Professional Actor • Director • Producer • Teacher • Theatre Professor • Dean • Camp Fire Survivor
Jesse Merz and Fred
Jesse Merz is a theatre maker, educator and dad, currently teaching and working in Eugene, Oregon.
He has been the Artistic Director of the Columbia Gorge School of Theatre and the Columbia Gorge Repertory Theatre (NYC & OR) since 1996, which is now in residence at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon.
He was the Theatre Arts Instructor at Butte College near Chico, California from 2016 to 2020.
He was the Dean of Students and Leadership Teacher at Jefferson Middle College for Advanced Studies in Portland, Oregon from 2014 - 16.
From 2013 - 2014, he was the Career Preparation Instructor at Springdale Job Corps Center - US Department of Labor in Troutdale, Oregon.
From 2012 - 2013, he was the Temporary Artistic Director and Theatre Instructor at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham, Oregon.
From 2008 - 2012, he was the Head of the BFA in Acting program and Assistant Professor of Theatre at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, where he was Interim Assistant Chair in 2011. He also taught in the MFA in Acting program and directed for the Bonstelle Theatre Company and the Hilberry Repertory Theatre.
He served as a Teaching Assistant (sole instructor) and Assistant Artistic Director of the THIRDeYE Theatre Festival at University of California, Davis between 2006 and 2008. He was the Drama Director and Theatre Teacher at David Douglas High School In Portland, Oregon from 2003 - 2006. From 2000 - 2003, he was the Producing Artistic Director of Longview Stageworks, a small Equity theatre in Longview, Washington. In the 1990s, he was a freelance professional actor, director and producer in New York City.
He has performed off-Broadway, in regional theatre, summer stock, feature films, on the radio and in 120 cities in 34 states on national tours. He has directed more than 70 plays, musicals, and motion picture projects in NYC, regional and educational theatres, and has produced more than 200 shows. He has been a member of Actors' Equity since 1997 (where he was elected to the Central Regional Board and appointed to several national committees from 2009 - 2012), SAG-AFTRA since 1993, The Dramatists Guild of America, VASTA and is an associate member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.
He has taught acting at Butte College, UC Davis, David Douglas, Mt. Hood Community College, Western Oregon University, CGST, and Wayne State University. During the summer of 2012, he taught acting and directed a show at the Broadway Theatre Project in Tampa, Florida. He has taught workshops or presented papers at the American College Theatre Festival, Association of Theatre in Higher Education, Mid-American Theatre Conference, the Oregon, Michigan and Washington's Thespian Conferences, SacActors, International School of St. Martin, and the University of Jordan in Amman, Jordan. He is currently at work on a book entitled The Meisner Interviews. He has worked or studied with such Pulitzer, Oscar, Tony, Bessie, Emmy, Sundance & Golden Globe winners or nominees as Lauri Peters, David Mamet, William H. Macy, Felicity Huffman, Daisy Eagan, Constantine Maroulis, Joanne Woodward, Alec Baldwin, Tony Kushner, Guillermo Gómez Peña, River Phoenix, Robert Bella, Gus Van Sant, Joe Mantegna, Sally Mayes, and others.
Jesse's BFA in Acting is from New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, his MAT with a drama endorsement is from George Fox University and his MFA in Dramatic Arts - Acting is from the University of California, Davis.
Student Success
His students have gone on to work at:
Broadway: Tony-Winning "The Band's Visit" with Tony Shalhoub (plus an Emmy for Outstanding Musical Performance in a Daytime Program on the "Today Show"), "Kimberly Akimbo", "Paradise Square", "Be More Chill", "Hamilton", "The Visit" with Chita Rivera and Roger Rees, "Camelot" (Broadway National Tour).
Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Utah Shakespeare Festival, New Jersey Shakespeare Festival, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Michigan Shakespeare Festival, Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Montana Shakespeare in the Parks, Blackfriar Company at American Shakespeare Center, Shakespeare in Detroit, Second Stage, Lincoln Center, Roundabout Theatre, Lynne Redgrave Theatre, Telsey + Company, Hudson Guild Theatre, Atlantic Theater Company, Midtown International Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, Goodman Theatre, Denver Center Theatre Company, Meadow Brook Theatre, Trinity Repertory Theatre, A Contemporary Theatre, 5th Avenue Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Santa Fe Opera, Sacramento Music Circus, La Mirada Theatre, Pasadena Playhouse, Route 66, House Theatre, North Coast Repertory Theatre, Human Race Theatre, Riverside Theatre, Bay Street Theatre, Geva Theatre, Disney, Tipping Point Theatre (Artistic Director), Planet Ant Theatre, Performance Network, Plowshares Theatre, The Cutting Room, Drury Lane Theatre, FourPlay Theatre (Chicago), Stageworks Northwest, Artists Repertory Theatre, triangle productions!, IATSE 28 Stagehand Union of Portland, Oregon Children's Theatre, Stumptown Stages, Best Actress at the Fringe of Marin Festival, and a Joseph Jefferson Award winner for Best Supporting Actor (Chicago).
