Dr. David K. Ruebhausen, Associate Professor

UNA Box 5260
201 Norton Auditorium
Florence, AL 35632-0001
B.A., William Jewell College, Kansas City;
M.A., University of Minnesota, Minneapolis;
Ph.D., University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.

Dr. David Ruebhausen has been a part of UNA Theatre for nearly 20 years and teaches courses in design, directing, history, dramatic theory and literature, and arts management. He received his B.A. from William Jewell College and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Theatre Arts from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. His graduate research and dissertation focused on redefining accessibility for deaf artists and audiences in live theatre. At UNA, Dr. Ruebhausen has directed and/or designed such productions as The Man of La Mancha, The Glass Menagerie, Tartuffe, Oedipus/Antigone and Dr. Faustus. Dr. Ruebhausen has received several “Excellence in Design” and “Excellence in Directing” awards from the Kennedy Center’s American College Theatre Festival for Oedipus, Spring Awakening, Charley’s Aunt, Becky’s New Car, Six Characters in Search of an Author, Tango, and Dr. Faustus. He has also designed Shoals community theatre shows such as the recent production of The Diary of Anne Frank and is the scenic designer for The Miracle Worker, produced at the Ivy Green Amphitheater at the Helen Keller Birthplace. He exhibited scene designs at the United States Institute for Theatre Technology National Conference in 2013 and 2015. Dr. Ruebhausen also serves at least once each semester as an adjudicator/respondent for other regional university theatre productions through the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. His professional memberships include the Association for Theatre in Higher Education, United States Institute for Theatre Technology, Phi Kappa Phi, Phi Epsilon Society, National Mortar Board, and Alpha Psi Omega.

Charlton James, Assistant Professor

B.F.A. (Acting) University of Utah;
M.F.A. (Acting), Alabama Shakespeare Festival / University of Alabama

Charlton James has worked as a professional actor in numerous theaters throughout the US including The Roundabout Theatre in NYC, The Shakespeare Theatre in Washington DC, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Syracuse Stage, Capitol Repertory Theater, Pioneer Memorial Theater, Salt Lake Shakespeare, and the Utah Greek Festival. On television Mr. James has been featured as an actor on The Guiding Light and Touched by an Angel.

Mr. James started his UNA teaching career as an adjunct professor before accepting a full-time faculty position in 2008. He currently teaches in the areas of stage and camera acting as well as voice, movement, script analysis and theatre appreciation. He was the 2011-2012 recipient of UNA’s Academic Affairs Outstanding Teaching Award and honored as a distinguished faculty member in 2012.

At UNA he has directed Don't Drink the Water, The Diviners, Hamlet, Master Harold…and the Boys, Becky’s New Car, The Winter’s Tale, A Christmas Carol, and Night Mother. In 2012 Master Harold…and the Boys was selected as a showcased production at the Region 4, Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, and in 2013 he was awarded “Excellence in Directing” from KCACTF for the direction of Becky’s New Car. 

Since 2011 he has served as the artistic director of UNA’s Summer Theatre program, which brings in distinguished professional theatre artists to work alongside UNA theatre students on a major theatrical production. Within UNA summer theatre he also serves as an acting company member portraying such roles as Biff in Death of a Salesman, Mitch in A Streetcar Named Desire, Hoss in Hank Williams: Lost Highway, Richard Hannay in The 39 Steps, and Austin in True West.

He holds a B.F.A. in acting from the University of Utah's acting training program and a M.F.A. in theatre performance from the Alabama Shakespeare Festival/University of Alabama and is an active member of Alpha Psi Omega.