College of Visual and Performing Arts Dean bruce d. mcclung has announced the appointment of Jennifer Vellenga as Director of the UNCG School of Theatre.
Director Vellenga’s most recent academic appointment was at Kansas State University as a tenured Professor of Theatre and Associate Director of the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance. She led the theatre unit for six years, directed plays and musicals for mainstage and studio productions, and taught all levels of coursework in acting and directing. Previously, she held an appointment as Assistant Professor of Theatre at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida and spent four years as a live-in faculty member for Hecht Residential College.
Vellenga’s research and professional work centers on developing new plays with living playwrights, most notably directing Chantal Bilodeau’s plays on climate change as part of The Arctic Cycle. This collaboration has led to research at Soria Laboratoria, Oslo, Norway; Hålogaland Teater, Tromsø, Norway; Women of the Arctic conference, Helsinki, Finland; The Brick Theatre, Brooklyn, New York; and Avavit Theatre, Chicago.
Additional collaboration with playwright and Fulbright scholar Lachlan Philpott led to research and creative activity at the American Conservatory Theatre, San Francisco and at Hothouse Theatre, Albury-Wodonga, Australia.
Vellenga has worked at Lincoln Center, Guthrie Theatre, Old Globe Theatres, Dallas Theatre Center, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, and is the creator and host of the Ditch Your Backup Plan podcast: stories of rewarding careers between starving artist and celebrity. She spent the last four years as the co-founder/CEO of Voice First World, coaching leaders on storytelling and public speaking.
A member of Actors’ Equity Association,Vellenga earned a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Directing from the University of Ohio and Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Acting from the University of Miami.
