Dr. Jim Ryan received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre from California State University at Long Beach in 1968. Following completion of his Master of Fine Arts degree requirements at Detroit’s Wayne State University in 1972, he was one of twelve students from the United States selected that year to be admitted to the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) for advanced training in classical acting. It was there, under the direction of acclaimed Royal Shakespeare Company actress, Elizabeth Spriggs, that he conceived and performed his first one-person show, What A Piece of Work Is A Man. Following performances in London and Dublin, he returned to the U.S., created two additional solo pieces (Sculptures in Sand and Storms and Dreams: An American Mosaic) and began to tour. During the ensuing years, the three productions were presented in excess of 1400 times. In addition to stage, he appeared in numerous television shows including The Wild, Wild West, General Hospital, Lou Grant, The Eddie Capra Mysteries, Sandburg’s Lincoln, The Young and the Restless, Kojac, and Shannon. In 1992, he received a Ph.D. from Michigan State University, with the focus of his dissertation being solo performance methodology. During his twenty-three-year tenure as a Professor of Theatre and director at Emporia State University, Emporia, KS, he was the recipient of numerous awards, including the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Excellence in Teaching Award, the Xi Phi Outstanding Faculty Award, and the Roe R. Cross Distinguished Professor Award (the highest honor given by Emporia State). The Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival has, on three occasions, honored him for his directing and, in 2002, named him one of three teachers of acting in the United States to be awarded a fellowship for advanced study of acting pedagogy at the Actors’ Center in New York City.
