Adventures in Dramaturgy

Gary Holcombe, head of undergraduate studies in Theatre at UMKC, as Kent placed in the stocks, in the 2007 Kansas City Repertory Theatre production of King Lear. The photo also shows Kurt Rhodes (far left) as Cornwall and then-UMKC graduate students Todd Lanker (front left), David Graham Jones (center), Jay Akin (kneeling) and Anthony Vaughan Merchant (far right).

Below: Todd Lanker, Gary Holcombe, and Jay Akin.

Photos: Don Ipock

About Thomas Canfield

Dr. Thomas Canfield has a Ph.D. in English, with a specialization in Elizabethan drama, from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Currently, he is pursuing a second master’s degree in Theatre at UMKC, where he has been the dramaturg for productions of The Country Wife, Great Expectations, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

At the Kansas City Repertory Theatre, he has contributed to productions of King Lear, Gee’s Bend, The Drawer Boy, and Death of a Salesman.

In eight seasons as Dramaturg in Residence for the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival, he has contributed to summer productions of Romeo and Juliet, Othello, The Merry Wives of Windsor, King Richard III, Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and As You Like It. He also is working on the 2014 production of The Winter's Tale.

Most recently, he presented a lecture on on representations of As You Like It in graphic and performance art at the Kansas City Public Library, and presented a Show Talk at the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival. Currently, Dr. Canfield is writing a history of the first Equity playhouse in Kansas City, the Circle theatre, which was located in Union Station from 1962-67.

Dr. Canfield teaches Shakespeare and Foundations of Theatre at UMKC, first-year writing seminars at Park University, and is a professor of English and Humanities at National American University. In his spare time, he is a writer and reviewer for KC Stage magazine. He also has been a new script reader for for the Unicorn Theatre and an adjudicator for the Blue Star program through Kansas City's Starlight Theatre.

Adventures in Dramaturgy

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About Thomas Canfield

The Circle Theatre (1962-67)