Alan Tollefson
C/V
12562 El Merrie Del Drive Kagel Canyon, CA 91342. 818 612 6158. alantollefson@ucla.edu
Education
2007 M.F.A. University of California Santa Cruz, Digital Art and New Media
Masters Thesis:
Wrote and directed the dance/theater/media presentation Dedokoro (prisoner set free) with an ensemble of ten performers. The performance was based on the haiku written in the Japanese-American concentration camps in the United States during World War II. Thesis paper research areas included, Race, Rhetoric, Propaganda, Haiku, Photography, Phenomenology and Historiography. Research included over ten hours of videotaped interviews and extensive documentary photography as well as travel to the historic internment camp locations of Heart Mountain, WY; Tule Lake, CA; Rohwer, AR and Jerome, AR.
1988 B.F.A. School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Concentration:
Performance Art; Film/Video; Sculpture
Teaching Experience
2008-2009 University of California Santa Cruz, Theater Arts Department
Lecturer
Spring ’09: TA 10 Introduction to Design for the Theater
TA 152 Advanced Stagecraft and Technology
Winter ‘09: TA 18 Drafting for the Theater
Fall ‘09: TA 10 Introduction to Design for the Theater
Spring ‘08: TA 52 Basic Stagecraft and Technology
2003-2009 University of California Santa Cruz, Theater Arts Department
Master Carpenter
Instructed three sections per quarter of the class TA50 Theater Production, including tool safety and construction techniques in wood and metal; built scenery for the four theaters in the department. Coordinate with designers and directors; as shop foreman, maintained tools and inventory of scene shop.
2001 Sacramento City College, Sacramento, CA
Adjunct Faculty / Technical Director
Instructed and supervised student crew of eight for construction, load-in, and weekly change over for Importance of Being Ernest, Macbeth, and Three Musketeers; coordinated with play’s directors and college staff; managed production budget; ordered materials; hired student workers.
1990-1995 Mentor Media Inc., Lebanon, NJ
Vice-President
Co-founded 501(c)(3) educational materials company to produce videos, lesson plans, and assembly shows for grades K-12. Wrote and developed creative content for classroom teaching materials, including a film adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe’s Tell Tale Heart; Dinosaur Tapes, an original script based on interviews with twelve internationally recognized paleontologists; and three multi-media assembly shows for K-12 audiences that focussed on social and environmental issues.
Production Experience
2003 Sacramento Theatre Company, Sacramento CA
Properties Master
Maintained props budget ledger, created warehouse inventory of props and furniture, and provided props and furniture for a seven-show season. Coordinated with the designers and directors; reported to the production manager and the technical director.
2001 Master Carpenter
Interpreted scenic design plans, estimated costs, built, and installed scenery for a seven-show season. Directed staff of two carpenters; coordinated with the technical director.
2000 Technical Director
Managed budget, ordered materials, hired staff, and oversaw crew of three carpenters for construction and load-in of Blues in the Night. Dir. Patdro Harris; coordinated with director and designer.
Grants & Awards
2007 Research Grant: History of Art and Visual Culture Department University of California Santa Cruz Presidential Chair Fund.
2007 Porter Fellows Award, University of California Santa Cruz
2002 Elly Award nomination, Best Actor. Tartuffe. Dir. Christine Nicholson. City Theater, Sacramento, CA
2001 Elly Award nomination, Set Design and Lighting Design. Importance of Being Earnest. Dir. Luther Hanson. City Theater, Sacramento, CA
1996 Artists in Education Grant, New Jersey State Council on the Arts. Artist in Residence: Harriet Tubman School, Newark, NJ
Assistantships
2005-2007 Theater Arts Department, University of California Santa Cruz
Teaching Assistant
TA50: Theater Production
For six quarters, supervised student work crews in the construction of stage scenery for the school's four theaters. Taught quarterly safety training. Assisted in the maintenance of scene shop inventory of tools, supplies and stock scenery.
