Ronald Dean Nolen

Dean Nolen

Ronald Dean Nolen, assistant professor of theatre and artistic director of university theatre, received the Bachelor of Arts degree in theatre and music from Hardin-Simmons University and the Master of Fine Arts degree in acting from Yale University, where he was honored as a Constance Welch Scholar.

An award-winning actor, Nolen has originated roles in over a dozen new plays and musicals from Broadway, where he co-starred as Harry Bright in the original Broadway cast of the smash hit Mamma Mia! to off-Broadway, where he created the roles of Terence in Theresa Rebeck and Alexandra Gersten-Vasillaros’ critically acclaimed Pulitzer-Prize finalist Omnium Gatherum, as well as the role of Jeffrey in Rob Ackerman’s Tabletop, for which he received a 2001 Drama Desk Award. His other New York credits include performances at Manhattan Theatre Club, The Working Theatre, and Naked Angels Theatre Company as well as some of our nation’s most prominent regional theatres, including Yale Repertory Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Geva Theatre, The Wilma Theater, Dallas Theater Center, Lyric Stage, Shakespeare Theatre, D.C., Virginia Stage Company, TheaterWorks,New Stage Theatre, among others.

Internationally, Nolen traveled in 1999 to St. Petersburg, Russia, where he joined in a collaboration between graduate students from Yale School of Drama and the St. Petersburg Academy of Theatre Arts, led by David Chambers and Nikolai Pesochinsky, respectively, in a reconstruction of Meyerhold’s 1926 version of Gogol’s Revizor (The Inspector General), which was ultimately performed at the International Theatre Festival in Amsterdam, Holland. On television, Nolen guest-starred as Dan Enright opposite Sam Waterston on Law & Order, as Philip Montrose opposite Mariska Hargitay and Chris Meloni on Law & Order: SVU, and as Nigel Hammaker opposite James LeGros and Margo Martindale on Mercy. Other television appearances include Fling (pilot), Crossing Jordan, Criminal Intent, All My Children, as well as a performance as Harry Bright on the 2001 Tony Awards in the original cast of Mamma Mia!

Prior to HSU, Nolen taught acting at Eastern Connecticut State University and has conducted theatre workshops at Wilkes University and Old Dominion University, as well as teaching privately while maintaining a professional career as an actor and singer. Also an accomplished writer, he has just completed the Seventh Edition of The Film Encyclopedia, published by HarperCollins.

He has trained under Earle Gister, Evan Yionoulis, Wesley Fata, Walton Wilson, Barbara Somerville, David Chambers, Dr. Patricia McAdams, Dr. Jaynne Middleton, and Larry Wheeler.

Nolen served as producer on the documentary film None Less Than Heroes: The Honor Flight Story, which chronicles the journey of World War II veterans traveling free of charge to Washington, D.C., to experience the memorial built in their honor. The film, narrated by Oscar-nominee Gary Sinise, is making the rounds on the film festival circuit after being completed in summer 2011.

Nolen is a member of Actors’ Equity Association (AEA), the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), A.F.T.R.A., Texas Educational Theatre Association (TETA), Theatre Communications Group (TCG), Tau Alpha Phi and Alpha Psi Omega, and is proud to be a recipient of Hardin-Simmons University’s 2006 Outstanding Young Alumni Award.