APEX Hour at SUU

Key Takeaway 1: The Journey of a Regional Actor & Educator: Jacob Dresch details his path from high school band and community theater to earning a BFA at DeSales University, an MFA at UC Irvine under mentor Phil Thompson, and balancing professional regional acting with university teaching. Key Takeaway 2: Unpacking The Book Club Play: An inside look at playing Will, exploring documentary camera meta-dynamics in an intimate three-quarter-round space, and defending the value of popular culture alongside classical literature. Key Takeaway 3: Dual Roles in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: Examining the memory-play structure of David Catlin's adaptation while navigating the tragic flaws, hubris, and moral complexities of Victor Frankenstein and Percy Bysshe Shelley Connect with SUU & The Festival: Discover upcoming speaker events at suu.edu/apex Book your tickets to the 65th anniversary season at bard.org ***Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

Key Takeaway 1: The structural mechanics of running a 65-person costume shop during peak build, balancing artisan craftsmanship with the daily logistics of wardrobe supervision. Key Takeaway 2: How historical clothing and silhouettes—from Victorian leg-of-mutton sleeves to corsets—function as social commentary and shape physical movement on stage. Key Takeaway 3: The distinction between costume design and costume technology, and the career advice that "there is no schedule but your schedule" when building a healthy life in the arts. Connect with SUU & The Festival: Discover upcoming speaker events at suu.edu/apex Book your tickets to the 65th anniversary season at bard.org ***Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

A Lifelong Performing Career: Guest Brian Gonzales traces his journey growing up in Dallas and San Antonio, raised by a television crew chief father and a blues singer/director mother, leading to his Broadway debut in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Crafting Iconic Character Roles: An inside look at originating Babkak in Aladdin on Broadway and stepping into two distinct 2026 Randall Theater roles at USF: the explosive, comedic seer Nostradamus in Something Rotten and the delicate, pragmatic clerk Ladislav Sipos in She Loves Me. The Interconnected Theater Community: Reflections on lifelong artistic partnerships, working alongside close friends like director Alan Muraoka and actor Blake Henri, and navigating the shifts of regional theater. Connecting with the Audience: A deep dive into how actors read and respond to live audience energy, adjusting timing without losing the grounded emotional truth of a production. Connect with SUU & The Festival: Discover upcoming speaker events at suu.edu/apex Book your tickets to the 65th anniversary season at bard.org ***Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

From Magnet School to the Stage: Guest Kayland Jordan discusses growing up in Dallas, attending specialized performing arts middle and high schools, and earning a BFA in acting in New York City. Unpacking Classical Character Depth: A discussion on bringing fresh humanity, grief, and comedic timing to iconic figures like Olivia in Twelfth Night and Horatio in Hamlet. Representation and Intentional Casting: Kayland reflects on working with open-minded directors, rejecting tokenism, and serving the core story rather than letting casting choices feel like forced statements. The Transformative Nature of Performance: Reflections on how collaborative rehearsal processes foster mutual trust, artistic growth, and genuine connections with live audiences. Connect with SUU & The Festival: Discover upcoming speaker events at suu.edu/apex Book your tickets to the 65th anniversary season at bard.org ***Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

From the Ballfield to the Ghost Light: Guest Blake Henri shares how a high school injury and an unexpected moment alone on stage redirected his life path from sports and business toward a passionate, career-focused pursuit of classical acting. Depth Behind the Antagonists: A compelling discussion on breaking traditional performance stereotypes to discover grief, regret, and genuine human love in roles like Sir Toby Belch and Laertes. The War Correspondent of Troilus and Cressida: An inside look at transforming the classic truth-teller Thersides into an embedded modern media correspondent who reframes historical conflict for a contemporary audience. Mentorship and Supportive Connections: Reflections on the mentors, directors, and collaborative colleagues who opened doors, provided reality checks, and fostered a sense of home within the regional theater community Connect with SUU & The Festival: Discover upcoming speaker events at suu.edu/apex Book your tickets to the 65th anniversary season at bard.org ***Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

