Associate Professor

Stephen Hancock
143 A Theatre Building
(901) 678-2570

Stephen received his MFA from The Pennsylvania State University in 1984. He joined the U of M faculty as a full-time professor in 1998 as a member of the Performance Faculty, where he teaches classes in acting, directing, and playwriting. He serves as the Coordinator of the BFA Performance Program. In 2004, he received the Thomas W. Briggs Foundation Excellence in Teaching Award (the university's highest award for excellence in undergraduate teaching), and in 2003, he received the College of Communication and Fine Arts Dean's Advising Award, for excellence in undergraduate advising.

Stephen is the author of several plays including The Writer's Block, The Horror of the Little Family Farce, Revelations, The Lioness of the Leopards, and Zyrardów . His plays have been performed or had staged readings in several cities including: NYC; New Orleans; Minneapolis; Jackson, MS; and Valdez, AK. He was runner-up in the 2005 Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival David Mark Cohen Prize; is a two-time second-place winner of The Writer's Digest Magazine Writing Competition (Playwriting Division); and has twice been a semi-finalist in the Humana Festival 10-Minute play competition sponsored by Actors Theatre of Louisville. He has attended two of the country's most prestigious conferences for playwrights--The Sewanee Writers' Conference and The Prince William Sound Community College Edward Albee Last Frontier Theatre Conference--where he has studied with Edward Albee, Horton Foote, Marsha Norman, and Romulus Linney.

Stephen has worked as a freelance director for over 25 years directing over 40 productions including Titus Andronicus, Richard II, The Winter's Tale, Stones In His Pockets, Three Days of Rain, Company, Fiddler on the Roof, The Importance of Being Earnest , and Oedipus Rex for such organizations as the Oklahoma Shakespearean Festival, Bunbury Repertory, and TheatreStudio (NYC), among others.

While living in NYC he worked at the Off-Broadway theatres: Manhattan Theatre Club (Casting, Marketing and Publicity) and Circle Rep (Stage Management), Theatreworks USA (a national touring company), and A.R.T./NY, a not-for-profit advocacy organization for Off-Broadway theatres (Marketing/Development). Stephen is a member of Actors Equity (AEA), AFTRA, and the Dramatists Guild.