Landis K. Magnuson, Ph.D.
Associate Professor/Chair
English Department

Office: 116 Bradley House
Phone: (603) 641-7037
E-mail: lmagnuson@anselm.edu

Dr. Landis K. Magnuson specializes in theatre direction, acting for the stage, and American theatre history. He joined the English Department in the fall of 1988, following teaching at Central Michigan University and completing his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Dr. Magnuson has published research in venues such as The Palimpsest, Theatre Design & Technology, Theatre History Studies, 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, Dr. Magnuson is continuing research on Swedish-dialect comedy and its impact upon Swedish immigrants.

In addition to serving as chair of the English department since the summer of 2001, Dr. Magnuson has served of the director of the Anselmian Abbey Players since fall of 1988. In this capacity he annually directs the fall production and produces the remaining four theatre productions presented by the Abbey Players during the school year. Recent fall productions include 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).