Debra Bruch------------Associate Professor of Theatre -- Michigan Technological University

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Biography

Debra Bruch (pronounced "brew") was born in Canada at least twenty-nine years ago, became a U.S. citizen in 1979, and is currently an Associate Professor of Theatre at Michigan Technological University at Houghton, Michigan. (That's in the Upper Peninsula about thirty miles beyond End of Earth.) She lives with two terrific dogs, Frodo and Pippin, who give her no end of trouble and joy.

She has been writing plays since 1973. In the 1980's, some of her work such as Times Are Changin' and Damon's Cage were produced by universities. A one-act play, A Ringing in My Ears, was produced and then published in Bert's Play It Again!: More One-Act Plays for Acting Students. This play has been produced both inside and outside the United States. Her writing continues with The Dividing Line which was favorably reviewed by the Royal Shakespeare Company in London, and Salty Taste of Butter, which is a drama about incest and the hope of breaking the pattern of incest. In 1996, her monologue, Pioneer Woman, won a national competition and received an Equity production by Studio Z on "The Monologue Show" in Chicago. Debra chaired a national playwriting competition for ATHE during the 1990's.

Debra has been active in the Association for Theatre in Higher Education, the national theatre association for the academe, especially with the Religion and Theatre Focus Group which she has chaired. She is currently the general editor for the peer-reviewed journal, The Journal of Religion and Theatre. She is interested in the relationship between Australian culture and Australian drama, and has published and presented papers which explore Australian Aboriginal drama. In January, 2007, she traveled to Iran to attend the International Seminar on Religion and Drama on merit of her article about Jack Davis' The Dreamers. She is now deep in research for a book manuscript, A Cultural History of Australian Theatre. Debra also served as an adjudicator for the Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival for several years. She has been included in Who's Who of America's Teachers and Who's Who of American Women.

She also has been an active director during her tenure at Michigan Technological University. She has directed such plays as Macbeth,Taming of the Shrew, The Odd Couple, A Midsummer Night's Dream, A Moon for the Misbegotten, and The Mousetrap. Debra also is keenly interested in peace and justice issues, and created a narrative video titled "Quest for Peace: Images in Snow" which was presented at the International Women's Conference on peace in June, 1993. She continues that work by creating computer games.

Debra is also a member of the Community of Christ, an ordained minister, and currently leads the church group in the Houghton area. She has been actively engaged in using her theatre abilities as much as she is able for the church.

Her mother, Elsa Ambrose, is a real estate agent in Kansas City, Missouri. Her brother, John Galloway, works as a professional photographer/artist in Howell, Michigan, and her brother, David Ambrose, is a carpenter in Kansas.