F. Scott Regan Papers

F. Scott Regan, theatre for youth director, producer, playwright, and educator, graduated from Shaker Senior High School in Latham, New York, in 1965, and enrolled in the State University of New York in Albany, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in 1969. He moved to the University of Minnesota, where he earned a Master of Arts in theatre in 1972, and a Doctor of Philosophy in 1975. His dissertation is titled, The History of the International Children's Theatre Association from Its Founding to 1975. Regan spent one year as Managing Director of Lakeshore Players Community Theatre from 1975-1976.

He started his teaching career at the University of Northern Iowa in 1976, and then moved to Bowling Green State University as a Professor of Youth Theatre; where he spent the majority of his teaching career from 1982-2006. At Bowling Green, he managed and produced the Treehouse Troupe, an undergraduate performing theatre group, which produced over 1,200 performances for over 300,000 school students during his tenure. While at Bowling Green, he produced between one and four plays per year, including youth classics like A Christmas Carol and Puss in Boots, as well as works by Shakespeare, young adult books adapted for stage, fairytales, and his own plays. Regan was a committee advisor for nine Ph.D. candidates, including JoBeth Gonzalez, Ron Hill, and Gustav Weltsek. As a professor of theatre, Regan taught undergraduate courses in directing, playscript analysis, theatre experience, oral interpretation, creative drama, theatre for young people and puppetry. His graduate courses included theatre pedagogy, modern and ancient drama, and theatre for young people. According to his resume, he developed new courses in creative drama, theatre for children, puppetry, teaching theatre, international puppetry, cultural and aesthetic perspectives, and aesthetic perception.

A proponent of training youth actors, he co-founded Horizon Youth Theatre in 1998 with former student JoBeth Gonzalez to educate youth actors and provide them opportunities to practice their performance skills. At Horizon Youth Theatre, in Bowling Green, Ohio, Regan directed plays by Shakespeare, adult and young adult books adapted for stage, and classics like The Wizard of Oz and Charlotte's Web. Regan also directed The Reluctant Raksasa, 1996, and The Red Rose, 1994-1995, for Arts Unlimited; The Visit, 1994, for the Ohio State Thespians; South Pacific, 1990, for the Maui Youth Theatre; and Fallen Angels, 2007, No Sex Please, We're British, 2000, and Pirates of Penzance, 1988, for the Toledo Repertoire Theatre.

As a playwright, Regan developed 24 scripts for production, and six were produced by professional theatre companies; The Sun and the Moon, 2004, and Irish Annie, 2000, by Stageworks (formerly Mesa Youtheatre), Arizona; Pinocchio, 1989, by Toledo Repertoire Theatre; The Sun and the Moon, 1993, by Maui Academy Theatre, Hawaii, and, 1995, by Brunswick High School, Ohio; Inventing Ohio, 2000, and Against All Odds, 2001, by the Toledo Science and Industry Museum, Ohio.

Regan's published articles address quantitative and qualitative evaluations of the youth theatre profession, including adjudication, working with young people, defining the profession, models of critique and education for classroom teachers, measuring audience response, use and history of puppetry, and the development of adaptations. In support of youth actors, he addressed activities for instructing young actors, teaching them the art of storytelling, controversial subject matter, and studies of practices in youth theatre outside the school setting.

Articles by Regan have been published in Stage of the Art, Youth Theatre Journal and its predecessor, Children's Theatre Review, and Puppetry Journal. Regan conducted two surveys of youth theatre in America, and published A Preliminary Investigation of Current Practices in American Youth Theatre for Children's Theatre Review, Theatre with Children for Children's Theatre Review, and Youth Theatre in America: A Second Look for Stage of the Art. Adjudication in youth theatre was the topic of the monograph, Adjudication, that he developed for the American Alliance for Theatre and Education (AATE). He authored two articles about oral tradition and storytelling in baseball, The Mighty Casey: Enduring Folk Hero of Failure for the Journal of Popular Culture, and The Baseball Announcer: America's Griot for the Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture.

He was the Founding Editor of the Ohio Theatre Journal, 1988-1990, and a board member of the Ohio Theatre Alliance from 1983-1984. Regan served various positions for the American Alliance for Theatre and Education from 1977-2003, including as a board member, as a regional governor, and as an adjudicator. Regan adjudicated state and regional youth theatre festivals from 1980-1995, and served on the advisory panel of the Ohio Arts Council from 1983-1984. He also served on the Winifred Ward Scholarship Committee.

Regan received the Lin Wright Special Recognition Award from the American Alliance for Theatre and Education in 2006, and a Special Recognition Award from the Ohio State Legislature.