Rate My Professor Hollace Starr

Hollace Starr serves as Associate Professor of Theatre in the Fine Arts Division of Seaver College at Pepperdine University in Malibu, having joined the full-time faculty in 2015 after serving as an adjunct professor there as well as at Antelope Valley Community College and Los Angeles City College. She earned her Master of Fine Arts in Theatre from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Theatre, Film, and Television, and her Bachelor of Arts in Theater from UCLA. A versatile theatre professional, Starr is recognized as a director, actor, and voice and dialect specialist. She coaches Seaver College students for performances, teaches voice and dialects, and directs mainstage productions including The Winter's Tale (2022), Into the Woods (2022), This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing (2023), Eurydice (2016), The Cherry Orchard (2019), and As You Like It (2021). In Fall 2020, she received an endowed fellowship to advance her scholarly and creative endeavors, such as investigating the Michael Chekhov physical acting technique and developing the production Chasing America in a mobile theatre truck known as the PopWagon.

Starr's academic interests center on voice and the actor, and she holds designation as a Linklater Voice teacher. She has published "Start Where You Are" in 2020. As a lifetime member of The Actors Studio, she has taught voice at its west coast branch. Starr is a founding member of Rogue Machine Theatre and directed its acclaimed west coast premiere of Earthquakes in London, lauded by the Los Angeles Times. She contributes to Pepperdine through service on the Faculty Benefits, Salary, and Stipends Committee, the Faculty Development Committee, and the Seaver Research Council. Additionally, she has facilitated the SEED program, a professional development initiative focused on equity and diversity. Starr also serves as a board member of Trade-City Productions and mentors students in undergraduate research projects and international programs such as the Edinburgh Theatre summer program.