TV/Film: "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" (12 episodes), "Empire", "Grimm", "Leverage", "Chicago Fire", "Shameless", "Criminal Minds", "SEAL Team", "Modern Family", "Weeds", "Deadly Devotion", "Orange is the New Black", "The Librarians", "ER", "Law & Order", "Mad Men", "Here and Now", "Something Like Summer", "The Long Way", "Demons in the Shadow", "Baby Steps", "Submissions Only", "The Electric Company", "Celebrity Ghost Stories", "In Between Men", "Sex, Lies & Seeta", "Portland Teen Idol", "The Mirror Game", "Wearing Normal", "One Night in Portland", "The Makeover", "Bucksville", "The Witch of Portobello", "House of Carters", "Through the Fall" , "The Electric Company", "The Twilight Conspiracy", "Detroit Unleaded", "Waterfront Nightmare", "Tapestry", "City of Gold", "Baby Steps", "Approaching Midnight", "Waterfront Nightmare", "Glee", "Gone", "Ticket to the Circus", "Low Winter Sun" (AMC), "The Makeover" w/Julia Stiles, "Smooch" w/Kellie Martin, "I Am Wrath" with John Travolta, "Wild" w/Reese Witherspoon, "World's Greatest Dad" w/Robin Williams, and many others. One student directs for the award-winning Mass Effect and Dragon Age: Origins video game franchises.
His students have taught theatre at Eastern Michigan University, CGST, Northern Ohio University (Assistant Professor), Cornell College, Jacksonville State University (Assistant Professor), and University of Detroit, Mercy (Lecturer).
His students have gone onto study at such theatre and non-theatre programs as: LAMDA, Yale, NYU/Tisch (several students), USC, UNCSA, WOU, SOU, Barnard, Scripps, Stanford, Marymount Manhattan, Reed, Point Park, Evergreen, Seattle Pacific, University of Washington, University of Oregon, Portland Institute of the Arts, University of the Arts, Wayne State University (MFA), University of Illinois Urbana-Champlain (MFA), University of Portland (MFA), Harvard/American Repertory Theatre/Moscow Art Theatre (MFA), and many, many more.
He has been the Artistic Director of the Columbia Gorge School of Theatre and the Columbia Gorge Repertory Theatre (NYC & OR) since 1996, which is now in residence at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon.
He was the Theatre Arts Instructor at Butte College near Chico, California from 2016 to 2020.
He was the Dean of Students and Leadership Teacher at Jefferson Middle College for Advanced Studies in Portland, Oregon from 2014 - 16.
From 2013 - 2014, he was the Career Preparation Instructor at Springdale Job Corps Center - US Department of Labor in Troutdale, Oregon.
From 2012 - 2013, he was the Temporary Artistic Director and Theatre Instructor at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham, Oregon.
From 2008 - 2012, he was the Head of the BFA in Acting program and Assistant Professor of Theatre at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, where he was Interim Assistant Chair in 2011. He also taught in the MFA in Acting program and directed for the Bonstelle Theatre Company and the Hilberry Repertory Theatre.
He served as a Teaching Assistant (sole instructor) and Assistant Artistic Director of the THIRDeYE Theatre Festival at University of California, Davis between 2006 and 2008. He was the Drama Director and Theatre Teacher at David Douglas High School In Portland, Oregon from 2003 - 2006. From 2000 - 2003, he was the Producing Artistic Director of Longview Stageworks, a small Equity theatre in Longview, Washington. In the 1990s, he was a freelance professional actor, director and producer in New York City.
He has performed off-Broadway, in regional theatre, summer stock, feature films, on the radio and in 120 cities in 34 states on national tours. He has directed more than 70 plays, musicals, and motion picture projects in NYC, regional and educational theatres, and has produced more than 200 shows. He has been a member of Actors' Equity since 1997 (where he was elected to the Central Regional Board and appointed to several national committees from 2009 - 2012), SAG-AFTRA since 1993, The Dramatists Guild of America, VASTA and is an associate member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.
