Landis Magnuson

Prof. Landis K. Magnuson specializes in theatre direction, acting for the stage, and American theatre history. Prof. Magnuson has published research in venues such as The Palimpsest, Theatre Design and Technology, Theatre History Studies, Theatre Symposium, and Notable Women in the American Theatre. His book Circle Stock Theater: Touring American Small Towns, 1900-1960 was designated by Choice as an Outstanding Academic Book of 1996. 

Personal scholarship has centered on the late nineteenth and early twentieth-century American theatre, including such popular forms as repertoire theatre, vaudeville, and the Chautauqua movement. Currently, Prof. Magnuson is continuing research on Swedish-dialect comedy and its impact upon Swedish immigrants. He joined the English Department in the fall of 1988, following teaching at Central Michigan University.

Prof. Magnuson has served as the director of the Anselmian Abbey Players since fall of 1988. In this capacity he annually directs the theatre productions presented by the Abbey Players during the school year. Recent productions include Into the Woods (2011), As You Like It (2009), The Crucible (2008), The Shadow Box (2007), The Mousetrap (2006), The Taming of the Shrew (2004), Arsenic and Old Lace (2003), Rumors (2002), The Diary of Anne Frank (2001), and A Midsummer Night's Dream (2000).

Personal scholarship has centered on the late nineteenth and early twentieth-century American theatre, including such popular forms as repertoire theatre, vaudeville, and the Chautauqua movement. Currently, Prof. Magnuson is continuing research on Swedish-dialect comedy and its impact upon Swedish immigrants.