Bonnie Eckard

Bonnie J. Eckard is professor of theatre in the School of Music, Dance and Theater in the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at Arizona State University. She has a bachelor's from the University of Illinois, a master's from the University of Arizona, and a doctorate from the University of Denver. As an acting teacher, Professor Eckard emphasizes the body’s centrality to actor training, and she integrates contemplation and deep practice into her teaching pedagogy. Creative projects involve exploration of myth and personal narrative using movement, music, and text. Professor Eckard's research interests include exploring relationships between the cognitive sciences and audience studies. Most recently, she is studying how viewing live performance can change how we categorize others. She is a member of the Shakespeare Cognitive Research Consortium, an interdisciplinary research project that analyses reactions to plays performed by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF), a Tony Award-winning regional repertory company. She has presented and written on numerous topics including deep practice and pedagogy, creative collaboration, and theatre and disability. She directed and co-created The Space Inside with Maria Porter.