Skip to main content
Site navigation
School of Performing Arts

Jim Wood

Jim Wood

Title

Artistic Director of Theatre and Dance, Professor

Office Building

The Oscar Larson Performing Arts Center

Office

189E

Mailing Address

Oscar Larson Performing Arts Center 189E
School of Performing Arts-Box 2830
University Station
Brookings, SD 57007

Biography

Professor W. James Wood is the artistic director of theatre at South Dakota State University. During the summers he acts and directs with Prairie Repertory Theatre. Prior to coming to SDSU, Jim ran the Olde Towne Dinner Theatre, South Dakota’s only year-round dinner theatre, for almost nine years. An actor, director, designer, manager and playwright, he prides himself on being considered a theatre generalist. He directed the premier production of his new play Chameleon Love in fall 2014. Specific areas of interest include stage combat, dialects and management. Jim is also the Immediate Past Region 5 Chair of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. He is currently serving on the KCACTF National Committee as a member-at-large. His production of Escape From Happiness was an invited production to the Regional Festival in 2003.

Education

  • B.F.A. | University of South Dakota | 1999
  • M.F.A. in directing | Minnesota State University Mankato | 2003

Academic Interests

  • Acting
  • Directing
  • Dialects
  • Art administration
  • Stage combat
  • Stage management
  • Playwriting
  • Musical theatre

Academic Responsibilities

  • THEA 100: Introduction to Theatre
  • THEA 131: Introduction to Acting
  • THEA 135: Theatre Activities- Acting
  • THEA 243: Stage Makeup
  • THEA 251: Play Analysis
  • THEA 351: Directing
  • THEA 375: Theatre Arts Management
  • THEA 452: Stage Management
  • THEA 455: Advanced Acting
  • THEA 492: Special Topics - Stage Combat
  • THEA 492: Special Topics - Playwriting

Committees and Professional Memberships

Committees

  • Member-at-Large, National Executive Committee, Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF), 2022-2025
  • F.O. Butler Advisory Board, 2022-present
  • Chair, Response Guidelines Task Force, KCACTF, 2020
  • Chair, Region 5 Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, 2018-2021
  • Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning Faculty Fellow for the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, 2019-2022
  • Member of the Graduate Faculty, 2012-present
  • School of Performing Arts Curriculum Committee, 2020-2021
  • School of Performing Arts Faculty Council, 2018-2020

Professional Memberships

  • Theatre Communications Group

Awards and Honors

  • 2023, J.P. Hendrickson Liberal Arts Faculty Scholar/Herbert Cheever Jr. Lecture
  • 2023, College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Outstanding Creative Activity
  • 2022, Kennedy Center American Theater Festival Gold Medallion
  • 2021, F.O. Butler Award for Excellence in Community Service

Work Experience

  • 2011-2012, Executive Director, Olde Towne Dinner Theatre
  • 2003-2012, Artistic Director, Olde Towne Dinner Theatre
  • 2005-2009, Assistant Professor of Theatre, University of Sioux Falls
  • Director:
    • The Escape Thingy (2023)
    • Little Egypt (staged reading) 2023
    • Rumors, 2023
    • Stop Kiss, 2023
    • She Kills Monsters, 2022
    • The Escape Thingy (staged reading) 2022
    • The Play That Goes Wrong 2022
    • The Little Prince 2022
    • The Thanksgiving Play 2021
    • God of Carnage, 2021
    • Reflections (Devised Collaborator), 2020
    • Pluto, 2020
    • Jekyll & Hyde, 2019
    • The Wizard of Oz 2019
    • Various Useful Things (Staged Reading), 2019
    • The Addams Family, 2018
    • Bye Bye Birdie, 2018
    • True West, 2018
    • Rent, 2017
    • Six Characters In Search of An Author, 2017
    • Next Fall, 2016
    • Hairspray, 2016
    • Out of Order, 2016
    • Escape From Happiness, 2016
    • Bonnie & Clyde, 2015
    • The Sound of Music, 2015
    • Moon Over Buffalo, 2015
    • Chameleon Love, 2014
    • The Lone Star Love Potion, 2014
    • The Shape of Things, 2014
    • Zombie Prom, 2013
    • State Fair, 2013
    • The Wizard of Oz, 2013
    • Legally Blonde, 2012
  • Performer:
    • Silverstar Carwash Commercial (2023)
    • Sanford Health Campaign (print and digital) 2023
    • Regional Honda Commercial 2020
    • Regional Bank Commercial, 2019
    • Mitch in Tuesdays With Morrie, 2018
    • Frank in Over the River and Through the Woods, 2017
    • Man 1 in I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, 2017
    • Gunnar Johnson in Don't Hug Me, 2016
    • Donkey in Shrek, 2014
    • Floyd Spinner in Love, Sex and the I.R.S, 2013
    • Cogsworth in Beauty and the Beast, 2012
  • Playwright:
    • To Hell With the Chief, (in progress)
    • Woke 2021
    • Chameleon Love, 2014
    • Six Characters in Search of an Author - adaptation, 2017

Department(s)