Matthew Wright

  • Professor of Theater
  • Chair of Theater

Areas of Study

Education

  • BA, University of Tennessee, Knoxville,1979
  • MFA, University of California, San Diego,1988

Biography

Matthew Wright is a professional actor and director whose work has taken him across the country. He’s worked at a roster of prestigious theaters including La Jolla Playhouse, Studio Arena in Buffalo, The McCarter Theatre, Cleveland Playhouse, Great Lakes Theatre, Cleveland Public Theatre, Dobama Theatre, The Clarence Brown Company, Trinity Rep, Florida Stage, Florida Studio Theatre, Actors Playhouse, The New Theater, and many others. Among the many artists with whom he’s collaborated number Anne Bogart, Tina Landau, Oskar Eustis, Zoe Caldwell, Olympia Dukakis, Frances Sternhagen, Polly Bergman and hundreds of fellow journeymen actors. He earned a MFA in acting at UC San Diego and has won a variety of awards including the Carbonnell Award for Best Actor and, recently, the Cleveland Critics Circle Award for Best Actor in A Musical. Proud member of Actors’ Equity since 1988.

 

Fall 2024

Individual or Group Projects — THEA 225
Theater Senior Project - Full — THEA 425F
Theater Senior Project - Half — THEA 425H

Spring 2025

Individual or Group Projects — THEA 225
Senior Capstone in Acting: Professional Aspects of Acting — THEA 410
Theater Senior Project - Full — THEA 425F
Theater Senior Project - Half — THEA 425H

Notes

Matthew Wright Awarded "Best Actor - Musical" by Cleveland Critics Circle

January 4, 2023

Professor of Theater and Department Chair Matthew Wright was awarded "Best Actor - Musical" by the Cleveland Critics Circle for his role as Nostradamus in Something Rotten at Beck Center for the Arts and is featured in the Cleveland Scene article announcing the 2022 winners.

Holly Handman-Lopez and Matthew Wright Collaborate on Musical

July 30, 2019

Professor of Theater Matthew Wright and Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance Holly Handman-Lopez collaborated on 33 1/3, a new musical, at Dobama Theater in Cleveland. Wright directed and Handman-Lopez choreographed 33 1/3, which won the Playwrights Guild of Canada Stage West Pechet Family’s Best New Musical Award. This world premiere production ran from June 27 to July 14, 2019.

Matthew Wright Appears in Play at Dobama Theater

March 5, 2019

Professor of Theater Matthew Wright  in the Susan Smith Blackburn Prizewinning play, THE NETHER, by Jennifer Haley at Cleveland's DOBAMA Theatre.

Matthew Wright Directs World Premiere

October 26, 2018

Matthew Wright, professor of theater, directed the world premiere of Everything is Okay (and other helpful lies), co-written and co-composed by Cleveland-based artists Melissa T. Crum and Caitlin Lewins. The musical runs October 26 through November 10, 2018, at Cleveland Public Theatre.

News

Postcards from Oberlin

May 8, 2020

“The best thing about my quarantine workday (besides hanging out with my toddler) is seeing my students, even though they are far away. The second best thing is seeing them when it's warm enough to be outside in my backyard in Lakewood. Students + sunshine (+ toddler) = happiness,” writes Kathryn Metz , assistant professor of ethnomusicology.

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