University of South Florida

School of Theatre & Dance

College of Design, Art & Performance

TheatreUSF Alumni

Alumni graduates from the University of South Florida's Theatre Program have diverse and successful careers. This list is by no means complete. Theatre professionals are always moving and obtaining current information is a challenge. These examples are merely highlights of the activities of some of our graduates. If you are an alumnus and do not see your name below, please email Kathy Langdon to get your highlight listed.

Here a few highlights of our graduates!

Performers

  • Kidany Camilo (BA, 2018, Theatre Arts) is a Chicago-based actor, director, and teaching artist. Originally from Bayamón, Puerto Rico, Camilo has their MFA in Acting from Purdue University (2022). Aside from the Meisner training they received at Purdue, they also taught classes to all the undergraduates in Acting, Theatre Studies, Script Analysis, and Characterization. When in Tampa, they’ve worked with companies such as Stageworks, ThinkTank Theatre, and Outcast Theatre Collective. In Chicago, they’ve worked with Chicago Shakespeare Theater in Shakesfest and Measure for Measure. Visit kidanycamilo.com for more information.
  • Grace Gealy Byers (BA, 2006, Theatre Arts) starred alongside Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson in the 2015 TV Series Empire as Anika Calhoun. Byers also starred as Reeva Page in Fox TV’s The Gifted (2018-19 Season).
  • Quentin Earl Darrington (BA, 2004, Theatre Arts) is an American actor and singer. Darrington has spent his career working on multiple roles as an original and replacement performer. Broadway: Once on this Island, Cats, Ragtime. Off-Broadway: The Secret Garden, A New Brain, Lost In the Stars, The Roar of the Greasepaint…. National Tours: Memphis, The Color Purple, The Lion King, Ragtime. Regional: Les Miserables, Drury Lane Theatre; Nicholas Nickleby, Orlando Shakes; Tarzan, the MUNY; Gee’s Bend, Cincinnati Playhouse; I Dream, Alliance Theatre; A Little Night Music, Sacramento Music Circus; Jacques Brel…, Straz PAC.
  • Michael Innocenti (BA, 2003, Theatre Arts) joined the Keegan Theatre in 2005 with A Streetcar Named Desire and was named a company member in 2006 with the U.S. and Ireland tour production of Death of A Salesman. In 2007, Michael was named to the newly established Executive Staff as Production Manager and has managed nearly 50 productions since that time. Directorial credits include The Sunshine Boys, Cabaret; Assistant Director for the musical Working. Lighting Designs include: Love, Peace, and Robbery (D.C./Off-Broadway), A Man of No Importance, Golden Boy, and The Crucible.
  • PJ Escobio (BA, 2000, Theatre Arts) has been a freelance Actor, Director and Educator for over 25 years and holds an MFA in Acting and Directing from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, where he first taught acting at the collegiate level. He is currently the Artistic Director of Shakespeare Frankfurt. Escobio cast and directed Undergraduate Playwriting Thesis projects at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts from 2007-2012. He was the Project Coordinator and Associate Artistic Director of WordBRIDGE Playwrights Laboratory from 2006-2012. He is also a voice over artist and has done projects for Red Bull, Lufthansa, and independent documentaries and animation shorts.
  • Kevin Wesson (BA, 2016, Theatre Arts) Chicago-based puppeteer/playwright, Wesson is an artistic associate with the Chicago Puppet Theatre Company, Rough House Theatre.
  • Blonde, a film by Joanna Strange (BA, 2001, Theatre Arts) won the Audience Choice and Best Thriller awards at the Festigious International Film Festival (2016) as well as an award at the Los Angeles Film awards.
  • Patrick Pizzolorusso (BA, 2002 Theatre) plays the title role of Borivoj Abeles in The Last Cyclist, For more information on Pizzolorusso’s career visit his website.
  • Former TheatreUSF student Aasif Mandvi earns rave reviews in New York Times for his role in Disgraced.

