Faculty

Adjunct Instructor in Theatre Design, Costume Designer

Education

• University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles CA, MFA in Costume Design 2006
• Middlebury College, Middlebury VT, B.A. in Studio Art and Psychology, 2003

Biography

Sarah is a recent addition to Concordia's theatre program, teaching classes on costume design and period styles of design for all disciplines. She also designs costumes for some of Concordia's mainstage productions, and especially enjoys involving students in that process. She recently taught a marker rendering workshop as part of a design symposium at her Alma Mater, Middlebury College, and while she was a student at UCLA she was a teaching assistant for a couple of undergraduate costume design classes.

Sarah grew up down the street from Concordia University in Mequon WI, and after studying and working on the East Coast, the Midwest, and eventually in the Los Angeles area, she feels blessed to be a part of Concordia's growing theatre program in Irvine. In addition to teaching, Sarah designs costumes for independent films and theater productions on and off campus. Recent theater credits include Metamorphoses and Paper Wings at CUI, Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol at the Chance Theater in Anaheim Hills, Les Mizery at Pasadena's G.A.T.E. Summer Musical Theatre Program, Plastic Crystal at the Open Fist Theatre in Hollywood, Twelfth Night at Fullerton's Muckenthaler Cultural Center, True West at the Promenade Playhouse in Santa Monica, and Love's Labours Lost at The Actor's Gang in Culver City, for which the LA Times called her "sublimely gifted in the art of minimalist fantasy."

Sarah's Costume Designs

Professor of Theatre, Associate Provost

Education

• Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, Ph.D., 1995
• Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, M.A., 1988
• Concordia College, River Forest, IL, B.A., 1984

Professional Experience

• Teaching Assistant, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 1985-86, 1987-88
• Visiting Instructor, Concordia College, River Forest, IL, 1987
• Research Assistant, Northwestern University, 1988-90
• Concordia University since 1992

Biography

Peter Senkbeil has been at Concordia since 1992. He is currently Concordia's Associate Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs, and he serves in the Theatre Department with the rank of full professor.

In 1995, he completed a Ph.D. in Theatre and Drama from Northwestern University; his doctoral dissertation focused on professional theatres run by Christians and their strategies for integrating faith and art. He has done follow-up research in this area and is currently working on a book on Christianity and theatre.

At Concordia, Peter teaches theatre history and literature and directs mainstage plays. He has served as producer of the Theatre Department's season of plays, and as the artistic director of ACTS, a theatre ministry troupe with six four-person teams that tour regionally to schools and churches. His directing credits at Concordia and elsewhere include the award-winning Cabaret, Romeo and Juliet, St. John's Gospel, You Still Can't, Pippin, A Doll's House, She Loves Me, An Inspector Calls, Twelfth Night, A Woman Called Truth, Cotton Patch Gospel, Edith Stein, 'night, Mother, Whose Life is it Anyway?, Traveler in the Dark, Much Ado About Nothing, Paper Wings, and The Cherry Orchard. While a graduate student at Northwestern, Peter adapted and directed The War Within, a full-length compilation play of German expressionist literature, presented as part of an academic conference and funded by a grant from the Goethe-Institute of Chicago. As an actor, Peter has appeared in productions of Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, Talley's Folly, Woyzeck, Getting Out, The Mikado, Ring Round the Moon, The Merchant of Venice, Pippin, The Man Who Came to Dinner, Camelot and many others.

Peter is a member of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education, and he has served as a circuit coordinator and play adjudicator for the Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival. Peter is also a charter member of Christians in Theatre Arts, an international arts networking organization with more than 900 members; he served as assistant editor (1989-91) and editor (1991-94) of CITA's publication Christian Drama(later Christianity and Theatre). Peter served as CITA's first vice-president (1990-94) and the first chair of its Board of Directors (1994-97); he has also served as a board member (1997-2000 and 2002-present).

He has led workshops and given papers at CITA regional and national events; he has presented papers at ATHE conferences; and he has led workshops at churches and theatres in various parts of the U.S. Before coming to Concordia, Peter worked for two years as the artistic director of Trinity House Theatre, a community theatre run by Christians in Livonia, Michigan.

