Secretary, NAST (Board of Directors)
Elected March 2021, term ends March 2024
David Young has served for twelve years as the Department Head of Theatre and Dance at Western Kentucky University (WKU), where he has taught acting, directing, and career seminar classes since 1998. Recent productions he has directed include Much Ado About Nothing, Curtains, and the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. He frequently leads student trips to New York City and organizes the department’s New York Showcase. A longtime member of Actors’ Equity Association, he worked for ten years as a professional actor and director in Chicago and the Midwest before earning his Ph.D. He has also been active in the area of youth theatre, collaborating with such organizations as Girls Inc., LifeSkills, the Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice, Arts for All, the WKU Center for Gifted Studies, and the Kentucky Thespian Festival. He currently serves on the WKU Cultural Enhancement Committee and the Artistic Advisory Board of the Southern Kentucky Performing Arts Center.
Professor Young serves as a Visiting Evaluator and served NAST as member of the Commission on Accreditation from 2015-2021.
Professor Young holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Theatre from Wayne State University, a Post-Graduate Diploma in Acting from Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in London, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Theatre from Emporia State University.
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Updated April 2021