Chris Clark: Mormon Director
Christopher L. Clark was a theatre professor and director, and had adapted several of Shakespeare’s plays. He was the chair of the Utah Valley University’s Theatrical Arts for Stage and Screen department, where he worked since 2006.
Clark was born on March 8, 1976, in Connecticut and earned his bachelor’s degree in English from Brigham Young University. He had originally entered BYU with a passion for theatre, complete with a theatre scholarship. While serving a full-time mission to Finland for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he decided he couldn’t support a family on that degree, so he switched to English. After four years of retail management with Barnes and Noble, he decided to go back to his passion, so he and his wife, Lisa, and their two sons moved to England where he earned his MFA with distinction in directing Shakespeare from the University of Exeter. As part of his education, he was trained with the Royal Shakespeare Company and was able to perform parts of Shakespeare’s plays in the renowned Globe Theatre. He returned to Utah and, upon the suggestion of a friend, enrolled in the educational leadership program at BYU to earn his PhD. He received this degree in 2012.
He also trained as an actor with The Steppenwolf School, Viewpoints, and Chicago’s Second City. He has acted on stage with Eurydice, The Fantasticks, The Tempest, Twelfth Night, Hamlet, Rabbit Hole, and Frankenstein, to name a few. He has acting credits in movies and television shows, such as Romeo and Juliet, 17 Miracles, Pretty Darn Funny, Stalking Santa, Saints and Soldiers, and Brigham City.
Under his direction, the UVU program won awards at the 2013 Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. He was distinguished as Outstanding Director. The production “Vincent in Brixton” won six awards. In 2013, Clark was honored with the Theater Educator Award at Utah Repertory Theater Company’s Gala. He also won the Distinguished Directing Award at the 2009 Kennedy Center Festival. He won the Deseret News Best of Theatre Award in 2005, 2006, and 2010.
In addition to directing at UVU, Clark has also directed at BYU, Utah’s Shakespearean Festival in Cedar City, Hale Center Theater (Orem, Utah), and Hale Centre Theatre (West Valley, Utah), Sundance Summer Theatre, Scera Shell Outdoor Theatre, and Nauvoo Theatrical Society.
He wrote one play, The Marrying Man, which he considered more of a compilation, which won the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Meritorious Achievement in Playwriting Award in 2006.
He and his wife have five children.
