Bruce Speas
Associate Professor of Theatre

Bruce Speas received his MFA in Directing from Virginia Commonwealth University; his Masters in Theatre from Bowling Green State University; his undergraduate BA in Speech and Theatre from the University of Richmond. He has a wide variety of skills and experience in the art of theatre in both the professional and educational worlds: New York, regional, and university expertise in the development and directing of new America plays. He was the Managing Director of the Raft Theatre an Equity Tier One, Off-Off Broadway theatre in New York. He is also an award-winning playwright with productions of his plays in theatres from New York to Los Angeles. His play A Summer Storm was optioned and produced in New York. His comic play Stitch and Yubie was produced regionally and in Los Angeles where it won the LA Drama-Logue award for best new play. Bruce’s academic theatre directing has included a variety of genres and styles from; the modern work of David Mamet, Paula Vogel and Christopher Durang; to works of Shakespeare such as Much Ado About Nothing, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Measure for Measure, Twelfth Night, The Tempest, and Macbeth; to modern song cycles such as Berlin to Broadway and Songs for a New World. Bruce has professionally directed Off-Off Broadway in New York and regionally at the Clarence Brown Theatre, an Equity LORT theatre in Knoxville, Tennessee. His LORT contract directing assignments have included such plays as Yasmina Reza’s Art, Stephen Mallatratt’s The Woman in Black, David Auburn’s Proof, and Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. Bruce has taught and presented directing/acting Shakespeare workshops for a number of years at SETC and VTA conferences.

His research interests are:
Directing
Theatre History
Script Analysis
Shakespeare and Restoration style performance