Tarantino appointed Director of TRI

Ohio State Department of Theatre Chair and Professor Mark Shanda is pleased to name Professor and Resident Lighting Designer Mary Tarantino as Director of The Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute (TRI) of The Ohio State University effective July 1, 2009. Professor Tarantino joins the Theatre Research Institute as distinguished rare books and special collections, now scattered among library facilities across campus, will be brought together and made available for exhibition and research in the Thompson Library, which re-opens this fall after a three-year $100+ million dollar renovation. The TRI Director is responsible for the research and education missions of the Institute.

Mary Tarantino is Resident Lighting Designer/Professor of Theatre at The Ohio State University.  Professional lighting design credits include CAPA (the Shubert and Southern Theatres), the Virginia Arts Festival and Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Hartford Stage Youth Theatre, The Children's Theatre of Massachusetts, Karamu House of Cleveland, Players Theatre Columbus, Contemporary American Theatre Company (CATCO) and others.   Recent publications include "Beyond the Produced Design: Teaching Lighting Design Through Archival Research" in Documenting: Lighting Design (Performing Arts Resources, 2007), "Uncovering Gems: Theatrical Design Collections at the Wisconsin Historical Society" (Theatre Survey, forthcoming 2009), and a biographical essay on Gilbert Hemsley in Late/Greats (U.S. Institute for Theatre Technology, forthcoming 2010).

The Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute serves as an archive for performers, playwrights, choreographers, designers, producing organizations, and theatre and dance companies, among others, and advances the study and inspiration of the performing arts. In association with the Department of Theatre, the Institute acquires, preserves, and makes accessible materials documenting the performing arts for the purposes of scholarship, education, and enjoyment; provides an active teaching component; serves as a source for new works creation, development, and reconstruction; and enriches patrons' experiences of these materials which reveal our performing arts culture and history.  Featured collections include the personal papers, special collections and designs of:

• NELSON EDDY, JEANETTE MACDONALD COLLECTION by Pat Griswold: Photographs and research materials on Eddy and Macdonald in such films as Naughty Maria, Rose Marie, Maytime, Girl of the Golden West, and others.
• EILEEN HECKART PAPERS:Personal papers, photographs, clippings, correspondence, and stage, film and television scripts of this major character actress and Ohio State alumna.
• JEROME LAWRENCE AND ROBERT E. LEE PAPERS: Extensive collection by and on the authors of Inherit the Wind, Auntie Mame, and The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail.
• MARCEL MARCEAU: The Marcel Marceau Collection contains videotape of teaching sessions, interviews, and performances; motion capture data of signature pieces; clippings, programs, souvenir programs, books by and about Marceau, the great French mime.
• BORIS ANISFELD COLLECTION: Original scene and costume designs by this Russian designer who worked with Diaghilev and later designed for the Metropolitan Opera and the Chicago Civic Opera.