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Profile

College / Department

College of Arts and Sciences
Performing Arts Program

Teaching areas

Devised Theatre, Acting, Directing, Playwriting, Stage Combat

Research areas

Devised Theatre, Grotowski, Boal and Political Theatre, Shakespeare, Multifocus Theatre, Dance as actor training tool

Education

MFA, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA, 1995

Professional experience

Professor Tassa has acted in and directed more than 80 professional and university theatre productions. Some of his favorite roles include Marc Antony in "Julius Caesar", Macbeth, and Michael in "Someone to watch over me." Acted and/or directed with: Georgia Shakespeare, East Tennessee Shakespeare, Palm Beach Shakespeare, Clarence Brown Theatre, among others. Worked with: Julie Harris, Billie Whitelaw, Bill Esper, Ron Van Lieu, DiabloMundo, Elena Jandova, Slava Dolgachev, among others.

Memberships

Actor’s Equity Association, 1994 (AEA) Society of American Fight Directors, Qualified Actor-Combatant, 1992 (SAFD)

Contact

atassa@aus.edu
+971 6 515 2486

Anthony Tassa

Professor and Performing Arts Coordinator
Master of Fine Arts, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA

As a professional actor/director, Anthony Tassa has worked with numerous US theatre companies. He has worked and/or studied with Julie Harris, Billie Whitelaw, Bill Esper, Ron Van Lieu, John Ammerman and the theatre troupe Diablomundo, among others. He continues to teach acting and directing, and has taught stage combat and movement. As a playwright, he has had four plays and one screenplay fully produced. Most recently, Sunflower Fortress received a professional stage reading in Florida, during Spring 2011.

Publications

Playwriting: The Pendulum (2010) unproduced, Cells (2007) produced in 2007, Sunflower Fortress (2007), Warsaw Uprising 1944 (2005) produced in 2005, Rachmaninoff (2005) unproduced, The Unfinished Shed – screenplay (2002) unproduced, The Newspaper (2000) produced in 2002, The Artist’s Lament (2000) produced in 2001, Blood Will Have Blood (1999) unproduced, Open Locks, Whoever knocks – screenplay (1996) feature film produced in 1998

Conference Presentations

Director of AUS First International Theatre Festival, 2017 / Nova Drama Festival, Bratislava, Slovakia 2013 and 2014 / Devising Shakespeare Workshops I and II, NYU Abu Dhabi Global Shakespeare Student Festival, March 2013 and Nov. 2013 / INTED 2010, Valencia, Spain, March 2010 / KCACTF, Region IV 2009 & 2010 / Productions presented at KCACTF, Region IV 2006 & 2010 / Production presented at 12th International University Theatre Festival, Beirut, 2009 / The Story Circle Process, Esperanza Theatre,

Awards and Honors

Kennedy Center Directing Mentor, 2006 / Seed Grant, American University of Sharjah, 2009 / Faculty Development Grant, 2009

Other creative/research

Developed "Hiraeth", original devised work based on students' personal stories, 2016 / Conceptualized and developed "Macbeth Arabia", AUS 2011 / Hosted KCACTF, Region IV, 2005 / Participated in projects "In Celebration of Women" 2005-2007, The Color-Line Project 2000-2001 / "Modem Spirit", exploration of synthesis between Grotowski techniques and Japanese Noh Theatre, 2000.

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