• Instrumental Music: Two etudes demonstrating both technique and musicianship
• Keyboard: Two pieces in contrasting styles
• Vocal Music: Two contrasting pieces, one of which should be in a language other than English
• Theatre Arts: Two contrasting monologues which must be memorized and no more than one minute each in length
• Musical Theatre: 24-36 measures of a song and one contrasting monologue which should be memorized and 1-2 minutes in length
• Technical Theatre: Example of artwork, resume of experience, and a portfolio of technical work
• Dance: A 2-3 minute dance piece of your choice
• Creative Writing: 2–5 pages of creative writing, which can include fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Most applicants submit a single short story, essay, or series of poems.
• Visual Art & Graphic Design: A completed application along with a physical or digital version of your portfolio
• Literature: 3-4 page analysis of a literary work

Here are a few sample bios of the tremendous faculty and staff you’ll work with at WVWC!

Art and Design

Name:  Jon W Benjamin

Training and specialties:  Graphic Design, Digital Media

Contact Me:  http://theargomedia.com/

Background:  Jon received a Master of Fine Arts degree in Graphic Design from the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York and a Bachelor of Science from the State University of New York at Plattsburgh. His master thesis was entitled, “Medical Information Design: Empowering the Patient.” Jon started as a freelance designer for biotech startups in Madison, Wisconsin.

For eleven years, Jon was a Senior Graphic Designer for an association management company located in a suburb of Washington D.C. Jon developed brands, designed websites, and produced scientific journals. His clients included the American Society of Consulting Arborists, the Association of Water Technologies, and the Cardiology Leadership Alliance.

Jon won awards for logo design and conference branding from the American Advertising Federation DC Chapter and Association Trends.

Jon previously taught courses in Digital Foundations and Medical Illustration at Shawnee State University in Portsmouth, Ohio. He is currently the Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at West Virginia Wesleyan College. Jon has teaches courses in Graphic Design, Typography, Web Design, Brand Identity Systems, Motion Graphics, Video Production, Video Game Design, Art History, Graphic Design History, Principles of Visual Communication and Television Broadcasting.

In 2019 he started the West Virginia Art and Design Association in Buckhannon, West Virginia to help local artists and designers to collaborate, learn and promote their businesses.

Jon opened an Independent Bookstore in 2021 that sells a curated collection of books, games and art supplies. Argo Books also provides the community with a Writers Club, Bookclub, Film & Photo Club, Animation Club, Game Design Club and Cineclub.   Jon is a member of the American Institute of Graphic Arts.

Name:  Crystal Ann Brown

Training and specialties:  Interdisciplinary Arts, Art History and Curatorial Practice

Contact Me:  brown.c@thehomecosmos.com

Background:  I studied sculpture at Kendal College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids Michigan where I earned my BFA in sculpture and a minor in art history. I earned my MFA from Ohio University, in Athens, Ohio where I studied sculpture and expanded practice. While living in Kansas City I started the Hown’s Den: a domestic + nomadic exhibition space and taught in the continuing education department at the Kansas City Art Institute. Since moving to West Virginia I have continued to exhibit regularly, nationally and internationally, while spending the last 5 years adjuncting at Davis and Elkins College, West Virginia Wesleyan and directing the Sleeth art gallery. In the summer of 2019 founded artCAB Studio which offers art classes for folks of all skill levels and ages, including art summer camps for kids.

Creative Writing

Name:  Robert Stevens

Training and specialties:  Creative Writing, Fiction

Contact Me:  stevens.r@thehomecosmos.com

Background:  As a Navy brat, Robert Yune moved 11 times by the time he turned 18.  After graduating from Pitt, he lived in Pittsburgh for the next 15 years.

In the summer of 2012, he worked as a stand-in for George Takei and has appeared as an extra in commercials and movies such as Me and Earl and the Dying Girl and Fathers and Daughters.

Yune’s fiction has been published in Green Mountains Review, The Kenyon Review, and Pleiades, among others.  In 2009, he received a writing fellowship from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.

In 2015, his debut novel Eighty Days of Sunlight was nominated for the International DUBLIN Literary Award.  Other nominees that year included Lauren Groff, Kazuo Ishiguro and Salman Rushdie.  His debut story collection Impossible Children won the 2017 Mary McCarthy Prize and was published in October 2019 by Sarabande Books.

