Mark Charney, Ph.D.

Mark Charney served as Chair of English and Director of Theatre for the Department of Performing Arts at Clemson University before retiring as a Professor Emeritus and accepting the role of Director of the School of Theatre and Dance at Texas Tech University. A past Chair for Region IV, a past member of the National Selection Team, and presently National Coordinator of Institute for Theatre Journalism and Advocacy/Dramaturgy for KCACTF, Mark just finished a 19-year job as Associate Director of the National Critics Institute for the O’Neill Theatre Center. He also served for six years on the National Board of NAST (the National Association of Schools of Theatre) and Artistic Director of the International Association of Schools of Southeast Asia. He is currently the Chair of Ethics for NAST.

As a playwright, Charney’s play, The Power Behind the Palette, won the David Mark Cohen Award and received a stage reading at ATHE in Los Angeles. His new version of Antigone, Dangling Modifiers, premiered at the New Works Festival summer of 2016. His 61-page chapter on “The Entertainment Marketplace from 2000–2014” was published in Screenwriting by Rutgers Press August of 2014. His play Shooting Blanks was featured at the Prague Fringe Festival in June of 2016. Dr. Charney’s Incline/Decline was performed in Austin during the fall of 2014.

Mark was an invited guest to the Actors Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in Los Angeles, where he was made an honorary inductee based on his work with criticism and dramaturgy.

Charney’s most recent accomplishments were international. He recently partnered the School of Theatre and Dance with both the Performing Arts Program in Hong Kong and Bilkent University, the “Yale” of Turkey. Under his leadership, the School of Theatre and Dance was invited to be part of the prestigious International Theatre Institute and partner with schools in Romania and Korea. His collaboratively written play, Public Domain: A Play with Footnotes, premiered at the Second International Festival in Sharjah, and his play, written with Cory Norman, Empty Roads with Cars, premiered at the Bilkent University Theatre Festival in Turkey.

He and Cory Norman recently finished a play about the life of Dr. Kevorkian, If Christ Was Born in a Barn, Dyin’ in a Van Ain’t so Bad, which is being considered for production in London at several theatres after successful workshops in DC, London, and Marfa. He and Cory also completed Garage Door, Revenge of the Oompa Loompas, Organ Recital, and in honor of…, all developed at Rose Theatre in DC, and are currently finishing Cabin Pressure to be developed in DC in November of 2026.

Mark is especially proud of creating signature programs such as WildWind Performance Lab, the Marfa Intensive, and the Tennessee Williams Institute.

Recent awards and accolades include: the Williams Kerns Award for Achievement in Performing Arts; two gold medallions from the Kennedy Center; 15 Awards for Faculty Excellence from the Clemson University Board of Trustees; Seven Meritorious Achievement Awards from the Kennedy Center for Directing; the David Mark Cohen Award for Playwriting; Phil and Mary Bradley Award for Mentoring in Creative Inquiry; The Thomas Green Clemson Award for Excellence; and the TTU Global Engagement Award. He was inducted into the College of Fellows of American Theatre last April and now serves on their Board of Directors.