Faculty Profile
Diane Timmerman
Diane
Timmerman acts as both an associate professor of theatre and
as a professional actress. Professors in the theatre department are
encouraged not only to teach, but also to perform and work with
the community. Timmerman says continuing to perform helps her
to be a better educator. “I love to take whatever work I do
in the professional arena and feed it right back into the classroom.”
Timmerman’s first film role was opposite Gene Hackman
and Tommy Lee Jones in “The Package.” Timmerman notes
that she probably received the part because she spoke German
and had studied at the University of Vienna for a year during
college. “The footage of the Berlin Wall seen in the film
is some of the last ever recorded because the structure fell
just six months after we left the city.”
Timmerman also spent four years studying to become a Designated
Linklater voice teacher. Because certification includes a rigorous,
four-year program, there are only approximately 100 certified
teachers in the world. The Linklater technique is based on exercises
that teach the body to revert back to the way it was originally
designed to breathe and speak. The exercises she leads help increase
the volume and power of the voices of her students.
Many noteworthy achievements have filled Timmerman’s career
thus far. Adapting and directing the “Essential Shakespeare
Series” at Butler has been one of the most beloved accomplishments
during her 10 years at the university. Her versions of A Midsummer
Night’s Dream and Romeo and Juliet have been
published in a 90-minute Shakespeare series by Smith & Kraus..
Timmerman says she enjoys teaching at Butler because of the
variety of people she gets to interact with on a daily basis. “It’s
great to teach something like theatre because there’s no
sitting back and taking notes,” she says. “Our classrooms
are engaging places where students have lots of curiosity, and
they get to put so much of themselves into their work.”