer, Anna Karenina by Helen Edmundson. Vitalist Theatre, Chicago, 2005.

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

Director, King Lear by William Shakespeare. Vitalist Theatre, Chicago, Illinois, 2004.

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

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.