John Warrick

Professor John Warrick studied theatre and philosophy at the College of Charleston before earning graduate degrees in theatre history and dramatic critical theory at the University of South Carolina (M.A.) and the University of Washington (Ph.D.).  Dr. Warrick previously served as the academic department chair of the Department of Theatre at North Central College from 2017-2022.

Dr. Warrick’s practical interests include production dramaturgy, verbatim theatre and devising, and community-based theatre.  Under the NEA’s Arts Engagement in American Communities initiative, he served as co-principal investigator and dramaturg for an extended collaboration that resulted in The Lives of Other People, an interdisciplinary dance and devised piece.  In collaboration with the Mississippi Humanities Council and the Telling Project, he directed Telling: South Mississippi, featuring the self-narrated accounts of ten war-time veterans extending from World War II to Afghanistan.  In support of NEA-supported The Big Read Project at the University of Southern Mississippi, he produced and dramaturged a foley-based presentation of a selection of Edgar Allen Poe’s short stories.

His publications range among 20th century American and European playwrights, including Jean Genet and Lorraine Hansberry, James Gow and Arnaud d’Usseau, and Nigerian playwright Femi Osofisan’s adaptation of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot.  Ultimately, though, John is a medievalist whose project discerns medieval theatre practices throughout early modern English history plays, including those of Shakespeare and Marlowe.  He is published in the Early Theatre journal and has presented medieval research at conferences such as the International Medieval Congress on Medieval Studies (Kalamazoo), the Babel Working Group, ASTR (American Society for Theatre Research), SEMA (Southeastern Medieval Association), TAPRA (Theatre and Performance Research Association, IFTR (International Federation for Theatre Research), and Comparative Drama.

Before arriving at the North Central College, John held appointments at the University of Southern Mississippi, where he also served as department chairperson, and the University of Birmingham, U.K.  Credits prior to his work as an academic include Theatre Crafts International Magazine, the Lighting Dimensions International trade show, and the Broadway Lighting Master Classes.