Playwrights and Theatre Administrators

  • Matthew Lopez (BA Theatre Performance, 2000) named the Aetna New Voices Fellow at Hartford Stage. His play The Whipping Man has been performed at numerous theatres across the country and his play, Reverberation, premiered at Hartford Stage in 2015. His latest play The Inheritance won best new play at the Olivier Awards and is scheduled to move to Broadway (2019).
  • Philip W. Hall (BA Theatre, 1973) is a playwright and composer who has written full-length plays, 10-minute plays, and musicals, including Life on the Mississippi and No Sugar, both of which were recently produced in New York. His works have been seen in the US at such venues as The Kennedy Center and Sundance Children's Theatre, as well as in Australia, Canada, and around the Pacific Rim. He has been a finalist for both The Humana Festival’s Heideman Award and the National New Play Network’s Smith Prize. His published pieces include the comedies Inside the Department of the Exterior and Customer Service.
  • Jessica Baker Vodoor (BA Theatre, 1996) is the Vice President of Operations at The New 42nd Street. She specializes in leading unconventional arts & entertainment organizations to achieve world class results- institutionally, financially and creatively. Professionally, Jessica works as the VP, Operations at The New 42nd Street, and has also held a wide range of global experiences leading facility operations of cultural organizations, including 10 years as the Blue Man Group’s Sr. Director of Operations, overseeing theatrical and entertainment related construction projects in New York, Las Vegas, Chicago, Toronto and Orlando. She holds a BA from the University of South Florida and an MPA at Baruch College.
  • USF Theatre graduate Patrick Sayers (BA Theatre, 1989) is an editor and producer, known for Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew (2008), Couples Therapy (2012) and Order Fire Pick Up (2018). Sayers was selected as one of ten finalists in Project Greenlight. This national contest for aspiring filmmakers was created by megastars Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and producer Chris Moore. Sayers, selected out of 1,733 entries, was contacted personally by Ben Affleck with the congratulatory news.
  • Erica Jensen (Theatre Minor, 1994) started as an intern at Playwrights Horizons where she met James Calleri. Fifteen years later she is one of three casting directors at Calleri Casting, a multiple Artios award winning office where she’s worked on projects in film, television, and theater. She teaches on camera audition technique at various places throughout New York City and is a regular guest at Brown / Trinity Rep where she works with the third year MFA candidates in their last semester and also teaches for The New School. She has taught playwriting and screenwriting at RISD. Erica directed the musical, Mother Eve’s Secret Garden of Sensual Sisterhood, which she also co-wrote and co-produced for the NYC Fringe Festival. She also won Best Director at the New York City 15 Minute Play Festival for her direction of the short play For Better or Worse.  Erica holds an MFA in Acting from Illinois State University.

Designers and Technicians

  • Philip Heckman (BA Theatre Design, 1993) is an Emmy-nominated costume designer for daytime television’s As the World Turns. He currently serves as Halloween costume designer for The Today Show. His stage work includes Bedbugs!!! It’s a Musical, Forbidden Broadway: Alive & Kicking!, My Big Gay Italian Wedding, SHOUT! The Mod Musical, the American premiere of Go-Go Beach, We’re Still Hot! The Musical, Are You There God? It’s Me, Ann-Margret, Marry Me A Little, I Love My Wife, Enough About Me, and The Very Worst of Varla Jean Merman (Garland Award). Television credits include commercials and promos for LOGO, MTV, and VH1. Visit his website for more information.
  • As a Lighting Designer, Robert Wierzel (BA Theatre, 1980) has worked on productions with the opera companies of Paris-Garnier (Les Indes Galantes); Tokyo (Opera Chushingura); Toronto; Wexford Ireland, Kristiansand & Bergen, Norway; Folk Opera, Sweden; Dutch National; New York City Opera; Glimmerglass Festival (30 seasons); Atlanta; Seattle; Boston Lyric; Minnesota; Philadeliphia, San Francisco; Houston; Washington National; Chicago Lyric; Opera Theatre of Chicago; Montreal; Vancouver; Florida Grand; Portland;  Colorado; Pittsburgh; Wolf Trap; San Diego; Virginia; Lyric Opera/Kansas City and Gotham Chamber Opera among others.

Since 1985, Robert has collaborated with choreographer & director Bill T. Jones and the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company (several Bessie Awards, along with productions at the Lyon Opera Ballet and Berlin Opera Ballet); and Walking The Line (w/Bill T. Jones) at The Louvre Museum, Paris.

His other dance collaborations include works with choreographers Liz Gerring; Sean Curran; Elizabeth Streb; Alexei Ratmansky/A.B.T;  Andrea Miller/Gallim Dance; Doug Varone; Heidi Latsky; Larry Goldhuber; Molissa Fenely; Donna Uchizono; Alonzo King; Charlie Moulton; Michael Tracy/Pilobolus Dance Theatre; Arthur Aviles and Margo Sappington.

His theatre work has been seen on and off Broadway, including the play Lady Day At Emerson’s Bar & Grill, starring Audra McDonald; the musical Fela!  (Tony Award nomination) and at the Royal National Theatre of London, UK (directed by Bill T.Jones). Other productions include David Copperfield’s Broadway debut Dreams and Nightmares; Grace Jones’ Hurricane Show at the Hammerstein Ballroom NYC;  Savoy Theatre, London,  (Enigmatic Variations);  productions at the New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theatre (recently Taming Of The Shrew & Troilus & Cressida, 2016 Summer in Central Park), among others. In addition, Robert has collaborated with the composer Philip Glass (Hydrogen Jukebox, Les Enfants Térribles- which won him an American Theatre Wing Lighting Design Award).

