 T.
Paul Pfeiffer, Ph.D
Since beginning his career as a professor of Theatre
twenty-seven years ago at Salisbury University, Dr.
Pfeiffer has been in active pursuit of his two academic loves –
History and the Theatre. He teaches courses in accents and dialects, acting comedy, acting Shakespeare,
and theatre history. He completed his Master’s degree
at
the University of Maryland in 1985 in Theatre History and
Directing and his Doctoral degree at the Union Institute in 1992
in Theatre History and Performance. He has also extended these
studies to include professional training in Renaissance and
Baroque dance at the Amherst Early Music Institute and in acting
at the Herbert Berghoff Studio in New York. Most of his
professional acting training, however, has been in the classical
theatre. Dr. Pfeiffer has studied at the Folger Theatre in
Washington, D.C. and at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London.
At the Globe, he was one of twenty-four American educators
selected to train in a three-week workshop entitled ‘Shakespeare
in Performance’ as taught by theatre professionals from Great
Britain, Australia and the U.S. He has continued to combine
these areas of expertise not only in his teaching but also in
the wide range of productions he has directed for the
University’s Bobbi Biron Theatre Program. He teaches all of the
theatre history, advanced voice and acting courses for Theatre
Program, which places a strong emphasis on the study of
classical acting. Serving as Director of Theatre since 1989,
Dr. Pfeiffer has led the theatre’s development to wide
recognition for the quality of its theatrical seasons and the
rigors of its acting training program. Most recently, this
leadership has garnered a $500,000 endowment for the program and
a new theatre major.
 Dr. Pfeiffer also answered the call of the professional
theatre where he has acted for the Riverside Shakespeare Theatre
in Manhattan, among others. He has also very recently entered
the British professional theatre this time as a playwright. His
one man play, APOLOGY FOR THE LIFE OF AN ACTOR, based on the
life of 18th century actor/manager Colley Cibber, was given a
special showcase at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s ‘The Other
Place’ in 1999. The play received public and critical
enthusiasm. Stephen Pimlott, Artistic Director of ‘The Other
Place,’ described Dr. Pfeiffer’s ability to bring the 18th
century to life on the stage as, “Brilliant.” The play was also
invited to the Edinburgh Fringe Theatre Festival for the summer
of 2001, where both Dr. Pfeiffer (as Cibber) and the play
received very favorable reviews, cited by The Scotsman as “a
fascinating time travelogue, an hilarious and credible hymn to
the joy of entertaining.” In the U.S., Dr. Pfeiffer was awarded
an Individual Artist Award by the Maryland State Arts Council in
2004 for his performance in this play.
 An active scholar in international conferences, Dr. Pfeiffer
has presented on various aspects of the classical theatre, and
is published in internationally recognized journals. Dr.
Pfeiffer also aspires to continue to write for the theatre. He
directed his own adaptation of Henry Fielding’s novel, JOSEPH
ANDREWS, for the Bobbi Biron Theatre Program 2006-07 season and
continues to advance several other projects stage and screen
treatment.
As the culmination of twenty-eight years of service to
Salisbury State University; eighteen years of leadership as
Director of Theatre; and notable accomplishments in both the
academic and professional theatre, Dr. Pfeiffer was one of four
selected to receive the prestigious Distinguished Faculty Award
for 2000-2001. He continues to serve as Full Professor of
Theatre and as Artistic Director for the Theatre Program as part
of the new Department of Theatre and Dance at Salisbury
University.
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