CoPA welcomes Nick Gabriel to Department of Theatre
May 8, 2017
The College of Performing Arts announces the addition of Nick Gabriel as a full-time tenure-track faculty to the Department of Theatre. As a resident artist at the American Conservatory Theater and Director of Studio A.C.T., Professor Gabriel also serves on the associate faculty of A.C.T.’s Master of Fine Arts program.
“I am extremely excited about Nick joining our theatre faculty,” said John Benitz, chair of the Department of Theatre. “The breadth and caliber of his experience will be a tremendous asset to our Theatre program and the students who come here to train for their careers.”
Gabriel has played many principal roles in mainstage productions at A.C.T., including Clov in Endgame opposite Bill Irwin. He has also played principal roles in mainstage productions, including several world premieres, at some of the country’s other major venues such as Milwaukee Rep, the California Shakespeare Theater, the La Jolla Playhouse, New York’s Town Hall, South Coast Rep, and the Guthrie. He has performed principal singing and speaking roles with the San Francisco Symphony, where he most recently played the Soldier in A Soldier’s Tale alongside GRAMMY® Award winner Elvis Costello and Academy Award winner Malcolm McDowell.
“With the hiring of Nick Gabriel, we get not only a consummate master teacher for the theater department, but also an actor who in addition is a singer, dancer, director, and choreographer,” said Dr. Giulio Ongaro, dean of the College. “Nick brings a wonderful variety of teaching and professional experiences to Chapman and I expect he will be very helpful in connecting our music, dance, and theater programs.”
Nick Gabriel received a BFA in musical theater from the University of Michigan and an MFA in acting from A.C.T. His most recent directorial collaboration was with Philip Kan Gotanda on the world premiere of #CampTuleLake. He is a certified instructor of the Michael Chekhov Technique and a recipient of the Teachers 4 Social Justice Award. He is a Ten Chimney’s Foundation Lunt-Fontanne Fellow and has received numerous Bay Area Critics Circle Award nominations and wins. In 2011 the Huffington Post named him one of the top three most valuable contributors to the cultural landscape of the San Francisco Bay Area.