SUBJECTS:  Theatre, Opera, Film

CONTACT INFORMATION:
         Email: harmark at evergreen dot edu
         Office:   SEM 2 - B3104
         Telephone:   (360) 867-6454
         Office hours:  by appointment

EVERGREEN PROGRAMS:
         Spring 2013: Forbidden Knowledge
         Summer 2013: The Coen Brothers
         
EDUCATION:
         New York University
             Ph.D.     Performance Studies, 1989
             Dissertation:  New Vaudeville: Variety Artists
                                 in the Contemporary American Theatre
             Thesis Director: Dr. Brooks McNamara

         University of California, Santa Barbara
             M.A.      Dramatic Art   (acting/directing)  
             B.A.       English   (music minor)

TEACHING:
Mark Harrison joined the Evergreen faculty in 2004 after six years as Head of the MFA Professional Directing Program at the University of Washington. In addition to supervising dozens of student directed plays and fllm/video projects at UW, he directed Coriolanus, Measure for Measure, a new adaptation of Frank Wedekind's Spring Awakening, and the premiere of Going Through His Things by Steven Dietz. Mark also taught a wide range of courses in acting, directing, Shakespeare and other verse playwrights, as well as writing, acting and directing for the camera. His other teaching assignments have included the University of Texas, Smith College, and the Lincoln Center Institute in New York. Internationally, Mark was a visiting professor in American Studies at Universität Hamburg in Germany. And he recently returned from Kobe, Japan where he taught a Film Studies program at the University of Hyogo.

PROFESSIONAL THEATRE:
As a professional director and writer, Mark's work ranges from theatre and opera to film and television. After beginning his career as a composer and sound designer for ACT in San Francisco, Mark joined the Oregon Shakespeare Festival for a season with the acting company. Soonafter, he turned his energies to directing and moved to New York, where his directing credits include:  a year as Resident Director of Playwrights Horizons, The Power Project (Antic Variations) in the NEXT WAVE Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (also co-authored), and Ty Cobb at St. Clement's Theatre. Regional productions: the premiere of Eric Overmyer's In A Pig's Valise at Center Stage in Baltimore, The Alchemist at the Empty Space and A Christmas Carol at ACT in Seattle, Hay Fever at the GeVa Theatre in Rochester, Rhinoceros at PCPA in Santa Maria, Twelfth Night at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival and The Winter's Tale for the Seattle Shakespeare Company at the Seattle Center (reviews). International credits include Love's Labour's Lost for the Recklinghausen Ruhrfestspiele in Germany.

OPERA:
Mark originated ideas for and directed two operas by composer Ronald Perera and librettist Constance Congdon: The Yellow Wallpaper, which premiered at the Manhattan School of Music in New York, and S. (based on the novel by John Updike) at the Mendenhall Center for the Performing Arts in Northampton, Massachusetts. In 2002, Mark directed the critically acclaimed New York premiere of The Seagull, an opera based on the Chekhov play by Thomas Pasatieri and Kenward Elmslie, at the Manhattan School of Music.

FILM and PUBLIC TELEVISION:
Film credits: At Night the Sun Shines (co-authored with Guillermo Real), which premiered at the Director's Guild of America in Los Angeles and was featured in a number of festivals, including Aspen, Miami and the LA International FilmFest at the American Film Institute. Mark directed second unit photography for Fool's Fire by Julie Taymor, which was produced by American Playhouse for PBS and screened at the Sundance Festival (Ms. Taymor also designed masks for Mark's production of Rashomon). Other PBS credits include two years as a writer and producer for the New York affiliate, WNET, and Ty Cobb by William Packard, which he adapted from his stage production at St. Clement's Theatre.   Mark is a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers.

PAST EVERGREEN PROGRAMS:
           Innovation
           Playing Politics
           The Western Film Genre and the American Frontier Myth
           The Art of Adaptation
           Play On! The Theatre of Sport
           Order and Chaos: Making and Breaking Rules in Science and the Arts            
           History According to Film
           Politics, Performance and the Public
           Theatre in the Age of Film and Television
           Why Shakespeare?
           The Legacy of Conquest
           In Times of Crisis: Film and History
           Embracing Conflict
    
On the home front, Mark has the good fortune to be married to Laura Worthen, an accomplished actress, educator and pediatric speech pathologist. He is the proud father of two children - Nevin Bey and Finley. Mark and his family live in Seattle.