The evolution of an actor—from childhood comic book art and construction work with his father to mastering leading classical roles. A fresh perspective on approaching famous soliloquies as spontaneous, character-driven discoveries rather than grand, static recitations. Unpacking the duality of playing two vastly different figures—the introspective Prince Hamlet and the complex, satirical warrior Achilles—in the same repertory season. ***Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

Show Notes From Competition Dance to Storytelling: Guest Sacha Comrie details her early career in commercial dance and her transformative education at Spelman College that bridged technical skill with narrative choreography. Understanding Intimacy Coordination: A comprehensive breakdown of how intimacy coordinators manage actor consent, boundaries, modesty garments, and movement choreography across theatrical and film sets. The Power of Community & Mentorship: Sacha reflects on the pivotal hands-on mentorship from industry pioneers like Ann James and Kaja Dunn that shaped her career transition into advocacy and intimacy work. Crafting USF's Engelstad Season: An inside look at coordinating intimacy and choreography for the 2026 festival productions of Twelfth Night, Troilus and Cressida, and Hamlet. Connect with SUU APEX & the Uta Shakespeare Festival: Discover upcoming speaker events at suu.edu/apex Book your tickets to the USF 65th anniversary season at bard.org ***Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

From Center Stage to Scenic Design: Guest Jo Winiarski discusses her transition from an undergraduate acting student at NYU to finding her true calling as a professional set designer and television art director. The Architecture of Repertory Theater: A deep dive into the physical mechanics of managing three distinct productions within the exact same theatrical footprint, featuring the logistical triumph of the She Loves Me turntable. The Core of Pure Creativity: A warm reflection on the internal drive to build and create, the external inspirations that spark artistic innovation, and why a simple black ink pen and a white notebook remain the ultimate creative tools. Functionality and Safety First: Why serving the structural needs of the script and ensuring physical safety on stage forms the unpretentious baseline for successful visual storytelling. Connect with SUU APEX & the Uta Shakespeare Festival: Discover upcoming speaker events at suu.edu/apex Book your tickets to the USF 65th anniversary season at bard.org ***Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

A Journey Built on Shared Discovery: Guest Alan Muraoka traces his roots from a Southern California latchkey kid seeking structural camaraderie to winning the historic UCLA Carol Burnett musical theater scholarship. The Invisible Engine of Musical Comedy: An inside look at balancing complex choreography and rapid character pacing under the tight engineering constraints of repertory festival tracking. Balancing Slapstick with Sincerity: How refining performance notes to track the vulnerability and heartache of historical characters like Nigel Bottom creates a deeper, more impactful audience experience. The Modern Mandate for Authentic Representation: Reflections on building spaces of profound emotional safety and introducing generation-defining milestones of intersectional visibility. Connect with SUU APEX & the Uta Shakespeare Festival: Discover upcoming speaker events at suu.edu/apex Book your tickets to the USF 65th anniversary season at bard.org ***Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

Blending Art and Acting: Guest Bill Black shares how his background as a childhood actor, visual painter, and early sewist blended perfectly to build a lifelong career as a theatrical storyteller. The Fundamentals of Design: A breakdown of the five core skill sets required of a senior costume designer, emphasizing script comprehension, human psychology, design fundamentals, and collaboration. From Sketchbook to Flat Pattern: A look at the advanced dimensional mathematics required by drapers and hands-on production crews to translate simple lead pencil mock-ups into complex historical garments. The Invisible Support of Wardrobe: Why a highly successful costume shouldn't distract the audience, but rather quietly support the actor's vulnerability and internal journey through structural adaptation. Connect with SUU & The Festival: This episode is part of a collaboration between SUU Eccles APEX and the Utah Shakespeare Festival. Discover upcoming speaker events at suu.edu/apex Book your tickets to the 65th anniversary season at bard.org ***Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

