Theodore "Ted" Swetz (born March 21, 1953) is an American actor, theatre director, and educator. He currently serves as the Head of Acting at

UMKC Theatre UMKC Theatre is a graduate and undergraduate academic department of the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) that provides both educational and professional training in multiple areas of theatrical production, including acting, scenic design, ...

, an academic department of the

University of Missouri-Kansas City A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

Early life

Swetz was born and raised in Yonkers,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, and completed his B.A. at

Lehman College Lehman College is a public college in the Bronx borough of New York City. Founded in 1931 as the Bronx campus of Hunter College, the school became an independent college within CUNY in September 1967. The college is named after Herbert H. Lehma ...

in 1976 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. During his undergraduate career as a performer, Swetz acted in multiple productions at the New York Shakespeare Festival, performing at both

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...

and

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

. Following graduation, Swetz continued his study of acting and theatrical production under such major American stage luminaries as Stella Adler, Phoebe Brand, and Morris Carnovsky, all of whom served as members of the influential Group Theatre founded in New York during the early 1930s.

Career

In 1980, Swetz began work as an actor with the

American Players Theatre American Players Theatre is a classical American theatrical troupe and theater complex located near Spring Green, Wisconsin. It has been called the best classical theater company in the United States by the late ''Wall Street Journal'' drama cri ...

(APT), helping to open the company in Spring Green, Wisconsin, and later acting, teaching, and directing there for almost a decade. During founder Randall Duk Kim’s leave of absence in 1988, Swetz took on a two-year position as assistant artistic director of the company under artistic director Anne Occhiogrosso. He announced his resignation from the APT in 1989, and left the company in 1990, in order to begin teaching at University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC). While in Kansas City, Swetz served as an artistic associate of the Missouri Repertory Theatre (now the

Kansas City Repertory Theatre Kansas City Repertory Theatre is a professional resident theater company serving the Kansas City metropolitan area, and is the professional theater in residence at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC). The theatre has had four artistic ...

) while simultaneously working as an instructor at UMKC. After over a decade of performing in the Kansas City area, Swetz accepted a position as associate professor of acting and directing at

Binghamton University The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public university, public research university with campuses in Binghamton, New York, Binghamton, Vestal, New York, Vestal, and Johnson City, New Yor ...

and returned to the New York area. After a time as a member the Binghamton University faculty, Swetz eventually, after accepting the position of Patricia McIlrath Endowed Chair in Theatre Arts in Acting at UMKC, returned to the Kansas City area in order to serve as Head of UMKC Theatre's Master of Fine Arts acting program. Swetz's regional directing and acting credits includes productions with the Unicorn Theatre, the

Commonweal Theatre Company The Commonweal Theatre Company is a professional, live theatre company in Lanesboro, Minnesota, United States. Established in 1989 by Eric Bunge, Scott Olson and Scott Putman, the company's season runs April to December and comprises five plays c ...

, the Kansas City Repertory Theatre, the Kansas City Actors Theatre, the Coterie Theatre, the Nebraska Repertory Theatre, the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival, and the Riverside Shakespeare Festival, where Swetz was elected to serve as an artistic associate.UMKC Theatre. "Faculty Bios: Acting" Accessed at http://www.umkctheatre.org/faculty_bios.html#swetz on 10/9/13.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swetz, Theodore 1953 births Living people Actors from Yonkers, New York American male stage actors American theatre directors University of Missouri faculty Lehman College alumni