M.F.A. University of Idaho
B.A. University of Nebraska at Kearney
Leigh is Associate Dean, Emeritus, of the Honors College at the University of Wyoming, and former Professor and Chair of the Department of
Theatre and Dance. He is also an Equity actor, free-lance Director, SDC (Stage Directors
& Choreographers, Associate Member), and Equity stage manager, who has worked both
on and off Broadway and in various theatres around the country. Prior to his position
with the Honors College, he was a professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance
for 31 years, the last 13 years serving as Chair, and artistic director of Snowy Range
Summer Theatre. His Broadway credits include work as a production assistant on the
Tony-nominated Juan Darien: A Carnival Mass, directed by Julie Taymor (Lion King), and as a production assistant/stage manager
for the Broadway revival of The Little Foxes starring Stockard Channing, and directed by Tony Award-winner Jack O'Brien (Hairspray, The Full Monty). He also worked as the assistant to the director for the Toronto production of Shirley Valentine (starring Helen Reddy). Off-Broadway and regional credits as an actor include Little Heart, (with Michael Gross) a full development reading for the New Harmony Project, IN;
The Marriage of Bette and Boo, Orphans, and Balm in Gilead, all for the Alley Theatre
in Houston, TX; The Heiress for the Arvada Center in Denver, CO; the American National
Theatre Academy's touring showcase with Marshall W. Mason, for both the Douglas Fairbanks
Theatre in NYC and the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and numerous summers
working with the National New Play Network workshops in Washington, DC. He particularly
enjoys the development of new work, and as an actor has had the privilege of workshopping
new plays with Theresa Rebeck, Samuel D. Hunter, Arlene Hutton, Dan O’Brien, James
Still, Jim Leonard, Jr., Mat Smart, Irene O’Garden, Mary Murfitt, and Connie Congdon
among many others. In stage management he has enjoyed working both on Broadway and
Off-Broadway on new plays with Suzan-Lori Parks, Daniel Sullivan, Julie Taymor, Jack
O’Brien, Walter Bobbie, Leigh Silverman, Anne Kaufman, Niegel Smith, Lear deBessonet,
Danya Taymor, Hansol Jung, Rebecca Gilman, Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey. Leigh holds
the MFA in Acting and Directing from the University of Idaho, and a BA in Secondary
Education (Speech/Theatre and Journalism) from the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
A longtime member of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, he has
served as the Regional Chair for KCACTF Region 7, and on the National KCACTF Executive
Committee as Member-at-Large. He was selected as a participant in the 25th Anniversary
KCACTF Symposium at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and was a
proud student of Uta Hagen. As a director, his productions of Marvin's Room, Dead White Males, and Frequency 98.6 were all selected as Region VII finalists for KCACTF, and he has the unique distinction
of being the first two-time National Finalist of the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship
as a student long ago. A former member of the board of directors for the Rocky Mountain
Theatre Association (RMTA), Leigh received their Presidents Award for outstanding
and dedicated service.
A proud member of Phi Kappa Phi, and the recipient of numerous extraordinary merit
awards for teaching, research, and advising at the University of Wyoming, Leigh was
awarded the Ellbogen Meritorious Classroom Teaching award and selected as the Wyoming
nominee for the national CASE Teaching Award. He was also appointed to receive UW’s
Flittie Sabbatical for 2016-2017, twice selected for the London Semester Professorship
for Spring 2012 and Spring 2003, and UW’s Seibold Professorship in 1996-97. He has
been honored with two Kennedy Center Gold Medallions of Excellence for his work as an acting coach and
service to KCACTF. He maintains an active research/creative profile as a director/actor
across the country, and currently works for Actors Equity Association in NYC as an
audition monitor for Broadway and regional auditions.
He is married to Marsha Knight, professor of ballet at UW, and has two sons, one
step-son, and is proud to have batted .750 in the Broadway Show League!