Learning Theater as a Trade: Guest Geoffrey Kent details his unconventional path into classical theater, acquiring his performance skills through corporate murder mysteries, renaissance faires, and high-flying stunt shows rather than a traditional classroom setting. The Architecture of Farce: An inside look at directing See How They Run and why structural choices—like compressing multiple acts together—are vital to keeping an audience completely hooked before an intermission. Safety vs. Excitement in Fight Direction: A deep dive into how a risk assessor and Society of American Fight Directors certified teacher crafts dangerous-looking combat that remains perfectly safe for actors to perform eight shows a week. The Instant Feedback of Comedy: A breakdown of how comedic timing requires an acute awareness of the audience, demanding that performers actively manage pacing without letting the room take over the production. Connect with SUU & The Festival: This episode is part of a special partnership between SUU Eccles APEX and the Utah Shakespeare Festival. Discover upcoming speaker events at suu.edu/apex Book your tickets to the 65th anniversary season at bard.org  ***Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

A Lifelong Theater Education: Guest Beth Lopes shares her journey growing up as a self-described "Shakespeare festival baby" and how seeing diverse, non-Western classics early on built her foundational worldview of storytelling. The Crucible of Hamlet: An inside look into directing the 65th anniversary production of Hamlet at the Engelstad Theater, focusing on authentic human choices rather than strict character archetypes. Ensemble Storytelling over Solos: Why building a deeply invested family dynamic for the Polonii and highlighting the multi-dimensional relationships of Gertrude and Ophelia makes tragedy more impactful. The Syncing Heartbeats of Live Performance: A reflection on the vital, irreplaceable nature of live theater in an increasingly digital world. Connect with SUU & The Festival: This series is produced in collaboration with SUU Eccles APEX series. Discover upcoming speaker events at suu.edu/apex Book your tickets to the 65th anniversary season at bard.org  ***Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

Ben Homan, the properties director at the Utah Shakespeare Festival, joined us on the podcast. *** Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

Bill Heyborne, the dean of SUU's College of STEM, joined us on the podcast. *** Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

Michael Howarth event details ***Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

LaToya Ruby Frazier event details ***Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

Sarah Eagle Heart event details  ***Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

Matthew Delmont at Eccles APEX ***Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

In this special episode of the APEX Radio Hour, Director of APEX Ryan Paul and producer Lauren Bird welcome Irish author, historian, and founder of the 1916 Rebellion Walking Tour, Lorcan Collins, following his presentation at SUU. Drawing on his nearly 30 years of research and his bestselling books, Collins offers a deep dive into the revolutionary period of Irish history.https://events.suu.edu/event/lorcan-collins-apex-fall-2025  ***Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

Joan & Loki Mullholland spoke at the Eccles APEX series at Southern Utah University on October 9, 2025. They then joined the APEX team for this conversation. *** Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

Michael Schmidt, the dean for SUU's College of Performing & Visual Arts, joins us in this bonus episode of the APEX podcast. *** Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

Dr. Elaine Vickers, SUU Chemistry professor and acclaimed author, joins the A.P.E.X. podcast team on this bonus episode. *** Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

John DiAntonio from the Utah Shakespeare Festival joins the A.P.E.X. podcast team for a bonus episode. *** Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

*** Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

*** Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

*** Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

*** Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

*** Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

Sibusiso Vilane is a climber and adventurer who spoke at SUU in the A.P.E.X. speaker series on February 6, 2025. *** Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

Carrie Snow joins us in this bonus episode of the APEX Radio Hour. *** Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

Dr. Crystal Koenig, SUU Assistant Professor, Anthropology *** Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

https://events.suu.edu/event/apex-rik-scarce ***Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

https://events.suu.edu/event/apex-drew-robinson  ***Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

Dr Kevin Stein, Professor of Communication *** Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

https://events.suu.edu/event/apex-paisley-rekdal ***Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

The SUU Eccles APEX presentation on October 10 featured Journalist and Writer Lauren Markham. Her presentation was titled “The Myth of the Border”. *** Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

