Rate My Professor Phillip Church

Professor Phillip Church is Associate Professor Emeritus of Theatre in the Department of Theatre at Florida International University’s College of Communication, Architecture + The Arts. Born in Sherborne, Dorset, England, he received performance training at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), a master’s degree in directing from New York University, and an MFA from the University of California, Irvine. Church joined FIU in 1981 as a visiting lecturer, becoming a full-time faculty member in 1982. Over four decades, he taught and directed more than seventy professional and academic productions, drawing extensively from the classical canon. Notable FIU productions include Jesus Christ Superstar, Romeo and Juliet, Boeing Boeing, The Foreigner, The Pillowman, and Fahrenheit 451, his final university stage production in 2021. He pioneered the Introduction to Acting for TV/Film course (TPP 3265), opened it to non-majors, and contributed to the development of the Digital Filmmaking Certificate Program. Church founded What iF Works, a professional theatre company, where he created and directed original works such as the dramatic curation Flying Solo with Artist X, premiered at the Phillip and Patricia Frost Art Museum as part of the Humanities Edge initiative.

Church harnessed theatre and film for social change, addressing issues like gun violence and fostering community engagement through projects including poetry workshops for youth and adaptations like the virtual staged reading of The Man Who Invented Christmas. Selected as a Faculty Fellow for the 2019 Humanities Edge Summer Institute, he explored storytelling for social justice. Post-retirement in 2022, Church continued part-time teaching in acting and directing for television and film, judged the Panther Film Festival, and authored On Camera, On Stage, a book bridging stage and screen techniques. His career profoundly shaped FIU Theatre, mentoring thousands of students and emphasizing integrity, philosophy, and adaptability in a screen-dominated industry.