Centenary Assistant Professor of Theatre Arts Gives Back to the Community Through His Love of Shakespeare

Hackettstown, N.J. – Professor Stephen Davis, Assistant Professor of Theatre Arts at Centenary College, is spending his winter break and part of the Spring semester doing what he loves best – teaching.  Instead of teaching college-aged students, however, he is donating his time at Blairstown Elementary School, hoping to inspire sixth-graders to love the famous author that he loves, William Shakespeare.  Their work will culminate with a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream for fellow students, friends and family on February 8, 2013 at the elementary school.

“This is my way to give back,” says Davis.  “I started studying Shakespeare in sixth grade and it forever changed my life, so I feel that it is important to share what I have learned with these students.  If even just one student discovers a passion for this work, it will mean that this project has been a great success.” 

Davis is especially pleased to work with this group, as the Blairstown area was one of the many areas that suffered damage from Superstorm Sandy that is located within a short distance of his home and work at Centenary.  The children that attend Blairstown Elementary School also missed two weeks of classes back in October and November, which is disruptive for any child. 

“There has been much sadness and devastation regionally over the last couple of months, first with Superstorm Sandy and then with the unspeakable tragedy of Sandy Hook,” says Davis.  “This is my way to respond to that grief and void in my heart.  I want to make a positive impact by teaching these students acting techniques through Shakespeare’s literature.”
 
“It is an honor to have Professor Davis mentoring the sixth graders in Blairstown,” says Blairstown Elementary Superintendent Mark Saalfield.  “This has been such a positive experience already that we would like to collaborate with Professor Davis in this manner on a yearly basis.  The students are so lucky to learn from his expertise.”

In addition, Davis will be working at Hackettstown High School with the drama instructor Stacey Higgins’ Theatrical Production and Design class on acting techniques through Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” as part of the Shakesperience NJ program, which is generously funded by the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation through the Folger Shakespeare of DC Education Program.  This will be Davis’ fourth year working with the Folger Program.  The Hackettstown high school students will perform an abridged version of “Twelfth Night” at the Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey in Madison on May 14, 2013.  At Centenary College, Davis will also be directing a college production of “Twelfth Night” which will run May 2-5, 2013.

Professor Davis’s directing credits at Centenary include Antigone, Lobby Hero, Ubu Roi, Italian American Reconciliation and a 90 minute adaption of Shakespeare’s Cymbeline.  He served as the fight choreographer for Breakfast with Mugabe, Oliver! (also playing Mr. Brownlow) and The Wizard of Oz (also Professor Marvel/The Wizard of Oz and Makeup Designer). 

He teaches courses in Stage Combat, Theatrical Makeup, Acting, Theatre History, Theatre Appreciation, and Drama as Literature.  In addition to working with the Hackettstown High School students, in the spring of 2013 he will direct Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night at Centenary College.  He has a B.F.A. in Acting from The Theatre School at DePaul University and an M.F.A. in Directing from University of South Carolina, where he received the Two Thumbs Up Teaching Award for making a difference in the lives of students with learning disabilities.  While at Centenary, Professor Davis was honored with the 2010-2011 United Methodist Exemplary Teaching Award.  Prior to Centenary, he taught and directed for Kean University, the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, an Playwright’s Theatre of New Jersey He teaches classes to all ages in stage combat, theatrical makeup, acting, directing, playwriting, video production and movement for the theatre.

About Shakesperience NJ and the Folger Shakespeare Library

Folger Teaching Artists in Schools is a comprehensive theater education experience in which secondary school students and their teacher work with a professional teaching artist over twelve weeks to prepare a script and craft a production, and perform on stage in front of an audience of peers and family members at New Jersey’s statewide annual student Shakespeare festival, SHAKESPERIENCE: NJ.  This outreach program—targeted to students who lack such arts and humanities education and offered at no cost to schools—will serve approximately 100 students and their teachers.  Called “one of the most memorable events in their lives” by a past participating teacher, this transformative experience instills a love of Shakespeare, performance teamwork, and learning in students who often find barriers to educational excellence: and it instills a tradition of performance-based education in classrooms, encouraging teachers to continue a curriculum rich in the performing arts and humanities beyond the program’s completion.

Home to the world’s largest Shakespeare collection, the Folger Shakespeare Library is a world-renowned center for scholarship, learning, culture, and the arts.  Folger Shakespeare Library is a leader in how Shakespeare is taught today.  It provides resources to more than four million teachers and students in grades K-12 each year and provides local outreach programs for families and the community.  It also publishes the Folger Shakespeare Library editions, the leading Shakespeare texts used in secondary schools in the United States.  Learn more at www.folger.edu.

About Centenary College

Founded in 1867 by the Newark Conference of the United Methodist Church, Centenary College’s academic program integrates a solid liberal arts foundation with a strong career orientation. This mix is designed to provide an educational experience that prepares students to succeed in the increasingly global and interdependent world.

Centenary College’s main campus is located in Hackettstown, N.J., with its equestrian facility in Washington Township (Morris County).  The Centenary College School of Professional Studies offers degree programs in three locations: Hackettstown, Parsippany and Edison, and at corporate sites throughout New Jersey.  The School of International Programs recruits international students for study at Centenary and Centenary students for study abroad.