The University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance has announced that Professor Antonio Disla will join the faculty as a clinical assistant professor of theatre and drama. Disla, who joined the department as a guest artist in Fall 2020, “offers a unique blend of rigor, compassion, and authenticity that he brings to the classroom,” said department chair Christianne Myers.
“The breadth of his skills is truly amazing,” continued Myers. “He is able to teach acting, playwriting, heightened language, African American drama, and solo performance. He is already a valued member of the department, and the students and faculty are excited Professor Disla is able to step into this expanded role. Personally, I have appreciated his humor, passion, and deep investment in our community.”
Disla is an Afro-Caribbean Dominican American theatre practitioner, born and raised in New York City. As a solo artist, he has written and devised both site-specific and staged works dealing with identity and race. His notable works to date are Nobody, a solo piece about race, and Travel, which deals with identity and destiny. As a performing company member of the Shakespeare Forum, he has led workshops in the New York City Public Schools and co-taught Shakespeare for their Youth Forum program. Disla has proudly worked with the Black Lady Theater, an African American community theatre company based in Brooklyn, in such productions as From the Borough of Brooklyn and Bone Soup.
“I am blessed, grateful, and thrilled for the opportunity and continued access to contribute an added perspective to the SMTD community,” Disla shared. “Alongside its stellar faculty members and wildly talented undergraduate population, I aspire to strengthen further the behaviors of transformation that will bear edible fruit for all communities in the years to come.”
Disla holds an MFA in performance from the Ohio State University. Since 2012, he has taught at State University of New York (SUNY) at New Paltz, in both the Department of Theatre Arts and the Department of Communication.