Jesse Merz

Jesse Merz Jesse Merz, originally from Parkdale and Hood River, Oregon, is a professional actor, director, producer, writer, filmmaker, and theatre professor. He is currently the Theatre Artistic Director at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham, Oregon.

A proud member of Actors’ Equity since 1997, he has performed off-Broadway, in regional theatre, summer stock, feature films, on the radio and in 120 cities in 34 states on national tours. He has directed more than 60 plays, musicals and films, including directing Tony-winner Daisy Eagan in “Suburban Dreams” in NYC.

He has produced more than 200 shows, including “The Gospel According to Tammy Faye” directed by Broadway veteran Mindy Cooper and starring Tony-nominee Sally Mayes. He has worked or studied with numerous Oscar, Tony, Obie, Emmy, Golden Globe and Pulitzer Prize winners/nominees, such as: David Mamet, William H. Macy, Felicity Huffman, Lauri Peters, Martha Plimpton, Rinde Eckert, River Phoenix, Constantine Maroulis, and Gus Van Sant, among others.

He has taught acting at University of California, Davis, Western Oregon University, David Douglas High School, Broadway Theatre Project, and Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, where he was Head of the BFA and taught in the MFA program (2008 – 2012). He has presented papers or taught workshops at the Association for Theatre in Higher Education, Mid-America Theatre Conference, American College Theatre Festival, and the University of Jordan in Amman, Jordan. He has been published in the journal Western States Theatre Review.

From 2000 – 2003, he was the Producing Artistic Director of Longview Stageworks, a small Equity theatre. He has been the Artistic Director of the Columbia Gorge School of Theatre and Columbia Gorge Repertory Theatre in Portland and NYC since 1996. In addition to AEA, he is a member of SAG-AFTRA and SDC.

His MFA in Acting is from University of California, Davis, his Master of Arts in Teaching is from George Fox University and his BFA in Acting is from New York University, Tisch School of the Arts.





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