John Stefano's Biography
Dr. John Stefano
Dr. Stefano earned his B.A. in Theatre at Pomona College, an M.F.A. in Directing from the University of California-Riverside, and his Ph.D. from UCLA. He began teaching at Southern Methodist University in 1975, and continued his academic career at Emporia State University in Kansas and Illinois State University where he was Department Chair and Managing Director of the Illinois Shakespeare Festival. In addition to administration and directing, he continues to teach at Otterbein, where his work focuses on acting and musical theatre. He has been active in the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, serving as respondent, Festival Host and Regional Chair. In 1998, he was awarded the KC-ACTF Gold Medallion Award of Excellence.
In his spare time, he consults with attorneys on witness preparation and, once a month, serves as Music Soloist at Congregation Beth Tikvah, where his wife Sally is the Director of Education. He has two sons, David, a bassoonist who is working on a doctorate in Early Music in Sydney, Australia, and Andrew, who is working for a dot.com company in Boston.
