Ms. Ralph is Associate Professor and chair of the Department of Theatre and Music Studies where she serves as scenic and lighting designer. Prior to her current appointment, she was Artistic Director and Scenic, Lighting and Costume Designer at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf where she supervised the construction and equipping of a new facility designed to accommodate the needs of a deaf audience and staff. She is a Circuit Coordinator for KC/ACTF Region II, Immediate Past Chair of the Upstate New York Region of the United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) and former Member-at-Large on the Governing Council of the Association of Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE). In addition to these organizations, she is a member of the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. Professionally, she was, for seventeen years, a freelance scenic and lighting designer for professional AEA and non-AEA companies; has been artistic director of a women’s theatre company as well as partner in a production company. As an actor, she continues to perform on stage and in film. She has directed at the college and university level as well as professionally in Ireland and Antigua, West Indies. She has sat on the board of several professional theatre companies.
Education
MA, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Areas of Specialty
Scenic & Lighting Design
Courses Taught
Introduction to Design, Scenic Design, Scene Painting, Theatre and Dilemmas in Society, American Theatre, Theatre Arts, Introduction to Theatre, Women in Theatre
Research Interests
Renaissance and Baroque theatre machinery, assessment, and theatre program accessibility