Plays (authored)
2008 Just a Nice Little Story This Time. 29-1/2 Hour Playwriting Festival; City Theater, Sacramento, CA
2007 Dirt World. Dir Laurie Anne De Lappe. 29-1/2 Hour Playwriting Festival; City Theater Sacramento, CA
2005 The Ghost Hunters. Dir. Kevin Poole. 29-1/2 Hour Playwriting Festival; City Theater, Sacramento, CA
2004 Three-quarters; Not Clowns; Grumpy. Dir. Sharon Braden 29-1/2 Hour Playwriting Festival; City Theater, Sacramento, CA
2003 Evil is as Evil Does. Dir. Ed Gyles Jr. 29-1/2 Hour Playwriting Festival; Sacramento City Theater, Sacramento, CA
2002 Deconstructing Gilgamesh. Dir. Doug Lawson. 29-1/2 Hour Playwriting Festival; Sacramento City Theater, Sacramento, CA
2001 MK Ultra (a short play about mind control) with Scott Bailey; Dir. Alan Tollefson. Actors Theater, Sacramento, CA
2000 Umbumbratum. Dir. James Roberts. 29-1/2 Hour Playwriting Festival; Sacramento City Theater, Sacramento, CA
1999 Liquid Lunch. Dir Steven Vargo. Thistle Dew Dessert Theater, Sacramento, CA
Designer
2009 Media Designer, After Hamlet. Dir. Sommer Ulrickson. Experimental Theater, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA
2007 Media Designer, Scenic Designer, and Director, Dedokoro (Prisoner Set Free). Experimental Theater, University of California Santa Cruz, CA
2004 Scenic Designer. The Farewells. Dir. Aram Kouyoumdjian. Vista Players, Actors Theater, Sacramento CA
2003 Scenic Designer. The Play About the Baby. Dir. Aram Kouyoumdjian.Vista Players, Actors Theater, Sacramento CA
2002 Scenic Designer. Orphans. Dir Bill Voorhees. . California Stage, Sacramento CA
2001 Scenic Designer MK Ultra (a short play about mind control) with Scott Bailey; Dir. Alan Tollefson. Actor’s Theater, Sacramento, CA
2001 Lighting and Scenic Designer. Importance of Being Earnest. Dir. Luther Hanson. City Theater, Sacramento City College; Sacramento, CA
2001 Scenic Designer and Technical Director. Macbeth. Dir. Luther Hanson. Sacramento Shakespeare Festival, Sacramento City College; Sacramento, CA
2001 Scenic Designer and Technical Director. Three Musketeers. Dir. Kim Mc Cann. Sacramento Shakespeare Festival, Sacramento City College; Sacramento, CA
2000 Scenic Designer: Alan Tollefson. Arcadia. Dir. Aram Kouyoumdjian. Vista Players, Actors Theater, Sacramento, CA
2000 Scenic Designer. Who’s Afraid of Virginial Woolf. Dir. Peter Morhman. Synergy Stage, Delta King’s Mark Twain Theater, Sacramento, CA
2000 Scenic Designer. Fortune’s Fool. Dir. Jerry Montoya. Synergy Stage, Delta King’s Mark Twain Theater, Sacramento, CA
1999 Scenic Designer. Crimes of the Heart. Dir. David Harris. Delta King’s Mark Twain Theater, Sacramento, CA
Plays (Actor)
2003 Private Lives. Role: Victor. Dir. David Harris. Synergy Stage, Delta King’s Mark Twain Theater, Sacramento, CA
2002 Tartuffe. Role: Orgon, Dir. Christine Nicholson, City Theater, Sacramento, CA
2000 What the Butler Saw. Role: Dr. Rance. Dir. Luther Hanson, City Theater, Sacramento, CA
1999 Comedy of Errors. Role: Dr. Pinch. Dir. Kim Mc Cann. Sacramento Shakespeare Festival, Sacramento, CA
1999 Romeo and Juliet. Role: Friar Lawrence Dir. Luther Hanson. Sacramento Shakespeare Festival, Sacramento, CA
1999 Hay Fever. Role: David Bliss. Dir. Kim Mc Cann. City Theater, Sacramento, CA
1999 Bell, Book, and Candle. Role: Shepard Henderson. Dir. Kim Mc Cann. Chautauqua Theater, Fair Oaks, CA
1989 The Terrible Dream of Darkness. Dir. Myron Freedman, Baliwick Theater, Chicago, IL
Exhibitions & Performance Art
2009 RUST FEST digital arts and new media festival A selection of digital arts and new media from MFA programs within the United States. McDonough Museum of Art, Youngstown, Ohio
2009 ROS Indexical By Yvonne Rainer; Role: Angry Audience Member. Red Cat, Roy and Edna Disney/ CalArts Theater. Los Angeles CA
2007 EMERGENCE 2007: UCSC Digital Arts and New Media MFA Exhibit. Digital Media Factory. Santa Cruz, CA
2006 BLINK: an exhibition of DANM graduate student work. Porter Sesnon Gallery. Santa Cruz, CA
1992 Rope/Radio/The Return of the Repressed. Group Show. Artists Space. New York City, NY
1989 The Rise and Fall Of Sven Echo I-IV. Written and performed by Alan Tollefson Club Lower Links, Chicago, IL
1988 Howard Phillips Lovecraft. Written and performed by Alan Tollefson. Randolph Street Gallery, Chicago, IL
1987 Heroes. Written and performed by Alan Tollefson & Andy Soma. Randolph Street Gallery. Chicago, IL
1986 And Then What Happens. Role: Performer. Dir. Lynn Book. MoMing, Chicago, IL
1984 Une Minute de Cinq Heures. Role: Performer. Dir. Alan Tollefson The Performance Space, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL
Press
2008 Artists’ Wedding Serves as Setting for Performance and Environmentalism by Christina Wolfe
http://cityonahillpress.com/article.php?id=1266
2007 Emergence 2007 UCSC’s Digatal Arts&New Media Program Unveils Next Generation of Visionary Artists by Wallace Baine
2004 Shilly-Shally Private Lives Review by Patti Roberts
http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/Content?oid=11983
2004 So Long and Farwell by Jeff Hudson
http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/Content?oid=27485
2003 Speed Theater by Cosmo Garvin
http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/Content?oid=16090
Couples Only The Play About the Baby by Jeff Hudson
http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/Content?oid=14767
2001 Victorian charm The Importance of Being Earnest by Matthew Burlingame-Couk
http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/Content?oid=5693
