
Encourages creative and innovative thinking.
Bruce Avery is a Professor of Theatre Arts at San Francisco State University, where he has served in the School of Theatre & Dance since 1994. He earned his Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and worked there as Dramaturge for Shakespeare Santa Cruz. In the Arts and Culture faculty, Avery holds the position of Professor - Performance and acts as Theatre Arts Advisor for students with last names A-B. He teaches acting and directing, drawing on his expertise in Shakespeare's life and work, teaching Shakespeare, and East Indian writers. His office is located in Burke Hall 263, available by appointment, with phone (415) 338-3100.
Avery demonstrates substantial influence through his directing and acting credits. University productions he directed include Pericles, Prince of Tyre, Much Ado About Nothing, Sarah Ruhl's Eurydice (October 19-29, 2023), and Jose Rivera's Marisol (November 2021). For Bread & Butter Theatre Co., he directed As You Like It and A Midsummer Night's Dream. Acting credits feature Danielson in The North Pool, Rothko in Red (Bread & Butter Theatre Co.), Peter Quince in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Polonius in Hamlet, Old Capulet in Romeo & Juliet, and Dennis Shepard in The Laramie Project. He published 'You Don't Know Jack: Engaging the Twenty-First-Century Student with Shakespeare's Plays' in Pedagogy (2011).
