Gail Humphries Associate Prof Emerita Department of Performing Arts
- Degrees
- PhD, Education
MA, Theatre
BA, History and Theatre - Languages Spoken
- French (basic)
- Bio
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Dr. Gail Humphries, Dean Emerita, College of Fellows of the American Theatre; Dean Emerita, Stephens College; Professor Emerita, 麻豆破解版; Likhachev/ Yeltsin Cultural Fellow, St. Petersburg, Russia; Fulbright Senior Scholar, Prague, CZ.
Dr. Humphries鈥 broad experience encompasses academic administration, curricula, and program development, fundraising and the direction of over 190 theatre productions, including drama, musical theatre, children鈥檚 theatre, the classics, and new works. She has taught master classes in theatre and arts administration, as well as directed in countries including Greece, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, the UK, and the Czech Republic.聽 She has served on multiple boards for non-profit arts organizations. Gail has been awarded several outstanding teaching, faculty and directing awards, and has published articles in multiple professional journals. She is the coeditor and contributing author to the book titled ARTS INTEGRATION IN EDUCATION: Theory, Research and Practice (Intellect Books Ltd. 2016; 2018).聽 She has contributed chapters to two books published by Routledge -THE POWER OF WITNESSING: Reflections, Reverberations and Traces of the Holocaust (2012) and THE COURAGE TO FIGHT VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN (2018). She has聽 developed curricula and new degrees in arts administration and arts education for various colleges and universities. Finally, her presentations have included one hundred panel discussions, workshops and keynote addresses at various conferences ranging from the Association for Theatre in Higher Education, the Association for Arts Administration Educators, to the International Psychoanalytical Association and the Women鈥檚 Bar Association of Maryland.
She is currently聽 co-editing and contributing to new books with Dr. Karen Berman 鈥 STORIES OF THE HOLOC麻豆破解版ST: Art for Healing and Renewal聽 Vol. 1 On Stage and in Concert; Vol. 2 On Screen and in the Gallery., to be published by IPbooks in summer 2025.
- See Also
- For the Media
- To request an interview for a news story, call 麻豆破解版 Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.
Partnerships & Affiliations
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Association for Theatre in Higher Education
Vice President -
National Society of Arts and Letters
Board Member -
Coalition for Theatre Education
Executive Committee -
American College Theatre Festival
Region II Directing Task Force -
American Alliance for Theatre Education
Member
Scholarly, Creative & Professional Activities
Grants and Sponsored Research
- Fowler Foundation
- Freddie Mac Foundation
- Lockheed-Martin Corporation
- Gilbert and Jaylee Mead Family Trust Foundation
- National Endowment for the Arts
- University of New Hampshire President鈥檚 Excellence Fund (2005-2009)
- U.S. Department of Education
- VSA Arts
- Webber Family Trust Foundation
- 21st Century Learning Grant, Communities in the Schools
Exhibitions/Performances
- 聽Over 70 special events in venues ranging from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the National Press Club, Ford鈥檚 Theatre, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, U.S. Treasury Department, Fenwick Art Gallery, Cosmos Club Over 100 productions in academic and professional theatres from new works to serious drama, the classics, musicals and children鈥檚 theatre; directing at American included the development of Project ARTS.
- American Russian Theatre Symposium and touring student production to Russian State Academic Volkov Theatre,Yaroslavl, Russia
Selected Publications
- 聽鈥淭eaching to Reach All Children,鈥 The Chronicle of Higher Education, to be published 2009. "
- Czech Connections: Chekhov鈥檚 Three Sisters Revisited,鈥 Czechoslovak Arts and Letters World Congress, September 2008.聽
- 鈥淭ransforming the Classroom Teacher into a Teaching Artist,鈥 Teaching Artist Journal, Vol. 5, no.2, summer, 2007.
- 鈥淭he Quest to Captivate Hearts and Minds in the Classroom: Teaching to reach and foster giftedness in all children,鈥 e-article, www.TheatroEdu.gr, 2006.聽 2007.
