Joel Ebarb
Professor
// Rueff School // Theatre
Faculty
Professor
// Rueff School of Design, Art, and Performance
Faculty
Associate Dean // Administration
BA Northwestern State University of Louisiana
MFA University of Houston
Office Information
Specialization
Design and Production
Joel is Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education and International Programs in the College of Liberal Arts. Previously, he served as chair of the Department of Theatre from 2011-2015. Joel began his career at Purdue in 1997.
Costume design credits include Jean Cocteau Repertory (Off-Broadway), Eclipse Theatre Company and Vittum Theatre (Chicago), Indiana Repertory Theatre, Phoenix Theatre, and ShadowApe Theatre Company (Indianapolis), Boarshead Theatre (Lansing, Michigan), Stages Repertory Theatre (Houston), and twenty-one seasons with the Texas Shakespeare Festival. International credits include The Court Theatre (Christchurch, New Zealand) and the professional Chinese touring production of Avenue Q.
Joel is an accomplished puppeteer, occasional director and playwright, and novice performer. He is a former Commissioner of the USITT (United States Institute for Theatre Technology) Costume Commission and serves on the Advisory Board for Eclipse Theatre Company in Chicago. Joel is an associate of the OISTAT (International Organization of Scenographers, Theatre Architects and Technicians: Scenography Commission) Costume Design Group, and has been invited three times to the Czech Republic to attend the Prague Quadrennial as a workshop presenter and exhibitor. He has collaborated on several projects as a guest artist and visiting scholar at Peking University in Beijing, China.
Professor Ebarb is a popular speaker and presents a series of lectures and workshops on using theatre techniques to improve skills in teaching and interpersonal communication. He is an award-winning educator, and was a 2011 recipient of the Charles B. Murphy Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching, Purdue University's highest undergraduate teaching honor.
A native of Shreveport, Louisiana, Joel received a B.A. in English from Northwestern State University of Louisiana and his M.F.A. in Theatre from the University of Houston, where he served as a production intern with Houston Ballet.