Peter, his wife Kathryn, and their sons Lucas and Evan reside in Orange, California, where they are members of St. John's Lutheran Church.

Director of Theatre Activities, Assistant Professor of Theatre

Education

• The University of Illinois at Chicago, MA in Theatre, 1996
• Concordia University Chicago, BA in Education, focus: German and Communication/Theatre

Professional Experience

• Assistant to the Director of Development, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Chicago, IL, 1989-1990
• English and German teacher & director in co-curricular Theatre program, Sheboygan Lutheran High School, Sheboygan, WI, 1990-1992
• Assistant Professor of Communication/Theatre, Concordia University Chicago, 1994-2005
• Concordia University Irvine since 2005

Biography

Lori teaches theatre appreciation, acting, creative dramatics, and reader’s theatre. She directs mainstage productions, serves as a director for the ACTS drama ministry program, and she is the theatre department’s chair.

Recent highlights include two amazing trips:

In February 2010, The Foolish Proposal, a show that Lori and a group of students wrote/improvised in the style of Commedia del’ Arte, was invited to perform at the Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival Region VIII festival where it was received with standing ovations.

In July 2010, she served on the Mass Events Team for the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod’s National Youth Gathering held at the Superdome in New Orleans, LA. Lori directed The Network, a drama performed in short segments each night of the gathering in front of 25,000 attendees.

Other favorite directing credits include: A Year with Frog and Toad, Godspell, Love Letters, The Good Doctor, The Crucible, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Kindertransport, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, The Velveteen Rabbit, and Rumplestiltskin.

Lori has performed in community theatre and summer stock productions. Favorite acting roles include Amanda in The Glass Menagerie, The Baker’s Wife in Into the Woods, and Corrie in Barefoot in the Park.

Prior to her arrival at Concordia University Irvine, Lori taught and directed for 11 years at Concordia University Chicago, in the Art/Communication/Theatre Department.

Associate Professor of Theatre

Education

• Indiana University, Bloomington, MFA in Directing, 1992
• University of Louisville, B.A. in English and Theatre Arts, 1989
• Also studied at the University of Birmingham's summer Shakespeare course in Stratford-upon-Avon, England

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

Tony has directed over sixty productions for professional, community, and university stages. He teaches acting, directing, and dramatic literature and directs productions for the season. CUI credits include: Dancing at Lughnasa, Metamorphoses, The House of Blue Leaves, The Arsonists, and the award-winning Hamlet. Tony is a recipient of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival “Excellence in Education” award.

Tony was previously co-artistic director of Circle Theatre, a Chicago area non-Equity professional theatre. While he was at Circle, the theatre garnered seven Joseph Jefferson Citations. Simultaneously, he served as artistic director of the Theatre of Western Springs, a large community theatre. There he co-founded a lecture series featuring top 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 TWS credits include: Anna Karenina, The Tempest, Pride and Prejudice, Tartuffe, and As Bees in Honey Drown. He then became producing artistic director of an Equity theater, New American Theater. Credits there include: Around the World in 80 Days, Bad Dates, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and the rock opera Tommy. Locally, he has directed professionally for the Chance Theater. Tony has given workshops for Christians in Theatre Arts conferences and sat on panels for the Chicago Director’s Forum and the Bailiwick Directors' Festival.

Tony, his wife Heather, and their two children attend St. John's Lutheran Church in Orange.

Assistant Technical Director

Degrees Earned

• Concordia University, B.A. in Art and Theatre, 2010

Biography

Hannah recently joined the theatre department as the Assistant Technical Director. She assists with the technical production of all of department's mainstage productions and enjoys training students in the technical aspects of theatre. She also has had the opportunity to design costumes for several productions at Concordia including Hamlet, The Man of LaMancha, I Never Saw Another Butterfly, as well as Concordia's annual fundraiser, "Gala of the Stars".

When not at Concordia, Hannah keeps busy working in the entertainment industry all over Southern California. She freelances as an Associate Technical Director, Assistant Art Director, Stage Manager, and Scenic Artist for several production companies including Walt Disney Studios, Sets Unlimited, Pfinix Creative Group, The Lewis Family Playhouse, and Musical Theatre of Orange County.