Professor of Theatre/Dance
Associate Dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts
Office: 815-753-8374
E-mail: drobertson@niu.edu
Deborah Robertson received her MFA, in Dance Performance, from Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts, on a teaching fellowship and her BA, in Dance, from the University of Colorado, Boulder. She is a certified teacher of the Williamson Physical Training for the Actor, and was trained by Loyd Williamson at the Actors Movement Studio in New York City. She has studied Laban Movement Analysis at the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies in New York, the Webster Movement Institute in St. Louis, and the Royal National Theatre in London. She has received her first level of certification in the work of Michael Chekhov by the Michael Chekhov Association (MICHA) and is currently pursuing her certification as a Master Teacher. As an actress she completed the two-year Meisner training with William Esper in New York City and studied with Stephen Strimpell at HB Studios in New York.
Ms. Robertson is a Professor and the Associate Dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Northern Illinois University. She has previously been on the faculties of the Mason Gross School of the Arts, at Rutgers University, the Actors Movement Studio in New York and the Actors Center, Chicago. She has taught workshops in New Zealand, London, at national conferences, residencies in university programs around the country, and at festivals and private studios nationwide.
Her work as a choreographer and movement coach has been seen internationally, in regional theatres, university productions, and on television. Most recently she choreographed a production of The Birds which was produced at the Moscow Art Theatre Studio, Moscow, Russia. As an actress and dancer, she has appeared on Broadway, National Tours, Off Broadway, industrials, regional theatres around the country, and on television.
She is the president of the Association of Theatre Movement Educators (ATME), a member of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE), the Michael Chekhov Association (MICHA), Actors Equity (AEA) and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG).