Wayne State University Theatre Department alumni have gone on to careers in theatre, television and film, as well as teaching at various colleges and universities throughout the country.  Please take a moment to complete CFPCA's quick, one page Alumni Opinions Survey. 

Notable Alum of the WSU Theatre programs include:

Performers:

Michael Anderson, Dance Company Member, Joffrey Ballet Company.

Ernie Hudson, Film Credits: Congo, Hand that Rocks the Cradle, Ghostbusters.

Orestes Arcuni, TV credits: Veronica Mars, The Young and the Restless, All My Children, and Another World.

Anita Barone (MFA, ‘89) TV credits: Daddio, The Jeff Foxworthy Show, Carol & Company, Friends, Chicago Hope, Seinfeld, Caroline in the City, and Ally McBeal.

Thorsten Kaye (MFA, ‘94) TV Credits: Port Charles, One Life to Live.

Robert Lambert, Broadway Credits: Gypsy. National Tour: Damn Yankees (with Jerry Lewis).

S. Epatha Merkerson (BFA ‘76) Film Credits: Terminator 2: Judgement Day. TV Credits: Law and Order, Pee-wee’s Playhouse, The Cosby Show, and Frasier. Tony Award nominee for The Piano Lesson.

Mark Pinter, Actor, TV Credits: Guiding Light.

Frank Anthony Polito (BFA, Acting, '93) recently published his second novel, DRAMA QUEERS!, set in the Detroit suburb of Hazel Park during the late 1980s. He received his M.F.A. in Dramatic Writing from Carnegie Mellon University in 2006, and is currently adapting his first novel, BAND FAGS!, for a TV series.

David Ramsey (attended, early '90s) Film Credits: Pay it Forward, The Nutty Professor, Con Air, Ali: An American Hero, and For Your Love.

Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Actor, Tony Award winner for Seven Guitars on Broadway. TV credits: Michael Hayes.

Tom Sizemore (BFA, ‘83) Film Credits : Black Hawk Down, Pearl Harbor, Saving Private Ryan, Heat, The Relic, Natural Born Killers, Enemy of the State, Wyatt Earp, Point Break and China Beach.

Tom Skerritt, Actor, TV Credits : Picket Fences. TV credits: A River Runs Through It.

Jeffrey Tambor (MFA ‘69) Film Credits: Meet Joe Black, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Muppets from Space, Doctor Doolittle. TV Credits: Arrested Development, L.A. Law, The Golden Girls, and Three’s Company.

Lily Tomlin, Actress, Film Credits: I Heart Huckabees, A Prairie Home Companion, Short Cuts, Nashville, 9 to 5. TV Credits: Laugh-In, Murphy Brown.

Mark Tymchyshyn, Actor, TV credits: George Lopez, Crossing Jordan, Boston Legal, Monk & The Gregory Hines Show.

Max Wright (BA ‘66) Film Credits: Grumpier Old Men, Snow Falling on Cedars, All That Jazz, Alf, Friends, Mad About You, Cheers, WKRP in Cincinnati. Broadway Credits: Ivanov, Tony Award Nominee.

 

Theatre Managers:

Bil Schroeder, Press and Publications Director, Yale Repertory Theatre.

Alan Ribant, Managing Director, Jeff Daniels' Purple Rose Theatre Company.

Lloyd Richards, Director of Broadway and Regional Theatre; Artistic Director, Yale Repertory Theatre.

Woody King, Jr., Founder, New York's New Federal Theatre.

David Calhoun, Theatre Manager, Marquis Theatre, NY.

Amber Wallen, (MFA, '08) Managing Director, Sonoma County Repertory Theater, CA.

 

Stage Managers:

Frank D. Hartenstein, Production Stage Manager, Broadway Shows: How to Succeed...., Into the Woods

 

Lighting Designers:

Jen Dyson, TD, Gus Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago. Resident Lighting Designer at Wagon Wheel Theatre in Indiana. Color Me Dark, Kennedy Center.

 

Costume Designers:

Martin Pakledinaz (BFA ‘75) Tony Award winner for Costume Design for Kiss Me Kate;  Tony Award winner for Thoroughly Modern Millie; 

Tony Award nominee for The Life and Golden Child; Kiss Me Kate (TV).

 

Set Designers:

Carl Gudenius, Resident Designer for The Washington Stage Guild; Recent work has included Art Direction/Production Design for ABC (including Good Morning America and Nightline), C-SPAN, PBS (including In Performance at the White House), Discovery. His scenic and lighting work has been seen at many Washington theatres including The Kennedy Center, Olney Theatre, MetroStage (All Night Strut, Last 5 Years), Church Street Theatre, Horizons Theatre and Interact Theatre. He owns Pro Scenic, Inc., a union (IATSE local 22) production shop that provides full fabrication services to a diverse clientele of theatrical, corporate and video producers.

 

Entertainment Industry:

Curtis Colden, CBS Daytime TV casting director

 

 

 

Additionally, our Alumni have graced the program pages of the following companies:

• Broadway theatres
• Off-Broadway theatres
• National Tour theatres
• Actors Theatre of Louisville
• Alley Theatre, Houston
• Alliance Theatre, Atlanta
• Arena Stage, Washington, D.C.
• Center Stage Theatre, Baltimore
• Dallas Theatre Center
• Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center
• Goodspeed Musicals, CT.
• The Guthrie Theatre
• Long Wharf Theatre
• The Negro Ensemble Company
• New York Shakespeare Festival
• Seattle Repertory Theatre
• St. Louis Repertory Theatre
• The Stratford (Ontario) Shakespearean Festival
• Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago
• Yale Repertory Theatre

Among the many universities in which they are working or have worked are:

• Stanford University
• Fordham University
• San Francisco State University
• Purdue University
• University of Indiana
• Arizona State University
• University of Michigan