Matthew Wright

  • Professor of Theater
  • Chair of Theater

Areas of Study

Education

  • BA, University of Tennessee, Knoxville,1979
  • MFA, University of California, San Diego,1988

Biography

National credits include productions at the La Jolla Playhouse, McCarter Theatre, Clarence Brown Company, Studio Arena Theatre of Buffalo, Trinity Repertory Theatre, Florida Stage and New Theatre. Northeast Ohio audiences have seen Matthew in The Fix, Reefer Madness, The Imaginary Invalid and Urinetown: The Musical at Beck Center for the Arts, as well as the much-lauded JCC/TriC West production of Ragtime.

Professor Wright has been a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association since 1988.

 

Fall 2023

Acting 2: Scene Study — THEA 200
Individual or Group Projects — THEA 225
Rehearsal and Performance-Half — THEA 281H
Theater Senior Project - Full — THEA 425F
Theater Senior Project - Half — THEA 425H

Spring 2024

Acting II: Intermediate Acting — THEA 200
Individual or Group Projects — THEA 225
Senior Capstone in Acting: Professional Aspects of Acting — THEA 410
Theater Senior Project - Full — THEA 425F
Theater Senior Project - Half — THEA 425H

Notes

Matthew Wright Awarded "Best Actor - Musical" by Cleveland Critics Circle

January 4, 2023

Professor of Theater and Department Chair Matthew Wright was awarded "Best Actor - Musical" by the Cleveland Critics Circle for his role as Nostradamus in Something Rotten at Beck Center for the Arts and is featured in the Cleveland Scene article announcing the 2022 winners.

Holly Handman-Lopez and Matthew Wright Collaborate on Musical

July 30, 2019

Professor of Theater Matthew Wright and Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance Holly Handman-Lopez collaborated on 33 1/3, a new musical, at Dobama Theater in Cleveland. Wright directed and Handman-Lopez choreographed 33 1/3, which won the Playwrights Guild of Canada Stage West Pechet Family’s Best New Musical Award. This world premiere production ran from June 27 to July 14, 2019.

Matthew Wright Appears in Play at Dobama Theater

March 5, 2019

Professor of Theater Matthew Wright  in the Susan Smith Blackburn Prizewinning play, THE NETHER, by Jennifer Haley at Cleveland's DOBAMA Theatre.

Matthew Wright Directs World Premiere

October 26, 2018

Matthew Wright, professor of theater, directed the world premiere of Everything is Okay (and other helpful lies), co-written and co-composed by Cleveland-based artists Melissa T. Crum and Caitlin Lewins. The musical runs October 26 through November 10, 2018, at Cleveland Public Theatre.

News

Postcards from Oberlin

May 8, 2020

“The best thing about my quarantine workday (besides hanging out with my toddler) is seeing my students, even though they are far away. The second best thing is seeing them when it's warm enough to be outside in my backyard in Lakewood. Students + sunshine (+ toddler) = happiness,” writes Kathryn Metz , assistant professor of ethnomusicology.

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