Jayna Gearhart Fitzsimmons, Ph.D., M.A.
Jayna Gearhart Fitzsimmons, Ph.D., M.A.
Assistant Professor of Theatre
Theatre Department
Education
Ph.D. in Critical Studies in English Literature, 2023, University of South Dakota; M.A. in Theatre, 2009, University of South Dakota; B.A. in Theatre, 2007, Southwest Minnesota State University
Biography
Dr. Jayna Gearhart Fitzsimmons has been a faculty member at Augustana University since 2010, where she directs productions and teaches courses in acting, theatre history & literature, new play development, improvisation, theatre for social change and a January Interim (J-Term) global studies course that explores performance culture and history of Central and Eastern Europe. She also serves as the faculty advisor to Augustana’s Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) and Brand Name Improv.
Fitzsimmons earned a Bachelor of Arts in theatre from Southwest Minnesota State University, Master of Arts in theatre with emphases in theatre history & literature, directing, acting and early modern drama from the University of South Dakota (USD), and Ph.D. in critical studies in English literature with specialization in 20th- and 21st-century drama from USD. Fitzsimmons’ scholarship centers on the intersection of metatheatre and theatre for social change, audience-performance-text relationship and experimental theatrical forms. As a director, Fitzsimmons specializes in staging classical works, script adaptation, new play development and working with non-traditional performance texts.
Fitzsimmons has received regional Kennedy Center Honors for directing, script adaptation, collaborative devising and diversity, equity & inclusion. She was honored with the Kennedy Center’s Region 5 Road Warrior Award, which recognizes faculty excellence in regional production responses. As a director and developmental dramaturg, she frequently collaborates with playwrights from across the country to develop new work. She also partners with the Dakota Academy of Performing Arts’ Youth Shakespeare and Plays for Living Programs. Since 2011, Fitzsimmons has been the producing artistic director of Bare Bodkins Theatre Company, a professional, original practice Shakespeare company that partners with the City of Sioux Falls Parks and Recreation Department to stage free, accessible Shakespeare performances in Falls Park each summer.