Professor Detra Payne (MFA, The New School for Drama) is an Assistant Professor of Instruction in the Department of Theatre. She was an Assistant Professor of Instruction at the University of Texas, Arlington in the Theatre Department before joining Northwestern. Professor Payne joined the Acting Area at Northwestern and teaches the acting sequence, devising, acting for the screen, and business of acting courses. She also became the Co-Coordinator for the Acting for the Screen Module upon joining Northwestern. Since joining Northwestern’s Department of Theatre, Professor Payne worked in or on performances online during the pandemic, co-directed the first in-person production held in the Virginia Wadsworth Wirtz Center following the Covid pandemic titled Open House: “A Weekend for the Arts at Wirtz”, directed an Imagine-U production titled The Snow Day and Other Stories by Ezra Jack Keats, and performed the role of Prospero in The Tempest. Professor Payne has taught Meisner classes and Business of Acting in Prague for the Prague Shakespeare Company Summer Intensive. She has worked in or on productions at Chicago theatres, A Red Orchid and The Goodman. She has also had the privilege of acting on a couple Chicago-based television shows. Professor Payne is a member of the Steering Committee for Northwestern’s Organization of Women Faculty, School of Communication’s DEI Standing Committee, a member of ATHE (Association for Theatre in Higher Education), and the following focus groups within this organization: Acting, Directing, and Women in Theatre and BTA (Black Theatre Association). Ms. Payne is also a member of BTN (Black Theatre Network) and NAAT (National Alliance of Acting Teachers). Her written work has been published in Theatre Journal and Studies in Theatre and Performance.
While at the University of Texas Arlington, Professor Payne taught cross-disciplinary courses in Women's and Gender Studies at UTA, including Gender and the Performing Arts and Women in Theatre. Payne was the MavLab Play Coordinator overseeing the production of plays directed by students and faculty alike. For the last few years at UTA, she was the developer, organizer, and advisor for the Heal the Divide On and Off Campus Initiative, leading students in the creation, development, and performance of original plays about issues concerning them and their community.
Professor Payne has acted professionally in New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, Memphis, Chicago, and in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. Ms. Payne earned her MFA from the Actor's Studio Drama School, a division of The New School, where she studied extensively and mastered The Method technique of acting formulated by Lee Strasberg. Her B.A. is from the University of Washington, and while there she was a member of the first class to be taught the Suzuki Method, created by world-renowned theatre artist Tadashi Suzuki. Ms. Payne is trained in the Meisner Technique, created by Sanford Meisner, through the Joann Baron/DW Brown Studio in Los Angeles. Ms. Payne is a founding member and board member of the Los Angeles-based theatre company Sacred Fools. Ms. Payne has produced and directed several theatrical productions and has worked on music videos, films, and television not only as an actor but as a production and talent coordinator. Ms. Payne worked as the personal assistant to actresses Lela Rochon and Sheryl Lee Ralph and as the Executive Assistant for the Tavis Smiley Foundation. Her acting credits include (television): Chicago Fire, The Big Leap, 24, Moesha, and The Parkers; (film): Tempestad, Forced Move, Kudzo Killers, Imbroglio, Long Black Limousine S for Sally ; (theatre): The Comedy of Errors, The Tempest, A Christmas Carol, She-Wolf Slideby Babette's Feast, Fabulation or The Re-education of Undine, Miss Edna Lewis, The Mountaintop, The Bluest Eye, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, Steel Magnolias, Who Will Bell the Cat Prophet, It's Gulliani Time, and Baby Talk and many more. Detra Payne is a member of the Screen Actors Guild American Federation for Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and Actors Equity Association (AEA) the primary unions for performing artists; and was a Board Member of the University of Texas at Arlington's Women's and Gender Studies Program. Ms. Payne is creating a performance around the topic of grief and grieving and developing a one-woman show formed out of Shakespeare's sonnets. Ms. Payne is also developing her voiceover skills and enjoys live music, dance, painting, and photography.