The Dean's Office

Harris D Smith is a product of the nationally ranked MFA Acting program at the University of Washington. He was the Chair for the Department of Theatre at the University of Utah. He also served as Director for the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film at the University of Nebraska.

He is a Certified Teacher of stage combat through the Society of American Fight Directors and a former member of Actors Equity and SAG (Screen Actors Guild). He has worked as an actor and fight director at a number of regional theaters including Utah Shakespeare Festival, ACT in Seattle, St. Louis Black Repertory, Sacramento Theatre Company, and Illinois Shakespeare Festival. He received the Meritorious Achievement Award from the Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival for Fight Choreography. He has a number of film and television credits including the Oscar-nominated Runaway Train.

He produced and served as the stunt coordinator and fight director for the award-winning short film, The Healing of Harmon (2018). He was a guest artist at Sichuan University for the University Immersion Program in Chengdu, China where he taught stage combat and presented a lecture on, “Characters in Conflict”. Most recently, he was an assistant instructor at the International Stunt School. His most recent research has been divided between interdisciplinary collaborations serving as a Communications Coach for the New York State Defenders Association (NYSDA) and performance where he is exploring incorporating “Afrofuturism” values into stage combat.