- 鈥淎nother Voicing of the Silenced Theatre of Josef Topol,鈥 Czechoslovak Arts and Letters World Congress, July 2006.
- 鈥淧arallel Power: Periklean Athens and Antigone: from page to stage at 麻豆破解版, Hellenic Ministry of Culture, European Cultural Centre of Delphi Greece, YEAR OF PERICLES, YEAR OF DEMOCRACY, June, 2005.
- 鈥淟iteracy Learning for At-risk Students through Arts-based Instruction,鈥 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LEARNING: VOL.10, 2003. 鈥淚magination Quest: an arts-based teaching/learning model,鈥 commissioned paper, U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, 2002. 鈥淎rts Advocacy Roundtable,鈥 THEATRE TOPICS, VOL. 11, NO. 1 March, 2001. 聽 鈥淭he Psychology of Theatre/ The Theatre of Psychology,鈥 TEACHING OF PSYCHOLOGY: VOL. 26, NO. 3, 1999.
Executive Experience
- 聽Imagination Stage, Bethesda, MD聽 (1996-current) Designed multi-million dollar business plan for education in new professional children鈥檚 theatre and community arts center; founded and continue as team leader for Imagination Quest (IQ), an evidence-based model for learning through arts-based instruction
- Central California School of Ballet, Modesto, CA (1997-98) Focused on the development of instruction that synthesized dance and theatre dance instruction
- Columbia Center for Theatrical Studies, Columbia, MD (2003-2007) Developed and implemented research design for grant awarded from National Endowment for the Arts Georgia College & State University, Milledgeville, GA (2008) Participated in internationalization grant, developing and implementing a Think Tank entitled 鈥淯nderstanding and Inspiring Global Citizens Who Want to Shape Tomorrow鈥檚 World.鈥
- Hollywood Culture and Arts Center, Hollywood, Florida聽 (2002) Focused on developing programming for visual and performing arts
- Mercersburg Academy, Mercersburg, PA (2004) Participated on arts evaluation team viewing curriculum in light of newly planned performing arts facilities 聽 Merced College, Merced, CA (1998)
Honors, Awards, and Fellowships
- Fulbright Senior Scholar Award, Academy of Performing Arts, Prague, CZ 2009
- University Service Award, 麻豆破解版 2008
- Alpha Chi Omega Award, Outstanding Teaching in the Arts 2008
- American College Theatre Festival, Region II, selections in multiple years
- Honoree, Outstanding Contribution to the Arts for Children, Founder鈥檚 Award, Imagination Stage, 2006
Professional Presentations
- Artistic Entrepreneurship (House of Sweden)
- In Search of Shakespeare: Performing and Understanding the Bard (Florida Association of Theatre Education)
- No Teacher Left Behind: Teach to Reach (Brown University)
- Project ARTS: American Russian Theatre Symposium (World Russian聽 Forum)
- Theatre at the Core of Educational Reform: Arts-based Teaching and Learning Across the Curriculum聽 (New England Theatre Conference)
- The Katrina Project (Association for Theatre in Higher Education)
- The Imagination Quest Model聽 for teacher training聽 (University of New Hampshire)
- Keynote Addresses, The Quest for Social Justice in Education, Title II Grant, Systemic Gifted and Talented Program (Loyola Conference Center, Baltimore City Schools)
- Acting from Within (TVI, Los Angeles, California)
- Literacy Learning through Arts-based Teaching (American Reading Forum)
Research Interests
- The arts and international education for global citizenry
- Arts education across the curriculum for enhanced teacher effectiveness, student achievement and parental involvement
- The interface of Theatre and psychology
Work In Progress
- Developing project entitled VOICES OF TEREZIN, to be presented as a performing in Prague, CZ on site at Terezin and in Washington, DC.
- Developing presentations on the arts and education in international arenas for Charles University, Prague, CZ and for the University of Gothenburg, Sweden
- Continuing work on arts education book Exceptional Teaching, Exceptional Learning