Christopher Kauffman
Adams Professor in Theatre Arts Professor
Theatre Arts
Contact
Address
Lower Level
300 North Washington St.
Gettysburg, PA 17325-1400
Education
BA Gettysburg College, 1992
MFA Brandeis University, 1995
Academic Focus
Acting; Directing; Devising; Movement
Chris is the Adams Endowed Professor of Theatre Arts at Gettysburg College where he teaches courses in Acting and Directing and directs productions for the department. Chris is interested in how studying and experiencing Theatre through empathically-minded lessons, collaboration, vulnerability, and humor can promote critical thinking, emotional regulation, and personal, familial, & community health.
Since beginning teaching full-time in 2004, he has directed over thirty productions for the college, including Tiny Beautiful Things; Little Women, the Musical; Stupid F'ing Bird; The Prom; Shakespeare in Love; Love and Information; Everybody; King Lear; Speech and Debate; Circle Mirror Transformation; Into the Woods; The Imaginary Invalid; The Story; Measure for Measure; A Streetcar Named Desire; Sense and Sensibility; The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee; and A Chorus Line.
He spent six seasons at the Williamstown Theatre Festival as co-director of The Greylock Project, teaching Playmaking, directing, and acting in the program that paired at-promise youth with theatre professionals in the process of creating original theatre. He currently continues this work in collaboration with the Center for Public Service at Gettysburg College and the PA State Migrant Education Program.
Prior to teaching at Gettysburg, Chris lived in New York City for ten years performing in productions at Bleecker Street Theatre; HERE Arts Center; The Brick Theatre in Brooklyn; and PS 122 among other venues. He has also acted regionally at Merrimack Repertory Theatre in Lowell, MA; Perseverance Theater in Juneau, AK; The Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre on Cape Cod; Theatre Project in Baltimore; a national tour of The Miser; a tour of Brazil with contemporary dance company Dona Orpheline. He's acted locally at Totem Pole Playhouse as Bob Cratchit in A Christmas Carol and Colonel Mustard in Clue.
With collaborator Richard Harrington, he co-authored and performs in three award-winning, interactive comedy pieces: Hotel California (Official selection, HBO U.S. Comedy Arts Festival); Nharcolepsy; and Cabaret Terrarium, all of which played in New York City and in several theatres or festivals throughout North America. He also created and performed two solo shows comedy shows, Action Figure and Nhar Moves, which he toured to Canada.
He has experience acting for the camera, including the David Simon HBO limited series We Own This City; the Apple TV series Lady in the Lake; and the features Audrey's Children, A Gettysburg Christmas, 1000-1: The Cory Weissmann Story, and Gettysburg 1863.
He has an M.F.A. in Acting from Brandeis University where his teachers were Ted Kazanoff, Susan Dibble, Marya Lowry, and Michael Murray. He and studied with Philippe Gaulier in New York in '99 and at Ecole Philippe Gaulier in France in '16, as well as with Aitor Basauri, David Shiner, and Jango Edwards. He was twice a participant in the Teacher Development Program through The National Alliance of Acting Teachers, studying with Ron Van Lieu, J. Michael Miller, Slava Dolgachev, Chris Bayes, Brandon Dirden, Crystal Dickinson, and Kenneth Noel Mitchell.
Member: National Alliance of Acting Teachers; Actors Equity Association; SAG-AFTRA; ITI (International Theatre Institute).
Recipient of Gettysburg College Johnson Center Award for Creative Teaching.