2009 Inge Festival - Scholar's Conference

Jackson R. Bryer (Director, Scholars' Conference) is a Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Maryland, College Park. In 1981, he served as a consultant to the National Endowment for the Humanities and for the William Inge Archives at Independence Community College. He is the editor of The Theatre We Worked For: The Letters of Eugene O'Neill to Kenneth MacGowan (1982) and many other publications. In 1988, he published "An Interview with Robert Anderson I Studies in American Drama" and co-edited The Playwright's Art: Conversations with Contemporary American Dramatists, New Essays on F. Scott Fitzgerald's Neglected Stories and The Actor's Art: Conversations with Contemporary American Stage Performers. Recent publications include The Art of the American Musical: Conversations with the Creators and Conversations with August Wilson. His two most recent publications: as co-editor, The Selected Letters of Thornton Wilder (2008) and Approaches to Teaching Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby (2009). He received the Inge Festival's prestigious Jerome Lawrence Award in 2007.

Gary Konas is Associate Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse. He is editor of Neil Simon: A Casebook (1997) and has published a number of essays on musical theatre. At past Inge Festivals he has presented papers on honorees Neil Simon, Stephen Sondheim, and John Kander & Fred Ebb. He is also a theatre organist who plays solo pipe organ concerts. He has recorded an album of show tunes on the Mighty Wurlitzer.

Charles Eliot Mehler is a Ph.D candidate in the Department of Theatre at Louisiana State University and the author of the musicals DOWNTOWN (lyrics only), HARD ROAD (lyrics only), WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN GINGRICH, POSTER CHILDREN, and WEALTH, AND HOW NOT TO AVOID IT, a musical adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's MAJOR BARBARA. In addition, he has written the non-musical plays FLIP-FLOP and JACK FROM WILL AND GRACE. Mehler is also the author of the scholarly articles "Brokeback Mountain at the Oscars," "Mamet, Homosexuality, and Chicago Politics," and "FIDDLER ON THE ROOF: Considerations in a new millennium."

Missy Thibodeaux-Thompson is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at the University of Illinois at Springfield, and has taught at Cornell University, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and Illinois College. At UIS she has directed CLOUD 9, ANTON IN SHOW BUSINESS, and Inge's PICNIC. Missy has presented papers and/or workshops at the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE), the Mid-America Theatre Conference (MATC), the Southeastern Theatre Conference (SETC), the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF), and the Illinois Theatre Association (ITA). Her paper, "Pushing the Envelope for Ourselves and Our Audiences" was recently published in KC Stage magazine. An actor and director, Missy's New York City credits include directing David Mamet's THE FROG PRINCE and Samuel Beckett's FOOTFALLS and CATASTROPHE, and playing the title role in SEE JANE RUN, all at The Theatre Studio, Inc. She has acted at the McLeod Summer Playhouse, Virginia Shakespeare Festival, Austin Shakespeare Festival, Chickspeare Theatre Company, BareBones Theatre Group, Live Oak Theatre, and Zachary Scott Theatre.

Mrs. Geetha Vivekanandhan teaches English language and Literature and Business Communication at the College of Vocational Studies affiliated with Delhi University, New Delhi, India. She has also taught at other reputed universities like Madras University, Gandhigram Rural University and Kerala University. She has presented papers on William Inge, O.V.Vijayan and on Literature and Environment on different occasions at different forums. She has written a highly commended thesis entitled "Themes, Characters and Symbols in the plays of William Inge." Currently she is working on the Structure and vision in the plays of William Inge. Geetha is known for her nano tales. She has also published a few poems and short stories. She is also good at the art of traditional "Thanjavoor" Painting. She enjoys teaching it as well. She is convener of one of the Boards of Examiners at Delhi University and also holds a few other honorary administrative posts.