Ofstad Program Welcomes Actor, Writer, Director

As part of the Ofstad Visiting Scholar Program, award-winning actor, director, playwright, novelist and adventurer Keith Scales will read selections from his work, “Passages from Overlook City,” at 1 p.m. Jan. 30 in Baldwin Hall Little Theatre. A light lunch will be served. This event is free and open to the public.

Scales was continuously active in the Pacific Northwest theater community from 1970-2009, working as a freelance professional actor, director, teacher, designer, organizer and grant writer. A familiar face to Portland and Seattle theatergoers, Scales acted in more than 200 plays and directed nearly 100.

In 2009 Scales relocated from Oregon to the Ozarks to concentrate on the creation of original works for page, stage and screen. He still teaches, consults and directs on occasion, but is now committed to a daily writing regime.

Scales will also be on campus Jan. 27-31 teaching a special Ofstad course, “Stories Well-Told,” on the narrative elements in fiction, non-fiction and drama. The focus of the class will be on developing students’ individual voices, as well as employing theater improvisation exercises and techniques to offer an exhilarating opportunity to learn storytelling from the inside out. The class will be appealing to creative writing students, English students and theater and musical theater students, as well.