Theatre UAB’s Production Manager Headed to Egypt to Design for American University in Cairo

The production manager and head of design and production for the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Department of Theatre is headed to Egypt April 9 to teach master classes and design lights for a production of Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew” at The American University in Cairo.

  March 31, 2010

Kelly Allison. Download image.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The production manager and head of design and production for the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Department of Theatre is headed to Egypt April 9 to teach master classes and design lights for a production of Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew" at The American University in Cairo.

Professor Kelly Allison, M.F.A., applied for the opportunity to design at The American University in Cairo this past year and was pleasantly surprised when he was invited this year. Despite a full calendar, Allison said this is one job he couldn't refuse. 

"This is the busiest spring semester I've ever had, but when this kind of opportunity comes along, it's hard to say no," Allison said. "An American designer in Egypt, doing Shakespeare set in the Spanish/American Southwest during the 19th century, with an Egyptian director and actors?

"It doesn't get any better than that!"

Allison's professional credits include work for the Guthrie Theatre, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Opera Birmingham, USA International Ballet Competition, Alabama Symphony Orchestra, 7 Stages, Horizon Theatre Company, Actor's Express, Theatre in the Square, Southern DanceWorks, Carolina Playwright's Center, 14 seasons with the Utah Shakespearean Festival and The Alabama Ballet, for which he is production director and resident lighting designer. Allison has taught courses at the University of Minnesota, University of Wisconsin at LaCrosse, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Luther College, Normandale College and The Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts.

About the UAB Department of Theatre

The UAB Department of Theatre has won the highest honors awarded to university theaters, including best in region from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF). In 2008, UAB's production of "In the Blood" was one of three shows chosen by KCACTF from 300 in consideration nationwide. Department faculty work professionally in addition to teaching. UAB Theatre performances are presented at the Alys Stephens Center, UAB's own world-class performing arts center. This year the department celebrates its 40th anniversary.