Jeanne Leep, Ph.D.
Jeanne Leep is a Professor in the Department of Theatre Arts at Edgewood College. She received her Ph.D. in directing from Wayne State University, and her M.A. from the University of Michigan in theatre studies. Leep has also studied the Stanislavski system at the Moscow Art Theatre’s training program and directing at the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Dr. Leep serves as the chair of the Department of Theatre Arts, as well as the Producer for the Edgewood College Theatre Company. She is also the faculty advisor for many student organizations in the theatre, including Theatre Assembly, and the Theatre Assembly Planning Committee.
A director by trade, Dr. Leep has directed over 50 productions at various institutions and companies. Some past directing credits include Metamorphoses, Proof, The Drowsy Chaperone, Love’s Labour’s Lost, The Penelopiad and Body Awareness.
She is a founding member of River City Improv, an award-winning performance improvisational company based in Michigan, celebrating its 25-year anniversary in 2019. She also continues to perform short form improv with River City and other companies as her schedule allows. Improvisation is a large component of her academic research; an experienced improv workshop leader, Dr. Leep has taught workshops and led improvisational workshops for hundreds of people at many different organizations wishing to improve their collaborative and creative thinking skills.
Since 2004, Dr. Leep has worked with colleagues across campus to bring students to London every other year to study theatre, art, and culture for an intensive two-week winterim study abroad experience. Recently that work expanded to include a separate trip to Italy, providing a wider range of experiences and contexts for students in a liberal arts setting.
A long time and active member of the Association of Theatre in Higher Education, she served for six years on the acting focus group conference planning board.
Her book, Theatrical Improvisation, published by Palgrave Macmillan, came out in 2008, and was recently issued in paperback. Her most recent chapter, “Activating the Actor with Game Theory,” was published as part of the book Objective, Obstacles and Tactic in Practice, Perspective on Activing the Actor by Routledge in 2020.
Dr. Leep lives in Monona, Wisconsin with her husband, Christopher “Nigel” Edmonds.