Mr. Wierzel has designed the lighting for selected art exhibitions including the Red Grooms installation at Grand Central Station.  His extensive regional theatre work includes productions at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre Company; A.C.T. San Francisco; Berkley Rep; and Williamstown Theatre Festival among others.  Mr. Wierzel is currently a creative partner at Spark Design Collaborative and a faculty member of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Department of Design for Stage & Film in New York City.

  • Paul Denayer (BA Theatre Design, 2002) is an Associate Professor and Program Director for Theatre Arts, Flagler College. He holds a BA in Theatre Design from the University of South Florida and an MFA in Lighting and Scenic Design from Kent State University. Denayer has designed with numerous theatre companies, including, Porthouse Theatre in Ohio where he was the sound and scenic designer for four seasons; the Limunis Theatre in Cleveland, OH; Cleveland Opera, Jenny Wiley Theatre and The Broadway Theatre Project. Denayer is also the Resident Sound Designer for The Stephen Foster Story in Bardstown, KY., and works with Finelli Consults, a company that specializes in designing new and updating theatrical spaces.
  • Robert Eubanks (BA Theatre Arts, 2002) is currently working for the Society for the Performing Arts Houston, Texas as their Director of Production.
  • Thomas Bowersox (BA Theatre Design, 2016) is the Technical Director for New York Live Arts where he is responsible for working with diverse artists on audio, video, lighting, and scenic design to help them realize their artistic visions. New York Live Arts was founded in 2011 by a merger of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and Dance Theater Workshop.

Thomas' work centers on advancing technical elements and generating drafting for all theater and studio productions. He works in collaboration with other full-time production staff, to supervise load-ins, load-outs, and technical rehearsals while also maintaining audio, video, scenic, and rigging equipment in the theater, backstage, lobby, and studio areas.

"I had never worked in theatre and wasn't a theatre major at the time. Working for Events and Production Services at the College of Design, Art & Performance exposed me to all different departments of production and gave me the opportunities and freedom to hone my craft as a technician and designer. The connections I made there and in class set me up to begin a professional career at local theatres, from the Shimberg to Morsani, and doing summer gigs in theatres like Capital Rep in Albany."

  • Upon making the move to New York City, Miriam Rochford (BA Theatre Arts, 2011) immersed herself in the city's Deaf theatre community, working with New York Deaf Theatre, ASL Rocky NYC, and ASL Cabaret NYC. She continues to freelance stage manage in a variety of settings, including opera, events, staged readings, performance companies, and more. Miriam's recent productions are Son of Dublin with the Victor Herbert Renaissance Project LIVE!, the 62nd Annual Viennese Opera Ball, The Shades as part of The Dramatists Guild 'Friday Night Footlights' series, and Hairspray at American Stage Theatre in the Park.
  • Lea Umberger (BA Theatre Design, 1998) has been working in Design for Stage and Film for more than 20 years. After graduating NYU Tisch School of the Art with an MFA in set and costume design she set out to build a design career that covers Theater, Film, Television in Production Design, Set Design and Costume Design. Recent theater work includes: Gnit (Set) , The Other Place (Set and Costumes) for Tampa Rep; The Azure Sky of Oz at The Straz Center for the Performing Arts in Tampa, Florida; An American Soldier's Journey Home: The Story of Irving Greenwald at The Library of Congress, Washington DC; The American Soldier at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and 59 East 59 theater in NYC; Flight and Umbrella with the Alchemy Theatre company in NYC, and Sweet Storm with LAByrinth Theater and the Alchemy Theater in NYC.

    Umberger has also worked for the past 14 years as a production designer/art director for film with two features, 17 short films and eight years as the Managing Art Director at HSN, where she created and managed set designs for many network events, partnerships and brands including Disney, Universal, Dreamworks, Ford, Toyota, Lancome, Benefit, Sofia Vergara, Michael Bolton, Rod Stewart, Keith Urban, Randy Jackson, Queen Latifah, Nate Berkus, Vern Yip and Colin Cowie to name a few.
     
    Umberger is one of the Founding members of Et Cultura, in its third year as a festival of Creative Culture that includes Interactive Session, Music, Film and Art.
  • Dina Perez (BFA Theatre Design, 2008) is a freelance costume designer. Notable work includes The Cradle Will Rock (Opera America), The Foreigner (Texas Shakespeare Festival), The Glass Menagerie (Bartlett Theatre) and Fun Home (American Stage). See more of Perez’s work on her website.
  • Stephanie Farina (2006, Theatre Arts) works as the sound engineer at The Goodman Theatre in Chicago.
  • Chris Hansen, (Theatre Design alumni 2004) completed his MFA at the University of California – Irvine and has been the Art Director on TV Series’ such as Scorpion, CSI:Cyber, Castle and The Fosters.
  • Matthew C Swartz (BA Theatre Arts, 1995) a USF theatre graduate, published "Distinguishing Sounds" in Theatre Design and Technology (Volume 41, Number 3, summer 2005). The article describes his innovative approach in helping a hearing-impaired actor perceive sounds on stage.