Yune serves on the board of Autumn House Press and Literacy Volunteers of Upshur County. He also reads for Gettysburg Review.

Music

Name:  Dr. Melody Meadows

Training and specialties:  M.A.T. West Virginia Wesleyan

D.M.A. University of Michigan

piano/organ

Contact Me:  meadows@thehomecosmos.com

304-473-8411

Background:  Dr. Meadows is Professor of Keyboard Studies and music theory at West Virginia Wesleyan. She has performed on piano and organ throughout the U.S., England, Scotland, Germany, Italy, Austria, and Seoul, Korea and enjoys playing a variety of styles, including classical and jazz. She is a recipient of Wesleyan’s Exemplary Teaching Award.

Name:  Robert Palmer

Training and specialties:  Music, Athletic Bands, Brass

Contact Me:  palmer.r@thehomecosmos.com; (304) 473-8520

Background:  I grew up in Illinois and attending Western Illinois University for my Bachelors and Masters degrees. After spending time in Arizona and Indiana, I moved to West Virginia and started at Alderson Broaddus in the winter of 2015. I later attended Florida State University for my doctoral degree and then moved back to Bridgeport, WV with my family. I excitedly started at Wesleyan in July of 2022 and am eager to get going with the band programs.

Theatre and Dance

Name:  Gregory Mach

Training and specialties:  Acting/Directing/Stage Makeup

Contact Me:  mach@thehomecosmos.com and 304-473-8855

Background:  GREGORY MACH is a tenured Associate Professor of Theatre Arts and former Chair of the Department of Theatre & Dance at West Virginia Wesleyan College in his 22nd year at that institution, and previously taught at Davis and Elkins College for thirteen years.

A professional actor, director, and playwright when he is not teaching, he earned his Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Mississippi in 1985, and has performed everything from Shakespeare to mime at numerous theatres throughout the southeastern United States including the Barter Theatre, Greenbrier Valley Theatre, Surflight Theatre, Cumberland County Playhouse, Mississippi Summer Showcase, West Virginia Public Theatre, Theatre West Virginia and many more.  Favorite roles include Sherlock Holmes, Henry II in THE LION IN WINTER, Franz Liebkind in THE PRODUCERS, and all the Shakespeare plays he has done, particularly the role of Bottom in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, which he has played 5 times. He has directed extensively for the commercial, university and community stage, as well as for international tours, including such plays as THE MUSIC MAN, GODSPELL, DRACULA, LEND ME A TENOR, NUNSENSE, CRIMES OF THE HEART, OLIVER!, and many more.

He served as the West Virginia State Representative for 15 years on the Board of Directors of the Southeastern Theatre Conference, the largest theatre conference in the nation, for which he was the State Auditions Coordinator for 2 years. He also served as Secretary/Treasurer of the WV Theatre Association, and chaired the Board of Directors of the Valley Ridge Studios, a small theatre doing outstanding work in Thomas, WV. In 1999, he was selected by the Rotary International Foundation to represent higher education and the arts in West Virginia on a thirty-day Group Study Exchange tour to Daegu, Korea.

Greg is the author of many produced plays, among them four one-act children’s plays, two of which have toured West Virginia schools as part of children’s theatre programs at West Virginia Wesleyan College and Davis and Elkins College, and one of which has won a national award. He has also written and directed several murder mystery dinner theatre productions at local theatres and restaurants, including the Gandy Dancer Theatre in Elkins, WV, and the 88 in Buckhannon, WV, and is the author of three mime shows, one of which has toured Eastern Europe.

Name:  Tom Schoffler

Training and specialties:  Acting and Theatre

Contact Me:  schoffler_t@thehomecosmos.com

Background:  Chair of the Department of Theatre & Dance, Tom is a working actor and director. He has directed in New York and regionally, and is a founding company member of Theatre Alaska. Tom is also a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique and presents masterclasses and workshops across the country to students ranging from professional arm wrestlers and pole-vaulters to performers of all stripes @tommyschoff

Learn more about WVWC Arts Programs by keeping up with our feeds and departments! 

The Official WVWC Facebook

WVWC Bands Facebook Page

WVWC Creative Arts Facebook

Official Departmental Pages

Theatre and Dance Department

Music Department

Art and Design Department

English Department