When the teacher works for the studentANN ARBOR—A reversal of roles brought success to both the teacher and the student when producing director Karla Boos tapped her former professor, Erik Fredricksen, for a major role in her recent production of “Six Characters Looking for a Writer.”

Fredricksen, chair of the University of Michigan’s Department of Theatre and Drama, garnered strong positive reviews for his work in this Pittsburgh production playing The Father. Critics called his performance “striking and impressive.” One said Fredricksen’s performance was a “treat” for the audience, citing the actor’s expertise in stage combat as producing a “most believable” on-stage fisticuffs.

Fredricksen returned to U-M in 1990 after a five-year stint at the California Institute of the Arts (Cal Arts) where he was associate dean in theater. Prior to this costal position, the actor/teacher served U-M as an associate professor in the theatre department.

“While at Cal Arts, I had among the talented M.F.A. students Karla Boos,” says Fredricksen. “Even then she was interested in producing, and the first thing I saw her do as a producer was in Los Angeles, a remarkable inventive adaptation of Macbeth called ‘MegaBeth.'”

Having worked as an actor and choreographer at many major regional theaters, including the prestigious Guthrie Theater, The Indiana and Seattle Repertory theaters and the Manitoba Theater Center of Canada, Fredricksen has worked with some of the country’s leading directors such as Joseph Papp, Michael Langham, Arvin Brown, and Libby Appel.

As a founding member and past president of the Society of American Fight Directors, Fredricksen’s skill not only as an actor, but as a choreographer of stage combat and fight scenes, has given him the opportunity to choreograph luminaries such as Christopher Plummer, Morgan Freeman, Holly Hunter, Denzel Washington, John Lithgow, Frank Langella, and Don Cheadle. He was recently appointed to the Board of Directors of the International Order of the Sword and Pen and will teach at the National Theater in Oslo, Norway, in 2002.

And about that student thing: “Both Karla and I are from West Virginia,” Fredricksen says. “As you might imagine, given the Appalachian environment, not a lot of people get ‘out,’ and very few if any ever find their way into the arts, theater least of all. That’s another reason why, I think, that Karla and I felt a personal as well as artistic rapport.”

And just to keep the U-M ties working, Fredricksen has also worked for director and U-M alumna Libby Appel who runs the Ashland Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Ore., the largest Equity Theater in North America. Appel was formerly the dean of theater at Cal Arts. She hired Fredricksen away from U-M in 1985, lost him to U-M in 1990, and has directed him in various theater venues.

Erik FredricksenDepartment of Theatre and DramaCalifornia Institute of the ArtsGuthrie TheaterSociety of American Fight Directors