Theatre Program Faculty

Dr. Brian Haimbach
Lead Theatre Arts Faculty - Acting, Intermediate Acting, Writing for Theatre
Office: Building 6, room 132
Phone: (541) 463-5648
Email: haimbachb@lanecc.edu
Teaches: Acting 1, 2, and 3, Intermediate Acting 1 and 2, Introduction to Theatre, Acting Shakespeare, and Acting for Camera

When Brian Haimbach realized his biggest claim to fame was singing for Cybil Shepherd in Las Vegas, he knew it was time to get a degree. He earned a PhD in Theatre with a specialization in directing and new play development from the University of Georgia. Favorite directing credits include Hamlet, Marat/Sade, Top Girls, Amadeus, and The Rocky Horror Show. As a director and/or producer he has worked on world premier productions and/or readings of plays by Lee Blessing, Arlene Hutton, Caridad Svich, and Catherine Trieschmann as well as numerous emerging playwrights. Professionally he has spent time with Touchstone Theatre, Chicago Dramatists, the O’Neill Playwrights Conference, and the Great Plains Theatre Conference and his work has been featured in American Theatre Magazine. He is the former head of the national New Play Festival at Centre Stage in Greenville, SC and has taught in the theatre departments of Texas Tech, USC Upstate, and the University of Georgia. While head of theatre at Greenville Technical College, he created an AA program in Theatre which included study abroad programs to China, Edinburgh, and Egypt. He was the first faculty ambassador to Copenhagen Technical School from GTC to create a student exchange between the two colleges. He is active in the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival and Association for Theatre in Higher Education. Since moving to Oregon he has sung the roles of Dan in "Next to Normal" at Oregon Contemporary Theatre, where he regularly directs, and Harvey Milk in the oratorio "I am Harvey Milk" with the Portland Gay Men's Chorus as well as entertaining audiences with his one-man show "How to be a Sissy." In a former life, he was a singer and dancer on cruise ships and earned a degree in musical theatre from Flordia State University.

Mari Dewitt
Faculty/MDTA Costume Designer
Office: Building 6 Room 005 (Costume Shop)
Phone: (541) 463-5651
Email: dewittm@lanecc.edu
Teaches: Introduction to Costume Design and Make Up for Performance 

Mari studied design at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, Los Angeles. Before moving to Oregon she worked as a theatrical designer at Bakersfield College, The Kern Shakespeare Festival and California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks. Mari has designed over 25 Shakespeare productions, many contemporary shows, various musicals, and now modern dance. Presently she costumes and instructs at Lane Community College.

James McConkey
Faculty/MDTA Technical Director and resident lighting and set designer
Office: Building 6 Room 209
Phone: (541) 463-5643
Email: mcconkeyj@lanecc.edu
Teaches: Theatre Production I and II

James has been Technical Director at LCC since 1997. Graduating from Washington State University with a bachelor’s degree in Theatre, he worked at the Hult Center for 10 years before starting at Lane. James works with scheduling, planning, designing, building, and operating the Music, Dance and Theatre productions here. He also trains students to operate and help produce shows, teaches a Technical Production class and is Technical Director for the University’s Dance Program. Please contact James if you are interested in renting one of our beautiful performance spaces.