February 22, 2023
Humanizing Our Professors:Rebecca Stone Thornberry, Ph.D., Theater
Flash! The lights illuminate the stage as the audience’s chatter is hushed. All eyes are drawn to the stage as the curtain starts to part, revealing the actors that stand in their disciplined roles. Sitting in the back row, Professor Stone Thornberry watches on proudly as the show is about to begin. Hours of rehearsal and arduous work have led up to this moment. It is one of her favorite parts of the theater: “I really like helping actors figure out their characters and watching the play come to life.”Professor Rebecca Stone Thornberry is an associate professor at the Marinette and Green Bay campuses. At the Marinette campus, she teaches World Theatre and Performance classes. She has earned multiple degrees. Professor Stone Thornberry has a Ph.D. in Theatre Studies, a Master of Fine Arts degree in Acting, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting. Before coming to the campus, she was an editorial assistant for a publishing company while simultaneously performing on the side, then later, moved to Colorado to study for her Ph.D. There, she wrote her dissertation, directed plays, and worked for the Colorado Shakespeare Festival.
Professor Stone Thornberry has the balanced experience of working in theater and completing her degrees, but her time on campus has been anything but uneventful! She described her life at the campus as “rather chaotic and unsettled.” Like a shift in the story, Professor Stone Thornberry went through a lot of changes since starting her job in 2011. She was the Artistic Director for Theatre on the Bay at the Marinette campus (the only female Artistic Directorin the theater’shistory!) from 2011-2020.Currently, she is working on a new play for World Premiere Wisconsin and research on theater direction. This includes‘intimacy direction,” which is a new field about setting boundaries and creating a safe and professional environment. Dr. Stone Thornberry hopes to attend a workshop about the subject.
With those years of experience, Professor Stone Thornberry has developed a teaching style that is warm but disciplined. She believes that student participation is helpful in a classroom setting, and you can bet that it is essential in a theater where participation is needed. Putting in that extra effort can elevate the group’s performance. Though, if other teachers are trying to develop their own teaching style, Professor Stone Thornberry recommends reading about teaching and interacting with other teachers. She also suggests doing workshops and professional development to help strengthen teaching styles.Though she may move around between campuses, she certainly has the passion to play the role of leader and professor. As she described it, one part of her career that she enjoys so much is “how close you become to the actors and technicians working on a play. Everyone becomes a tight-knit group, and you really get to know people in a more personal way.” Top pet photo: Professor Stone Thornberry’s cat Tootie. Bottom photo: Her cat Delilah and dog Rigby.