Pratt Institute

Personal URL

Education

1973 M.F.A. New York University
1969 B.S., University of California, Berkeley

Biography

Theodora Skipitares, an interdisciplinary artist and educator, began teaching in the Art and Design Education Department in 1995. During the 1980’s and 90’s she traveled extensively, performing and exhibiting her artwork throughout Europe, Asia and South America. At this time, she was also a teaching artist for the Guggenheim Museum Learning thru Art Program and for Hospital Audiences, Inc.  At Pratt, she taught the course Contemporary Ideas of Art and Self, a course that enables the student to develop a personal philosophy as an artist, designer, and teacher through the exploration of the relationship between the creator, the creative process, and art and culture. The culminating project for each student is an autobiographical performance, based on the idea that teaching is a performative act.

In 1999, she was a Fulbright Scholar in India. When she returned to New York, she resumed teaching at Pratt while continuing to perform and exhibit new work. In 2003, she created an all-institute course called Puppetry and Performing Objects, for graduates and undergraduates.  At  this time, she began teaching art/literacy courses for incarcerated youth and women at Riker’s Island Prison.

In 2005, she was offered a one-year full-time position in the department. In 2006, she applied for and was awarded a full-time tenure-track position as an Assistant Professor with CCE.

She has served on the following committees:  Committee on Academic Standing, Peer Review Committee (ADE), Academic Review Committee (ADE).  For the past three years, she has collaborated with Jennifer Miller (Circus Amok) to curate a puppetry/circus event in the Pratt Student Union.

Theodora Skipitares has received 28 National Endowment for the Arts grants for her work, as well as a Guggenheim Fellowship, McKnight Playwriting Fellowship, and Rockefeller Fellowship, among others.

In the past two years, she has been invited to present lectures throughout Europe, India, and Cyprus, as well as several universities in the U.S. To date, she has created 23 original performances works that have been reviewed favorably in several publications, including the New York Times. 

PRESENTATIONS

2012      Fulbright Specialist Award, Jawaharlal Nehru University and Sri
                  Aurobindo College, Delhi, India. Included lectures and workshops.              

2012     Guest Artist, The New School, New York
             Guest Artist, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island
             National Art Education Association Conference, New York: “The Puppet
                 as Teacher”.
             Guest Artist, MFA Theater Program, Towson University, Baltimore,
                 Maryland
             13^th Annual Conference, International Society for the Study of European
                  Ideas: The Ethical Challenge of Multidisciplinarity; Nicosia, Cyprus

2011      Voice and Vision Puppetry Festival Panel, New York: “The Duality of the
                  Puppet: Women on the Verge of Puppetry.”
              Guest Artist, New York University, Gallatin Division, New York
              International Symposium on Ancient Greek Drama, Limassol, Cyprus.

2010      Guest Artist, New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, New York
              Guest Artist, Barnard College, New York
              Guest Artist, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York
              New York Innovative Theater Awards (Presenter), New York

PUBLICATIONS

PAJ 100 (January 2012) – Performance New York (A journal of Performance and
     Art). MIT Press, Cambridge, MA  “Writing and Performance.”

PERFORMANCES

PROMETHEUS WITHIN (April 2012) written, designed and directed by Theodora
     Skipitares, La MaMa Theater, New York.

FANTASTICAL FASCINATIONS (December 2011), Pratt Student Union, coordinated by Theodora Skipitares and Jennifer Miller, Dept. of Humanities.

LYSISTRATA (February 2011) adapted, designed, and directed by Theodora Skipitares, La MaMa Theater, New York.