Dr. Shawn Wahl, interim dean of the College of Arts and Letters, is pleased to announce the new leadership in the arts and design and theater and dance departments.
Vonda Yarberry has been selected as head of the art and design department.
Joseph Price has been named head of the theater and dance department.
“Hiring Vonda and Joseph provides outstanding leadership that will advance our goals as a destination campus for the arts,” says Wahl.
“They are committed to advancing high-impact experiences for students and partner with faculty and staff.”
About Vonda Yarberry
Vonda Yarberry has been teaching animation and electronic arts courses at Missouri State University since 1989. She is currently interim head of the Art & Design department.
She received her MFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University and her BFA from Kansas City Art Institute. Her current research focuses on the interplay between screen-based work and its physical installation. This visual/conceptual shift back and forth is intended to disrupt and provoke questions of time, memory, illusion, perception, desire and physical presence.
Vonda Yarberry has been working in digital media since 1986. Her work, both on screens and in installation formats, has been widely exhibited in the United States and abroad in exhibitions, film festivals, and broadcast media. She is the recipient of artist-in-residency awards. And her teaching and service has been recognized by many university awards for integrating digital technology into the Art & Design curriculum.
About Joseph Price
Joseph Price was recently Program Director of the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater BFA Actor Training Program. He is a founding member of A Red Orchid Theater in Chicago and spent 11 years at the University of Missouri, Kansas City/Kansas City Rep where he was Associate Head of MFA Acting. At the Unicorn Theater in Kansas City, he directed Clybourne Park, Inishmore’s lieutenant, Good, alice painted, Good ideas, Blue/Orange, Fuddy Meers, The shape of things, The pillow man and the world premiere of James Stills’ The velvet rut. He directed The cripple of Inishmaan for Kansas City Actors Theater, A continuous rain for Riverside Theater and the world premiere of Wild boy, the musicalbook by the main author of Sesame StreetLouis Berger.
He has directed numerous university productions, including American clock, Uncle Vanja, Enron, Everything goes, Present laughter, Bushman and Lena, Adhesive tape, The Importance of Being Earnest, Polaroid Stories, Crazy Forest And Killer Joe. He teamed up with Carl Wilkens to create a play based on his book I’m not leavingwhich described Wilkens’ experience during the genocide in Rwanda in 1994.
He is the Artistic Director of the Artsbridge Summer Dramatic Acting Program. Acting credits include numerous regional theater productions, commercials, and the CBS series Dangerous turns. In the 1980s, he starred as Choo Choo the clown in the Preschool Express Video Series. Joseph Price received his MFA from Southern Methodist University.
