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ANITA L. RICH
Professor Interpretation & Performance
Studies
714G Pray-Harrold
arich@emich.edu
734-487-0797
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Degrees
PhD— Performance Studies, Southern Illinois University,
1996
MS— Speech Communication (Concentration: Performance Studies),
Southern Illinois
University, 1989
BS— Theatre, Ball State University, 1986
Professional Associations/Memberships
Central States Communication Association
International Playback Network
National Communication Association
Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed (PTO)
Playback Theatre in North America
Representative courses taught
CTAO 210: Interpretative Reading
CTAO 411: Adapting and Directing Literature
CTAO 415: Performing Personal Narratives & Oral Histories
CTAO 540: Personal Narratives & Oral Histories in Performance
CTAO 542: Adapting & Directing Narrative Theatre
CTAO 684: Workshop: Interactive Theatre
Advising
CMTA Comprehensive, BA—major and minor
Interpretation & Performance Studies, MA
Biography
Anita has a real passion for engaging students in the classroom,
co-curricular projects and
beyond. She is proud to have been honored for teaching excellence
by the Central States
Communication Association as well as in 2008 when she was awarded
an EMU Alumni
Association Teaching Excellence Award. One of her joys is exposing
students to performance
studies festivals where they explore various notions and emergent
theories of performance and
text. An expert in interactive theatre methodologies and applied
performance, she is the director
of EMU’s 6 Figures Playback Theatre founded a decade ago.
Especially innovative, this
performance group and courses such as Interactive Theatre utilize
techniques to engage
audiences in addressing social issues and creating safe environments
for dialogue. Currently
Anita is working on two grants which give a sense of her service
and outreach with this type of
work. One is an Academic Service-Learning grant in which Anita
has created and implemented
performative workshops for men in prison contexts. The second
is an EMU Women in
Philanthropy grant which supports a new interdisciplinary project
serving the university and
beyond. This collaboration between CMTA and WGST allows EMU students
to incorporative
interactive modes of inquiry including playback, image, forum,
newspaper theatre etc. into their
mentoring efforts with girls in after school programs. Anita
has presented papers and performances at numerous national and
regional conferences in
performance studies, theatre, and communication. She was especially
pleased to have served as
guest artist/visiting professor for Japan’s Ibaraki University,
the Petit Jean Performance festival
in Arkansas, and Alma College here in Michigan.
In addition to teaching and creative/scholarly efforts, Anita
has been an active representative on
national, regional and numerous university committees. Her interdisciplinary
approach and
performance studies background along with her energy and passion
have enabled her to work,
engage, and explore performance in rich ways with a wide range
of audiences in various
contexts. She looks forward to continuing this breadth and depth
of work and service in the
years ahead.
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