By Michelle Hines , University Relations
Contact: (336) 334-5371
Posted: 6-11-07
Jim Fisher.
GREENSBORO, NC – On July 30 Jim Fisher will be in New Orleans receiving a national drama award. Two days later, on August 1, he will join UNCG, starting his position as head of the university’s Theatre Department.
“UNCG has such a vital and vibrant program already,” said Fisher, who has taught at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Ind., since 1978. “Being a part of that excitement and quality is very attractive to me. I felt a strong connection to those people, and I really wanted to be a part of what’s going on there. They have a diverse, interesting faculty and staff. And the students are strong—very strong.”
He receives the 2007 Betty Jean Jones Award from the American Theater and Drama Society July 30. The Jones Award is the highest honor given to individual ATDS members. Jones, who died in a plane crash in 1997, was a professor of theatre at The University of Michigan. She received her MFA in Drama from UNCG in 1978 and taught there for 12 years, from 1982-1994.
Fisher got to know Jones, whom he greatly admired, through professional organizations. “She was a fantastic scholar in our field,” he said.
Fisher’s connection to UNCG may also have something to do with the fact that he is an alumnus, graduating in 1976 with an MFA in Acting/Directing. The university’s Theatre Department now includes 19 teaching faculty, seven adjunct faculty members and about 325 undergraduate and graduate students. Fisher succeeds Tom Humphrey as department head.
Fisher has written numerous books, countless journal articles, book reviews and play reviews about American theater. His books have included “The Theater of Tony Kushner: Living Past Hope,” and bio-bibliographies of Eddie Cantor, Al Jolson and Spencer Tracy.
“He was so real,” he said of Tracy. “I wanted to be an actor like that.”
But Fisher instead earned his own reputation as a teacher, scholar and director. He has twice received the prestigious McLain-McTurnan-Arnold Research Award from Wabash College and was named Indiana Theater Person of the Year in 1996.
“It’s been a very happy spring,” he said.
