A. James Fisher Class of 1968

Jim Fisher has stood center stage and performed well under the hot lights. A respected professor of theater at Indiana’s Wasbash College since 1978, Jim has been acting and directing for more than 30 years.

The chairman of the Wasbash Theater Department from 1980-1991 and 1995-1997, and frequent chair of the college’s Visiting Artists Series, Jim has also served on several significant college committees, including Academic Policy, Budget, Teaching and Learning, and the Lecture Series Planning.

For his outstanding contributions to the state’s college theater, Jim was awarded the Indiana Theater Association’s “Indiana Theater Person of the Year” in 1997.

A two-time recipient of the prestigious McLain-McTruman-Arno1d Research Scholar award, Jim has edited and/or authored nine books (including publications on Al Jolsen, Spencer Tracey and Eddy Cantor) and has four others in the works. He has also written three plays, including the acclaimed, The Bogus Bride. His latest book, The Theater of Tony Kushner: Living Past Hope, is the first complete study of the Pulitzer Prize winning playwright’s works.

Jim has directed many Wabash productions, including Mister Roberts, Glengarry Glen Ross, Biloxi Blues, Twelfth Night, and A Moon for the Misbegotten. He is a member in the Association of Theatre in Higher Education, International Federation for Theatre Research, Indiana Theatre Association, American Film Institute, and Alpha Psi Omega, the national honorary theater fraternity, of which he was recently named National Business Manager and Editor of the organization’s annual publication, Playbill.

He’s been published in many journals and periodicals including Theatre Research International, Popular Music and Society, The Drama Review, Theater, and Theatre Journal. Jim has appeared as an actor in several performances at Monmouth College’s Guggenheim Summer Theater.

In his spare time, the former West Long Branch resident does fundraising for local AIDS organizations, serves on the grant’s board for the Indian Arts Commission, and is a Crawfordsville Community School Corporation advisory board member.

Jim holds a bachelor’s degree (in theater) from Monmouth College and master’s degree (in speech and drama) from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. The Crawfordsville, Indiana resident and his wife, Dana, have two children, Daniel and Anna.