Mark Charney, Ph.D.
Email: mark.charney@ttu.edu
Phone: 806-834-1683
BA – Clemson University
MA – the University of New Orleans
PhD – Tulane University
Office: Maedgen Theatre 161B

Mark Charney served as 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 new goals are 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 Aint so Bad, which is being considered for production
in London at a number of theatres after successful workshops in DC, London, and Marfa.
He and Cory also completed Garage Door and Revenge of the Oompa Loompas, both developed
at Rose Theatre in DC, and are currently finishing Organ Recital to be developed in
DC in February of 2025.
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. He is also responsible for editing the 60th Annual Journal for the College
of Fellows.
School of Theatre & Dance
-
Address
Texas Tech University, School of Theatre and Dance, Box 42061, 2812 18th Street, Lubbock, TX 79409-2061 -
Phone
806.742.3601 -
Email
theatre.dance@ttu.edu