NU Theatre welcomes new director, associate director

Niagara Frontier Publications, May 17, 2007

Dr. Sharon Watkinson, chair of Niagara University's Department of Theater and Fine Arts and Brother Augustine Towey, C.M., director emeritus of Niagara University Theatre, have announced that Gregory Fletcher will succeed Brendan Powers, '96, as director of Niagara University Theatre. Powers will return to a full-time pursuit of national acting opportunities in June. In addition, Doug Zschiegner will replace the late Timothy Ward as acting faculty/associate director of Niagara University Theatre. Both Fletcher and Zschiegner will join the department this summer.

Gregory Fletcher

Fletcher holds a masters degree in playwriting from Boston University and a Master of Fine Arts degree in directing from Columbia University. He also earned a bachelor's degree in theater arts from California State University at Northridge. Accomplished as a playwright and director at the Off-Off-Broadway level, and Equity stage manager at the Off-Broadway level, Fletcher brings more than 25 years of experience in the theater and university setting to his new post at NU. He has taught a variety of theater-related and writing courses at Wilkes University; Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania; Adelphi University; Boston University; Boston Academy of Arts; and California State University at Northridge.

Fletcher also has worked as an assistant-to-the-director to such celebrated individuals as Sir Peter Hall and Adrian Hall on Broadway, at the Metropolitan Opera, and at the Dallas Theater Center, among other theaters. He has also worked as a stage manager with more than a dozen well-known directors such as Trevor Nunn (Broadway's "Chess") and Ed Berkeley (Off-Broadway's "The Odyssey"). As a playwright, Fletcher has written a number of full-length plays, one-acts, and ten-minute plays. He received the 2005 Mark Twain Prize for Comic Playwriting and the 2004 National Ten-Minute Play Award, both from the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival.

Doug Zschiegner

Zschiegner (CHEEG-ner) holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Professional Theatre Training Program at the University of Delaware. He earned a certificate at the National Shakespeare Conservatory in New York and holds a Bachelor's of Arts degree from Illinois Wesleyan University. Zschiegner has extensive experience as a professor, director and actor and he has been a member of the Actor's Equity Association since 1992, having acted in more than 40 productions. Most recently, he served as a visiting assistant professor at Virginia Tech & State University in Blacksburg, Va., teaching advanced directing, directing, advanced acting, and a performance lab, as well as directing a musical. Earlier, he was a visiting associate professor at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa., and at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa. He previously served as an instructor/director for the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia; a director/respondent for the Bonderman Symposium at Indiana Repertory Theatre of Indianapolis, Ind.; an instructor for McCarter Theatre of Princeton, NJ; and an adjunct assistant professor at Radford University of Radford, Va.

Zschiegner also spent nine years as resident director and director of education and outreach for the Mill Mountain Theatre of Roanoke, Va., directing 30 full productions each season. He earlier worked as a fine arts specialist for the Wyman Center of St. Louis, Mo.; as an acting instructor of the Utah Shakespearean Festival; and as a fine arts seminar creator and leader for the American Players Theatre of Spring Green, Wis. He is affiliated with the Association for Theatre in Higher Education; and the ASSITEJ International Organization, Theatre for Youth. He is also an American College Theatre Festival Respondent.