Chair, Committee on Ethics
Elected March 2023, term ends March 2026
Mark J. Charney is Director of the School of Theatre and Dance at Texas Tech University. Prior to this appointment, he served for many years as Director of Theatre in the Department of Performing Arts and Chair of English at Clemson University. Until 2022, Professor Charney served as National Coordinator of the Institute for Theatre Journalism and Advocacy/Dramaturgy for the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF). He has also served as past Chair for Region IV and as a past member of the National Selection Team. Professor Charney also served as Associate Director of the National Critics Institute for the O’Neill Theatre Center until 2019, and Focus Group Leader for Playwrights and Creative Teams for the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE).
His play, The Power Behind the Palette, won the David Mark Cohen Award and received a stage reading at ATHE in Los Angeles; his play, Incline/Decline, was presented at the Frontera Festival in Austin. Recently, his play Shooting Blanks was presented at the Prague Fringe Festival, and his interactive version of Antigone, Dangling Modifiers, was produced in Los Angeles. Professor Charney recently published a chapter on assessing creative activities based on his work as Executive Director of WildWind Performance Lab and the Marfa Intensives, both programs he created. His play, Last Rights, about the life and times of Jack Kevorkian is being considered for production in London, and Garage Door was developed last year at Rose Theatre, as will be his play, Problematic Pete, in May.
Professor Charney was an honorary inductee of the Actors Hall of Fame in Los Angeles for his work in criticism and dramaturgy. In 2017, he traveled to Kuala Lumpur where he served as the Artistic Director of the Southeastern Asian International Theatre Festival; in May, he will head to Ankara, Turkey to set up a co‑production with Bilkent University. Professor Charney has twice received the Kennedy Center Gold Medallion of Honor for his work advancing theatre in colleges and universities around the United States.
Professor Charney served on the NAST Board of Directors from 2015–2021.
Professor Charney holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Tulane University, a Master of Arts degree from the University of New Orleans, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Clemson University.
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Posted March 2023