Academic Staff

Bonnie Walker, Senior Department Secretary, provides invaluable support to the Theatre Department faculty, staff, and students.  Her responsibilities range from scheduling entrance auditions for prospective students to making sure a graduating student's name is spelled correctly in the annual theatre banquet program.  If it happens in the Theatre Department, it has to cross her desk at some point.  Students think of her not only as their "mom away from home" but also as a peer who can understand what they are going through, since she has taken most of the theatre courses offered here at Chapman.  If Bonnie doesn't have the answer, then she will know where to go to get it!

Production Staff

Pat Cavins has been the Costume Shop Manager at Chapman University since 1999.  Before coming to Chapman, Pat managed the costume shop at the University of California, Irvine for 11 years.   Prior to working at UCI she managed the costume shop at the University of Utah, home of the Lort B ranked Pioneer Theatre Company, for 12 years.  Pat's interest in Shakespeare was sparked during five summer seasons spent at the Utah Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City, Utah, from 1983-1988.  She continues to work as a guest draper at regional festivals, the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, the Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, OR, and the Alabama Shakespeare Company in Montgomery, AL.  Pat currently manages the costume shop for Shakespeare Orange County, supported in part by Chapman University, working on productions such as Hamlet and Twelfth Night or What You Will.  She has been a guest draper and tailor for South Coast Repertory, Center Theater Group, Opera Pacific and LA Opera.  Her work has also been seen on television in programs such as Little House on the Prairie, Disney's Beauty and the Beast, Babylon 5, and Charmed.  Pat has worked extensively in the dance field with groups including American Ballet Theatre, Paul Taylor Company, Ballet West, and Ballet Pacifica.  Together with her students she has worked on productions such as Romeo & Juliet, Carmen, Cinderella, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Project Synergy, and Mediation on Integrations.  Pat can be reached by email at cavins@chapman.edu.

Ron Coffman has been a Stage Technician at Chapman University since 1984.  Prior to working at Chapman, Ron was a freelance designer, a high school drama teacher and a lighting designer at the Laguna Playhouse, Orange Coast College and Knott's Berry Farm.  He is a theater graduate of Fullerton College and Cal State Fullerton, and obtained his teaching credentials from UCI.  Ron's interest in theater dates back to high school, where he was the only drama student who took wood shop, allowing him the opportunity to build the sets for every production.  Ron has been a guest designer at Chapman for many productions, including set and lighting for Piece of My Heart, Club Zero, Romeo and Juliet, As You Like It, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and fifteen productions of American Celebration.  Ron has also worked on numerous professional shows, such as William Hall's production of Paul McCartney's Oratorio at the Orange County Performing Arts Center and his production of Britten's War Requiem at Royce Hall on the UCLA campus.  Currently, Ron is implementing a house lighting plot for the City of Westminster's new Rose Center Theater.  Ron can be reached by email at coffman@chapman.edu.

Richard Jackson is the Shop Foreman for the College of Performing Arts.  A few of Richard's credits include: Our Country's Good, The Robber Bridegroom, Man of La Mancha, Hair, Pippin, Hamlet, Once in a Lifetime, The Trial, She Loves Me, and God and Death. In addition to his duties at Chapman, Richard has also served as Technical Director and Technical Supervisor for Shakespeare Orange County. Richard can be reached by email at rjackson@chapman.edu.

Matt McKibbon has joined Chapman University's College of Performing Arts Production Management Department, serving as the new Shop Foreman for the Entertainment Technology Center.  Matt has been involved in Youth Leadership Education for many years, stemming from an Outward Bound course he experienced in the Blue Mountains in Australia in 1989.  He has studied culture and language abroad in Central America and Europe, and received his BA in History from Cal-Poly San Luis Obispo.  Since then he has shared his skills with students in Oxnard, Morro Bay, Laguna Beach, Santa Ana, San Luis Obispo, and Maine.  Matt spent the last six years serving as the Shop Foreman and Master Carpenter for The Laguna Playhouse, where he played a major role in the production of well over fifty mainstage and youth theater shows.  Some notable favorites include:  Hank Williams: Lost Highway, Shear Madness, Ella, Around the World in 80 Days, Red Herring, Tranced, The Verdi Girls, The Ice-Breaker, The Pursuit of Happiness, The Great Squirrel Uprising, And the Winner Is, Sarah Plain and Tall, The Sleeper, Moonlight and Magnolias, Many Happy Returns, Wiley and the Hairy Man, Tale of the Allergist's Wife, The Marvelous Wonderettes, The Underpants, and Second City's Can You Be More Pacific?.  Understanding the importance of mentoring and guidance, Matt personally credits two individuals who have had a massive influence on his life.  The first is his father, Tom McKibbon, a six-time Olympian (Rowing).  As an athlete, teacher and a revered coach, he taught work ethic, trade skills, precision, and the value of dreaming with direction.  The second is an outdoor education guru and mountaineering legend named Paul Petzoldt.  As the founder of the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), Paul has influenced countless educators with his charisma and knowledge in regards to human nature, exploration, and care for America's wild lands.  Matt was fortunate to spend the better part of a year working with Paul, Ginny, and friends at the Paul Petzoldt Leadership School on Sebago Lake in Maine, assisting with camp development and education.  Matt's passions include:  playing music, surfing, hiking, gardening, woodworking, photography, and sailing.  He loves to be at home with his gorgeous new daughter, Shayla Keilana, and his beautiful wife, Elanor, a recent graduate of the Laguna College of Art and Design. Matt can be reached by email at mckibbon@chapman.edu.

Eric S. Rodriguez recently joined Chapman as the Technical Director for the College of Performing Arts.  He received a B.A. in Technical Design and Production from Cal State San Bernardino and has since fashioned his career around the instruction of performing arts students through his work with college apprenticeship programs.  Before arriving, Eric served as Production Manager/Technical Director/Scenic Designer for the Kinsmen Shakespeare Company, Assistant TD/Designer at Mt. San Jacinto College, and Production Stage Manager/Adjunct at the University of Redlands.  Other credits include stage work with the Santa Fe Opera, California Riverside Ballet, Starway Productions, Ballet Pacifica, Golden State Ballet, MTV (Remote Productions), Wheel of Fortune Wheel-Mobile Crew, Scenes Too, Performance Riverside (RCLO), Theatrical Arts International, Stage One Players, and X103.9 fm.  Recently married, Eric enjoys spending his time with wife Kristine and daughters Domonique and Angelique.  Please feel free to visit him at the new Entertainment Technology Center at 220 N. Cypress.  Eric can be reached via email at erodrigu@chapman.edu.