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."