McGregor:

Tell us a little bit about yourself?

I am a theater professional. I’ve been working professionally since the mid-80s. I’ve also had a great interest in the work of John Steinbeck since I was in high school.

I started out as an actor; mostly as a musical theater performer. With only my associate’s degree, I took off for New York City where I worked for five years both on- and off-stage. When I came back to the area, I was invited to become a resident artist with the Human Race Theater Company, which is Dayton’s only professional theater company. I joined the Company in 1990 and have been working consistently with them since then. I’m almost a founding member, but not quite.

After doing a lot of musical theater off Broadway – being “farmed out” to different theaters throughout the country – I came back to the Dayton area, and I started doing a lot of straight theater. Straight theater means that the production is not a musical. Then I started becoming known more as an actress than a singer over the next five or six years.

And then I started teaching. And I started realizing that that was really my gift – to teach. I teach at the university level. I’m current faculty at the University of Dayton. I have taught at Sinclair Community College, Wright State and Clark State. So, I went from being a full-time performer to being a teacher and then I went into directing. One thing has lead to another, and now I’m writing.

I am going to be writing and directing my own adaptation of Pride and Prejudice at Clark State, which will be performed at the Kuss Auditorium in Springfield. It’s a beautiful place, and a beautiful story. I’m really excited about working there again. I directed the Grapes of Wrath there in 2002. I have had so many wonderful opportunities come to me because I love what I do.

I’m still active on stage. Just last year I did a one-woman show on Anne Sexton, who had a connection to Antioch. When she was writing in the 50s she actually attended the Antioch Writer’s Workshop. She was a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet. It was a wonderful musical piece. And I might have the opportunity to perform this again at the Woodstock Theater Festival next summer in New York state.

I could go on and on. There are many opportunities, and I think the doors have opened because I’ve been able to expand my world through McGregor. Like I said, I’ve had a deep respect for Steinbeck since high school. Those have been my two passions: theater and Steinbeck. And the more I explored the two, the more connections I found. Steinbeck’s writing is so theatrical – almost everything that he wrote has been adapted into some sort of performance medium.

I have a B.A. in Humanities from McGregor that I received in 2003. Really, the whole purpose of completing that degree was to continue on to get my master’s and to study the theatricality of John Steinbeck. Everything that Steinbeck wrote is based on the classics in one way or another, and the program at McGregor gave me the foundation that I needed to pursue his literature in depth.

I’m in the ILPS program at McGregor now. My thesis is in the process of being approved at the moment. I’m going to be graduating in September of 2007.

When I finish, I plan to continue writing. And to get back into the theater world. I've been hired for four different directing projects this coming year. ^Top

Why did you choose McGregor?

In the ILPS program, you create your own program. I thought that was great. I could combine both of my interests – theater and Steinbeck – and come up with something totally unique. The only place, to my knowledge, that you can get a master’s degree in Steinbeck Studies is at San Jose State in California. And of course, my unique bent as far as theater and Steinbeck – well, there was no place that was offering a program like that.

So, it was just a perfect fit. I could design my own program using theater scholars and Steinbeck scholars in harmony with each other to explore this world. To my knowledge, Steinbeck as a dramatist – specifically during the Cold War – has not been thoroughly explored.

McGregor was the only place that I could design a program that was really going to address all of the things that I wanted to study. My degree will be in theater with a focus on Steinbeck Studies. It puts theater at the forefront and examines the way that John Steinbeck worked – theatrically, and not just on stage – through the medium of performance.

The program at McGregor was perfect for me because it also incorporated the writing skills that I wanted. I was able to incorporate all the things that I love into one focused product. It was just a perfect fit. ^Top

How did you select the faculty for your program?

I went with the people that I knew. It’s proved to be challenging but very rewarding.

For the theater end of it, I studied with Dr. Kathryn Cleary who has been a friend for a number of years. She is now the chair of the Theater and Dance Department at Sinclair Community College. She was my instructor for the theory portion of my studies.

I studied the Federal Theatre Project of the 1930s with Dr. Robert MacClennan. I examined how the Federal Theater Project influenced and reflected Steinbeck’s work at that time. And I studied with Susan Shillinglaw, who at the time was the Director of Steinbeck Studies at San Jose State University. She is now with the National Steinbeck Center. And I worked with Dr. Robert DeMott, a distinguished and now retired faculty member from Ohio University, who is extremely well known and respected within the field.

Beyond that, I've met many scholars. There was the late Stephen George who was very instrumental in exploring the morality issues that Steinbeck had addressed in the 50s and 60s. I met him in Japan and presented at a conference that he organized in Sun Valley, Idaho – “Steinbeck and his Contemporaries” – in March 2006, just months before he died. And, Dr. Kiyoski Nakakyama, the President of the John Steinbeck Society of Japan. John Ditsky, a professor at Windsor – I’ve been given a research grant in his honor. ^Top

How did McGregor help you professionally?

I needed to update my credentials and I also wanted to formally explore what I had been doing informally, studying Steinbeck.

