Professor • Department Chair
Chris DuVal is a professor for the Department of Theatre at the University of Utah, and was recently appointed as Interim Chair. Previously, Chris served as an Assistant Professor and the Head of BFA/MFA Performance at the University of Idaho, where he directed and taught courses in acting, voice, and movement. He has additionally worked as a teacher, actor, and fight director at universities, training programs, and regional theaters across the country.
Chris has worked at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival for 18 years, teaching stage combat skills test classes, acting, and fight directing for such productions as Twelfth Night, Great Expectations, River Bride, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Heart of Robin Hood, Troilus and Cressida, The Three Sisters, The Cherry Orchard, The Trip to Bountiful, Dead Man’s Cell Phone, Comedy of Errors, Twelfth Night, Henry V, Love’s Labor’s Lost, The Tempest, Othello, Henry VI parts I, II, and III, and many others. He has also worked as an actor, director, or fight director at such regional theaters as the Denver Theatre Center, Dallas Theatre Center, Sacramento Theatre Company, Laguna Playhouse, Shakespeare Orange County, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Syracuse Stage, Idaho Repertory Theatre, Montana Shakespeare in the Parks, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Great Lakes Theatre, Asolo Repertory Theatre, Pioneer Theatre Company, Salt Lake Acting Company, and at South Coast Repertory, which included appearing in the US Premiere of She Stoops to Folly and the World Premiere of Wit.
Chris is a Certified Teacher / Certified Fight Director / Theatrical Firearms Instructor with the Society of American Fight Directors, a Master Instructor / Senior Fight Director of Theatrical Combat with Dueling Arts International, an Associate Teacher of Fitzmaurice Voice Work, holds a 2nd degree black belt in Aikido, and is a member of AEA. He is the author of “Stage Combat Arts: an Integrated Approach to Acting, Voice and Text Work + Video,” published by Bloomsbury Methuen in 2016. He received a B.A. in Theatre Arts from California State University, Fullerton and an M.F.A. in Acting from the University of California, Irvine.
For more information, visit www.stagecombatarts.weebly.com