W. Scott MacConnell Biography

founded SUMMERFUN Theater in 1972. A seasoned survivor in professional theater, he began as an apprentice at age 13 and has worked as a company manager, designer, performer and stage manager from Vermont to North Carolina. Educated at Amherst College, the Yale School of Drama and Columbia University, Mr. MacConnell served as technical director of the Paramount Theatrical Supply Company in New York prior to beginning a teaching career in theater design and technology which has spanned more than 34 years. Mr. MacConnell has over 275 professional productions to his credit including those of the Off-Broadway production of Two for the Seesaw and for The Mandrake, winner of the American College Theatre Festival, which was performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. In addition to designing for Montclair State University, he has served as a guest designer for productions at Fairleigh Dickinson University, some of which include Spoon River Anthology, Crimes of the Heart, The Glass Menagerie, A Company of Wayward Saints, Hot L Baltimore and A Bedfull of Foreigners. He has also designed productions of The History of American Film and Barnum for Bloomfield College. A member of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, he worked on the scenic elements of the Tony Award-winning production of The Grapes of Wrath, Broadway's Serious Money, the Off-Broadway production of Staggerlee, Joseph Papp's Forbidden City and the New York City Opera's Madame Butterfly. He has also worked on such presentations as Dance Compass, the Uptown String Quartet, Bobby Short, Urban Bush Women, and the Heath Family Concert at Bloomfield College, as well as serving as theatrical consultant on such projects as the performing arts center at the Purnell School in Bernardsville. He is a member of the United States Institute of Theater Technology, the Society of American Fight Directors and Choreographers, and the New York Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences where he managed the Forum television series. Additionally, Mr. MacConnell has conducted workshops in stage combat and corporate seminars on effective promotion and sales techniques.