The Grace A. Tanner Lecture on October 3, 2024, featured Poet Camille Dungy. Her presentation was called, “Soil, African Diaspora, and American Land”. She has taught many creative writing and poetry workshops and courses, including as a Professor of English and Director of the Creative Writing Program at Colorado State University. *** Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

Playwright Lauren Gunderson spoke as part of the Eccles A.P.E.X. series and joins us on the podcast. *** Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

Dr. Jeffrey Engel will spoke at SUU's Eccles A.P.E.X. series entitled "FDR and the Four Freedoms". *** Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

Special episode with Shauna Mendini, SUU's Dean for the College of Performing and Visual Arts. *** Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

Susan Clayton is Whitmore-Williams Professor of Psychology and chair of Environmental Studies at the College of Wooster. Her PhD, in social psychology, is from Yale University. She has authored or edited five books, including the Oxford Handbook of Environmental and Conservation Psychology (2012), Conservation Psychology (with Gene Myers; 2nd edition in press), and Identity and the Natural Environment (2003, with Susan Opotow). She co-authored the American Psychological Association (APA) reports on “Psychology and Global Climate Change” and “Psychological Impacts of Climate Change.” Clayton is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, of which she is also president-elect. *** Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

Kevin holds a doctorate from The Ohio State University in Education, Storytelling, and Story Making and has taught storytelling at the university and secondary level. For seven years at Ohio Dominican University, he taught “Applied Storytelling” as well as other courses in the areas of children and young adult literature and folk and fairy-tales. He served as OSU’s first “Academic Storyteller in Residence” with the Multicultural Center. He developed programs using narrative to address gender, equity, diversity, and social justice. He now serves as a national/international story/storytelling consultant and is working full time as an Assistant Professor of Literacy and Education at Ohio University Lancaster. Since 2009, he has served as a Co-Director for the Columbus Area Writing Project with the OSU branch of the National Writing Project. He has told stories in over forty states, England, Scotland, Singapore, Canada, Japan and in Qatar. Kevin shares stories with a highly energetic, animated, and interactive style and is considered by many storytelling professionals as one of the most influential and dynamic storytellers and teachers today. His award-winning story work has been commissioned by The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, American Library Association, National Storytelling Network, Newsweek, and the Qatar Foundation International. He is considered one of the "nation's primary advocates for youth storytelling"! According to the National Storytelling Network, he is “the first full time high school storytelling teacher in the country”. His work has been chronicled in the book he co- authored with Judy Sima, Raising Voices: creating youth storytelling groups and troupes. *** Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

Zonnie Gorman is the daughter of the late Dr. Carl N. Gorman and his wife Mary. She is also the youngest sister to the legendary and renowned Navajo artist, the late R.C. Gorman. Zonnie has appeared in several documentaries including the History Channel documentary, In Search of History - Navajo Code Talkers; the MGM double DVD release of Windtalkers (historical documentary section); and the PBS documentary, True Whispers. Zonnie earned her M.A. in History from The University of New Mexico and her thesis, The Navajo Code Talkers of World War II: The First Twenty-Nine, included interviews with several of the First Twenty-nine Navajo Code Talkers. She is now working on her Ph.D. Zonnie is a past board member with the following organizations: Navajo Studies Conference and Eve’s Fund for Native American Health Initiatives. In addition, Zonnie is an alum of Up With People, Leadership McKinley, and Leadership New Mexico. Lastly, Zonnie is a current member of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA), American Historical Association (AHA), the Organization of American Historians (OAH), the Western History Association (WHA), the Society for Military History (SMH), and the Navajo Studies Conference Inc. *** Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

