Signing the agreement documents are Dawn McGurl, chair of the Scranton Shakespeare Festival Board of Directors, left, and Lisa A. Lori, president of Marywood University.
Submitted Photo
SSF will be university’s resident theatre
Marywood University and Scranton Shakespeare Festival (SSF) have entered into a landmark partnership establishing SSF as Marywood’s resident professional theatre company and bringing professional theatre, experiential learning, community programming, and new creative opportunities directly to Marywood’s campus.
The partnership is a part of the vision behind Marywood’s new School of Communication, which formally launched this semester.
These initiatives will bring students, professional artists, faculty, audiences, and community members together on Marywood’s campus throughout the year, advancing a broader vision for Marywood as a place where education, professional practice, performance, and community intersect.
A signing ceremony was held at Marywood on Aug. 24, marking the beginning of the partnership, featuring Lisa A. Lori , president of Marywood University; Lindsey Wotanis, director of the School of Communication; Dawn McGurl, chair of the SSF board of directors, and Lizzie Newcomb Gumula, SSF director of education/associate producer.
“This is about creating opportunities for our students, for SSF, for professional artists, and for our entire region,” said Lori. “As we developed the vision for our new School of Communication, we wanted professional practice and community engagement to be integral to the student experience. Bringing Scranton Shakespeare Festival to Marywood helps make that vision a reality. Our students will have extraordinary access to professionals working in the field, our campus will come alive with even more performances and creative activity, and our community will have another reason to experience Marywood as a destination for theatre, culture, and the arts.”
President Lori added, “Together, the new School of Communication and our partnership with SSF advance our longstanding vision for Marywood to become a cultural hub for the arts in Northeastern Pennsylvania, a place where artists, students, and the community come together to create, learn, perform, and experience the arts.”
The university’s partnership with SSF is woven into the broader vision for Marywood’s new School of Communication: creating an interdisciplinary environment where students learn across traditional academic boundaries, engage directly with working professionals, and prepare for a creative economy in which disciplines and platforms increasingly intersect.
“The world our students are entering is increasingly interdisciplinary,” President Lori said. “Performers, directors, designers, filmmakers, producers, marketers, journalists, and content creators work across disciplines and platforms. That is one of the reasons we created the School of Communication, and this partnership helps bring that vision to life. We are putting a professional theatre company into an academic environment where theatre students can collaborate with these creative professionals. Students will learn by doing, build professional relationships, and connect what they study in the classroom with the realities of today’s creative industries.”
Lindsey Wotanis, Ph.D., Director of Marywood’s School of Communication, said the partnership will create opportunities extending well beyond the stage. “Bringing SSF into the School of Communication’s interdisciplinary environment creates a living laboratory for our students,” said Dr. Wotanis. “A theatrical production requires storytelling, performance, design, production, sound, video, marketing, publicity, social media, and audience engagement. Those are precisely the kinds of connections we want our students to make across programs. They will have opportunities to apply what they are learning to real productions, work alongside professionals, and build portfolios and experiences that prepare them for their careers.”
“Marywood University is the ideal home for Scranton Shakespeare Festival,” McGurl said. “This partnership gives SSF the opportunity to put down roots, grow artistically, expand our programming and community reach, and build for the future, while investing in the next generation of creative professionals. With a permanent home at Marywood and access to the university’s students, faculty, facilities, and broader community, we have an extraordinary opportunity to strengthen SSF and extend the impact of professional theatre throughout the region. We look forward to building a shared future that celebrates performance, education, and community while creating new opportunities for artists, students, and audiences across Northeastern Pennsylvania.”
A professional theatre company on campus
As Marywood’s resident professional theatre company, SSF will work directly with Marywood faculty and students throughout the year, providing professional mentorship, experiential learning, master classes, workshops, artist talks, audition coaching, Shakespeare intensives, and other educational programming.
Students will have opportunities to work alongside professional actors, directors, designers, technicians, producers, and visiting artists, not only as performers, but in production, design, stage management, marketing, communications, arts administration, and other areas. Marywood students also will receive priority access to SSF’s Learning, Experience and Advancement Program (LEAP), providing real-world experience in multiple aspects of professional theatre production and administration.
Additionally, the partnership will support recruitment efforts and provide prospective students with opportunities to experience the connection between professional practice and a Marywood education.
