Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor Performance Area Head Director of London Study Abroad Affiliate Faculty, Institute for Women's Studies Faculty, MFA in Film Please visit George's website www.georgecontini.com. George Contini is a Professor in the University of Georgia's Theatre and Film Studies Department where he specializes in Characterization, Acting on Camera, Queer Theatre and Film, Broadway Musical Theatre, and Solo Performance. George serves as the Head of Performance. In addition to teaching, George maintains a career as an actor, director, and playwright. Most recently he appeared in the final two seasons of "Legacies" as Mr. Springthorpe, the drama teacher; and in the final episodes of "Black Lightning". In the Atlanta area he appeared in "The Explorer's Club" at Aurora Theatre (Nominated for Suzi Bass Award , Best Ensemble, 2015) Prior to that he directed "Don't Dress for Dinner" at the Aurora Theatre. His original solo show "Put It In the Scrapbook" has toured to the Chicago Fringe Festival and the New Orleans Fringe Festival. Professor Contini is a Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor at UGA. He values his time with his students and hopes that after engaging with him they are able to identify art and beauty in unexpected places or they will make art where it never was. Professor Contini is Director of the London Study Abroad program through the Theatre and Film Dept. This is a six week residential program in London in which students experience London theatre, history, and have internships with professional companies in the industry. Other directing credits include the South Regional Premiere of “Assistance” at Pinch N Ouch Theatre in ATL, and the ATL One Minute Play Festival. He was seen as “Reverend Howard Finster” in the world premiere of Hidden Man at Atlanta’s 7Stages. Prior to that he was seen in Shear Madness at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre and The Big Bang at the Horizon Theatre . Among the diverse shows George has directed are A Lesson Before Dying, Pride and Prejudice, The 39 Steps, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Grapes of Wrath, Dangerous Liaisons, Iphigenia at Aulis/ Trojan Women, Children of an Idol Moon, Pippin, Laramie Project, Lion in Winter, Fifth of July, Psycho Beach Party, Company, Raft of the Medusa, and the original opera A Good Man is Hard to Find. TV/Film credits include featured roles in Lifetime’s Shame II, Pointman, and commercials for “White Castle”, “Motorola”, “LaBatt’s”, and "Toyota”. George provided the voice and motion capture for 19th century vaudevillian Frank Bush in the innovative Virtual Vaudeville Project (www.virtualvaudeville.com).George is a proud union member of both Actor's Equity and SAG/AFTRA. Education Education: M.F.A., University of Miami B.A. Baldwin Wallace University Research Research Areas: Directing Acting for Camera Dramatic Writing Voice for the Actor Film History, Criticism, and Production Performance Research Interests: Current Research : Early 20th Century Drag Performance Don't Know the Half! Musical based on forgotten scripts and songs for female and male impersonators. Had a workshop reading Spring 22. Phyllis Wheatley and Mary Church Terrell Favored by the Muses, Presentation at the Genius of Phillis Wheatley Project , November 6, 2023 Recent Undergrad CURO Projects Wyn Thomas, First Semester, A New Musical Aris Dominguez-Canela, Disability Accessibility in UGA Theatre Aayush Umesh---Who's the Real Sally Bowles? Graduate Fellowship Sofia Ruiz, Sallie Bingham Award--Margaret Cavendish's The Convent of Pleasure Grants Grants: While at UGA George has been honored to receive many university wide awards recognizing his outstanding teaching and research including the prestigious Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professorship, Richard Russell Award, Sandy Beaver Teaching Fellowship, M. G. Michael Award (twice), Sandy Beaver Special Teaching Award, Willson Center for Humanities and Arts Jr. Faculty Fellowship Grant, WCHA Sr. Faculty Fellowship, Jr. Faculty Research Grant, as well as two separate artistic project grants through Ideas for Creative Exploration (ICE). He has used these grants and rewards in his continued study of Michael Chekhov's Acting Technique and for the research and creation of his solo show Put It In the Scrapbook based on the life and career of early 20th century female impersonator Julian Eltinge. His most recent grants allowed him to travel to archives in NY and DC to complete his work in creating Don't Know the Half! A "forgotten" 1920's Drag Musical! Selected Publications Selected Publications: https://doi.org/10.1353/ltr.2019.0003 Courses Regularly Taught Courses Regularly Taught: THEA 3500 THEA 3600 THEA 5010 THEA 5570 THEA 4300 THEA 6300 THEA 4500 Awards, Honors, and Recognition Of note: Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professorship Richard Russell Award for Excellence in Teaching Sandy Beaver Award for Excellence in Teaching M.G. Michael Award for Excellence in Research Sandy Beaver Fellowship
