Theo Black

Theo Black serves as a Senior Lecturer in the Performing and Media Arts department at Cornell University's College of Arts and Sciences. He teaches courses in acting, directing, and public speaking, with a specialized focus on practice-based eco-performance work.

His educational background includes:

• M.F.A. from the Academy for Classical Acting
• B.A. in Dramatic Art from U.C. Berkeley

Professor Black's research centers at the intersection of performing arts and environmental studies. His work spans Shakespeare performance studies, public speaking pedagogy, and eco-performance with particular emphasis on environmental justice. He collaborates extensively with Cornell's Environment & Sustainability program and Cornell Botanic Gardens, while maintaining partnerships with Stanford, UNR-Lake Tahoe's Sustainability Certificate program, and UC Merced. His practice-based research cultivates communication and performance skills to bridge scientific and communal understandings of environmental issues on local and global scales.

Notable creative projects include "Eco-Macbeth: Nature Fights Back" and "BIOphelia: A Performance-Infused Scholarship Symposium." He participates in Earth Day programming through "Shakespeare in Yosemite," adapting Shakespeare plays with scientific and cultural specificity.

As a communication coach featured on coachtheoblack.com, Black works with diverse clients from Cornell graduate students to corporate executives. His workshops for the English Ph.D. program have transformed students' presentation skills for academic interviews. Testimonials from faculty like Jenny C. Mann (Cornell Professor of English) describe his sessions as "electrifying" that transform students' "sense of their bodies, voices, and general presence."

Black maintains active community partnerships with Footprints' climate action camps and Raeflower Holistics, serving as communication coach and community partner respectively, extending his performance-based approaches to environmental communication beyond the academy.