Alan Freeman pursues a career as a director, writer, actor, producer, and filmmaker. Freeman recently completed a two-year Fellowship at the American Film Institute (AFI) where he wrote and directed two short films and a thesis short, Girl Before a Mirror, and received an MFA in Film Directing. While at The AFI, he culminated his long time responsibilities as Producing Artistic Director of the Occidental Theater Festival in order to concentrate on writing and directing for stage and screen. The Festival has been honored over the years with awards from the Los Angeles Drama Critics, DramaLogue, the Robbies and two citations from the Los Angeles City Council.

He is Professor of Theater at Occidental College in Los Angeles where he directs plays and has taught courses in Acting, Directing, Playwriting, Narrative Filmmaking and Musical Theater. Freeman has directed over sixty-five plays, musicals and operas; acted in more than sixty plays and films; written two full-length plays and directed four short films. In 1997, he directed his original play, Wall Scaling, in the Keck Theater as part of the College Season followed by a spring revival for the Occidental Theater Festival.

Additional recent directing assignments for the college season have included: Ibsen's Little Eyolf, Candide, Lysistrata, A Little Night Music, The Cherry Orchard, Sweeney Todd, The Hostage, Bus Stop, Company, Crimes of the Heart, The Threepenny Opera, Major Barbara, Love of the Nightingale, The House of Blue Leaves and Cabaret; for the Occidental Theater Festival: Hay Fever, Harvey, The Mikado, She Stoops To Conquer, as well as The Fantasticks and Pygmalion which won nine DramaLogue Awards between them.

Festival audiences have seen him play leading roles in Equus, Translations, The Odd Couple, Playboy of the Western World, Amadeus, Twelfth Night, Midsummer, Romeo & Juliet, School for Wives, Getting Married, Anything Goes, and HMS Pinafore. In addition to his responsibilities at Occidental, he has worked professionally as an actor and director at such theaters as the Mark Taper Forum, San Diego's Old Globe Theatre, and the San Francisco Opera's Western Opera Theater.

Locally, he produced and acted in the award-winning productions of Candida and Tartuffe at the Bank Playhouse. His short film, War Sermon, won a bronze medal for Peace at the Atlanta Film Festival and was nominated for two local Emmys. Currently, he is writing and developing two screenplays with his writing partner, Frank Denson, and directing a production for the fall Oxy College Season.
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Susan Gratch (BA 1974, MFA 1982, the University of Michigan) is the faculty designer in the Department of Theater. She teaches design conceptualization and collaboration (THEA125); scenic design theory and techniques (THEA275 and 375); scene painting (THEA304); lighting design theory and techniques (THEA301); and theater history (THEA350). She mentors the student designers in the department, working with them on independent projects, as assistant designers, and through internships off campus.

Susan designs scenery and lighting for many Occidental productions, and for theaters large and small throughout the Los Angeles area. Recent projects include: The Thousandth Night (Colony Theater); Bleed Rail, Winchester House, Mother Courage and Cold Tender at The Theatre @ Boston Court; Arms and The Man (A Noise Within); Bitter Bierce and Miss Margarida’s Way at the Zephyr Theater in Hollywood; War Music at the Los Angeles Theatre Center (Ovation nomination) and at the Geffen Playhouse in Westwood; Kate Crackernuts at the 24th Street Theatre (Garland award for puppet design); Visiting Mr. Green, Amy’s View, The Servant to Two Masters, and Swinging on a Star at International City Theatre in Long Beach; The Man Who Came To Dinner, Putting It Together (Garland Award for scenic design), Heartbreak House, Could I Have This Dance? (Drama-Logue Award for scenic design) and many others at The Colony Studio Theatre; A Knight Out in Los Angeles, Ian McKellan’s one man show at the Los Angeles Theatre Center); and Choke Cherry (Eric Ehn) and The Lesser Magoo (Mac Wellman) world premieres for Bottom’s Dream Theatre Company. You can see a selection of Susan’s work online here and here.
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Brian Fitzmorris, Associate Professor and Production Manager for Theater and Performing Arts Facilities, teaches courses in Technical Theater and manages the three theaters on campus: Keck Theater, Thorne Hall, and Hillside Amphitheater.  Brian has been at Oxy since 1993, coming from Duke University where he was the Director of Design and Production.  Prior to that, Brian was the Technical Director for the Pittsburgh Playhouse.  He received his training at Carnegie-Mellon University.  In addition to his position at Occidental College, Brian is very active professionally, working on and involving Oxy students in a wide range of award shows and events including the 2002 Opening Ceremonies for the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.  Brian acted as Line Producer for Operation Smile, Larry King Cardiac Foundation, Oscar De Le Hoya Foundation and the Producer’s Guild Awards.
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Jamie Angell teaches Introduction to Performance, Acting 1, Audition Workshop, and Scene Study. His interests include: Contemporary American Plays and Literature and Children's Theater. He is the Artistic Director of the Occidental Children's Theater. Jamie also writes for the television show, The Simpsons.
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Laural Meade works as a playwright, director, and educator in her native Los Angeles. Her original plays about historical figures both infamous and obscure have been seen throughout Los Angeles (Mark Taper Forum, LATC, The Actor's Gang, Highways, UCLA), as well as in New York at PACE University and the Hangar Theater, in Chicago at the Bailiwick, in Seattle at On The Boards, and in London at LAMDA. Her original musical work Harry Thaw Hates Everybody made its highly acclaimed world premiere at the Los Angeles Theatre Center after a series of developmental readings in the Mark Taper Forum’s New Work Festival. Directed by Meade, Harry Thaw went on to win the Los Angeles Drama Critics’ Circle award for Best Writing. Other productions have been honored with a variety of LA Weekly, Ovation and Garland awards and nominations for writing, directing, acting and design. In addition to writing, directing and teaching, Meade keeps an active presence in the Los Angeles theater community as singer and performer. As a faculty member at Occidental College, she teaches courses in playwriting, theatrical literature, and academic writing in addition to producing an annual festival of student written plays that are directed and performed by professional guest artists.

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Tom Slotten designs costumes for main stage productions, supervises the costume shop and teaches costume related classes. After receiving his MFA from CalArts he worked in Hollywood for several years before joining Oxy’s theater department. He has designed and taught at other colleges in the Los Angeles area, but now focuses on Occidental.
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