He has taught acting at Butte College, UC Davis, David Douglas, Mt. Hood Community College, Western Oregon University, CGST, and Wayne State University. During the summer of 2012, he taught acting and directed a show at the Broadway Theatre Project in Tampa, Florida. He has taught workshops or presented papers at the American College Theatre Festival, Association of Theatre in Higher Education, Mid-American Theatre Conference, the Oregon, Michigan and Washington's Thespian Conferences, SacActors, International School of St. Martin, and the University of Jordan in Amman, Jordan. He is currently at work on a book entitled The Meisner Interviews. He has worked or studied with such Pulitzer, Oscar, Tony, Bessie, Emmy, Sundance & Golden Globe winners or nominees as Lauri Peters, David Mamet, William H. Macy, Felicity Huffman, Daisy Eagan, Constantine Maroulis, Joanne Woodward, Alec Baldwin, Tony Kushner, Guillermo Gómez Peña, River Phoenix, Robert Bella, Gus Van Sant, Joe Mantegna, Sally Mayes, and others.
Jesse's BFA in Acting is from New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, his MAT with a drama endorsement is from George Fox University and his MFA in Dramatic Arts - Acting is from the University of California, Davis.
Student Success
His students have gone on to work at:
Broadway: Tony-Winning "The Band's Visit" with Tony Shalhoub (plus an Emmy for Outstanding Musical Performance in a Daytime Program on the "Today Show"), "Kimberly Akimbo", "Paradise Square", "Be More Chill", "Hamilton", "The Visit" with Chita Rivera and Roger Rees, "Camelot" (Broadway National Tour).
Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Utah Shakespeare Festival, New Jersey Shakespeare Festival, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Michigan Shakespeare Festival, Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Montana Shakespeare in the Parks, Blackfriar Company at American Shakespeare Center, Shakespeare in Detroit, Second Stage, Lincoln Center, Roundabout Theatre, Lynne Redgrave Theatre, Telsey + Company, Hudson Guild Theatre, Atlantic Theater Company, Midtown International Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, Goodman Theatre, Denver Center Theatre Company, Meadow Brook Theatre, Trinity Repertory Theatre, A Contemporary Theatre, 5th Avenue Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Santa Fe Opera, Sacramento Music Circus, La Mirada Theatre, Pasadena Playhouse, Route 66, House Theatre, North Coast Repertory Theatre, Human Race Theatre, Riverside Theatre, Bay Street Theatre, Geva Theatre, Disney, Tipping Point Theatre (Artistic Director), Planet Ant Theatre, Performance Network, Plowshares Theatre, The Cutting Room, Drury Lane Theatre, FourPlay Theatre (Chicago), Stageworks Northwest, Artists Repertory Theatre, triangle productions!, IATSE 28 Stagehand Union of Portland, Oregon Children's Theatre, Stumptown Stages, Best Actress at the Fringe of Marin Festival, and a Joseph Jefferson Award winner for Best Supporting Actor (Chicago).
TV/Film: "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" (12 episodes), "Empire", "Grimm", "Leverage", "Chicago Fire", "Shameless", "Criminal Minds", "SEAL Team", "Modern Family", "Weeds", "Deadly Devotion", "Orange is the New Black", "The Librarians", "ER", "Law & Order", "Mad Men", "Here and Now", "Something Like Summer", "The Long Way", "Demons in the Shadow", "Baby Steps", "Submissions Only", "The Electric Company", "Celebrity Ghost Stories", "In Between Men", "Sex, Lies & Seeta", "Portland Teen Idol", "The Mirror Game", "Wearing Normal", "One Night in Portland", "The Makeover", "Bucksville", "The Witch of Portobello", "House of Carters", "Through the Fall" , "The Electric Company", "The Twilight Conspiracy", "Detroit Unleaded", "Waterfront Nightmare", "Tapestry", "City of Gold", "Baby Steps", "Approaching Midnight", "Waterfront Nightmare", "Glee", "Gone", "Ticket to the Circus", "Low Winter Sun" (AMC), "The Makeover" w/Julia Stiles, "Smooch" w/Kellie Martin, "I Am Wrath" with John Travolta, "Wild" w/Reese Witherspoon, "World's Greatest Dad" w/Robin Williams, and many others. One student directs for the award-winning Mass Effect and Dragon Age: Origins video game franchises.
His students have taught theatre at Eastern Michigan University, CGST, Northern Ohio University (Assistant Professor), Cornell College, Jacksonville State University (Assistant Professor), and University of Detroit, Mercy (Lecturer).
His students have gone onto study at such theatre and non-theatre programs as: LAMDA, Yale, NYU/Tisch (several students), USC, UNCSA, WOU, SOU, Barnard, Scripps, Stanford, Marymount Manhattan, Reed, Point Park, Evergreen, Seattle Pacific, University of Washington, University of Oregon, Portland Institute of the Arts, University of the Arts, Wayne State University (MFA), University of Illinois Urbana-Champlain (MFA), University of Portland (MFA), Harvard/American Repertory Theatre/Moscow Art Theatre (MFA), and many, many more.
Acting in Jeremiah Kipp's film, "Echoes". NYC. 2012
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