William Grange

Theatrical career

William Grange performed with the Light Opera of Manhattan and the Public Theater in New York while still attending Columbia University. He later acted with the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, TheatreWorks USA (New York), National Theatre Company (New York), Mark I Dinner Theatre (Florida), Haymarket Theatre Lincoln, and Nebraska Repertory Theatre. He has been a member of Actors' Equity Association since 1972.^[2]

Academic career

Grange graduated in 1970 from the University of Toledo^[3] with a Bachelor of Arts degree. In 1972 he received a Master of Fine Arts degree from Columbia University in New York City, with a thesis titled "The Role of Tusenbach in Chekhov's 'The Three Sisters.'" ^[4] He received a doctorate from Indiana University in 1981 with a dissertation titled "The Collaboration of Carl Zuckmayer and Heinz Hilpert.".^[5]

Florida Southern College

At Florida Southern College, a small liberal arts institution in Lakeland, Florida and affiliated with the United Methodist Church, Grange chaired the Department of Theatre Arts and taught both academic and performance courses. He encountered difficulties with College officials when he staged the musicals Cabaret and Grease, because some considered the shows too racy for a Methodist institution. His productions of Shakespearean comedies and dramas by Henrik Ibsen, along with the Humperdinck opera Hansel and Gretel with mezzo-soprano Beverly Wolff met with approval.

Marquette University

Grange chaired the Performing Arts Department and directed numerous musicals at Marquette University, a Roman Catholic institution in Milwaukee, Wisconsin affiliated with the Jesuit Order. Among them were Happy End and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. He also directed new translations of dramas by Bertolt Brecht. He ran afoul of numerous Roman Catholic strictures at the Jesuit institution, though he published two books and several articles, and won fellowships from the German government and the National Endowment for the Humanities with full support from the Jesuit fathers. Other Roman Catholics, however, were glad when he departed in 1996 for the University of Nebraska.

University of Nebraska

At the University of Nebraska since 1996, Grange has published several books, scholarly articles, and received numerous international awards for his scholarship and teaching, including three Fulbrights and four fellowships from the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (German Academic Exchange Service). The Actors' Fund of America cited Grange in 2014 with its "Encore Award" for his "contributions to the acting profession." He has also received university awards from parents of Nebraska students. In the University's Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film, he has taught mostly academic courses in theatre history, script analysis, film technology, and seminars on various film actors and genres. While serving as Chairman of the Graduate Committee in the Johnny Carson School, his colleagues elected him their representative to the Faculty Senate for several three-year terms.

Books

• Author, Historical Dictionary of German Theater, Second Edition. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2015. ISBN 9781442250192.
• Author, A Primer in Theatre History. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2013. ISBN 9780761860037.
• Author, Historical Dictionary of German Literature to 1945. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2011. ISBN 9780810867710.
  • Reviewed in Booklist.^[6]
• Author, Historical Dictionary of Postwar German Literature. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2009. ISBN 9780810859654
  • Reviewed in German Studies Review v30, no3, 2007.
  • Paperback ed. published as The A to Z of Postwar German Literature. ISBN 9780810876187
• Author, Cultural Chronicle of the Weimar Republic. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2008. ISBN 9780810859678.
• Author, Historical Dictionary of German Theater. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2006. ISBN 9780810853157. Held in 299 libraries, according to WorldCat.^[7]
  • Reviewed by J L Hagens in German Studies Review, 30, Part 3 (2007): 712-713
  • Paperback ed. published as The A to Z of German Theater. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Pr, 2010.
• Author, Hitler Laughing: Comedy in the Third Reich. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2006.
• Author, Comedy in the Weimar Republic: A Chronicle of Incongruous Laughter. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1996. ISBN 9780313299834.
  • Reviewed in " German Studies Review" v22, no2: 295-297.
• Author, Partnership in the German Theatre: Zuckmayer and Hilpert, 1925-1961. New York: P. Lang Pub, 1991. ISBN 9780820414058.