Maegan Azar receives a 2020 Excellence in Teaching Award

Furman Associate Professor of Acting & Directing Maegan Azar has received a 2020 Excellence in Teaching Award from the South Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities Inc. (SCICU).

The awards are given annually to a faculty member at each of the SCICU’s 20 member institutions. Recipients receive a $3,000 professional development grant.

Azar earned a master’s of fine arts degree in acting pedagogy from the University of Alabama and a bachelor’s degree in theatre from East Tennessee State University. The chair of the theatre arts department, Azar has been a member of the Furman faculty since 2010, teaching Foundations of Acting, Characterization & Storytelling, Voice, Period Styles, Movement and the department’s capstone Senior Synthesis course, in addition to directing a show each year for the Furman Theatre main stage season.

Productions have included “The Threepenny Opera,” “Hair,” “The Winter’s Tale,” “Pippin” and “John Proctor is the Villain.” Azar is also the faculty sponsor for two student theatre organizations that champion student-produced work and has developed partnerships with the Accademia dell’Arte, National Theater Institute, Double Edge Theatre and The Farm Theater to provide alternative learning opportunities.

Azar served as a pilot advisor to Furman’s new first- and second-year advising program and facilitated the creation of the Research Fellowship in Theatrical Production as part of The Furman Advantage.

Azar is president of the Southeastern Theatre Conference and a past president of the South Carolina Theatre Association. Her acting and directing work can regularly be seen at The Warehouse Theatre, Centre Stage South Carolina and Lean Ensemble Theater.

To learn more about Azar, visit her website.