A head shot of chair of the Fine Arts Department and associate professor of Theatre, Herschel Kruger.Carthage College
Herschel Kruger
Professor Herschel Kruger joined the Carthage faculty in 2005. He is the current Region III Chair of the Kennedy Center, American College Theatre Festival (KC/ACTF). During the 2008-2009 school year Professor Kruger established the New Play Initiative commissioning original works each year for the Carthage Theatre Program. He has directed four of the new plays from this series including “Up and Away,” written by Eric Simonson (KC/ACTF Citizen Artist Award, Distinguished Costume Design, and nine Commendations for Distinguished Achievement, 2019 Edinburgh Festival Fringe participant) “No Name,” written by Jeffrey Hatcher (2014 Edinburgh Festival Fringe participant), “Ghost Bike,” written by Laura Jacqmin (2013, five KC/ACTF national awards including; Distinguished New Play, Directing, Lighting Design, Sound Design, and Outstanding Scenic Design) “Honest,” written by Eric Simonson (2010, winner of four KC/ACTF national awards including Distinguished Curricular Development, Playwriting, and two Distinguished Performance awards). Additionally, Herschel directed the staged reading of Mikaley Osley’s one-act play “Matilda’s Character,” which was named a KC/ACTF Region III winner.
Other directing credits at Carthage include “A Doll’s House Part 2,” “Marie Antoinette,” “Silent Sky,” “Stage Kiss,” “Man of La Mancha,” “Day After Night,” “Spring Awakening,” “Cabaret,” “Inspecting Carol,” “Sunday in the Park with George,” “Lysistrata,” “Moon Over Buffalo,” “Blood Brothers,” “Picasso at the Lapin Agile,” “Postmortem,” “Independence,” and the entire “Over the Tavern” trilogy including “Over the Tavern,” “King O’ the Moon,” and “Last Mass at St. Casmir’s.”
Professor Kruger teaches both acting and directing classes, and a variety of other theatre classes. He has led seven separate J-Term study tours to Greece, New York City (five), and Germany to study theatre. He has worked as an actor and director in New York, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. Prof. Kruger earned his MFA in acting from the University of Illinois, is a graduate of the National Shakespeare Conservatory Professional Actors Training program in New York City, and holds a BA in Theatre Communication from Cardinal Stritch University.
Media Mentions:
Carthage College play addresses opioid epidemic
Prof. Kruger discusses the 10th installment of Carthage’s New Play Initiative, “Up and Away.” (Today’s TMJ4 Milwaukee, November 16, 2018)
Brief Bio
Professor Kruger teaches both acting and directing classes, as well as a variety of other theatre classes. He has been at Carthage for 15 years and is currently serving as Chair for the Personnel and Tenure Committee.
Title
Chair, Theatre Department; Professor of Theatre
Email Address
Phone Number
Office Location
Education
- M.F.A. — Acting, University of Illinois
- B.A. — Theatre Communications, Cardinal Stritch University
Courses
- THR 1110 Introduction to Acting
- THR 200T Topics: Acting and Directing One-Act Plays
- THR 3110 Acting II: Character and Scene Study
- THR 4550 Directing
- THR 4990 Senior Thesis Completion
