Biography
Timothy McCain is an actor, director, and playwright. He was a cofounding member of Goat Island Performance Group. Recently, he has worked with The Moving Dock Theatre Company where he was seen in Voices from the Dark, which also featured his writing. In April 2020, his play Holding Our Dreams was present as part of The Coronavirus Plays Projects (in association with the One Minute Play Festival).His work has been seen at the Padua Hills Playwright's Festival, Performance Space 122 in New York, the ICA in London, the Arnolfini, Bristol, UK, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, MCA in Chicago, as well as other venues throughout the US and Europe. His plays The True (2007) and Mmmoa! (2009) were both finalists for the Actors Theatre of Louisville Heideman Award. Timothy is a "Member" of the Dramatist Guild of America. He has been awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, National Performance Network for the Arts, Illinois Arts Council, The City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs Community Arts Program, and British Arts Council Grant for his work in theatre/performance and playwriting.His theatre process has been written about in The Drama Review, Theatre Journal, The Analysis of Performance Art, Physical Theatre: A Critical Introduction, A World of Art, Devising Performance: a critical history, Art in Chicago: A History from the Fire to Now, American Theatre Ensembles Volume 1: Post-1970: Theatre X, Mabou Mines, Goat Island, Lookingglass Theatre, Elevator Repair Service, and SITI Company, and Small Acts of Repair. His play The Previous Cry was published in Imagined Theatres: Writing for the Theoretical Stage (Routledge 2017). Imagined Theatres collects theoretical dramas written by some of the leading scholars and artists of the contemporary stage. Timothy’s work is also featured as part of Routledge Performance Archive: Soldier, Child, Tortured Man: Performance by Goat Island.Timothy trained with Augusto Boal, who created the Theatre of the Oppressed, a form of interactive theatre intended to transform lives as spectators become performers, acting out solutions to social problems. He is a member of Pedagogy & Theatre of the Oppressed, Inc. (PTO) supports people whose work challenges oppressive systems by promoting critical thinking and social justice through liberatory theatre and popular education.Timothy has trained in the Michael Chekhov Acting Technique with Joanna Merlin and Lenard Petit at The Michael Chekhov Association (MICHA) and Chekhov Studio Chicago with Dawn Arnold. He has trained in theatre/performance with Jean-Claude van Itallie, Robert Scogin, and Del Close, as well as being trained in the Sanford Meisner Technique. He holds an MFA in Playwriting and a BFA in Performance. From February 2 to June 23, 2019, the Chicago Cultural Center, in conjunction with the city's Year of Chicago Theatre, presented: Goat Island archive – we have discovered the performance by making it. Throughout the 23 years of Goat Island Performance Group’s existence (1986–2009), the Chicago-based Goat Island contributed to the conception of nine major performance works, accompanied by publications, film and video projects, workshops, summer schools, lectures and symposia.In February 2021, Yale School of Drama and Theatre magazine presented: A Goat Island Archive Forum: what can we learn by engaging with live performance? Essays engaging the conceptualization, process, and outcomes of the 2019 exhibition, ‘goat island archive-we have discovered the performance by making it’ are featured in Theater Volume 50, Issue 2.Timothy’s screenplay The Bearer, based on his play of the same name, finished filming in New Orleans in July 2022. The film is currently in post-production and will hopefully make the rounds to film festivals soon. Timothy is currently working on developing his television pilot The Boneyard Club.
Instructional Areas
Playwriting--Theater Arts--Physical Theater--Devised Theatre--Text Analysis--Dramaturgy--Acting
Creative Practice and Research Interests
Physical Theater--Dramatic Literature--Modern and Post-Modern Theatre and Performance--Performance Theory--Pedagogy & Theatre of the Oppressed
Degrees
B.F.A., Theatre Performance Roosevelt University 1999
M.F.A., Playwriting/Creative Writing Roosevelt University 2001