In general though, it’s very hard to separate the personal and professional benefits. Anybody who’s studying Steinbeck has some sort of visceral, personal connection to his work. It is so personal – I don’t think you can separate the two. ^Top

How has McGregor impacted you personally?

Oh, wow! Well, my relationships with Steinbeck scholars have deepened because of this. I’ve formed relationships with scholars in Chicago, and California, in Japan, in Slovenia – internationally! It increased my personal relationships a hundred fold – in addition to increasing my professional credentials.

At the University of Dayton where I work, I have been able to broaden my relationships with the English department, with the history department, with the philosophy department because Steinbeck himself was a student of philosophy, of history and, of course, classic literature. Personally and professionally, these avenues opened up because of my studies.

In fact, I’m about to go on a research trip. Let me give you the background to this. This is amazing. I was at the Steinbeck Festival in Salinas, California. I had adapted and directed the world premier production of “To a God Unknown,” which is Steinbeck’s second novel, with the gracious consent and support of Steinbeck’s widow. She was a marvelous, marvelous person. While at the festival, I met the director of the Steinbeck Society of Japan, Professor Kiyoski Nakayama, and a colleague from Slovenia, Dr. Danica Cerce. The three of us became really good friends and we kept in touch.

I presented a paper at the Steinbeck Centennial Celebration in 2002 at Hofstra University, and “Kiyo” and I were on the same panel. Kiyo asked me to be part of the Fifth International Steinbeck Congress in Kyoto, Japan. I was invited to go and the paper that I presented at that function is actually being published this month.

Another Japanese scholar, Dr. Hayaski, wrote to me early last year. He said that he had been following my work “with interest” and he asked if he could nominate me for a research award. We have never formally met. To make a long story short, I received the grant. It’s been miraculous to me that I actually received a research grant in honor of the late John Ditsky, who was a very prestigious Steinbeck scholar and dear friend.

So, I’m about to go on a weeklong research trip to Ball State. There’s a Steinbeck archive there with wonderful resources on Steinbeck and the Vietnam War. My thesis is the theater of Steinbeck during the Cold War, so this is a perfect partnership and a continuation of my work. They have a copy of Steinbeck’s “Letters to Alicia” Newsday series written from ’65 to ’68 about the Vietnam War. Much to the confusion of many US citizens, Steinbeck was a Vietnam War supporter. He was also a great friend of Lyndon Johnson.

My connections all came together to help me receive this great opportunity through this grant. And what I find in my research will hopefully be published.

I’m really looking forward to it. There’s nothing better than being paid to sit in a library and read. It’s marvelous. ^Top

Did you have an ‘Aha Moment’ at McGregor?

I did. Most of them were during my undergraduate program in Humanities.

I knew that Steinbeck was connected to classic literature because everything that he wrote is really based on Arthurian legend. You can go back and look at every single thing and it’s about the quest for meaning; the quest for the Grail; the quest for the “aha” moment. I was just floored – in every single text that we studied I’d find a connection to Steinbeck. My classmates got sick of hearing me say, “Oh, my goodness – this relates to Steinbeck’s work.”

There were so many of these “aha” moments then that I knew I was in the right place. And I knew that going on for my master’s was absolutely the right thing to do. ^Top

How would you describe McGregor?

It’s a very open, very caring, very nurturing environment. It’s the kind of place where you can really stretch yourself, yet they’re there to reel you in. Yet there are no restrictions. There’s no “Tell me what I've given to you; repeat it back to me.” That’s not what it’s about.

It’s about expanding and about going beyond the material, and that’s what I find so exciting. They really give you the freedom to go beyond what’s in the book. It’s beyond the structure that you expect in a traditional university setting; it’s beyond that structured type of learning. You’re able to really bring into focus connections that might not be found if you haven’t been able to go beyond those boundaries. ^Top

What advice would you give to a new student?

Don’t expect this to be easy, especially if you’re going into the individualized program. It takes a lot of coordination with all of your professors because they are also working in the field, which is a wonderful thing. But you have to realize that it’s going to take more time because of that.

So, realize that this is not going to be cut and dry and easy. It’s going to take a lot of patience. It can be challenging working through the Internet and that’s what you have to do because a lot of your professors are going to be across the country or perhaps on the other side of the world.

Personally, I think it’s best if you keep your professors as local as possible. That can be key for communication and finishing up things in a timely manner. But don’t let that restrict you. If you find someone that you know is perfect and you want to learn from, go for it. That’s what I did. Midway in my program I was able to bring in Bob DeMott. We talked on the phone. We emailed each other. We stayed in close communication, and all the way across the board he was marvelous to work with.

So, because you want to get as much as you can out of the program that you designed, sometimes it takes longer than you expect.

Be very careful about choosing your committee. Be very careful about choosing your instructors. You have to expect that it’s going to take a little longer to get all that worked out. And again, don’t expect it to be easy. But it’s so rewarding. In the end, you have something that is unique and a reflection of who you have become as a result of your studies. The whole experience is very unique and very individualized. After all, it was created by you! ^Top