The SAFD Governing Body
The SAFD governing body is elected by the SAFD dues paying membership and serves as an SAFD board of directors maintaining policy and direction for the SAFD. The SAFD Governing Body is constructed of two parts. The Executive Committee, consisting of the President, Vice President, Secretary & Treasurer, serve a term of three years. The four Member Representatives, consisting of a Fight Master rep, a Fight Director rep, a Certified Teacher rep and the Advanced Actor/Combatant + Actor/Combatant + Friend rep, serve a term of three years that has elections on a different cycle than the Executive Committee
John is an SAFD Certified Teacher and Fight Director currently serving as their Vice-President. He holds a Bachelors degree in performance from Illinois State University, where he was the recipient of the prestigious Jean Scharfenberg Acting Award. John has taught stage combat classes at DePaul University, Illinois State University, Ball State University, The Actor's Gymnasium, and was a Guest Artist at Roosevelt University. He has also taught at The Winter Wonderland Workshop, Seattle Sockeye, March Madness, Rumble in the Rockies, Havoc in the Heartland, the National Stage Combat Workshop and the North Carolina School of the Arts Summer Session: Introduction to Stage Combat. Currently, John teaches theatre courses at the College of DuPage and is the Executive Director of MACE - Movement and Combat Education.
Select productions that John has choreographed include Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and Ragtime: The Musical (Drury Lane Oakbrook); One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Lonesome West,Summer People and Streamers (The Gift Theatre Co.); Of Mice and Men (Steppenwolf); Accomplice, The Mystery of Edwin Drood and Ruthless: The Musical (Noble Fool Theatricals); Temporary Help and Communicating Doors (Buffalo Theatre Ensemble); Robin Hood and The Glory of Living (College of DuPage); In the Blood and Bat Boy: The Musical (Ball State University); and Cyrano de Bergerac (Independent Players). Select roles that John has performed include Dr. Caius in The Merry Wives of Windsor (Illinois Shakespeare Festival), Ronald in The Altruists (Mary-Arrchie Theatre Co.), Gerstein in Ghetto (Famous Door Theatre Co.), Dr. Astrov in Uncle Vanya and James in That Championship Season (Independent Players). John resides in Geneva with his wonderful wife, Colleen.
H. Russ is an SAFD Certified Teacher currently serving as Head Theatre Director at Whitehouse High School in Whitehouse, TX. His areas of expertise include Acting, Musical Theatre, Playwriting, Voice/Dialects, Movement & Stage Combat.
H. Russ began his career as a fight director over 20 years ago in his native Texas. He has worked professionally in the theatre as an actor, director, set designer, vocal/movement coach, fight director and nationally award-winning playwright. H. Russ has choreographed violence for over 70 productions and his fight work has been seen from New York to California and back again.
As a playwright, H. Russ Brown has written dozens of plays and has had many produced in theatres across the country. In 2002, he was awarded the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts New Visions/New Voices award for his musical adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s classic short story, THE SELFISH GIANT. In 2005, he was awarded the Kennedy Center ACTF/NST Fellowship for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Playwriting for his comedy, STUD DUCKS & HORNY TOADS.
As a performer, his favorite roles include Sweeney Todd, Jekyll/Hyde, Old Buks in Valley Song, Michael in I Do! I Do! and Hotspur in Henry IV, Part I.
H. Russ has taught/guest lectured at the University of Missouri-Columbia, the University of Houston, Texas Tech University, Illinois State University, North Carolina School of the Arts, Ball State University, Lon Morris College, Nicolet College, Spoon River College and Western Illinois University. He holds a B.S. degree from Texas A&M University and an M.F.A. degree in Acting from Western Illinois University.
His greatest source of pride, however, is his beautiful wife, Elizabeth, and his amazing kids, Grant and Auben.
“Love is my Sword, Faith is my Armor & Humor is my Shield.”
Lee Soroko is a Certified Teacher and Advanced Actor Combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors. Lee earned his Master of Fine Arts Degree from the Professional Actor Training Program at the University of Texas where he studied under Jim Hancock and took additional Theatre study at the Jagielonion Uniwersytet, in Krakow, Poland and Peace Haven in London.
Lee is a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers (SSDC) and Actors Equity Association (AEA). Areas of movement study include Alexander Technique, Laban/Bartenieff and Feldenkrais. Lee is also a 1993 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship recipient for his work in Character Mask. He currently teaches at the University of Miami, Florida and previously was a Professor of Performance with the Savannah College of Art and Design. Prior to that Lee was an Assistant Professor at Guilford College and has taught at Yale University, North Carolina School of the Arts, New York University, Quinnipiac College and the University of Texas at Austin.
Acting and directing credits include productions with the Atlantic Theatre Company (off-Broadway), Actors Theater of Louisville, Long Wharf Theatre, State Theatre in Austin, Texas, Yale University and SCAD. As a fight director, his professional credits include productions at the North Carolina Shakespeare Festival (LORT) Savannah Shakespeare Festival (LOA), Triad Stage (LOA), as well as colleges and universities across the country.
Having taught and fought in the New York and Philadelphia areas for over 25 years, Ian is proud to hold the rank of Fight Master with the Society of American Fight Directors. Ian also holds the distinction of being an accredited Fight Master with Fight Directors Canada. Ian's fights have been seen from London's Blackfriar's Theatre to MTM Studios in Rome. Credits include, The Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival, The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Philadelphia Theatre Company, NYC's Riverside Shakespeare, and national commercials. Ian is one of the Coordinators for the Philadelphia Stage Combat Workshop held the first weekend in October. For more information see: www.ianrosefights.com
Fulton Burns is the Director of Acting & Performance at the University of South Alabama’s Department of Dramatic Arts. Prior to his arrival at USA he instructed at The University of Montana and Illinois College. He attended Winthrop University where he earned his BA in Theatre and completed his graduate work at Western Illinois University (MFA) specializing in Directing for the Stage. His directing credits include, but are not limited to, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, The Compleat Works of WLLM SHKSPR: abridged, The Serpent, and Man of La Mancha. He has received the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival’s Certificate of Merit for his work as a Director with Amadeus and Anything Goes.
Fulton began his theatre career as a dancer in the Southeast in both ballet and modern dance with companies like Charleston Ballet Theater and Greenville Ballet to name a few. Since this time he has furthered his movement training to include physical comedy, mask work, and stage combat. He has been a member of the Society of American Fight Directors since 2000 and is an award winning Advanced Actor Combatant recognized in all eight weapons that the organization has to offer and has choreographed fights for Romeo & Juliet, The Illusion, Extremities, & Hamlet among others.
Also, Burns has worked professionally with Moises Kaufman as an assistant director, along with the Living Theatre and Cirque du Soleil’s production of Quidam.
