Dr.  Jean K. Wolski
Introduction My EIU Story Education & Training Conference Presentations Publications Funding & Grants Frequently Taught Courses Research & Creative Interests Professional Affiliations Update your profile

Dr. Jean K. Wolski

Emeritus Faculty Fax: 217-581-6027
Email: jkwolski@eiu.edu

INTRODUCTION


Dr. Wolski has been teaching theatre for close to forty years, and has been a member of Eastern’s faculty since 1993. As an undergraduate, she double majored in Music and Theatre at the University of Northern Iowa. She earned her Master’s degree from the University of Iowa in Performance Studies, with an emphasis in Voice and Movement, including work with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and KuKuRiKu, a Grotowski-based performance art group.  She received her Ph.D. from Michigan State University focusing on Children’s Theatre and Creative Dramatics, as well as work in acting and directing. Dr. Wolski is active in the Association of Theatre Movement Educators, having served for twelve years as editor of ATME News, ATME’s biannual newsletter, as a board member for the ATME digital kinetic journal, and as a mentor for new movement faculty across the country. Dr. Wolski has worked as a director and/or choreographer on numerous productions including Cole, As You Like It, Wiley and the Hairy Man, Philadelphia, Here I Come, Translations, James Joyce's The Dead, La Histoire du Soldat, and Medea. She is currently working with her husband, David, on a book, The Fifth Province: Transcending Irish Politics through Theatre.  When not at the theatre, she can be found in tap class, exploring lighthouses, or, whenever possible, in Ireland. 

My EIU Story

WORKSHOPS & TRAINING:
      MASKS - A National Conference: Workshop training in the building of and performance with various types of masks
   
      Workshop training in Children's Theatre and Creative Dramatics with Brian Way

      "Interpretation of Shakespeare": Workshops with the Royal Shakepeare Company

      Dance/Movment Training in Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Modern, Laban, and Period Movement

EIU Faculty Laureate 2003

Education & Training

 

  • B.A. Music and Theatre - University of Northern Iowa
  • M.A. Performance Studies -University of Iowa
  • Ph.D. with an emphasis in Youth Theatre and Creative Dramatics -Michigan State University

 

Conference Presentations

"Seventeenth Century Period Movement"
                Kansas State Theatre Conference

"Movement for the Actor: an Introduction to Laban Effort-Shape Movement"
                American College Theatre Festival

"Irish Treble Reel"
               American College Theatre Festival

"Scenes, Songs, Sonnets, & Soliloquies"
                Shakespeare tour throughout the state of Michigan

Publications

Original Plays for Children:
      ANYTHING CAN BE
      STUPID MARCO
      THE PLIGHT OF PUMPERSNEE
      FELICITY FREEPLE IS SOOO MEAN TO PEOPLE 

Articles:
      "Batting Practice"   ATME NEWS, Spring 2008, Vol. 16, No. 1
      "A Final Word...."    ATME NEWS, Fall 2010, Vol. 18, No. 2

Editor:
      ATME NEWS: 1998-2010
Editorial Board:
      ATME DIGITAL KINETIC JOURNAL
      YOUTH THEATRE JOURNAL
      STAGE OF THE ART
 

Funding & Grants

CU Release time for work on The Fifth Province: Transcending Irish Politics through Theatre (with David Wolski)

Summer Research & Creative Activity Grant:
     JAMES JOYCE'S THE DEAD: preliminary production research (with David Wolski)
     MACBETH: preliminary production research (with David Wolski)

Redden Grants for:
      Facecasting & Mask Making
      Stage Combat Materials
      Teaching of Musical Theatre

Michigan Council for the Humanities Grant:
      Funding a children's theatre tour of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan

Michigan State University Departmental Fellowship for Overseas Study:
      THE GRIPS Theatre of West Berlin
     
National Endowment for the Humanities Grant:
      Funding for an experimental team-taught course introducing the arts & humanities to students enrolled in technical programs.

Frequently Taught Courses

Stage Movement
Performing Voice
Topics in Acting
Topics in Movement
Dialects
Stage Makeup

Research & Creative Interests

Irish Theatre
Shakespeare
Stage Movement & Choreography
Dialects

Professional Affiliations

Association of Theatre Movement Educators
Society of American Fight Directors
Voice and Speech Trainers Association
Association for Theatre in Higher Education
American Alliance for Theatre and Education
Stage Directors & Choreographers Society