Scholar Spotlight: Daniel Bird Tobin

October 14, 2026

Daniel Bird Tobin
Assistant Professor of Applied Theatre
Department of Theatre

I am a theatre director, performer, and science communicator. Sometimes that looks like what you might imagine, directing a play like Hamlet in a beautiful theatre space. Other times I’m bringing theatre into unexpected places like a thrift store or a person’s living room. Or I’m collaborating with a scientist on an experimental performance that shares their research with visitors to the lab. Or I might be facilitating a workshop with scientists and researchers where we explore theatre techniques so they can develop their own way of communicating science. 

A farmer, a city council member, and a biologist all have different areas of expertise, and we can practice how to bridge those gaps and build common understanding. A lot of my work is about bringing the skills and practice of theatre into non-theatre spaces. This can create a thrilling immediacy and vibrancy to our art form that reconnects with why we all started making theatre in the first place. 

Why I do what I do

As an undergraduate studying archaeology, I was working in a lab, doing digs, taking classes, and doing theatre on the side. One day during a dig, I had an “aha” moment while slowly baking under the Mississippi sun. I was holding this molded piece of clay from 3,000 years ago. I could actually feel the imprints of someone’s fingers in this clay, reaching out to me from the past, and I had the realization that the powerful storytelling of theatre could share these magical moments from science with the world. I began pursuing theatre full time, and I’ve spent the rest of my career exploring how to bring my love of theatre and science together.

Currently working on

I have a book coming out in December, The Art of Communicating Science: Presence, Storytelling, and Building Bridges, written with collaborators Patty Raun and Carrie Koehler. In it we share our arts-based approach to working with scientists and researchers. Additionally, this fall I am directing a show called The Crossword Play that will be popping up all over town in October including at the YWCA, Ladies of Charity, and Ijams Nature Center. 

Sams Honored with Cox Professorship

June 25, 2026

Career Conversations

October 12, 2023

Entertainment: Production & Performance

Wednesday | Ocober 18 | 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM | Carousel Theatre

Join us NEXT WEDNESDAY starting at 1:00 pm

Are you passionate about the magic of theatre, filmmaking, television, and creative storytelling?

Are you an aspiring performer with a burning passion for the stage? Looking to break into the glamorous world of Entertainment Careers?

Join industry pros as they share their success stories, valuable experiences, and insider tips for making it big in the entertainment sphere. Whether you dream of becoming a captivating actor, or a multi-talented all-around performer, this event is for you!

Register Below! (Not required to attend).

Career Conversation: Entertainment – Production & Performance

October 18, 2023 • 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm EDT

Student Excellence at Industry Conferences

June 14, 2023

The Southeastern Theatre Conference (SETC) is a nonprofit theatre membership organization with a full spectrum of services for members and organizations across 10 states in the southeast region of the United States and beyond. Every year, students from the theatre department attend the conference to participate in — and sometimes present — workshops, interview at the largest theatre job fair in the country, and submit their projects in the design competition.

Winners from this year’s SETC Conference Competition were: 

Sound Design

• 3rd place – Amoirie Perteet, Blood at the Root
• 2nd place – Allison Bucher, Men on Boats

Projection Design

• 2nd place – DJ Pike, She Kills Monsters

Graduate Scenic Design

• 2nd place DJ Pike, Murder on the Orient Express
• 1st place Sophie Smrcka, Men on Boats

Graduate Lighting Design

• 2nd place- Joshua Mullady, Trouble in Mind

Graduate Costume Design

• Honorable Mention- MJ Hromek, Murder on the Orient Express
• 3rd place- Alex Heder, Adaptive Radiation
• 2nd place- Kaelyn Williams, Men on Boats

Founded in 1960 to promote dialogue, research, and learning among practitioners of theatre design and technology, the United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) is the leader in life-long learning opportunities for the entertainment design and technology industry. It connects performing arts design and technology communities to ensure a vibrant dialog among practitioners, educators, and students.

At the annual conference, students who are in the last year of their training or have graduated from a program in the last year, are given the opportunity to submit for a Young Designers, Managers, and Technician Award. Each design area offers a nationally recognized sponsored award. Students separately submit to participate in the juried Emerging Creatives Showcase. Students and professionals alike can enter the Design Expo for a chance to be one of ten designs to be featured in the TD&T Summer Issue.

