Loyola University Maryland

Department of Visual & Performing Arts

Theatre Faculty

Headshot of Natka Bianchini
Natka Bianchini Theater Program Coordinator, Associate Professor

Natka Bianchini's Personal Website
Ph.D., Tufts University; M.A., Tufts University; B.A., Wellesley College

Teaching Areas: Theatre History, Special Topics in Literature and Criticism, Directing, Experience of Theatre
Research Interests: Beckett and Theatre of the Absurd, Queer Theatre and Film

Jim Bunzli sitting in a gigantic Adirondack chair
James Bunzli Associate Professor

Ph.D., Bowling Green State University; MFA, University of Texas, Austin

Teaching Areas: Acting, Directing, New Works Creation
Research Interests: Solo Performance, Dramatic Adaptation

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John McAfee Theater Production Manager

MFA, St. Mary’s College of California

John McAfee is a dance lighting designer and production manager based in Baltimore. John received his MFA in Dance Design and Production from St. Mary's College of California in 2019. In addition to teaching at Loyola, John has recently lit Jayne Bernasconi's Air Lines, GRIDLOCK Dance's Veritas, and BlueShift Dance's The Male Gaze and Foodless Food.

Headshot of Professor Daniel Pinha
Daniel Pinha Associate Professor

Daniel Pinha's Personal Website
MFA, University of Maryland; B.A., Federal University of Rio de Janeiro

Teaching Areas: Introduction to Scenic Design, Introduction to Theater Design, Experience of Theatre, Computer Rendering for Theater Design, Costume Design

Headshot of Professor Julia Brandeberry
Julia Brandeberry Affiliate Professor

M.A., University of Kansas

Julia has worked in the area as an actor, teacher, and director for the last 15 years. Her work as an actor includes: Center Stage: As You Like It (Le Beau/Audrey), Pride and Prejudice (Mrs. Gardiner); Everyman Theatre: Blithe Spirit (Edith), The Beaux Stratagem (The Country Girl/The Fat Lady), Our Town (Mrs. Soames); Shakespeare Theatre Company: Henry IV Part 1 and 2 (Lady Northumberland/Ensemble); Taffety Punk: Phaeton (Clymene), Pericles (Dionyza), Romeo and Juliet (Paris); Profile Theatre: A Lesson From Aloes (Gladys); International Theatre/Vienna: Children of Lesser God (Sarah). Film/TV: Leverage (TNT); Unsolved Mysteries (Fox TV); Anoosh of the Airways (Front Pocket Films). Her work as a fight choreographer includes: Single Carrot: Peter Pan, Year of the Rooster, and A Beginners Guide to Deicide; Loyola University: Macbeth, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Baal, The Odyssey, Oedipus, and Peter Pan; assistant fight choreographer at Everyman Theatre: The Beaux Stratagem. Some of her directing credits include Loyola University: The Heidi Chronicles, and Carver Center for Arts and Technology: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Line, and Romeo and Juliet. Julia has worked as a Theatre instructor at Loyola University, University of Baltimore, and Carver Center for Arts and Technology.

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James Dockery Professor Emeritus

Lic. Phil., M.Ed., Fordham University; M.A., S.T.M., Woodstock College

Mary Beth Akre
Faculty

Mary Beth Akre, MFA

Professor of studio arts Mary Beth Akre, MFA, is also a celebrated landscape artist

Visual & Performing Arts
A collage of drawings of the human form with various cultural modifications
Course Snapshot

Exploring Studio Arts 303: Life Drawing

Students in this visual arts class examine the structure—and intellectual context—of the human anatomy.