Christopher J. Staley, Ph.D.

Christopher J. Staley is a teaching artist and scholar. His research interests center around actor training pedagogy, cognitive theatre studies, and existential psychology.

Dr. Staley has performed with the American Repertory Theatre, OBERON, Moscow Art Theatre Studio, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Opera Carolina, Blue Flamingo Theatre, Empirical Rogue Theatre, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Festival, and at other venues. His video collaborations with visual artists have been installed at Locust Projects in Miami, Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin, the Hong Gah museum in Taipei, and others. His co-produced works have appeared in NYC, Dublin, Costa Mesa, Vancouver, and Nuevo Vallarta.

At Texas Tech, Dr. Staley has directed The Ghost Project, Rites of Spring, and The Pillowman. He is the Co-Artistic Director of The Marfa Intensive, one of the Signature Experiences of the School of Theatre and Dance.

Dr. Staley is a specialist in the Suzuki Method of Actor Training, Viewpoints, Devising, Yoga, and Stanislavskian Active Analysis. He has trained or studied multiple times each with Tadashi Suzuki and the Suzuki Company of Toga, Anne Bogart and the SITI Company, Pacific Performance Project, Theatre Nohgaku, with Robert Wilson as a performer at the Watermill Center event Paradiso and as a production assistant on Wilson’s Lecture on Nothing at the Ninth International Theatre Olympics, and at the Moscow Art Theatre. He has also trained with the Judson Dance Theater choreographer, Deborah Hay, and performed for directors such as John Tiffany and Janos Szasz. He is a founding member of the SITI Company Ambassador Network, a non-profit organization dedicated to continue SITI’s training legacies.

Invited guest lectures or workshops have included international theatre and performance studies departments at Bilkent University in Ankara, Istanbul State Conservatory and Kadir Has University in Istanbul, the National Theatre School in Mexico at the Centro Nacional de las Artes in Mexico City, and in the United States at UT Austin, Muhlenberg College, Weber State University, Endicott College, Carnegie Mellon University, Juniata College, DePaul University, Middle Tennessee State University, Lincoln Center, and University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Staley was a visiting Assistant Professor at Point Park University Conservatory of Performing Arts. He has presented at conferences such as American Society for Theatre Research, Association for Theatre in Higher Education, Mid-America Theatre Conference, European Shakespeare Research Association, American Association of Teachers of Japanese Conference, Performance Studies International, and others.

Published works include articles in The Drama Review and Theatre, Dance, and Performance Training along with other pieces in Asian Theatre Journal and Theatre Annual. Chapter contributions have been published in Teaching Performance Practices in Remote and Hybrid Spaces, Theatre and the Macabre, Re-mapping Shakespeare: Hybridity, Diversity, and Adaptation, and Empathy: Emotional, Ethical, and Epistemological Narratives. His forthcoming book, Tadashi Suzuki and the Suzuki Company of Toga: Legacies of Spiritual Globalization will be published by Anthem Press in 2027.