Tony Vezner
Assistant Professor of Theatre
Library Arts 121 Ph: (949) 854 8002 ext:
tony.vezner@cui.edu
Degrees Earned
University of Birmingham (U.K.) at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Centre, Stratford-on-Avon, England, Certificate of Study in Shakespeare, 1987; University of Louisville, B.A. in English and Theatre Arts, 1989; Indiana University, Bloomington, MFA in Directing, 1992.
Professional Experience
Associate Instructor, Indiana University, Bloomington 1990-1992; Adjunct Instructor, Concordia University, River Forest, IL 1992-1998. Adjunct Instructor, Moraine Valley Community College, Palos Hills, IL 1994-96; Co-Artistic Director, Circle Theatre, Forest Park, IL 1998-2000; Artistic Director, Theatre of Western Springs, Western Springs, IL 1998-2004; Producing Artistic Director, New American Theater, Rockford, IL 2004-2006. Concordia University since 2007.
Biography
At Concordia, Tony teaches acting, directing, theatre history and literature. He also directs mainstage productions, and serves as a director for the ACTS drama ministry troupes.
Tony taught at Concordia University River Forest where he also worked in drama ministry and directed A Midsummer Night’s Dream and own adaptation, The World on the Street. He also taught at Moraine Valley Community College and at the Theatre of Western Springs.
Tony has directed extensively for professional, community, and university stages. He served as Co-Artistic Director at Circle Theatre, a non-Equity professional theatre outside Chicago where he directed American Buffalo and Principia Scriptoria – both productions received Joseph Jefferson Recommendations. While he was at Circle, the theatre garnered six Joseph Jefferson Citations and was profiled in American Theatre for its work with playwright Rebecca Gilman. At the same time, he served as Artistic Director of a large community theatre, the Theatre of Western Springs. There he founded a lecture series featuring top Chicago-area professionals and launched a play development program. Under his leadership, TWS was recognized for its “Outstanding Contribution to Community Theatre” by the Illinois Theatre Association. Favorite directing credits at TWS include: Anna Karenina, The Laramie Project, The General From America, The Tempest, The Importance of Being Earnest, Tartuffe, As Bees In Honey Drown, The Last Night of Ballyhoo, Pride’s Crossing, The Winter’s Tale, Kindertransport, Pride and Prejudice, A Life in the Theatre, Endgame, The Visit, and Tom Stoppard’s adaptation of The Seagull. Tony then served as Producing Artistic Director at New American Theater, a professional Equity theatre in Rockford, Illinois. His credits at New American include: Around the World in 80 Days, Five Women Wearing the Same Dress, Over the Tavern, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Bad Dates, his own adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, and the rock-opera Tommy featuring Broadway star Manley Pope. Recently he directed Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol at the Chance Theater in Anaheim Hills.
He has served on the board at the Oak Park Shakespeare Festival, the Committee on Regranting at the Hinsdale Center for the Arts, and has been a member of the Chicago Director’s Forum. He has given workshops for Christians in Theatre Arts conferences and has sat on panels for the Chicago Director’s Forum and the Bailiwick Director’s Festival.
Tony, his wife Heather, and their children Olivia and Ben attend St. John's Lutheran Church in Orange.