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Phone: 231-777-0325
Office: 166 - 1
Email: Richard.Oman@muskegoncc.edu
Audio Podcast
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Theater Instructor & CPA Department Chairperson
Credentials: B.A. North Central College-Naperville, Illinois; M.A. University of Florida
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Biography
I am a native of Indiana and first got hooked on theater acting in an all-school play at a very small, rural high school. During those years I was also active in athletics and student government. Living on a farm meant there was limited time for cultural activities other than school, even though we lived only fifty miles from Chicago and had many relatives residing in the city. Like most students I worked numerous odd jobs in order to have spending money and support a car.
At North Central College in Naperville, Illinois I started out to be a mathematics teacher but got drawn into theater because of my construction experience and was recruited by friends to help with building and painting scenery. Soon I was completely hooked and switched to a Speech/Theater major after my sophomore year. For the next two years I did a little of everything, from public speaking to oral interpretation to acting to directing to box office to costuming. Upon graduation I attended the University of Florida and received a Master's Degree in Theater. There I worked as a graduate assistant in the scene shop while focusing my studies on play direction.
Except for the occasional role here at MCC - and my daily performance in the classroom -- my acting career ended after a couple of seasons with The Summer Place Theater in Naperville. The civil rights movement impacted my undergraduate life and the anti-war movement influenced my graduate study, so there has always been a serious political and social environment for my learning. However, my Masters' Thesis was on the economic conditions and the theater of 1830's Chicago.
My first teaching job was at Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York, where I served as Technical Director for a year and then as Lighting Designer for two years. Moving to Muskegon Community College in 1973, I began as Designer/Technical Director/Building Manager for the Overbrook Theater and instructor of technical theater courses. Within the first few years the college hired additional theater staff and I assumed the teaching of more classes.
For some twenty years in the eighties and nineties I also functioned as Director of Theater, handling budgets, publicity, and other administrative tasks. My current specialty is lighting design for most of the Center for Theater productions. I also design for MCC Dance Theatre Concerts and have worked with other area theaters, including Muskegon Civic Theatre, Master Arts Company, Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp and White Lake Repertory Theatre.
Currently I teach two sections of Theater Appreciation (to check out a course syllabus click on this link) each semester as well as occasional technical theater classes and workshops. For the 2006-2007 production season I am designing scenery and lights for "Return to the Forbidden Planet" and "Our Town." Some of the college committees I serve on are: Student Activities Special Events, Commencement Planning Committee, and the Arts and Humanities Festival. In the past I have been active in state and regional educational theater and arts education organizations. I love to watch theater and attend an average of thirty productions a year, including an MCC student/faculty trip to the Stratford Shakespeare Festival most years.
My home has been in downtown Muskegon for more than twenty years. I am divorced and have three grown children and five grandchildren who are the joy of my life. My oldest son Shane works in the professional theater in Chicago; my daughter Wendy and her family live in Scottville; and my son Wesley lives here in Muskegon with his family.
Working in the MCC theater is great fun and many different students become involved, some only for one production and others for many. They represent many different interests and areas of study. I truly enjoy the opportunity to team up with so many wonderful students, share my experience and knowledge, learn from their talents and insights, and create the marvelous productions, which we present for the entire community. Why not join us? Stop in at the Fine Arts office, room 166, to see Mrs. Wahamaki or myself, or contact Mr. Goodman, manager of the Overbrook Theater for more information about classes or how you can participate in the MCC theater program. It is truly a rewarding activity - and might be the start of a whole new you!
