Scott Kanoff
Chairperson Emeritus of the Department of Theatre Arts
Biography
Scott Kanoff teaches directing, acting and producing and serves as artistic director of °®¶¹´«Ã½ÊÓƵ Theatre. He joined the °®¶¹´«Ã½ÊÓƵ faculty in 2012-13, after eight years at the University of Texas at Austin, where he was instructor and mentor for the MFA in Directing program and also taught undergraduate directing and acting at all levels. His long career as aÌý stage director, writer, and dramaturg, includes positions as producing artistic director at the State Theatre Company in Austin, Texas, and resident director/director of new play development at the Cleveland Play House, where over nine seasons he helped to develop some fifty new plays for the American stage.
His productions as director include the recent °®¶¹´«Ã½ÊÓƵ stagings ofÌýShe Kills Monsters, Twelfth Night, Mr. Burns-A Post-Electric Play, Romeo and Juliet, Big Love,ÌýOur Town, Eurydice, and the musicals Spring Awakening and High Fidelity. He also adapted and directed Dostoevsky’sÌýThe Idiot; at the University of Texas. Other professional productions includeÌýNickel and Dimed, Dinner With Friends, The Tempest, The Smell of the Kill, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, The Mystery of Irma Vep, Lips Together Teeth Apart, Tales of the Lost Formicans,Ìýand many more. He has produced numerous world premieres including the Kennedy Center Award-winningÌýThe Dinosaur Within, by John Walsh; Steven Tomlinson’sÌýAmerican Fiesta,Ìýwinner of the Steinberg Award for new American plays; and three plays by the his longtime collaborator, the legendary Texas performer and writer, Jaston Williams:ÌýI’m Not Lying, Cowboy NoisesÌýandÌýCamping with Gasoline.
As an actor Scott appeared on tour, off-Broadway, and at some of America’s leading theatre companies, including the Hartford Stage, The Long Wharf, and the Berkshire Theatre Festival. He has received numerous awards for his directing and teaching, including multiple citations from the Austin Critics Table andÌýNorthern Ohio LiveÌýMagazine, and theÌý University of Texas Award for Distinguished Teaching.