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Dr. Laura Grace Godwin (Dramaturg) was raised in Cincinnati, Ohio and holds a B.S. in Theatre from Ball State University and a Postgraduate Diploma from the University of Birmingham's Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-upon-Avon. While earning her doctorate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, she was active as a stage manager, dramaturg, and director. Before joining the Department of Theatre Arts at New Mexico State University, Dr. Godwin taught in the Theatre and the English departments at UIUC & served on the faculty at Parkland College. She currently teaches courses in London as part of Midwestern State University's British Studies Program. Dr. Godwin's work has been published in Shakespeare Bulletin, Cahiers Élisabéthains, Theatre Journal, and the American Review of Books. She has also presented papers at conferences held by the Shakespeare Association of America, the Marlowe Society of America, and the Modern Language Association. Her current research explores Shakespeare and his contemporaries in twentieth-century performance.
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Kate Pogue (Dramaturg) is a native of Evanston, Illinois, and received her undergraduate degree in Theatre from Northwestern University and her master’s from the University of Minnesota. She was the founder of the Drama program and writer of the theater curriculum for Houston Community College where she taught for over twenty years. During this time she was the Artistic Director of the Shakespeare by the Book Festival in Fort Bend County, Texas, and a founder, Artistic Director and Resident Librettist for Opera To Go, the educational outreach performance company for Houston Grand Opera. As a stage director she has worked for Houston Community College, Shakespeare by the Book, Houston Shakespeare Festival, Stages Theatre, Unity Theatre and the newly founded Summer Shakespeare at Notre Dame among other companies. As a librettist she has had commissions from Minnesota Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Texas Opera Theatre, Houston Grand Opera, and the Houston Symphony among others. She has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. A frequent lecturer on Shakespeare, she is currently a freelance playwright, librettist and stage director living in Houston, Texas. Her book on Shakespeare entitled SHAKESPEARE’S FRIENDS was published by Praeger in January 2006 and SHAKESPEARE’S FAMILY in January 2008. Her play FREEDOM TRAIN, a story about the underground railroad, was published by Encore Performance Publishing in January 2009. |
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Rachel Hemphill Dickson (Dramaturg) is a native of the Midwest but has been in Houston for 12 years. She received her Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from the University of Missouri-Columbia and while she still loves mathematics, she quickly learned that she prefers performance as part of her life journey. She secured a Master of Fine Arts in Acting from University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign. She worked as an artist in Chicago for 2 years where she was a company member of and outreach coordinator for Footsteps Theatre Company, a substitute teacher in Chicago Independent School District, two-time coordinator of the city-wide artist conference sponsored by Mass Photo, a volunteer for a local meal service church food pantry and for the Boys and Girls Club. She continued to do on-camera, voice-over, theatre and outreach work when relocating to Houston.
Here in Houston Rachel has taught as a substitute teacher in Houston, Klein and Aldine Independent School Districts. She has taught various theater topics at local churches, Main Street Theater, High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, Actor’s Theatre of Houston, and The Ensemble Theatre. She currently teaches at University of Houston-Downtown and Prairie View A & M University in the Music and Theater Department where she serves as the advisor to the Charles Gilpin Players. Her time teaching spanned kindergarten through twelfth grade, English to Spanish speakers, privileged to underprivileged, and academically advanced to special education and inspired her to secure a Master of Social Work degree. She continued the process to receive her licensure credentials with the intent to develop and create issue-based theatre by, for and about youth.
Her directing credits include: (Miller Outdoor Theater) Sarah And Joshua: A Juneteenth Musical; (Houston Ebony Opera Guild) Madame Butterfly (asst.); (Prairie View A&M University) Neat; Lend Me A Tenor, Harlem After Hour; Contributions; (St. Thomas University) Diana of Dobson (asst.); (Stages Repertory Theatre-Early Stages) The Courage of Mandy Kate Brown; (Main Street Theatre-KOS) Nights of the Rad Table; Beauty and the Beast; The Taming of the Shrew (asst.), The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; (The Ensemble Theatre: Mainstage/Touring/YP) A Christmas Carol (Co dir.), Noodle Doodle Box; A Woman Called Truth; Call the Shots; Velveteen Rabbit; The Not-So-Brave Prince.
Some of her favorite acting credits come from the following productions: The Man Who Saved New Orleans; Macbeth; Joe Turner’s Come and Gone; Ashes to Africa; Third; The Story; From the Mississippi Delta; The Toys Take Over Christmas; Checkmates; Tartuffe; Sin; Trial of the One Short-Sighted Black Woman vs Safreeta Mae and Mammy Louise; Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry; An American Daughter; Light in the Village; Coriolanus; and Amen Corner.
While Rachel has also served as Costume Designer, Stage Manager, Props Mistress, Touring Coordinator, Producer, and research Dramaturge on numerous productions, she is excited to be joining Wordsmyth Theater Company in any capacity. Her love of the craft, admiration of fledgling projects, and her interest in the richness of human life drives her to support this company. She is excited to learn and grow in the process.
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