Guest Artists: Fall 2012
 
Daniel Durant

Daniel Durant will play Stinger in the production Police Deaf Near Far from October 4 to October 14. Mr. Durant was born in Detroit, Michigan and grew up in Duluth, Minnesota. He fell in love with acting when he was 7 years old. He became involved in many different plays as he grew up and graduated from The Minnesota Academy for the Deaf in 2008. Daniel spent 3 years at NTID/RIT and transferred to Gallaudet University where he spent a year. He decided to leave Gallaudet when he was offered a role by Deaf West Theater in Los Angeles in the play Cyrano. Daniel now lives full-time in LA.

Garrett Zuercher

Garrett Zuercher will play Chad in the production Police Deaf Near Far from October 4 to October 14. Nearly ten years after Quid Pro Quo, the play he wrote and directed as a college senior, went to the Kennedy Center as part of the American College Theatre Festival, Zuercher is thrilled to return to his roots and once again participate in an ACTF production. An actor, director and playwright based in New York City, his work has been seen around the world on stages and screens, both big and small. Notable roles include the lead of Huckleberry Finn in the Broadway national tour of Deaf West’s Big River, and a murderer on Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Hailing from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he graduated magna cum laude from Marquette University with degrees in English and Theatre Arts. Much admiration and gratitude to Danny and Shelly for allowing him to be a part of this dream production, Karen for her patience and guidance, Joey for providing magnificent use of his voice, Daniel for being his partner-in-crime, and to the rest of the cast and crew for just being the awesome people they are. Garrett is a proud member of AFTRA, SAG, and Actors' Equity.


Guest Artist: Winter 2013

Dave Campbell

Dave Campbell will be working on campus as the director of Legally Blonde. Dave is a graduate of The Ryerson Theatre School, and has been working in the entertainment industry for more than 25 years. He has performed on major North American Stages from coast to coast as well as internationally. He has toured with the National Arts Centre, sang operas, cruised oceans, and spent a lovely two years at the Princess of Wales with the original Disney Beauty and the Beast Company.  Over the last 10 years he has been best known as a live TV choreographer. Credits include Canadian Idol, (six seasons) Radio Free Roscoe, Deal or no Deal, Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?, the 17th and 18th Gemini Awards and Canada’s Walk of Fame with WWE Star Trish Stratus, and last year with Howie Mandel. He appeared for 4 seasons as a regular on YTV's The Next Star. Last year he was honoured to make his debut on London's West End with the creative team of A Round Heeled Woman starring Sharon Gless. For theatre, he has directed, among others, Henry and Alice, Into the Wild, Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks, Murder in Noirville, Sexy Laundry, Married Alive, Thumbs, Forever Plaid, Cats, Pump Boys and Dinettes, The Buddy Holly Story, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Suds! One of Dave's favorite directorial credits however, will always be Kiss Me Kate, starring OU's own multi-talented Fred Love. Dave's US credits include direction of 42nd Street, The All Night Strut, On The Town, The Andrews Brothers, and the choreography of My Fair Lady, Working, cult classics Reefer Madness, and Grey Gardens, as well as the premiere of Bombshells the Musical at Actor’s Playhouse. This is Dave's 3rd season as Artistic Director, and co-founder of the LaughOutLoud Theatre Festival at the Orillia Opera House. In 2006 Dave was nominated for The Governor General’s Award for potential of excellence in direction. Read more about Mr. Campbell on his website here.  Legally Blonde will run from January 31 until February 10, 2013. For more details about the production read here.


Theatre Program Partner
 
TerpTheatre

TerpTheatre has worked with the OU theatre program at OU since 1998, shadow-signing select performances to be accessible to the Deaf community. Shadow-signing is an interpretation experience which is an art in itself and can be enjoyed by all members of the audience. TerpTheatre's website explains it best. “While TerpTheatre’s team members have worked in a variety of sign language interpreting settings, our specialty is shadow interpreting on stage. Shadowed interpreters are placed on-stage with actors, and move throughout the stage space so that audience members can see the actor and understand dialogue at the same time." In this unique approach, interpreters compliment the performance – and Deaf patrons participate more fully.” Danny McDougall and Shelly Tocco are co-founders and co-managers of TerpTheatre. Read more about them and TerpTheatre here.