Faculty Profile
Keola Simpson
(he/him/his)Assistant Professor of Theatre and Dance (2023)
Contact Information
Montgomery House Room 5
717-254-8267
Bio
Keola Simpson is a Native Hawaiian theatre-maker from Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi, a stage and screen actor in New York City, and an Assistant Professor of Theatre at Dickinson College. His 2020 production at the University of Hawaiʻi, I’m Lot Lane (a solo effort), garnered 11 national awards at The Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival in 2021 including the Citizen Artist Award, David Mark Cohen Playwriting Award, and Overall Production. He was a nominee for the United States Artists Fellowship (theatre) that same year and a featured artist at the Consortium of Asian American Theatres and Artists 2022 ConFest. In 2023, Keola was seen in the Roundabout Theatre Company’s, Refocus Project, which aims to transform the American theatre canon. Being in its third season, and spotlighting AAPI playwrights from the 20th and 21st centuries, Keola starred in the 1994 play, Ola Nā Iwi (The Bones Live), by Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl, which was taped in front of a live audience at the Laura Pels Theatre in NYC and streamed for free throughout the fall. Keola spent much of his childhood as a performer and musician, traveling western Canada with his mother's touring Polynesian revue, Ka ʻOhana.
Education
- B.A., California State University, Fullerton, 2004
- M.F.A., University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, 2021.
2024-2025 Academic Year
Fall 2024
THDA 201 Theatre History
The impulse to perform (and to be an audience) can be traced back to the very roots of human society. This course will explore the origins and evolution of theatre as a formal art within the context of western cultures. Beginning with the Theatre of Greece in the 5th Century BCE and proceeding up to the 20th Century, the broad relationship of art and culture will be illustrated through examination of both written plays and historical artifacts regarding play production in classical, medieval, early modern and modern eras. Students will learn through traditional classroom lectures and readings, and also through more performance-oriented exercises and explorations.
THDA 203 Acting I
An introduction to the principles and theories of acting combined with practical exercises and scene performance. This course fulfills the Arts distribution requirement.
THDA 305 Advanced Directing
An inquiry into the process of translating a play from the printed text to the live stage. Detailed analytical techniques and major directorial theories are examined through readings, class discussion, and written assignments. Each student directs a one-act production under advisement of the instructor. Prerequisite: 205 and 230.
Spring 2025
THDA 303 Acting II:Adv Tech/Class Drama
An in-depth examination of the process of acting. Technical, interpretive, and psychological aspects are explored through reading, exercises, and scene performances. Major theories of acting are presented and discussed in the context of developing a workable, individualized approach to acting. Prerequisite: 203.