William Fisher
Student and assistant of Etienne Decroux from 1979-1983, William
joined Butler as the Theatre Department Chair and Professor after
19 years at Ohio University where he headed the undergraduate
performance program, served on the African Studies and
International Studies faculties, and eventually as Director of the
School of Theater. He has directed and devised projects, performed,
and taught in Paris, San Francisco, L.A., New York, London, Zagreb,
Dubrovnik, Hamburg, Cape Town, and other venues. In 2009 he
was a Fulbright Fellow at the Icelandic Academy of the Arts Theatre
and Dance Department in Reykjavik, working in the Theory and
Practice program.
After leaving Paris he founded Zeta Collective, a company and
venue in downtown Los Angeles that focused on new performance work
and training. Over the years his research and practice have
been supported though the US Information Service guest artist
program, the Soros Foundation through the CDU Zagreb, The Puffin
Foundation, the National/State partnership (CAC/NEA), Los Angeles
Cultural Affairs Department, and the US Department of Education
(Title IV). He has been a site reporter for the NEA Theater
Program, served on the National Movement Theatre Association board
of directors, edited Movement Theatre Quarterly, and his article
Struggle and Irony / Ashes and Flames appears in Words on Decroux,
(Thomas Leabhart, editor, 1994). In 1998, William returned to
training with Anne Bogart and SITI Company and has maintained a
relationship to that work and company.
In 2004, along with the late Nigerian playwright and poet, Dr.
Esiaba Irobi, he organized Performing Peace, an international
symposium through the Baker Peace Conference. William's
dedication to international training and practice has included five
years as master teacher and festival coordinator at the MKFM, the
International Festival of Youth Theatre in Pula, Croatia, founding
and directing the Ohio University Fine Arts program in London, and
Global Theatre Institute programs in Croatia, London and New York
City between 1997 - 2010. His 2009 Fulbright was a Fellowship at
the Icelandic Academy of the Arts (Reykjavik) Theatre Department
Theory and Practice program, with additional research in Oslo,
Norway. In 2013, he will inaugurate the Butler Theatre Summer
intensive in Amelia, Italy.
Since arriving at Butler, he has directed Small Lives / Big
Dreams
http://www.flickr.com/photos/19172508@N02/sets/72157626476912475/),The
Exonerated with actors form the Heartland Actors Repertory Theatre,
and Tartuffe, as well as Freud's Last Session at the Phoenix
Theatre.