Dr. Kim Pereira was appointed Director of the Honors Program in 2006. He is a Professor of Theatre who has been teaching Acting and Dramatic Literature at ISU since 1990. With a Doctorate in Theatre from Florida State University and a Master’s in English and American Literature from the University of Bombay, Dr. Pereira traveled to the U.S. via the Middle-East, where he had a career in Advertising.
As an actor he has performed in several plays here in the U.S. as well as in his native India, with major roles in classical and contemporary plays. His Directing credits also range across several genres, from the Greeks and Shakespeare to modern American, African, and European plays.
Dr. Pereira is the author of August Wilson and the African-American Odyssey, the first full-length study of August Wilson’s plays. He has written essays on Shakespeare in Stagebill for The Public Theatre in New York and in Asides for The Shakespeare Theatre in Washington D.C., as well as for The Illinois Shakespeare Festival. He is the author of five plays, and has presented papers at national and regional conferences on African-American Theatre, Indian Theatre, Shakespeare, and Shaw.
In 2001, Dr. Pereira wrote, filmed, narrated, and produced a two-hour documentary on contemporary Indian Theatre, which is available on DVD and VHS. His commitment to diversity led to his being awarded the Strand Diversity Award at ISU in 2003. He has reviewed films for radio, has performed dramatic readings with the Illinois State Wind and String Symphonies and the faculty Chamber Orchestra, and, for several years, was a bi-weekly forum commentator for W-JBC Radio.
