Rate My Professor John Sebestyen

John Sebestyen is Associate Professor of Theatre Arts and Producer of Theatre at Ohio Northern University. He holds a Ph.D. in Theatre from Bowling Green State University (2009), with a dissertation entitled Culture, Crisis, and Community: Christianity in North American Drama at the Turn of the Millennium, an M.A. in Theatre from Bowling Green State University (2002), with a thesis on Theatrical Representations of the Shoah: Considering History, Aesthetics and Resistance in Holocaust Drama, and a B.A. in Communication Arts with minors in Theatre and Music from Cornerstone University (1997). He completed a summer workshop course in directing practice at The Juilliard School.

Prior to joining Ohio Northern University, Sebestyen served as Associate Professor of Communication Arts and Theatre and Director of the Theatre Program at Trinity Christian College, where he was awarded Tenure in 2015 and Professor of the Year in 2016. From 2000 to 2005, he worked as Graduate Teaching Assistant, Instructor, and Research Assistant in the Department of Theatre and Film at Bowling Green State University, receiving the F. Lee and Pat Miesle Award for Outstanding Thesis in 2002. Sebestyen has directed and designed over thirty mainstage theatre productions, including Eurydice (2019), The Old Man and the Old Moon (2019), The Comedy of Errors (2018), The Language Archive (2017), The Emperor of the Moon (2017), Our Town (2016), and Andorra (2015). These efforts garnered multiple Certificates of Merit from the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival for directing, collaborative ensemble, and sound design. His publications include a peer-reviewed book review of The Cambridge Introduction to Theatre Directing in the SDC Journal (Summer 2015) and an invited article, “Andorra by Max Frisch,” in The Scofield Issue 1.4 (Spring 2016). Research interests include Chicago Theatre, Holocaust Theatre, and the plays of Horton Foote. Professional affiliations encompass the Association for Theatre in Higher Education, Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (associate member), Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, and Theatre Communications Group. At Ohio Northern University, he directed the Holiday Spectacular production.