LINCOLN, NEB.: Hank Stratton has been appointed the director of University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film and executive director of the Nebraska Repertory Theatre. The current head of acting/musical theatre at the University of Arizona and the artistic director of the Arizona Repertory Theatre, Stratton will begin his appointment Aug. 1, succeeding Christina Kirk, who returned to the faculty in January, in the position.
“I’m thrilled to have Hank become the next director of the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film,” said Andy Belser, dean of the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts, in a statement. “Hank has executed a strong vision for enrollment growth at the national level. He still acts in Hollywood in television and film and is well connected internationally in industry. Hank intentionally moved into education because that is where his heart is. He understands the opportunity that we have for both theatre and emerging media arts to be national leaders.”
Hank Stratton has been at the University of Arizona since 2016. He became head of acting/musical theatre and artistic director for the Arizona Repertory Theatre in 2019. He is a co-founding instructor for Five Days of Broadway, a performing arts summer intensive in partnership with the Segerstrom Center for the Performing Arts. He has served as a guest artist for leading educational institutions around the country. He also sits on the board of directors for the Professional Arts Education Center and is a founding board member for the Foundation for a National AIDS Monument. Stratton is a graduate of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.
Stratton starred in the Broadway revival and television film adaptation of The Man Who Came to Dinner opposite Nathan Lane. He played Berowne in Love’s Labour’s Lost for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Complete Works Festival. His directing work for the Arizona Repertory Theatre includes Polaroid Stories, High Fidelity, Spring Awakening, The Cripple of Inishman, Doubt, and A Streetcar Named Desire, among others. He directed The Laramie Project for the University of Michigan and produced a concert benefit for the Matthew Shepard “Erase Hate” Foundation. He was recently awarded the Gerald J. Swanson Prize for Teaching Excellence at the University of Arizona.
“I am deeply honored and excited by this opportunity,” said Stratton in a statement. “I believe the Johnny Carson School and the Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts are uniquely positioned to be one of the most innovative and powerful arts programs in the nation. I cannot wait to begin collaborating with faculty, staff and students as we envision the future together.”
