UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — William Doan, director of the School of Theatre and professor of theatre, will perform "My Anxiety: A Work in Progress," at the Arts and Design Research Incubator (ADRI), from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 2.
Doan creates drawings as receptacles of his anxiety. "I’m like a living comic book,” he said. “I get anxious that people won’t get it, so I have to perform with the drawings to make sure my anxiety is properly represented. It’s an endless cycle."
Doan holds a bachelor of arts degree from Gannon University, a master of fine arts degree from Virginia Commonwealth University, and a doctorate from Case Western Reserve University. In addition to articles published on the plays and theatre of George Bernard Shaw, Doan co-authored "Prophets, Performance and Power," "Twice Used Songs: Performance Criticism of the Songs of Ancient Israel," and "The Story of Noami – the Book of Ruth: From Gender to Politics" with Terry Giles.
His solo performances have been featured at national venues, including the DePauw Undergraduate Ethics Symposium, the SETC Theatre Symposium, ATHE’s Micro-Fringe, and the Cincinnati Fringe Festival. His play "Drifting" received a workshop at Dixon Place Theatre in New York City in March of 2014, followed by performances for The Doctors Kienle Center for the Study of Humanistic Medicine at the Hershey Area Playhouse. In the past year, Doan workshopped a new solo performance piece, "A Brief Anatomy of My Anxiety," in the Dixon Place Lounge and launched the new solo performance version of "Drifting" at the Royal Family Performing Arts Space, New York City, in May, which resulted in multiple opportunities for upcoming performances. Several of his graphic-based performance works have been published in the Annals of Internal Medicine/Graphic Medicine.
He came to Penn State in 2008 as the associate dean for administration, research, and graduate studies for the College of Arts and Architecture, before joining the School of Theatre full-time in 2013.He served as president of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education from 2011-2013, and will be inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Theatre in April 2018.
The Arts and Design Research Incubator (ADRI) provides support for high-impact arts and design research projects. All programs are free and open to the public and, unless otherwise noted, take place in the ADRI, 16 Borland Building.
For more information and to view the full listing of dialogues, workshops, and events, visit http://adri.psu.edu/calendar and connect with Penn State ADRI on Facebook.