The Associate of Arts Degree in Theatre is a two-year curriculum designed to transfer to theatre programs in four-year colleges and universities. A degree in Theatre Arts opens a world of opportunity for careers that include: Actor, Director, Playwright, Producer, Casting Director, Talent Agent, Literary Manager, Stage Manager, Technical Director, Company Manager, Project Manager, or an Artistic Director just to name a few.

Director of Theatre Performance
& Associate Professor of Theatre

PAUL MOLNAR (he/him) is an award-winning actor and director.  He is the Director of Theatre Performance and a tenured Associate Professor of Theatre at Independence Community College where he teaches acting, movement, stage combat, voice and directing.  Before arriving in Kansas, Paul was an actor, director, movement consultant, fight choreographer and producer who was based in New York City for over twenty years.

Paul, along with his wife Dee, founded South Brooklyn Shakespeare, a 501(c)3 company devoted to bringing free Shakespeare and other Classic Works of Literature to the residents of South Brooklyn.  Paul & Dee served as Co-Artistic Directors for six seasons. This company performed in several locations throughout Brooklyn and produced some of Shakespeare’s classics: Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth & A Winter’s Tale.  

As an actor, Paul has numerous professional credits: in New York City he did the Off-Broadway premier of Hot Mess with Max Crumm & Lucy DeVito, multiple productions with KEEN Company, Epiphany, Adobe, Tangent and Fifth Street Theatre.  Regional credits include work with: Premier Stages, Asolo Rep, Vermont Stage, Lost Nation, Michigan Shakespeare Festival, The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, New American Theatre and 12 Miles West Theatre.  TV credits include: Law & Order, Law & Order SVU, Person of Interest, Film credits include: Sweet Sweet Baby & The Ones That Have Fallen. As a fight director Paul’s work has been featured Off-Broadway in:  Party Face (Directed by Amanda Bearse & staring Hayley Mills), Roulette, Tape, Ghoul, work with DiCapo Opera, Ensemble Studio Theatre and the 47th Street Theatre.  Other New York credits include movement coaching & fight chorography work at Fordham University, Queens College, MITF, and Keen Company where he was the Resident Company Fight Director.  Regional movement & fight choreography credits: Buck's County Playhouse, Premiere Stages, Two River Theatre, Shakespeare on the Sound, The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Michigan Shakespeare Festival, Second City (Detroit) & Asolo Rep. 

Paul received his BFA from the University of Michigan where he was given the Albert A. Stanley Award for Distinguished Work during his time there, and holds an MFA from the FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training where he was awarded The Martha and Foster Harmon Award for outstanding professional achievement as an actor.  Paul has been a proud member of Actors Equity Association since 1998 and a member of SAG-AFTRA since 2011.

Associate Professor of Theatre
Director of Theatre Performance
Paul Molnar
(620) 332-5419
pmolnar@indycc.edu

Director of Technical Theatre Production
& Associate Professor of Theatre
Joel Williams
(620) 332-5461
jwilliams@indycc.edu

Director of Technical Theatre Production
& Associate Professor of Theatre

JOEL WILLIAMS, a native of Kansas, has spent the last 7 years in Atlanta, GA as the Technical Director, and Instructor of Technical Theatre at Woodward Academy. Prior to that, Joel served as the Technical Director, Instructor, and Theatrical Designer at Ottawa University in Ottawa, KS. Joel’s specialties are in scenic design and construction, and Sound design and mixing. He has worked professionally as a Technical Director, Scenic, Sound, Projection, or Lighting Designer with Aris’ theatre in Atlanta, Central Missouri Repertory in Warrensburg, Imago Dei in Kansas City, and The Helen Hocker theatre in Topeka.  Among his favorite productions are Desdemona; a play about a handkerchief, Les Misérables, Radium Girls, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Playing for Time, Into The Woods, and Chicago. Joel holds a bachelor’s degree in Theatre from Ottawa University, and a Master of Theatre Studies from Southern Oregon University.  

Director of the William Inge Center for the Arts
Dee Byrd-Molnar
620-332-5648
dmolnar@indycc.edu

William Inge Center for the Arts

DEE BYRD-MOLNAR is the William Inge Center for the Arts program director. Though a native of the Midwest, Dee Byrd-Molnar lived and worked as a theatre artist in New York for 23 years. She has dedicated her work as a theatre producer, director, and performer in the development of new, classical, and contemporary plays over the past thirty years to making theatre and art available to everyone. Dee was the Co-Founder and Producing Artistic Director of South Brooklyn Shakespeare, a 501(c)(3) company. The company brought free Shakespeare to the streets and parks of Brooklyn for 6 seasons. They spearheaded an outreach program of Shakespeare in Schools- The program was developed for the purpose of taking Shakespeare into neighborhood schools in Brooklyn. The pilot program was at Sunset Park Prep, where they worked with 180 students for three months on text, movement, design, acting, and voice. The culmination was 3 fully designed and realized productions of Macbeth performed by the students for the school, teachers, and parents. Dee has been a successful business owner in New York, a manager at a multi-million dollar company and a Montessori Teacher. Dee joined the William Inge Center in 2020 as a coordinator for the William Inge Theatre Festival. From 2020-22, Dee was a coordinator and liaison to the Playwrights in Residence in Independence, Kansas. In 2022, she was the events manager for the William Inge Theatre Festival. Dee’s education and training includes a BA from the University of Houston where she worked as a performer in new play development with Mr. Edward Albee; A certified Montessori Teacher where she trained in the love of learning and the support of the creator. Dee is an advocate for the artist, a producer, and an artist.

If you would like more information about the William Inge Center for the Arts at Independence Community College, please visit www.ingecenter.org or contact: Inge Center Director, Dee Byrd-Molnar at dmolnar@indycc.edu