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We are so glad to have you back in our theaters, production shops, and dance studios — here's to an exciting semester ahead! |
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Image of cast warm ups during The Seagull by Anton Chekhov, photograph by Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College |
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Department Chair Update |
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This fall, Tim Dugan begins his tenure as Chair of the Department of Theater + Dance! Many thanks to Kati Vecsey, who has chaired the department for the past four years and who will continue teaching and serving as the vocal director for the department! |
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Theater + Dance at CBB Pedagogy Matters Conference |
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Faculty and Staff members attended the recent Colby, Bates, Bowdoin 7th annual Pedagogy Matters conference last week. Keynote speaker Dr. Nyama McCarthy-Brown shared her work on embodied pedagogy and the application of performance studies principles across disciplines.
Pictured here with Dr. Nyama McCarthy-Brown is Tristan Koepke, Tim Dugan, Kati Vecsey, and Rebecca Armstrong. |
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Introducing New Faculty and Staff, plus additional faculty updates! |
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Nicole Emery
Academic Administrative Assistant |
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Nicole Emery (she/her) is the Operations Manager for the Bates Dance Festival and the Academic Administrative Assistant for the Department of Theater and Dance and the Department of Rhetoric, Film, and Screen Studies. After a successful career in Clinical Mental Health, Nicole went on to become a Professional Beer Brewer. Throughout her life music, dance, and theater have been a constant presence, with involvement in community productions in Pittsburgh PA, Minneapolis MN, and in the Lewiston/Auburn area. Nicole is currently active in Community Little Theater in Auburn, ME and is also a member of local band Donnybrook Farm.
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Scott McPheeters
Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance |
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Scott McPheeters (he/him) is an interdisciplinary artist, educator, and co-director of arts non-profit, Subcircle – a Biddeford, Maine based dance company, arts presenting organization, and artist residency. He holds an BA in Theater Arts from Dickinson College, and an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Sierra Nevada University. From 2004-2018, McPheeters danced professionally in Philadelphia, working with artists and companies including Nichole Canuso Dance Company, Kun-Yang Lin / Dancers, Enchantment Theatre Company, Bearded Ladies Cabaret, and Subcircle. In 2016 he received a Philadelphia Barrymore Award (“Best Lead Actor in a Musical”) for his portrayal of Candy Darling in the Opera Philadelphia / Bearded Ladies Cabaret collaboration, Andy: A Popera. His own choreographic work aims to challenge anthropocentric hierarchies and create avenues for queer belonging in rural spaces.
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Zaquia Mahler Salinas
Visiting Lecturer in Dance |
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Originally from San Diego, Zaquia Mahler Salinas is a dance artist invested in movement-art as an act of reclamation and world-building. Her work often joins contemporary dance, text, and video, connecting audiences to visceral, intimate, and introspective narratives. She shape-shifts as a performer, choreographer, educator, curator, administrator, producer, and organizer. Zaquia has had the privilege of creating and sharing dances in digital and performance formats in the United States and abroad. She has participated in several artist and teaching residency programs, including in Chincha Alta, Peru and Bethlehem, Palestine. After nearly a decade of dancing professionally in San Diego, Zaquia co-founded DISCO RIOT (est. 2018), a nonprofit movement-arts organization that works to support independent movement-based artists. In 2023, Zaquia was a recipient of San Diego’s inaugural Far South/Border North award for artists working in socially engaged practice; she is currently serving as Resident Curator with ODC Theater in San Francisco. Outside of dance, you can find Zaquia teaching yoga – she is a 500 hour E-RYT certified yoga instructor.
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Mike Quinn
Technical Director |
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Mike spent 14 years in New York City, working predominantly for the Metropolitan Opera in scenery construction and technical design. During his time there, he worked on over 35 new productions and numerous repertory revivals. Over his career in New York, he also worked at Hudson Scenic Studios, CBS Scenic, Showman Fabricators, and film and TV production. Mike was born and raised in Portland, since moving back in 2023 he has worked with a variety of performing arts organizations and venues including Portland Ovations, Portland Symphony Orchestra, The Public Theatre, Cross Insurance Arena, The Merrill Auditorium and Thompson’s Point. Mike is a member of IATSE Locals 1 and 114.
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Sally Wood
Visiting Lecturer in Theater and Guest Director of Metamorphoses by Mary Zimmerman |
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Sally Wood is thrilled to be back in the classroom. When not professing Sally is a director, actor, and fight director. In Maine, Sally‘s directing credits include AIRE Theater, Bates College, Bowdoin College, The University of New England, The Theater at Monmouth, Portland Stage Company, Fenix Theater Company, The Good Theater, and Maine Theater Festival. Sally earned her BA at Rollins College with post graduate work at Circle in the Square Theater School in New York and her MFA at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Next up this February Sally will be directing her seventh world premier production at Portland Stage ” Sweet Goats and Blueberry Senoritas by the power Richard Blanco & playwright Vanessa Garcia. |
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