Theatre Faculty Profiles
Eric Renschler
Assistant Professor of Design
As a 1983 graduate of the University of Evansville, Eric Renschler returned to the University after nearly 20 years working on and off Broadway.
His Broadway designs include scenery for As Long as You Both Shall Laugh (which included a national tour and PBS special) and Mamaloshen. Off-Broadway credits include designs at the New York Shakespeare Festival, Circle Repertory Company, Pan-Asian Repertory Theatre, Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre, and the Juilliard School.
As an associate of designer John Lee Beatty, he was involved with over 40 Broadway productions and tours, including The Color Purple, Doubt, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Footloose, Proof, Wonderful Town, The Redwood Curtain and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Internationally, Professor Renschler has served as the associate scenic designer supervising more than a dozen productions of the hit musical Chicago, including productions in London, Paris, Moscow, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Gothenburg, Mexico City, Utrecht, Berlin, and Vienna.
Professor Renschler infuses his teaching style with an incomparable knowledge of the professional world. This combination creates designers ready to pursue advanced training at the graduate level or work as an apprentice in a professional theatre. He holds an MFA in theatre design from the University of Michigan and is a member of International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and United Scenic Artists.
R. Scott Lank
Professor of Acting
Scott Lank has been on the faculty at the University of Evansville for over 20 years. He has studied acting at the Actors Center, at the New York Ensemble Studio Theatre, and with Uta Hagen. Professor Lank is a member of the National Congress of Actors and Acting Teachers. His recent DVD, An Actors Path to Creativity, is distributed internationally through Design Video Communications Inc.
When Professor Lank was asked about what he tries to instill in young actors, he replied, "Beginning classes reveal the importance of entering the work with an openness, a process that is deeply involving, personally engaging, and useful of their imagination. It is always my hope to encourage actors to think independently, to value their individuality, and to bring that distinctiveness into their work. The most important thing young actors can be given is the trust in their own imagination, their own humanity, and their own sense of artistic freedom."
Professor Lank has directed over 40 productions at UE, and three of the productions have been invited to the Kennedy Center/ American College Theater Festival in Washington, D.C. He is a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, and he holds an MFA in directing from the University of Nebraska.
