Cynthia Gendrich

Professor, Acting/Directing

Dr. Gendrich directs annually for the University Theatre, as well as taking on occasional professional directing projects.  Since her arrival at Wake Forest in 1998, she has taught acting, directing, devised theatre, dramatic literature, introduction to theatre, first year seminars, and more.  The recipient of a 2010 NEH grant from the Enduring Questions program and 2018 NEA and NEFA grants, she is interested in comic theory, acting and directing history, theory, and practice, as well as global forms of experimental theatre.  Recent directing projects include The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Far Away, Marisol, Honk!, The Importance of Being Earnest, and Embers and Stars: the Story of Petr Ginz.  The latter was a two-year long research and writing project with her students, colleagues in Documentary Film, and Andy White, of the Tony Award-winning Lookingglass Theatre in Chicago.  As well as writing numerous articles on her own, Dr. Gendrich has collaborated with colleagues on both articles and books, including the well-known theatre appreciation text, Theatre, Its Art and Craft, now in its seventh edition.  She was the director of Wake Forest’s extraordinarily prolific Interdisciplinary Performance and the Liberal Arts Center (IPLACe), which–during its 8 year existence, 2012-2020–brought Wake Forest colleagues together in more than 250 interdisciplinary performance-based projects.

Courses Taught
Directing Seminar (THE 340)
Directing II (THE 342)
Directing Workshop (THE 381)
Studio Production (THE 385)
Acting Shakespeare (THE 344)
Acting I (THE 140)
Acting II (THE 245)
Acting Workshop (THE 281)
ClassAct Wake Forest (THE 290)
Introduction to Theatre (THE 110)
Development and Performance (THE 295)
Contemporary World Drama, SE Asia (THE 374/EA Studies 301)
Contemporary Dramatic Literature (THE 294)
Theatre History (THE 260)
Movement I (THE 131)
“Contemporary Drama and Issues of Mortality,” (THE 390, ENG 300) (a service learning course)

First Year Seminars (FYS 100)
“Mirrors and Portraits,” “Why Do People Laugh?”, “The American Family: Explorations in Theatre and Sociology,” (a service learning course), and “The Morality of Joy” (also service learning)

Individual Studies (THE 290)
Stage Management, Scene Study, Acting for the Camera, Audition Techniques, Playwriting,  Screenwriting, Theatre and Magic, Theory and Practice

Degrees
MA/PhD University of Missouri-Columbia
BFA Illinois Wesleyan University

Cindy Gendrich