Employee Directory

Kane Anderson

Assistant Professor of Acting and Directing

Johnson Fine Arts Center 119C

kane.anderson@northern.edu

Ph.D. in Theater Studies, University of California at Santa Barbara

MFA in Theatre Performance, Arizona State University

BA in Theatre Arts, University of Pennsylvania

 

Dr. Anderson joined the faculty at NSU in the Fall of 2019. Previously, he served as a professor at Hendrix College, Pacific Lutheran University, and the University of Puget Sound.

 

His research interests include acting, directing, performance studies, comic studies, and popular culture. Many of his scholarly publications feature his ethnographic research in cosplayers at San Diego’s Comic-Con International. Dr. Anderson is currently working on his book manuscript examining superheroes as iconic performances of Americanism.

 

Kane is also an accomplished actor and director who has worked on stages across the country.

 

Brian Omland

Theatre and Production Manager

Johnson Fine Arts Center 119A

brian.omland@northern.edu

B.A., Northern State University

Brian Omland serves as the production manager for the School of Fine Arts. He continues to expand his knowledge and experience in set construction, lighting design, and special effects for the stage. He worked on the Northern productions of Sondheim on Sondheim, Man of La Mancha, Silent Sky, Fun Home, The Brain From Planet X, She Kills Monsters, Lasso of Truth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, God of Carnage, and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, among others.

Michael Skyles

Instructor of Voice, Director, Musical Theatre

Spafford Hall 301A

michael.skyles@northern.edu

B.M.E. University of Illinois

M.M. Cleveland Institute of Music

D.M.A. North Dakota (currently)

 

Tenor Michael Skyles joined the music faculty at Northern State University in Aberdeen, S.D., in 2009. Mr. Skyles received a bachelor's degree in music education from the University of Illinois in 1992, and obtained his master's of music in vocal performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music in 1996. A certified vocologist, he specializes in voice lessons, vocal pedagogy, and diction for singers, and is music director for theatre at Northern.

 

Born and raised in the Chicago area, he previously maintained a private voice studio and taught voice at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn. In recent years, his students have advanced to compete at the national level. In 2009, one of his students was selected to be a finalist with the NFAA YoungArts program in classical voice, an honor bestowed on only 12 students from across the country, and was the first finalist in any discipline ever from North Dakota. In 2010, another of Mr. Skyles' students was selected to be an NFAA Young Arts finalist in musical theater. Following this student's performance at the finals, he was invited for further competition and workshops in New York and was selected to be a Presidential Scholar.

More recently, many of Mr. Skyles' students have won or placed in competitions hosted by the Metropolitan Opera National Council, National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), and Music Teachers National Association (MTNA). Not only have his students competed well, but many of his students are attending high-profile graduate programs, and are performing on Broadway and in regional musical theater and operas.

As a performer, Mr. Skyles has been featured with a number of opera companies across the United States, including Lyric Opera Cleveland, Natchez Opera in Mississippi, Florida State Opera, and Brevard Opera in North Carolina. In recent engagements, Mr. Skyles has performed the roles of Nemoriono in Sounds of South Dakota's L'elisir d'amore, Pong in South Dakota Symphony's production of Turandot, Remendado in Fargo Moorhead Opera's production of Carmen, Mr. Erlanson in Muddy River Opera's production of A Little Night Music, Ferrando in CandleOpera's production of Cosi fan tutte, Rodolfo in N.O.V.A.'s production of La boheme, Arturo in Bowen Park Opera's production of Lucia di Lammermoor, and Larry/Matt in Face on the Barroom Floor with Fargo Moorhead Opera.

Mr. Skyles' concert performances have included the Beethoven 9th Symphony (tenor soloist) with the South Dakota Symphony, An Afternoon of Opera with the Huron Symphony Orchestra, Schütz Musikalische Exequien with Early Music Chicago, Bach's Magnificat with Urban Baroque in Chicago, Schubert's Mass in G, countless performances as tenor soloist in Handel's Messiah, and other varied concert works around the country. He also has performed as a professional member of the Chicago Symphony Chorus and the Grant Park Symphony Chorus.