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Jerry Jaffe

Associate Professor of Theater

What makes Lake Erie College a unique place?

  • Theatre students at Lake Erie College, as well as all students interested in theatre, get a chance to work on exciting pieces of performance art in a supportive environment with a high degree of personal mentoring. I spend a lot of time, in class, in rehearsals, and in general, with all of my students.

Degrees:

  • Ph.D., Bowling Green State University
  • M.A., Brown University
  • B.A., University of Toledo

Courses Taught:

  • Acting
  • Shakespeare
  • Comedy
  • History
  • Japan

Research/Creative Activity Interests:

  • Primary focuses:
    • Acting
    • Directing
    • Standup comedy

Awards/Professional Memberships:

  • Australasian Association for Theatre, Drama and Performance Studies
  • Popular Culture Association
  • Honors for best production and best actress, THE SHAPE of THINGS (2006) (IN THE New Zealand Listener)
  • Honors for best supporting actor, STAGE BLOOD (2007) (IN THE New Zealand Listener)

Publications:

  • Performing Japan: Contemporary Expressions of Cultural Identity. Global Oriental LTD, University of Hawaii Press: 2008 (co-edited with Henry Johnson)
  • "I needed to go to this tabernacle of ignorance”: Marc Maron’s critique of the Creation Museum."Bulletin for the Study of Religion, Vol 42, No 3 (2013).
  • "Loop/I/-ness in the New Zealand Performance of Identity (or, Id Entity).”Australasian Drama Studies 55 (Oct 2009).

Career Accomplishments:

  • ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, BINGO PARALLAX THEATRE GROUP, TSUKUBA, JAPAN:English language community theatre located in this college town 50 miles north of Tokyo which I began and operated for approximately two years, 12/95-2/98.
  • Taught at Universities in Japan and New Zealand (Tsukuba University & Otago University)
  • Performed standup comedy all over the country, including Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta, as well as many other places.
  • Produced the Marx Bros. show FLYWHEEL, SHYSTER, AND FLYWHEEL was part of the 2007 New Zealand International Comedy festival
  • Coproduces and hosts a podcast called GOLD STAR CLASSROOM, with Prof Steven Gutierrez, since 2013.