Meghan is a Co-Founder/CEO of Stathletes, a hockey data and analytics company. Stathletes provides industry leading hockey insights in over 22 leagues worldwide and has scaled to the highest professional levels across North America and Europe. In another industry role, Meghan is a Data Scientist in Residence at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. She was featured on the insert cover of the Hockey News’ Top 100 of power and Influence, listed at 95 overall and in the Top 10 for Hockey Business Executives. Meghan and Stathletes have also been awarded Top Young Entrepreneur of the Year for 2018/2019 by the Ontario Chamber of Commerce and Top 40 under 40 in hockey for the Athletic in 2019 & 2020. She is on the board of advisors of US Integrity in the sports betting space. *** Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

Dr. Lisa Diamond speaks as part of SUU Eccles APEX on 02/15/2024 *** Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

After achieving his dream of being a video gamer artist and reaching the top at Blizzard Entertainment, Josh Singh was faced with the reality of what it takes to make it: time and constantly hitting the mark. After leaving and helping make League of Legends the game it is today, Josh finds himself climbing the ladder, both up and down, eventually leading back up to the top of the industry as the Art Director for Marvel Entertainment.Josh attended BYU-Hawaii, earning an Associate of General Studies in 2001, and studied Graphic Design at Eagle Gate Technical College in Murray, UT. Since graduating, he has worked as a senior character artist at Sony Online Entertainment, Blizzard Entertainment, and Riot Games, as well as other companies. In addition to being Art Director for Marvel Entertainment, he has also been an Art Director for Wavedash Games, where he built their art department entirely from scratch, and Brazilian gaming company Wildlife Games, which taught him a working proficiency in Portuguese. He has worked on such notable projects as Titan Quest, Project Titan (the predecessor to Overwatch), League of Legends, Legends of Runeterra, and Icons: Combat Arena, and Tennis Clash. He has been with Marvel Entertainment since September 2021, where he has been an Art Director for Marvel Snap, Marvel's Midnight Suns, and Marvel's Spider-Man 2. In 2011, he was named a Master Artist by online art community CGHub (a honor with such weight that it has a history of being used to gain a US O-1B Visa, given to those who have extraordinary artistic ability) and was an instructor of a Masterclass at the Gnomon School of Visual Effects (the “MIT of VFX”) in 2013. Josh also speaks fluent Fijian.  ***Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

On Friday, 10 October 1800, a ragtag group of artists and Jacobins were arrested at the Paris Opéra, accused of plotting to stab First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte in his box. In the coming weeks the suspected ringleaders of this so-called Conspiracy of Daggers were swiftly tried, convicted, and guillotined as a warning to other would-be assassins. But how guilty were they? Although the regime prosecuted its case confidently, its critics from the beginning insisted that the accused were little more than patsies goaded into the crime by an undercover agent. Drawing on a wide range of sources—including official proceedings, firsthand accounts, architectural plans, secret British intelligence reports, as well as letters and scores in the French National Library and the Paris Opéra archives—this lecture reopens the case and argues that the “conspiracy” was likely an elaborate set-up by the authorities and that the opera performed on that fateful evening played a key role in entrapping and foiling the assassins.Douglas L. Ipson is Assistant Professor of Music History and Theory at Southern Utah University. He received a Ph.D. in music history at the University of Chicago after earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music from Brigham Young University. A specialist in nineteenth-century Italian opera—especially its political aspects—he has been published in the Cambridge Opera Journal and is a contributor to The Cambridge Verdi Encyclopedia (2013). He is preparing the critical edition of the opera La battaglia di Legnano for The Works of Giuseppe Verdi, published by the University of Chicago Press and Casa Ricordi. His other areas of scholarly interest include Shakespeare and opera, the sixteenth-century Italian madrigal, and opera in revolutionary and Napoleonic France. He is also a composer and arranger whose works have performed across the United States and internationally. He is a native of St. George, Utah. ***Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

We are joined by the creators Gerald C. Rivers (Morehouse College Alumni) and Charles Holt (Rhodes College) on the APEX Radio Hour Podcast Hour to discuss.  ***Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

*** Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex

*** Eccles APEX Website: https://www.suu.edu/apex