All the world's a stage for Cheryl Black

Students value her efforts to work with them to reach understanding.

By Krissy Tripp

Published April 14, 2009

Cheryl Black travels around the world and around Columbia to strike a balance between creative theater work and academics.

Black, a theater department professor and director of graduate studies, said the balance is important to her.

"That's a little bit tricky in Columbia, Mo.," Black said.

In order to stay involved in the local theater community, Black does commercial voice-overs and narrations, directs at least one play per academic semester and works as much as possible during the summer.

"I do small film things here and there as they come up," she said.

In addition, Black is a member of the Actors Equity Association and the Screen Actors Guild. She also serves as a board member for Theater NXS, a theater company owned by her husband, LR Hults.

Hults said they're looking for something she can work on at Theater NXS, but it takes careful planning because of her responsibilities at MU.

Hults said he and Black met in Dallas, and then again years later when they were both working in New York.

"We did a couple of shows together in New York," Hults said. "Over the course of that we got together."

The first major piece the couple worked on together was the world premiere of "Henry and Ellen," a play about famous actors from the Victorian era who worked together and became lovers.

"Our son is also an actor," Black said. "We're a family of entertainers."

Creatively, Black said she enjoys working with public domain -- classic works that are out of copyright -- and new scripts because she can adapt and refashion them.

To stay involved in the academic aspect of her job Black does scholarly research to publish, and teaches classes on acting, theater history and dramatic literature.

Theater assistant Anna Lyse Erikson chose Black to be her mentor for her undergraduate research project after doing three shows and taking six classes with her. Erikson said Black has a lot of experiences to bring to her students.

"As a professor she's nurturing and giving," she said. "She's so unselfish and willing to do whatever it takes for you to have the best educational experience possible. She's a wonderful actress to work with as well because she's very collaborative."

Graduate student Stephen Kruse worked with Black when he played Samuel Clemens in the 2005 play "Leaving Hannibal." He most remembers her willingness to collaborate with the actors to make sure everyone involved understood their characters. He said they would read through the script and meet after rehearsals to discuss points of view and merge ideas.

"She really cares about you understanding who the character is," he said.

Black has been balancing her teaching and theater career since receiving her master's degree. She lived in Dallas, New York and Washington for six years each between receiving her degree and coming to Columbia.

"I always taught part time," Black said.

Black recently finished directing Susan Glaspell's "The Verge" and will soon direct "Steel Magnolias" for the summer. This summer, Black will direct a concert reading of "The Verge" in Spain and Philadelphia as well as directing "Inheritors," another Glaspell play, in Boston.

Black directed a variety of plays during her time at MU, but a few stick out in her memory. She said she loved producing one of her favorite plays, Anton Chekhov's "The Seagull" and adjusting William Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing" to be a musical set in the 1950s.

"I've really loved everything I've directed here," Black said.