Ryan Kathman, M.F.A.

Omaha native, Air Force brat, NWU alum, tuba player, one-time professional journalist and prodigal son returned to Lincoln after working as an educator, actor, director, playwright, fight choreographer and dialect coach in Nebraska, Minnesota (Twin Cities), Tennessee (Memphis) and Kansas on both stage and screen. Favorite projects include: creating and performing a one-man version of Shakespeare's Hamlet called One-Ham Manlet and premiering it in two states; being on set as an actor with directors Robert Altman (in A Prairie Home Companion) and Alexander Payne (in Election); original adaptations of many of Shakespeare's works, including a two-person version of Twelfth Night titled What Two Will at the Benson Theatre in Omaha; directing the original one-woman show Blue Collar Diaries at the Minnesota Fringe Festival (before it moved on to St. Paul's History Theater); producing/directing original Canterbury Tales adaptation Toward Canterbury in Minnesota (after premiering it as a student at NWU); the Chicago premiere of original short play From Grace; performing in Omaha for BLUEBARN (in Macbeth and King Lear) and Old School Shakespeare Omaha (in Midsummer Night's Dream), on Minnesota's Jungle Theater, Playwright's Center, Illusion Theater, and In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theater stages, Memphis' Playhouse on the Square and Theatre Memphis' stages, and as a lead in the feature film Vipers in the Grass with Dean Winters (Oz, Brooklyn 99) and Harley Jane Kozak (Arachnaphobia, Parenthood). Most favorite projects: marriage to Jenny and being father to Gracie and George.