This year’s winners of USITT competitions were:  

Zelma H. Weisfeld Costume Design and Technology Award: MJ Hromek

Emerging Creatives Showcase: DJ Pike & Kaylin Gess

Design Expo selections to be featured in TD&T Summer Issue: Joshua Mullady, DJ Pike & MJ Hromek

Schellinger Selected for Prestigious Prague Quadrennial

June 14, 2023

Kyle Schellinger, the staff cutter/draper at the Clarence Brown Theatre, has been selected to show his half-scale period costumes at the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design in Prague, Czech Republic, June 8–18, 2023.

Organized by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic and realized by the Arts and Theatre Institute, the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space is the largest international festival event dedicated to scenography, performance design, and theatre architecture. Since 1967, the Prague Quadrennial has been an exchange, networking and educational platform exploring the best works in scenography and design for performance.

“Being chosen to showcase your work at the Prague Quadrennial is an immense honor for Kyle. His work is quite stunning and will be showcased alongside work from all over the world at the preeminent international exhibition of live performance design work,” said Kenneth Martin, theatre department head and CBT artistic director. “Kyle is a great example of the caliber of artists and artisans that work at the Clarence Brown Theatre and train the students of UT theatre.”

A total of 23 artists from 16 countries were chosen to participate in the curated exhibition, three of them from the United States.  The selections for the Fragments II exhibit were chosen by Tony award nominated designer Klára Zieglerová.

“When I began working in half-scale during the pandemic, I had no idea it would lead to the honor of my work’s inclusion at the Prague Quadrennial,” Schellinger said. “Showcasing my work alongside that of amazing artists from around the world is such a thrill. I am so excited to highlight the already exemplary names of the Clarence Brown Theatre and the UT Department of Theater at such a distinguished exhibit.”

Schellinger’s work will feature six period costumes in half-scale, ranging from the 1400s to the 1800s, all of which stand at approximately 30” in height, including period appropriate undergarments and hand-crafted miniature jewelry. The half-scale dress form, usually a tool used by costume designers to study the technical aspects of complex garments, is used in his work to trick the eye and to show the intricacies of the history of Western costume. 

With a dual mission to train the next generation of theatre artists and to provide top quality theatre, the Clarence Brown Theatre is a professional theater in residence at the University of Tennessee. Under the leadership of CBT Producing Artistic Director and Department of Theatre Head Kenneth Martin, and Managing Director Tom Cervone, the CBT season runs from August through May and features six productions ranging from musicals to drama.  

For more information or tickets, call the CBT Box Office at (865) 974-5161 or visit us online at clarencebrowntheatre.com. Stay connected to the Clarence Brown Theatre on Facebook (Clarence Brown Theatre), follow us on Twitter (@ClarenceBrown) and view Clarence Brown videos on YouTube (Clarence Bro).

Walters Renovations Completed

June 14, 2023

We are thrilled to share with the world our newly renovated spaces in the Walters Academic Building. We now occupy 12 rooms on the third floor, which is the main level off of the pedestrian bridge, and eight rooms, including some faculty offices, on the fourth floor. The renovated spaces house the entire graduate design program and most of the undergraduate program in one location, which has been monumental for us. 

The Walters renovations happened in two phases. Phase I was completed just before the pandemic in late 2019. The second phase was completed in fall 2022, which we moved into right before classes started this past fall. We continued to outfit all the spaces with equipment throughout the semester. By spring 2023, we gained an acting classroom, lined with black curtains and a fitness room floor, with an adjoining props storage room with rehearsal furniture and stacks of chairs for scene presentation audiences. We also gained a smaller acting coaching room, for scene study. This room contains backdrops and a lighting system for audition self-taping and acting for camera training. 

We were able to complete the graduate workspaces and studios by adding space for the sound and media design students, which included a recording studio and an office. The completion of the Walters renovations finally allowed us to move out of water damaged spaces in the basement of the Alumni Memorial Building. These spaces included our computer lab and our lighting, sound, and projections Media Lab, which are now in full swing supporting most of our undergraduate design and technology courses. 

Last, but certainly not least, we were able to give our undergraduate students a commons area where they could hang out between classes, use a microwave to heat up their lunches, do a little homework, and post signs for upcoming student projects and presentations. 

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