Christina Kirk Named Director of Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film

Christina Kirk, professor and chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance at Otterbein University, has been named the director of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film (arts.unl.edu/theatre-and-film) and the executive director of the Nebraska Repertory Theatre. She begins her appointment on July 1.

Kirk has taught at Otterbein University in Westerville, OH, since 1992. She has an M.F.A. degree in directing from Columbia University in New York and a B.F.A. degree in acting from the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana.

Kirk’s directing credits include The Living Theatre, New Dramatists, assisting Liviu Ciulei at Arena Stage, and numerous productions for Otterbein University Theatre and Otterbein Summer Theatre. She has performed at the Illinois Shakespeare Festival, the Nebraska Repertory Theatre (Something’s Afoot and Charley’s Aunt in 1985), the Illinois Repertory Theatre, CATCO (Contemporary American Theatre Company), Otterbein University Theatre, Otterbein Summer Theatre, and in the Joseph Jefferson award-winning Kabuki Medea, directed by Shozo Sato. She performed the title roles of Claudel and Cleopatra at Columbus Dance Theatre. The production of Claudel received the Greater Columbus Arts Council Artistic Excellence Award, and Cleopatra was nominated for this same award. Her one-woman show, Conversations with Judith Malina, which premiered at Columbus Dance Theatre, was featured in the March 2006 Theatre Journal.

Kirk replaces Harris Smith, who left Nebraska last summer to become the chair of the Department of Theatre at the University of Utah. Associate Dean Christopher Marks has served as interim director of the Carson School during the 2018-19 academic year and will resume his full-time duties as associate dean on July 1.

The Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film has an award-winning faculty with national and international reputations, and they are proud to be the region’s premier program for theatre, film, and new media. Learn more online at arts.unl.edu/theatre-and-film.