Mac Groves
History and Acting
Mac.Groves@nau.edu
(928) 523-9596
Mac Groves, professor of theatre, is the College of Arts and Letters teacher of the year. A theatre generalist, he holds a PhD in theatre from the University of Colorado, and teaches primarily in the areas of theatre history and literature, management, and in performance areas like acting shakespeare and oral interpretation. He received his MA in theatre from Stephen F. Austin University and his BA in english and drama from East Texas Baptist College.
Dr. Groves is also department director having staged over 30 productions for Northern Arizona University Theatre since joining the faculty in 1992, including When Ya Comin’ Back, Red Ryder?, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Crucible, Godspell, Rumors, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Lend Me A Tenor, The Taming of the Shrew and A…My Name is Alice. He has also taught and directed professionally at the University of Houston, Idaho State University, and East Texas Baptist University, and is the former artistic director of the Grand Canyon Shakespeare Festival, the Houston Shaw Festival, the Bijou Theatre, and the Performing Arts Center of Knoxville, Tennessee.
Dr. Groves’ critically acclaimed play, Route 66: A Celebration of America’s Main Street, is currently the educational outreach program of the Department of Interior, National Park Service, Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program under the sponsorship of NAU and Route 66 Magazine. The production was developed in 1999, produced in 2001 and will begin its fourth national tour in the summer of 2007. Called a “hootenanny-style musical seminar” and “the most definitive work of its kind to tell the Route 66 story,” the play celebrates the adventure of travel on America’s most famous highway and the role U.S. 66 played in defining the national culture. It features a cast of seven professional storytellers and a variety of music, stories, images, songs, testimony, and dramatic scenes drawn from the literature and culture of 20th century America. For more information on the upcoming tour, booking information, a photo gallery, and reviews, visit www.Route66Magazine.com.
Dr. Groves is a founding director of the Arizona Theatre Alliance, board member and treasurer of the Southwest Association for Theatre and Film (formerly the Southwest Theatre Association), and a member of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education. He is also a resource/grant panelist for the Arizona Arts Commission, and is a partner with NAU’s Department of English University House Shakespeare (television/distance learning) project.
Born in Arkansas and raised in Shreveport, Louisiana, he is the only outsider in a family of native Texans that includes his wife, Rosemary, the drama director for Flagstaff’s Sinagua High School; son, Patrick; daughter, Anna; golden retriever, Goofy; and Wart, an alleycat.
