Assistant Professor of Theatre
Area of Recognition: Scholarship and Creative Endeavor
Fred Love has had an exceptional professional year. He recently completed a month’s run at Ann Arbor’s Performance Network Theatre playing Cosme McMoon in “Souvenir,” a role unique in its requirements. “Souvenir” is a two-character play requiring the male actor not only to play McMoon, (who never leaves the stage) but also to accompany himself on piano as well as play classical repertoire for the actress in the other role. Love had the perfect combination of skills, with his background in opera and musical theatre, to tackle this role. His performance in the play impressed the director of Music Theatre Italy and led to an offer to teach voice in Conegliano, Italy this summer. His creative scholarship extends to his musical direction for all seven main stage shows in the three years since he has been at Oakland University, as well as many revues, operas and workshop productions. Since his hire at Oakland, he has acted professionally in “Kiss Me Kate”, “Jesus Christ Superstar”, “Lady in the Dark”, and “Cats” and sung with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Macomb Symphony. Love is a busy academic colleague as well. He has developed a variety of new courses which have created stronger training and new experiences for students. Musical Theatre Styles and Acting for the Singer have become regular offerings as essential pieces of the new Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) curriculum in Musical Theatre. The Meadow Brook Estate ensemble has taken on many guises under his direction, including a musical revue, cabaret solo performances, and a senior showcase which took Oakland students to New York City to perform for agents and casting directors last April.