Greg Leaming

BY DAVID COX

Greg Leaming, who spent 10 years as artistic or producing director at three of the country's top professional theater companies before joining Southern Methodist University's theater program, is bringing his talents to Florida State University as the director of its professional actor training program here.

Leaming, 49, will take the FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training in a new direction and into a new era, said FSU School of Theatre Dean Steven Wallace. Among other things, Leaming will concentrate on broadening students' training skills; expanding cultural, ethnic and intellectual diversity within the program; promoting greater interaction between Conservatory students and their professional mentors at the Asolo Theatre; and improving communication between FSU, the Asolo and the Sarasota-area community.

"Greg is a natural fit for the Conservatory, the local arts community and FSU," Wallace said at a press conference to introduce Leaming. "He has stayed at the forefront of innovation during his career and left a trail of great results everywhere he went. His impressive background and vision have excited all of us who have a commitment to sustain the Conservatory's excellence. I know he will garner everyone's support to make this one of the nation's top actor training programs."

Leaming will begin immediately working as a part-time consultant for the Conservatory and will take on full-time duties next April.

As artistic director at SMU's theater school for the last two years, Leaming was praised for bringing in young directors who were just emerging onto the national scene to provide new energy in the school's productions. He was also lauded for reintroducing the school's graduate study program for directors, which had been sidelined for many years.

"I have devoted the majority of my energies toward not just training young actors and directors but also creating programs that prepare students for vital and productive careers in theater," Leaming said. "I've had the chance to develop the kinds of teaching and mentoring skills that seem to be what FSU and the Asolo Conservatory need most right now. I'm extremely excited to be part of this partnership."

Prior to joining SMU, Leaming spent 10 years as artistic director or producing director at three of the United States' leading professional theaters: the Portland Stage Company in Maine, the Hartford Stage Company and the Long Wharf Theatre, both in Connecticut.

The FSU/Asolo Conservatory is a three-year actor training program for graduate students. It prepares young actors for professional careers by, among other things, allowing them to work side-by-side with professional actors at the Asolo Theatre.

Consultants AlbertHall and Associates conducted a national search for a Conservatory director. A search committee, comprised of three members appointed by the Asolo Theatre board and three from FSU, unanimously chose Leaming from a strong field of candidates. The search committee included John Wetenhall, executive director of The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art; Margaret Eginton, interim director of the FSU/Asolo Conservatory; Leslie France, FSU acting professor; Don Schoenbaum, member of the Asolo Theatre board; Howard Phillips, past president of the Asolo Theatre board; and Howard Millman, producing artistic director of the Asolo Theatre.

As Leaming prepares to settle into his new duties, he plans to first do a little dreaming and asks those with an interest in the program to do the same.

"I would ask the faculty, the FSU administration and the community to enter with me into a period of dreaming and imagination, to begin to put together an image of not what the Conservatory does, but rather what it is capable of becoming."