Judges for 2020 Bi-District Contest

CRITIC JUDGES

NANCY JO HUMFELD
Brownwood, Howard Payne University
Dr. Nancy Jo Humfeld is professor emerita from Howard Payne University where she was the head of the Theatre Department for many years. She holds a bachelor's and two master's degrees from Texas A&M University-Commerce and a Ph.D. in theatre from Southern Illinois University. She has taught theatre at the university level for 33 years and in that time has directed over 100 plays, musicals and operas. She continues to perform professionally each year. Dr. Humfeld is also the Artistic Director of the Lyric Performing Arts Company. She was named the College/University Educator of the Year by TETA in 2004. She considers UIL OAP a wonderful opportunity to meet and work with high school students and hopefully give them encouragement to continue at a heightened level of performance. Dr. Humfeld enjoys the opportunity to reinforce the director's teaching as well.

GREGORY ARP
Plano, Plano ISD Speech and Theatre Coordinator
Greg is a Bachelor of Arts Theatre graduate of West Texas A&M University and holds a Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in Teacher Leadership. He serves as the Coordinator for Speech and Theatre for Plano ISD and was the Plano ISD Teacher of the Year for 2012. Greg has taught at the middle school, high school and sr. high school levels since 1993. He started a very successful local theatre camp for high school and middle school theatre students in Plano and serves on several arts organizations in the Dallas area. Greg's musical Curtains was chosen as the 2012 Dallas Summer Musicals High School Musical Awards Best Show, Best Technical Execution and garnered the Best Actor Award. With many successes in One-Act Play, he loves the process of reaching an audience through an artistic craft.

JOE BROWN
Fort Worth, Texas Wesleyan University
Joe Allen Brown is a Professor of Theatre Arts and Communication at Texas Wesleyan University, where he has taught for 42 years. Brown served for 16 years as the Dean of Freshmen and this year has returned to being a full-time faculty for the Wesleyan theatre arts program. Past positions he has served in at Wesleyan have been as Chair of Theatre (22 years) and Dean of the School of Fine Arts (7 years). Brown is the current president of the Live Theatre League of Tarrant County and has served as Design Chair for the Southwest Region of the American College Theatre Festival. In his service to Wesleyan and the Fort Worth Theatre community, Brown has received numerous awards for his teaching and contributions to Texas Wesleyan and the theatre community. Having been a OAP judge since 1982, in his critiques, Brown believes that every student and their theatre faculty should be appreciated for how valuable they are to the total production experience and the collaborative artistic effort that goes into a theatre production.

 
CONTEST MANAGER

MS. JERRY BLAKE
Lago Vista, Retired
Jerry Blake is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin. She retired in June 2015, having served as the theatre director at Cedar Park High School for 16 years. During that time, she had UIL OAP qualifiers at every level, including State. In the summer of 2010, she was granted a scholarship to study in residency at the Globe Theatre in London. She has directed more than 120 High School productions in her career. She is artistic director at Cedar Park Theatre Company. Jerry is excited to continue to be involved in education as a contest manager, clinician, guest director and UIL OAP adjudicator.