Patrick Santoro

Biography

Dr. Patrick Santoro earned a doctorate in Performance Studies from Southern Illinois University Carbondale and a master's in Communication Studies and bachelor's in Humanities from the University of South Florida. He worked as an actor, director, writer, and stage manager in professional and educational theatre for over 20 years. Representative acting credits include roles in 8: THE PLAY, Lemony Snicket's THE BAD BEGINNING, Charles Dickens's THE OLD CURIOSITY SHOP, SOMETHING'S AFOOT, JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT, and originating a role in the new musical MEGA! Representative directing credits include BAGGAGE (winner of Source Theatre's 21st Annual Washington Theatre Festival 10-Minute Play Competition), THE LARAMIE PROJECT, a contemporary retelling of the Greek myth Icarus, and, at GSU, A RAISIN IN THE SUN, FAHRENHEIT 451, and the poetry of Anne Sexton in her take on the Grimm's fairy tales. In addition to more traditional works of theatre, he participated in the creation of performance art, installation art, and video projects.

Research Interest

As assistant professor and program coordinator of Theatre and Performance Studies (TAPS), he teach a variety of courses, such as storytelling, performing culture and identity, performance and social change, performance art, directing, and writing as performance—all courses that explore his interests in the value of performing one's own stories as well as the stories of others, how performance engages society and politics, and how we perform gender, sexuality, race, class, ethnicity, etc. on a daily basis. He also teaches courses in improvisation, voice and movement, new media and performance, Chicagoland theatre, and public address.